Bitcoin tracking for slight weekly losses despite regulatory crackdown

Bitcoin has held up relatively well this week despite negative headlines about regulatory crackdowns.

For analysts with a long-term view, that price action fits with their thesis that increased scrutiny will shake out the bad actors and make the markets healthy enough for institutions to invest.

“In the long run this is WILDLY bullish,” Brian Kelly, a CNBC contributor and head of BKCM, said in a note to clients Thursday. “If the DoJ and CFTC feel as though they have ‘cleaned’ up the market, then it paves the way for a U.S. Physically backed Bitcoin ETF, and brings in institutional investors.”

Bitcoin briefly hit a six-week low of $7,272 on Thursday morning after Bloomberg reported the U.S. Department of Justice opened a criminal probe into whether traders are manipulating the…