Bitcoin has touched a three-week high on Tuesday and has increased almost by 100 percent from its lowest level in 2018, according to a report in Reuters. The cryptocurrency’s recovery continued post South Korea’s financial regulator slackened its stance on cryptocurrencies. This move has come weeks after it considered closing digital currency exchanges, said the report.
On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, Bitcoin hit a three-week high of $11,722.58 BTC=BTSP on Tuesday. It was last up 3.4 percent at $11,555. From this year’s low of $5,920 in early February, Bitcoin has surged nearly 100 percent.
Other digital currencies, however, showed mixed results, diverging from Bitcoin for now. Ethereum, the second-largest by market value, was down 1.3 percent over the past 24 hours at $935.02, while the third-largest, Ripple, fell 1.6 percent to $1.13, according to cryptocurrency price tracker coinmarketcap.com.
Litecoin, the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, was one of the biggest gainers with a 9.3 percent rise at $246.03. The currency jumped as much as 10 percent after a “hard fork” resulted in the creation of a new cryptocurrency called litecoin cash, reported Reuters.
Analysts cited South Korean news agency Yonhap, which reported Choe Heung-sik, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, as saying that the government will support cryptocurrency trading if “normal transactions” are made.
However, Reuters said it is unable to verify the Yonhap report.
“While the threat of heavy regulation, or even a total ban on exchange trading, has hovered over Bitcoin in recent weeks, reports this morning that the South Korean government are softening their stance have given traders confidence to buy,” said Dennis de Jong, managing director, at online brokerage UFX.com in Limassol, Cyprus, according to Reuters.
South Korea has been advocating for regulatory supervision of cryptocurrency trading as locals, including students and housewives, have entered the market despite inherent risks and warnings from policymakers.
Seoul had said it was considering shutting down local cryptocurrency exchanges, which affected Bitcoin prices. Officials later clarified an outright ban is only one of the steps being considered, and a final decision was yet to be made, said Reuters.
