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Despite banking laws stating that remedies should not be aimed at benefiting a specific bank, this change could be structured “in a way to ensure” First Republic benefits, according to unnamed sources.

Billionaire Bill Ackman has warned that the U.S. economy is “heading for a train wreck” if the government allows the current banking crisis to continue. “Trust and confidence are earned over many years, but can be wiped out in a few days,” he said. “Hopefully, our regulators will get this right.”

Bill Ackman’s Warning

Billionaire Bill Ackman, CEO and portfolio manager of Pershing Square Capital Management, has warned of an incoming train wreck. Pershing Square is a hedge fund management company with approximately $18.5 billion in assets under management. Ackman’s net worth is about $3.4 billion.

Commenting on the current banking crisis following the failures of major banks, including Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, Ackman tweeted Wednesday:

Consider recent events impact on the long-term cost of equity capital for non-systemically important banks where you can wake up one day as a shareholder or bondholder and your investment instantly goes to zero.

Systemically important banks (SIBs) are banks that are considered to be so large or complex that their failure could have a significant impact on the financial system and the wider economy. On the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) 2022 list, there are 30 systemically important banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, HSBC, and the troubled Credit Suisse.

“When combined with the higher cost of debt and deposits due to rising rates, consider what the impact will be on lending rates and our economy,” Ackman continued, warning:

The longer this banking crisis is allowed to continue, the greater the damage to smaller banks and their ability to access low-cost capital. Trust and confidence are earned over many years, but can be wiped out in a few days. I fear we are heading for a train wreck. Hopefully, our regulators will get this right.

The billionaire believes the government should guarantee all bank deposits. On March 22, he tweeted explaining that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s “reassuring comments” the previous day “led the market and depositors to believe that all deposits were now implicitly guaranteed.” He also referenced “a leak” suggesting that Yellen, the Treasury Department, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) “were looking for a way to guarantee all deposits reassured the banking sector and depositors.”

However, Yellen then “walked back yesterday’s implicit support for small banks and depositors, while making it explicit that systemwide deposit guarantees were not being considered,” Ackman’s tweet adds.

“We have gone from implicit support for depositors to Secretary Yellen’s explicit statement today that no guarantee is being considered,” he further opined, noting that the Federal Reserve has raised the federal funds rate to 4.75%-5.00%. “5% is a threshold that makes bank deposits that much less attractive. I would be surprised if deposit outflows don’t accelerate effective immediately,” Ackman cautioned, elaborating:

A temporary systemwide deposit guarantee is needed to stop the bleeding. The longer the uncertainty continues, the more permanent the damage is to the smaller banks, and the more difficult it will be to bring their customers back.

Do you agree with Bill Ackman? Let us know in the comments section below.

The famous author of the best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has warned that the Federal Reserve’s continued rate hikes will crash stocks, bonds, real estate, as well as the U.S. dollar. He expects the next crash to be the “$1 quadrillion derivatives market.”

Robert Kiyosaki on Interest Rate Hikes, Market Crashes

The author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, reiterated his warnings of market crashes and the danger of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates this week. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a 1997 book co-authored by Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over six years. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in over 51 languages across more than 109 countries.

Kiyosaki tweeted Thursday:

Raising interest rates will crash stocks, bonds, real estate, & $ U.S. dollar. Next crash: $1 quadrillion derivatives market. $1 quadrillion is $1 thousand trillion.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) on Wednesday. While a number of people expect the Fed to start cutting rates soon, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that rate cuts are not in the Fed’s base case.

This was not the first time Kiyosaki has warned about stocks, bonds, real estate, and the U.S. dollar crashing. Last week, the famous author discussed a “crash landing ahead” as bank bailouts began following the collapse of major banks, including Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. He also predicted the end of the U.S. dollar, calling the USD “fake money.”

The renowned author also recently predicted that the world economy is on the verge of collapse, expecting bank runs, frozen savings, and bail-ins. In February, he said that everything will crash. Earlier this year, he said we are in a global recession, warning of soaring bankruptcies, unemployment, and homelessness.

What do you think about Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki’s crash warnings? Let us know in the comments section below.

Coinbase’s Wells notice hints at enforcement action on the horizon, Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon arrested in Montenegro and FTX seeks to sell $95 million in Mysten Labs stocks.

