Bitcoin Falls; Japan Says No to Crypto ETFs
Published Jan 14, 2019 08:36AM ET
Investing.com - Cryptocurrency prices slumped on Monday, as Japan’s watchdog said it had no plans to approve crypto exchange-traded funds.
The news is the latest knock-back for crypto assets from global regulators, who have been reluctant to make it easier for investors to access them because of worries that it is too easy to manipulate cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin fell 2.3% to $3,518.90 on the Investing.com Index, as of 8:36 AM ET (13:36 GMT).
Cryptocurrencies overall were lower, with the total coin market capitalization at $118 billion at the time of writing, compared to $122 billion on Sunday.
Ethereum,or Ether, slumped 6.1% to $116.31 and Litecoin was at $30.18 down 5.6%, while XRP slipped 3.6% to $0.31728.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency said on Monday that it was not considering approving ETFs. Last week, a report from Bloomberg had cited a person familiar with the FSA as saying the regulator might approve such listings.
“There is no such fact that we are considering approving ETFs which track crypto-assets at present … we are not currently considering approving them,” an FSA spokesperson said to news outlet Bitcoin.com. The agency has also said it has no plans to authorize the listing of Bitcoin futures on Japan's financial markets.
The U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission has repeatedly rejected applications for crypto-based ETFs over the last year, but that still hasn't killed speculation that it could change its mind in future. The SEC is still reviewing a number of applications from companies.
In other news, Denmark’s tax agency is now able to collect information on digital currency trades from exchanges, including names, addresses and personal tax numbers. The move is to ensure that citizens have paid taxes, the regulator wrote on its website, according to Bloomberg.
“Without going too far, I think one can say that this is a big market that we need to look at more closely,” Karin Bergen, a director at the agency, said in a statement.
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Written By: Investing.com
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