Bitcoin Bottom Needs Time 'To Be Built,' Ethereum Network Upgrade On The Cards, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu Still Down

Major coins traded flat Tuesday evening as the global cryptocurrency market cap inched 0.42% lower over 24 hours to $2.35 trillion. 

What Happened: Bitcoin BTC/USD traded 0.06% higher at $50,725.20 over 24 hours. The apex coin has fallen 11.51% over a seven-day trailing period.

Ethereum ETH/USD was down 0.17% at $4,340.81 over 24 hours. It has lost 7.46% of its value over a period of one week.

Meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin DOGE/USD was down 0.94% at $0.18 over 24 hours. Over the last seven days, it has fallen 17.85%.

DOGE-killer Shiba Inu declined 1.63% to $0.0000365 over 24 hours. For the week, it has plunged 24.52%.

The top three gainers over 24 hours, as per CoinMarketCap data were Tezos, BitTorrent, and Curve Dao Token. 

Tezos shot up 31.76% to $5.56, BitTorrent was up 16.06% at $0.003773, and Curve Dao Token rose 10.67% to $4.12 in the period.

See Also: How To Buy Bitcoin (BTC)

Why It Matters: Scientists say they have found a “stealth” version of Omicron, the newest variant of the COVID-19 virus. This version cannot be distinguished from other variants using PCR testing that is usually used in a public-health setting, reported United Kingdom’s The Guardian newspaper.

Coupled with Omicron concerns, regulatory concerns continue to plague the markets.

Wednesday will see grilling of cryptocurrency CEOs on Capitol Hill, but this is not expected to not “yield any immediate landmark legislation,” as per Edward Moya, a Senior Analyst with OANDA. 

“The end of year bullish calls of $90,000 or $100,000 were a bit too optimistic, but that is how the cryptoverse works.  Next year, we will quickly know if those frothy targets will later get justified,” wrote Moya in an emailed note.

Meanwhile, India’s cryptocurrency regulation and its impact are becoming clearer. The populous South Asian nation wants to ban cryptocurrencies as a method of payment and also regulate how such assets are advertised. Violations of provisions of the law could lead to jail time, reported Reuters.

Even as BTC trades above the $50,000 levels it is likely to have not found a bottom yet, which needs “time to be built,” said Amsterdam-based trader Michaël Van De Poppe on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Coinbase Global Inc COIN has added Ethereum 2 to its cryptocurrency price index ahead of a network upgrade and hard fork scheduled for Dec. 9. 

The largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, Binance, also issued an update to its users advising them that deposits and withdrawals on the ETH network will be suspended on Dec. 9 beginning 2:55 p.m. ET.

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