According to data from CoinGecko, Bitcoin was under pressure once more on Thursday morning, as the leading crypto sank to a low of four weeks at $22,408 briefly.
But, it had climbed back up once more at the time of writing to a value of $22,715, still below the $23,000 mark.
Price action
This latest decline comes after the pioneer crypto has enjoyed a strong performance in the previous month, as it rose almost 40% since the beginning of the year.
It raised investors’ expectations about a new bull run, but the latest price action saw BTC lose about $10 billion in terms of market capitalization.
On Wednesday, the market cap had stood at a value of $448 billion, but it had dropped to $437.9 billion at the time of writing.
The largest crypto in the world currently holds a market share of about 39.4%, while the second-largest crypto i.e. Ethereum has a share of approximately 17.7%.
Ethereum’s losses for the day stood at about 2%, as it was trading at a value of $1,640 at press time.
A similar price trend was seen in other cryptocurrencies, such as Cardano (ADA), Binance Coin (BNB), and Dogecoin (DOGE), as their daily losses are between 2% and 3.5%.
Crypto scrutiny
The drop in prices came after reports revealed that prominent crypto exchange Kraken was under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for alleged violations of securities laws.
While Kraken did not shed any light on the matter, an unnamed source familiar with it said that the investigation had reached an ‘advanced stage’.
They also said that there would be a settlement between Kraken and the SEC in the coming days. In another development of events, Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, also addressed the topic of crypto staking.
He took to Twitter and addressed the rumors about the SEC’s intention of trying to eliminate crypto staking for retail customers in the US in a lengthy thread.
He stated that he hoped this was not the intention of the SEC because it would result in a terrible path if it were allowed to happen.
Crypto staking
The chief executive of Coinbase said that staking is considered a vital crypto innovation because it gives users a say in how crypto networks are run.
He also said that it can bring some great improvements in the crypto space, such as reduced carbon footprints, better security, and scalability.
On Wednesday, the head of digital assets at the Bank of New York, Michael Demissie had taken aim at the lack of clear regulations for the crypto sector.
He said that they require clear rules and regulations for the road. He also added that responsible actors are required for providing reliable services that can live up to the trust of the investors.
Demissie also stated that crypto was here to stay and they needed to figure out how to navigate the sector in a responsible manner for everyone.
