Kategorie: Crypto News

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HSBC buys UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank for £1

  • HSBC bought the UK arm of collapsed US bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) for £1.
  • SVB collapsed last week, sending shock waves across the banking and finance industry as well as crypto.
  • Businesses and customers can now continue to access withdrawals as normal.

HSBC, the British multinational bank and financial services giant, has acquired the UK arm of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank.

According to a BBC news report on Monday, HSBC has scooped up the SVB unit for just £1.

Bank of England and HM Treasury work to help SVB customers

The last few days have been a real scare to millions of bank customers and businesses, not just in the US but also in the UK. The main story here has been the demise of Silicon Valley Bank – deemed the second largest such banking collapse in US history in terms of the amount of money involved.

The market reaction was drastic, with bank stocks hit hard as contagion fears mounted. Cryptocurrencies also plummeted as Silicon Valley Bank was one of the main crypto-friendly banks, alongside Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank. As CoinJournal reported earlier today, US authorities have shut down the latter.

As the US Treasury and FDIC worked to avert a calamity for SVB depositors, including moving to shut down Signature Bank, authorities in the UK also took cue to help UK-based customers. This is after hundreds of tech firms had sounded the alarm as SVB collapsed.

The Bank of England and the UK government reportedly worked overnight Sunday to strike a deal between SVB (UK) and HSBC. With the acquisition now in place, around 3,000 businesses are set to access their money.

According to a news update from the HM Treasury, the HSBC-SVB deal did not involve any taxpayer money.

The post HSBC buys UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank for £1 appeared first on CoinJournal.

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USDC bounces to $0.99 as Circle’s $3.3B reserve risk is removed

  • USDC has re-pegged to $0.99 after crashing to lows of $0.88 last week.
  • Circle, the company that issues the stablecoin, has announced the $3.3 billion risk on USDC reserves has been removed.
  • The firm also noted it had no USDC reserves exposure with Signature Bank.

The USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin is nearly fully re-pegged following last week’s massive de-pegging to under $0.90.

Data from CoinGecko showed that USDC had repegged nearly 4% in the past 24 hours, with the stablecoin above $0.99 as of 7.20 am ET on Monday. As tweet below from CoinGecko indicates, USDC has indeed held impressively above $0.99 since late Sunday.

The upbeat mood stemming from the USDC news has also permeated the broader crypto market, with Bitcoin price breaking above $22,000 and Ethereum reclaiming the $1,600 price level.

On Monday morning, Circle announced it was set to have its $3.3 billion USDC reserves that had been stuck at the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) back. The development follows the move by the US Treasury and US prudential regulators’ swift action towards making depositors at SVB and the now shuttered crypto-friendly bank Signature Bank, whole.

Alfonso Peccatielo, founder & CEO of The Macro Compass, highlighted the Fed’s move and plans to “backstop other liquidity issues.”

Circle says also announces “no exposure” to collapsed Signature Bank

According to Circle, the $3.3 billion at SVB accounted for about 8% of the entire USDC cash reserve backing. These money will be available when banks open (on Monday, 13 March 2023). Circle has cash reserves amounting to approximately $9.7 billion (23% of reserves) at the BNY Mellon.

Commenting on the US government’s move, Circle co-founder & CEO Jeremy Allaire, said in a press release:

“We are heartened to see the U.S. government and financial regulators take crucial steps to mitigate risks extending from the banking system. We’ve long advocated for full-reserve digital currency banking that insulates our base layer of internet money and payment systems from fractional reserve banking risk.”

Also notably, Circle has also reiterated that it had no cash reserves exposure at the closed Signature Bank. The company has also announced customers can now access automated USDC minting and redemption via its new banking partner Cross River Bank, maintaining USDC is redeemable 1:1 with the US dollar.

The post USDC bounces to $0.99 as Circle’s $3.3B reserve risk is removed appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Synthetix’s SNX price soars as Synth perps volume spikes

  • Synthetix has seen the volume of its perpetual futures jump.

  • The network is gearing towards the launch of Synthetix V3.

Synthetix (SNX/USD) price has staged a strong comeback in the past few days as investors cheer the upgrade to V3. It rose to a high of $3, which is much higher than the lowest level during the weekend at $2. Like other coins, SNX has soared by over 100% from its lowest point this year.

SNX token surges

Synthetix, a leading player in the blockchain industry, is doing well. The SNX token is one of the best-performing coins in the world, according to data compiled by Binance. It has jumped by over 32% in the past 24 hours.

There are several reasons why SNX is doing well. First, the on-chain volume shows that perpetual futures in the ecosystem is doing well. Its daily volume surged to more than $100 million. Daily fees in the Perps futures has jumped to over $67k in the past seven days. 

And as shown below, the cumulative perps volume has been in a strong bullish trend. Therefore, investors believe that Synthetix’s ecosystem is doing well even as challenges continued.

Second, Synthetix is doing well is because of its upgrade to V3. The V3 is a big upgrade that will be much different from the existing platform. It will provide a permissionless derivatives liquidity platform to power on-chain financial products. It will transform the network into a layer of liquidity that all derivatives can be built upon.

