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LONDON (Reuters) – Bitcoin fell to three-week low on Tuesday amid signs of caution from institutional investors, as the head of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service called on lawmakers to allow rules stricter reporting on crypto transfers.
Representations of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency can be seen in this photo illustration taken on June 7, 2021. REUTERS / Edgar Su / Illustration
IRS chief Charles Rettig said on Tuesday that Congress should give the tax agency clear legal authority to collect information on cryptocurrency transfers valued at over $ 10,000 that are not in large part not declared.
Rettig told the Senate Finance Committee that cryptocurrency market capitalization is over $ 2 trillion, with more than 8,600 exchanges around the world. By design, most virtual cryptocurrencies are designed to stay off the radar screen, so we’re going to be challenged right now.
Earlier, a spokesperson for UK fund manager Ruffer Investment Management confirmed that it ended its bitcoin bet in April with a profit of $ 1.1 billion amid concerns about the risk after rapid gains in the price of cryptocurrencies.
Ruffer made his bet on bitcoin in November, in what was then one of the biggest signals of growing institutional interest in digital currency. As of mid-December, it was worth around 550 million pounds ($ 745 million).
In the long term, we remain interested in digital assets and the role they can play in preserving real wealth, the spokesperson said. In the short term, following the sharp rise in the price of bitcoin, we felt that bitcoin presented more risk.
Ruffers bitcoin profit was first reported by The Sunday Times.
Meanwhile, MicroStrategy Inc, a major corporate backer of bitcoin, has increased the size of a junk-bond sale to help buy more bitcoin, now targeting $ 500 million, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday. .
Bitcoin was last traded at $ 32,055.20, down 4.5% on the day. It hit $ 31,025, the lowest price since an earthquake on May 19, brought it down to nearly $ 30,000 for the first time since January.
The cryptocurrency has fallen by half since it hit a record high of nearly $ 65,000 in April.
Reporting by Tom Wilson, David Lawder and Alden Bentley; Editing by Tom Arnold and Cynthia Osterman
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