Coinbase cuts ties with Silvergate; other firms join exodus

The biggest news in the cryptoverse for March 2 saw Coinbase announce that it would stop supporting transfers through Silvergate Bank. Other companies, including Tether, Circle, Gemini, Crypto.com, Bitstamp, and Microstrategy either followed suit or commented on the situation. 

CryptoSlate Top Stories

Silvergate shares tank 46% after Coinbase severed payment partnership

Crypto-friendly bank Silvergate has seen its shares (SI) fall by over 44% shortly after news emerged that Coinbase will stop using its USD payment service.

Leading crypto exchange Coinbase informed its Primer users on March 2 that it has decided to change Silvergate as its banking partner.

Coinbase said it has moved to work with Signature bank for all USD-related payments.“We are facilitating fiat withdrawals and deposits using Signature Bank, effective immediately,” Coinbase said.

Tether has no exposure to Silvergate, says CTO Paolo Ardoino

On the heels of a significant announcement involving the distressed US bank Silvergate, which had ties to the lender FTX and is now facing an increasing consortium of capital flight and scrutiny from regulators, at least two crypto companies took to social media today to announce how the news has affected them.

Tether, the stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed “100% by Tether’s reserves,” according to its website, took to Twitter today to announce it had no exposure to the California bank. According to Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether, the stablecoin has no exposure to Silvergate.

Circle says it is ‘sensitive’ to concerns around Silvergate as share prices crash

Circle acknowledged the concerns regarding Silvergate and said it is currently in the process of discontinuing specific services with them while simultaneously informing customers.

Circle, issuers of the stablecoin USDC, responded to the ongoing FUD around its relationship with the distressed crypto bank Silvergate in a tweet on March 2.

“We are sensitive to the concerns around Silvergate and are in the process of unwinding certain services with them and notifying customers.”

Gemini, Crypto.com, Bitstamp, Microstrategy distance themselves from Silvergate

Several cryptocurrency companies have at least temporarily stopped accepting deposits made via Silvergate Bank, as seen in various statements on March 2.

Gemini notably said today that it has stopped accepting deposits and withdrawal requests made via ACH or wire transfer through Silvergate Bank. It stated that it is “actively monitoring the situation” and has no customer or GUSD funds stored with Silvergate.

Bitstamp similarly stated in a Thursday blog post it has temporarily stopped supporting U.S. dollar transfers via Silvergate. It also said that it has temporarily halted Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) services. The two companies were once closely partnered, as Bitstamp served as a launch partner for Silvergate’s SEN Leverage product.

Crypto.com separately told CryptoSlate that “USD deposits and withdrawals via Silvergate have been temporarily suspended” on its exchange. It added that funds transferred in this way will be rejected and said that it has informed users of the policy change.

RLY surges over 80% in a day as project team shares treasury holdings, future plans

The Rally Token (RLY) has recorded an 83.73% increase in the last 24 hours, according to CryptoSlate data.

RLY token increased from as low as $0.0149 to as high as $0.0313 in the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, the RLY price lingers around $0.0265.

CryptoSlate data also shows that the token recorded a 108.96% and 121.61% surge in the last seven and 30 days, respectively. The 30-day metric is unexpectedly strong, given that the Rally sidechain, RallyIO, shut down on Jan.31, causing the RLY price to tank by 10%.

Gensler says crypto trading, lending platforms not fit for custody; suggests adoption of new safeguarding rule

Speaking before the Investor Advisory Committee, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said current custody rules do not adequately safeguard users’ crypto assets.

Gensler said existing custody rules are supposed to safeguard investors’ crypto funds and securities with qualified custodians. However, crypto exchanges that currently fulfill that role are not qualified custodians, in his view.

Spain has highest number of properties available to buy via crypto

Spain became the number one country in the world that offers the highest number of properties available for purchase using cryptocurrencies — 289 properties, according to Forex Suggest’s analysis.

Thailand and Portugal follow Spain as the second and third on the list by offering 227 and 130 properties available for purchase with crypto, respectively, as Forex Suggest reports. Most of these countries’ listings are located in tourist hotspots like Spain’s Marbella and Thailand’s Phuket Islands.

Startup Redeem raises $2.5M to bring NFTs directly to mobile phone numbers

When onboarding the next wave of NFTs into the mainstream, it could be as simple as sending a WhatsApp message or an SMS.

Or so hopes Redeem, a new start-up that aims to make NFT transfers as easy as using basic mobile technology, potentially exposing NFT technology to billions of new customers.

Ethereum Shanghai upgrade inches closer with massive 17.4M ETH staked by community

• Ethereum Shanghai upgrade is on the horizon later this month.
• As a result, stakers can withdraw their tokens from Ethereum POS smart contract.
• The total staked amount in ETH is roughly 17.4 million; this has grown by 4 million since the merge in September 2022.

Research Highlight

Crypto Market

In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) fell 0.43% to trade at $23,446.49, while Ethereum (ETH) was down 0.61% at $1,643.59.

Biggest Gainers (24h)

• Rally (RLY): +80.96%
• Threshold (T): +15.75%
• Kaspa (KAS): +13.08%

Biggest Losers (24h)

• Alethea Artificial Liquid Intelligence Token Alethea Artificial Liquid Intelligence Token (ALI): -12.63%
• Cocos-BCX (COCOS): -11.92%
• Energy Web Token (EWT): -9.66%