Crypto trading/market thread

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Hong Kong is warming up to crypto, and a licensing regime for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) – the local term for crypto exchanges – kicks in on June 1.

Does this mean crypto is going "fully legal" then in the city for everyone, as a tweet suggests? Not at all.

While the situation may change later, for the time being the VASP framework for licensing exchanges, which just finished a multiyear consultation, allows them to provide access only to accredited professional investors. Retail investors are excluded.

The Hong Kong government has indicated that the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), its securities regulator, may consider retail access to virtual asset services in the future, after further consultation.
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(Kitco News) - Amid a crackdown on the crypto industry in the U.S. with a focus on cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase is reportedly in talks with stock exchange platform IEX to create a federally approved digital asset marketplace, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

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Crypto markets likely facing some significant headwinds thanks to unraveling fraud and/or government regulators choking out business.

Silvergate Capital (SI) was downgraded to “Underweight” from “Neutral” by JPMorgan (JPM) after the crypto bank said that it was evaluating its ability to continue as a going concern and delayed the filing of its annual report on Wednesday.

The crypto-friendly bank said it needed to delay the filing of its annual 10-K for the 2022 fiscal year, and would take an additional two weeks to complete it.

The Wall Street giant also withdrew its price target for the stock, which was $14 a share previously. Silvergate shares fell 47% to $7.18 in premarket trading.

Silvergate’s rating was also downgraded to “Hold” from “Buy” by Canaccord Genuity. The broker also cut its price target on the stock to $9 from $25.

JPMorgan notes that in the recent quarter Silvergate realized a $886 million loss from selling underwater securities, resulting in tangible book value (TBV) being cut more than half to $12.93.

“With the company having sold additional securities (beyond what was guided) as a loss in January/February, this reflects that the company is facing continued liquidity challenges,” JPMorgan analysts led by Steven Alexopoulos wrote.
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A bipartisan grouping of three US Senators has written to Binance asking for details on its money laundering controls, accusing the crypto exchange of being a "hotbed of illegal financial activity," according to the Wall Street Journal.
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The exchange is reportedly bracing itself for significant fines for past conduct. A Binance spokesperson did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment.


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Robinhood has just disclosed in a regulatory filing on Feb. 27 that it had been subpoenaed by the regulator regarding its crypto activities.

"In December 2022, shortly after FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, 2022, and following the bankruptcies of several other major cryptocurrency trading venues and lending platforms earlier in 2022, including Three Arrows Capital, Ltd., Voyager Digital Holdings, Inc., and Celsius Network LLC (“Celsius”) (collectively, the “2022 Crypto Bankruptcies”), we received an investigative subpoena from the SEC regarding, among other topics, RHC’s cryptocurrency listings, custody of cryptocurrencies, and platform operations," the company said.

Robinhood Might Stop Offering Crypto Services

As a result, the brokerage firm warned that if the SEC or a court concludes that cryptocurrencies or certain cryptocurrencies are "securities," the platform would simply "ceasing support for such cryptocurrencies on our platform."
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Major digital assets plunged as the business day began in Hong Kong on Friday.

Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) both dropped more than 5% as customers fled crypto bank Silvergate, whose stock tumbled 58% during U.S. trading Thursday. Most of the other 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap saw declines similar to BTC and ETH's.
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29 arrested after thousands swept up in cryptocurrency investment scam​

Story by Ahmed Shawkat • Yesterday 2:02 PM

Cairo — Egyptians who invested in a cryptocurrency mining app were hit last week with the daunting realization that the incredible profits they thought they were making all boiled down to fiction. The platform, called Hoggpool, was launched in August.

In a promotional video, a man introduced the company with a claim that it was founded in Colorado in

2019 and was investing in cutting-edge industries, from "life sciences technology" to "space tech and blockchain." He called it "one of the leading energy providers worldwide" and said it offered "cryptocurrency mining at all levels."

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Worldwide crypto & NFT rug pulls and scams tracker​

 

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In its March attestation, Circle had revealed that part of its $9.88 billion in cash reserves was held at SVB, although it did not disclose the total amount. Following the collapse of SVB, withdrawals from USDC mounted, with the crypto intelligence platform Nansen showing over $1 billion in redemptions from the stablecoin since SVB’s shutdown. USDC has a market cap just north of $40 billion.

As USDC lost its $1 peg across different crypto exchanges amid withdrawals, Circle sought to instill confidence, with the company tweeting at 6:50 pm ET that it would continue to operate normally, sharing that SVB was one of the six banking partners it uses for the 25% of its reserves that it keeps in cash, although still not disclosing the amount held at SVB.

 

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Amid the worst banking crisis since 2008, four Republicans in the U.S. Senate, led by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), have written a letter to the heads of several federal banking regulatory agencies asking them to explain the coordinated effort to crack down on crypto-related banking providers in recent months.

The letter was addressed to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chair Marty Gruenberg, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Chair Michael Hsu, seeking further insights into recent statements made by the banking regulators that have called for heightened supervision of crypto-related activities.

