Bitcoin is under pressure as the Federal Reserve has indicated that rates could go higher than expected and after a major crypto-focused lender, Silvergate Capital, collapsed.

Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Bitcoin briefly fell 8% to below $20,000 on Friday, hitting a near-two-month low, after a stock market sell-off in the U.S. and the collapse of a crypto-focused lender.

The cryptocurrency market saw more than $70 billion wiped off its value over the course of the 24 hours.

Bitcoin was last trading lower by just 2.7% at $19,944.66, according to Coin Metrics. Ether was last down 2.6% at $1,414.21.

The crypto sell-off has been prompted by a number of factors. The movement of cryptocurrency prices is quite closely correlated to U.S. stock markets, in particular the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

On Tuesday, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that interest rates may go higher and stay higher than expected. The raising of interest rates over the past year has weighed on risk assets such as stocks, and in particular cryptocurrencies.

"There is just little reason to buy bitcoin now as the market is saturated with negative developments, not just specifically for the crypto industry, but also for the wider financial market as well," Yuya Hasegawa, an analyst at Japanese crypto firm Bitbank, told CNBC via email.

Another major factor weighing on crypto prices is the collapse of Silvergate Capital, a major lender to the crytpo industry. Silvergate said Wednesday it is winding down operations and liquidating its bank.

Silvergate's fall is another example how the collapse of major cryptocurrency exchange FTX continues to have an impact on the industry. FTX was a big customer of Silvergate.

Separately, on Friday morning the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation closed Silicon Valley Bank and took control of its deposits, making it the largest U.S. bank failure since the global financial crisis. The bank's parent company, SVB Financial, said late Wednesday that it sold off $21 billion worth of its holdings at a $1.8 billion loss. SVB was a major bank in the technology start-up space.

The sale of assets comes as SVB grapples with a weaker technology funding environment as VCs remain cautious amid a weaker macroeconomic situation and rising interest rates.

Both Silvergate and SVB put their money into U.S. Treasurys which have lost value as the Fed has raised rates. These banks have been forced to sell these bonds at a loss to shore up their capital position.

"Overall, sentiment seems to have turned quite bearish given a combination of global macro and interest rate rises but also the exposure many banks probably have to long duration securities," Vijay Ayyar, vice president of corporate development at crypto exchange Luno, told CNBC via email.

CNBC's Tanaya Macheel contributed reporting.

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More than $70 billion wiped off crypto market in 24 hours as bitcoin drops below $20,000 - CNBC

Alex Dovbnya

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has suggested that the next big trend in the crypto industry could be tokenization

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BlackRockCEO Larry Fink's annual letter to investors suggests that tokenization might be the next big trend in crypto.

According to the head of the $10 trillion asset management behemoth, Bitcoin has caught headlines as a mere distraction, with the media's "obsession" obscuring other interesting developments happening in the cryptocurrencyspace.

Fink draws attention to the dramatic advances in digital payments taking place in emerging markets such asBraziland parts of Africa. Hecontrasts them with the sluggish pace of innovation in developed markets like the US, where the cost of payments remains high.

In his view, the fragmentation of asset categories into tokens presents a highly encouraging prospect.

He has confirmedthat Blackrock is actively delving into the realm of digital assets with an emphasis on permissionedblockchains and the conversion of stocks and bonds into tokens.

However, Fink acknowledges that while the industry is maturing, there is still no regulatory clarity.He hasassuredinvestors that they will apply the same standards and controls to cryptothat they do across their business.

As reported by U.Today,Fink predicted that most cryptocurrency companies would failduring his recent appearance at a summit. The BlackRock bossalso revealed that BlackRock put $24 million into the defunctFTX exchange, but it was then forced to mark thatsum down to zero.

Read this article:

Forget Bitcoin: BlackRock CEO Touts Next Big Thing in Crypto - U.Today

Use of emerging alternative payment platforms, such as Apple Pay or Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, can alter consumer credit card behavior and consequently impact our interchange fee income.

So says Horizon Bancorp which provides a broad range of banking services through its bank subsidiary, Horizon Bank.

They have $7.9 billion in assets and $5.9 billion in deposits with this regional bank being the first to explicitly state that bitcoin is a risk to their profits.

The increasing use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies and/or stable coin and the possible impact these alternative currencies may have on deposit disintermediation and income derived from payment systems, is one of the risks, uncertainties, and factors that could cause Horizons actual results to vary materially, the bank says, as well as:

Potential loss of fee income, including interchange fees, as new and emerging alternative payment platforms (e.g., Apple Pay or Bitcoin) take a greater market share of the payment systems.

