- The US Federal Reserve’s intervention to protect depositors at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) helped restore market confidence.
- Bitcoin (BTC) and all of the top ten altcoins registered gains between 9-15 percent in early trading hours on Monday.
Despite the situation of crisis at the American banks – Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature – the cryptocurrency market has bounced back once again surging past the $1 trillion market cap.
Earlier on Monday, Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies gained 9 percent and more as the US government and the Federal Reserve made a move to protect the depositors at the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). After facing a week of intense selling, the Bitcoin price is once again back above the $22,500 level.
The overall crypto market has added $70 billion to investors’ wealth, of which Bitcoin alone has contributed nearly $40 billion. Altcoins joined the party with all of the top ten altcoins gaining anywhere between 7-10 percent.
Both Silvergate and the silicon Valley Bank (SVB) have put their money into US Treasuries which lost their value as the banks raised interest rates. As a result, these banks had no option but to sell their bonds at a loss in order to shore up capital.
On Sunday, March 12, the US regulators intervened by announcing the closure of Signature Bank to stop the contagion from spreading further. This move by regulators was to create a backstop for SVB and protect depositors associated with them.
US regulators step in
The top three US banking regulators – the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – stepped in announcing that the depositors at the Silicon Valley Bank will get access to their money on Monday. “No losses associated with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank will be borne by the taxpayer,” noted the regulators.
Vijay Ayyar, vice president of corporate development and international at crypto exchange Luno, told CNBC:
Given the Fed announcement over the weekend of a backstop for banks and specifically Silicon Valley Bank, markets have turned euphoric knowing that depositors’ money is safe and a major potential bank run has been averted.
Some of the major crypt firms like USDC stablecoin issuer Circle, Paxos Standard, and crypto exchange Coinbase have their deposits in either of the three failed banks. Soon after SVB announced shutdown last Friday, circle’s USDC stablecoin started losing its Dollar peg falling all the way to 90 cents.
Although the crypto market stayed under pressure over the last week, the Fed’s move has restored confidence among investors. “The Federal Reserve’s rescue plan has bolstered market confidence and allayed concerns about the potential collapse of additional players, particularly given that Signature is a major bank within the crypto industry,” said Rachel Lin, co-founder of SynFutures, a decentralized derivatives trading platform.
Altcoins make a strong comeback
Along with Bitcoin, altcoins have made a strong back today. The world’s second-largest crypto Ethereum (ETH) is up by 9 percent and is currently trading at over $1,604.
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Other altcoins have also registered similar gains. The BNB Coin (BNB) is up by 8.15% and is currently trading at $303. Similarly, at press time, Cardano is up by 9.71 percent, Polygon (MATIC) is up by 7.19 percent, Solana (SOL) is up by 8.67 percent, Polkadot (DOT) is up by 6.97 percent, and so on.
It will be interesting to see whether Bitcoin and other altcoins can continue to hold up these gains in the week ahead.
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