Investing.com - Bitcoin eased from earlier losses on Friday to trade at over $10,000 despite regulators taking an increased concern in cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin was trading at $10,237, up 3.26% as of 9:01 AM ET (14:01 GMT) on the Bitfinex exchange after hitting an overnight low of $9,583.
Cryptocurrencies have rebounded in recent days after struggling to gain ground amid regulation concern. Bitcoin has rallied from its two month low of $6,000 on February 6. Still, the price is 20% lower for the year to date and far below its high of $20,000 in December.
Regulators have taken an increased interest in the digital currencies. On Thursday New York Fed President William Dudley described cryptocurrencies as “dangerous” and that there was a “speculative mania” about them. U.S. regulators are investigating the Bitfinex exchange over its links to digital coin Tether, amid fears that it is being used to artificially inflate bitcoin prices.
Meanwhile in Germany, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) was planning a “case-by-case examination” of ICO tokens, while France’s Autorite des Marches Financiers, the country’s top financial watchdog, has announced all cash-settled cryptocurrency contracts are subject to the country’s strict derivatives laws as well as an advertising ban.
The UK Treasury Committee is also launching an inquiry into cryptocurrencies to investigate whether the technology behind Bitcoin poses a risk to central banking.
Other cryptocurrencies were trading higher, with rival Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, rising 9.17% to $869.72 on the Bitfinex exchange.
The third largest cryptocurrency, Ripple, was up 8.43%% to trade at $0.96050 and Litecoin was last at $208.44, an increase of 9.11%.