Of course the banks loss is the publics gain as they benefit from lower fees or from diversifying deposit risks, but allegedly some regulators are intervening against this market competition and innovation which benefits the taxpayer.

Barney Frank, the former congressman and architect of the landmark Dodd-Frank banking regulations who also sits on the board of Signature bank, which was closed last week by the Department of Financial Services in New York (DFS), accuses the latter of closing the bank for no good reason as it was not insolvent, but to send a crypto message.

Why did they react so harshly to what they said was our inability to give them the sufficient data? I believe it was probably to send the message that even though we were doing crypto stuff responsibly, they dont want banks doing crypto.

DFS has denied the accusation, claiming there was a crisis of confidence in the banks leadership, but if the bank was indeed solvent, closing in does raise questions.

In addition the admission by Horizon bank now finally provides evidence of bias, which law makers and the elected will hopefully bear in mind when they are lobbied, both through the media and in private, against what they see as their competitor: crypto.

Where bankers as individuals are concerned however the story has been changing and considerably, with many of them embracing the new frontier.

Yet some bankers, like Jamie Dimon or Warren Buffet, remain viciously biased towards the entire crypto space with some regulators too often not bothering to hide their bias.

A bias no different than Blockbusters towards Netflix, with here too lower fees, diversification of risk and other features, including ease of global access, benefiting the public.

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Bitcoin a Risk to Profits Says Bank - Trustnodes

Hashdex AG

Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF (DEFI) product provides Institutional Investors with access to Bitcoin through a cost-effective and regulated exchange-traded fund

DEFIs structure is well-positioned for potential future conversion to spot-price Bitcoin product

New York / Rio de Janeiro / London, March 16, 2023 Hashdex, a leading global crypto-focused asset manager, is proud to celebrate the six month anniversary of the Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF, the worlds first Bitcoin Futures ETF (exchange-traded fund) registered solely under the Securities Act of 1933 (33 Act) by ringing the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, March 15. The innovative product, developed with Teucrium Trading, LLC (Teucrium), a 33 Act fund specialist focused on commodities funds, was launched on NYSE Arca on September 16, 2022.

The importance of having access to institutional-quality products, processes and service providers cannot be stressed enough, and as institutional investors and wealth managers continue to look for Bitcoin exposure through regulated products we are proud to provide a cutting edge approach to gain exposure through a cost-effective and regulated exchange-traded fund, said Marcelo Sampaio, Co-Founder & CEO of Hashdex. As has been our mission since the founding of Hashdex, we remain steadfast in our commitment to serving as a responsible firm within this evolving, innovative space that, above all else, puts our investors first. We continue to work closely with global regulators to support and fuel growth within the crypto ecosystem and were hopeful that a successful conversion to a Bitcoin spot ETF, such as with our Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF, will be the next step for the industry.

Bitcoin has seen roughly a 50% price increase year-to-date which Hashdex believes reinforces the underlying interest and confidence in the asset. Through the Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF, investors can participate in Bitcoins long-term growth potential while being confident that their funds remain secure through Hashdexs transparent, risk-aware and diligent approach to working with leading exchanges and custodians. Hashdex serves as the Digital Asset Advisor to the Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF, and is responsible for providing its partners with research and analysis regarding bitcoin and bitcoin markets for use in the operation and marketing of DEFI.

Story continues

Recent uncertainty within the banking sector has reiterated Bitcoins use case and reinvigorated enthusiasm from investors in holding an asset class that acts as a decentralized store of value across macroeconomic conditions, said Bruno Caratori, Co-Founder & COO of Hashdex. The resurgence of interest given the strong performance for crypto assets this year, combined with many long-term investors who have been cautiously evaluating increased exposure in the space as part of their asset allocation strategies, has reinforced our commitment to ensuring the products we bring to market meet global investor needs and adhere to the highest standards.

With offices in Brazil, the United States, and Europe, Hashdex is a renowned leader in the development of industry-first crypto offerings that enable global investors to participate in the crypto ecosystem. Nasdaq developed, in partnership with Hashdex, the Nasdaq Crypto Index (NCI), which benchmarks the institutionally investable crypto market, and listed the worlds first crypto ETF in history, the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF, on the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

Hashdex currently has nearly 230,000 investors globally in its products. KPMG has served as the independent auditor for Hashdex's funds since 2018, and Fidelity Digital Assets, Coinbase Custody, and Bitgo Trust serve as custodians of digital assets managed by Hashdex.

The firms Research Team regularly publishes cryptocurrency resources for investors. Recent research published by Hashdex covers topics ranging from: Bitcoins recovery, optimism in the new year as bulls make their case, timing in crypto investing, and more.

