Investing.com - Bitcoin slumped below $8,000 on Friday, ending a three-day rally amid news that U.S. regulators would not approve a bitcoin exchange traded fund.
Bitcoin was trading at $7,871.10, falling 4.60% on the Bitfinex exchange, as of 9:27 AM ET (13:27 GMT).
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday that it would not approve an ETF proposed by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss because it would not be protected from manipulation.
The digital coin rose above $8,000 on Tuesday amid rumors that the ETF would be approved, jumping almost 40% in July. Four requests from other exchanges wanting to open bitcoin EFTs are also pending approval.
"Regulated bitcoin-related markets are in the early stages of their development," the SEC said, adding that it "cannot ... conclude that bitcoin markets are uniquely resistant to manipulation."
Cryptocurrencies overall were lower after the news. The coin market cap of total market capitalization was at $288 billion at the time of writing, not far from its peak of $300 billion on Thursday.
Ethereum, the second-biggest alternative currency by market cap, fell 3.68% to $461.36 on the Bitfinex exchange. Ripple, the third-largest virtual currency, decreased 3.41% to $0.44760, while Litecoin was at $82.391, down 5.97%.
In other news, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is banning cryptocurrency mining apps from its app store, following Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), who banned a similar apps last month. Apps that manage cryptocurrency mining on other places is still permitted on Google’s Play Store.
As digital currencies become more popular, regulators are struggling with how to manage the rise of virtual coins, prompting many technology companies to ban them. Advertisements for initial coin offerings are banned on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Twitter, while Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and others have banned customers from purchasing digital coins with their credit cards.