“These releases have caused banks to reevaluate their decision to provide banking services to the crypto sector, resulting in crypto firms’ bank accounts being unexpectedly closed,” the Senators wrote. “This coordinated behavior seems disturbingly reminiscent of Operation Choke Point… an Obama Administration initiative where federal regulators applied pressure on financial institutions to cut off financial services to certain licensed, legally operating industries simply because certain regulators and policymakers disfavored those industries.”

The result of an investigation into Operation Choke Point found that businesses were illegally targeted by government officials, and the FDIC was forced to take steps to clarify that banks are allowed to provide services to legal businesses and provide enhanced training to its examiners.

“Unfortunately, nearly four years after the enhanced training, banking regulators seem to be reverting to old practices,” the letter said. “Even if the actions towards the crypto economy emanate from different regulatory concerns – it appears that the desired outcome from the banking regulators is similar to that of Operation Choke Point – the de-banking of the crypto industry in America.”
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Letter:
 

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Regarding post #135 above (bold emphasis is mine):
On Friday, Signature Bank customers spooked by the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank withdrew more than $10 billion in deposits, a board member told CNBC.

That run on deposits quickly led to the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Regulators announced late Sunday that Signature was being taken over to protect its depositors and the stability of the U.S. financial system.

The sudden move shocked executives of Signature Bank, a New York-based institution with deep ties to the real estate and legal industries, said board member and former congressman Barney Frank. Signature had 40 branches, assets of $110.36 billion and deposits of $88.59 billion at the end of 2022, according to a regulatory filing.
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According to Frank, Signature executives explored "all avenues" to shore up its situation, including finding more capital and gauging interest from potential acquirers. The deposit exodus had slowed by Sunday, he said, and executives believed they had stabilized the situation.

Instead, Signature's top managers have been summarily removed and the bank was shuttered Sunday. Regulators are now conducting a sales process for the bank, while guaranteeing that customers will have access to deposits and service will continue uninterrupted.
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For his part, Barney, who helped draft the landmark Dodd-Frank Act after the 2008 financial crisis, said there was "no real objective reason" that Signature had to be seized.

"I think part of what happened was that regulators wanted to send a very strong anti-crypto message," Frank said. "We became the poster boy because there was no insolvency based on the fundamentals."

 

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looks like the strong anti-crypto message fell on deaf ears , at least for today



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The reaction to last week's sudden wave of banking collapses led to a surge of fear across the market, which pushed crypto investors to exit positions en masse in an attempt to avoid a third major contagion event in less than a year.
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As markets plunged into fear, traders used the opportunity to open short positions with the expectation that matters would continue to deteriorate over the weekend and into Monday as the banking contagion spread and investors exited the market.

Unfortunately for short sellers, the U.S. Federal Reserve stepped in and announced that it would be covering the deposits at both SIVB and Signature Bank, which led to a resurgence in crypto prices.

As a result of the turnaround, data provided by Coinglass shows that more than $311 million worth of short positions were liquidated across all crypto markets on Saturday and Sunday.

The liquidations continued Monday, with the latest Coinglass data indicating that a total of 89,121 traders have had their positions liquidated in the past 24 hours, with the amount liquidated totaling $367.28 million.


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From the link:

According to the FBI's recently released annual internet crime report, $10.6 billion was lost due to online scams and frauds in 2022. This is up 46 percent from the $6.9 billion in losses in 2021. Furthermore, even though losses are way up, the number of complaints from scam victims made to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) were actually down from the previous year.

 

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On Tuesday, Tom Emmer, Majority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives, sent a letter to Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) chair Martin Gruenberg, calling on the FDIC head to answer the question as to whether the agency has specifically instructed banks not to provide services to crypto firms.

“Recent reports indicate that Federal financial regulators have effectively weaponized their authorities over the last several months to purge legal digital asset entities and opportunities from the United States,” Emmer wrote.

The representative cited the recent comments from former House Financial Services Committee chair Barney Frank, co-author of the Dodd-Frank Act, who said during an interview on Monday that the targeted nature of these regulatory efforts is meant to send the message that crypto is toxic and should be avoided.

“If this is the case, these actions to weaponize recent instability in the banking sector, catalyzed by catastrophic government spending and unprecedented interest rate hikes, are deeply inappropriate and could lead to broader financial instability,” Emmer wrote.

Emmer’s letter mentioned the joint statement released by the Fed, FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in January that discouraged banks from holding crypto or serving crypto clients, the Feds public statement issued in February that “seemingly turned this perspective into a final” without a public comment period and the Biden Administration’s “Roadmap to Mitigate Cryptocurrenices’s Risks” as further evidence of a coordinated effort to malign the industry.

“In under a week, regulatory statement-driven market fear drove mass withdrawals at the few remaining banks that provide legal crypto firms access to financial services,” Emmer said. “The Administration’s demonstrated effort to choke off digital assets from the United States financial system is a lazy and destructive regulatory strategy that is stagnating innovation and subjecting American users of digital assets to less sophisticated regulatory jurisdictions.”