About HashdexHashdex is a global pioneer in crypto asset management. Hashdex invites innovative investors to join the emerging crypto economy. Hashdexs mission is to provide educational resources and best-in-class products that advance its efforts to help build pathways by opening the crypto ecosystem to the world. The firm co-developed the Nasdaq Crypto Index (NCI) with Nasdaq to provide global investors with a reliable benchmark for the crypto asset class. In 2021, Hashdex introduced the worlds first crypto ETFs and other innovative products, enabling nearly 230,000 investors to simply and securely add crypto to their portfolios. For more information visit http://www.hashdex.com or follow Hashdex on Twitter or LinkedIn.

About Teucrium Trading LLCTeucrium Trading is an ETF provider focused with a mission to empower investors with the knowledge and tools necessary to intelligently design well-diversified portfolios. Additionally, Teucrium provides Commodity Trading Sub-Advisor services for fund sponsors interested in partnering with an experienced team to help launch and/or manage ongoing fund operations. Teucriums suite of Exchange Traded Products has revolutionized the way commodity ETFs are structured; products are widely available to investors and advisors in traditional brokerage accounts.

Media Contacts:Kendal Till/Josh GerthDukas Linden Public RelationsHashdex@DLPR.com

Important Information

The Fund does not invest directly in bitcoin, but provides price exposure to the crypto asset through bitcoin futures contracts. This gives investors the opportunity to capitalize on the cryptocurrencys growth potential, its store of value characteristics, and the prospect of a decentralized future, without the complexities of self custody.

Certain information contained herein has been obtained from third-party sources and such information has not been independently verified by Hashdex, Teucrium and Victory Capital. No representation, warranty, or undertaking, expressed or implied, is given to the accuracy or completeness of such information by Hashdex, Teucrium, Victory Capital or any other person. All information regarding the Fund strategy is based on information provided either in writing or verbally, and on both a formal and informal basis, from underlying Funds and/or other resources available to Hashdex, Teucrium and Victory Capital. Hashdex, Teucrium and Victory Capital have not necessarily made any attempt to verify all such information and do not guarantee the accuracy of any such information. None of the investments discussed in this document should be viewed as an investment recommendation and are provided for illustrative purposes only.

Fund DescriptionThe Fund is a commodity pool that issues Shares that may be purchased and sold on NYSE Arca. The Funds investment objective is for changes in the Shares NAV to reflect the daily changes of the price of the Benchmark, less expenses from the Funds operations. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests in Benchmark Component Futures Contracts and cash and cash equivalents. Because the Funds investment objective is to track the price of the Benchmark by investing in Benchmark Futures Contracts rather than bitcoin, changes in the price of the Shares will vary from changes in the spot price of bitcoin.

The Fund employs Foreside Fund Services, LLC as the Distributor for the Fund. The Distribution Services Agreement among the Distributor, the Sponsor, and the Trust calls for the Distributor to work with the Custodian in connection with the receipt and processing of orders for Creation Baskets and Redemption Baskets and the review and approval of all Fund sales literature and advertising material. The Distributors principal business address is Three Canal Plaza, Suite 100, Portland, Maine 04101. The Distributor is a broker-dealer registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a member of FINRA.

The Fund is a series of the Teucrium Commodity Trust (the Trust). The sponsor to the Fund is Teucrium Trading, LLC (the Sponsor), which receives a management fee. The Sponsor is registered as a commodity pool operator (CPO) and a commodity trading adviser (CTA) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA). Hashdex Asset Management Ltd. (Hashdex) will serve as the Funds Digital Asset Adviser and will assist the Sponsor and Marketing Agents with research and investment analysis regarding bitcoin and bitcoin markets for use in the marketing of the Fund. Hashdex will also provide the Fund with marketing services including, but not limited to, branding, the issuance of press releases, preparation of website data content, holding promotional webinars and engaging in promotional activities through social media outlets.

Toroso Investments, LLC, Tidal ETF Services LLC and Victory Capital Management Inc. (the Marketing Agents) assist the Fund and Sponsor with certain functions and duties relating to marketing, which include the following: marketing, sales strategy, and related services.

Foreside Fund Services, LLC is the distributor for the Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF (DEFI) Fund.

Hashdex has no responsibility for the investment or management of the Funds investment portfolio or for the overall performance or operation of the Fund.

For more information pertaining to the relationship of companies involved in the Fund please read the prospectus.

