While Facebook’s Libra announcement drove the nine-day Bitcoin rally of 55% after June 18 to hit nearly US$14,000, it also fueled the 11% plunge of the cryptocurrency over the weekend to a two-week low as regulators around the globe call for tighter scrutiny.
Bitcoin fell 11.1% from Friday to hit its lowest $9,855 early on Monday since July 2.
The drop on Sunday alone reached 10.4%, the second biggest daily fall so far this year.
US President Donald Trump slammed Bitcoin, Libra and other cryptocurrencies last week on Twitter, saying that they must seek a banking charter and subject themselves to US and global regulations if they want to become a bank.
“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Bitcoin dived after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell called for a halt to Facebook’s project until concerns from privacy to money-laundering were addressed.
In Japan where Bitcoin has been recognised officially as payment payment methods and assets since April 2018, it has also set up a working group to look at Libra’s possible impact on monetary policy and financial regulation, according to a Reuters report.
In Europe, European Central Bank policymaker Benoit Coeure will deliver a preliminary report on Libra at a meeting of G7 finance ministers this week in Chantilly, north of Paris, the report adds.
