Cryptocurrency market witnessed some gains today morning after the losses it suffered yesterday, which extended about a week ago. Bitcoin is trying to consolidate above the $26,800 level after losing all of its gains recorded during this October and falling to the 26,521 level in yesterday’s maximum declines, which is the lowest level since last September 28. Likewise, Ethereum is trying to maintain the level of $1,560 after reaching the lowest levels a month ago, reaching the level of $1,545 yesterday.
These declines in the cryptocurrency market come amid the prevailing negative sentiment, with the continued dominance of regulatory concerns surrounding this market, in the absence of fundamentally positive developments that may restore some confidence to investors.
In the latest regulatory developments, we have witnessed the filing of two amicus briefs by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) as well as two academic lawyers in support of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its case against the crypto exchange, Coinbase.
The amicus briefs indicate that the SEC must supervise the cryptocurrency market, which has formed an environment for widespread fraud, and that crypto assets are not distinguished from investment securities, which must be registered, which requires the intervention of law enforcement authorities. As such, Coinbase is actually operating an unauthorized asset exchange. The amicus briefs also stated that crypto assets do not have any economic benefit and are not widely adopted except for speculative purposes.
In addition, we have witnessed a warning from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to investors about the danger of the decentralized financial market (DeFi), despite the authority stating that this market represents only $40 billion out of more than a trillion dollars of the cryptocurrency market as a whole. However, it must remain monitored. This is because, despite the flexibility it offers users, using it involves high risks. The Authority cited the speculative and risky nature of this technology, the lack of transparency in transactions, and the lack of knowledge of who is being dealt with through the various protocols that anyone can create.
It appears that weak confidence and regulatory concerns may cloud the cryptocurrency market for a long time, which may prevent more widespread adoption of this technology. Continuing regulatory pressures, especially in the United States, in addition to the exposure of more fraudulent practices that were exposed in the Sam Bankman-Fried trial, may keep investors away from this market and may make the long-term bullish outlook for this market meaningless – which they are already like that in my opinion.