Weekly Crypto News Recap - Mar 17, 2023

March 17, 2023



TOP STORIES OF THE WEEK

Breaking: Signature Bank closed by New York regulators, citing 'systemic risk'

Cointelegraph

Circle’s USDC instability causes domino effect on DAI, USDD stablecoins

Cointelegraph
The stablecoin ecosystem felt an immediate effect over the weekend as USDC depegged from the U.S. dollar after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The depegging accelerated Friday evening as Circle confirmed that it had ~$3.3b of its ~$40b of reserves held at SVB, noting that it initiated a wire on Thursday to remove the balances but it was not processed. USDC fell to ~$0.88 and brought many other stables down with it before regaining its peg as the Fed announced it would backstop the uninsured deposits at SVB and Signature.

FDIC asked Signature buyers to stop all crypto business: Report

Cointelegraph

Congressman Emmer attacks FDIC for ‘weaponizing’ bank closures to attack crypto

CryptoSlate
Tom Emmer, Republican Congressman for Minnesota, wrote a letter to the Chairman of the FDIC, Mark Gruenberg, expressing his concerns about the recent closures of digital asset and tech-centered banks like Silvergate, Signature Bank, and Silicon Valley Bank. Emmer shared the letter on Twitter, declaring that “the FDIC is weaponizing recent instability in the banking sector to purge legal crypto activity from the U.S.” The Congressman believes federal financial regulators have weaponized their authority to purge legal digital asset entities and opportunities from the U.S., leading to broader economic instability. Emmer is seeking responses to his questions by March 24th.

Ethereum core developers set April 12 for Shanghai hard fork

Cointelegraph
A target date for the highly anticipated Shapella (Shanghai) hard fork has now been set for April 12th. The highly anticipated upgrade will allow for Staked ETH to be withdrawn from the staking contract for the first time since the Beacon Chain's launch more than two years ago.

Arbitrum To Airdrop Long-Awaited Token On March 23

The Defiant
Arbitrum’s founding team will relinquish control of the Layer 2 blockchain on March 23rd with an airdrop that will distribute billions of newly minted governance tokens among users, a DAO, investors, and the team that built the protocol. Layer 2 blockchains, or rollups, are central to Ethereum’s plans to scale and accommodate billions of users. Several billion-dollar startups have jumped into the arena, but Arbitrum has emerged as the clear leader, with a 55% market share and a transaction count that topped Ethereum’s on two consecutive days last month.

Euler DeFi Protocol Exploited for Nearly $185M

CoinDesk
DeFi lending protocol Euler lost ~$185m in a flash loan attack that sent the protocol's native token into a ~52% dive. Details of the exploit are covered within, but the exploiter has denied negotiation requests and has sent funds through Tornado Cash in an attempt to obfuscate their origin. It's believed North Korea's Lazarus Group is behind the exploit.


BITCOIN

Lightning Labs and Tari agree to convert restraining order in trademark suit
Blockchain startup Tari Labs wins restraining order against Lightning Labs over Taro protocol
Bitcoin Options Volume on Deribit Hits Highest Level in 22 Months as Bank Failures Breed Volatility
Bitcoin surges past $24,000 on CME launch of BTC event contracts
Bitcoin funding rate has turned positive as liquidations soar over $230M
Bitcoin, Ether Retrace Weekend Losses As Bears See $183M in Short Liquidations
USDC Volatility Lifts Bitcoin's Coinbase Premium to 3-Year High

ETHEREUM

Coinbase expects high demand for ETH unstaking with Shanghai upgrade
MEV Rewards on Ethereum Reach All-Time High During SVB Bank Run and USDC Depeg
Ethereum to begin final dress rehearsal today for Shapella upgrade
Lido Launches wstETH On Polygon

ALTCOINS

Polygon Labs partners with Unstoppable Domains to launch top-level domains
Cosmos Hub releases Replicated Security to draw closer to rest of ecosystem
LinksDAO wins bid to buy its first golf course, says CEO
Synthetix Perpetual Volumes Hit Record $200M As Optimism Incentives Near
Google Searches for Arbitrum Soar Amid Airdrop Announcement
Sam Altman’s Worldcoin signs outsourcing deal to ramp up production of iris-scanning orbs
Polygon spins off project Avail and co-founder departs
Arbitrum to Airdrop New Token and Transition to DAO
Shiba Inu Token Falls 10% Amid Shibarium Code Drama
Starknet DAO Heads Toward First Governance Vote
Uniswap Version 3 Goes Live on BNB Chain
In About-Face, Crypto Exchanges Abandon Support for STG Token Reissuance
MakerDAO voting to limit dai volatility during market emergencies
Coinbase Is Adding DeFi Apps Uniswap and Aave to Its Base Blockchain: Source
Filecoin becomes a blockchain platform compatible with Ethereum apps
Sam Altman’s Worldcoin unveils World ID protocol and SDK
Stargate foundation advises DAO against reissuing STG tokens
DYdX Passes Vote to Reduce Trading Rewards by 45%, Sending Token Up 29.89%
Crypto Payments Specialist Stellar Bridges Fiat and Stablecoins to Polkadot
Filecoin's FIL Token Gains 18% Ahead of Network Upgrade
Aztec to sunset private ZK-Rollup Connect and focus on next-gen Layer 2 chain
USDC Trading Dominates Record Day for DeFi Exchanges Uniswap, Curve
Privacy Centric Brave Browser Now Allows Crypto Asset Selling Inside of Wallet Extension
MakerDAO launches emergency proposal to limit USDC exposure

