Top news this week
Sam Bankman-Fried is asking the court to prioritize the return of his legal fees
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) tries to take advantage FTX’s corporate insurance policies to cover his legal expenses, according to a March 15 court filing. According to the filing, the policies provide “payment priority” to insured individuals like Bankman-Fried. The move would put the former CEO at the top of FTX’s pay list. Another caption shows that the Bankman-Fried inner circle received payments and loans of $3.2 billion from entities associated with FTX. The amounts do not include more than $240 million used for purchases of luxury real estate in the Bahamas, political and charitable donations, as well as “substantial transfers” to non-FTX subsidiaries. In the next headline, FTX borrowers reported $11.6 billion in receivables and $4.8 billion in assetsmeaning there is a $6.8 billion hole in the stock market’s balance sheet.
Signature Bank was shut down by New York regulators for failing to provide data
Crypto-friendly Signature Bank has officially been was shut down on March 12 and taken over by the New York Department of Financial Services for “failure to provide consistent and reliable data.” The bank was investigated by two United States governments authorities over whether it has taken adequate measures to monitor and detect potential money laundering by its clients. Former member of the US House of Representatives Barney Frank suggested that New York regulators shut down The signature as part of an apparent show of force against the crypto market.
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USDC bounces back to $1 after Fed announcement
Stablecoin Circle, USD Coin (USDC)climbed back to $1 after positive developments regarding Circle’s $3.3 billion in reserves held at Silicon Valley Bank and its new bank partners: redemptions of USDC will now be processed by Cross River Bank and BNY Mellon. The stablecoin diverged from the US dollar on March 10 after the sudden collapse of SVB, which triggered the depeg of many other stablecoins. Debugging stablecoins sparked a surge in loan repayments over the weekend, allowing borrowers save more than 100 million dollars about loans.
The US Fed has announced $25 billion in funding to bail out banks
United States federal regulators announced “decisive actions” that would “fully protect depositors” at both Silicon Valley Bank and now-shuttered Signature Bank, including $25 billion in financing aimed at bailing out banks and other depository firms. The Federal Reserve System is investigates the failure of a Silicon Valley bank — including an internal investigation into how the Fed supervised and regulated the financial institution. In the midst of a sudden collapse, the British arm of the SVB acquired HSBC for 1 British pound ($1.21), with loans of 5.5 billion pounds ($6.7 billion) and deposits of 6.7 billion pounds ($8.1 billion).
Bitcoin market cap topples tech giant Meta and widens the gap on Visa
Despite a turbulent week for cryptocurrencies after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the market cap of Bitcoin managed to topple the market cap of the tech giant Meta. As of March 14, Bitcoin’s market capitalization reached $471.86 billion, surpassing Meta’s $469 billion, according to data from Companies Market Cap. The leading cryptocurrency climbed to 11th place among the top assets by market capitalization, sitting behind electric vehicle maker Tesla. Bitcoin’s market capitalization has added more than $190 billion in 2023, outperforming shares of top Wall Street banks, especially as fears of a global banking crisis grow.
Winners and losers
At the end of the week Bitcoin (BTC) is in $27,571Ether (ETH) on $1,823 and XRP on $0.38. The total market capitalization is at $1.18 trillion, according to on CoinMarketCap.
Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies are Conflux’s top three altcoin gainers of the week (CFX) at 186.02%, Mask Network (MASK) at 120.56% and stacks (STX) to 102.97%.
The three biggest altcoin losers of the week are UNUS SED LEO (LION) at -2.22%, Tether (USDT) at -0.35% and Binance USD (BUSD) to -0.16%.
For more information on cryptocurrency prices, be sure to read on Cointelegraph Market Analysis.
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Most memorable quote
“The recent shutdowns of financial institutions may be an opportunity for mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.”
Johnny LiuCEO of KuCoin
“We believe elements of the future of finance will be enabled by blockchain, and we are already seeing rapid changes in the tokenization market.”
Drew BradfordExecutive Managing Director, Markets at National Australia Bank
“Greater adoption by mainstream businesses and their consumers is just around the corner thanks to recent developments in scaling and privacy technologies.”
Mark SmargonCEO of Fuse Network
“Drop the blockchain/NFT/play-to-earn (P2E)/metaverse/Web3 talk. […] They [players] I just want to have a fun gaming experience – not a science lesson.”
Petr Bergströmformer producer of Age of Empires and CEO of BitBlock Ventures
“We will have a credit crunch in the US and globally. […] You want to be long gold and silver […] and you want to be long bitcoin.”
Michael Novogratzfounder and CEO of Galaxy Digital
“I believe regulators are using cryptocurrencies as a scapegoat for their own failings in traditional banking oversight.”
Cathie WoodCEO of ARK Invest
Forecast of the week
Bitcoin price hits $27k to new 9-month high as Fed injects $300 billion
Bitcoin entered a new nine months highs on March 17, when recent events in the US banking crisis boosted crypto markets. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD at $27,025 on Bitstamp before consolidation. The catalyst for the fresh rally came overnight in the form of data on the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet that showed nearly $300 billion had been pumped into the economy as part of the response to the banking crisis.
Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, tracked specific levels up and down.
“Chopperino has landed on Bitcoin, which means we’ll likely have some side structures,” he tweeted. “He must have 26 thousand dollars. If true, $28-30K is on the line. If he loses $26,000, I’m betting around $25,000 for a couple of longs. Fairly easy to understand.”
FUD of the week
Euler Finance busted for more than $195 million in credit blitz
Borrowing protocol Eurler Finance faced credit blitz on March 13. The exploiter made several transactions, stealing nearly $196 million in DAI and USDC stablecoins, as well as staking Ether and bagging Bitcoin. The attack was labeled as the biggest hack of 2023 so far. Some of the stolen funds began to be transferred to the Tornado Cash cryptomixer shortly after a $1 million reward was offered to identify the hacker. From March 18 only a small part the funds were recovered – about 3,000 Ether ($5.4 million).
Europol seizes $46 million from cryptocurrency mixer after $2.88 billion was allegedly laundered
Law enforcement agency Europol seized assets of cryptocurrency mixer ChipMixer worth $46 million for its alleged involvement in money laundering. ChipMixer’s website was shut down and four servers hosting the application were seized. Europol claims that ChipMixer has laundered over 152,000 BTC ($2.88 billion) since its inception in 2017.
The FBI and NY authorities are investigating the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin
US Department of Justice is reportedly investigating the collapse of the TerraClassicUSD (USTC) stablecoin, which contributed to a $40 billion wipeout of the Terra ecosystem last May. Former employees of Terraform Labs have been questioned by US agencies, including the FBI, in recent weeks. The investigation is on similar grounds to the lawsuit filed against Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon in February by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including misleading investors.
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