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SpankPay crypto payment service shutters, citing 'hostile banking environment

SpankChain was forced to close its crypto payment processor after the hunt for a new adult-industry-friendly service provider yielded no results.

US exploring ways to guarantee the country's 18T of bank deposits: Report

The current deposit insurance cap under the FDIC is $250,000, but recent banking collapses have seen calls to increase that amount.

Crypto.com customer accused of $10M spending spree granted bail

The Judge explained that prison time wasn’t necessary because Singh couldn’t flee without his Indian passport or being able to apply for a new one.

Crypto.com customer accused of $10M spending spree granted bail

The Crypto.com customer who was accidentally sent $10.4 million from the exchange in 2021 and then allegedly went on a spending spree has been granted bail despite $3.1 million funds still unaccounted for.

In the Victorian County Court, prosecutors on March 20 tried to convince the judge that imprisonment would be the only way to ensure that the accused, Jatinder Singh, would not flee the country.

The blunder by Crypto.com came about when a Bulgarian-based employee accidentally transferred $10.4 million to his account instead of what was meant to be a $100 refund in May 2021. The accused is alleged to have bought four houses and a car with the funds, along with sending a portion overseas.

Prosecutors argued that Singh is financially motivated to flee the country because only $7.3 million has been recovered, according to a report from the Herald Sun.

Of the missing $3.1 million, over $2 million is believed to have been shifted offshore to Malaysia, the court heard.

Euler Finance to enter talks with exploiter over the return of funds

Ethereum-based lending protocol Euler Finance could be a step closer to recovering funds stolen in a $196 million flash loan attack last week, with private discussions now initiated with the exploiter.

In an on-chain message to Euler on March 20, days after sending funds to a red-flagged North Korean address, the exploiter claimed they now want to “come to an agreement” with Euler.

“We want to make this easy on all those affected. No intention of keeping what is not ours. Setting up secure communication. Let us come to an agreement,” said the exploiter.

The hacker’s most recent public on-chain message to Euler. Source: Etherscan

Hours later, Euler replied with its own on-chain message, acknowledging the message and asking the exploiter to talk “in private,” stating:

“Message received. Let's talk in private on blockscan via the Euler Deployer address and one of your EOAs, via signed messages over email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or any other channel of your choice. Reply with your preference.”


Crypto Fear and Greed Index hits highest level since Bitcoin's all-time high

Sentiment toward the crypto market is the most positive its been since around the time Bitcoin hit its all-time high almost 16 months ago.

Manta Network seeks to bring privacy to non-fungible crypto assets with new NPO platform

The new NFT Private Offering (NPO) platform will enable users to mint Non-Fungible Tokens and Soul Bound Tokens while maintaining the privacy of their crypto assets.

IMF examines CBDC design in context of Islamic banking, finds some risks magnified

A central bank digital currency’s liquidity and foreign exchange would work differently Islamic law from what might be expected.

In the aftermath of banks’ horrorshow: Law Decoded, March 13–20.

A week after the twinning collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, and the trouble at Credit Suisse, the dust is slowly settling down.

Investors shelter in short-term Treasuries, reducing Bitcoin’s chance of rallying to $30K

Bitcoin price finally broke through the $28,000 mark, but BTC futures and options data suggest some traders are uneasy about the strength of the recent bullish momentum.

Investors shelter in short-term Treasuries, reducing Bitcoin’s chance of rallying to $30K

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) surpassed $28,000 on March 21, but according to two derivatives metrics, traders aren't very ecstatic after a 36% gain in eight days. Looking beyond Bitcoin’s stellar performance, there are reasons why investors are not fully confident in further price upside The recent rescue of Credit Suisse, a 167-year-old leading Swiss financial institution, is proof that the current global banking crisis might not be over.

On March 19, Swiss authorities announced that UBS had agreed to acquire rival Credit Suisse in an "emergency rescue" merger in order to avoid further market-shaking turmoil in the global banking sector. The transaction could benefit from more than $280 billion in state and central bank support, which is equivalent to one-third of Switzerland's GDP. Unfortunately, there is no way to portray this agreement as reassuring or as a sign of strength from financial institutions, including central banks.

