Investing.com - Cryptocurrency prices slumped on Thursday as the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) rejected nine proposals for Bitcoin ETFs.
Bitcoin was down 5.5% to $6,380.3 at 11:25AM ET (03:25 GMT) on the Bitifinex exchange.
Ethereum plunged 8.0% to $270.4 on the Bitifinex exchange.
Ripple slumped 9.0% to $0.31767 in the last 24 hours on the Poloniex exchange, while Litecoin was also down 5.8% to $54.935.
The latest rejection included two ETFs filed by ProShares that would track bitcoin futures contracts, another from GraniteShares, and five leveraged and inverse ETFs from Direxion.
The SEC expressed concern about fraud and manipulation of bitcoin markets, and said that the proposals had not met the regulator’s requirement "that a national securities exchange's rules be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices. Among other things, the Exchange has offered no record evidence to demonstrate that bitcoin futures markets are 'markets of significant size.”
The reports came after the regulator cited similar concerns and rejected the Winklevloss ETF in July that would have traded physical bitcoin.
So far, the SEC has yet to approve a cryptocurrency-based ETF. The regulator announced in July that it postponed a decision on approving VanEck ETF until Sept. 30.
Bitcoin has struggled to gain ground so far this year, falling nearly 66% since its peak of almost $20,000 in December.
The cryptocurrency market was under pressure earlier this month amid reports that investors who bought digital coins to participate in ICOs are now cashing out to cover expenses amid concerns that cryptocurrency bear market would drag on.