Bitcoin RisksBitcoin and bitcoin futures are a relatively new asset class and the market for bitcoin is subject to rapid changes and uncertainty. Bitcoin and bitcoin futures are subject to unique and substantial risks, including significant price volatility and lack of liquidity. The value of an investment in the ETF could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero.You should be prepared to lose your entire investment. The ETF does not invest directly in or hold bitcoin. The price and performance of bitcoin futures should be expected to differ from the current spot price of bitcoin. These differences could be significant. Bitcoin futures are subject to margin requirements, collateral requirements and other limits that may prevent the ETF from achieving its objective. Margin requirements for futures and costs associated with rolling (buying and selling) futures may have a negative impact on the funds performance and its ability to achieve its investment objective. Bitcoin is largely unregulated and bitcoin investments may be more susceptible to fraud and manipulation than more regulated investments. Bitcoin and bitcoin futures are subject to rapid price swings, including as a result of actions and statements by influencers and the media.

Futures RiskCommodities and futures investing is generally volatile and risky which may not be suitable for all investors. Futures may be affected by Backwardation: a market condition in which a futures price is lower in the distant delivery months than in the near delivery months. As a result, the fund may benefit because it would be selling more expensive contracts and buying less expensive ones on an ongoing basis; and Contango: A condition in which distant delivery prices for futures exceeds spot prices, often due to costs of storing and inuring the underlying commodity. Opposite of backwardation. As a result, the Funds total return may be lower than might otherwise be the case because it would be selling less expensive contracts and buying more expensive one.

Commodities and futures generally are volatile, and instruments whose underlying investments include commodities and futures are not suitable for all investors.

This material must be preceded or accompanied by a prospectus. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. To obtain a current prospectus visit the link below: http://hashdex-etfs.com

The Fund is a commodity pool regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The Fund, which is an ETP, is not a mutual fund or any other type of investment company within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and is not subject to regulation thereunder.

Because the Fund will invest primarily in BITCOIN futures contracts and other derivative instruments based on the price of BITCOIN, an investment in the Fund will subject the investor to the risks of the BITCOIN market, and this could result in substantial fluctuations in the price of the Funds shares.

Shares of the Fund are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), may lose value and have no bank guarantee.

Unlike mutual funds, the Fund generally will not distribute dividends to its shareholders. Investors may choose to use the Fund as a means of investing indirectly in bitcoin, and there are risks involved in such investments.

This material is not an offer or solicitation of any kind to buy or sell any securities outside of the United States of America.

Definitions:

The Benchmark is HDEFI HASHDEX U.S. BITCOIN FUTURES FUND BENCHMARK INDEX, the average of the closing settlement prices for the first to expire and second to expire Bitcoin Futures Contracts listed on the CME. The index is calculated and disseminated by ICE DATA INDICES, LLC.

Continued here:

Hashdex Celebrates Six-Month Anniversary of World's First Bitcoin ... - Yahoo Finance

(Kitco News) - The U.S. is the undisputed leader when it comes to the number of Bitcoin automated teller machines (ATMs), with 32,591 machines installed throughout the country, but a recent study conducted by Tradingbrowser indicates that cryptocurrency and Bitcoin ATM adoption is highest in countries that lack a developed financial infrastructure.

Countries that have high rates of unbanked populations also have higher rates of cryptocurrency adoption due to high cash payments and Bitcoin ATMs, Daniel Larsson, senior editor at Tradingbrowser, wrote. If the projection of installed Bitcoin ATMs continues, these unbanked countries could see exponential growth in adoption.

A total of 14 countries were included in the study, which gathered information related to the number of Bitcoin ATMs installed, cash payments, unbaked population, cryptocurrency ownership, cryptocurrency ownership percentage, and the total population in order to compare adoption rates.

It all boils down to how the population is connected to cash payments and bank accounts, Larsson said.

The countries that were found to have the highest rate of crypto adoption had the highest rates of unbanked populations and were also the most promising locations to install ATMs and promote adoption.

Countries with a high rate of cash payments and unbanked population. Source: Tradingbrowser

Out of the countries surveyed, Mexico had the largest percentage of its population unbanked at 60%, and it also ranks third in terms of the number of Bitcoin ATMs installed, with 46. Only Romania and Hong Kong currently host more ATMs than Mexico. A total of 3.4% of Mexican citizens currently own cryptocurrency, which is nearly triple the adoption rate of more advanced nations like Norway and Denmark.

In South Africa, 31% of the population is unbanked, the country has 21 Bitcoin ATMs, and 10% of its population owns some form of cryptocurrency.

When those numbers are compared to countries whose unbanked population is smaller, the differences become clear.

Countries with a low rate of cash payments and unbanked population. Source: Tradingbrowser

The differences are especially stark in nordic countries like Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, which have the lowest percentage of cash payments (1-2%) while nearly 100% of their populations are connected to the traditional banking system.

Countries where cash payments range from 1-2% and unbanked populations from 0% to 1% including Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and New Zealand have no Bitcoin ATMs installed. These countries also have a much lower adoption rate, Larsson observed.

