Investing.com – Bitcoin prices fell on Friday, while Ethereum and Litecoin slumped more than 5% as the Bank of Korea denied plans for launching a central bank-backed digital currency.
Bitcoin was trading at $6,663.7 by 12:40AM ET (04:40GMT) on the Bitfinex exchange, down 1.7% over the previous 24 hours.
Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was down 5.6% at $513.82 on the Bitfinex exchange.
Ripple’s XRP token fell 3.9% to $0.52519 on the Poloniex exchange.
Meanwhile, Litecoin traded 5.0% lower to to $94.08.
The Bank of Korea said earlier this week that it is opposed to the idea of a central bank-backed digital coin, as it could cause moral hazard for the bank and destabilize the markets.
“It’s desirable that the BOK is the only entity to entirely control issuing money,” the central bank said in a report.
“We reviewed the possible feasibility of digital currencies as currency; however, our thoughts are that digital currencies have been exposed to various categories of risk associated with credit, liquidity and legal management. Digital currencies don’t perform as money.” Kwon Oh-ik, a research at the bank’s economic research institue noted.
Elsewhere, Brian Kelly, founder and CEO of investment firm BKCM LLC, said in an interview with CNBC that he believes the initial coin offerings (ICOs) market is overvalued, and called such way to raise money is “very frothy”.
"People are starting to say, 'I'm going to put the brakes on the ICOs right now. I've got my portfolio. I don't need a seventh or eighth ICO,'" Kelly said. "To me, [ICOs are] not as hot as they used to be."