Bitcoin trades cautiously, stays above $50,000

Investors have pointed to several reasons for the recent price action including liquidations on options exchanges, interest rates, market risk and Federal Reserve policy

Bitcoin was trading cautiously Wednesday morning, staying above the $50,000 level following a steep decline that began last week.

Bitcoin's weekend selloff and subsequent rebound illustrate the crypto market's volatility, but also its growing connection to traditional asset classes.

Between late Friday night and early Saturday morning, bitcoin's price dropped more than 20%, trading at $42,000 at one point. By Monday afternoon, it had recovered some of those losses and on Tuesday afternoon was trading around $50,528, according to CoinDesk. That was still down from $53,670 on Friday afternoon, and about 27% off its high of $68,990 set in November, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Investors have pointed to several reasons for the recent price action including liquidations on options exchanges, interest rates, market risk and Federal Reserve policy.

In other cryptocurrency news, top executives from six crypto firms will tell Congress on Wednesday to tread lightly in imposing new rules on digital assets - or risk sending activity underground or outside the U.S.

In prepared testimony, the firms will tell the U.S. House Financial Services Committee they will generally support clearer rules, but overly restrictive ones would push it away from U.S. reach, according to Reuters.

In other news, Visa Inc, the world's largest payment processor, on Wednesday launched a global crypto advisory service for clients such as banks and also merchants, according to Reuters.

Visa is making the move due to growing investor demand for crypto services.

Visa's services include educating institutions about cryptocurrencies, allowing clients to use the payment processor's network for digital offerings, and helping manage backend operations.

A new global study by Visa showed nearly 40% of crypto owners surveyed would be likely or very likely to switch their primary bank to one that offers crypto-related products in the next 12 months.