Crypto Today: Bitcoin turns negative on day on profit taking

The BTC/USD pair fluctuated in a $600 range on Tuesday. Following a drop below the critical $8000 handle in the early European session, the pair reversed course and refreshed its all-time high at $8380 before starting to consolidate its daily gains. At the moment, the index is at $8200, down 0.35% on the day. Just like the BTC/USD pair, the ETH/USD is also losing 0.35% on Tuesday and is looking to close the day lower after three straight days with robust gains. Nevertheless, the price action seen in the last few hours seems to be technical in nature amid a lack of fresh developments surrounding cryptocurrencies.

The total market capitalization of all digital currencies remained near its record high of $244 billion on Tuesday with bitcoin in the lead with 56% dominance, according to the latest available data on coinmarketcap.com. News of a relatively less popular virtual currency system Tether (USDT) being hacked earlier today failed to push investors away from the market.

In the meantime, in an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt, Benoît Cœuré, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, argued that bitcoin was not a currency; it was rather a financial instrument which creates major risks for investors because of its highly unstable value. However, Cœuré also said that the central bank was looking into looking into the use of Blockchain for clearing and settlement, and further explained, "we have to follow all technological developments. Finally, whether there should be a shift out of cash and towards digital currencies issued by central banks is yet another discussion.further added its value is highly unstable, not to mention the issues of tax evasion and criminal activity."