STABLECOINS

TrueUSD Moves $1B in Reserves To The Bahamas After U.S. Banking Failures
Tether's Stablecoin Market Cap Now Double USDC After SVB Chaos
Less than $30B of stablecoins now sit on exchanges, wiping out all of 2022’s gains
Biggest USDC burn on record just occurred, net redemptions since Friday reach $4.5 billion
Decentralized Borrowing Protocol Liquity’s LQTY Token Soars Amid USDC Chaos
Burning USDC and Minting DAI Prove to Be Popular On-Chain Activities Amid SVB Collapse
Coinbase disables trading for BUSD
TUSD’s supply crosses $2B amid banking woes for stablecoin rivals
Circle taps Cross River as banking partner, expands ties with BNY Mellon
TrueUSD Says ‘Small Number’ of Users Impacted by Signature Bank Closure
USDC bounces back toward $1 peg after Fed announcement
Circle USDC operations will resume when U.S. banks open Monday: CEO Allaire
USDC will remain redeemable 1 for 1 with U.S. dollar, Circle says
Aave freezes stablecoin trading on v3 Avalanche as activity surges on CEXs
USDC slowly repegs on unconfirmed reports of SVB resolution
Traders Bet on USD Coin Rebound as USDC Falls to 90 Cents
USDC investor shells out $2M to receive $0.05 USDT trying to evade crash
USDC Stablecoin Depegs, Crypto Market Goes Haywire After Silicon Valley Bank Collapses
DeFi Protocol Curve’s $500M Stablecoin Pool Hammered as Traders Flee USDC

CRYPTO ECOSYSTEM

Genesis Requests Timetable for Sale, Creditor Claims
Signum Digital scores approval to offer security tokens in Hong Kong
Crypto Custody Firm Copper Shelves Enterprise Business: Source
Crypto bank Anchorage Digital cuts 20% of staff, citing regulatory uncertainty
Blockchain Firm RockX Unveils Institutional Liquid Staking Platform
Metamask sees swaps volume hit all time high over weekend
Accounting Platform Cryptio Partners With Protocol Labs to Help Filecoin Miners Go Public
Banking Crisis in U.S. Likely to Push Crypto Firms Offshore
Trust Machines backs bitcoin decentralized exchange Alex
MetaMask fixes privacy issue that linked accounts together
Signature Bank’s Signet Platform Still Works, but Some Clients Have Moved On
‘Nobody left to bank crypto companies’ — Crypto Twitter reacts
BCB Group pauses US dollar payments pilot after Signature Bank closure

NFTS / GAMING / METAVERSE

Doodles Is 'No Longer an NFT Project,' Co-Founder Says
Bored Ape Sewer Pass NFTs Can Be Transformed Into Robots
NounsDAO Approves Proposal for Feature-Length NFT Movie
Microsoft-backed Space and Time partners with South Korean gaming firm Wemade
‘Game changer’: Amazon’s rumored NFT platform embraced by Blur, OpenSea and Orange Comet
NFT Artist Beeple Opens Digital Art Gallery in Charleston, SC
OpenSea patches vulnerability that potentially exposed users’ identities
Top 5 Bitcoin Ordinals NFT Collections Making Waves Right Now
Shiba Inu Developer Reveals First Look at Coming SHIB Metaverse
South Korea launches ‘Metaverse Fund’ to expedite domestic initiatives
Moonbirds whale sells almost 500 NFTs on Blur for significant losses

MINING

US authorities to impose 30% electricity tax on crypto mining
INX Announces the Listing of Hashrate Asset Group's (HAG) Bitcoin Mining Security Token
Crypto Winter Ends Era of Bitcoin Mining ‘HODLers’
Solo Bitcoin miner defies odds to mine valid BTC block, gets $150K block reward

EXCHANGES

Deribit to Launch Futures Contracts for Bitcoin Volatility Trading
South Korean Crypto Exchanges Set to Renew Banking Deals
Binance to Suspend British Pound Deposits, Withdrawals
BitMEX halts all trading activities temporarily
OKX-Affiliated Okcoin Pauses USD On-Ramp Due to Signature Bank’s Collapse
Coinbase CEO ponders banking features after Silicon Valley Bank crisis
Binance Will Convert $1B Worth of BUSD Stablecoin to Bitcoin, Ether, BNB, and Other Tokens
Coinbase reiterates that staking services will continue, despite SEC crackdown
Coinbase Pauses Conversions Between USDC and U.S. Dollars as Banking Crisis Roils Crypto

CAPITAL RAISES

Paradigm funds auditing DAO Code4rena with $6 million token purchase
After leaving Ledger, former chief of staff aims to raise $25 million fund for NFT art
KuCoin leads $10M funding for Chinese yuan stablecoin issuer

INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

DeFi-Focused Asset Manager MEV Capital Offers Uniswap Hedging Strategy
Post-Merge Ethereum: Grayscale extends review of ETHPoW decision
21Shares Closes 6 Crypto Exchange-Traded Products
AllianceBlock, ABO Digital to Offer Tokenized Structured Products
Ark raises $16.3 million for new crypto fund amid buying spree
Inverse Cramer ETF surpasses S&P 500 in first week of trading
Digital asset funds experience biggest weekly outflows on record
Brevan Howard takes over Dragonfly Capital Crypto Fund: Bloomberg

TRADFI / TECH

Credit Suisse Finds 'Material Weakness' in Its Financial Reporting
Big Banks Agree to Historic $30B Deposit Injection in First Republic
Breaking: SVB Financial Group files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
New feature by H&R Block, CoinTracker automatically adds taxes for crypto trades
Federal Reserve says FedNow will go live in July
Salesforce Taps Into NFTs Through Suite of New Web3 Products
Fidelity Crypto quietly went live, giving millions of retail customers access to bitcoin, ether
Swiss National Bank says it will support Credit Suisse if necessary
After US banks fail, contagion heads to European banks – banks halted on exchange
NatWest bank puts $6K monthly limit on crypto exchange payments
Federal Reserve To Pause Interest Rate Hikes This Month, Forecasts Banking Giant Goldman Sachs: Report
Asset Managers Blackstone, Apollo Eyeing SVB Assets: Bloomberg
Silicon Valley Bank Customers Can Fully Access Funds After FDIC Creates New Bridge Bank
Breaking: Silicon Valley Bank UK arm acquired by HSBC for 1 pound
Regulators rush to sell SVB assets to make uninsured accounts partly available on Monday: Bloomberg
Silicon Valley Bank plunges 60% before halt, Signature trading stopped shortly after open

CBDC

India, UAE to explore CBDC bridge to facilitate trade, remittances without USD
CBDCs could provide smooth cross-border payments, says Bank of Israel official
National Australia Bank makes first-ever cross-border stablecoin transaction
EU Merchants Could Be Required to Accept Digital Euro, Ministers Told

REGULATORY / COUNTRIES

Former Belgian Finance Minister Calls for Crypto Ban in Wake of Banking Crisis
FDIC Denies Report That Signature Bank Buyer Must Give Up on Crypto
Bankruptcy judge rejects U.S. government’s request to delay Voyager-Binance.US deal
Senator Warren says Fed chair 'has to recuse himself' from reviewing regulatory failures
U.S. Lawmakers Digging Through Crypto Legislation for Bipartisan Winners: Senator
Europol shuts crypo tumbler ChipMixer, seize $46m in bitcoin
UK taxpayers must file crypto profits separately from 2025
U.S. DOJ Was Investigating Signature Bank's Work With Crypto Clients: Bloomberg
Signature Bank Shutdown Caused by 'Crisis of Confidence' in Leadership, NYDFS Says
US Authorities Probe Jump Trading and Jane Street Conversations About TerraUSD Bailout
EU Parliament passes smart contract regulation under Data Act
US Justice Department Probes Collapse of TerraUSD: Report
Coinbase Files Amicus Brief in Insider Trading Case: ‘We Need Rulemaking’
CFTC Names Executives From Circle, TRM, Fireblocks Among Others to New Tech Advisory Group
Bank Collapses Underscore G-20 Hesitance on Crypto: Source
US Fed announces $25B in funding to backstop banks
Silicon Valley Bank Depositors Will Have Access to 'All' Funds Monday, Say Federal Regulators
Yellen Says No to SVB Bailout, but Says Government Is Working to Help Depositors
South Dakota gov vetoes bill excluding crypto from definition of ‘money’
Crypto lawyer rallies Ethereum investors in class action lawsuit against NYAG’s ‘securities’ label

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, GOVERNANCE

Machankura Boosts African Bitcoin Adoption Without the Internet
French Collective GXRLS Revolution Aims to Bring More Women Into NFT Art

SURVEYS, HACKS, MISC

Crypto Speculators Betting on ‘No Airdrop’ for Arbitrum Lose 95% of Capital
Euler Finance hacked despite 10 audits in 2 years, says CEO
Wallet Tied to Euler Exploit Sends 100 Ether to Lazarus Group
DAO Organizes Holy Pilgrimage to Meet the Dogecoin Dog in Japan
Crypto market largely unaffected by ECB decision to hike rate by 50bps
Euler finance hacker moves stolen fund as protocol offers $1M bounty
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried seeks insurance coverage for legal expenses
Chinese Businessman With Ties to Steve Bannon Arrested, Charged With Fraud, Including $500M Crypto Scam
Bitcoiners warned scopolamine robberies in Colombia pose threat to crypto security
Euler Finance to Offer $1M Reward as It Reels From Nearly $200M Exploit
FTX-related stablecoins on the move: $145M transferred to crypto exchanges
Shareholders file lawsuit against Silicon Valley Bank, alleging fraud: Report
PeopleDAO hacked via Google Sheets, $120,000 worth of ether stolen
Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions still too lenient, says judge




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