New York Investigations Into Exchanges Pulls Bitcoin Price Less Than $7,900
Following the New York Attorney General’s announcement on Tuesday, stating investigations will be started into the cryptocurrency exchange industry, bitcoin prices have gone down the $7,900 mark.
The dominant cryptocurrency has previously been trading at $8,000 which had left analysts debating whether it will go on a bull run given that the U.S. tax season is drawing to a close.
Yet, in an unexpected shift, bitcoin prices on Tuesday dropped from $8,090 to $7,855 within a short period on Bitfinex. Presently, bitcoin is exchanging at $7,887 which is a market cap of $134.2 billion.
The decline comes in the wake of the announcement that the New York Attorney General’s office is starting an investigation into the operations of 13 cryptocurrency exchanges. Even though is it still uncertain if this will lead to any new regulation, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is known to be an activist and could possibly make a statement.
The New York’s attorney general has included 13 cryptocurrencies exchange in an investigation and one of them includes Gemini exchange that is operated by the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler. Also included in the investigation is Coinbase, the leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange.
According to General Eric Schneiderman, he aims to “improve transparency and accountability” in the industry. Rather than being a crackdown, the investigation seeks to find facts with the attorney’s office appealing to exchanges to provide needed information on their operations, internal controls, and safeguards.
“Too often, consumers don’t have the basic facts they need to assess the fairness, integrity, and security of these trading platforms,” said Schneiderman in a statement. “Our Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative sets out to change that, promoting the accountability and transparency in the virtual currency marketplace that investors and consumers deserve.”
The “Winkleveii” noted they expect to fully cooperate with Schneiderman.
