The United States Department of Justice has started an investigation into possible criminal activity relating to bitcoin manipulation. Bloomberg states that there is possibility that traders might be trying to alter bitcoin prices as well as the prices of other cryptocurrencies to their favor to earn profits of the trades they pull off.
The bitcoin has fallen down to one of its lowest values in recent time as it continues to get closer to the $7,000 mark. The value fell down to the $7,400 mark during the trading day on Thursday. The drop marks the continuation of a trend where the currency has been struggling to catch up in value. The currency has lost nearly a thousand dollars in the past week. The move comes as there are concerns that some illegal actions are causing currencies to change in value without warning, thus leading to some difficulties in the market in general.
The currency market is struggling with issues surrounding how such transactions are made and what is available for use. This may complicate the market further based on certain moves that come along over how currencies are made available. However, some added efforts in the industry are being used to try and make currencies easier for people to trade.
Specific Actions
There are concerns that many illegal actions have been utilized to get the bitcoin to change in its value. This includes spoofing, a process where traders add large numbers of fake orders for larger buy or sell deals.
Wash trading is another concern that is being investigated. People will trade currencies with themselves here. This creates an artificial rise in volume, thus making people believe that there is some kind of demand on the currency market.
The DOJ is working with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to find information on how the currency market is running. Part of this may include a review of how currencies are being traded based on who is conducting the trades and how often those moves are being handled.
Possible Recovery
There has been a chance for a recovery to take place on the market when the bitcoin’s value is considered. Deutsche Boerse, the owner of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, said that it is thinking about offering cryptocurrency investment products. This could help increase the value of the bitcoin and other currencies thanks to there being more people trading such currencies. However, the German group is looking for added information on how the industry works and what makes it valuable for investing.
Coinbase will also make trading easier as it rebrands its GDAX professional trading platform into a new system entitled Coinbase Pro. The setup will offer an added analytics system and a streamlined setup that makes it easier for data to be analyzed. Some staking activities may also be supported.
However, these are both moves that had minimal influence in the cryptocurrency market. The volatility of the currency field is still intense, thus leading to concerns that the bitcoin and other currencies might decline some more.
Thank you Vladimir!
Thanks Vlad for the update on Bitcoins.