Headlines
▌HSBC Holdings will acquire Silicon Valley Bank UK for £1
According to a press release by HSBC, SVB had loans of around £5.5B and deposits of around £6.7B. HSBC Group CEO Noel Quinn justified the purchase by saying that the acquisition would “strengthen our commercial banking franchise and enhance our ability to serve innovative and fast-growing firms, including in the technology and life-science sectors”
▌Coinbase: BUSD can still be withdrawn at any time
According to Coinbase Assets’ post on social media, users’ BUSD funds can still be used even though Coinbase has disabled Binance USD transactions, and users can also withdraw funds at any time.
Policies
▌Singapore’s Gambling Regulatory Authority says that it has no plans to legalise the use of crypto within its casinos
GRA General Counsel Albert Yeo told a regulatory gathering in Sydney last week that crypto was one of the key issues the regulator is currently examining – particularly as it applies to new technologies. The GRA’s concerns are on the nature of cryptocurrencies, since unlike traditional gaming currencies, these currencies can be taken out of the games and put on exchanges. They are currently examining whether these tokens can be considered money, money equivalents, or anything of value.
▌Fed to investigate its oversight of Silicon Valley banks
The Federal Reserve will investigate its supervision of Silicon Valley Bank and release the findings on May 1. Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr will lead the investigation; Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said that the incident surrounding Silicon Valley Bank needs to be carried out quickly and in-depth investigation.
Cryptocurrency
▌Binance converts US$1B in BUSD to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB
Binance CEO CZ confirmed that the exchange has converted the remaining US$1B in its industry recovery fund to native crypto assets, citing “the changes in stablecoins and banks”. Stablecoins such as USDC have been seeing some trouble lately, with USDC having broken its peg to the US Dollar.
▌Around USD 70 million of USDC positions may face liquidation risks
Traders who use DeFi protocols to bet on USDC’s recovery over the weekend could face an 8-figure liquidation risk, if USDC loses its peg again this week. According to DeFi Llama, there are US$70.8 million in positions that could be liquidated between US$1.00 and US$0.9, with two positions recently filled by interest protocol Compound worth US$20.7 million and US$15.4 million respectively.