Bitcoin
Rates fall to US$61,000 and regulatory fears spur consolidation By Investing.com
Investing.com – The price of Bitcoin fell on Thursday, seeing little relief amid continued pressure from concerns about high US interest rates and increased regulatory scrutiny against some of the crypto industry’s biggest players.
The token has once again moved towards the lower end of a trading range seen for most of the last two months. Bitcoin also fell to $57,000 in late April, entering a bear market after record highs reached in early March.
fell 1.7% in the last 24 hours to $61,563.6 at 01:46 ET (05:46 GMT). The token was also suffering from sustained outflows from crypto investment products, especially spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
Regulatory fears continue to hurt Bitcoin
Concerns about increased US regulatory scrutiny against crypto remained in play, after trading app Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:) said it was facing regulatory action from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over token trading cryptographic assets on your platform.
A potential action against Robinhood could add to the current cases the SEC is already pursuing against exchange Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:) and issuer XRP, which are expected to determine the nature of cryptocurrencies under US law.
The SEC was also investigating the world’s No. 2 token over its nature as a security. The regulator postponed the decision on approving spot Ethereum ETFs this week and appears unlikely to approve the ETFs until its investigation is complete.
Cryptocurrency markets have also reportedly faced pressure due to the release of several major token unlocks, whether through staking or locked issuances to early investors.
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Recent reports have shown that customers of the defunct exchange FTX will receive their deposits back, with interest, although it is unclear whether the payments will be in cash or crypto.
A report released earlier this week claimed that more than 90% of all transactions in stablecoins were artificial, raising concerns about increased regulatory scrutiny against the sector, which is a key pillar of the crypto industry.
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In addition to Bitcoin, other major crypto tokens also saw little relief on Thursday. Ethereum fell 0.3% and lost 1.8% while gaining 0.2%.
Traders remained broadly biased against the dollar after a series of Federal Reserve officials warned that US interest rates would likely remain high for longer into 2024 – a scenario that bodes ill for risk-off crypto markets .
The focus now is on upcoming comments from more Fed speakers as well as major US speakers, which will be released next week.