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 going concern".
• Tether used fake documents to open bank account.
• Binance execs what's app messages leaked and  questioned about practices to avoid US scrutiny.
• Nationwide and HSBC are the latest U.K. banking giants to impose new limits on their customer’s cryptocurrency purchases via debit cards and end purchases with credit cards.
• Futures and options volumes ticked higher again in February for bitcoin and ether. The CME benefited from the FTX collapse, with institutional investors looking towards regulated venues.
• Amazon will launch a NFT plaftorm April 24. It will tie digital ownership to physical goods delivered to customers’ doors.
• Yuga Labs launches Bitcoin NFTs.
• Uniswap wants to launch mobile wallet, but Apple does not allow for unknown reasons. In October, the company updated its App Store guidelines to include a 30% commission on all non-fungible token (NFT) sales that take place on apps listed in the App Store.

Business

Coinbase, Galaxy Digital abandon Silvergate after bank warns about its viability

Cryptocurrency heavyweights including Coinbase and Galaxy Digital on Thursday dropped Silvergate Capital as their banking partner.

CNBCWATCH LIVE

Uniswap Wants to Launch Crypto Wallet App, but Apple Says Not So Fast

The company behind the top decentralized exchange said Apple is standing in the way of the offering.

CoinDeskDanny Nelson

UK banks HSBC, Nationwide to ban crypto purchases with credit cards: Report

United Kingdom banks HSBC Holdings and Nationwide Building Society are banning cryptocurrencies’ purchases via credit cards.

CointelegraphAna Paula Pereira

Crypto derivatives on the CME reach new milestones amid regulatory uncertainty

Ether options jumped 30% in February and reached an all-time high on the CME. Bitcoin’s open interest on the CME crossed $1 billion for the first time.

The BlockAdam Morgan McCarthy

Amazon NFTs Will Be Tied to Real-world Assets, Token Possible

Amazon NFTs are coming soon - and they will be tied to physical, real-world goods with ownership recorded on a private blockchain.

BlockworksMichael Bodley

Yuga Labs Launches Collection on Bitcoin Blockchain, Signaling a Shift in the NFT World

Most NFTs have previously been stored and bought on Ethereum.

ARTnews.comShanti Escalante-De Mattei

What Is a Sovereign Rollup? Rollkit Pitches Second Layer for Bitcoin - Decrypt

The data availability layer proposal draws inspiration from Ordinals and reminds some developers of Stacks.

DecryptAndrew Throuvalas

Markets

Crypto Charts 101

Bitcoin Last time we were looking for a correction before higher. As you can see from the chart we dropped out of the channel and further than expectations. We said last time: Look to buy at the $22′900 and add at the $22′300. Place stops for short term trades below

The AssetsMatthew Clark

Regulations

Binance execs’ texts, documents show plan to avoid US scrutiny - WSJ

Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, developed a plan to avoid the threat of prosecution by U.S. authorities as it started an American entity in 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

ReutersReuters

WSJ News Exclusive | Crypto Companies Behind Tether Used Falsified Documents and Shell Companies to Get Bank Accounts

Tether Holdings and a related crypto broker mounted a long-running effort to stay connected to the financial system, documents show, often hiding their identities behind other businesses or individuals.

The Wall Street JournalBen Foldy and Ada Hui

Opinion

Binance is FTX Redux, Bank Run Seems Inevitable: Ex-SEC Lawyer

With US lawmakers on high alert after FTX, the SEC’s former chief of internet enforcement is worried about a potential Binance bank run.

BlockworksSebastian Sinclair

Before Silvergate and After Silvergate

The once critically important part of the crypto economy disclosed ugly projections.

CoinDeskDaniel Kuhn

Podcast / Reading

What is Account Abstraction and Why is Everyone Talking About It? | HackerNoon

Answers to frequent Account Abstraction questions: what is an abstract account? Is it secure? What are examples of use? How do StarkNet and zkSync use it?

Hackernoon logoAleksandr Malyshev