opinion

Crypto SWOT: Voyager Digital won court approval to sell itself to Binance.US.

Kitco Media
By Frank E Holmes
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Strengths

  • Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was Kava, rising 13.03%.

  • Voyager Digital won court approval to sell itself to Binance.US, the U.S. arm of the world’s biggest crypto exchange, after four days of contentious bankruptcy hearings. U.S. bankruptcy judge Michael Wiles said he would give Voyager permission to try to close the Binance.US sale and related payout plan which may give customers about 73% of what they are owed, writes Bloomberg.  

  • Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest continues to add Coinbase shares to its funds with another estimated $20.5 million purchases this week, Bloomberg reports. Shares in the crypto exchange closed down 7.8% on Thursday.

Weaknesses

  • Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performing for the week was Stacks, down 30.44%.

  • Silvergate shares dropped as much as 4.7% Monday morning after the bank closed its flagship crypto payments network and Moody’s cut its rating on the company. Silvergate shares plunged 60% last week after the company said it was evaluating its ability to remain viable and key partners cut ties with the firm, writes Bloomberg.  

  • Unease is spreading across the financial world as concerns about the stability of Silicon Valley Bank prompt prominent venture capitalists to advise startups to withdraw their money, Bloomberg explains. The turmoil followed a surprise announcement that it was issuing $2.25 billion of shares to bolster its capital position after a significant loss on its investment portfolio.

Opportunities

  • Shares in numerous private crypto startups are currently being offered at sizable discounts on Birel.io, a platform that specializes in secondary market transactions. Those startups include Alchemy, Blockchai.com, Chainalysis, Kraken and more worth about $70 billion, writes Bloomberg.  

  • Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange owned by the Winklevoss brothers, said its banking relationship with JPMorgan Chase remains intact, according to a Bloomberg report.  

  • FTX’s CEO is seeking to pay $4 million in employee retention bonuses to a select pool of key employees to stay with the company through its Chapter 11 proceedings, writes Bloomberg.  

Threats

  • The crypto world’s eyes will once again turn to Washington on Tuesday as oral arguments begin in Grayscale Investment’s lawsuit against the SEC. The drama centers on the $14.8 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, ticker GBTC, which has for two years been trading at a steep discount to the cryptocurrency, writes Bloomberg.

  • Bitcoin is having its worst week ever since November as an equity selloff, fear over higher interest rates, and an escalating U.S. regulatory crackdown on crypto combine to hurt investor sentiment, reports Bloomberg. Bitcoin fell as much 3.2% on Friday, breaking down $20,000 for first time since January.

  • China-born crypto mogul Justin Sun sought to counter concerns about the strength of the Huobi exchange, one of the largest trading venues in digital assets, after a flash crash in the platform’s native token. The virtual coin halved in price at one point before paring losses, writes Bloomberg.
Kitco Media

Frank E Holmes

Frank Holmes is CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors, Inc., a boutique investment advisory firm based in San Antonio that manages domestic and offshore funds specializing in the natural resources and emerging markets sectors. The company’s no-load mutual funds include the Global Resources Fund (ticker PSPFX), the World Precious Minerals Fund (UNWPX) and the Gold Shares Fund (USERX).

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Frank Holmes
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