Flat at $66K Amid Ongoing US Selling Concerns

Bitcoin prices fell on Wednesday, continuing a recent decline as concerns over potential large-scale token sales by the U.S. government dampened optimism surrounding more favorable cryptocurrency regulations in the country.

The price of Bitcoin decreased by 0.7% in the past 24 hours, settling at $66,352.00 as of 09:11 ET (13:11 GMT). Over the weekend, positive remarks from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had propelled the token to as high as $70,000, before it quickly reversed direction.

Investor interest in riskier assets was further weakened by anticipation surrounding an upcoming interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve, along with escalating tensions in the Middle East following reports of the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh due to an Israeli strike in Tehran.

### Concerns Over U.S. Government Token Sales Impact Bitcoin

The primary pressure on Bitcoin emerged from speculation regarding potential token sales by the U.S. government, which reportedly holds around $12 billion worth of Bitcoin, making it one of the largest holders globally. Reports indicated that government-associated wallets had transferred $2 billion worth of Bitcoin, seized from the Silk Road online marketplace, possibly to a custody service.

Historically, such large movements often signal impending sales, a trend observed with the recent distributions from the defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox, which had previously driven Bitcoin prices down to $54,000, although the token managed to recover afterward due to expectations of more accommodating crypto regulations.

During a recent address at a Bitcoin Convention in Nashville, Trump reiterated his support for the cryptocurrency industry. Prominent figures within the industry were observed either donating to his campaign or expressing their support for his presidency.

### Current Crypto Prices: Altcoins Stabilize, XRP Rises on SEC Speculation

In the broader cryptocurrency market, many altcoins displayed muted performance, remaining mostly flat or slightly lower as sentiment towards crypto largely diminished. However, XRP stood out with a 3.6% increase amid unverified rumors regarding the potential dismissal of a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Ripple, the company behind XRP.

In contrast, notable altcoins like Ethereum experienced a 1.2% decline, settling at $3,318.64. Other cryptocurrencies also dipped; Cardano and Solana saw decreases of 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively. Among meme tokens, Dogecoin lost 2.2%, while Shiba Inu dropped by 1.3%.

### Terra Blockchain Suspends Operations Following $4 Million Token Theft

In other news within the crypto sector, developers of the Terra blockchain paused operations on Wednesday due to a reentrancy exploit that resulted in the theft of over $4 million in various tokens. The network was halted at block height 11430400 to deploy an emergency patch addressing the vulnerability, which was completed at 04:19 UTC. Validators, who control over 67% of the voting power on Terra, updated their nodes to safeguard against future attacks.

Security firm Beosin estimated that the exploit led to the theft of $3.5 million in USDC stablecoin, $500,000 in Tether, 2.7 Bitcoin, and over 60 million Astroport ASTRO tokens. They noted that the attacker capitalized on a vulnerability in the timeout callback of ibc-hooks, which had been disclosed earlier in April.

Meanwhile, the LUNC token saw a 2.8% decline in the last 24 hours, while ASTRO plummeted by 52%.