Weekly Newsletter – 17 Mar 2023

BTC and ETH Pumping Amid Stablecoin Volatility

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Weekly Summary

  • Circle’s USDC Bounces Back After Silicon Valley Bank Bust and Fed Announcement
  • AI Tokens Skyrocket Following the Launch of ChatGPT ‘GPT-4’
  • Silicon Valley Bank UK Arm Acquired by HSBC for 1 Pound Out
  • Binance Halts Sterling Transfers for U.K. Customers as Payment Provider Backs Out
  • Meta to Wind Down NFT Initiatives on Social Platforms to Focus on Payment Services

Industry Stories

Circle’s USDC Bounces Back After Silicon Valley Bank Bust and Fed Announcement: Circle’s USDC stablecoin is recovering toward its $1 peg, following positive developments surrounding the firm’s reserves and new banking partners. The price dropped to as low as $0.87 last weekend due to concerns about $3.3 billion worth of USDC reserves held at Silicon Valley Bank. In a Twitter thread, Circle’s CEO confirmed that the USDC reserves are safe and the firm has new banking partners lined up. The Federal Reserve’s announcement to support liquidity-troubled banks, including SVB, has boosted asset prices across the board. Bitcoin, Ether, Cardano, Polygon and Solana have seen significant gains.

New ChatGPT ‘GPT-4’ Model Sparks Massive Rally in AI Tokens: OpenAI’s release of the GPT-4 model, an upgrade to the ChatGPT model, has caused a surge in AI-focused crypto projects. GPT-4 offers improved reliability, creativity, ability to process images and better memories. The success of ChatGPT has given AI tokens a second life, with projects such as CryptoGPT experiencing significant growth, rising by 1703% since listing. Tokens such as GRT, AGIX, RNDR, FET, and ROSE have all experienced double-digit increases in price this week, signaling a breakthrough period for AI tokens.

HSBC Buys UK Arm of Silicon Valley Bank for £1: HSBC on Monday announced a deal to buy the U.K. subsidiary of collapsed U.S. tech startup lender Silicon Valley Bank UK for one pound ($1.21). As of March 10, 2023, SVB’s U.K. branch had loans of around 5.5 billion pounds ($6.7 billion) and deposits of around 6.7 billion pounds ($8.1 billion). Andrew Griffith, economic secretary with the U.K. Treasury, signaled that the fallout of SVB UK did not represent a “systemic issue,” amid market concerns of a broader spread of withdrawals among lenders.

Binance Halts Deposits and Withdrawals for UK Customers as Payment Provider Backs Out: Crypto exchange Binance will suspend British pound sterling deposits and withdrawals from May 22, due to its partner Skrill Limited ceasing to support the currency, Decrypt reported. Binance said the change affects less than 1% of its users and the company is working to find an alternative solution. Skrill facilitated GBP transfers for the exchange, but has withdrawn due to the regulatory challenges surrounding crypto in the UK. Binance first added GBP trading pairs in 2020 but faced a regulatory crackdown, and now has an “on-off relationship” with the currency. 

Meta Plans to Wind Down NFT Initiatives on Social Platforms for Other Focus: Meta will discontinue its NFT operations on Facebook and Instagram to focus on other ways to expand support for creators and businesses. The company will shift its investments from NFTs to its payment service, Meta Pay, and other features that enable creators to earn money directly on platforms, as Meta’s head of commerce and financial technologies tweeted. Meanwhile, however, Amazon reportedly plans to launch an NFT marketplace next month, where users may be able to purchase digital tokens linked to real-world assets.

Product Highlight

Matrixport’s ETH 2.0 staking – Balancer strategy is now open for subscription. 

Launched in late 2022, the Balancer staking product is a combination of liquid staking, AMM and yield optimizer strategy, which offers one of the most competitive yields in the market. The total staking return consists of enhanced DeFi mining rewards and basic ETH staking rewards. Latest realized annualized yield was 6.27% as of Feb 28, 2023.

From Mar 14 to Mar 31, 2023, Matrixport users can subscribe to ETH 2.0 Staking – Balancer product, with an estimated return of 4.5-10% APY. Yield estimations will update monthly according to market condition. Early redemption is allowed with terms applied.

To learn more about the product and the risks, check it out on Matrixport App > Staking.

>> Stake your ETH with Matrixport

Matrixport News

Team Matrixport will attend Web3 FOMO Asia Genesis Conference (20-23 March), one of Asia’s Top Web3 Summits. Matrixport is an industry leader in providing secure and scalable digital assets and financial services for institutions to manage their risk, portfolios, and liquidity, and grow their businesses. Feel free to connect with our private wealth team who can share about our latest developments onsite.

More details here. 

Matrixport recently listed Cosmos ($ATOM). Users can now deposit, withdraw, and send tokens with ease using Matrixport.

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Grow and manage your digital wealth with the Matrixport app: https://app.adjust.com/7d1v6nd 
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