Week 11 | 3/13/23 - 3/18/23
By Matthew BrienenNews Flash
The embattled Silicon Valley Bank has just come under new ownership, at least in the United Kingdom. Per a filing on March 13, 2023, HSBC UK Bank plc, a subsidiary of the behemoth bank, announced that it is purchasing Silicon Valley Bank UK Limited (SVB UK) for £1 (or $1.21 at today's exchange rate). The acquisition also means that depositors at the British branch of SVB "can continue to bank as usual, safe in the knowledge that their deposits are backed by the strength, safety, and security of HSBC," said CEO of HSBC Group Noel Quinn.
A federal judge in Florida has ruled in favor of a plaintiff who sued anonymous hackers and issued formal notice of the legal action via NFT, according to recent court filings. The ruling, a default judgment from Judge Beth Bloom of the United States District Court Southern District of Florida, declares that the unidentified hackers are on the hook for the $971,291 worth of USDT (Tether) that they stole from plaintiff Rangan Bandyopadhyay’s Coinbase wallet in December 2021. The perpetrators have been ordered to pay the equivalent amount back to Bandyopadhyay, with the amount set to accrue interest on that debt until it is paid in full.
As the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation prepares to auction off Signature Bank, it has made it clear that the buyer has to stop doing business with crypto, two anonymous sources told Reuters. If it's true, it would seem to confirm suspicions that regulators targeted Signature Bank because it did business with the crypto industry. Earlier this week, Barney Frank, an ex-congressman who helped pen the Dodd-Frank Act, told CNBC that banking regulators shuttered the bank to send "a very strong anti-crypto message." Frank also served on the Signature Bank board. The New York Department of Financial Services was quick to dismiss his claim, saying in a statement the decision to place Signature into receivership "was based on the current status of the bank and its ability to do business in a safe and sound manner."
MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright is turning to a unique metric to measure mass adoption for NFTs. “We really want to pass the mom test,” he said in a recent interview with Decrypt at this year's NFT Paris. "We want to make it really easy, for anyone, anywhere in the world, to be able to use their debit and credit card, payment methods, we want to localize that experience to make it easy for them to purchase their first crypto or their first NFT.” The ultimate goal is the company’s mantra of “onboarding the world to Web3.”
CryptoCharged Live Show Recaps
Dan Habib deconstructs the US's fractional reserve system, how banks make money, the Fed's role in preventing a massive banking crisis, the Fed's options, and how Bitcoin addresses all of these flaws in centralized banking. Matthew Brienen discusses Circle's new banking partner to help calm markets after the USDC depeg, the Fed's intention, and Silicon Valley Bank's historic customer withdrawal. Matthew also provides a technical market analysis and a large breakdown of altcoins.
Habib discusses the Fed, the February 2023 CPI, why shelter costs are falling, supply chains, and upcoming inflation reports. Matthew Brienen mentions Epic Games' 'close to 20' crypto games in the pipeline, Meta's plans to lay off another 10,000 employees, and Kevin Cage's Bitcoin bottom analysis. Matthew and Dan analyze market technicals as well as the truth about cryptocurrency.
Matthew Brienen discusses how a plaintiff won a case against hackers after serving court papers via NFT, how the largest USDC burn on record occurred recently, and how traditional finance is under pressure. Matthew examines the technicals and discusses his recently closed oil short.
The team discusses the FDIC's demand that any buyer of Signature Bank abandon crypto, the quiet launch of Fidelity crypto, and an extension to Ledger. Matthew also provides a technical market analysis and a new Bitcoin short opportunity.
Brienen goes on to discuss how the Fed "stands ready" to provide liquidity to eligible institutions, how the Fed recently expanded its balance sheet, and how disgusting the legacy banking system is. Matthew also examines the charts and explains why he was so certain of his oil short.