First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Flat as Crypto Winter Deepens

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Bitcoin began Monday trading at just below $22,400 after falling sharply toward the end of last week. BTC dropped last week after news that crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank had requested more time to file its 2022 annual report. Ether was also trading in the red on Monday. Decentraland’s MANA token gained 5% Monday, going against the rest of the crypto market which traded down.

A U.S. Securities and Exchange official said that agency staff believe Binance.US is operating an unregistered securities exchange in the U.S. and that staff believe the sale of VGX tokens by Voyager Digital violated federal securities laws. Speaking at a bankruptcy hearing to determine if Voyager should be sold to Binance.US, William Uptegrove, an attorney for the SEC, said he was responding to Judge Michael Wiles of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Southern District of New York who said at the outset of the hearing that the SEC had provided little guidance or specifics about its objection to the Voyager sale. Voyager, a crypto broker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last July.

Crypto exchange Bybit on Saturday announced it is suspending U.S. dollar (USD) deposits. "We have temporarily suspended USD deposits via Wire Transfer (including SWIFT) due to service outages from our end-point processing partner until further notice," the exchange said, adding that withdrawals will be stopped from March 10. Users, however, can continue to deposit and withdraw crypto to and from wallet addresses and fund purchases through credit cards and other payment methods.

Chart of the Day

• The chart shows changes in funding rates in the bitcoin perpetual futures market since early January.
• Rates have turned negative, a sign bearish short position traders are dominant and are willing to pay bullish long traders.
• In other words, leverage is now skewed bearish.

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