Investing.com - Cryptocurrencies continued to fall on Tuesday, as virtual coins struggled to gain ground after a steep fall on Monday following news that South Korean exchange Coinrail was hacked.
Bitcoin was trading at $6,740.00, falling 0.52% the Bitfinex exchange, as of 9:18 AM ET (13:18 GMT).
Other digital coins were lower on Tuesday, with Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, falling 1.39% to $522.72 on the Bitfinex exchange. Ripple, the third largest virtual currency, decreased 0.65% to $0.57433 while Litecoin was at $104.79, down 1.05%.
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail announced on Twitter over the weekend that it was hacked, prompting a sell-off in bitcoin. The incident sparked new concerns over cyber security at virtual coin platforms
South Korea is one of the top cryptocurrency trading centers, with many of the biggest exchanges. The hack of Coinrail is also just the latest of numerous virtual currency exchange cyber attacks which has weighed on market sentiment.
The coin market cap was also lower, with total market capitalization at $294 billion at the time of writing compared to $297 billion on Friday.
In regulation news, the Financial Action Task Force is considering introducing binding rules over cryptocurrency exchanges. The Paris-based group of 37-nation groups will look at existing guidelines, which include exchanges being registered and applying Know-Your-Customer rules. The group will determine if the rules should be changed or added to.
Meanwhile Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) is the latest bank to go after virtual coins. The bank announced Monday that it was banning the use of its credit cards to purchase digital coins. Other banks that have also banned