Switzerland’s troubled Credit Suisse and its rescuer, USB, are subject to an investigation into whether bankers helped Russian oligarchs evade Western sanctions, according to a media report. Some major U.S. banking institutions are also under scrutiny within the probe initiated by the Justice Department, sources say.

Credit Suisse, US Banks Investigated for Suspected Sanctions Violations Favoring Russia’s Rich

Switzerland-based global investment banks and financial services firms, Credit Suisse and UBS, are under scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Bloomberg revealed, quoting knowledgeable sources who remained anonymous.

According to the report, the department has been trying to establish if financial professionals working for these and other banks have supported sanctioned wealthy Russians in attempts to circumvent restrictions imposed by Western governments.

U.S. authorities have sent out a number of subpoenas to employees of the two Swiss giants as well as some major U.S. banks, two people familiar with the inquiries told the publication. They want to identify the bankers and advisers who worked with such clients over the past several years and find out whether any laws were broken.

The DOJ requested information on the matter before the recent crisis at Credit Suisse erupted. Earlier in March, its shares dropped to a record low amid loss of investor confidence. The bank borrowed $54 billion from the Swiss National Bank and UBS came to its rescue with a state-backed acquisition proposal.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to a massive expansion of sanctions against the government in Moscow and influential people allied with the Kremlin, including oligarchs. Before that, Credit Suisse was well-known for catering to rich Russians, the report notes.

At some point, it managed over $60 billion for them that generated up to $600 million in annual revenue. When it ended its business relations with individual Russian clients in May, 2022, the bank held about $33 billion of their funds, 50% more than UBS.

Which other banks do you think may be investigated for facilitating sanctions evasion for Russians? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.

ETH worth over $101 million had been returned to the lending protocol as of March 25. The exploiter still controls part of the stolen assets.

Over the past week, statistics show non-fungible token (NFT) sales totaled $193.08 million, down 5.44% from the previous week. Ethereum dominated NFT sales with more than $107 million or 55% of all sales, while Solana-centric NFT sales recorded $26.3 million or 13% of sales in the same period.

NFT Market Shows Signs of Slowdown With Declining Weekly Sales and Lower 30-Day Totals

Non-fungible token sales, or NFT sales, fell 5.44% this week compared to last week, with $193.08 million in sales recorded across 19 different blockchains. Cryptoslam.io statistics indicate that 30-day sales are generally down, with total sales of $912.54 million, more than 29% lower than last month. The top five blockchains in terms of NFT sales this week were Ethereum ($107M), Solana ($26M), Polygon ($6M), Immutable X ($5.3M), and Cardano ($3.16M).

Solana’s NFT sales increased by 37.16% this week, while Cardano’s NFT sales jumped 44.27% higher than the previous week. However, Ethereum, Polygon, and Immutable X NFT sales all saw losses compared to last week’s sales. Notable gainers in terms of blockchain NFT sales include Arbitrum’s 64.49% rise and Avalanche’s 293% increase.

Palm blockchain sales increased by 370%, and Algorand NFT sales rose 58% higher than the previous week. While Ethereum dominates NFT sales with 55%, 18 other blockchains represent 45% of the remaining sales. The top five NFT collections this past week, with the most sales, were Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), MG Land, Otherdeed, and HV-MTL.

Following those collections, the fifth through tenth top sales were Degods, Y00ts, Sorare, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Gods Unchained Cards. Cryptopunks recorded $12.55 million in sales this week, up 49.15% higher than last week. BAYC sales were approximately $10.14 million this week, up 43.52% higher, while MG Land captured $7.84 million, down 5.72% from the previous week.

In terms of the highest-valued NFT sales this week, Otherdeed #2,118 was the most expensive, selling for $375,979 three days ago. Cryptopunks #6,036 sold for $365,508 two days ago, and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) #5,647 sold for $263,537 six days ago. Lastly, Cryptopunk #2,353 sold for $217,454 two days ago, and Otherdeed #99,728 sold for $205,711 three days ago. While there was close to $1 billion in sales over the past 30 days, the number of NFT buyers increased 17.36% to 1,904,731 this month.

What are your thoughts on the current state of the NFT market? Do you think the recent decrease in sales is a temporary dip or a sign of a more long-term trend? Share your opinions in the comments section below.

