Bitcoin Price Plummets Amid Reports of Regulatory Scrutiny and Market Manipulation
Bitcoin Price Plummets Amid Reports of Regulatory Scrutiny and Market Manipulation
Bitcoin’s price has decreased 60% since reaching its record high last year. This can be attributed to at least two factors: regulatory scrutiny and market manipulation.
Regulatory Scrutiny: This past August, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) rejected nine applications for cryptocurrency exchange traded funds. These funds, which are baskets of cryptocurrencies bundled together, are seen as critical to mainstreaming cryptocurrency because they decrease investment risk and increase market accessibility. The SEC’s decision is indicative of a larger trend of government action against cryptocurrencies. For example, a federal court in the Eastern District of New York recently upheld a criminal securities fraud indictment against the promoter of the initial coin offerings of REecoin and Diamond.
Market Manipulation: Abusive software bots are also depressing the price of cryptocurrencies because they degrade investor confidence. The New York Attorney General’s Office recently released a report that warned about these practices. This report found that, “virtual asset trading platforms have yet to implement serious efforts to monitor and stop abusive or manipulative trading.” It went on to explain that, “few platforms seriously restrict, or even monitor, the operation of ‘bots’ or automated algorithmic trading on their venue.” This allows various pump and dump schemes, whereby “traders talk up the price of a cryptocurrency before dumping it for a profit”, to flourish.
Attorneys at Faruqi and Faruqi will continue to monitor this space to ensure that investors are protected.
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