We can draw many conclusions based on these findings but the most significant driver for the high adoption rates in highly unbanked nations is the number of Bitcoin ATMs that have been installed, Larsson said. In many cases, cryptocurrency is proving to be a viable option where Bitcoin ATMs have been installed.

In areas with no established banking infrastructure, the ability to use ATMs to trade cryptocurrency for cash, or from cash to cryptocurrency, is a feature that is impossible without access to traditional banking or credit cards.

Based on these findings, Larsson speculates that the reason crypto ownership is lower in countries with an established financial infrastructure has to do with the fact that there is no need for the population in these countries to use cryptocurrencies.

The one exception in the study was Hong Kong, which has a highly developed financial system and is considered to be a financial hub and testing ground for Chinese policymakers. Hong Kong ranked second overall in the number of Bitcoin ATMs installed, with 147, while Romania came in first with 156.

The high rate of cash payments and Bitcoin ATMs in developing countries shows a growth of alternative financing solutions such as Bitcoin which provides a fast, secure, and efficient way to transact outside the traditional banking system, Larsson said. Its safe to say that more Bitcoin ATMs are likely going to be installed in highly unbanked countries as the positive trend toward cryptocurrencies continues.

While Bitcoin ATMs are not solely responsible for driving adoption in unbanked regions of the world, there is clearly a correlation, Larsson said. The study shows that cash and Bitcoin ATMs are the two main factors driving the adoption of cryptocurrencies right now and its obvious which parts of the world are in the drivers seat.

It remains to be seen how the trend will progress moving forward, especially amid the spreading banking contagion that is now hitting banks in Europe, including Credit Suisse.

Only time will tell whether the trend of these ATMs and the adoption of cryptocurrency will continue in countries where cash is currently king, Larsson said. Until then, we can not look past the obvious which is that right now, unbanked countries are beating cashless countries in the race to full cryptocurrency adoption.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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Crypto and Bitcoin ATM adoption is highest in countries with large ... - Kitco NEWS

What is in the news these days is the Feds action to support the banking system that is severely in crisis, though this is only supporting Bitcoin.

The banking crisis with the failure of four major US banks, and others at risk. Has forced the Fed and the government to take unprecedented measures, and this indirectly brings new life to Bitcoin as well.

As also reported by Watcher Guru on Twitter with the following tweet:

JUST IN: $2 trillion could be injected into the US banking system by the Federal Reserves emergency loan program, JPMorgan says.

The Feds emergency lending consists of the ability of distressed banks to access $2 trillion in liquidity at least, JPMorgan explains.

The aftermath of the collapse of the various Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate, etc. has sunk the entire banking industry and fear is spreading like wildfire.

Many banks do not have their accounts in order and are not as solid as Silicon Valley Bank was, for example, although it also went bankrupt.

For the investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co, the program put in place by the Fed and the US government is massive.

Available funds constitute the largest economic intervention ever put in place ($2 trillion) and are only meant to buffer the crisis with an injection of liquidity.

The plan has been under consideration well before the recent industry failures but now its rushed launch was necessary to avert the collapse of the US economy.

The operation will make it unnecessary to sell loss-making securities so banks can survive.

JPMorgan has stated that the Bank Term Funding Program will be sufficient to put the accounts of the entire banking system in order except for the 5 largest investment banks.

Whether or not to use the plan is in strong doubt since it would involve untying the state with a noose around its neck.

The amount allocated on balance is equal to the amount of total existing bank bonds.

For Nikolaos Panigirtzoglous strategy team:

Utilization of the Feds Bank Term Funding Program is likely to be high.

The largest US banks, along with those subject to intervention by the Fed and government, hold $3 trillion in bank reserves.

There have been rumors for a few days now that the Fed no longer intends to raise rates by 50 basis points. There has even been talk of a rate standby.

This news, combined with the banking crisis, has led to, among other things. A drop in the yield on bots of 60 basis points in just one week.

The combination of the banking crisis and the idea of a rate standby is bringing a boost to Bitcoin. Which is up 20% in just four days.

Today Bitcoin stands at $24829 and is up 1.89% in the 24 hours.

Should Bitcoin succeed in breaking through $26.000 then the $30.000 target would be in its grasp.

Lack of confidence and losses by investors in the banking sector have brought liquidity to the crypto sector and especially to Bitcoin.

It is curious (I am being sarcastic) how the currency that was created to counter and give an alternative to the banking system as we know it appreciates in a phase of crisis in the latter.

Excerpt from:

US Fed to the rescue of banks as Bitcoin soars - The Cryptonomist

Although Bitcoin (BTC 1.13%) is often touted as a superior form of money and a premier asset to store wealth due to its scarcity and decentralization, it does have some shortcomings. The most glaring deficiencies are high costs and slowness when sending small transactions.