According to Venezuela's attorney general office, government officials were running parallel oil operations with the assistance of the national crypto department.

Following the Arbitrum token airdrop, ARB has become a top 40 cryptocurrency as it currently holds the 37th largest market valuation out of more than 23,000 listed digital currencies. Currently, there is a circulating supply of 1,275,000,000 ARB, and the Arbitrum Foundation’s DAO Treasury holds 3.52 million or 35.27% of the airdropped supply. Over the past day’s trading sessions, ARB has decreased by 9.8% against the U.S. dollar.

Top Ten ARB Addresses Hold 94.41% of Current Circulating Supply

According to statistics recorded on Saturday, March 25, 2023, Arbitrum’s native governance token, ARB, is now the 37th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The governance token for the layer two Ethereum scaling project has a larger market valuation than Optimism’s governance token, OP, which is the 66th largest by market capitalization on Saturday.

ARB’s overall market valuation is $1.58 billion, and 24-hour trading statistics show a range from $1.19 to $1.39 per unit of ARB over the last day. Data from Dune Analytics indicates that 968.71 million of the 1.275 billion ARB tokens have been claimed so far, accounting for 83.4% of the claimable tokens on March 25.

Currently, there are 247,700 unique ARB holders, and the top ten addresses hold 94.41% of the ARB in circulation. The Arbitrum Foundation’s DAO Treasury holds roughly 3.52 million ARB, and the second-largest address holds 2.69 million ARB.

Exchanges that hold a significant amount of ARB include Bybit, Kucoin, Mexc Global, and Bitget, as all four exchanges have addresses within the top 25 largest ARB holders. Two days ago, on March 23, ARB reached both an all-time high and an all-time low on the same day.

The price today is 89% lower than the recorded all-time high of $11.80 per unit and 12.9% higher than the all-time low of $1.10 per ARB. The trade volume of ARB has increased significantly over the last two days, with $1.738 billion in ARB trades settled during the last 24 hours.

The top five most active cryptocurrency exchanges in terms of ARB trade volume include Binance, Bitget, Okx, Uniswap (Arbitrum version), and Gate.io.

What do you think the future holds for Arbitrum’s governance token ARB? Let us know in the comments section below.

Key takeaways:

• ​​Animoca Brands, an innovator of blockchain gaming technology, has allegedly reduced its goal for its metaverse fund by another 20% to $800 million.
• After announcing in November 2022 that it was putting $2 billion towards a new Animoca Capital fund, the business cut that goal in half in January 2023.

According to Reuters, which cited sources familiar with the situation, Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands, an innovator of blockchain gaming technology, has allegedly reduced its goal for its metaverse fund by another 20% to $800 million.

As a result of the turbulence in the cryptocurrency market, a blockchain-based gaming technology company has apparently scaled back a billion-dollar goal. Prior to cutting that goal in half to $1 billion in January 2023, the company had previously stated in November 2022 that it had begun work on a new Animoca Capital fund with a target of $2 billion. 

According to those familiar with the situation, recent developments have revealed that the business has once again cut its target by an additional 20% to $800 million, which is in line with expectations. Reuters’ sources stated that they would prefer not to be identified because they had not been permitted to talk to the media.

According to two sources quoted by Reuters, Animoca’s market capitalization has decreased to under $2 billion from its initial valuation of about $6 billion as a result of a Temasek-led financing round in July 2022, and its shares are currently trading at a significant lower price on secondary markets.

A shift in opinion about the cryptocurrency industry is indicated by the reduced fundraising goal and falling valuation, as interest in such technologies has waned as a result of scandals varying from FTX’s demise to the insolvency of several crypto lenders.

Following the completion of 15 metaverse deals in 2022 and the receipt of over $564 million in the financing, Animoca Brand was recognized by Nasdaq as the metaverse developer with the highest funding in 2022. 

A significant player in the metaverse market, Animoca owns the bulk of The Sandbox, one of the top metaverse platforms. The business has actively contributed to the development of GameFi and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in addition to this investment. In Yat Siu’s view, one of the company’s co-founders, GameFi, will become a common entry point for the general public to enter the metaverse, making it one of the top points for the general public to enter the metaverse.