U.S. bank turmoil puts Bitcoin and major altcoins on edge
The price of Bitcoin (BTC), the most important cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has dropped below $20,000 in the cryptocurrency trading space over the past week amid a trio of bad news. Even the trumpet had a rough time. It’s unfortunate that Silvergate Bank’s continued woes made for a poor start to the week. As the bank struggled to keep its business afloat, it decided to liquidate its interest, which sent the share price down despite significant short interest. In addition, Silvergate notified the SEC that it will not be able to file its 2022 annual report on time because it would require additional time for analysis, notebook entries of subsequent events, and completion of management’s assessment of internal financial controls. In addition to this, unfavorable comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on the U.S. economy and cryptocurrencies further rattled the market.
Among them:
- Inflation measures have not behaved as expected, prompting Powell and the Fed to consider raising interest rates higher than initially planned.
- Powell warned that without raising the debt ceiling, the U.S. government will not have enough money to support the country.
- He highlighted how chaotic the current financial system is and urged Congress to quickly pass laws to control cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
- The situation worsened after reports emerged that the Southern District of New York’s Attorney’s Office accused the KuCoin exchange of operating without authorization within its jurisdiction and handling unauthorized Ethereum assets.
After the report was released, the situation only got worse. To make matters worse, Silicon Valley Bank, a U.S. bank known for its positive stance on cryptocurrencies, has shut down its operations due to pressure from regulators. This has led to a massive sell-off by affiliated banking companies that have some ties to cryptocurrencies.
For Those Trying To Determine What Caused Yesterday’s Crypto Crash
⚜ Biden raised the capital gains tax rate from 20% to 40%.
⚜ Silvergate Liquidation – Biden’s 30% Electricity Tariff on Bitcoin Mining and Cryptocurrencies
⚜ NY AG files lawsuit against #KuCoin pic.twitter.com/VZOOKtZgSr– cash flow. 🎲📊 (@XXCASHFLOW) March 10, 2023
The cryptocurrency market has been experiencing turmoil over the past week. Not only has the price of Bitcoin been weighed down, but most major cryptocurrencies have also felt the effects of this volatility. The value of ether fell below $1,400 on Friday, indicating that the cryptocurrency has suffered significant losses. However, prices of other cryptos such as BNB, XRP, DOGE, SHIB and UNI fell between 3% and 7% on Wednesday, with BNB being one of the worst victims. Even Litecoin and TRX suffered significant losses during the period; both cryptos were down more than 13% by the end of trading on Friday.
🚨 Are we witnessing a banking crisis?
• Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB) -60%
• First Republic Bank (FRC) -60%and more….
The banking sector has been selling off. pic.twitter.com/xrJcuDKkjY
— whalechart 🐳 (@WhaleChart) March 10, 2023
During the week of March 2-10, the top five cryptocurrency market decliners were STX (-32.71%), AGIX (-30.81%), MINA (-29.43%), RNDR (-28.77%) and DASH ( -24.98%).
Information source: compiled from COINTRUST by 0x information.Copyright belongs to the author, without permission, may not be reproduced