Bitcoin price and the wider cryptocurrency market are firmly on the rise after a particularly dogged week of downward slides as the price of bitcoin scale above $8,000 on Wednesday’s trading.
Bitcoin’s gains on Tuesday has kept its momentum into Wednesday’s early trading with a 25% gain in value over the last 24 hours, at press time. After falling to a low of $6,000 (Bitfinex) early on Tuesday, an ensuing recovery effort has seen the value of the world’s first cryptocurrency peak at $8,238 at 11:00 (GMT).
For many, the upturn is a result of discussions at Tuesday’s US Senate hearing raising the possibility of cryptocurrency regulations. The publicly broadcasted discussions saw Securities and Exchange (SEC) chair Jay Clayton and Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chair J. Christopher Giancarlo testifying on their intention to focus supervisory efforts on ICOs and regulations of cryptocurrency exchanges at a federal level, as opposed to the current state-level laws.
Pertinently, the cryptocurrency community sees the testimony as a development that wouldn’t harm cryptocurrency markets. Instead, the remarks offered at the hearing ultimately proved encouraging in a manner that regulatory scrutiny, if any, would not hinder the development of cryptocurrencies nor blockchain technology.
CFTC chair Christopher Giancarlo went a step further in educating the committee by underlining the inextricable nature of bitcoin and blockchain technology, stating:
“It’s important to remember that if there was no Bitcoin, there would be no blockchain.”
Beyond bitcoin, much of the wider cryptocurrency market is also showing plenty of respite with significant double-digit gains as the combined market cap nears $400 billion after a low of $275 billion on Tuesday.
Stay tuned for further coverage on cryptocurrency markets.
Click here for a real-time bitcoin price chart and here for the current cryptocurrency market cap.
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