Fresh controversy rocks jittery cryptocurrency market

As renewed controversy grips the global cryptocurrency market, the founder of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations believes the scrutiny will, ultimately, help to shore-up the sector.

Nigel Green is also die chief executive of deVere Group, an asset management and fintech group. His comments follows a decision by prosecutors at the United States department of justice to consider filing criminal charges against crypto exchange Binance, and individual executives, including CEO and founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, according to Reuters.

Green says: “Crypto is under a harsh spotlight like never before. From the collapse of the FTX empire to charges of insider trading at another crypto firm, now to these reports about there being divisions between US government prosecutors about delaying the conclusion of a criminal investigation into a major crypto exchange, amongst other incidents, it’s been quite a year for the market.”

“Of course,” Green adds, “all this serious drama creates huge uncertainty which translates into more market volatility.”

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, has fallen by 1.78% over the last 24 hours.

The deVere CEO continues: “I think we can assume that after the catalogue of bad governance and possibly illegal activity from some industry participants that have come to light in recent months, there’s now a level of deep scrutiny that is taking place by various authorities of the wider sector.

“Whilst this will continue to trigger volatility and price dips, the scrutiny will act as a shake-out of bad actors which are, sadly, present in all markets and industries.

“Ultimately, what’s happened this year, I believe, will push fit and proper industry leaders and financial watchdogs to seize this moment as a point of inflection and to work together in order to further shore up the sector and instil trust and transparency by means of sensible, workable regulation.”

Despite the turbulence, Green, a long-time advocate of digital currencies, says he remains “utterly confident that digital is the inevitable future of money.”

This is why, he notes, more and more institutional investors, household name investors, Wall Street giants, and multinational corporations are all increasing their exposure to crypto.

“They understand and value the key characteristics of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are designed for this century and, therefore, are growing in appeal.

“These include that they’re borderless, making them perfectly suited to a globalised world of commerce, trade, and people; that they are digital, making them an ideal match to the increasing digitalization of our world; and that demographics are on the side of cryptocurrencies as younger people are more likely to embrace them than older generations.”

Green concludes: “Unfavourable headlines are again rocking the cryptoverse. But whilst it all creates short-term turbulence, it will also help mature what is still a relatively young market and shore-it up for the long-term – which is what is needed as digital is the future and crypto is here to stay.”

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