Forget Facebook’s Stablecoin. Now It’s $700B Bitcoin in the Crosshairs

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Bitcoin’s powerful move over the past couple of months to more than $700 billion in market value is suddenly commanding more attention from global financial regulators.

Bitcoin (BTC) was higher, pushing back toward $40,000 after a 9.9% surge on Wednesday, the biggest calendar-day gain in a month.  

Such a powerful recovery after a steep sell-off earlier in the week has quickly reinvigorated trader spirits.

“This bubble doesn’t look set to burst,” said Don Guo, CEO of Broctagon Fintech Group, which helps smaller cryptocurrency exchanges tap into bigger pools of liquidity available from large exchanges. 

In traditional markets, U.S. government bond yields rose along with stocks after CNN reported that President-elect Joe Biden will unveil on Thursday a new coronavirus relief proposal, and that his advisers have told allies in Congress to expect a price tag around $2 trillion. Gold weakened 0.2% to $1,841 an ounce. 

Market moves

Before the coronavirus hit last year, a big conversation among financial-industry executives, lawmakers and regulators was just how to regulate libra, the proposed digital currency from Facebook. 

“With Facebook’s very large network of more than a billion people, a stablecoin could have systemic implications very quickly,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in a September 2019 webcast discussion in Zurich with Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan. “Libra would have to be held to the highest regulatory standards and expectations.” 

Read the full article on CoinDesk.