Cryptocurrency prices fell on Friday after a report from the Blockchain Transparency Institute (BTI) said that the majority of Bitcoin trading volume is still made up of fake trading.
Judging by the Investing.com index, by 17:08 Moscow time the Bitcoin rate fell by 4% to $3,296.90.
In recent weeks, virtual currency rates have dropped sharply. Analysts say the main reasons for the new wave of sales in the cryptocurrency market are news about tightening rules for working in the cryptocurrency market and exchange rate volatility.
Overall, cryptocurrencies fell in price: at the time of writing, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization was $104 billion, compared to the $109 billion value recorded on Thursday.
The Ethereum rate fell 5% to $85.65, Litecoin fell 3.5% to $23.29, and the XRP rate fell 2.9% to $0.29461.
According to a report from the Blockchain Transparency Institute (BTI), wash trading accounts for approximately 80% of trading volume across all 25 leading Bitcoin pairs. Wham trading is a deliberate manipulation on the part of exchanges when an investor simultaneously sells and buys cryptocurrency in order to create the appearance of active trading in the market.
“In most Bitcoin pairs, the actual trading volume is 1% of the stated volume or less. We found only two pairs out of the top 25 that do not engage in wash trading. These are pairs on the Binance and Bitfinex exchanges,” the report says.
Among other news, we can highlight the message about the suspension of trading operations for a stablecoin created on the basis of the Basis protocol. The startup Basis decided to return $133 million to investors due to concerns about tightening market rules from regulators.
As a reason for the closure of the project, the company reported serious negative consequences as a result of the requirements put forward by the securities market regulator.