The banking crisis could be the spark that will kick off the next crypto bull run, in which Bitcoin (BTC) is likely to outperform all other cryptos, according to Mike McGlone, the senior commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence.
Following the collapse of major banks such as Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse, confidence in traditional financial institutions is being shaken and Bitcoin is becoming more attractive as a “hedge against banking risk,” thinks McGlone.
According to McGlone, the United States Federal Reserve’s unwillingness to ease monetary policy despite the banking crisis is driving the U.S. economy into a recession.
This macro environment will ultimately favor Bitcoin, which is going to outperform all other cryptocurrencies.
“The more the Bitcoin can sustain above $25,000, then the more the S&P 500 potentially pressures below 4,000, you’re going to have an indication that Bitcoin is going to take off,” McGlone pointed out. “I think Bitcoin will outperform virtually all cryptos, including Ethereum,” he concluded.
To find out how the banking meltdown is sparking the next Bitcoin bull market, watch the full interview on our YouTube channel, and don’t forget to subscribe!
ImmutableX (IMX) and Polygon (MATIC) just announced that they are teaming up to expand the web3 gaming ecosystem. Meanwhile, Orbeon Protocol (ORBN) is revolutionizing the crowdfunding industry by leveraging the power of NFTs and fractional equity sales. In its presale phase, Orbeon Protocol (ORBN) is already making waves and attracting attention from many around the globe with its 2203% price surge. Let’s look at what these three projects are up to.
Orbeon Protocol (ORBN)
Orbeon Protocol (ORBN) stands out as an innovative crowdfunding platform that adopts a decentralized approach to facilitate the sale of equity in startups. By harnessing blockchain technology, Orbeon Protocol (ORBN) creates NFTs to symbolize ownership in these emerging ventures, ensuring acquisitions are secure, transparent, and available to a broader audience.
Orbeon Protocol (ORBN)’s implementation of fractionalized NFTs empowers smaller holders to partake in funding rounds that were once exclusive to larger institutional investors. For startups, Orbeon Protocol (ORBN) offers a unique way to raise capital without diluting equity or relying on the traditional venture capital model.
Orbeon Protocol (ORBN)’s smart contracts streamline the whole process, from inventory management to the processing of payments. This means manual intervention isn’t required, leading to faster liquidity and more efficient payment processing.
The ORBN token serves as the Orbeon Protocol (ORBN) platform’s lifeblood, facilitating payment for transaction fees and granting access to exclusive perks, such as early access and discounted rates.
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Recently, Orbeon Protocol (ORBN) started its presale phase and saw a staggering 6,000+ buyers participate. This is an impressive feat for a relatively new platform and indicates its potential to revolutionize crowdfunding. ORBN is available to purchase at a price of $0.0921, a 2203% increase from the initial price.
Immutable (IMX)
ImmutableX (IMX) is an advanced Layer-2 scaling solution specifically crafted for Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum-related assets. ImmutableX (IMX)’s genesis in 2018 was preceded by a dedicated two-year development period.
Utilizing a cutting-edge ZK-rollup architecture, ImmutableX (IMX) rolls up transactions while preserving user privacy and ensuring transaction security. By doing so, ImmutableX (IMX) enables faster and cheaper transactions without sacrificing decentralization.
In an industry-first, ImmutableX (IMX) is teaming up with Polygon (MATIC) to create a robust Ethereum-focused gaming ecosystem. This innovative collaboration aims to propel Web3 into the mainstream and introduce the concept of digital ownership to a global audience, enriching the lives of countless individuals worldwide.
ImmutableX (IMX) will be drawing upon their widespread adoption, while Polygon (MATIC) will use its own zkEVM to create the best possible gaming experience.
Polygon (MATIC)
Polygon (MATIC) has been described as the Ethereum scaling solution of choice for developers. Polygon’s (MATIC) aim is to bring Ethereum-based apps, protocols, and networks into the mainstream by providing a platform for developers with significantly faster and cheaper transactions.
Polygon (MATIC) features an array of scaling solutions designed to increase the speed and efficiency of Ethereum-based apps. These Polygon (MATIC) solutions include zkEVM, Polygon PoS, and Polygon Miden.
As mentioned, Polygon (MATIC) recently partnered with ImmutableX (IMX) to create a powerful Ethereum-focused gaming ecosystem. Polygon (MATIC) unrivalled zkEVM technology will be the foundation of this project, allowing for secure and trustless gaming experiences.
As Polygon (MATIC) and ImmutableX (IMX) continue to work together, gamers worldwide will experience a new level of gaming that was once unthinkable.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored article, and views in it do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. Readers should conduct independent research before taking any actions related to the company, product, or crypto projects mentioned in this piece; nor can this article be regarded as investment advice.
