Investing.com – Bitcoin fell for the third-straight day as demand for cryptos stalled following a recent spate of negative comments.
Bitcoin fell 2.80% to $9,184.2 on the Bitfinex exchange to remain close to its intraday low of $9,045.3.
Tentative selling pressure continued following renewed fears of regulatory pressure after Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) said it would impose stricter guidelines for local cryptocurrency exchanges.
This sparked lingering fears of further regulatory action as it was just a few months ago that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced it would take a closer at crypto trading platforms offering “exchange-like” services.
Some crypto observers, however, cited bitcoin’s rally to near $10,000 last weekend triggered resistance – price levels that attract selling pressure.
Sentiment on cryptos was also soured after a letter from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco released on Monday, suggested the slump in bitcoin from an all-time high of $20,000 was largely driven by institutional investors following the launch of bitcoin futures last year.
“The advent of blockchain introduced a new financial instrument, bitcoin, which optimistic investors bid up, until the launch of bitcoin futures allowed pessimists to enter the market, which contributed to the reversal of the bitcoin price dynamics,” wrote the San Francisco Fed.
Despite the turn lower in sentiment, the total market cap of cryptocurrencies remained somewhat steady at $434 billion, at the time of writing, down from about $444 billion on Monday.
Ripple XRP fell 2.80% to $0.80817on the Poloniex exchange, while Ethereum fell 2.86% to $741.68.
Bitcoin Cash fell 6.85% to $1,567.90, while Litecoin fell 5.10% to $157.94.