Ethereum Up By Nearly 4%

Cryptocurrency prices continue to be in the green on October 3. The global cryptocurrency market cap is Rs 157.19 lakh crores, a 1.29 percent decrease over the last day, while the total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is Rs 7,24,397 crores, which makes a 16.80 percent decrease.

Bitcoin’s price is currently Rs 36,69,001 and its dominance is currently 42.27 percent, a decrease of 0.65 percent over the day.

The rapid growth of the crypto ecosystem presents new opportunities, the IMF has said but also cautioned that the digital currency assets pose financial stability challenges.

Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of their units and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.

The rapid growth of the crypto ecosystem presents new opportunities.

Technological innovation is ushering in a new era that makes payments and other financial services cheaper, faster, more accessible, and allows them to flow across borders swiftly, said in a chapter of its latest report Global Financial Stability Report.

Crypto asset technologies have the potential as a tool for faster and cheaper cross-border payments.

Bank deposits can be transformed to stable coins that allow instant access to a vast array of financial products from digital platforms and allow instant currency conversion, said the IMF in its chapter titled The Crypto Ecosystem and Financial Stability Challenges.

Decentralised finance could become a platform for more innovative, inclusive, and transparent financial services, it added.

Despite potential gains, the rapid growth and increasing adoption of crypto assets also pose financial stability challenges, the IMF said.

In a recent interview with PTI, Tobias Adrian, the Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of IMF said that Bitcoin could lead to instability because it is extremely volatile.

As off 7.50 am on October 3, these are the prices of the largest cryptocurrencies (data from WazirX):