Bitcoin and cryptos fall, weighed down by Binance token
Tuesday marks another down day for the cryptocurrency market, reaffirming the theory of most analysts that the rallies of the last few days and the first green weekly candle for Bitcoin in 10 weeks was nothing more than a bullish rally in a bear market that is here to stay. The decline is 5% on average, with Bitcoin again succumbing to the selling pressure that is unleashed at every attempt to reach $32,000 and Ethereum, back to the vicinity of support at $1,700 (-7%). BNB, the Binance token, stands out on Tuesday, as it dropped almost 10%, while under the spotlight of regulators in the US.
According to reports from 'Bloomberg', US authorities are investigating whether Binance Holdings Ltd violated securities rules by selling digital tokens just as the cryptocurrency exchange was taking off five years ago. The US Securities and Exchange Commission review probes the origins of the company and those of its BNB token, which is now the world's fifth-largest cryptocurrency. Investigators are examining whether the 2017 initial coin offering amounted to the sale of a security that should have been registered with the SEC, sources told 'Bloomberg'.
"Binance Coin (BNB) has been in a downtrend over the past couple of days as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation against Binance's native token. "The hourly chart of BNB has broken below the triangle pattern. Immediate support is expected for the Binance coin at the $221 level," according to analyst, WazirX Trade Desk.
In a statement, Binance explained that "it would not be appropriate for us to comment on our ongoing discussions with regulators, which include education, assistance and voluntary responses to information requests." The company added that it is working with the authorities and will continue to comply with all requirements set forth by regulators.
Binance Coin (BNB) is a token issued by cryptocurrency trading platform Binance. Initially created on the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC-20 token in July 2017, BNB was migrated to Binance Chain in February 2019 and became Binance Chain's native coin.