When sending these smaller transactions, it isn't uncommon for the transaction fee to be larger than the transaction itself. This has been one of the most well-known obstacles that has prevented Bitcoin from becoming a viable option for everyday purchases like a cup of coffee or a meal at a restaurant.

However, this might slowly be changing.

In 2018, developers released a solution called the Lightning Network which would help mitigate these high fees and slow speeds for smaller transactions. The details of how it works can be a little complex, but what is most important to know is that with the Lightning Network, transaction speeds can increase from just 10 per second to more than 1 million per second and cost just a fraction of a penny.

In its infancy, growth of the Lightning Network was slow, but by 2021 an explosion on the network took place as Bitcoin climbed to an all-time high of nearly $69,000, and users looked for cost-effective solutions to send and receive Bitcoin.

But since that peak in 2021, the Lightning Network has remained impressively resilient during the current bear market and has actually continued to grow.

On Feb. 26, the Lightning Network notched a new all-time high in network capacity. This metric measures the amount of Bitcoin locked in the network and serves as a proxy to gauge liquidity. The thinking goes that the greater the liquidity, the greater the network's capacity to process larger transactions faster and cheaper.

We can see this phenomenon in action when taking a look at the median base fee on the network. Despite Bitcoin's price fluctuating, there is a clear and evident trend of the median base fee falling with time. In late 2022, it hit an all-time low of $0.00000016. Talk about cheap.

When considering that the Lightning Network has continued to flourish even in the midst of this crypto winter, there is significant reason to believe that this growth will be sustained should a bull market arrive. As such, thenarrative that Bitcoin is too costly and slow to use for everyday payments will likely dissipate.

Should the Lightning Network continues on its current path of growth, it could lead to Bitcoin truly becoming a superior form of money that can be used not only as a store of value but also an attractive means of payment.

Although some consider it to already be in the upper echelon of all cryptocurrencies, the combination of Bitcoin's use case as a long-term investment and growth of the Lightning Network could solidify Bitcoin's position as the premier digital asset for years to come. When considering that Bitcoin's price is still down more than 70% from its all-time high, an investment today seems almost too good to be true.

RJ Fulton has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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If This Trend Continues, Bitcoin Could Grow for Years to Come - The Motley Fool

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) about Bitcoin stemming from the collapse of a single bank contributed to its downward trend earlier this week.

Yet, the failure of yet another bank may have reversed the publics opinion and brought back support for the king coin. However, Bitcoin may have been affected differently by the Silicon Valley bank run that triggered a drop in USDC.

Read Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction 2023-24

The California Financial Institutions Control Board closed Silicon Valley Bank, a significant bank for startups with venture capital backing. It was the first bank insured by the FDIC to go bankrupt in 2023.

The California regulator has designated the FDIC as the receiver to safeguard insured savings, although the reason for the shutdown is unknown. SVB, one of the 20 largest banks in the U.S. by total assets, financed several startups focusing on cryptocurrencies.

Peoples reactions to the SVB failure suggest uncertainty is the current prevalent mood. The process of withdrawing assets for customers with $250,000 or more has sparked discussions based on a thread by Mark Cuban (an American businessman) and the following comments.

In addition, Circle announced in a statement that over $3 billion of its $40 billion was held by SVB. Another negative reaction has been the flight of USDC holders exchanging their holdings for other stablecoins and Bitcoin.

According to Santiment statistics, the accumulation of whales and sharks continued despite the FUD that was caused by the Silvergate crash.

As of this writing, addresses with 10-10,000 BTC had risen to over 67%. Looking at the data, it is clear that on 11 March, there was an upswing in whale and shark accumulation, coinciding with the time that USDC was experiencing a capital flight.

In addition, the volume metric on Santiment revealed some intriguing actions. By 9 a.m. UTC on March 11, BTC volume had already reached 45 billion, and by 17:00 UTC, it had reached 35 billion.

This volume is notable because it is the highest Bitcoin has seen since December. There is little doubt that this is a sign of a rise in business activity. There were more than 39 billion as of this writing.

Even if the amount of trades has increased, most tokens have left exchanges. More and more Bitcoin (BTC) holders are moving their coins off exchanges because of the continuing swap with USDC.

CryptoQuants Netflow measure shows that on 10 March, more BTC left the system than entered; this trend persisted as of this writing.

Looking at the spot price of BTC/USDC at the time of writing, we can see that BTC has increased in value by more than 11% on a daily timeframe. At the time of writing, one Bitcoin was worth roughly $22,600 at the current USDC exchange rate.

