Investing.com - Cryptocurrencies fell on Wednesday after a news report that automated trading programs could be manipulating the price of digital coins.
Bitcoin fell 1.58% to $6,462.10 on the Bitfinex exchange, as of 9:15 AM ET (13:15 GMT).
Cryptocurrencies overall were lower, with the coin market cap of total market capitalization at $215 billion at the time of writing, compared to $221 billion on Tuesday.
Ethereum,or Ether, decreased 4.65% to $218.62 and Litecoin was at $57.509, down 4.94% while XRP slumped 8.44% to $0.52136.
Lack of regulation among automated trading software programs are allowing the bots to manipulate prices, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
It isn’t the first time the prices of virtual coins have been said to be manipulated. The office of New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood warned against manipulation in a report last month.
“When any venue tolerates manipulative or abusive conduct, the integrity of the entire market is at risk,” the report said.
The lack of regulation has allowed the bots to take advantage on a large scale, the WSJ reported, citing cryptocurrency platforms.
“This sort of activity is rampant in the market right now,” Andy Bromberg, co-founder and president of CoinList, told the paper.
In other news, the value of the blockchain market, the technology behind Bitcoin, could reach $7 billion, Bank of America estimates.
The assessment is based on the assumption that 2% of all servers would be running on blockchain at the same time and would benefit larger technology firms such as Amazon and Microsoft.