Hello and welcome to our rolling coverage of all things cryptocurrency, including price, regulation, innovation and financial crime.
Bitcoin has fallen overnight to $8,975 as hopes of a return to $10,000 are once again dashed.
Ethereum has fallen to $657, with XRP at $0.81
Vinay Sharma, Senior Trader at ayondo markets has told Express.co.uk that for those in the capital markets, “the buzz around cryptocurrencies seems to be dissipating.”
He said: “The question of their use and viability as a currency still remains.
“In my view, the chances of crypto’s being used as a viable medium of exchange in the future is very slim. The question I always like to ask is: ‘If I get paid in bitcoins how do I get taxed on it?'”
“In my opinion cyrptocurrencies aren’t really currencies at all. With volatility so high they become assets that traders and investors can speculate on and I imagine this will continue to be true in the long term.”
US Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo has claimed that bitcoin is part currency, part security and part digital coin.
He told CNBC: “Bitcoin and a lot of its other virtual currency counterparts really have elements of all of the different asset classes, whether they’re meeting payment, whether it’s a long-term asset.
“We see elements of commodity in it that are subject to our regulations, but depending on which regulatory regime you’re looking at, it has different aspects of all of that.
Mr Giancarlo said that there are certain aspects of bitcoin that look similar to an asset like gold.
He said: “Only it’s virtual. It’s digital.”
