The Justice Department has opened a criminal probe into investigate whether unscrupulous traders are manipulating the price of bitcoin and other digital currencies. Some traders are said to be exploiting retail “mom and pop” investors by a practice called spoofing, which entails flooding the market with fake orders to manipulate prices. Bitcoin was down 3 percent to $7,409 this morning following the news. Federal prosecutors are working with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a financial regulator that oversees derivatives tied to bitcoin, Bloomberg News reported.
