Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz ordered security forces to seize the accounts after a joint operation “uncovered a web of electronic wallets” used by Hamas to raise funds using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the ministry said.
China is one market to impose strict regulation that impacted prices. In February 2018, the country blocked its citizens from accessing websites that offer cryptocurrency trading services, prompting a 15% fall in Bitcoin and 20% plunge for Ether. Similarly, in January 2018, Bitcoin’s price was hit by new South Korean legislation requiring traders to reveal their identity.

We also consider two additional factors that account for the finding that in some periods prices drift away from fundamentals. The first factor is the return of Bitcoin. We argue that Bitcoin, being the largest and most traded cryptocurrency, is the most perceptible to sentiment and speculative trading by investors. Thus, as a factor, it can capture periods when trading forces unrelated to fundamentals are the strongest. The second factor is a cryptocurrency price momentum factor that we construct following the seminal work of Jegadeesh and Titman (1993). Momentum effects have been linked to investor psychology (e.g. Barberis et al. 1998).
Amid rising inflation, the Federal Reserve and the Biden administration continue to message that the situation is “under control,” but equities markets reacted negatively to the news.