Yet, on a daily timeframe, the BTC/USD spot price showed that it had lost almost 1% of its value, trading at around $19,900 and $20,000.

Is your portfolio green? Check out the Bitcoin Profit Calculator

A possible indicator of the degree of interdependence between conventional finance and cryptocurrency is the publics reaction to the SVB failure, which was focused on Bitcoin and stablecoins.

Even so, Bitcoin showed that, despite its volatility, it could be a viable alternative store of wealth.

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Bitcoin: Fall of Silicon Valley Bank might be a silver lining for BTC, heres why - AMBCrypto News

Digital financial assets (DFAs) for a total exceeding $26 million have been issued in Russia in the past year. This new market has been developing since it was regulated in 2021 and the countrys monetary authority started licensing issuers in the following year.

Less than a year since Central Bank of Russia (CBR)-approved entities began issuing digital financial assets, these have issued DFAs for 2 billion rubles (over $26 million). The data was announced by Ekaterina Frolovicheva, general director of the tokenization service Atomyze.

Speaking at a round table in the Digital Financial Assets New Tool for Attracting Liquidity Public Chamber, Frolovicheva explained that the first DFA issuer was added to Bank of Russias register on Feb. 3, 2022, but the issuing of DFAs started several months later.

Quoted by the Tass news agency, she also noted that the unique features of DFAs make them extremely attractive and that demand is on the rise. For example, hybrid digital rights combine the properties of digital financial assets and utilitarian digital rights, simultaneously certifying a monetary claim and right to demand the transfer of an asset.

Stablecoins, when not intended for settlements, as well as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can be issued as hybrid digital rights in the Russian Federation. Thats possible under the law On Digital Financial Assets which went into force in January 2021. However, the country has yet to regulate operations with decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

Atomyze is one of the platforms authorized by the CBR to issue DFAs, alongside the fintech company Lighthouse, as well as Sberbank and Alfa-Bank, Russias largest state-owned and private bank, respectively. Another entity was recently licensed Distributed Registry Systems, which operates the Masterchain blockchain platform.

Russians will soon be able to invest in DFAs along with other instruments, such as stocks and bonds, while avoiding the risks associated with traditional instruments and bypassing financial market intermediaries, commented Maxim Trofimov, CEO of a company called Digital Assets.

Do you expect the digital assets market to continue to expand in Russia? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchenss quote: Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do. Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.

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Few people understand the key technical issues currently facing the worlds dominant cryptocurrency. Andrew Chow is one of them.

Chow is one of four maintainers for Bitcoin Core (or just Core), the most popular software for connecting to the Bitcoin network.

Maintainers review changes to Bitcoin Core known as commits, which are submitted by fellow Bitcoin developers as pull requests or PRs. Chow and other maintainers then approve or merge those changes into Cores source code. The code review is critical to ensuring no buggy code gets merged.

Chow is a gamer at heart, and only got into Bitcoin in high school to pay for video games he couldnt otherwise afford. His parents wouldnt give him a credit card, open a bank account for him or even give him an allowance. He resorted to freelancing on the BitcoinTalk forum and began writing code in exchange for bitcoin (BTC).

Chow, who says he's now in his mid-20s, gets paid as an engineer at the Bitcoin infrastructure firm Blockstream, where aside from a few corporate tasks, his main priority is working on Bitcoin Core.

He says code review is one of the biggest challenges Bitcoin faces today. Most Core developers are keen on writing code for new features, but few enjoy the more mundane task of reviewing code submitted by their peers. Chow says more contributors need to focus on code review to tackle the 300-plus PRs in Cores GitHub repository. The community has a Bitcoin Core PR Review Club that meets weekly to help newer contributors learn about the review process.

Chow agreed to an interview with CoinDesk at the Advancing Bitcoin conference in London. He elaborated on why code review is so critical, explained what Bitcoin Core contributors do every day, and weighed in on the current debate over op_vault and Speedy Trial. Heres a partial transcript of that interview.

CoinDesk: How did you discover Bitcoin?

Andrew Chow: When I was younger, in high school, I didn't have a bank account because I was under 18. My parents didn't open one for me. I didn't have a credit card even a supervised credit card and I didn't have an allowance. But Steam was selling games for bitcoin. If you do PC gaming, you can download Steam and it has basically all the PC games.

Also, on purse.io, you could sell bitcoin for stuff. Well, I wanted to play games. I wanted to buy them. I mean, I'm okay with pirating but, you know, pirating things is kind of sketchy. You don't know what you're downloading. It could be complete malware.

So I was, like, this bitcoin thing is fully electronic. Maybe I can use that to buy games but how do I get bitcoin? Maybe I can do some work and get paid in bitcoin.

