Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Cent has shut down. It mentioned ‘rampant’ fakes and plagiarism problems as the reason behind the step, according to various media reports. “There’s a spectrum of activity that is happening that basically shouldn’t be happening – like, legally,” said Cameron Hejazi, CEO and co-founder of the NFT marketplace Cent. 

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, cybercriminals are targeting individuals under the pretext of romance, but with a new twist involving cryptocurrencies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning against the rise of romance scams during Valentine’s week, with the latest trend involving digital assets, according to various media reports.  

Intel on Friday launched a new chip for blockchain applications such as Bitcoin mining and minting NFTs to cash in on the rising usage of cryptocurrencies, according to various media reports.   

Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) was down by 2.58 per cent. The cryptocurrency was trading at $42,317.39 at 6:00 pm. Its dominance in the crypto market is currently at 41.94 per cent, up by 0.20 per cent in the last 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap.com.    

Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $2,919.81, with a fall of 5.90 per cent in the last 24 hours, while Binance Coin (BNB) was down by 3.59 per cent over the same period and was trading at $400.30. Solana (SOL) was down by 9.11 per cent to $95.83 and Cardano (ADA) was down by 7.93 per cent to $1.06. 

Meme Coins    

In line with the major cryptocurrencies, most leading meme coins such as Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogelon Mars (ELON), and Samoyedcoin (SAMO) also saw prices slide down in the last 24 hours.   

Dogecoin was down by 6.34 per cent; and was trading at $0.1429 at 6:00 pm. Rival Shiba Inu was down by 8.37 per cent and was trading at $0.0000284. Dogelon Mars was down by 10.01 per cent and was trading at $0.000000934, while Samoyedcoin was trading at $0.0254, recording a sharper fall of 9.47 per cent.    

Overall Scenario    

The global crypto market cap was at $1.70 trillion, registering a decrease of 13.82 per cent in the last 24 hours, while the total crypto market volume was $51.58 billion, down by 54.62 per cent.   

MONNFTS (MON) became the biggest gainer, recording a rise of 899.74 per cent. It was trading at $0.0689 at 6:00 pm, as per Coinmarketcap data. In contrast, Green Chart (GREEN) witnessed the maximum loss, falling 87.62 per cent. According to Coinmarketcap, it was trading at $0.000001587. 

One of the key obstacles in rolling out a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is the risk of fraud, said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das at a press conference after the monetary policy meet on December 8, according to a Livemint report. At the same time, the Economic Times reported that the proposed cryptocurrency Bill in India is expected to put a complete ban on exchange-to-exchange transfers.

Meanwhile, the prices of all mainstream coins, except Bitcoin (BTC), rose in the last 24 hours. Prices of Bitcoin fell 1.20 per cent to trade at $49,823.13 at 8:30 am, according to data from global crypto exchange coinmarketcap.com. Bitcoin’s dominance in the crypto market is currently 39.86 per cent with a decrease of 0.64 per cent over the day.

Ethereum (ETH) was up 1.3 per cent and was trading at $4,385.19, while Binance Coin (BNB) witnessed a rise of 5.37 per cent and was trading at $603.85. Solana (SOL) was trading at $190.51, rising 0.56 per cent, and Cardano (ADA) rise 0.62 per cent to $1.38.

“The market has fallen flat and the volatility remains calm, despite the recent sell-off,” says Gaurav Dahake, chief executive officer and founder of Bitbns, an Indian crypto exchange.

Meme Coins

Except Samoyedcoin (SAMO), all major meme coins such as Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogelon Mars (ELON) fell in the last 24 hours.

Dogecoin witnessed a fall of 0.89 per cent and was trading at $0.1769 at 8:30 am. Rival Shiba Inu lost 0.56 per cent and was trading at $0.00003653, Dogelon Mars fell by 2.14 per cent and was trading at $0.00000122, while Samoyedcoin was trading at $0.04697 and recorded a rise of 7.85 per cent.

Overall Scenario

The global crypto market cap was $2.36 trillion, registering an increase of 0.48 per cent in the last 24 hours, while the total crypto market volume was $102.24 billion, down 5.92 per cent.

Christmas Floaki X (CFlokiX) became the biggest gainer, recording a rise of 436.34 per cent; it was trading at $0.00001748 at 8:30 am. On the other hand, Andromeda (M31) witnessed maximum loss, falling 98.85 per cent; it was trading at $0.001584.

Latest Update

According to an Economic Times report, the proposed Cryptocurrency Bill in India is expected to put a complete ban on exchange-to-exchange transfers in the country, limit certain types of wallets masking identities, and completely end dealing in cryptocurrencies through Google Chrome extensions that allow users to dabble in more than 4,000 cryptos.

Talking about cyber frauds in general and in cryptocurrencies, RBI Governor Das said, “(The) main concern comes from the angle of cyber security and the possibility of digital frauds so we have to be very careful about that. A few years ago, we had major concerns around fake Indian currency notes. Similar things can also happen when you are launching central bank digital currency (CBDC).” He was talking to reporters at a post-policy press conference.

Meanwhile, an experiment by the Banque de France (BdF), the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Swiss National Bank (SNB), under Project Jura, showed that CBDCs can be used effectively for international settlements between financial institutions. The recently completed Project Jura explored the settlement of foreign exchange (FX) transactions in euro and Swiss franc wholesale CBDC as well as issuing, transferring and redeeming a tokenised euro-denominated French commercial paper between French and Swiss financial institutions, according to a press release.