After reaching record new highs and prompting investors to call it “the investment of the future” Bitcoin surprisingly dropped in price.
The sudden drop was caused by new doubt as to whether Bitcoin will come to be regulated under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who essentially stated that electronic currencies such as Bitcoin meet the requirements to be treated as securities.
As a result of this, bitcoin fell to $5,373, which is a whole 4 percent compared to its previous value.
If currencies such as Bitcoin come to be regarded as securities or derivatives (which is what the CFTC stated), then they would lose a huge part of their appeal. Their current popularity rests in the freedom the lack of regulation provides - which has also allowed the bitcoin’s value to vary between $500 and $5,000 - something generally uncommon in regulated trading instruments.