Bitcoin Today: Prices Continue Skid Toward $7,000 as DOJ Launches Investigation

Bitcoin faced the prospect of falling to $7,000 Thursday as prices continued this week’s downward momentum. Early morning trading saw bitcoin hit its lowest price since April 12 at $7,270. Here’s what you need to know in crypto for Thursday, May 24.

U.S. Launches Probe Into Market Manipulation

The U.S. Justice Department launched a criminal investigation to determine whether traders were manipulating the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to Bloomberg. The investigation was said to be focused on illegal practices that have ratcheted up crypto prices, including spoofing, the practice in which traders flood the market with fake orders to breed large-scale buying or selling. The investigation will also probe wash trading, in which bad actors trade with themselves to create a false sense of demand in the market. The Justice Department is working in conjunction with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC),…