SBF legal fees, BTC market cap flips Meta,USDC climbs back to $1

This Week’s Top Stories

Sam Bankman-Fried petitioned the court to prioritize reimbursing legal fees

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) sought to use the FTX company’s insurance policy to cover legal costs, according to a court filing on March 15. According to the filing, the policy provides “payment priority” to insured individuals such as Bankman-fried. The move will put the former CEO at the top of FTX’s payroll. Other headlines reveal that the Bankman-Fried circle received $3.2 billion in payments and loans from FTX-related entities. The amount does not include more than $240 million spent on the purchase of luxury properties in the Bahamas, political and charitable donations, as well as “substantial transfers” to non-FTX subsidiaries. In other headlines, FTX debt reported claims of $11.6 billion and assets of $4.8 billion, which means there is a hole of $6.8 billion in the exchange balance.

Signature Bank was shut down by New York regulators for not providing data

Crypto-friendly Signature Bank was officially shut down and taken over by the New York Department of Financial Services on March 12 for “failing to provide consistent and reliable data.” The bank has been investigated by two United States government agencies over whether it took adequate steps to monitor and detect possible money laundering by its clients. Former US House of Representatives member Barney Frank suggested that New York regulators shut down Signature as part of a show of force against the crypto market.

USDC bounced back to the $1 peg after the Fed announcement

Circle’s stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC), rose again to the $1 peg after positive developments regarding Circle’s $3.3 billion reserves held at Silicon Valley Bank and a new banking partner: USDC redemptions will now be processed by Cross River Bank and BNY Mellon. The stablecoin depegged from the US dollar on March 10 after the sudden collapse of SVB, triggering the depeg of many other stablecoins. Depegging stablecoins resulted in loan payments over the weekend, allowing borrowers to save more than $100 million on loans.

The US Fed announced $25B in funding for bank backstops

The United States federal regulator announced “decisive actions” that “will fully protect depositors” at the now closed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, including a $25 billion fund aimed at backstopping banks and other depository companies. The Federal Reserve is investigating the failure of Silicon Valley Bank — including an internal investigation into how the Fed oversees and regulates the financial institution. In the midst of the sudden collapse, the UK arm of SVB was bought by 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 capitalization flips technology giant Meta, widens the gap in Visa

Despite the tumultuous week for crypto after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the Bitcoin market cap has managed to flip that of the tech giant Meta. As of March 14, Bitcoin’s market cap reached $471.86 billion, surpassing Meta’s $469 billion, according to data from Companies Market Cap. The leading cryptocurrency rose to 11th place among the top assets by market cap, sitting behind electric vehicle maker Tesla. The market capitalization of Bitcoin has increased over $190 billion in 2023, outperforming the top Wall Street bank stocks, mainly due to fears of a global banking crisis.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) that’s it $27,571Ether (ETH) at $1,823 and XRP at $0.38. The total market capitalization is at $1.18 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week were Conflux (CFX) at 186.02%, Mask Network (MASK) at 120.56% and Stacks (STX) at 102.97%.

The top three altcoins of the week were UNUS SED LEO (LEO) at -2.22%, Tether (USDT) at -0.35% and Binance USD (BUSD) at -0.16%.

For more information on crypto prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotes

“The closure of new financial institutions could be an opportunity for crypto to achieve mass adoption.”

Johnny LiuCEO of KuCoin

“We believe that elements of the future of finance will be blockchain enabled and we have witnessed a rapid change in the tokenization market.”

Drew Bradfordexecutive general manager, markets at National Australia Bank

“Major adoption by mainstream businesses and consumers is imminent due to technological advances in scale and privacy.”

Mark SmargonCEO of Fuse Network

“Drop the blockchain / NFT / play-to-earn (P2E) / metaverse / Web3 conversation. […] equal [players] just want to have a fun gaming experience – not a science lesson.

Peter Bergstromformer producer of Age of Empires and CEO of BitBlock Ventures

“We are going to have a credit crunch in the US and globally. […] You want long gold and silver […] and you want long Bitcoin.

Michael Novogratzfounder and CEO of Galaxy Digital

“I believe regulators are using crypto as a scapegoat for their own mistakes in traditional banking supervision.”

Cathie WoodCEO of ARK Invest

Sunday Predictions

Bitcoin price hits $27K at new 9-month high as Fed injects $300B

Bitcoin hit a new nine-month high on March 17 as the latest events in the US banking crisis boosted the crypto market. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView show BTC/USD reaching $27,025 on Bitstamp before consolidating. A catalyst for a new rise has come overnight in the form of Federal Reserve balance sheet data, which shows almost $300 billion injected into the economy as part of the response to the banking crisis.

Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading company Eight, has his eyes up and down.

“Chopperino land in Bitcoin, which means we will have some slanted structure,” he wrote on Twitter. “Need to hold $26K. If it continues, $28-30K is next. If it loses $26K, I’m punting around $25K for some longs. Relatively easy to understand.”

FUD from Sunday

Euler Finance was hacked for over $195M in a flash loan attack

Credit protocol Eurler Finance faced a flash loan attack on March 13. The exploiter carried out several transactions, stealing almost $196 million in stablecoins DAI and USDC, as well as staked Ether and wrapped in Bitcoin. The attack is said to be the biggest hack of 2023 so far. Part of the stolen funds began to be transferred to the crypto mixer Tornado Cash shortly after the $1 million reward was launched to identify the hackers. As of March 18, only a small portion of the funds have been recovered – about 3,000 Ether ($5.4 million).

Europol seized $46M from crypto mixer after $2.88B was allegedly laundered

Law enforcement agency Europol has seized assets from cryptocurrency mixer ChipMixer worth $46 million due to its alleged involvement in money laundering activities. ChipMixer’s website has been shut down and four servers hosting the app have been seized. Europol claims that ChipMixer has laundered more than 152,000 BTC ($2.88 billion) since its inception in 2017.

FBI, NY authorities are investigating the collapse of TerraUSD stablecoin

The US Department of Justice is reportedly investigating the collapse of the TerraClassicUSD (USTC) stablecoin, which contributed to the $40 billion wipeout in the Terra ecosystem last May. Former staff at Terraform Labs have been questioned in recent weeks by US agencies, including the FBI. The investigation covers the same grounds as the lawsuit filed against Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in February, including misleading investors.

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