Welcome to a new Weekly Summary of Cryptonews! Here we will tell you what happened in the last few days… and boy, were they hectic days!
Don’t you feel a Déjà vu? Cryptocurrencies falling precipitously, companies going bankrupt, exploits, terrified investors… We have already experienced this. It seems that we have returned to 2022, a year to which no doubt no one would want to return… But it is happening.
A few weeks ago, Bitcoin managed to surpass the $25,000 mark, something that was seen as extremely positive, but the rise did not last long. After that, it all went downhill in a market increasingly convulsed by attacks from regulators and companies increasingly suspected of wrongdoing.
Silvergate was one of the infamous protagonists of the week. The crypto bank, one of the most popular in the world, is on the verge of bankruptcy and the market seems to be preparing for the imminent crash. While Bitcoin was able to hold its own amid altcoin crashes for the first few days, the selling pressure was so great that even the flagship cryptocurrency crashed.
In addition to the Silvergate case, the chairman of the SEC, Jerome Powell, was once again a crucial factor, since he assured that an aggressive rise in interest rates could again be seen to try to contain inflation. With this fear already in place, in the middle of the week Bitcoin fell to 3-week lows and Ethereum fell a dangerous 12%, in what was preparing to be an even worse ending.
It is that the perfect storm would be completed with the publication of the macroeconomic data of the United States, which produced worrying numbers. This was the trigger for the cryptocurrency market to have a massive drop earlier today, Friday. Bitcoin fell below $20,000 for the first time in a long time. And it could continue to fall to $18,000, as our trading expert explains in his latest analysis.
The SEC is having a huge meddling in the crypto market lately. By attacking companies in the sector and pressuring legislators to enact tougher laws against digital assets, he intends to intimidate cryptocurrency enthusiasts, who are undoubtedly being persecuted.
After their ruthless attack on Kraken and Paxos, the SEC is now going after BkCoin. And it has already activated emergency actions against the Exchange and against its director for alleged fraud. It only remains to know who will be the next victim.
And if we talk about fraud in the crypto sector, we have to talk about one of the most significant cases of last year. We are talking, of course, about TERRA and its former director, Do Kwon, who is still hiding in Singapore. Although this week authorities of the country affirmed that they are intensifying the investigations to bring Kwon to justice.
To cap off what was a black week for cryptocurrencies. Hackers continue to attack DeFi platforms. During the month of February, cybercriminals managed to steal more than 21 million dollars from various projects. The latest victim seems to be Hedera, which suffered an alleged exploit in its Smart contracts, which forced the platform to temporarily close many of its services to avoid a greater evil.
This week has erased much of the growth that the sector had been showing in 2023. In just a few days, the fragile cryptocurrency market lost almost everything it had managed to recover this new year. However, the game continues and the road ahead is long. Undoubtedly, the sector will find the path of growth sooner or later.