Manasi Varma
Image Credits: CFO
Binance, known in the crypto world as the largest cryptocurrency exchange across the globe, was in much of a frenzy on Monday. The exchange briefly suspended its clients from making any crypto withdrawals. For the reason, it cited the fact that the likes of Ethereum (one of the most well known open-source blockchains), among many other tokens, were in for “large increases in terms of volume.” The service was suspended at 7:13 am Eastern Time (4:43 pm Indian Standard Time).
This suspension, however, was short-lasting, as withdrawals resumed shortly after. But it was sufficient to draw attention once again to how cryptocyrrency, which still lacks a sound regulatory system, is full of risks. This is especially true in the face of sudden fluctuations in value, which have been a major issue, and a cause of great worry among investors, recently.
Crypto Seeing Major Fluctuations
On Monday, Ether, the transaction currency on the Ethereum platform, crossed the price mark $4000. It was valued at 2.5% higher at the CoinDesk exchange on Monday. This became its third all-time-high in three consecutive days. This comes even as crypto sees a huge surge in demand, especially for trading.
Dogecoin, on the other hand, went for a significant dip, as it lost more than one-third of its value over the weekend, all because of Elon Musk. Yes, that’s right. The Tesla Chief calling the crypto a ‘hassle’ on SNL seems to have hurt its business. However, Musk later announced that SpaceX will accept Doge as payment, which led to a modest boost in its valuation on Monday.
The Need for Regulation
Only last week, Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler had expressed his views over the need for regulatory control over crypto. He had said, “I think that we need greater investor protection there and we don’t have a federal regime overseeing the crypto exchanges, so if an investor wants to trade on that Bitcoin, understanding it’s highly volatile, highly speculative, but if they want to trade on that, that we have in place some investor protection and that’s what I was saying I think is a gap in our system right now.”