Bitcoin prices are flirting near its year-to-date low of $5,947 in early February after Japanese Bitcoin exchange bitFlyer Inc was forced by regulators to suspend any new business activity until it took preventative security measures to deter money laundering and terrorist financing.
As of 4:30pm Eastern Time, Bitcoin’s price is $6,224.19, but reached a low of $6,140.03 hours earlier. As evidenced in the chart below, Bitcoin’s price trajectory is threatening to break the $5,947 February floor price if downward pressure from continued selloffs occur.
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Four other Japanese exchanges were tagged for security violations by Japan’s Financial Services Agency. Among the red flags was a bitFlyer account that traced back to a post-office box address and bitFlyer board members who were supposed to monitor management were mostly friends of CEO Yuzo Kano, a former trader at Goldman Sachs who co-founded the company.
In addition, regulators said that bitFlyer provided false information about its plans to prevent “antisocial forces,” including organized crime, from using the exchange. Kano was quick to respond publicly on his Twitter account with an apology and a promise to address the FSA’s concerns.
Two Blockchain ETFs that focus on the underlying technology that forms the basis for cryptocurrencies were down to end Friday’s trading session–Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (BLCN) was down 0.39% and Amplify Transformational Data Shrg ETF (BLOK) was down 1.14%.
“There’s a trend for regulators around the world to see (cryptocurrencies) increasingly as a method of speculation. And if it is a tool of speculation, they need to respond firmly from the perspective of investor protection,” said Masanori Kusunoki, chief technology officer at Japan Digital Design Inc. and a member of a Financial Services Agency study group on cryptocurrency exchanges.
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