Coinbase Report: Cryptocurrencies Demonstrate Resilience Amidst Turmoil in US Banking Industry

Coinbase has recently released a report stating that the recent turmoil in the U.S. banking industry has strengthened the medium to long-term outlook for the cryptocurrency market.
> According to David Duong, head of institutional research at Coinbase, cryptocurrencies have demonstrated resilience, partly due to technical factors, but also because more people are beginning to appreciate the fundamental value proposition of having an alternative to the traditional financial system's points of failure.
> The report also cites the Federal Reserve's policy of raising interest rates, which has led to falling Treasury prices, reducing the value of banks' portfolios.
> This, in turn, has caused panic in financial markets and a decline in banking stocks globally, with Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank collapsing as a result. Continue here.

DefiLlama Forked as Employee Revolt Against Founder's Token Plans

Over the weekend, DefiLlama, a decentralized finance analytics dashboard, was forked by one of its employees following a dispute.
> The disagreement arose from the company's intention to launch a token. On March 19, 0xngmi, a pseudonymous developer at DefiLlama, revealed that the team was forking the platform, alleging a "hostile takeover" by the founders.
> The developer claimed that the founders had launched a token without the support of the rest of the team.
> According to 0xngmi, despite opposition from everyone on the team, an individual in control of DefiLlama's Twitter account and website domain chose to launch the token.
> As a result, the team who had built the site for the previous three years decided to fork DefiLlama and establish a fresh start on llama.fi. More here.

Crypto War: FTX Vs Bahamas — Who Will Win the Battle For Assets?

FTX, a popular cryptocurrency exchange, is seeking to strip its Bahamas-based subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets (FTX DM), of any claim over the company's assets. In a legal filing made on March 19, FTX accused the Bahamas authorities of aiding founder Sam Bankman-Fried in his attempts to evade justice.
> The filing states that FTX DM was a "mere shell" that was set up to further alleged fraud by Bankman-Fried.
> FTX DM was placed into liquidation by the Bahamas courts in November 2022, and the wider corporate group filed for bankruptcy in Delaware soon after, leading to disputes over who could access the company's central data. Continue here.

Signature Bank's Digital-Assets Business Won't be Acquired by New York Community Bancorp

Signature Bank's digital-assets business will not be acquired by a unit of New York Community Bancorp as previously anticipated, and customers' crypto-related deposits, amounting to approximately $4 billion, will be returned to them directly, according to a deal announced by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Sunday.
> Flagstar Bank's takeover agreement with Signature Bank, which closed earlier this month and was appointed by the FDIC as a receiver, includes "substantially all deposits and certain loan portfolios," Bloomberg reported.
> However, Signet, Signature's real-time payments network widely used by crypto participants, will be left behind under the FDIC's receivership, and its fate will be determined at a later date.
> This development has made it difficult for crypto platforms and investors to transfer traditional currencies, particularly since the shuttering of Silvergate Capital Corp. and Signature Bank. Full report here.
In an apparent bid to protect the finance of Floridians, Governor Ron DeSantis has announced he wants lawmakers to enact legislation that outlaws the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), accusing the government of using them to keep a track of peoples’ finances.
> “I am here to call on the legislature to pass legislation to expressly forbid the use of CBDC as money within Florida’s uniform commercial code,”
> “Any way they can get into society to exercise their agenda, they will do it […] How do we know? Because we’ve seen this happen in other parts of the world,” he added.
> DeSantis pointed out that conventional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, are decentralized in nature, and differ from central money. Continue reading.

Yet to Launch Turkish Crypto Exchange Raises $11M in Seed Fund

Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Metatime, which has not yet launched, has secured $11 million in seed funding from unnamed angel investors and the Turkish investment firm Yildiz Tekno GSYO.
> Several large businesses in Turkey, including Halkbank, Turk Telecom, and Kalyon Holding, are the firm's limited partners.
> In Turkey, where inflation is extremely high and the currency is depreciated, cryptocurrencies are popular.
> According to Chainalysis' 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, the nation came in at number twelve.
> In the midst of the current economic crisis, Metatime is entering a market already filled with well-known cryptocurrency exchanges like BtcTurk, Paribu, and Bitay.More here.

Belgium’s Financial Regulator Imposes Strict Advertising Rules for the Crypto Industry

Belgium‘s financial regulator the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) on Monday mandated that cryptocurrency firms in the country mandate that trading in virtual currencies is risky and that “the only guarantee in crypto is risk.”
> The FSMA, which was recently given powers to regulate Belgium’s cryptocurrency industry’s marketing, has sought that firms do not promise any guaranteed returns and explicitly state all risks and conditions.
> “Virtual currencies are all the rage at the moment, but they involve considerable risk. There is no legal framework yet governing these products, and they have no underlying assets in the ‘real’ world.
> They are often subject to wild price fluctuations and are vulnerable to fraud and IT-related risks,” the FSMA stated. More here.

DefiLlama Clarifies No Plans for LLAMA Token After Internal Conflict Spills into Public View

DefiLlama has publicly announced that it has no plans to introduce the LLAMA token, following an internal conflict that was made public over the weekend.
> The decentralized finance platform took to Twitter to clarify that there is currently no planned LLAMA token and that any airdrop will be subject to discussion with the community.
> This comes after a pseudonymous DefiLlama employee, known as 0xngmi, created a fork of the blockchain data platform, alleging that the company's founders had launched a token without proper support.
> The previous day, DefiLlama had hinted at a potential token airdrop on its Twitter account, which led to some contributors objecting, as it appeared to go against the team's intentions. Details here.

Camelot DEX on Arbitrum Witnesses Over 50% TVL Increase Ahead of Token Airdrop

Camelot, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Arbitrum network, has witnessed a remarkable increase in its total value locked (TVL) over the past week, surging by more than 50% to surpass $100 million as of Sunday.
> The spike can be attributed to the upcoming token airdrop by Arbitrum, which is scheduled for Thursday, as users prepare for the event.
> According to DefiLlama, a TVL aggregator, Camelot's 24-hour trading volume hit an all-time high of $47 million on Saturday, making it the 10th largest entity on Arbitrum this week in terms of user count, as reported by blockchain analytics company Nansen.
> The price of GRAIL, Camelot's native token, has skyrocketed by 134% in the past seven days, according to CoinGecko. Full report here.

Bitcoin Stalls and Ether Dips as Investors Brace for U.S. Fed's Interest Rate Decision

Bitcoin struggled to maintain its momentum on Monday, hovering just above and below the $28,000 mark.
> It appeared that investors were preparing to brace themselves ahead of the upcoming interest rate decision by the U.S. central bank on Wednesday.
> The leading cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization was trading at around $27,745, experiencing a drop of approximately 1% from its value 24 hours earlier.
> While Bitcoin had risen above $28,400 during the early hours of Monday (UTC), this was short-lived, as the U.S. Federal Reserve announced that it had collaborated with five other major central banks to ensure a consistent flow of the U.S. dollar in the global financial system, with the U.S. dollar being a dominant reserve currency.
> Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, was trading at roughly $1,731, which reflected a decline of 3% from the previous day's value.
> Other cryptocurrencies among the top 25 in market value were predominantly in the red. APT, the token of layer 1 network Aptos, and MATIC, the native cryptocurrency of layer 2 platform Polygon, had recently plummeted by more than 8% and 6%, respectively. Conversely, SOL, the token of the Solana blockchain, had experienced a slight increase in value.