Bitcoin in Sudden Sell-off as Powell Doubts Crypto Demand

Investing.com — Bitcoin suffered a sharp sell-off from near session highs Friday, as Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell downplayed demand for cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin fell 1.66 % to $10,366 in what was a sharp selloff from around $10,864.

Speaking in Zurich, Powell said there was no clear demand for a digital currency. He added that, if one was developed, it would have to be extremely cyber secure, raising fears that widestream adoption of cryptos would draw intense regulatory scrutiny,

Commenting on Facebook’s plans to launch its Libra crypto, Powell said it would have to be held up to the “highest regulatory and supervisory” standards as the tech giant’s social-media platform has amassed sensitive data on more than a billion people.

Despite the sell off, however, bitcoin remained well on track to snap a three-week losing streak following a bullish start to the week that saw popular crypto’s dominance rate – the weight of bitcoin’s markets cap relative to the total market cap for all crypto assets – raise above levels not seen since March 2017.

Some have argued the uptick in Bitcoin’s dominance rate symbolizes increased demand.

Other cryptos were trading mixed. XRP fell 1.45% to $0.25209, Ethereum was down slightly at $171.05 and Litecoin rose 1.30% to $65.52.

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