Investing.com - Major cryptocurrencies traded in the red on Thursday morning in Asia, with Bitcoin losing steam after hitting a one-month high the day before.
Bitcoin dropped 2.25% to $5,409.4 by 12:46 PM ET (04:46 GMT), after rising to a one-month high of $5,586.3 mid-week.
Other coins also went downward. Ethereum shed 3.38% to $163.4, XRP lost 6.88% to $0.29792 and Litecoin slid 0.60% to $72.451.
The drop in crypto prices pushed the market cap down to $176.7 billion.
Sudden on-site inspections at the crypto exchanges in Japan two days ago shocked the crypto community.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency reportedly inspected crypto exchange Huobi Japan and Fisco Digital Asset Group without notice. Reuters reported that the regulators aimed to find out if the crypto exchanges have been doing enough to protect their customers and check for legal compliance.
Reuters also said that the regulators believe that Huobi and Fisco have failed to protect their customers adequately and comply with the anti-money laundering requirements. This could lead to a suspension of their operating licenses.
“The FSA conducted detailed checks with a view to administrative setup, considering that there are insufficient points in the management systems of the two companies and their efforts to protect customers,” Reuters reported.
Both Huobi and Fisco have not made a statement regarding the reported event.
In other news, South Korean tech giant Samsung (KS:005930) has invested $2.9 million into crypto hardware startup Ledger. Ledger manufactures hardware cryptocurrency wallets.
Samsung is reportedly tapping into the crypto and blockchain space. Earlier this year, it unveiled that its upcoming smartphone the Galaxy S10 series will support cryptocurrencies with crypto wallet functionality. It is also said to be developing its own private Ethereum-based blockchain.