Investing.com - Cryptocurrencies saw mixed trade on Thursday, while Bitcoin hovered around $9,400.
Cryptocurrencies overall were slightly lower, with the total coin market capitalization at $288.63 billion by 12:04 PM ET (16:04 GMT), compared to $288.92 billion a day earlier.
Bitcoin gained 3.3% to $9,404.3. The largest digital coin by market cap first broke $9,400 on Monday, reaching its highest level since May 2018. But a sharp correction the following day knocked nearly $300 off its value, requiring two days to regain lost territory.
Among its closest rivals, Ethereum edged forward 0.8% to $269.1, XRP lost 0.2% to $0.42821, while Litecoin traded down 1.7% at $135.045.
Social media giant Facebook’s crypto project Libra has been the talk in the alt coin community and may have been the cause for sparking interest in cryptocurrencies as a whole.
Trade volume spiked in the run-up to the official announcement, topping at $76.82 billion on Sunday, but has since died off, clocking in at just $46.66 billion on Wednesday.
Regulators have been quick to react to Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) proposal, dampening enthusiasm for the project that was planned to launch in the first half of 2020.
Among regulatory warnings worldwide, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee plans to drill the company for more details on July 16.
Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, was the first to call for a halt of the project until regulators have had a chance to properly vet the initiative.
The Senate’s hearing will be entitled "Examining Facebook's Proposed Digital Currency and Data Privacy Considerations." According to Facebook, its global stablecoin will operate on the native and scalable Libra blockchain, and be backed by a reserve of assets ostensibly “designed to give it intrinsic value” and mitigate volatility fluctuations.