Bitcoin experienced a drop over the weekend after peaking near $97,000 late last week. By Monday, BTC's value on international exchanges fell by nearly 2 percent to $94,407 (approximately Rs. 79.5 lakh). Similarly, on Indian platforms, Bitcoin dipped 2.25 percent to trade at $94,413 (roughly Rs. 79.5 lakh).
Market experts attribute this cautious trading behavior to the impending US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting scheduled this week.
“Bitcoin is trading at $94,400 (roughly Rs. 79 lakh) as investors remain cautiously optimistic ahead of the FOMC meeting slated for this week in the US. Bitcoin now faces resistance near the previous high of $97,900 (roughly Rs. 82.5 lakh), while major support stands at $92,000 (roughly Rs. 77.5 lakh),”
— Alankar Saxena, Co-founder and CTO of Mudrex
“BTC just recorded its highest number of active addresses in six months, with over 925,000 addresses active in a single day. This rise in participation reflects growing investor interest and market engagement.”
— Alankar Saxena
Ethereum (ETH) mirrored Bitcoin’s dip, with its price sliding 1.77 percent over the past 24 hours on global exchanges, settling at $1,806 (around Rs. 1.52 lakh). On Indian exchanges, ETH fell 3.81 percent, trading at $1,809 (roughly Rs. 1.52 lakh).
“Investors seek stability amid volatility. We expect the market to remain range-bound in the short term, with breakout potential hinging on macro sentiment and institutional flows,”
— Avinash Shekhar, Co-founder and CEO, Pi42
Most major altcoins were in the red on Monday, including:
Ripple
Solana
Avalanche
Stellar
Shiba Inu
Monero
Cronos
EOS Coin
Elrond
According to CoinMarketCap, the total crypto market cap dropped by 1.50 percent in the last 24 hours, bringing the global valuation to $2.94 trillion (approx. Rs. 2,47,70,431 crore).
“Bitcoin's price continues to plunge after closing the weekly trade on a bearish note. Most of the altcoins have been facing notable upward pressure. The crypto market seems to have entered a retracement phase. The top 10 tokens are closely following Bitcoin's trajectory.”
— CoinDCX Research Team
Despite the overall slowdown, a few altcoins managed to stay positive:
Tron
Leo
Iota
Polygon
“Institutional interest is rising, with traditional finance exploring tokenised assets and blockchain-based fund structures. While optimism is evident, traders should remain cautious near psychological levels like $100K, where volatility tends to spike. Overall, the market tone remains constructive with broad-based support across sectors.”
— Himanshu Maradiya, Founder and Chairman, CIFDAQ Exchange
The CoinSwitch Markets Desk also noted that optimism stems from potential US-China trade negotiations and the positive performance of traditional markets, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing the week with ~1.5% gains.
Bitcoin, the pioneering decentralized digital currency, emerged from the confluence of cryptographic principles and a vision for peer-to-peer electronic cash, independent of traditional financial institutions. Its history began with an anonymous entity known as Satoshi Nakamoto.
Before Bitcoin's inception in 2009, various attempts at creating digital currencies existed. Cryptographers like David Chaum with ecash in the 1980s and concepts like bit gold proposed by Nick Szabo in 1998 explored cryptographic solutions for digital money. Wei Dai's b-money (1998) also envisioned a decentralized electronic cash system. Adam Back's Hashcash (1997) introduced the concept of proof-of-work, a crucial element later adopted by Bitcoin. While innovative, these earlier attempts faced challenges like centralization requirements or susceptibility to double-spending and Sybil attacks.
The groundwork for Bitcoin was laid with the registration of the domain name bitcoin.org on August 18, 2008. On October 31, 2008, a whitepaper titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" was published on a cryptography mailing list by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. This paper detailed a novel system for electronic transactions without relying on trusted third parties.
The Bitcoin network officially came into existence on January 3, 2009, when Satoshi Nakamoto mined the genesis block (the first block on the blockchain). This block contained the now-famous text: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks," serving as both a timestamp and a subtle commentary on the existing financial system.
The first open-source Bitcoin client was released on January 9, 2009, and early adopters began mining and interacting with the network. The first recorded Bitcoin transaction occurred on January 12, 2009, when Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to computer scientist Hal Finney, a known cryptography enthusiast and early supporter.
In its initial phase, Bitcoin primarily attracted cryptography enthusiasts and individuals interested in its ideological underpinnings. As it wasn't traded on exchanges, assigning a real-world monetary value was challenging.
A significant early milestone occurred on May 22, 2010, now celebrated as "Bitcoin Pizza Day." Programmer Laszlo Hanyecz famously offered 10,000 BTC for two pizzas, marking the first known commercial transaction using Bitcoin. At the time, this amount was worth approximately $41.
As Bitcoin's user base grew, the need for platforms to trade it emerged. The first cryptocurrency exchange, Mt. Gox, was launched in July 2010. This facilitated price discovery and increased accessibility to Bitcoin.
The early years also saw the emergence of alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins) seeking to improve upon Bitcoin's design or offer different functionalities.
Bitcoin's anonymity features also led to its adoption on dark web marketplaces like Silk Road, which exclusively used Bitcoin for transactions until its shutdown in October 2013. This association brought both notoriety and increased public awareness to Bitcoin.
The price of Bitcoin experienced significant volatility in its early years. It reached parity with the US dollar in February 2011 and saw its first major price surge later that year.
The first significant price crash occurred in 2013, following a substantial climb to over $1,000. This period also highlighted the risks associated with early-stage cryptocurrency markets. The 2014 collapse of Mt. Gox due to a massive hack further shook the market and underscored security vulnerabilities.
Despite early challenges, Bitcoin gradually gained mainstream attention. By 2017, its price experienced another dramatic surge, reaching nearly $20,000, driven by increased retail and institutional interest.
The emergence of smart contract platforms like Ethereum in 2015 expanded the potential use cases of blockchain technology beyond just currency.
In more recent years, particularly in the early 2020s, institutional adoption of Bitcoin as a store of value has grown, with companies like Tesla and MicroStrategy adding it to their balance sheets. The launch of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States in early 2024 further broadened its accessibility to traditional investors.
The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in the cryptocurrency world. Despite numerous theories and investigations, the individual or group behind this pseudonym has never been definitively identified and has been largely absent from public communication since around 2011.
From its radical inception as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system to its current status as a significant digital asset and store of value, Bitcoin's history is a testament to the transformative potential of decentralized technologies. It has overcome numerous challenges, spurred the creation of an entire industry, and continues to evolve as a groundbreaking innovation in the financial landscape.