Bitcoin BTC is trading around $6,270 at press time, up about 1.3 percent over the 24-hour period. Yesterday June 24,' BTC plummeted to $5,'833,' its lowest price level in 2018, and a price point it had not hit since October 2017.' A rapid three-hour bounce yesterday between 2 and 5 PM UTC saw the coin recover back to around $6,200' today reclaiming a further $100.'

Bitcoin price chart'

Bitcoin price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Bitcoin Price Index'

Earlier today,; the release of 250 million more Tether USDT tokens [ a stablecoin that claims to be backed 1:1 by the US dollar,; but has yet to prove its basis in a public audit –; raised concern amongst crypto commentators.' Tether issuance has previously drawn allegations of suspicious positive knock-on effects on BTC price performance.

According to Tether’s OmniExplorer, today’s issuance occurred just before 3 PM UTC-

Starting at 3 PM UTC, Bitcoin did 'see a solid 2.2 percent rise from $6,'166 to $6,305 in the space of about 45 minutes – but the coin’s price spike today appears to have set i'n earlier, when the coin began to recover from its intraday low of $6,108 around 2 PM UTC. '
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'A much-discussed paper released June 13 by John M.' Griffin and Amin Shams of the University of Texas argued that Tether has been'used to provide price support and manipulate cryptocurrency prices,'extending the allegations to connected crypto exchange Bitfinex,' and suggesting that price manipulation was behind Bitcoin’s $20,'000 peak in 2017.

Ethereum (ETH) is trading around $460 to press time, up just under one percent over the past 24 hours. The leading altcoin dropped down to $427 yesterday, and has been trading below the $500 threshold since June 22.'

Negative news has been ongoing in response to a regulatory crackdown on crypto exchanges in Japan, with the two vice presidents of Japan’s self-regulatory 'cryptocurrency exchange body resigning after both of their exchanges received regulatory warnings last week.'

Total market capitalization of 'all cryptocurrencies is at around $256 billion at press time,' up from its intra-week low of around $235 billion yesterday.'

Total market capitalization'

Total market cap of all cryptocurrencies from CoinMarketCap'

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Japan’s Finance Minister Wants to Change Crypto Taxation,' Doubts Public AcceptanceNEWS'
Japan’s Minister of Finance thinks that it is doubtful the public would accept a change in the taxation' of cryptocurrency transactions, Cointelegraph Japan reports today, June 25.'

During today’s Upper House' Budget Committee meeting, 'Taro Aso — also Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister — said that crypto transactions should 'be taxed as a “separate self-assessment taxation” rather than their present classification as “miscellaneous income,” while expressing doubt over the public’s reaction due to “tax fairness.”''

The current tax rate for crypto transactions has a maximum of 55 percent, and changing its category 'would bring it to a 20 percent flat tax similar to stocks or forex trades.

During the same meeting, Aso noted that the position of cryptocurrency in the international financial sector is uncertain. He also spoke of the importance of the development of blockchain technology, but added that supporting the technology can be controversial, given that it underlies cryptocurrencies.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has been active last week, issuing business improvement notices to crypto 'exchanges as part of their ongoing 'regulatory inspections following the $530 million hack of 'Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck in January.

Today, 'the two vice-'presidents of Japan’s' self-'regulatory cryptocurrency exchange body resigned after both of their respec'tive exchanges received FSA business improvement notices last week.'