Legislative uncertainty in both China and Europe is weighing hard on the Bitcoin price, with around 10 percent lost in the past 24 hours.
News is expected imminently of how Chinese authorities will go about regulating Bitcoin and its trading in the country, which historically has exerted considerable influence on the price of a coin.
Following preliminary statements and feedback from People’s Bank of China Director Zhou Xuedong last week, markets are expecting a mixed bag of supervision and a “forgiving attitude” towards exchanges.
However, Xuedong states certain “red lines” should remain uncrossed in terms of what services exchanges can offer.
It is likely that full identification procedures will also need to be introduced and complied with, MarketWatch reports on Friday.
Elsewhere, the European Union’s long-awaited virtual currency legislation has received final amendments prior to its assumed compliance deadline in June.
Having spent almost two years at the deliberation and consultation stage, the controversial Directive (EU) 2015/849 could require owners of any virtual currency wallet to link their identity to it.
Specifically, reference is made to “registering users' identities and wallet addresses accessible to FIUs, as well as self-declaration forms for the use of virtual currency users.”
“Competent authorities should be able to monitor the use of virtual currencies in order to identify suspicious activities,” European Parliament states in an update.