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Bitcoin, Ethereum Prices Plot Cautious Recovery as Korean Government Cools Trading Ban Rumors

Last Updated March 4, 2021 5:03 PM
Josiah Wilmoth
Last Updated March 4, 2021 5:03 PM

The cryptocurrency market is eyeing a cautious recovery after financial regulators in South Korea publicly stated that they do not agree with the cryptocurrency trading ban that has been proposed by the country’s justice minister. In the meantime, though, nearly every major coin is trading below its previous-day level, and the ethereum price has snapped its streak of positive returns.

Cryptocurrency Markets Chaotic as Korean Officials Spar over Regulations

As CCN.com reported, Korea’s Ministry of Justice revealed that although regulators struck a deal to curb anonymous cryptocurrency trading but not prohibit it outright, the agency has continued to draft a bill that would ban all cryptocurrency trading.

Cryptocurrency prices immediately began to careen downwards on South Korean exchanges, and the panic quickly expanded to exchanges outside the jurisdiction of Korean regulators. Within hours, the cryptocurrency market cap had plunged approximately $100 billion, and the market eventually bottomed out at $628.5 billion.

ethereum price
Source: CoinMarketCap

Before long, though, the market began to recover. Korea’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance held a press conference in which the agency told reporters that the Ministry of Justice was acting on its own and the proposal had not been agreed upon by the country’s cryptocurrency task force, which includes a broad range of agencies including these ministries as well as the central bank.

“We do not share the same views…on a potential cryptocurrency exchange ban,” the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said.

Since this press conference, the cryptocurrency market cap has recovered by more than $40 billion, although it has thus far failed to reach the level at which it was trading before the initial report that the Ministry of Justice was still seeking a blanket trading ban.

Bitcoin Price Recovers After Sub-$13,000 Dip

The market turmoil caused the bitcoin price to tumble to a low of $12,639 on Bitfinex, a 16 percent drop from its daily high of $14,999. At present, the bitcoin price is trading at $13,201 on this exchange, while its global average is $13,501, which translates into a $226.8 billion market cap.

bitcoin price
24-Hour Bitcoin Price Chart

Ethereum Price Snaps Record-Setting Streak

The chaos also brought an end to ethereum’s record-setting run, which had seen the second largest cryptocurrency achieve all-time highs for several consecutive days even as the wider markets had been less hospitable to other top coins. The ethereum price is currently trading at $1,150 at Bitfinex, down from a high of $1,332 on Wednesday. Ethereum now has a market cap of $114.4 billion.

ethereum price
24-Hour Ethereum Price Chart

EOS Headlines an Otherwise-Sour Day

The majority of altcoins joined bitcoin and ethereum in posting moderate declines, but a few cryptocurrencies managed to make positive movement.

ethereum price

Third-ranked ripple continued its mid-week downtrend, falling six percent to reduce its market cap to $66.7 billion. Bitcoin cash, conversely, managed to rise by six percent and lift its market cap to $42.4 billion. Cardano, litecoin, NEM, and dash all fell between three and five percent, while EOS and IOTA joined bitcoin cash in posting single-day advances.

The IOTA price rose three percent for the day to $3.49, bringing its market cap to within a few hundred million of the $10 billion milepost. EOS, though, exploded by 21 percent, raising its price to $10.63 and market cap to $10.6 billion.

Featured image from Shutterstock.