News recap: US banking crisis and a new crypto rally

Crypto market in numbers

Between 03rd and 10th March, the crypto market capitalisation declined steadily, eventually hitting a local low of $913 billion. However, since 11th March, the indicator suddenly began to grow, showing an increase of 24.5% and hitting a local high of $1.137 trillion. Such numbers have not been observed since the end of August 2022. At the moment, capitalisation stands at around $1.050 – $1.100 trillion.

Trading activity remained low at the beginning of March. Average daily trading volumes stood in the range of $30-$55 billion. Between 10th and 13th March, the indicator rose by as much as 158% to $111 billion. Since 14th March, average daily trading volumes gained a foothold between $80 and $102 billion.

Between 03rd and 08th March, the Cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index remained in the “Neutral” zone. Then, the indicator dropped to 33 points, moving down to the “Fear” zone. But since 13th March, the index has returned to the “Neutral” zone, having managed to gain a foothold above 50 points, the levels observed at the end of January.

The volatility of cryptocurrencies has increased significantly due to fundamental factors. Between 03rd and 16th March, Bitcoin’s 30-day volatility index rose by 58.5% to 3.60%. The same indicator for ETH grew by 34.9% to 3.13%.

March started with a significant correction in the crypto market, which was facilitated by local overbought conditions and macroeconomic factors. The bankruptcy of several banks associated with crypto led to the increasing volatility of the crypto market.

USDC and several algorithmic stablecoins broke the US dollar peg for a short period. Surprisingly, this has contributed to the growth of cryptocurrencies. That’s because investors were exchanging USDC for bitcoin, ether and other coins. Positive US inflation data also added to market growth. Consumer prices declined from 6.4% to 6% in the last 12 months ending in February.

Gainers (03rd – 15th March)

Losers (03rd – 15th March)

Easily track gainers and losers within the Simple trade section on EXMO. Check real-time updates in the last 24 hours, week and month.

Most traded coins (03rd – 15th March)

Top crypto market driving factors

Overall crypto market

▲ 03.03.2023 – According to a Ripple survey, 97% of payment firms believed that crypto and blockchain technology will facilitate faster payments over the next three years.

▲ 06.03.2023 – The issuer of Tether (USDT) called the findings in an article in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) “outdated statements” that are “inaccurate and misleading.”

▼ 06.03.2023 – Silvergate Bank announced that it made a decision to discontinue its Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN).

▼ 06.03.2023 – Bloomberg analysts believe that the bear market in crypto is not over yet.

▼ 06.03.2023 – Santiment identified unusual negative sentiments in the crypto market.

▼ 07.03.2023 – CNBC: Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, cautioned, in his speech to Congress, that interest rates are likely to increase more than previously anticipated.

▲ 08.03.2023 – Paxos survey shows that most Americans (75% of respondents) are confident in the future of crypto.

▼ 09.03.2023 – Silvergate Capital Corporation announced that it intends to wind down operations and voluntarily liquidate its bank subsidiary, Silvergate Bank.

▼ 09.03.2023 – Joe Biden proposed a budget plan, aiming to raise $24 billion from crypto taxes.

▼ 11.03.2023 – USDC, DAI and FRAX stablecoins broke the dollar peg after revealing that some of their reserves backing were held at the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank.

▲ 12.03.2023 – Circle Internet Financial pledged to cover any shortfall in the assets backing its stablecoin USDC.

▲ 12.03.2023 – The USDC stablecoin regained its peg to the U.S. dollar after more than $3 billion worth of tokens were burnt.

▼ 12.03.2023 – Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, said the U.S. government will not bail out Silicon Valley Bank.

▲ 13.03.2023 – Treasury, Federal Reserve, and FDIC announced they would use emergency-lending authorities to ensure that depositors at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank have access to all of their money starting 13th March 2023.

▼ 13.03.2023 – CoinShares: between 04th and 10th March, digital asset investment products saw the largest single weekly outflows on record totaling $255 million, which represents 1.0% of total assets under management (AuM).

▲ 13.03.2023 – Crypto futures liquidations hit $238 million during the last 24 hours.

▲ 14.03.2023 – Annual inflation in the USA slowed to 6% in February, down from 6.4% a month earlier.

▲ 14.03.2023 – Crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) is looking to find new crypto banking partners following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate.

▲ 15.03.2023 – According to BBG, derivative traders started betting that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 1% from the peak before the year is out.

▲ 15.03.2023 – Goldman Sachs filed a patent with the US Patent Office for a blockchain technology that is expected to be integrated with a transaction completion mechanism. The upgrade will reduce transaction time by five times.

Bitcoin (BTC)

▲ 04.03.2023 – In February 2023, the total revenue of Bitcoin miners amounted to $627.4 million, up by 4% compared to January.

▼ 06.03.2023 – About 22,000 BTC worth $506 million were transferred to exchanges over the past month.

▼ 07.03.2023 – The number of Bitcoin (BTC) whales is currently at its lowest level in three years, according to Glassnode. There are only 1,663 distinct entities with 1,000 BTC or more.

▼ 09.03.2023 – Silvergate Bank’s decision to ‘voluntarily liquidate’ caused a drop in Bitcoin’s daily trading volume.

▲ 13.03.2023 – Messari CEO advocates buying Bitcoin despite a massive sell-off.

▲ 13.03.2023 – As a result of the latest recalculation, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty increased by 1.16%, hitting another all-time high of about 43.55 T.

▲ 13.03.2023 – Santiment: whales and sharks accumulated $821 million in Bitcoin in just one week.

▲ 13.03.2023 – Over 66% of the total Bitcoin supply hasn’t moved in the last year.

▼ 14.03.2023 – Glassnode and Santiment recorded a significant spike in BTC inflows to exchanges.

▲ 15.03.2023 – The number of transactions in the mempool (valid pending transactions that are to be processed and added to the block) surpassed three-year highs.

▲ 15.03.2023 – Santiment records a surge in BTC “whale” transactions amid the coin hitting local highs at $25,000-$26,500.

▲ 16.03.2023 – In the past two months, the total amount of BTC addresses has grown by 1.71 million, a 3.95% increase in a relatively short period

Ethereum (ETH)

▲ 07.03.2023 – The increasing number of ETH in staking so far does not herald a massive sell-off due to the upcoming Shanghai update.

▲ 10.03.2023 – The Shapella network upgrade will activate on the Goerli testnet on 14th March 2023.

▲ 14.03.2023 – Ethereum whales holding between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH have added 400,000 Ethereum tokens worth $600 million to their balance during the recent dip.

▲ 15.03.2023 – The Ethereum Shanghai-Capella (Shapella) hardfork went live on the Goerli testnet. According to the developers, it will be the final step before the upgrade’s launch on the mainnet.

▲ 16.03.2023 – Ethereum developer, Tim Beiko, tweeted that the Shanghai hardfork (also known as Shapella) will be launched on the mainnet on 12th April 2023.

Cardano (ADA)

▲ 12.03.2023 – Cardano’s Djed stablecoin gained traction and overtook USDT amid the ongoing stablecoin drama.

▼ 13.03.2023 – According to IntoTheBlock, 81% of Cardano addresses are currently in the red.