Bitcoin Plummet Rumors: U.S. Treasury Accuses Institutions of Money Laundering with Cryptocurrency; Compound Legal Counsel: Baseless

Bitcoin experienced a significant price drop starting at 11:00 AM on the 18th, falling from the $59,000 level to $53,000. As of the deadline, the daily decline has exceeded 10%. Rumors within the community suggest that the sharp decline in Bitcoin originated from the "U.S. Treasury Department accusing several institutions of money laundering through cryptocurrency." Are there any other explanations?

A Tweet Causing Panic

A Twitter account named FXHedge stated: "The U.S. Department of the Treasury is suing several financial institutions for cryptocurrency money laundering."

This Twitter account was created in 2009 and has 140,000 followers. In addition to posts related to cryptocurrency, it also shares quick news about U.S. stocks, finance, and politics.

Compound Legal Advisor: Not Credible

A legal advisor for Compound stated: "I do not believe this news is credible. The post itself is misleading: the Treasury Department does not press charges for money laundering, only the Department of Justice does. It is also very unusual to press charges against multiple financial institutions at once. Moreover, these criminal charges are usually kept strictly confidential and rarely leaked. I do not believe in these so-called sources of information."

However, some netizens claim that this news refers to the Treasury Department accusing several foreign entities related to Russia of attempting to interfere in the U.S. election and helping Pakistan's Second Eye Solution (SES) evade U.S. sanctions using digital currency. While this accusation will not come from the Treasury Department, it is likely to be brought up by the Department of Justice next week.

Regardless, this incident may not be directly related to "cryptocurrency institutions being accused of money laundering" and does not involve institutions within the U.S.