The price of Bitcoin was down on Friday morning as the value fell by over 4% to $68,341(R1,280,852) at 9am.
On Thursday, Bitcoin was valued at $73,490 (R1,376,032) at 9am.
According to Bloomberg, Bitcoin’s drop from its record high value comes amid a deep debate about whether the latest bull run in cryptocurrencies is evidence of speculative stagnation in global markets.
A bubble?
Bank of America Corp Chief Investment Strategist Michael Hartnett told Bloomberg that the markets are illustrating the telltale signs of a bubble.
Two factors have contributed to this bubble, according to Hartnett, one is the the strength in valuation seen by a number of tech stock called the ‘Magnificent Seven stocks’ and the second has been the the huge growth in value by a number of cryptocurrency coins.
The Magnificent Seven are made up of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.
There is a debate on Wall Street that the markets are vulnerable to a pullback.
FSCA approves 59 crypto licenses
In a move that further shows South Africa’s positivity towards the crypto space, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) approved 59 license applications from cryptocurrency platforms on Thursday.
South Africa is one of the first African countries to require digital-asset exchanges to have a permit to operate.
The FSCA gave exchanges a deadline till the end of November 2023 to apply for their licenses or risk facing enforcement action.
The organisation noted that over 300 crypto-asset providers tried to get approval and processed the licensing applications in a “phased kind of manner”.
The FSCA said that is has, therefore, decided not to a separate framework for cryptocurrency operators. It also noted that it will have oversight over these firms through the existing Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act.
IOL BUSINESS