Bitcoin Falls After Exchange Platform Faces Regulatory Scrutiny

Investing.com – and other virtual currencies fell on Thursday, as regulation fears resurfaced amid news that exchange platform Binance was operating illegally in Japan.

Bitcoin was trading at $8723.3, falling 3.64% as of 8:56 AM ET (12:56 GMT) the Bitfinex exchange, not far from its session high of $9,088.40.The cryptocurrency has struggled to gain ground after falling to $6,000 in early February and is far from its peak of $20,000 in December.

Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchange platforms, could come under fire for operating in Japan without a license, according to Bloomberg.

The exchange has several staff in the country and Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is planning to ask them to stop operating in the country. Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao said they were in dialogue with the FSA and had not “received any mandates” from the regulator.

Japan’s FSA has already issued licenses for 16 crypto exchanges, with another 16 given permission to operate without a license.

Meanwhile the UK is launching a cryptocurrency task force to assess the risks and benefits of virtual coins. The task force would include the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority, the country’s regulatory watchdog.

The decision follows news from the G20 summit earlier this week that central bankers and financial leaders were not seeking to regulate the digital currency and viewed them as assets more than currencies, but would continue to monitor the sector.

Other virtual currencies were lower, with rival , the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, down 5.74% to $542.68 on the Bitfinex exchange. , the third largest virtual currency, slipped 6.82% to $0.65113 while was last at $166.10, a decrease of 3.89%.

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