Investing.com - Bitcoin and other major digital coin prices continued to drop on Monday in Asia, following a sudden market meltdown last Friday that saw double-digit losses across all cryptocurrencies over 24 hours.
Bitcoin slid 2.67% to $3,521.9 by 12:30 AM ET (05:30 GMT). The world’s biggest digital token dropped to a fresh 3-week new low, testing the $3,500 level.
Meanwhile, Ethereum lost 6.10% to $116.56, XRP was down 3.54% to $0.31846, and Litecoin slumped 7.83% to $30,272.
On Monday morning, a few reports garnered some attention: Japan clarifying it would not approve crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), U.S. local authorities passing regulations on crypto startups, and mining giant Bitmain announcing a management shuffle.
Last Tuesday, a Bloomberg report cited a person familiar with Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA)’s thinking, suggesting that the watchdog might approve crypto ETFs that track the digital tokens. However, the watchdog clarified on Monday that it has no intention to do so.
“There is no such fact that we are considering approving ETFs which track crypto-assets at present … we are not currently considering approving them,” a spokesperson said to news outlet Bitcoin.com.
According to the report, the FSA added that it is not considering the listing of Bitcoin futures on the financial instruments market either.
That response is in line with its careful approach to crypto-assets. Last month, it opposed revisions to the nation’s securities law to allow crypto futures and options to be listed on major financial exchanges.
Meanwhile, the U.S. state of Wyoming has advanced a bill to allow blockchain startups to operate within a regulatory "sandbox" for a legislative vote. If the bill is passed into law, these startups could test new technologies and decide how they might operate within existing regulatory regimes.
In Asia, media reports said that co-founders of Chinese Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain, Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan, will step down as CEOs of the company and Wang Haichao will take over as CEO. Zhan and Wu will remain company co-chairs, the report said. The news follows a major layoff that affected over half of its staff and an IPO application that is to lapse soon.