Bitcoin Crashed Over The News Of US Government Subpoena

According to Bloomberg article published on Tuesday (30th Jan 2018), one of the world’s leading crypto-currency exchange Bitfinex and the company behind the controversial USDT token “Tether”, have been subpoenaed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC had sent certain queries to both the companies. This information just arrived after the news came on the media about Tether’s relationship with the auditing firm Friedman LLC has ended, although it still remains unclear which party moved to restrain the effort. Friedman had been working on an audit with Tether, which is directly related to the British Virgin Islands based Bitfinex. The representative from Bitfinex gave the statement that: “WE REGULARLY RECEIVE LEGAL PROCESS FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTS AND REGULATORS CONDUCTING INVESTIGATIONS. IT’S OUR POLICY NOT TO COMMENT ON ANY SUCH REQUESTS.” As the news came out it is expected that it will further provoke the controversy around Tether’s USDT token that plays the role of synthetic dollar. Critics have argued that the token is not supported on a 1-to-1 ratio with the U.S. dollar and in recent weeks the tokens generated by Tether have been used to boost up the value of Bitcoin, mainly during times of market flaw. The report also sparked a rout in the price of bitcoin, sending it below $10,000 as word emerged about the CFTC subpoenas. At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin is trading at $9,936.