Investing.com - Prices of major cryptocurrencies dropped on Thursday morning in Asia after Bitcoin lost steam.
Bitcoin lost 3.35% to $7,655.3 by 12:11 PM ET (03:11 AM GMT). The coin went on a downward trajectory after hitting $7,692.3 overnight. On May 16, it reached a 10-month high at $8,287.2.
Ethereum dropped 5.01% to $242.82, XRP slipped 6.83% to $0.37262 and Litecoin shed 3.75% to $87.364.
The total market cap amounted to $239.5 billion, down from $250 billion the day before.
In a pair of separate developments, Russia moved a step closer to adopting crypto-related legislation while a court in Israel took the position that Bitcoin is an asset and not a currency.
Olga Skorobogatova, first deputy governor of the Russian central bank, said the bill “On Digital Financial Assets” will be adopted in the coming months as it is at a “sufficiently high degree of preparedness”.
In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin placed a direct order to adopt regulations for the crypto industry and enforce them by this July.
While the Russian authorities want things to move ahead fast, they had to delay the second reading of the bill because of an order from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). The Chairman of the Russian Parliament’s Committee on Financial Market revealed yesterday.
The FATF and Russia are divided on the legislation of major industry terms such as “Cryptocurrencies” and “Bitcoin”. The FAFT would like so but Russia’s central bank is reportedly avoiding so.
In separate news, Israeli court ruled that Bitcoin is an asset but not a currency. It means that crypto investors will be subject to capital gains tax for their profits made from selling cryptocurrency.
The Israel Tax Authority argued that currencies must have some physical manifestation under the country’s laws, hence Bitcoin should not be deemed as a currency.