The price of one cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, shot above the US $ 40,000 level on Friday trading (21/5/2021).
Reported by CNBC, the digital coin was up 1.7% at a price of US $ 40,841 at 6 a.m. East Coast time, according to Coin Metrics data.
Meanwhile other cryptocurrencies were in the red, with Ethereum down 2.2% at US $ 2,741, XRP down 4.6% at US $ 1.13 and Litecoin down 2.4% to US $ 206.Dogecoin, a meme-inspired crypto backed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, fell 2.6% to 39 cents.
Bitcoin was Worth US$38
Previously Bitcoin fell to the level of US $ 38,965 on Thursday (20/5/2021). This is due to mixed signals from Tesla CEO Elon Musk and China’s ban on the currency.
On May 12, Musk said his electric car company had suspended purchasing vehicles with bitcoin due to environmental concerns. Bitcoin is thought to use more fossil fuels in its mining. Even in aggregate, the energy used to mine the currency is greater than all the energy needs of countries such as Argentina and Ukraine.
Treasury Department Stimulates Bitcoin
But for the time being, Bitcoin’s gains were a little bit on hold after the US Treasury said it would require transfers of cryptocurrency worth US $ 10,000 or more to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
“Cryptocurrencies are already posing significant detection problems by facilitating widespread illegal activity including tax evasion,” said the Treasury Department.
This policy is the latest policy on that cryptocurrency. Earlier this week, China issued a warning reaffirming its stance that financial institutions and payment companies are prohibited from providing crypto-related services.
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