Bitcoin recorded a minor loss of 2.54 percent on Wednesday, May 22. The value of BTC on national and international exchanges at the time of writing was $72,182 (approximately Rs. 60 lakh) and $70,036 (approximately Rs. 58.3 lakh), respectively. The asset, despite small losses, is celebrating the anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day, the day that gave it the status of a legitimate payment option. In 2010, a total of 10,000 Bitcoin tokens were spent to get a $40 (roughly 3330 rupees) pizza from Papa John’s – making it the first real-world commodity ever purchased using Bitcoin. The buyer of this pizza was Laszlo Hanyecz, a software developer from Florida, USA.
“Bitcoin Pizza Day is a significant date in the crypto community, symbolizing the beginning of a new era in digital finance. We celebrate the first transaction that has now become a symbol of Bitcoin’s journey from digital experiment to mainstream financial phenomenon,” Edul Patel, CEO of Mudrex, told Gadgets360 that is using this day to spread awareness about BTC and distribute pizzas to more than 2000 children in Bengaluru.
Ethereum posted an impressive 11.35 percent gain on May 20, marking its biggest one-day percentage gain since Thursday, November 9, 2023. However, in the past 24 hours, the asset has undergone a price correction that has pushed its value to $3,793 (approx. 3.15 lakh rupees) after hitting a high of $4093 (approximately 3.40 lakh rupees).
“The recent spike in prices has reignited interest among investors and enthusiasts within the broader crypto market. Over the past week, ETH has become the central focus of activity, with on-chain data indicating increased engagement from large investors. This resurgence in the price of Ethereum has triggered significant whale activity, highlighting a key development in the crypto landscape,” ZebPay Trade Desk told Gadgets360, commenting on the movement of the ETH market.
Tether, Solana, Ripple, Cardano, Shiba Inu and Tron suffered losses on Wednesday.
Bitcoin Cash, Chainlink, Near Protocol and Polygon also posted losses.
The total crypto market capitalization has fallen by 0.49 percent in the last 24 hours and is currently valued at $2.6 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,16,43,830 crore), CoinMarketCap showed.
Meanwhile, Binance Coin, Dogecoin, Avalanche and Polkadot were among the handful of cryptocurrencies that held onto gains on Wednesday.
“With the rise of ETH and related coins, the total value locked in DeFi protocols has also increased to $100 billion and achieved this feat for the first time in two years with the leading protocols Lido and Coinbase’s wrapped invested ETH. If the ETH ETF is approved, a new all-time high for TVL will not be a distant dream,” the CoinSwitch Markets Desk told Gadgets360.
