Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. DeFi will be in focus during the inaugural Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) tech advisory meeting, where a panel will “explore issues in decentralized finance.” Polygon, a layer-2 scaling protocol for Ethereum, has launched a zero-knowledge decentralized identity solution to the public nearly a year after announcing its development. The cryptocurrency phishing scammer behind some of the most high-profile and high-value Web3 thefts claims to have packed up shop, saying it was “time to …

Bitcoin (BTC) is leading the cryptocurrency markets lower and the matter is being exacerbated by Silvergate Banks' ongoing issues. This week the cryptocurrency-focused bank said that it needed additional time to file its annual 10-K report and warned that it may not be able to operate for another 12 months. Reacting to this news, several cryptocurrency companies announced that they were reducing or canceling their partnerships with Silvergate Bank. The uncertainty regarding the future of the bank and its overall impact on the cryptocurrency sector may have caused a knee-jerk reaction. However, if the contagion does not spread, the downside …

Cryptocurrency markets experienced a relatively calm month in February as the total market capitalization gained 4% in the period. However, the fear of regulatory pressure appears to be having an impact on volatility in March. Bulls will undoubtedly miss the technical pattern that has been guiding the total crypto market capitalization upwards for the past 48 days. Unfortunately, not all trends last forever, and the 6.3% price correction on March 2 was enough to break below the ascending channel support level. As displayed above, the ascending channel initiated in mid-January saw its $1.025 trillion market cap floor ruptured after Silvergate …

The U.S. stock market approaches a crucial turning point as uncertainty over inflation rises after hotter-than-expected economic data released in February. Despite mounting investor worries, the economy is showing signs of resilience that could protect against a significant downside move. The escalating risk-off sentiment in the market is also creating volatility for Bitcoin (BTC). The leading crypto asset, which has had a strong correlation with the U.S. stock market, moved oppositely to the stock market in February. The correction between BTC and Nasdaq turned negative for the first time in two years. However, with the crypto bulls pausing at the …

The popular fintech bank Silvergate Bank lost five crypto partners on March 2, owing to a slew of investigations and lawsuits against it. Coinbase, Paxos, Gemini, BitStamp and Galaxy Digital were some of the most notable crypto firms that were using Silvergate as their banking partner. However, the termination of service by Coinbase has also forced a crypto hedge fund to look for an alternate banking partner. Today Silvergate has lost Coinbase Circle Paxos Galaxy CBOE RIP https://t.co/XlexB5u2wD — db (@tier10k) March 2, 2023 On March 3, a crypto hedge fund called Digital Asset Capital Management (DACM) with assets worth …

The global payments industry is bullish on the potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain to enable faster and cheaper transactions, according to a new survey co-hosted by Ripple. Blockchain-based digital payment network Ripple and the Faster Payments Council (FPC) payment organization on March 2 issued a report devoted to the opportunities of crypto-enabled payments. Titled “Transforming the Way Money Moves,” the report provides insights on global crypto payment trends based on a survey sent to over 950 FPC subscribers, such as analysts and CEOs across 45 countries. The survey included a total of 281 respondents addressing 25 questions on topics of …

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen over 5% from $23,500 to $22,240 in just over 60 minutes, amid a wave of uncertainty concerning crypto-friendly bank Silvergate Capital. The price drop has wiped $22 billion from Bitcoin's total market capitalization, which is now at $430.9 billion, according to Cointelegraph Markets Pro. Ethereum (ETH), XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA) and Polygon (MATIC), and other non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies have also suffered a similar sharp decline. Bitcoin just dropped $1200 in less than 30 minutes. — The Wolf Of All Streets (@scottmelker) March 3, 2023 While the cause behind the steep $1,200 price drop is …

Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has revealed a "massive shortfall" in its digital asset and fiat currency holdings with billions worth of customer funds missing from both the exchange and its United States-based arm, FTX US. On Mar. 2 the exchange released a presentation showing FTX had $2.2 billion in exchange wallets and fiat accounts of which $694 million consisted of the most liquid "Category A Assets" that include cash, stablecoins, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) priced at the latest spot prices. Only $191 million of total assets were located in the wallets of the accounts associated with FTX US, in …

Crypto traders' urge to create leverage positions with Bitcoin (BTC) appears irresistible to many people, but it's impossible to know if these traders are extreme risk-takers or savvy market makers hedging their positions. The need to maintain hedges holds even if traders rely on leverage merely to reduce their counterparty exposure by maintaining a collateral deposit and the bulk of their position on cold wallets. Not all leverage is reckless Regardless of the reason for traders' use of leverage, currently there is a highly unusual imbalance in margin lending markets that favors BTC longs betting on a price increase. Despite …

Legislation has been introduced in the American state of South Dakota to amend the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) to limit the definition of money to exclude cryptocurrencies. Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) would still be considered money under the proposed new definition. The 117-page amendment, introduced into the state house of representatives by Republican Mike Stevens, defines “money” as “a medium of exchange that is currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government. The term includes a monetary unit of account established by an intergovernmental organization or by agreement between two or more countries.” The bill continued: “The …

According to an official Telegram statement on March 1, Singaporean cross-chain crypto wallet developer BitKeep says it has reimbursed 50% of user assets lost during a security breach stemming from Dec. 26, 2022. On the date of the incident, an estimated $8 million was stolen by hackers after BitKeep's APK 7.2.9 (Android Package Kit) installation package was hijacked and swapped. Users who downloaded the malware subsequently saw their private keys compromised, leading to the theft of assets. As told by BitKeep, a total of 6,731 verified addresses were breached during the incident. The firm has since completed reimbursing 50% of …

On Mar. 1, nearly two years after Jack Dorsey's technology conglomerate Block (known as Square at the time) announced plans to build a self-custodial Bitcoin wallet, the company revealed that more work still needs to be done regarding its plans and that Block is actively seeking partners "to make this a reality." As told by Block, partnerships are required to move assets between fiat and Bitcoin financial systems and provide users with the access and information they need to buy, sell, and store bitcoin securely and easily. The company stated it is prioritizing a quality over quantity approach to select …