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The top US financial regulators told a Senate panel on Tuesday that they were studying cryptocurrencies and warned that unregulated trade posed significant risks for investors. Zachary Goelman reports.
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What a difference a year can make. Last year at that time, bitcoin was in the midst of a 217% hike, peaking at $ 20,000 in December.

Today, the biggest cryptocurrency is struggling to stay above $ 4,000 – losing nearly 28% in value this week and briefly reaching its lowest level since September 2007 at $ 3,477.58 in the early days according to CoinDesk data.

It rebounded to $ 4,029.42 in night trading, up 5.4% from its 24-hour opening. The other cryptocurrencies finally entered positive territory at the end of the session as well. Ethereum was up 3.7% from its 24-hour opening, while Litecoin gained 7.9%. XRP slightly increased by less than 1%, according to CoinDesk.

This week's sales marked the biggest drop of a week since April 2013, the year Bitcoin had lost more than 44% of its value, according to CoinDesk.

The most recent cryptocurrency problems began in mid-November when they fell below $ 6,000. It was a turnaround from its relatively stable October, when US stocks had been roughed up.

The enthusiasm for bitcoins has dropped considerably since the last holiday season. Cryptocurrency has risen from $ 6,088.35 in mid-November 2017 to $ 19,326.49 on December 17, 2017. Since the beginning of the year 2018, bitcoin has decreased by almost 70%.

Cryptocurrencies in general are subject to increased regulatory scrutiny, putting pressure on their values.

In mid-November, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its first civil lawsuit against a cryptocurrency company. CarrierEQ, which is doing business under the name Airfox, and Paragon Coin have reached an agreement with the agency for record-breaking violations as part of a broader crackdown on SEC fraud and abuse on the market.

Citing three unnamed sources, Bloomberg News also reported last week that the US Justice Department was investigating the fact that the manipulation of the market caused Bitcoin's takeover in 2017.

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