Top cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin, Ethereum hit 18-month lows; Avalanche, XRP, Cardano, Solana plunge up to 15%

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Bitcoin breached the $25,500 mark, whereas Ethereum slumped below $1,400. The crypto behemoths were trading near 18-month lows. The price plunge underscored investors' risk wariness.Avalanche plunged more than 15 per cent, exiting from the top 15 tokens. Solana, Cardano and XRP plunged 11 per cent each. Polkadot slumped 9 per cent.

Did you Know?

Fan tokens or sports crypto are digital assets that enable sports teams, leagues, clubs, associations and players to strengthen fan engagement.

The global cryptocurrency market cap was trading sharply lower at the $1.03 trillion mark, dropping more than 6 per cent in the last 24 hours. However, the total cryptocurrency trading volume zoomed over 22 per cent to $92.98 billion. Crypto spent much of the weekend in the red, following Friday’s CPI report that showed inflation rising, said CoinDCX Research Team. «Going into 2023, we expect major central banks to continue their trajectory of quantitative tightening and policy rate hikes.» Crypto investors were largely expecting the US central bank to boost rates a half percentage point later this week in a bid to quell inflation, leading to a major 'risk-off' sentiment in the markets," it added.Expert takeEthereum's longest-running testnet, Ropsten, is transitioning to a proof-of-stake algorithm. Within a day of going live, Ethereum's testnet Ropsten successfully transitioned to PoS, said WazirX Trade Desk. The merge being such a success, shows that the developers are on the right track which is a big confidence boost for the Ethereum community. «An employee of Terraform Labs has stolen 80 Bitcoin worth nearly $2.39 million during the Terra’s UST and LUNA collapse in May. As expected, Terra 2.0 was not a