Market Update: 8TH March 2023

Digital Assets. For Realists.

 

Blockchain insights. Without the hype.

 

 

Week in Review

 

A week of fear, uncertainty and doubt centred on Silvergate Bank’s announcement that it would have to delay the release of its annual financial reports and signposted that its ability to “continue as a going concern” could be affected. The bank operates the Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) which allows for near-instant settlement of US dollars with other clients on the network. Coinbase, Circle, Paxos, Galaxy Digital and a host of other crypto firms announced last week they would cease their banking relationship with Silvergate.

Meanwhile, a new article published by the Wall Street Journal has cast fresh doubts over the shadowy corporate structure of Tether, with allegations that the company used falsified documents and shell companies to obtain bank accounts.

Amazon is laying the groundwork to give its customers the ability to purchase NFTs tied to real-world assets that are delivered to their doorstep, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Customers would be able to purchase an NFT tied to the tangible item and pay with a credit card.

Ethereum core developers have confirmed that the Shanghai upgrade will take place in the first half of April.

Bitcoin and Ether are down 5% each since last Monday.

More Digital Asset Market News

 

• “Crypto Folk Anthem” takes ETH Denver’s opening ceremony by storm with viral performance.  Singing together in folk whimsy lines like “we promise not to use centralized exchanges run by these toxic dudes.” 
• Steemhunt, a South Korea-based firm, has accused Binance of copying their AI product “Chatcasso” to launch their own product “Bicasso”. “Chatcasso” had previously won the BNB Chain hackathon in December 2022. 
• FTX discovers only 1 BTC out of 1,591 customer-owned during collapse, court documents show $8.7 billion shortfall in customer assets between FTX.com and FTX US. 
• Jack Dorsey’s TBD launches C= to improve Bitcoin lightning network. C= (pronounced c equals) aims to enhance the Bitcoin lightning network’s liquidity and routing services.
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren and colleagues demand to see Binance’s balance sheets. Three United States senators have written a letter to the CEOs of Binance and Binance.US with a long list of objections to the companies’ perceived policies and actions. 
• Bankman-Fried should have only a flip phone, website whitelist, DOJ Says. 
• Apple’s approval process delays Uniswap’s mobile app launch; firm launches limited trial release. 

 

Podcast of the Week

 

Podcast episode: Ordinals Will Spark Bitcoins Application Era | Muneeb Ali

Ordinals has sparked a growing debate about smart contracts, DeFi, and other Bitcoin-related activities.

In this episode of Empire, Muneeb Ali, the founder of Stacks, joins us to discuss Bitcoin’s sudden transformation. Until the last two months, Bitcoin was (perceived as) simply a store of value, a religion. However, Ordinals, a Bitcoin NFT project, has redirected the spotlight to Bitcoin’s underlying tech and utility – a technology that can support NFTs, DeFi and more. Muneeb provides his unique insights in this eye-opening episode!

Podcast: Empire | Blockworks

 

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