In a statement, the developers said that Synthetix will release these upgrades to the upcoming months. The initial release has already happened and will be followed by the collateral agnostic system and V3 spot market. The order types in V3 will be atomic orders, asynchronous orders, and wrapping. 

Like other cryptocurrencies, SNX price is reacting to the developments in the banking sector. Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank closed last week. Circle’s funds at Silicon Valley Bank will be released. 

SNX price prediction

SNX chart by TradingView

The daily chart shows that the Synthetix price has made a strong comeback in the past few days. It has managed to move above the 50-day exponential moving average. However, it has formed what looks like a shooting star pattern, which is usually a bearish sign. It sits at an important level since this price was the highest point on November 5.

Therefore, there is a likelihood that Synthetix will pull back in the coming days because of the shooting star pattern. If this happens, the next key level to watch will be at $2.50, which is the 50-day moving average

The post Synthetix’s SNX price soars as Synth perps volume spikes appeared first on CoinJournal.

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New York banking authorities shut down crypto-friendly Signature Bank

Key takeaways

  • Crypto-friendly bank Signature Bank has been shut down by New York Banking authorities. 

  • The Federal Reserve said the decision was made to protect the US economy and strengthen public confidence in the banking system.

  • Signature Bank’s closure comes days after the collapse of the Silvergate Bank and the Silicon Valley Bank.

Another crypto-friendly bank has been closed down

The Federal Reserve announced on Sunday that the New York-based Signature Bank had been closed down by its state charter authority.

This latest cryptocurrency news means that Signature Bank is the third major bank to shut down operations within the space of a week. 

In a statement issued on March 12, the Federal Reserve said the decision to shut down Signature Bank was made with the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect the U.S. economy and strengthen public confidence in the banking system.

The United States apex bank added that they would backstop all depositors of Signature Bank. The Federal Reserve wrote;

“We are also announcing a similar systemic risk exception for Signature Bank, New York, New York, which was closed today by its state chartering authority. All depositors of this institution will be made whole. As with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, no losses will be borne by the taxpayer.

Shareholders and certain unsecured debtholders will not be protected. Senior management has also been removed. Any losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund to support uninsured depositors will be recovered by a special assessment on banks, as required by law.”

The Federal Reserve pointed out that the move is designed to ensure that the United States continues to perform its vital roles of protecting deposits and providing access to credit to households and businesses in a manner that promotes strong and sustainable economic growth. 

The crypto market remains resilient 

The Fed said shareholders and certain unsecured debtholders would not be protected. 

Signature Bank’s shutdown makes it the third major bank to close operations within the space of a week. On March 9th, crypto-friendly bank Silvergate shut down its operations and voluntarily liquidated its assets. The bank said it made the decision in light of recent industry and regulatory developments.

Silicon Valley Bank, a major bank for some crypto and tech startups, also collapsed last week. However, the crypto market has remained resilient.

Bitcoin rose by nearly 10% on Sunday to trade above $22k after dropping below the $19k level last week. The total cryptocurrency market cap also stands above the $1 trillion level despite the ongoing FUD in the market.

The post New York banking authorities shut down crypto-friendly Signature Bank appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Silvergate Capital, SVB failures weigh on Bitcoin price

  • Bitcoin finds support at $20k 
  • Many cryptocurrency companies had exposure to SVB 
  • Bitcoin investors should keep an eye on the S&P 500 and the Fed

Cryptocurrency investors had a rough 2022. Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies trended lower, affected by the FTX failure, which triggered a loss of faith in the industry.

But the market started 2023 on a strong note. At one point, Bitcoin traded above $25k in February, after only a couple of months earlier, the price sat below $17k.

However, the enthusiasm faded away quickly. Bad news, once again, weighed on Bitcoin. First, Silvergate Capital, a major banker to the crypto industry, announced that it would liquidate its bank. Hit hard by the FTX bankruptcy, it closed the bank.

Second, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on Friday. A bank run triggered the 2nd largest bank failure in the US history, and the repercussions spread to the cryptocurrency market, too, as SVB was popular with crypto companies.

BTCUSD chart by TradingView

Bitcoin finds support at $20k

After failing at $25k in February, Bitcoin started to give up some of its 2023 gains. The move below $22k opened the gates to a quick drop to $20k, where the market found support at the round number.

Bitcoin’s volatility is well-known. Unfortunately, such sharp drops or quick gains are not unusual in the cryptocurrency market.

Nevertheless, even after the recent drop, Bitcoin is still up significantly in 2023. Its YTD performance is 23.62%, remarkably considering the turbulences that affected investors’ trust.

Recently, Bitcoin has also experienced an unusually high correlation with the US stock market. As such,  investors in the cryptocurrency market are keeping an eye on the S&P 500 index too. Affected by the Fed’s tightening cycle, the stock market had difficulty rallying – so did Bitcoin.

Moving forward, how the Fed responds to the SVB failure remains to be seen. Also, what will it do at its March meeting – raise the funds rate by 25bp or 50bp? Until then, the chances favor a longer consolidation for Bitcoin price at around $20k.

The post Silvergate Capital, SVB failures weigh on Bitcoin price appeared first on CoinJournal.