Romain Braud

Building digital assets adoption with Arab Bank Switzerland

Market Analysis Featured

Bitcoin Investment Thesis

Bitcoin has revolutionised the 21st-century investment landscape by introducing a decentralized digital currency, a ground-breaking asset in the modern era of investing. There are several reasons to consider the inclusion of Bitcoin in an investment portfolio: * Diversification: Bitcoin has a low correlation to other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds,

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The Digital Assets Report 109

Summary * SVB the 16th largest US bank, is the most important bank failure since 2008 financial crisis. * In the wake of SVB, Signature and Silvergate banks, the 2 largest banks operating as the "backbone" of the crypto industry in US went to bankruptcy also. * Stablecoin USDC has de-pegged

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The Digital Assets Report 108

Summary * Silvergate bank in the turmoil : $8.1 billion Capital outflow (60% of AuM) only in Q1, terrible results of $1 billion loss. The bank has delayed its annual report to repay debts this year and was evaluating the impact of these events on “its ability to continue as a

The Digital Assets Report 107

Summary * Hong Kong's government successfully issued its first tokenized green bond of 800 million Hong Kong dollars (US$101 million), according to an announcement last Thursday. * Siemens emitted €40 million Blockchain-based bond on Polygon Blockchain. * Terra founder Do Kwon charged with fraud by SEC. According to the SEC’

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The Digital Assets Report 106

Summary * S.E.C.'s decision to charge the crypto exchange Kraken with securities violations regarding its staking services. Funds were not directly staked to the dedicated Blockchain but instead managed by Kraken pool to avoid unstaking period. SEC considers the staking service close to lending activities. To settle

The Digital Assets Report 105

Summary * A virulent debate is animating the Bitcoin community, the Ordinals NFT project Bitcoin-based has filled up an entire block to mine one NFT approximatively 4 Mb, for 209$ fees including 63 transactions. Some Bitcoin developers wants to limit the use of the Bitcoin Blockchain by implementing a patch. * Alameda

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The Digital Assets Report 104

Summary * Goldman Sachs ranks Bitcoin as the best-performing asset of 2023. * Several of America’s biggest banks, including the likes of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, are joining forces to launch their own digital payment wallet. * New York Regulator Investigating Crypto Exchange Gemini reportedly claimed repeatedly that its the

The Digital Assets 103

Summary * Genesis, owned by Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (DCG), filed for bankruptcy protection last Thursday listing debts of around $3.5 billion. Gemini's founders, the Winklevoss brothers threatens to sue DCG. * DOJ charges founder of crypto exchange Bitzlato for processing $700M of illegal funds after a

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The Digital Assets Report 102

Summary * BTC price surged 26% to trade above $21,000 for the first time since FTX collapsed.  The long-term sentiment has turned bullish with bitcoin showing its biggest weekly percentage gain since January 2022. Options Flip to Show Stronger Bitcoin Into July. * Bitcoin network’s difficulty is now at an

The Digital Assets Report 101

Summary * Silvergate Bank forced to cover $8bn worth of crypto-related withdrawals during FTX & Genesis debacle. The US bank was forced to sell $5.2 billion worth of assets for cash and booked a loss of $718m on those sales. * Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr has been hacked and lost

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The Digital Assets Report 100

Summary * Digital Assets exchange Bitvavo can’t access €280 million euros on Genesis Global Capital (subsidiary of Digital Currency Group). * Genesis claims are selling for 35p to the Dollar, reminds FTX before bankruptcy.  Genesis Capital suspended withdrawals last month following a $1.2 billion loss to defunct crypto fund Three

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The Digital Assets Report 99

Summary * SBF charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering by justice department, securities violations by SEC. * FTX CEO John Ray III is scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. * Binance tried to reinsure clients with its Proof Of Reserve but faced headwinds from audit experts highlighting

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The Digital Assets Report 98