Emmer added that while Congress is focused on working across the aisle to develop nonpartisan legislative solutions for the crypto community, “Reports indicate that this Administration may be driven by a political agenda that has already harmed everyday Americans.”

The Congressman has called on the FDIC to officially answer whether it has instructed banks under its supervision to not provide crypto firms banking services, and if so, to explain the analysis for this instruction and “the goal of the instruction if not to discourage banks from servicing digital asset clients.”

Emmer also wants the FDIC to indicate whether it has explicitly or implicitly communicated with any banks that “their supervision will be more onerous in any way if they take on new (or maintain existing) digital asset clients.”
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Emmer is calling on Gruenberg and the FDIC to answer these questions no later than 5:00 p.m. on March 24.
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Context for Rep. Emmer's letter mentioned in my last post:
Signature Bank is on the market after being shuttered by state regulators on Sunday, but any potential buyer reportedly has to agree to a major caveat: no crypto.

Reuters first reported the development on Wednesday evening, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The New York-based bank’s weekend closure came two days after the collapse of another bank, the California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), and less than a week after the closure of another California-based bank, Silvergate Bank. All three of the now-defunct banks were known as being crypto-friendly financial institutions.

Signature Bank, whose crypto clients accounted for a quarter of its deposits, was reportedly under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for potentially lax monitoring that may have enabled money laundering.
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Microsoft is testing a built-in cryptocurrency wallet for the Edge browser​

3/17/2023, 4:14 PM

Microsoft appears to be testing a built-in cryptocurrency wallet for Edge, according to screenshots pulled from a beta build of the browser. The feature, which the screenshots say is strictly for internal testing, was unearthed by Twitter user @thebookisclosed, who has a history of digging up present-but-disabled features in everything from new Windows 11 builds to ancient Windows Vista betas.

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I wouldn't trust it. Browsers seem to be easily compromised by malware.
 

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not a bad month for BitCoin

up about 35%

how high will BC go by Dec 2023 is anyone’s guess eh



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Bold emphasis is mine:
WASHINGTON – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) entered into a purchase and assumption agreement for substantially all deposits and certain loan portfolios of Signature Bridge Bank, National Association, by Flagstar Bank, National Association, Hicksville, New York, a wholly owned subsidiary of New York Community Bancorp, Inc., Westbury, New York.

The 40 former branches of Signature Bank will operate under New York Community Bancorp's Flagstar Bank, N.A., on Monday, March 20, 2023. The branches will open during their normal business hours. Customers of Signature Bridge Bank, N.A., should continue to use their current branch until they receive notice from the assuming institution that full-service banking is available at branches of Flagstar Bank, N.A.

Depositors of Signature Bridge Bank, N.A., other than depositors related to the digital banking business, will automatically become depositors of the assuming institution. All deposits assumed by Flagstar Bank, N.A., will continue to be insured by the FDIC up to the insurance limit. Flagstar Bank's bid did not include approximately $4 billion of deposits related to the former Signature Bank's digital banking business. The FDIC will provide these deposits directly to customers whose accounts are associated with the digital banking business. Questions may be directed to (866) 744-5463.
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FDIC has split off and debanked Signature's crypto clients. Operation Choke Point is in full effect.
 
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Operation Choke Point making it's way to the UK:
U.K. banks should be given a “whitelist” of registered crypto firms to avoid the sector being cut off from the financial system, lobby group CryptoUK has said in letters sent to regulators Tuesday.

Concerns over legitimate crypto companies getting debanked have spread to the U.K., where major lenders say they discourage access to riskier financial products for their customers’ own good.
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anyone care to guess on how the Fed decision today will affect Bitcoin , up or down?
 

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anyone care to guess on how the Fed decision today will affect Bitcoin , up or down?
I'm guessing sideways as American crypto industry is largely unbanked currently. I'm guessing most crypto trading right now is happening outside of USA borders and therefore less likely to be reactive on Fed interest rate news. But I could definitely be very wrong on this.
 

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I'm guessing sideways as American crypto industry is largely unbanked currently. I'm guessing most crypto trading right now is happening outside of USA borders and therefore less likely to be reactive on Fed interest rate news. But I could definitely be very wrong on this.



if this mornings movement , oh gawd that sounds awful , is any indication , up up and away

is it to early to say To the moon! ?

or ,

the train is leaving the station?



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any chance of a Bitcoin ticker at the Top of the Page with the gold and silver?
 

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Operation Choke Point 2.0 continues:



i do not completely understand staking

but i did opt in for it the other day as Coinbase gave all their customers the option…

based upon my history of returns , i opted in lol
 

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any chance of a Bitcoin ticker at the Top of the Page with the gold and silver?
I would need to find one that has similar dimensions to the existing charts. We do have finviz charts for BTC and ETH at the side or bottom of the page depending upon whether you are browsing with a computer or phone.
 
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