According to a BBC report, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that cryptocurrency cash machines (ATMs) operating in the country will be shut down. The FCA further noted that no company offering crypto-currency services in the UK has a licence to operate a crypto-ATM.
“We regularly warn consumers that crypto assets are unregulated and high-risk, which means people are very unlikely to have any protection if things go wrong,” the FCA stated.
Cryptocurrencies may have faced a setback in the UK, but they have gained support in another quarter. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak described Bitcoin as “the only one that’s pure-gold mathematics.” He added that Bitcoin will reach $100,000, according to various media reports. Speaking on a show, he said, “Bitcoin is safe because it’s the big elephant on the block.” He is, however, sceptical about most other cryptocurrencies, and said that many of the use-cases in the crypto space seem to be designed as scams. “I think it’s being used a lot these days to rip people off.”
Another name to come out in support of crypto currencies was investor Kevin O’Leary. In an interview with CNBC, the venture capitalist, who has also appeared on the famous show “Shark Tank,” said that one-fifth of his investment holdings are tied up in cryptocurrencies and companies operating in the nascent digital asset industry. “I have millions of dollars. Twenty percent of my portfolio is now in cryptocurrencies and blockchain,” O’Leary said. He added that he likes to diversify and owns Ethereum, Solana, Helium, and Avalanche.
Crypto Prices
In the cryptocurrency market, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) was up by 0.36 per cent in the last 24 hours, while it was trading at $39,177.15 at 4:30 pm IST. Its dominance in the crypto market is currently at 42.5 per cent, up by 0.13 per cent in the last 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap.com.
In the last 24 hours, Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $2,584.94, down 0.61 per cent, while Binance Coin (BNB) rose 1.25 per cent to $377.48. Solana (SOL) was down by 0.81 per cent to $81.24 and Cardano (ADA) was down by 0.79 per cent to $0.7962.
Meme Coins
Among meme coins, Dogecoin was down by 0.03 per cent and was trading at $0.1165 at 4:30 pm on Coinmarketcap.com. Rival Shiba Inu was up by 0.37 percent in the last 24 hours and was trading at $0.00002244.
Dogelon Mars was up 0.24 percent and trading at $0.0000007051, while Samoyedcoin was up 0.26 percent and trading at $0.0184 in the last 24 hours.
Overall Scenario
The global crypto market cap was at $1.75 trillion, registering an increase of 0.06 percent in the last 24 hours, while the total crypto market volume was $76.03 billion, down by 5.70 percent.
