Week 13 | 3/27/23 - 4/1/23
By Matthew BrienenNews Flash
First Citizens Bank will take on the deposits and loans of the failed Silicon Valley Bank, the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said on Monday. The deal includes the purchase of $72 billion in SVB assets for a discount of $16.5 billion. The FDIC will keep another $90 billion in securities and assets to sell on the open market in a process known as “disposition.” “We look forward to building relationships with our new customers and positioning our company for continued success as we affirm our commitment to support the integrity of our nation's banking system," said First Citizens chairman and CEO Frank B. Holding in a statement today.
The Group of Seven (G7), consisting of the world’s largest industrialized democracies, is expected to discuss the adoption of stricter crypto regulations in two months’ time as attention on the nascent asset class mounts. In a bid to promote what officials are calling transparency and consumer safeguards, the G7 will speed up discussions ahead of a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in mid-May, Kyodo News reported Sunday. Discussions will commence just days before the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, which is expected to involve talks surrounding the risks digital assets pose to the global financial system.
Shortly after coming out of stealth, token protocol Noble has announced it has partnered with Circle to bring USD Coin (USDC) natively to the Cosmos ecosystem in Q2. USDC is the second-largest stablecoins in the cryptocurrency ecosystem behind Tether, and is pivotal to many decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. It is often used as collateral for lending and borrowing to generate yield due to its ability to remain steadily pegged to the US dollar. “That’s about to change with Noble’s first issuance partner, Circle,” she said. “They’re bringing a native USDC to Cosmos for the first time.” Noble, a token issuance protocol, will help facilitate USDC’s management and issuance.
The newly launched ZeroSync Association is bringing zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to Bitcoin (BTC), allowing users to validate the state of the network without the need to download hundreds of gigabytes of blockchain history or trusting a third party. Based in Zug, Switzerland, the ZeroSync Association is a non-profit entity supported by various community stakeholders, including core contributors Robert Linus, Tino Steffens, Lukas George, and Max Gillett, as well as supporting partners, such as Lightning Labs, among others. For the first version of its software, ZeroSync is using Cairo, the programming language brought to life by StarkWare, the Israeli-based company developing popular Ethereum layer-2 scaling solutions StarkEx and StarkNet. “ZeroSync is the first production attempt to radically upgrade the Bitcoin protocol,” StarkWare's ecosystem lead Louis Guthmann told Decrypt. “It would transform the way people think about the system at a fundamental level.”
Citi says the industry is finally "approaching an inflection point" and that blockchain technology will soon see "billions of users and trillions of dollars in value." In its latest report "Money, Tokens, and Games: Blockchain's Next Billion Users and Trillions in Value," Citi analysts suggest that the next influx of crypto adoption will be powered primarily by the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and the tokenization of real-world assets. During a panel event today during the Citi Digital Money Symposium, which coincided with the report's release, the bank's future of finance lead Ronit Ghose suggested that there will be $5 trillion circulating in the economy in CBDCs "by the end of this decade."
The Deputy of Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy explains how NFTs and cryptocurrency can help solve social and economic challenges within Indonesia. Tokenized assets, such as nonfungible tokens (NFTs), can also be placed on a blockchain. This can verify ownership while demonstrating that certain events occurred at particular times. For example, the Meta History Museum tokenized data from the war in Ukraine in May 2022, placing the information on a blockchain network to preserve records of the war.
The US government sold off more than 9,800 BTC connected to the Silk Road darknet marketplace for about $215 million earlier this month, a court filing released Friday shows. James Zhong pleaded guilty to hacking Silk Road in 2012 and stealing more than 50,000 BTC (worth less than $1 million at the time), which the government seized in November 2022. “In total from the Zhong investigation, the Government has obtained final orders of forfeiture for approximately [51,680.32 BTC], valued at over $3.4 billion at the time of seizure,” the court filing noted. On March 14, the government sold about 9,861.2 BTC for around $21,800 per token. On this date, bitcoin was trading on most exchanges at a high of around $26,500 and a low of around $24,000, according to Blockworks Research.
CryptoCharged Live Show Recaps
The team discusses G7 members likely to discuss stricter crypto regulation in May, First Citizens Bank enters deal with FDIC to buy Silicon Valley Bank, CFTC sues Binance, and Coinbase plans to develop inflation-pegged stablecoins. Matthew also offers an expert analysis of the markets and discusses a possible Bitcoin move.
Matthew Brienen explains the FDIC's proposal for a special bank fee rule, Hong Kong's ability to buy large cap cryptos on June 1st, and the crypto market becoming extra euphoric. Matthew also provides a detailed market analysis as well as an in-depth look at XRP.
Dan Habib addresses the median home price, the truth about housing, upcoming key data, the Fed, and Bitcoin confidence. Matthew Brienen explores an update on the SEC V. Ripple case, Saudi Arabia's partnership with China to build a Chinese oil refinery, and current market sentiment. Matthew also provides a technical analysis of the markets as well as a game plan for the coming months with XRP.
Matt discusses Citi's view on what will drive mass crypto adoption, Kraken responds to Canada's tougher rules, and Elizabeth Warren is assembling an anti-crypto army. Matthew also provides technical analysis and explains Bitcoin's bullish moment.
Brian Decker addresses the present state of the world, the US dollar, using Ledger Live, and some optimal gold prices to purchase gold. Matthew Brienen explains the US Government dumping Bitcoin stolen from Silk Road, the Casper mission, and LBRY's willingness to assist anyone facing the SEC. Matthew also provides a technical analysis of the markets and CSPR's upward trend.
