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Targeting crypto speculation:
Treasury Secretary-designate
Janet Yellen
at the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Wednesday
Photo: Kevin Dietsch / AP
The fear of stricter regulation under the new US President
Joe Biden
(78) pushed the Bitcoin price down on Thursday.
The cryptocurrency fell on the Bitstamp trading platform by 7.5 percent to 32,779 dollars and was even 10 percent weaker at times.
The cyber currency has lost almost a quarter since its record high of $ 42,000 in early January.
Lowered sentiment was that Biden might attempt to regulate cryptocurrencies, traders said.
During a Senate hearing Tuesday,
Janet Yellen,
74, who is supposed to head the U.S. Treasury Department under Biden, voiced concerns that cryptocurrencies could be used to fund illegal activities.
Joseph Edwards of the crypto broker Enigma Securities said the statements led to increased outflows.
But it is still unclear what steps the Biden government would take - if at all.
"However, we think it's probably still just a momentary weakness and not a major reversal," said Edwards.
ECB President
Christine Lagarde
(65) recently spoke out in favor of global regulation of the cryptocurrency in view of the extreme price fluctuations.
"Bitcoin is a highly speculative investment object that has had some weird deals and some interesting and totally reprehensible money laundering activities," she said in an interview on the online forum "Reuters Next".
Recently, the price of the oldest cyber currency suffered again from strong fluctuations.
On January 9, the price hit a record high of $ 42,100.
Two days later, it crashed suddenly and lost around $ 10,000 in value within a few hours.
In March of last year, Bitcoin had temporarily fallen below the $ 4,000 mark.
mg / Reuters