Bitcoin Reverses Gains, Trump official Warns against Illicit Activities

Cryptocurrencies were under pressure during the past few hours and bitcoin price traded below the USD 11,000 support. Ethereum also faced selling pressure and traded below the USD 1,050 support.

Commenting on regulation issues, one of the most senior financial policymakers in the US raised concerns over the recent rise in bitcoin price and people using it in criminal activities -“illicit activity”.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, US treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, stated that “we want to make sure that they’re not used for illicit activities”. Similarly, Theresa May raised issues of rising use of cryptocurrencies.

The US follows strict rules and laws to ensure that exchanges in the US which are offering trades in bitcoin and digital currencies follow all important anti-money laundering rules. However, there are many countries which are still very far in cracking down bitcoin and altcoins.

Bitcoin price was in trouble today as it traded lower by more than 6.8% to USD 10,580. It broke an important support at USD 11,000, which has cleared the path for more declines.

ETH also was under pressure along with NEO and LTC. Litecoin was down by 6.4% to trade near USD 170. Bitcoin cash also suffered losses as it traded close to the USD 1500 level.

In a surprising statement, cryptocurrency ‘Oracle’ Lingham in an interview to CNBC stated that he thinks bitcoin cash may overtake bitcoin in the near future. He added saying: “When I look at it from the product standpoint, I think the greater demand is for peer-to-peer cash than for digital gold”.

In altcoins arena,ICON Mainnet Launch was a huge success. ICX is one of the most talked about altcoins lately. One of the other altcoins, DigixDAO, gained heavily today. DGD was up by around 48% to trade above the USD 275 level.

Overall, the market is struggling to gain bullish strength. The recent bounce in bitcoin and Ethereum seems to be fading. If prices fail to recover during the coming sessions, there can be more declines in BTC/USD toward USD 10,000, and ETH/USD could trade below USD 1,000.