Bitcoin has started the day with a negative dynamic. At press time, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap is trading at $11,325.19 (-0.58%), according to CoinMarketCap.
Chart of the USD/BTC trading pair from EXANTE
For its part, Ethereum has fallen to $369,55 (-2.48%), while XRP has dropped by 3.39% and is now trading at $0.24.
Crypto exchange OKEx has suspended withdrawals of all assets indefinitely. The exchange has reported the measure is related to one of the key holders "being out of touch" because he is "currently cooperating with a public security bureau in investigations."
According to OKEx's CEO Jay Hao, the investigation is related to a "personal issue" of the key holder. As the company explains, it is impossible to approve the withdrawal of cryptocurrencies from the platform's wallets without this authorization.
FxPro's team of analysts say:
"Bitcoin is still moving in the $200 range around the $11,500 level. Since the beginning of the day, the crypto has fallen slightly to $11,300. The greed and fear index has fallen 4 points over the last day and is currently in the 'neutral' area, reflecting there is still room for further growth. However, the strengthening of the negative news background could give bears a boost, in which case it is important that Bitcoin does not fall below $11,000.
The decline in the price of the crypto coincides with news of the suspension of withdrawals from OKEx, one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, due to the alleged arrest of one of the platform's private key holders. Even though the exchange's executive team claims the investigation is not related to the platform's activities, significant amounts of BTC and other cryptos were withdrawn from the exchange some hours before the announcement. News about OKEx has appeared a few weeks after a similar situation occurred with BitMEX, in which authorities filed charges against the exchange itself.
It is very likely that in the near future the industry, which is huge in terms of volume, will become the target of regulatory investigations, as all five major platforms have huge volumes of cryptos. The peculiarity of this sector lies in the fact that until users withdraw their coins from the platforms, they actually belong to the exchange. The fact that Bitcoin is finding strength to recover in this context indicates the existence of a very strong demand from buyers, which increases even with small price decreases."
According to CoinMarketCap’s ranking, 9 currencies on the top 10 are in red.
As for the market cap of all currencies listed in CoinMarketCap, it stays at $356,369,080,378.
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