by Staff By Marcus Sotiriou, Market Analyst at the publicly listed digital asset broker GlobalBlock (TSXV:BLOK).  Over the weekend, Bitcoin rallied to new local highs of $28,300, as it made a higher high on the weekly time frame. Technically speaking, this signals the start of a new bull trend for digital asset trading and the end of the bear market. To be confident of a trend reversal, we need to see how Bitcoin reacts at the support level of $25,200. The recent closures of US banking giants have acted as a catalyst for Bitcoin’s price increase, as the drawbacks of the banking system are a key proponent for decentralised assets such as…

by Staff By Marcus Sotiriou, Market Analyst at the publicly listed digital asset broker GlobalBlock (TSXV:BLOK).  Bitcoin jumped over 10% last night, as the US government confirms they will step in to protect depositors of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Last week, three banks that were the easiest for crypto businesses to get fiat banking in the US – Silvergate, Signature, and Silicon Valley Bank – closed. I think this could have significant implications for crypto regulations in the US and banks’ ability to integrate digital asset trading or custody. This is due to the narrative of crypto causing the problem, which certain politicians are trying to portray. On Wednesday, Senator…

by Staff By Marcus Sotiriou, Market Analyst at the publicly listed digital asset broker GlobalBlock (TSXV:BLOK).  Bitcoin dropped further this morning, as investors are concerned about the consequences of Silvergate’s collapse. I think this could have significant implications for crypto regulations in the US and banks’ ability to deal with digital asset platforms and cryptocurrency brokerages. This is due to the narrative of crypto causing the problem, which certain politicians are trying to portray. Yesterday, Senator Sherrod Brown, Chair of the Senate Banking Committee, said, “As the impact of FTX’s collapse continues to ripple outward, today we are seeing what can happen when a bank is over-reliant on a risky, volatile sector…

by Staff By Marcus Sotiriou, Market Analyst at the publicly listed digital asset broker GlobalBlock (TSXV:BLOK).  Bitcoin hovers around $22,400, as investor sentiment continues to be bearish amongst Silvergate panic. Negative investor sentiment is backed up by data from digital asset platform Coinshares showing that digital asset investment products saw minor outflows totalling $17 million last week, which was the fourth consecutive week of outflows. This lack of volume within Coinshare’s digital asset platform is further shown when looking at the entire Bitcoin market volume, which averaged $57 billion – 15% lower than normal. Coinshare’s Short-Bitcoin product saw inflows for a third week totalling $1.8 million. The disinterest from institutional players in…

by Wieke Beenen The American company Genesis, a money lender, has filed for partial bankruptcy. The company currently has about 3 billion dollars (2.77 billion euros) in debt. Genesis is part of the Digital Currency Group (DCG), a conglomerate of more than 200 crypto-focused businesses. One of Genesis’ main activities was lending money to crypto companies. It brokers digital assets for financial institutions like hedge funds and asset managers and had almost $3 billion in total active loans going on, at the end of the third quarter of last year. Genesis stopped giving out new loans and blocked customers from taking out money because of what it called “unprecedented market…

by Wieke Beenen The price of bitcoin has increased by more than 20 percent in seven days. The value went up to $20,847 (19,244 euros) on Monday morning. A week earlier, the digital coin was worth about $17,000. The price has mainly gone up because investors expect that there won’t be any more rate hikes. Recently, the central banks had drastically raised interest rates to curb inflation. But now it seems that the inflation may have finally peaked. As a result, interest rates will likely not rise as quickly as last year. When interest rates are high, households tend to spend less and save more, and companies are more cautious…

by Wieke Beenen After FTX’s bankruptcy in the US last month, Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange, was arrested in The Bahamas on Monday. According to the the country’s attorney general, the former boss and chief executive appeared in a magistrates’ court in the Caribbean country’s capital, Nassau on Tuesday. The 30-year-old Bankman-Fried was arrested for “financial offences” against laws in the US and The Bahamas, with allegations that he used billions of dollars of customer funds to prop up FTX’s sister company, a hedge fund called Alameda Research. A company whose balance-sheet shortfall may have speeded up the crypto empire’s downfall in the first place. FTX’s initial…

by Staff By Mikkel Morch, Chairman at ARK36 The collapse of FTX, until recently the second-largest crypto exchange in the world, is one of the most dramatic events ever to have happened to the nascent crypto industry. The material losses and financial contagion from this event have devastated many market participants. But given the public image of FTX as a good-faith actor and mature market player, the loss of trust will perhaps be even more devastating. Let’s dig deeper into these momentous events. Who Are The Main Entities Involved? Before we explain the mechanisms that caused the drawdown, let’s identify the main entities that played the key role in the…

by Staff Once thought of as nothing more than a passing tech trend, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are now an ingrained aspect not only of currency exchange and investment but also of many industries. Nearly every sector has introduced some aspect of blockchain technology to its value chain or processes, and blockchain technology is only growing in popularity as its potential is being expanded upon. If you have never invested in Bitcoin before, the process of buying crypto can seem overwhelming and uncertain. Unfortunately, if you want to engage in the world of crypto and all it has to offer, at some point, you will need to learn how to navigate…

by Staff The Netherlands ranks as the most crypto-obsessed county in the world, according to a new study analysing searches for cryptocurrencies across 100 countries. Cryptocurrency education platform CryptoManiaks combined monthly Google searches for ten of the most popular cryptocurrencies across the worlds 100 most populated countries. They looked at the combined number of searches for these cryptocurrencies as a percentage of each country’s population size, to calculate the proportion of residents searching each month. 1. Netherlands – 1,445,150 searches per month (8.2% of population) The Netherlands was found to have the highest global percentage of cryptocurrency searchers, with 1.4 million monthly searches – the equivalent of 8.2% of the…