Bitcoin rose on Monday after Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the owner of the Mexican bank Banco Azteca, urged his country to accept the cryptocurrency and encouraged his Twitter followers to buy it. He tweeted on Sunday: "My bank and I are working to be the first bank in Mexico to accept Bitcoin." Pliego has been vocal about his support for Bitcoin, advising his over 906,000 Twitter followers to "buy now, not sell." Pliego also owns TV Azteca, the second-largest television network in Mexico, and Grupo Elektra, a financial services and retail company. His net worth is approximately $16 billion, according to Forbes.
Bitcoin surged about 4.3% over the past 24 hours, reaching $34,200, according to Coindesk. Cryptocurrencies have faced a challenging period over the past two months, with Bitcoin falling from an all-time high of around $65,000 in April to $28,800 last week, following an intensified crackdown on cryptocurrencies in China.
As Bitcoin attempts to recover from last week's decline, the specter of increased regulatory constraints could limit prices. Over the weekend, the UK's financial regulator banned Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, from providing certain services in the country. The Japanese regulatory agency stated on Friday that Binance is unlicensed to operate in Japan.
On Monday, Randall Quarles, Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve for supervision, shared pointed remarks regarding Bitcoin's prospects. He stated, "The main additional attractions of Bitcoin are its novelty and anonymity... the secrecy will make it a suitable target for increasing scrutiny from law enforcement... gold will always shine, and the factor of novelty will, by definition, fade." He added, "Thus, Bitcoin and similar currencies will remain a risky and speculative investment rather than a revolutionary payment method, making it unlikely to affect the role of the U.S. dollar," according to CNN.
