Bitcoin Falls From Weekly High Over Crypto Exchange Scrutiny

As regulators crack down on cryptocurrency exchanges, bitcoin slid again on Thursday (March 8) by 7 percent over a 24-hour period. Following a high earlier in the week, the cryptocurrency has tumbled more than 15 percent, CNBC reported.

The popular virtual currency was trading at $9,809.63 as of 11:27 A.M., according to CoinDesk. That was down from a weekly high of $11,624 on Monday (March 5). And, on Wednesday (March 7), the currency fell below the $10,000 level.

The fall comes as Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) stopped trading on Thursday (March 8) at the Bit Station and FSHO crypto exchanges for one month. The FSA said a Bit Station manager had used bitcoin from customers for his or her own purposes, according to a translation and wire reports.

The price dip follows concerns at the Hong Kong-based Binance exchange, where customers might have fallen victim to phishing through their accounts: “The [application programming interface] for the exchange malfunctioned and sent sell orders into the market,” Brian Kelly, head of BKCM, told CNBC.

The recent declines also come as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said several online trading platforms should be registered with the SEC itself. Among the issues raised by the regulator, the SEC noted investors may put faith in and feel a greater sense of security in a platform bearing an “exchange” label. But against that backdrop, the SEC said the platforms likely would need to be registered as regulated national securities exchanges or as alternate trading systems, said Reuters.

“The SEC staff has concerns that many online trading platforms appear to investors as SEC-registered and regulated marketplaces when they are not,” the agency said via a statement. Some platforms do not, in fact, act like exchanges but offer services that, as Reuters said, “trigger other requirements,” such as the need to become a broker dealer or a clearing agent.

According to the SEC, platforms that offer trading of digital assets that, in turn, act like securities must register. SEC Head Jay Clayton has in the past given voice to his concerns over cryptocurrency trading and has said investors should be cautious.