Bitcoin
Steady at $66K as US selloff fears persist By Investing.com
Investing.com– Bitcoin’s price fell on Wednesday, extending a recent slide as fears over mass token sales by the U.S. government largely offset optimism over more cryptocurrency-friendly regulations in the country.
has fallen 0.7% over the past 24 hours to $66,352.0 as of 09:11 ET (13:11 GMT). Positive comments from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sent the token soaring to $70,000 over the weekend before the token quickly reversed course.
Appetite for risk assets was also hurt by expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate decision, as well as a potential escalation in Middle East tensions following reports that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Tehran.
Spectre of US government sell-off hurts Bitcoin
The pressure on the world’s largest cryptocurrency has come mainly from speculation about potential token sales by the U.S. government, which reportedly holds around $12 billion worth of tokens and is among the largest holders of Bitcoin in the world.
Media reports said government-linked wallets transferred $2 billion worth of Bitcoin seized from the Silk Road online black market to what could be a custodial service.
But a token move of this magnitude usually heralds a sell-off, as seen with the distributions from now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt Gox earlier this month.
Mt Gox distributions sent Bitcoin down to $54,000, although the token has since rebounded on the prospect of more crypto-friendly regulations.
Trump reiterated his support for the cryptocurrency industry during a speech at the Bitcoin Convention in Nashville over the weekend. A number of prominent figures in the cryptocurrency industry were seen donating to entities associated with Trump’s campaign or expressing direct support for his presidency.
Cryptocurrency Price Today: Altcoins Muted, XRP Surpasses SEC Speculation
Among the broader cryptocurrency markets, most altcoins moved in a flat to bearish range as sentiment towards cryptocurrencies remained largely subdued.
But it was an exception, rising 3.6% amid unfounded rumors that the Securities and Exchange Commission was close to dropping its case against , the company that issues XRP.
Broader altcoins moved in a flat to bearish range. The world’s No. 2 token fell 1.2% to $3,318.64 an ounce, while and slipped 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.
Among meme tokens, it fell by 2.2%, while it lost 1.3%.
Terra Blockchain Pauses Operations After $4 Million Token Theft Due to Exploit
In other developments in the cryptocurrency world, Terra developers temporarily halted network operations on Wednesday following a reentrancy attack that resulted in the theft of more than $4 million worth of various tokens from the blockchain.
The network was paused at block height 11430400 to implement an emergency patch to fix the vulnerability, which was completed at 04:19 UTC. Validators, who hold over 67% of the voting power on Terra, have updated their nodes to prevent future exploits, according to a post on X.
Security firm Beosin estimated that the attack led to the theft of $3.5 million worth of USDC stablecoin, $500,000 worth of stablecoin, 2.7 bitcoins (BTC) and over 60 million ASTRO tokens from Astroport.
“The attacker exploited a reentrancy vulnerability in the ibc-hooks timeout callback. The vulnerability was disclosed in April this year,” Beosin noted.
The token (LUNC) is down 2.8% in the last 24 hours, while ASTRO has lost 52%.