Cryptocurrencies Tick Higher as U.S. Congress Holds Hearings on Sector

Investing.com – Cryptocurrencies overall traded higher on Tuesday as they once again moved into the spotlight on Capitol Hill in a discussion about regulation of the sector.

Total cryptocurrency market capitalization increased to $266.46 billion by 10:49 AM ET (14:49 GMT), compared to $265.02 billion a day earlier.

, the largest alt coin by market cap, fell 0.6% to $9,557.6 on the Investing.com Index.

Among its closest rivals, slipped 0.1% to $209.03, gained 3.0% to $0.31947, traded up 1.0% to $90.363, while rose 3.2% to $317.6.

Although not a directional mover, the U.S. Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs was, at the time of writing, holding a hearing, entitled “Examining Regulatory Frameworks for Digital Currencies and Blockchain.”

The witness panel is represented by Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of payments company Circle, who will speak on behalf of the Blockchain Association, Rebecca M. Nelson, a specialist in international trade and finance at think tank the Congressional Research Service and law professor Mehrsa Baradaran from the Irvine School of Law at the University of California. All three participants hold differing views on the value of cryptocurrencies.

The hearing takes place after the House Financial Services Committee grilled Facebook (NASDAQ:) earlier this month over plans to launch Libra, its own digital coin.

The company’s crypto chief David Marcus said at the time that Facebook would wait to have all regulatory approvals and address any concerns before proceeding with the launch.

In its latest quarterly report, filed with the Security and Exchange Commission, Facebook admitted that there a number of factors that could block the project altogether.

“Libra has drawn significant scrutiny from governments and regulators in multiple jurisdictions and we expect that scrutiny to continue,” Facebook said in the filing. “As such, there can be no assurance that Libra or our associated products and services will be made available in a timely manner, or at all.”

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.