TL;DR
Despite the historic approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States and BTC’s brief surge to $49,000, the asset’s price has been on a downfall in the past week. Currently, it trades at around $42,600 (per CoinGecko’s data), with some envisioning a further slump.
One example is Peter Schiff – a well-known economist and one of Bitcoin’s harshest critics – who recently claimed that Gary Gensler (Chairman of the US SEC) gave the thumps up on the ETFs after being “backed into a corner.”
As such, Schiff believes that the agency’s head might soon introduce “new onerous crypto regulations” that could increase the cost of BTC transactions and negatively impact the asset’s value.
Numerous X (Twitter) users opposed that theory, reminding that Gensler has repeatedly stated over the years that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency with the status of a commodity, meaning the Commission doesn’t have jurisdiction to implement rules on it.
Schiff suggested that the potential regulation won’t relate to securities laws but focus on anti-money laundering (AML) procedures.
Ripple’s XRP has also been underperforming lately, dropping by 5% on a weekly scale. Still, some analysts, including the X users Crypto Rover and Dark Defender, remain optimistic that a rally in the near future is in the cards.
The former envisioned a “massive breakout” in the next eight weeks. Dark Defender thinks XRP has been in a bullish mode for the past 180 days, maintaining there are 10 more months (at least) in which the asset’s value could skyrocket to as high as $22.50.
Those curious to explore some of the top XRP forecasts for 2024 could take a look at our dedicated video below:
Dogwifhat (WIF) and Myro (MYRO) have defied the ongoing negative trend in the cryptocurrency market, experiencing impressive rallies as of late. As CryptoPotato reported, the former jumped to an all-time high of over $0.45 following listings on leading exchanges, such as Binance and BitMEX.
MYRO also reached an ATH, soaring by 50% today (January 18) and exceeding the $0.20 mark. Its upswing has been evident in the past month when its value exploded by a whopping 750%.