Bitcoin slipped below the $22,000 mark, falling about 2% amid the negative news inflows and market volatility

Bitcoin fell sharply during the early trading hours in Asia on Thursday after the hawkish tone from the US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell over rate hikes. Though, the biggest crypto token found some footing at the lower levels.

Meanwhile, India, which is presiding over the G-20 summit this year, has put crypto assets under its money laundering laws. The Indian government issued a notification about it on March 7.

Bitcoin dropped below the $22,000 mark, dipping nearly 2% amid the negative news inflows and market volatility. Its biggest peer Ethereum was also lower, dropping over 1% and stayed below $1,600 mark. Altcoins, though, saw sharp falls.

Except XRP, Shiba Inu and US dollar-pegged stablecoins, all other major and popular crypto tokens were trading with big cuts on Thursday. Solana dipped 7%, whereas Polygon dropped 6%. Avalanche tumbled 5%, while Polkadot, Cardano and Litecoin shed 3%, each. On the contrary, XRP gained 3%.

Bitcoin is struggling to stay above $30,000 and Ethereum is around $2,000. Overall market sentiment continues to be cautious because of ongoing regulatory clampdowns.

The global crypto currency market cap was trading lower, dropping below the $1t mark to $998.6 billion. The crypto market cap fell 2% during the past 24 hours. Though, the total trading volumes rose by more than 2% to near $45.01 billion.

Crypto exchanges and intermediaries dealing with virtual digital assets will now be needed to perform KYC of their clients and users of the platform. The Finance Ministry of Government of India on March 7 notified that entities dealing in virtual digital assets (VDAs) will now be considered ‘reporting entities’ under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).