Investing.com - Bitcoin extended gains on Monday, rising above $11,800 against the backdrop of a broader risk-off mood in financial markets, albeit without without a clear driver for its upward move.
Bitcoin jumped 4.2% to $11,832.60 as of 10:19 AM ET (14:19 GMT) on the Investing.com Index. It’s been on a volatile journey for the cryptocurrency lately, reaching a high of $13,929.8 in mid-June from $7,888 as the Federal Reserve's signalling of a possible new cycle of interest rate cuts has undercut the appeal of interest-bearing fiat currencies.
Sentiment toward crypto has benefited from Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB)'s announcement that it will shrink its workforce and balance sheet by over 20% in order to shore up its profitability. The sight of one of the giants of traditional finance in trouble has emboldened those prepared to argue that crypto represents the true future of finance.
Other digital coins were also higher, with Ethereum up 4.5% to $307.07 and XRP gaining 1.1% to $0.40154 while Litecoin rose 1% to $119.87.
Meanwhile India has become the latest country to criticize the Libra stablecoin project led by Facebook, Bloomberg reported. The country has already banned digital currencies by forbidding banks from dealing with them, and the government is drafting a law that would impose penalties for using virtual currencies.
“Design of the Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) currency has not been fully explained,” Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg told Bloomberg. “But whatever it is, it would be a private cryptocurrency and that’s not something we have been comfortable with.”
Libra is a stablecoin, a digital currency pegged to a basket of government-backed currencies. Regulators and analysts around the world have argued it will require much tighter regulation than Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) as a social media network has been used to.
The European Central Bank also weighed in at the weekend, as board member Benoit Coeure said it was "too dangerous" for the authorities to leave it to grow unchecked.
“It’s out of the question to allow them to develop in a regulatory void for their financial service activities, because it’s just too dangerous,” Coeure told Bloomberg. “We have to move more quickly than we’ve been able to do up until now.”
In other news, Singapore drafted a plan to exempt cryptocurrencies from its goods and services tax, as long as they function as a medium of exchange. The news will remove an obstacle to Bitcoin's use in one of the world's foremost financial centers.