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The price of Bitcoin has fallen below the $50,000 mark for the first time since early March. As of 9:33 am ET, BTC hovered around the $49,000 mark, representing a drop of close to 10% over the last 24 hours. Smaller rivals Ether and XRP fell around 7%.
Friday's dropoff appeared to be linked to U.S. President Joe Biden's plan to raise capital gains taxes and fears this move will curb investment in digital assets.
The selloff came after reports that the Biden administration is planning a raft of proposed changes to the U.S. tax code, including a plan to nearly double taxes on capital gains to 39.6% for people earning more than $1 million.
"Bitcoin headed South today after President Biden signalled that he wanted to raise capital gains tax in the US," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst, Asia Pacific, at OANDA. "Now whether that happens or not, many bitcoin investors are probably sitting on some substantial capital gains if they stayed the course over the past year."
"I firmly believe that developed market regulation and/or taxation remain the crypto markets' Achilles Heel," he added.
It's Not All Biden
Coingeek.com reports that, in South Korea, the government will stiffen regulations on digital currency transactions and will enforce a “special crackdown on illegal activities related to virtual assets.” This is in cooperation with various ministries like the Financial Commission, Ministry of Information and the Police starting this month until June.
Meanwhile, Turkey bans the use of digital currency and digital assets as a form of payment effective April 30 in the midst of economic instability.
In a statement, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey says, “Their use in payments may cause non-recoverable losses for the parties to the transactions.” It adds, “Payment service providers will not be able to develop business models in a way that crypto assets are used directly or indirectly in the provision of payment services and electronic money issuance.”
Cryptocurrencies represent up to 80% of all currency transactions at online gambling sites operating in so-called "grey area" markets. This represents better than half the global Web gambling sector.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
