tl;dr

• Ripple and the Faster Payments Council report that 50% of merchants will adopt crypto within 3 years, which bodes well for Rebel Reach's native crypto integration• The Wall Street Journal report on Tether and Bitfinex using fraudulent documents and possibly facilitating terror financing may cause ...

• Ripple and the Faster Payments Council report that 50% of merchants will adopt crypto within 3 years, which bodes well for Rebel Reach's native crypto integration
• The Wall Street Journal report on Tether and Bitfinex using fraudulent documents and possibly facilitating terror financing may cause a temporary hit to the crypto market and result in outflows to stablecoins like USDC
• Coinbase's David Duong and others suggest the current dip in the market is due to US tax season, inflation, and bonus season, but predict an upward surge in the summer
• Bybit is suspending USD bank transfers, likely related to Silvergate, and raises questions about BlackRock and Citadel's thoughts on the bank's current situation
• BCB Group plans to fill the gap left by Silvergate and launch a new bank in early Q2 2023
• Kraken is reportedly nearing the launch of Kraken Bank after delaying its introduction in 2022, and will likely face scrutiny from regulatory bodies

We are currently working through the Silvergate debacle and now have to weigh what a Tether implosion could look like. Here is what is on my mind today.

1. A joint study conducted by Ripple and the Faster Payments Council estimates that 50% of merchants will embrace crypto within the next 3 years. Given the speed at which people are gaining knowledge about crypto I think that estimation may be spot on. That also says there is room to grow for our web hosting company, Rebel Reach since we already have native crypto integrated with every merchant being able to collect payments directly with crypto and only pay a flat monthly fee for hosting. More with less!

2. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal dropped their bombshell report about Tether and Bitfinex using fraudulent documents to acquire bank accounts. They also reported they companies may have also been involved in facilitating terror financing. I am expecting this to hit the Cryptoverse hard at first and then dissipate as the impact is decreased by already diminished use of Tether by institutional investors. This means I am expecting major outflows going to other stablecoins like USDC by Circle.

3. Looking at the time of year we are in right now, it makes sense that we are seeing a dip. You have US tax season, inflation the Fed has had a hard time corralling and bonus season for some industries. I am not alone in this thought either. David Duong, Head of Institutional Research, at Coinbase agrees. I think the summer is going to usher in with it an upward surge for the crypto market.

4. Bybit, the fourth largest centralized exchange by trade volume, is suspending USD bank transfers starting March 10th. No one is saying it, but I think this is directly related to Silvergate. I still want to know what BlackRock and Citadel are thinking about Silvergate's current state of affairs.

5. It looks like BCB Group is looking step to fill the gap created by Silvergate. CEO Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie say the bank hopes to have everything in place and ready to launch early second quarter. As I have said, where there is a gap there is going to be someone looking to fill it.

6. Could it be that Kraken is looking to create its own bank? Well, according to Marco Santori, Chief Legal Officer of Kraken, they are nearing a launch of the Kraken Bank. They were originally supposed to introduce the bank in 2022. One would think the previously impending settlement with the SEC was at least part of the reason they didn't launch back then. I am looking forward to how this plays out. There are a lot of things that must happen for a bank to be formed with three governing bodies and you can bet your dollar they will be scrutinized from day one.

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 19 Sep 24
 19 Sep 24
 19 Sep 24