A picture taken on February 6, 2018 shows a person holding a visual representation of the digital crypto-currency Bitcoin, at the "Bitcoin Change" shop in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. / AFP / JACK GUEZ
Bloomberg: Bitcoin is marching toward its second day of gains as traders showed relief over comments Tuesday by U.S. securities regulators, who called for greater oversight of cryptocurrencies without proposing industry-killing measures.
The largest digital token headed to its first back-to-back increase in almost two weeks, rising 8.7 percent to $8,437 as of 7:58 a.m. in New York, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg. Rival coins Ripple, Ethereum and Litecoin gained at least 5 percent, holding ground even as a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. report said most virtual currencies won’t survive a coming shake-out.
The heads of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission said lawmakers may need to pass legislation that gives federal agencies jurisdiction over Bitcoin’s spot market and associated online trading platforms.
"The market was certainly worried that they might come out harsher,” said Mati Greenspan, market analyst at currency trader eToro in Tel Aviv. "In fact, they were quite soft, which is mostly in line with all of their previous messages.”
The biggest tokens were holding most of their Tuesday gains. Over the past 24 hours, the top 10 by market value had an average increase of about 24 percent, according to Coinmarketcap.com prices.
