Bitcoin shrugs off rejection by US regulators

Bitcoin investors have taken the U.S. regulators decision last week to reject listing a bitcoin-backed exchange-traded fund (ETF) in their stride and are continuing to invest in the digital currency.

On Friday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission denied a request to list an ETF designed to track bitcoin, which was backed by investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

The decision caused bitcoin’s price to plunge about 20 percent, from around $1,287 to $1,026. However, the price for the crypto currency has since recovered back to around $1,233.

The regulator’s primary concern was consumer protection, according to Charles Hayter, founder of digital currency comparison website CryptoCompare. He says bitcoin has already shaken off the decision.

“In some sense, the market is playing to bitcoin’s strong libertarian tune saying we don’t need regulation,” he told CNBC via email.

“There are other jurisdictions that might look to take a leap of faith into the unknown and attempt to capture new business in the digital currency sphere with their own ETFS.”

Following the regulator’s decision, investors remain optimistic not just about bitcoin, but across the market of crypto currencies.

“We’re seeing not just bitcoin retaining its recent highs, but also a huge increase of liquidity into the rest of the asset class. Everything from Ethereum to Dash, Gambit, Factom and many others are breaking new grounds in the markets,” Fran Strajnar, co-founder CEO of data and research company Brave New Coin, told CNBC via email.

“Ethereum volumes alone have done half of all bitcoin trading in the last 48 hours. It’s never got close to this volume before.”

Strajnar added that he expects a lot more money will continue to pour into crypto currency assets for the rest of the year.