Yahoo Finance Cryptos Fall; Coincheck looks to the U.S.
Investing.com - Cryptocurrencies fell on Friday, with Bitcoin nearing a two-month low.
Bitcoin was trading at $8,122.00, falling 2.03% as of 8:58 AM ET (12:58 GMT) on the Bitfinex exchange.
Other digital coins fell, with Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, down 2.33% to $681.53 on the Bitfinex exchange. Ripple, the third largest virtual currency, decreased 2.98% to $0.66897 while Litecoin was at $132.64, a slump of 4.01%.
Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck is planning to expand into the U.S., according to Bloomberg news.
Coincheck was the center of a $532 million hack in January and was subsequently bought by financial services firm Monex in April. Monex CEO Oki Matsumoto said he expects an official license from Japan in the next month but is already looking expand to the U.S. and Europe.
“Japan may seem like it’s one step ahead in crypto, but in terms of deciding what’s a security or a token and attracting institutional investors, the U.S. and Europe are moving ahead,” he told Bloomberg
In regulation news, the central bank of Libya has banned the use of virtual currencies and those who use it cannot be protected by Libyan law.
Meanwhile, Switzerland is looking into state-backed digital currency. The government has asked legislators to commision a study on a Swiss “e-franc.” While the news is promising for cryptocurrency advocates, the study still faces legislative hurdles through parliament's lower house. However the country has been open to digital currencies, having been one of the first countries to pass an intial coin offering (ICO) guideline.
Related Articles
India: Seven Major Banks Begin Testing Blockchain Trade Finance Platform
Cryptocurrency Market Needs Fixes To Attract Institutional Investors
