Market crackdown will see cryptocurrency ‘thrive’ after ‘wild price ride’

BITCOIN regulation could allow cryptocurrency to “thrive” and protect investors despite leading to sharp price collapses, it has been revealed.

Uncertainty over regulatory crackdowns around the world, concerns about fraud and overvaluations have been blamed for recent price falls as Bitcoin drop tumbled from highs of over $19,000 to $7,642 at the time of publishing.

Although the leading virtual currency tracker Coinbase declared that Bitcoin has seen an 18.22 per cent rise in the last 24 hours (at time of writing) that saw its value climb back up to £5,288.03 ($7,383.45).

Christian Catalini assistant professor at MIT Sloan School of Management said: “What’s useful is that as regulation will become more clear that will actually allow the space overall to thrive.”

Prof Catalini said the currency had been on a “wild ride” remembering that the Bitcoin price had been at $1,000 just a year ago.

The price then spiked towards the end of last year before crashing in January, Prof Catalini claimed the jump may have been down to manipulation.

He said: “It’s not clear how much of that was enthusiasm, hype, maybe even market manipulation.”

Price falls have been partly put down to uncertainty over regulation of what is still a fairly new market.

Countries like South Korea and China which had been centre of the cryptocurrency boom have now made moves to crackdown on exchanges and traders.

Bitcoin ROCKETS: Market crackdown will see cryptocurrency ‘thrive’ after ‘wild price ride’
BITCOIN regulation could allow cryptocurrency to “thrive” and protect investors despite leading to sharp price collapses, it has been revealed.
By TARYN TARRANT-CORNISH

Uncertainty over regulatory crackdowns around the world, concerns about fraud and overvaluations have been blamed for recent price falls as Bitcoin drop tumbled from highs of over $19,000 to $7,642 at the time of publishing.

Although the leading virtual currency tracker Coinbase declared that Bitcoin has seen an 18.22 per cent rise in the last 24 hours (at time of writing) that saw its value climb back up to £5,288.03 ($7,383.45).

Christian Catalini assistant professor at MIT Sloan School of Management said: “What’s useful is that as regulation will become more clear that will actually allow the space overall to thrive.”

Prof Catalini said the currency had been on a “wild ride” remembering that the Bitcoin price had been at $1,000 just a year ago.

The price then spiked towards the end of last year before crashing in January, Prof Catalini claimed the jump may have been down to manipulation.

Bitcoin regulationGETTY/MIT

Bitcoin can 'thrive' thanks to new regulation despite price collapses
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He said: “It’s not clear how much of that was enthusiasm, hype, maybe even market manipulation.”

Price falls have been partly put down to uncertainty over regulation of what is still a fairly new market.

Countries like South Korea and China which had been centre of the cryptocurrency boom have now made moves to crackdown on exchanges and traders.

Bitcoin price soars as Wall Street suffers crash
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The MIT professor said the regulation can protect investors from scams.

Initial coin offerings (ICO) are used by firms similar to crowd find where a firm create their own coin and sell them to raise funds.

However, there have been many instances of ICOs being used as a scam.

Catalini’s research suggested that between 14 and 30 per cent of ICOs were “very likely to be scams”.

Source : https://goo.gl/dcMo7U