Bitcoin prices rose marginally and traded above the $19,000
level on Monday, July 4, 2022. Bitcoin has been trading around the $20,000 mark
after a 56% slide this year. Cryptocurrencies have struggled this year amid
Federal Reserve rate hikes and stubbornly high inflation. After crypto’s last
two-year winter ended in 2020, the sector spiked to around $3 trillion in total
assets last November, before slumping to less than $1 trillion. The collapse of
the Terra/Luna ecosystem and the continued concern about the hedge fund Three
Arrows Capital Ltd further rattled investors. The digital token is down over
56% so far this year, and trading over 70% below its record high of $69,000 it
had hit in November 2021.

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The global cryptocurrency market cap was at $865.57 billion,
up 0.43% in the last 24 hours. However, the total cryptocurrency 24 hours
trading volume is $37.94 billion.

Bitcoin fear and greed index on Monday, June 4, 2022, went
from the extreme fear level of 11 to the level of 14 as per the alternative.
me. The Fear and Greed index is a technique for assessing investors’ emotions
toward the market.  

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Bitcoin is currently trading at $19,142.08, up by 0.87%. In
the last 24 hours, the highest it touched was $19,558.27 and the lowest was
$18,971.81. Bitcoin has a current market cap of $365,314,497,724. It has a
circulating supply of 19,084,781.00. BTC coins have a maximum supply of
21,000,000 coins.

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Meta Platforms to shut down digital wallet Novi amid crypto
crash

Facebook parent Meta has said it will shut down its digital
wallet for cryptocurrency, Novi, on September 1, 2022, merely a year after it
started the project. The product didn’t even make it to a full launch,
suspending its operations at the pilot stage. Novi app and its integration with
WhatsApp will no longer be available and users will not be able to sign in to
their accounts after the expiry date, Meta said in a statement. The move
coincides with the turmoil in the cryptocurrency space, with prices crashing to
new lows. It also added that from July 21, users will not be able to add
currency to the wallet and “strongly advised” users to withdraw their money.

Also Read | Crypto tax: All you need to know about 1% TDS that will be charged from July 1

Finance Ministry clarifies what NFTs qualify as virtual
digital assets

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has clarified that
only those NFT trades that do not include a parallel sale of an underlying
physical asset will attract the tax rates specified for virtual digital assets
(VDAs). It further added that gift cards, vouchers, reward points, mileage
points, and loyalty cards are not VDAs and will not be taxed. Many experts from
the sector are looking at this as the first time that the government has
indirectly set forth the definition of NFTs.