Investing.com - The price of the digital currency bitcoin pushed higher on Thursday, while bitcoin offshoot Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum remained on the back foot.
On the U.S.-based Bitfinex exchange, Bitcoin was trading at $5,690.00 by 07:04 AM ET (11:04 AM GMT), having opened at $5,574.80.
Prices slumped to a one-week low of $5,114.30 on Wednesday as fears over a regulatory crackdown on Initial Coin Offerings and reports that South Korea is preparing to tax bitcoin use spooked investors.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) – an independent U.S. government agency that regulates futures and option markets – said that it supported the Security Exchange and Commission findings that virtual tokens used in ICO’s are securities, fueling investor fears over the possibility of regulatory action.
Bitcoin hit a peak of $5,876.90 on Sunday, the highest level in its nine year history, before retreating. Bitcoin started the year near $1,000 and at current prices has a total market capitalization of around $94 billion.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin Cash was last at $337.00, almost unchanged for the day.
Bitcoin cash has a total market cap of around $5.6 billion at current prices, making it the fourth most valuable cryptocurrency.
Elsewhere in cryptocurrency trading, Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency by market cap after bitcoin, was down around 1.78% to $308.00.