The European Union lawmakers voted in favor of measures to outlaw anonymous crypto transactions
The bitcoin price registered fresh 2022 highs around $48,200 at the start of the week and has been retreating since than as traders take profit following a solid rally. On Friday, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization extended losses to $44,200 before bouncing back above $45,000 in recent trading.
In part, the selling pressure intensified after the European Union lawmakers voted in favor of measures to outlaw anonymous crypto transactions facilitated through exchanges. The law brings rules applying to conventional transactions of over 1000 EUR to the entire crypto sector. According to Coinbase, these changes would undermine self-hosted wallets and unleash a “surveillance regime against the exchange and others like it”.
Also, digital assets fell along with traditional stock markets amid rising inflation fears. According to fresh data out of the United States, the PCE index was up in February by 6.4%, the highest in 40 years. At that, energy prices jumped 25.7% while food prices increased 8%.
Other digital currencies have been losing ground these days as well. The Ethereum price slipped to one-week lows just above the $3,200 mark while Ripple briefly dipped to mid-March lows around $0,7739 before bouncing above $0.8180 on Friday. Now that most cryptocurrencies along with BTC trimmed recent losses, it looks like the digital assets could stay afloat ahead of the weekend. However, the bullish potential is limited at this stage.
Should the BTCUSD pair hold above the $44,400 zone in the coming days, the coin will finish the week in positive territory. On the downside, the key support zone is represented by the ascending 20-DMA, today at $43,100, followed by the 100-DMA that arrives just below $42,000. As long as the latter acts as support, bearish risks are limited.
