Bitcoin and Ethereum end losing streaks, mirroring Asian markets

Bitcoin and Ethereum bucked the trend, ending five days of consecutive losses as it mirrored the Asian markets which rebounded overnight.

The largest coin by market cap climbed 2.71% to US$39,432, moving away from the key US$38,000 support level it has been flirting with over the last week.

The tech-heavy Sang Heng index climbed 9%, while the Shanghai Stock Exchange was up 3%.

Investors will be hoping that the digital token can push on further to the $40,000 resistance level.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Bitcoin has climbed by almost US$5,000, although most of the gains made offset some of the biggest losses incurred in a 24 hour period so far this year.

The digital token had spiked overnight, climbing as high as US$41,400, before retreating this morning.

Ethereum was also up 4.40% to US$2.639.

Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at GlobalBlock adds the EUs decision to vote against banning Bitcoin mining paves the “way for future crypto regulation- this is a huge relief for the industry,” with concerns surrounding over-imposing regulation easing in the last week following a more crypto-friendly executive order signed by President Joe Biden.

Sotiriou adds that further regulatory developments in the Middle East “show the support that crypto is receiving around the globe, as the industry is proving itself to be an unstoppable force towards mainstream adoption in the long term.”

In other news, Afghan citizens are turning to crypto in the midst of US sanctions, failing banks and drying up of foreign aid since the Taliban regained control of the country.

Data from Chainanalysis, the crypto analytics firm, showed that the use of crypto rose sharply since the takeover in August 2021.

Afghanistan now ranks 20 out of 154 countries for crypto adoption, where just a year before, the presence of digital currency was so minimal it was excluded from the ranking entirely.

In some of the altcoins, Solana was up 3.12% to US$82.34, Avalanche was up 3.30% to US$69.07 and Polkadot rose 4.46% to US$18.14.