Shares in Deutsche Bank – Germany’s largest lender – began to crash on Friday as financial industry fears continue to spread following a string of global bank failures this month.
Meanwhile, the cost of default insurance on the bank’s potential collapse has risen to four-year highs.
Is Deutsche Bank Next?
Deutsche Bank (DBK) shares fell from 9.06 EUR to 8.25 EUR on Friday – an 11% decline on the day, and 26% descent from a month prior. The bank’s slide was coupled by declines in neighboring European bank stocks, including Commerzbank (-5.6%) and Societe Generale (-6.48%).
The fall began to accelerate after the price of Deutsche Bank’s five-year Credit Default Swaps began surging on Friday above 220 basis points (bps). That’s up from 142 bps just two days prior, and its highest point since late 2018, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Soaring CDS costs indicate fear among investors about the bank’s stability, despite the firm’s financial results showing 10 consecutive quarters of profit. The bank reaped $5.7 billion EUR on after-tax profit in 2022.
Fears follow the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) earlier this month, prompting the Federal Reserve to bail out the bank’s depositors as part of a “systemic risk exception” shortly afterward. Panic soon crossed the Atlantic and claimed Credit Suisse, which was bought by UBS in a $3.25 billion merger rescue deal earlier this week.
Moments before Credit Suisse’s bailout, the firm’s CDS swaps surged as high as 1,194 bps, according to S&P – far higher than Deutsche’s current level.
On Friday, CNBC market analyst Jim Cramer said that Deutsche Bank is “doing well.”
Potential Bailouts
Deutsche Bank is one of the ten largest banks in Europe, holding $1.4 trillion in assets as of the end of 2022.
By comparison, SVB held slightly over $200 billion in assets, and the Fed considered the bank systemically important enough to bail out its depositors. However, European regulators have already blasted the Fed for its rescue effort, believing it risks undermining the global credibility of banking.
On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her department would be willing to take “additional action” in securing American bank deposits, if necessary.
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Long-term holders of the token have significantly shredded their holdings.
The SUSHI protocol has seen a decline in growth, thereby putting the network’s health at risk.
Although associated with the DeFi movement, SushiSwap’s [SUSHI] recent escapades have reeked of adversity with the U.S. SEC knocking on its doors.
However, the troubles of the project did not begin with the regulatory Subpoena it received lately. Instead, holders of the token have been considering and acting upon their exit strategy since the last year.
According to Santiment, the SUSHI 365-day dormant circulation had experienced several spikes amid the unfavorable market conditions of 2022 and since 2023 began. The metric describes the number of tokens that haven’t moved in one year being transferred on a particular day.
Notably, the dormant circulation increase has been more visible, in large numbers since 20 February. A similar occurrence happened on 3 March, and most recently— on 22 March. This series of increases implies that long-term holders may have lost faith in a SUSHI revival. Hence, the resolve to exit their positions.
Source: Santiment
Moreso, the protocols’ network growth had also been in shambles, laying flat at 48. The network growth illustrates the rate of user adoption in terms of new entries. So, since it was down bad, it implied that new addresses have invariably struggled to exist on SushiSwap as shown above.
It was, indeed, a piece of good news that the community may have displayed dedication to supporting its legal cause. Besides, it was found that the Unique Active Wallets (UAW) registered consistent growth and usage. Well, the metric describes protocol usage and measures the level of interaction with decentralized applications (dApp) smart contracts on the network.
According to DappRadar, the UAW impacted the SUSHI growth at different intervals over the last 365 days. But these occasions were very few. And overall, growth has been minimal in this regard, bringing questions about the sustainability of the protocols’ health.
Source: DappRadar
Is support back to distrust?
Furthermore, Santiment data showed that the SUSHI spent coins age bands moved significantly on 23 March. The movement was one that could not be ignored, reaching as high as 10.8 million.
A simplification of the metric trend points towards stationary coins movement in the seven to ten-year range, or in some cases, the whole lifespan of the project. So, the sudden increase implies that holders who have held SUSHI for the aforementioned period are opting to sell.
Meanwhile, the case for short-term participants has not been impressive either. At press time, active addresses over the last 30 days have been decreasing. With the number at 6301, it means that daily unique transactions on the SUSHI were not up to par.
Source: Santiment
To conclude, SUSHI also lost one of its major investors. Goldentree, the asset management firm showed support for the project in 2022 after CEO Jared Grey was accused of fraudulent activities. But, according to Lookonchain, the wallet owned by the firm transferred $2.68 million worth of SUSHI to Binance as it unstaked some of the tokens.
