Cryptocurrencies held up by and large on Thursday, despite a rout in global stock markets.

In the afternoon of Asia hours, bitcoin had fallen by 0.23 percent to around $6,484, while XRP saw losses of 2.09 percent and ethereum shed 1.38 percent, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com. It's not unusual to see bitcoin lead other digital tokens lower.

The steady performance among cryptocurrencies contrasted sharply with the last time there was a major market stock sell-off.

On October 11, bitcoin fell more than 4 percent, while both XRP and ethereum plunged more than 11 percent during Asia trading hours alone, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com.