Bitcoin has come under scrutiny by financial watchdogs as the most popular cryptocurrency is frequently used by criminals as well as in illegal transactions like Ponzi scheme. It is no secret that Bitcoin like other digital currencies are an excellent tool for money laundering. Besides, because of its anonymity Bitcoin is the favorite means of funding terrorist organizations and mafia. However, it turns out that the number one cryptocurrency suggests a great variety of financial scams. Importantly, Bitcoin's reputation has fallen prey not only to a few bold hackers who steal digital cash. Some dishonest crypto exchanges provide their clients with wrong data on trade, trading volumes, and market quotes. In fact, such trading floors manipulate market quotes of trading instruments. The US Federal Trade Commission proved that cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was to blame for swindling schemes and obliged it to pay a fine of $6.5 million for the fraud about trade data. The Commission states that Coinbase deliberately provided fake data to mislead its clients. Coinbase managers employed appropriate software to generate bogus market orders that pumped up trade volumes, thus confusing customers. Besides, the crypto exchange was accused of money laundering. Investigators proved that an ex-employee at Coinbase placed buy and sell orders on LTC/BTC on a regular basis for 2 months in 2016.
The Commission concluded that such misdeeds created the wrong picture about liquidity and popularity of Litecoin. Moreover, almost 99% of transactions in some days were generated by Coinbase managers. Hence, not only separate hackers can abuse the crypto hype for their rogue schemes. Crypto exchanges and firms are able to lead monkey business.
When it comes to Bitcoin, it becomes evident that the cryptocurrency finds it hard to continue its bullish run. It is essential to understand that a digital currency is following other rules than any currency pair. In other words, the complicated advance of EUR/USD in the first 2.5 months of 2021 is not the same as the rough growth of Bitcoin in the recent weeks. The picture clearly exposes that bullish momentum is ebbing away. Thus, despite the fact that many experts assure of increasing interest among institutional investors, Bitcoin is not poised to climb as high as $70,000 per token. Perhaps, the reasons are hidden in the negative fundamental background. In the recent days, enough news was released to cool down interest in Bitcoin among traders and investors. At the same time, there is a scenario under which a part of savings in the US for the recent year as well as a part of Joe Biden's relief package allocated to citizens can be used by Americans for investments in cryptocurrencies. This popular sentiment was revealed in opinion polls.
