Bitcoin’s price incurred a slight fall during today’s early morning hours. After trading at just under $9,000 for most of yesterday, bitcoin is down to around $8,600 at press time.
There appear to be several reasons for the drop. The first comes by way of the U.K. Authorities are laying out plans to implement a task force designed to assist in governing cryptocurrency usage to better understand the risks involved. The group will likely involve the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the treasury.
For the most part, the U.K. has remained primarily skeptical of digital assets. While accepting the benefits of its backing technology, the assets themselves seem to remain foolhardy investments in regulators’ eyes.
Current governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, for example, has long stood against trading cryptocurrencies and altcoins, saying they give rise to illicit activities and create far too much speculation regarding financial safety. While he’s touted the blockchain in the past, he has often stated that the currencies themselves won’t last.
His sentiment ultimately changed on the eve of the recent G20 summit. Carney published a letter stating that while popular, cryptocurrencies accounted for a very small percentage of modern-day transactions, and thus didn’t hold serious influence in the banking industry. While the financial infrastructure would undoubtedly change overtime to accommodate people’s growing understanding of cryptocurrencies, he explained that for the time being, they did not present any major threats.
It was originally believed that with Carney’s change, much of the U.K. would change with him, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Another drop may be due to Coinbase’s recent announcement that a bug involving “unlimited ether” had been resolved. A team of European researchers allegedly discovered a bug in the company’s software last December that allowed users to reward themselves with infinite amounts of ether. While it is unclear if any customers had known about or exploited the bug, the team deleted the issue in January, and has since removed it from Coinbase’s trading platform.
Despite the fix, many are voicing concerns about Coinbase’s current safety measures, and customer complaints have increased over the past few days.
Perhaps the largest reason can be traced back to China, where popular Hong Kong exchange Binance has been hit with a warning from Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA), which claims that the company has been operating without the proper registration.
Following the announcement, bitcoin reached a weekly low, and was trading for around $8,400. The currency has since undergone a $200 rise, though this is still less than yesterday’s numbers.
Presently, Binance is facing a potential criminal complaint for operating in Japan without the proper documentation. If the problem is not resolved, the company could face suspensions or temporary shutdowns.
Binance serves as one of the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. CEO Changpeng Zhao assured customers in a tweet that executives are doing all they can to work with the FSA, and that they have no reasons to worry.
The platform was involved in a massive (and well organized) hack last week that caused bitcoin’s price to drop below the $10,000 mark after previously enjoying steady, yet noticeable price bumps.