Daily Times

The cryptocurrency market maintained its losing streak for the fifth straight day on Monday, with market capitalisation shedding one percent to reach $1.79 trillion.

As of 1155 hours GMT, the largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin’s (BTC) price fell by 0.14 percent to reach $38,309. With this decrease in price, the market capitalisation of the biggest crypto has reached $725 billion. Bitcoin has gained 1.4 percent during the last seven days.

Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, went down by 2.65 percent to reach $2,538. With this decrease in price, the market capitalisation of ETH has reached $298 billion. Ether has shed 3.3 percent of its value over the last seven days.

However, XRP made a gain of 1.2 percent to reach $0.743. The market capitalisation of XRP stands at $74.3 billion with this increase. XRP has gained 3.2 percent during the last seven days.

On the other hand, Cardano (ADA) price slipped 2.35 percent to reach $0.816. Its market capitalisation has reached $27 billion with this decrease. ADA shed 5.2 percent in the past seven days.

Following suit, Dogecoin (DOGE) price shed 1.96 percent to reach $0.120. With this decrease in price, the market capitalisation of DOGE has reached $16 billion. DOGE has lost 2.9 percent during the last seven days.

Meanwhile, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Reza Baqir a day earlier reiterated his stance on cryptocurrency, saying it doesn’t have a use case that can further the goals like financial inclusion or innovation, which are key objectives of the banking regulator. Baqir agreed that the underlying technology behind the crypto – distributed ledger – is an absolutely useful technology and it has the potential to solve a lot of problems that the world faces right now in providing access to finance.

However, “when we look at the value proposition offered by crypto right now, the use cases that have been brought forward have just been exchanges”, Baqir said, explaining that people wanted the regulator to allow Bitcoin use, speculate on it and then also transfer money abroad.

“Every new thing has some benefits and some risks. It’s a policymaker’s job to make an assessment of the balance… in particular, make a judgement whether the benefits outweigh the risks with regards to the use of cryptocurrencies in Pakistan,” he added. The SBP governor also questioned the lack of visibility in cryptocurrencies.