Ex-Coinbase Exec Balaji Srinivasan Closes Out $1 Million Bitcoin Bet

Former Chief Technology Officer at Coinbase, Balaji Srinivasan, closed out early a bet that the price of bitcoin would hit $1 million by mid-June amid hyperinflation of the U.S. dollar. Srinivasan paid a total of $1.5 million, more than the initially…

US Bank Lending Drops by Record $105 Billion in Two Weeks, Trillions Moving to Money Market Accounts, Elon Musk Warns ‘Trend Will Accelerate’

The banking industry in the United States is still struggling after the collapse of three major banks. According to statistics, bank lending in the U.S. has dropped by close to $105 billion in the last two weeks of March, which is…

Nasdaq Aims to Launch Crypto Custody Services in Second Quarter

Nasdaq intends to launch its custody services for digital assets like bitcoin by the end of this year’s second quarter. The exchange operator is among those traditional financial firms that want to play a role as intermediaries in the crypto sector…

First Republic Bank’s Shares Downgraded to Junk Status by S&P Global; Stock Slides More Than 25% Lower

After UBS acquired Credit Suisse and close to a dozen financial institutions injected $30 billion into First Republic Bank four days ago, S&P Global downgraded First Republic’s shares to junk status on Sunday. Investors are concerned that the cash infusion from…

Google Trends Data Reveals Searches for ‘Banking Crisis,’ ‘Bank Runs,’ Skyrocket

Interest in the U.S. banking crisis has risen greatly over the past two weeks, as shown by Google Trends data. There has been a sharp increase in queries related to search terms such as “banking crisis,” “bank collapse,” and “bank failure.”…

‘Next Round of Bailouts Is Here’ — Bitcoin and Precious Metals Soar Amid Speculation of Fed Policy Change

At around 7:30 a.m. ET, the price of bitcoin skyrocketed past the $27,000 range to a high of $27,025 per unit. Precious metals, or PMs, like gold and silver, also rose between 1.98% and 2.12% against the U.S. dollar over the…

Meta Winding Down Support for NFTs on Facebook, Instagram

U.S. tech giant Meta is giving up on operations with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) amid ongoing turbulence in the crypto space. The company allowed creators to share digital collectibles on its leading social media platforms last year. Meta Platforms Cutting Off Support…

USDC Stablecoin Nears Parity With USD After Fed’s Bailout Announcement

The stablecoin USDC has nearly regained parity with the U.S. dollar after rising just above $0.99 on March 12, 2023, at 7:20 p.m. Eastern Time. The stablecoin jumped back to the $0.99 range after the U.S. Federal Reserve revealed it would…

Extreme Market Turbulence: Critics Call Warren’s Silvergate Take ‘Terribly Misinformed,’ SVB Collapses, Vitalik’s Token Sell-Off Moves Markets, and More — Week in Review

It’s been a turbulent week in finance with the so-called crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank announcing its liquidation, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren blaming the event on “crypto risk,” and individuals on social media pointing out that Warren is “terribly misinformed.” Additionally, U.S. Regulators…

‘Fiat Is Fragile’ — Silicon Valley Bank’s Collapse Sparks Finger-Pointing and Concerns of Contagion

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has become the center of attention after its collapse prompted the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to shut the bank down on Friday. It was the largest U.S. bank failure since 2008, and various alleged catalysts…