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Bitcoin price dropped to an unexpected $2984 amid uncontrollable market sell-off on Friday. After BTCC, ViaBTC also announced that they will also be shutting down all operations by 30th September. Prices fell nearly 20% on the day, losing nearly $700 since trading on Thursday.
However, the price was down in the range of $3000 only for a couple of hours. It quickly recovered to find support at $3600 suggesting the waning influence of China on Bitcoin.
The impact of Chinese regulators on Bitcoin’s value has substantially gone down over the years as reported by cnLedger. Creator of Litecoin, Chalie Lee, goes so far to say:
“This is a good thing. China can no longer play with the markets by banning Bitcoin. Crypto-currency cannot be killed by any country.”
Markets seem to have already priced-in the bearish news out of China. Even after Huobi and OKcoin – two of China’s ‘big three’ exchanges including BTCC – decide to shut down due to regulations, the market will take no time recover from the sell-off.
Bitcoin price is likely to consolidate largely in the range of $3400 to $3600 and continue the bullish movement in the weeks to come. Thanks to this diversified market, even after world’s second largest economy’s regulatory interventions, Bitcoin price was able to recover within a day.
Unless there is more damaging news from China, the current range, $3400 – $3600, is unlikely to be breached to the downside.
Top Stories from the Crypto World
1. Huobi and OKCoin to stop CNY/BTC pair trading by October end
Two of the country’s largest Bitcoin exchanges have announced that they will halt yuan-denominated trading by the end of October. For now, both exchanges will continue to offer trading services, but have halted yuan deposits starting today.
China-based exchanges BTCC, ViaBTC and Yunbi all announced that they would shut their doors by the end of this month.
2. SEC shows support for ICOs that are not obviously securities
Not long ago SEC issued a letter on DAO – a project that allowed investors in the token to pool their funds and invest in other crypto companies. This was a clear sale of securities by definition, as the investors were to receive ownership in a variety of crypto startups.
Recently, SEC got Protostarr shut down and return all the funds. Prostarr were securitizing the income stream of YouTubers and Twitch casters, by letting investors get a percentage of the future revenues of those stars.
It is clear that all the ICOs dealing with securitization of assets will either have to move offshore or complete halt operations. While the rest of the ICOs may still be allowed to continue with their token sale.
3. North Korea may overlook UN sanctions with Bitcoin
The latest round of sanctions imposed on North Korea by the UN bans all textiles from North Korea which could cost the country billions of dollars.
With bans restricting the flow of money, the country is turning to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to fund their programs, instead of bowing down to pressure. So much so that Kim’s regime is targetting South Korean Bitcoin exchanges, with at least three confirmed successful attacks.
If these attacks continue we could see the cryptocurrency market go more volatile.