🤯 Silvergate: The 🔚

In today's edition: ☠️ Silvergate Bank, 💶 Celsius wants more bids, 🪙 good news for BTC?, and more!

March 09, 2023

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On the Pod…

What are people saying?

Eunika: The Goerli ETH discussion is a fascinating example of economic incentives emerging in open systems when different parties have different priorities. Case in point - if you want everyone to follow the rules, make sure not following them doesn't have a huge benefit.

asynchronous phil: Bryan of LayerZero Labs’s argument is a complete straw man. It doesn’t matter whether or not Goerli is “permissioned” or “permissionless” at all. What matters is that he unethically broke the social contract and designed intention of Goerli.

What’s Poppin’?

Silvergate Bank is closing down in a voluntary liquidation process which will fully repay all client deposits.

Celsius and its creditor committee have already met with another buyer on an alternate proposal to NovaWulf’s deal, which is still on the table.

Lido Finance could terminate liquid staking of DOT and KSM, which collectively account for $25 million in staked value on its platform.

The Mt. Gox investment fund has opted to keep its Bitcoin reimbursement from the bankrupt Japanese crypto exchange.

On Unchained Premium 💎

Laura interviews Thessy Mehrain, founder of Women in Blockchain and co-founder of Liquality, discussing topics such as the role of women in blockchain, the importance of decentralization, and the challenges of funding innovation.

In Other News…✍️✍️✍️

  • Alameda Research, the investment arm of FTX, is set to sell its stake in Sequoia Capital for $45 million to Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. 

  • A judge approved Voyager Digital’s agreement to set aside $445 million after an FTX entity sued it for loan repayments.

  • U.S. President Biden's budget proposal includes a provision to change the tax treatment of cryptocurrency transactions, which would raise $24 billion. 

  • According to court documents, FTX plans to implement a $4 million bonus program in order to retain employees with essential skills who might otherwise leave the company.

  • Celsius Network has been granted exclusivity to prepare a plan for exiting bankruptcy until the end of March, with a potential deal with NovaWulf that could lead to the crypto lender exiting bankruptcy protection by the end of June.

  • Also, Celsius set up a crypto wallet containing $25 million worth of digital assets for its custodial account holders to withdraw, with $17.7 million already withdrawn.

  • India made crypto businesses, including exchanges and NFT marketplaces, legally responsible for monitoring suspicious financial activities under anti-money laundering rules. 

  • CoinDesk reported that banking giant JPMorgan was cutting ties with Gemini, but the crypto exchange denied it on Twitter.

  • Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam said he considers most stablecoins to be commodities, subject to regulation by the CFTC.

  • Block, founded by Jack Dorsey, is seeking developer input for a Bitcoin "mining development kit" consisting of a Bitcoin mining hashboard, controller board, open-source firmware and software, and support documentation.

  • U.S. Senator Ed Markey chaired a hearing on the energy usage of Bitcoin mining and called for more transparency from miners regarding their environmental impact.

  • The Rehabilitation Trustee for bankrupt Japanese Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, Nobuaki Kobayashi, informed former customers that they must register their claims for repayment under the rehabilitation plan by Friday.

  • Vitalik Buterin’s Balvi Filantropic Fund contributed $15 million in USDC to support the University of California San Diego's research into airborne pathogens.

Today in Crypto Adoption...

  • Coinbase is launching a "wallet as a service" business that will enable companies to personalize blockchain wallets for their own clients.

The $$$ Corner…

  • Token-based payroll and tax compliance project Toku garnered $20 million in a funding round. 

  • Alpha Sigma Capital received investments from Transform Ventures and Michael Terpin to create new two new funds totaling $100 million for early-stage equity investments in blockchain, AI, and emerging tech companies.

  • Matchday, a Web3 gaming startup, closed a $21 million seed funding round to develop soccer games, with participation from Lionel Messi's venture capital firm.

What Do You Meme?

📈 Your Market Update 📉

  • BTC is down 1.52%, trading at $21,660

  • ETH is down 1.57%, trading at $1,532

  • BTC dominance: 40.63%

  • Crypto market cap: $1.03 trillion

*All data as of today, 5 am ET

Recommended Reads

  1. Arthur Hayes: Dust on Crust

  2. 0xJim on modular interoperability protocols:

  3. Caitlin Long on crypto and banking:

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