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Bitcoin and Ethereum take brief hit after EU proposes stricter regulations

Cryptocurrency values took a small hit in the wake of the European Union stepping in for potential regulation.

Ozzie Mejia

July 21, 2021 12:30 PM

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With the cryptocurrency booms also comes some inherent issues that have popped up. The potential for shady dealings is much higher when cryptocurrency is involved and the European Union is hoping to address these problems swiftly. On Monday, an EU Commission began proposing stricter regulations on cryptocurrencies. As one might imagine, the value of these currencies were slightly impacted, as Bitcoin and Ethereum briefly fell once the news hit.

"These proposals are part of the Commission's efforts to protect EU citizens and the financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing," reads the announcement (via PC Gamer). "They aim to facilitate the detection of suspicious transactions and activities and to close the loopholes that criminals use to launder the proceeds of crime through the financial system or to finance terrorist activities."

The EU has proposed that governments across the union exercise greater oversight over cryptocurrency transactions, which will mean making them fully traceable. High transaction limits would also be instituted. Anonymous cryptocurrency wallets would be prohibited, so once any proposals pass, users would have to register any new wallets by submitting data to the EU governments.

According to Coindesk, Bitcoin values initially fell before peaking at $32,805 USD, but have once again fallen to $32,095 as of the time of this post. Ethereum likewise fell briefly upon the EU Commission announcement, but peaked at $2,024 USD before falling to $1,990 at the time of this post.

While impact to Bitcon and Ethereum appear to be minimal for the moment, the EU proposals are worth monitoring. If these proposals pass, they could potentially have a much greater overall shock to cryptocurrency values in the future. We'll be sure to watch this story at Shacknews and return with any updates.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?