Cryptocurrency update: Solana surges by almost 15%; Bitcoin and Ethereum slips by 2%

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Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency on Tuesday, declined 2.12% to $46,411.31 levels, while Ethereum dropped 2.15% to trade at $3,205.31. Other cryptos like Cardano, Tether USDT and USD Coin continued to stay in red and were down by 0.72%, 0.02% and 5.43% respectively. While the other five cryptocurrencies remained in green.

Alt Coin Solana surged by 14.98% and was trading at $72.80, despite security risks that were exposed by the biggest Decentralized Finance (DeFi) hack ever in the history of cryptocurrencies last week. Solana is considered as the Layer 1 alternative to Ethereum, which is the second largest cryptocurrency.

Solana has now become the 10th largest cryptocurrency in the world, pushing Uniswap to 11th.

Coindesk.com reported that Solana’s aggressive push with its latest reports of the Wormhole cross-chain communication protocol between Ethereum and Solana, could not be timelier due to the need for a scalable network as Ethereum is undergoing a major transition to a Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain network, which may get delayed.

The Wormhole’s main network will also act as the new protocols that allow digital tokens to be transferred across multiple blockchains, which have become particularly vulnerable to attacks. Last week, cross-chain DeFi site Poly Network was attacked with losses worth more than $600 million.

The hype around Wormhole shows that investors and traders remain confident in cross-chain protocols as they downplay the security risks.

Top 10 Cryptocurrency prices as on August 17, 2021

*All prices as of 17 August 2021, at 9:55 AM, Table Source: Coinmarketcap.com. Conversion rate for the USD to INR used was $1=Rs 74.24

Waiting for Cabinet approval, says FM on bill on cryptocurrency

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said she is awaiting approval from the Cabinet on bill on cryptocurrency as the proposed legislation is before it.

The inter-ministerial panel on cryptocurrency under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Economic Affairs) to study the issues related to virtual currencies and propose specific actions has already submitted its report. It has been recommended that all private cryptocurrencies, except any virtual currencies issued by the state, will be prohibited in India.

“Cabinet note is ready on cryptocurrency (Bill). I am awaiting Cabinet to clear that,” she said during her interaction with the media here.

Meanwhile, the RBI has concerns about the cryptocurrencies traded in the market and has conveyed the same to the government.

Das had said he has “reasons to believe” that the government is in agreement with the “major concerns” flagged by the RBI about cryptocurrencies.