A draft law designed to regulate crypto mining in Russia introduces harsh penalties for miners failing to report digital assets to the state. In its latest revision, the bill also threatens to punish those who organize illegal trading of cryptocurrencies with imprisonment and hefty fines. Forced Labor Awaits Miners and Traders Who Operate Outside Law,
The Nigerian central bank recently said it had issued operational guidelines for open banking in Nigeria which are expected to enhance efficiency and access to financial services. According to the central bank, some of the guidelines’ objectives include ensuring “consistency and security across the open banking system.” Customer Permissioned Data Sharing The Central Bank of
Billionaire Bill Ackman has urged the United States government to “guarantee” all deposits held by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) within the next “48 hours,” or it risks the “destruction” of many financial institutions. In a Mar. 11 tweet, Bill Ackman, CEO of hedge fund management firm Pershing Square, said a “giant sucking sound” will be
Use of cryptocurrencies is increasing in Russia, the head of the country’s financial watchdog has informed President Putin. The agency, Rosfinmonitoring, is following thousands of participants in digital asset transactions with a new blockchain analytics system, the official revealed. Volume of Crypto Transactions in Russia Almost $13 Billion, Financial Authority Says The turnover of crypto
The death spiral of the Terra (LUNA) and TerraUSD (UST) ecosystem served as a catalyst to the 2022 bear market — causing losses in the millions, damaging investor sentiment and intensifying the regulatory spotlight over cryptocurrencies. However, the recent depegging of Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) led Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao to believe that traditional
Billionaire Bill Ackman has warned of “vast and profound” consequences of the U.S. government letting Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) fail without protecting all depositors. “No company will take even a tiny chance of losing a dollar of deposits as there is no reward for this risk. Absent a systemwide FDIC deposit guarantee, more bank runs
The Bank of England (BoE) has halted the operations of Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. branch (SVB UK), stating that it has a “limited presence” in the United Kingdom (UK) and no “critical functions” supporting the financial system. BoE issued a statement on Mar. 10, declaring that SVB UK will “stop making payments or accepting deposits,”
The famous author of the best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, says that another bank is set to crash following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the voluntary liquidation of Silvergate Bank. Kiyosaki also recently said the world economy is on the verge of collapse, warning of bank runs, frozen savings, and
Several USD Coin (USDC) holders have fled to other stablecoins since March 10 amid fears surrounding its solvency following the disclosure that a small portion of USDC’s collateral was held at Silicon Valley Bank. However, not all of them had success during panic selling. One user paid over 2,000,000 USDC to receive $0.05 of Tether
On Saturday, March 11, 2023, Circle Financial updated the public about its stablecoin, USDC, and noted that the stablecoin’s liquidity operations will resume normally on Monday morning in the United States. Circle said that the company’s teams would be ready on Monday to “handle significant volume” and that the firm will “stand behind USDC and
After U.S. regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on Friday, the Bank of England has closed the company’s U.K.-based arm. The central bank explained that it intends to place the subsidiary into bank insolvency procedures. Fallout From SVB Failure Prompts BOE to Close U.K. Branch The ripple effect of the 16th largest bank in
Top Stories This Week Silicon Valley Bank shut down by California regulator, holding over $5 billion for prominent crypto VCs Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was shut down by California’s financial watchdog on March 10 after announcing a significant sale of assets and stocks aimed at raising additional capital. The California watchdog appointed the Federal Deposit
USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle plans to use “corporate resources” to cover the shortfall on its reserves following Silicon Valley Bank’s shutdown, said the company in a statement on March 11. According to Circle, USDC liquidity operations will “resume as normal when banks open on Monday morning in the United States,” enabling USDC redemption at
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 have been pointed to. Some believe venture capitalists caused a bank run, while others
The Cosmos community has approved a vote to add “replicated security (RS)” to its chain, with 99.99% of votes in favor of the motion. The much-awaited upgrade is set to go live on March 15, 2023, with the v9-Lamba upgrade. RS is the first version of Cosmos’s Interchain Security (ICS) feature, allowing blockchains in the
On March 11, 2023, the decentralized finance project Makerdao issued an emergency proposal following the USDC depegging incident that saw the stablecoin dip down to $0.877 per unit. At the time of writing, Makerdao commands $3.1 billion in USDC collateral that backs a portion of the project’s stablecoin, DAI. Makerdao Proposes Changes to Limit Exposure
On Saturday, March 11, 2023, crypto advocates are concerned as a few stablecoin assets have depegged from their $1 parity. The second-largest stablecoin USDC, issued by Circle Financial, fell below $0.90, reaching a low of $0.877 per coin. Additionally, around five other stablecoins have dropped below the U.S. dollar parity during the early morning (ET)
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse on March 10 has sparked fear, doubt, and uncertainty (FUD) across the crypto community, leading many to come back to crypto roots, reviving the Bitcoin white paper published just weeks after the Lehman Brothers meltdown in 2008. It’s truly amazing how many people are scared that a couple banks went
Solana rebounded from a two-month low to start the weekend, as bulls reentered the market to buy the recent dip. Overall, the global crypto market cap is currently trading 1.8% higher, following a nearly 10% drop on Friday. Polygon was another notable mover, as price rose by nearly 7% on Saturday. Solana (SOL) Solana was
Layer-2 networks continue to gain momentum as the Ethereum ecosystem advances. For example, data from analytics provider Token Terminal found that layer-2 scaling solution Polygon had 313,457 daily active users as of Jan. 17, 2023 — a 30% increase in activity since October 2022. Moreover, the Polygon ecosystem recently announced the launch of its beta