I know a few people who did that. So that's how I learned programming. Id go on BitcoinTalk and people would say, I will pay you however much to write me a script that does this.

Well, that seemed simple enough. I also had a friend in high school. He was, like, Hey, have you heard about this bitcoin thing? I think you might like it. He was definitely buying drugs with bitcoin.

So that's how I got into Bitcoin. And eventually I was like, Well, I'm using this wallet and I'm running into these issues. I clearly know how to write a program. Maybe I can fix this wallet. That's how I got into doing development.

I was running this thing called Armory. Which was basically not maintained. I mean, it's still kind of maintained by one guy, so barely.

By the time I was using it, it was kind of a mess and it didn't always work. I was finding that some of the problems that were happening in Armory were caused by things that Bitcoin Core was doing. So I started going into Bitcoin Core and asking whats Bitcoin Core doing? Oh, Bitcoin Core has this bug that's causing us to have a bug.

Armory was doing something not recommended, which was to read the block files directly from Bitcoin Core you're not supposed to do that. When they changed the format, it broke everything.

I was trying to reconcile the two, and then Armory just kind of fell off my map. That's how I transitioned to Bitcoin Core. I eventually stopped working on Armory because I got more done on Core.

Yesterday we talked about the ratio of Bitcoin contributors who review code versus contributors who write code. Can you share your thoughts on that?

Our main bottleneck in Bitcoin Core has been review. We have 300-plus PRs open and they need to be reviewed. Whether its just to make sure the code is good or just conceptually like, Do we even want this change?

The problem with every PR is that one person usually writes it, but we need multiple people to review it, give an approval or leave comments. Therefore, we must have more reviewers than people writing, but that's just not how it works.

Personally, I find code review to be a little bit boring. It's a little annoying and it can be kind of mind-numbing. But I still do it. I guess it's like a necessary evil and it's because I don't find it fun. If I do it enoug I start feeling like Ill burn out because it's no longer enjoyable.

So you have to find some balance between writing code and reviewing code. Its a bit of a catch-22. We have to have more reviewers than coders, but how do you become competent enough to review code if you're not writing code? It's a conundrum.

We're in a bear market and organizations like Brink that fund Bitcoin development are saying funding is down by about 50%. Why do we need to pay Bitcoin contributors and developers?

Fundamentally, every piece of software has bugs. There will always be bugs to find and bugs to fix. That's just general software maintenance that must happen.

And even then, the software that exists now cannot last forever. Operating systems will evolve and libraries will evolve and change. Eventually the software will just stop compiling on a computer; it might just stop running. And so, there needs to be constant work just to keep it up to date.

So there are always things to update, even without new features. But there are new features and we do want to improve Bitcoin. Not just the consensus rules, but also how we relay transactions, what kind of transactions we accept into the mempool and the peer-to-peer protocol.

There can be DoS vectors we want to fix or change that maybe haven't been discovered yet. There's always something.

If I'm a new Core contributor, what are some of the big issues I would need to know about?

There are currently a number of issues that exist, like pinning attacks, that are pretty well documented. It seems to be that no one exploits them, but that's not a good reason to not fix them.

There's been a lot of work on the mempool how and what transactions are accepted into the mempool, what methods there are for fee bumping, and things like that. It's relevant to Lightning and other [layer 2] networks.

Whats a pinning attack?

If both of us open a Lightning channel together, I can make it so that you can never bump the fee on that transaction. So I can make it perpetually low-fee and it never gets mined, then try to double-spend it later.

There's a bunch of attacks you can do with the existing mempool policy rules. These are documented on the mailing list and they're definitely problems. If someone tried to exploit them it would be annoying, but I don't think we've seen anyone try to exploit them.

We still want to fix them and there's been a lot of work on making improvements so that we don't have these pinning attacks, or at least, if you want to pin a transaction, it'll be really expensive.

We also discussed op_vault and Speed Trial yesterday. There have been some tensions around James OBeirnes recommendation to deploy op_vault using Speedy Trial. Any comments?

With a new proposal like that, deployment should be the last thing to think about.

Some ideas on how to deploy things are, for some reason, contentious. If you want to have a discussion about the proposal, having deployment in there kind of causes it to be derailed.

So I do think James putting that in there was probably a mistake. The Taproot deployment section wasn't defined until after Taproot. The code changes themselves were merged into Bitcoin Core but not active. It's not unusual to just say we'll deal with deployment after we figure out what we want the code changes to be.

Speedy Trial was an experiment for Taproot. We've tried different deployment methods over the years with varying degrees of success.

The rest is here:

Reviewing Code Is Mind-Numbing: Q&A With Bitcoin Maintainer Andrew Chow - CoinDesk