Bitcoin Price Dips as SEC Accuses Binance of Misused Funds and Illegal Operations in the US

Bitcoin price dipped below the critical support level of $26,500 on Monday following the SEC’s accusation against Binance. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading 5.10% lower at $25,741.35. The asset’s total market cap has dipped below $500 billion to $499 billion, while its total volume pulled back further.

Binance vs SEC

The crypto market was in the red on Monday as Binance faced accusations from the SEC. The global crypto market cap fell 5.13% over the day to $1.09 trillion, while the total crypto market volume increased by 104% over the same period. Bitcoin’s dominance also fell over the day.

Bitcoin price was experiencing its worst day since March on Monday, as the crypto leader fell below its important support level. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, also inched lower by nearly 5%. Altcoins such as Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Litecoin, and many others were in freefall, moving in tandem with the heavyweights.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, of mishandling customers’ funds and operating an illegal trading platform in the US. According to the Wall Street regulator, Binance had been mixing billions of dollars in customer funds and secretly sending them to a secret company called Merit Peak Limited, which is controlled by Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao.

In the civil lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in Washington, SEC wrote that Binance engaged in “blatant disregard of the federal securities laws and the investor and market protections these laws provide.”

US regulators have been circling Binance for years, seeing it as the main target in their quest to bring to heel an industry that is built around an explicitly anti-government ethos. The Department of Justice has been on Binance’s case, investigating the crypto exchange for money laundering.

Despite falling by more than 8% in the past week, Bitcoin price remains more than 56% higher in the year to date. Potential interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve have also been weighing on the crypto market. markets are pricing in a 30% chance of the Fed raising its funds rate in its June meeting, following the robust jobs growth data released on Friday.

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis

Bitcoin price has been under immense pressure for the past few days amid macroeconomic concerns and a slowdown in demand for cryptocurrencies. The digital currency is moving below and above the 50-day and 200-day exponential moving averages, as indicated on the daily chart. Bitcoin has continued moving below the descending trendline shown in yellow.

Bitcoin has also managed to move below the 50-day and 100-day simple moving averages (SMA), while its Relative Strength Index (RSI) inched lower to 36. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator, as well as the asset’s momentum, hint at a bearish trend.

Therefore, I expect the Bitcoin price to pull back further in the ensuing sessions before rebounding. A continuous downward trend will have bears eyeing the next support at the 200-day EMA at $25,200.50. On the flip side, a flip above the important resistance zone of $27,500 will give bulls momentum to push the price higher to $28,000.

BTC Price Chart