EddieJayonCrypto
4 May 23
The financial industry is helping to shore up Bitcoin. Here is what is on my mind today.1. Back in March I told you how David Sacks called the demise of First Republic and here we are. Now we have to look at other regional banks as several have fallen hard as of late. PacWest Bancorp seems to be nex...
The financial industry is helping to shore up Bitcoin. Here is what is on my mind today.1. Back in March I told you how David Sacks called the demise of First Republic and here we are. Now we have to look at other regional banks as several have fallen hard as of late. PacWest Bancorp seems to be next on the block having dropped another 53% after a possible sales gets leaked. KeyCorp is right on the heels down 46% year-to-date. Several other regional banks have taken a beating as well. Year-to-date, Eastern Bank is down 49%, Citizens Financial is down 47%, Fifth Third is down 45%. I have a funny feeling more people are going to pull their deposits and we will see Bitcoin rise a tad more. 2. The $13.4B deal that would have seen the merger of TD Bank with First Horizon has been mutually terminated. Those paying attention to the deal expected this given the number of TD shareholders that urged the bank to at least renegotiate the deal given the current climate in the financial markets. First Horizon's stock has dropped over 45% since the announcement. 3. Today, I am paying attention to a small but significant detail. The US SEC was going to define the term "digital asset". However, it would seem they balked at the idea. In 2022 they published a proposal to overhaul mandatory disclosures for hedge funds. The definition did not make it into the regulator's final rule and instead put in a footnote that they basically reserve the right to define at some other time. Which has not come. The big deal here is defining the term would give importance to crypto and that I not something they want to do. Fast forward to today and you can see how they missed yet another chance to work with a new industry instead of using an iron fist against it. 4. Coinbase is not the only US-based centralized exchange going offshore to offer new services. Gemini's non-US derivatives platform has gone live. The service is aimed directly at UK and EU-based institutional investors. With incredible headwinds in the United States, many companies are looking overseas for safe havens to operate their businesses. 5. Coinbase is pulling the plug on its Coinbase Borrow service that allows people to borrow up $1M against up 30% of their Bitcoin holdings. Currently, there are no details on their reason why, although this doesn't seem to be related to any other actions.