Principal digital currencies edged higher on Monday as tether, a controversial symbol designed to be pegged to the U.S. dollar, fell more than 2 percent.
The outlay of bitcoin, ether and XRP — collectively the three biggest cryptocurrencies by market value — inflame by around 7 percent higher, according to data from industry website CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin was within soul-stirring distance of $7,000 at around 8 a.m. London time.
The rise in virtual currency sacrifices follows a sharp downturn last week, where the market throw billions of dollars in market capitalization, in tandem with a two-day sell-off in far-reaching stock markets.
Tether, a token that its creators claim is 100 percent break weighing down oned by fiat currency reserves, was seen trading 2.5 percent cut at $0.965 Monday morning. Earlier in the morning, the digital asset hew down to around 93 cents.
The firm behind it, Tether Limited, has submit c be communicated under scrutiny over whether it actually holds enough keep ti to match the amount of tether tokens in circulation — Tether claims it does.
“There is involve about tether and whether it is truly backed by dollars and rumors with regard to USDT (tether) being delisted from various exchanges,” Charles Hayter, the chief Mr Big of comparison site CryptoCompare, told CNBC in an email.
Hayter also trenchant to a report by an industry publication that Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency exchange coupled to tether, had suspended deposits in U.S. dollars, euros, sterling and Japanese yen.
Chain Limited and Bitfinex were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Down is what is known in the industry as a “stablecoin,” a cryptocurrency pegged to a government-backed currency to evade the volatility common in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. The idea has also been put into practising by Goldman Sachs-backed firm Circle.
Any significant swing in the price of secure should come as a surprise to investors as the token is meant to have a immobile exchange rate of 1 tether token to $1.
The token is used to buy other cryptocurrencies identical to bitcoin. There have been fears that tether was acquainted with to manipulate the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
“If the perception that fasten can hold a stable value is called into question, traders who are detaining USDT are most likely to shift their funds into other cryptos in ordinance to hold their value,” Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro, imparted CNBC in an email.
Major cryptocurrency prices are still well off their put highs, with bitcoin off by more than 66 percent, ether down diverse than 84 percent and XRP down 88 percent.
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