1/ Goldentree unstaked all 5,954,024 $SUSHI and transferred 2.5M $SUSHI ($ 2.68M) to #Binance via Cumberland 2 hrs ago.
The pair was attempting to cement support after a classic comeback the day prior erased panic on the back of the latest United States economic policy moves.
The Federal Reserve hiked baseline interest rates by 0.25% on March 23, this along with mixed comments from Chair Jerome Powell serving to unsettle risk assets amid a lack of clear trajectory.
Bitcoin thus showed indecision on the day, with analysts equally split over where BTC price action could head next.
“Typical seeing some panic on that dip, but unless we start to see a shift in market structure, Lower lows and lower highs, then we have nothing to worry about from a bullish perspective,” an optimistic Crypto Tony told Twitter followers.
Fellow trader Credible Crypto meanwhile suggested that even if BTC/USD were to drop to $23,000, this would not imply a clean break with current bullish behavior.
“A few weeks of chop before we continue our rally would be good for us here. Anything down to 22-23k is fair game and nothing to be concerned about imo,” he wrote on March 23.
On-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators noted that bid liquidity had appeared on the Bitcoin order book in order to prevent a sell-off.
After an extended outage @Binance is back online, and someone put up a $13M block of bid liquidity to try to slow down a selloff. I wonder who that could be. pic.twitter.com/o195XMo4Zt
Elsewhere, macro concerns resulting from the U.S. banking crisis increased on the day as Deutsche Bank lost value just days after Swiss lender Credit Suisse saw a takeover and government bailout.
OUCH! Deutsche Bank’s credit default swaps, which represent insurance of its bondholders against a potential default, spike as banking doom is back in Europe. Markets price 31% default probability for DB sub-bonds and 16% for senior DB paper. pic.twitter.com/APrSRh9yVb
“Bank stocks dumping, Yields Dumping. Precious Metals up. Bitcoin a bit flat,” analyst Daan Crypto Trades responded.
“Seems like the TradFi world is continuing the same trend as last week. Let’s see if BTC has more fuel left in it or not.”
At the time of writing, Deutsche Bank shares (DBK) were down nearly 10% for March 24.
Deutsche Bank (DBK) 1-day candle chart. Source: TradingView
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US Department Of Justice (DOJ) has been applying sanctions to stop financial institutions from facilitating Russian residents. In its recent actions, many financial firms, including crypto companies, have faced legal action by US authorities resulting in hefty fines.
This time, DOJ is investigating two Swiss financial firms, Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS Group AG, to check whether the financial channels helped Russian users evade implied sanctions. According to Bloomberg, the US authority recently issued subpoenas (a court order asking someone to appear in court) to these banking firms requesting information.
Additionally, the report affirms that subpoenas were sent out before UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse, adding that many other large institutions received subpoenas from US authorities in the same round.
The DOJ’s investigations into the platforms are to determine whether the bank’s personnel facilitated sanctioned users and how they screened them over the past few years. Any identified to violate federal laws will be subject to further scrutiny by US authorities.
Credit Suisse Served Russians At Its Best Before War
Before the war between Ukraine and Russia started, Credit Suisse was known to be a reputable platform serving Russians. Notably, when it was at its peak of success, the Swiss Bank earned between $500 million to $600 million in a year from Russian users by managing around $60 billion in assets.
And when the Swiss financial firm Credit Suisse closed its operations with Russia in May 2022, it was holding above $33 billion from Russian individuals. The firm managed a large division of wealth compared to its competitor UBS having less than 50% of these funds.
Previously, BNP Paribas pleaded guilty to charges of processing transactions with the companies from sanctioned areas and agreed to pay $9 billion in fines. Sanctioned areas Paris-based BNP Paribas facilitated at the time included Iran, Sudan, and Cuba.
The global crypto market cap currently hovers at $1.139 trillion in the daily chart. | Source: TOTAL chart from TradingView.com
US Continues To Impose Sanctions In Battle With Russia
The US authorities have consistently imposed sanctions on Russia for some previous years. Even the Treasury Department designated Russian Oligarchs and Vlamdire Putin’s inner circle, relying on multiple companies, to ramp up sanctions on those.
Following the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the DOJ established a special task force named ‘KleptoCapture.’ The team was aimed at enforcing sanctions implied on Russian oligarchs.
According to a report Treasury Department published starting this month, the authority has confiscated more than $58 billion from oligarchs around the globe. The seizure includes six properties in New York and Florida worth $75 million and two luxury yachts in San Diego and Fiji collectively worth $600 million. All these assets were owned by a single oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg.
Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView.com