The same can be said for the emergency credit lifeline provided by the U.S. Treasury to protect the banking sector and increase FDIC reserves. The "Bank Term Funding Program" (BTFP) launched on March 12 marked a return to Fed liquidity injections, reversing the trend initiated in June 2022, when the Federal Reserve began monthly asset sales.

The global banking crisis prompted the Federal Reserve to abandon its inflation-control policies

By lending $300 billion in emergency funds to banks, the Fed completely reversed its strategy to curb inflation, which has been above 5% year-over-year since June 2021, whereas the target is 2%. This strategy, known as tightening, included increasing interest rates and reducing the $4.8 trillion in assets the Federal Reserve accumulated from March 2020 to April 2022.

On March 20,First Republic Bank (FRB) saw its credit ratings downgraded further into junk status by S&P Global, adding to the stress in the United States' regional banks. According to the risk agency, the lender's recent $30 billion deposit infusion from 11 large banks may not be enough to solve the FRB's liquidity problems.

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Belgian FSMA surveys crypto investors before taking on new ad regulation authority

Crypto ads in Belgium will bear a blunt warning after a new regulation takes effect in May, and “mass” advertising campaigns will be subject to advance FSMA approval.

Crypto Stories: Scott Melker tells the story of how he became The Wolf of All Streets

Crypto analyst Scott Melker talked about his journey as a trader and how he found the crypto space while working as a DJ.

Polygon, Immutable zkEVM to tackle ‘huge incumbents exploiting players’

Web3 gaming developers will be able to build on a new zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine that aims to increase ownership rights for players and take on the big gaming corporations.

Price analysis 3/20: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, MATIC, DOGE, SOL

The takeover of the ailing Credit Suisse bank by UBS boosted European equity markets on March 20 but not everyone is happy with the deal. According to Swiss regulator FINMA, the value of additional tier one (AT1) bonds will be written to zero. This move will wipe out $17 billion worth of investments for AT1 bond investors.

Among the turmoil in the global banking sector, Bitcoin (BTC) has shone brightly. That is because traders seem to have shifted their focus to the alternative available to the legacy banking system. Another thing working in favor of Bitcoin is that it has decoupled from the United States equities markets and is behaving as an uncorrelated asset class.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

Bitcoin’s solid rally in the past few days has boosted trader sentiment. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index has soared into the greed zone with a score of 66/100. The next trigger for the markets is the rate hike decision by the Federal Reserve on March 22.

Could Bitcoin reach $30,000 and pull altcoins higher, or is a correction likely in the near term? Let’s study the charts to find out.

S&P 500 index price analysis

The S&P 500 index (SPX) rallied from 3,808 on March 13 and rose above the 200-day simple moving average (3,935) on March 16 but the bulls could not clear the hurdle at the 20-day exponential moving average (3,962).

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Price analysis 3/20: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, MATIC, DOGE, SOL

Bitcoin continues to trade near $28,000, signaling a strong demand from investors even as the legacy banking system struggles with unprecedented volatility.

Blockchain gaining adoption in more than just DeFi: Report

Blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies are being adopted in many areas beyond DeFi and the metaverse.

GameFi project Gala files $28M lawsuit against pNetwork

The lawsuit stems from a million-dollar exploit in November 2022 that allegedly took place due to a private key leak.

Florida gov and US presidential hopeful calls for CBDC ban

"What the central bank digital currency is all about is surveilling Americans and controlling behavior of Americans," said Ron DeSantis at a 'Big Brother’s Digital Dollar' podium.

FTX debtors file lawsuit against exchange's Bahamian arm on ownership of property

The lawsuit claimed FTX Digital Markets was an "economic nullity" within the FTX Group "created as a front to facilitate a conspiracy to defraud the Debtors’ customers".

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