Crypto Market Continues To Bleed, following senate hearing on Facebooks Libra.
The #crypto market has continued to bleed over the last 24 hours with many coins showing further double digit losses. #BTC is down nearly 12% at just over $9500 , at the time of press.#Ethereum is approaching the $200 resistance level, after a nearly 13% drop. The over crypto market cap is getting close to the $250B resistance mark.
BTC / USD is currently on course to have its most bearish week since March 2018, down over 26% in the last week alone. #ETH is over 25% down on the week.
This recent steep drop in the #cryptomarket has been partly attributed to the #senate hearings on #Facebooks #Libra and the voicing of proposed cryptocurrency, by the social media giant and their negative views on cryptocurrencies generally.
Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, told the hearing: "We'd be crazy to give them a chance to let them experiment with people's bank accounts." He thought it was "delusional" to think individuals would trust the social media company with their "hard-earned" money.
Other senators voiced their concerns . "I don't trust you guys," said Republican senator Martha McSally. "Instead of cleaning up your house you are launching into a new business model."
U.S. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has also vocalised his assault on bitcoin, Facebook's planned Libra crypto project, and other cryptocurrencies, warning they pose nothing less than a "national security" risk to the country. " This is indeed a national security issue," Mnuchin told reporters at the press conference on the 16th July.
“Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have been exploited to support billions of dollars of illicit activity like cyber crime, tax evasion, extortion, ransomware, illicit drugs, and human trafficking," adding that Facebook's Libra "could be misused by money launderers and terrorist financiers."
Never one to hide his feelings on social media, President #Trump weighed in to show his distain for #cryptocurrency , on #twitter earlier this week:
This is all starting to feel like a calculated pincer attack, to lower prices ahead of incoming regulated markets, giving institutions one last chance to get their BTC for much lower prices before, what I believe will be, a meteoric rise.
Once people truly realise there are only 21 million #Bitcoins to go around (and many have been lost for ever) the price can only go one way. It will be virtually impossible for the US to ban #cryptocurrencies, as that really will be like trying to shut the door after the horse has bolted.
Institutional cryptocurrency platform Bakkt will begin testing its first product, physically-delivered bitcoin (BTC) futures on July 22, after many months of delays.
It will be interesting to see how the market reacts over the next few days and if the bleeding can be stemmed. Watch this space .....