[Daily] Is the tide changing for Bitcoin?

Good morning! Welcome to The Daily Moon. A “FreeSpeechEnthusiast” leaked Twitter’s source code on GitHub, and though the platform took it down soon after, the damage was done. Needless to say, the Chief Twit aka “free speech absolutist” wasn’t impressed.

As of Monday, 7PM IST

The markets had a mixed reaction to SVB's sale. Bitcoin dipped on profit booking. Ethereum was bearish on a decline in transaction volumes. S&P 500 and Nasdaq saw brisk buying in early trade. Back home, Sensex and Nifty snapped a two-day losing streak on gains in Reliance Industries and Maruti Suzuki.

Bitcoin Find Its Spot

The banking crisis triggered a moment and Bitcoin held on to it. Bitcoin is up roughly 68% and is on a hard push towards a new base.

Where is it headed?The $30,000 psychological mark is BTC’s next target. The mark will raise Bitcoin’s market cap and set a new base through which it can operate. Think about it, how optimists kept trying to find a floor when Bitcoin was trending downwards in the cold, pessimism-driven months of November through January. This is that. The other way around.

The SVB effectLook, we can’t stop saying this, but the Silicon Valley Bank crisis has been a reason the belief in traditional finance has faded. Investors have started to move money from banks to crypto. This is beginning to play out for other banks as well.

Altcoins see green shoots tooThe renewed interest in Bitcoin has also worked well for altcoins. Ripple, Litecoin, and Monero have been on a bullish ride since last week. It looks like green shots for now. But the future depends on how many TradFi investors shift to crypto and what regulations emerge. Until then, enjoy the ride.

Circle’s Loss Is Tether’s Gain

The USDC depeg after the Silicon Valley Bank collapse jolted investors. Even two weeks later, the selloff continues. But there’s another stablecoin that’s won over the market: Tether.

Where did it come from?The market’s spooked because any depeg gives Terra-Luna vibes. Though the SVB issue was resolved, investors made rushed exits from USDC. Tether’s USDT came as an alternative. Data shows that exchange deposits have moved from USDC to USDT since the depeg.

USDC’s market cap fell by $9.96 billion while USDT’s grew by $9 billion since the second week of March.

Do the risks exist?While the market has calmed down, stablecoins are still not fully out of danger. There’s a risk of aggressive regulatory action in the wake of the banking crisis.

SVB Finds A Home

Silicon Valley Bank has a buyer. First Citizens Bank and the deal is worth about $500 million in stock.

How will it work?All branches of SVB will be renamed First Citizens Bank. Those with deposits in SVB will become depositors of First Citizens. The deposit insurance regulator in the US has said it will continue to insure deposits.

What it means for cryptoThe jury is split on that. The US government agrees that there will be increased regulatory scrutiny on crypto transactions and firms. But they also see this current situation with banks as being good for the industry in the long run.

Metaverse Melting?

The metaverse continues to be a confounding concept. Billions of dollars and many “cutting edge” innovations later, things are looking… well, shaky.

Doubts within AppleThere was (probably still is) a lot of excitement around the augmented reality headset Apple is working on. But there seems to be internal dissent brewing. Employees are questioning the rationale of a $3,000 headset that is supposed to get launched in June. The market is unproven, and the utility is questionable.

The Metaverse is just VRFrom Apple to Meta. After making the metaverse a buzzword, and all these stories delinking it from virtual reality, there’s a new twist in the tale. Now the company is saying the metaverse is just VR. Because it does not want to pay the additional telecom network fees, European telecom operators are proposing to enable upgrades to the metaverse. So, will it rename itself again?

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