Summary Despite market turmoil, we saw a rebound that could be a bull trap but highly driven by strong long term sentiment of current BTC and ETH holders. * Goldman Sachs sees crypto investment opportunities after FTX fiasco. * Silvergate is under market scrutiny and stocks are stress tested following FTX and

The Digital Assets Report 97

Summary * FTX contagion still expanding, Digital Currency Group CEO, Barry Silbert, stated last Tuesday that DCG owes $575 million to Genesis Trading's crypto lending subsidiary, which has a debt revealed of $2 billion. Crypto community has concerns regarding the DCG financial solidity to cover the losses. Fear spread

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The Digital Assets Report 96

Summary FTX contagion turns to Genesis , rising fears with GBTC FTX signed for Bankruptcy a week ago , evidence exposed: * FTX owes to its top 50 creditors more than $3 billion. * FTX ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) over $1 billion for personal use and $543 million to the Director of Engineering Nishad

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The Digital Assets Report 94

Summary * The FTX domino continues with markets scrambling due to the fall of FTX platform from $32 billion to 0 in few days. * In the latter hours of Friday evening, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried secretly moved $10 billion in funds to Alameda trading firm via software "backdoor." * FTX&

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The Digital Assets Report 93

Summary Despite the acknowledge bear market, we see more announcement from financial institutions and regulators around the world, moving toward a stronger framework for digital assets to expand. * Binance sold its FTT ( FTX Token) position  following a report about the balance sheet of Alameda Research, a crypto trading firm once

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The Digital Assets Report 92

Summary * Elon Musk completes Twitter takeover and ‘fires top executives’. * DOGE price rallied 98.5% in the last seven days following Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter. * Google introduces Cloud-based Blockchain node service for Ethereum. Technology giants are giving toward blockchain, crypto and Web3 projects. * Binance confirmed as investor

The Digital Assets Report 91

Summary * Fidelity will offer custody and trading of ETH this week. * Mastercard to bring crypto trading capabilities to banks. * Tether (USDT) available in 24'000 ATM after Tether integrated with TecBan , the largest ATM company provider in Brazil. * Nubank, Brazil’s largest digital lender to launch its own token

Digital Assets Report 90

Summary * America’s oldest bank, BNY Mellon, will hold Bitcoin and Ethereum. * Google will accept Bitcoin payments beginning 2023. * The exploiter who drained $114 million from Mango Finance and executed similar attacks in the past, returned similar $67 million this week-end. * Ethereum Wallet MetaMask Adds Instant Bank-to-Crypto Transfers * US Treasury’

Digital Assets Report 89

Summary * Binance Smart Chain (BSC) has been exploited, attacker was able to create 2 million BNB tokens out of thin air by exploiting a vulnerability in the Binance Bridge. Roughly $570 million stolen. Binance shutdown the entire BSC highlighting its Blockchain centralisation. * Celsius Exposes User Information in Public Court Docs

Digital Assets Report 88

Summary * Nasdaq is preparing to launch an institutional crypto custody service. * Bitcoin and ether sink lower, Fed fights inflation with new rate hike. * Investors have deployed over $33 million into locked-up ETH in the past week alone. * Deffilama reports $54.7 billion of total value is locked in DeFi. * Wintermute

Chart Analysis Featured

Crypto Chart 80

Bitcoin Last time we said : I am selling my position and going flat with an argument that BTC might also get caught up in the ETH merge. I would buy on a move back above 25300 , with a move below 17600 implying that another 3 waves lower is underway.’ I

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The Digital Assets Report 85

Business Mining * Bitcoin difficulty increases of 9.26%, the highest since January 2022, with an average hashrate of 221.72 EH/s, close to all-time-high. * US bitcoin corp, Genesis Digital Assets, Marathon Digital Holdings, Blockware announce new mining farms in US. * Last month, miners in Texas suspended operations to help

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Digital Assets Report 84

* Ethereum Foundation Announces Official Date for the Merge which should occur at 11:34:47 AM UTC on September 6, 2022. * Fed Chair Jay Powell said, “Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy”. After