Mar 15
Bitcoin smashes past $26.000 after CPI Report, Europol shuts cryptomixer and banking crisis in U.S.
Europol shuts crypo tumbler ChipMixer, seize $46m in bitcoin
Crypto tumbler ChipMixer is the target of law enforcement as American and European federal authorities took action to seize assets and dismantle the platform, according to announcement from the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, or Europol.
U.S. and German authorities took down the ChipMixer infrastructure for its alleged involvement in money laundering activities and seized four servers, about 1,909 bitcoins (worth $46 million) and 7TB of data. Belgian, Polish and Swiss authorities also supported the investigation.
The platform, operating since 2017, may have facilitated the laundering of 152,000 BTC ($3.8 billion) worth of crypto assets, connected to darkweb markets, ransomware, illicit goods trafficking, child exploitation material and stolen crypto.
Source: The Block
Bitcoin smashes past $26.000 after CPI Report
Bitcoin soared past $26,000, a price not seen since last Summer, on the back of the latest CPI print that showed inflation in the U.S. is still very much alive.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 6.0% in the 12 months through February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said Tuesday, meeting economists’ expectations for the index, which tracks price movements across a broad range of goods and services.
On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.4% in February from January, matching economists’ forecast. The largest monthly gains to CPI came from food, recreation services, and shelter, which accounted for 70% of the monthly increase to CPI.
Source: Decrypt
Silicon Valley Bank taken over by U.S. government
Silicon Valley Bank collapsed with astounding speed last Friday. The US federal government has stepped in to guarantee customer deposits.
The government has also shut down Signature Bank, a regional bank that was teetering on the brink of collapse, and guaranteed its deposits. Besides that, also Silvergate Bank decided to stop its activities and liquidated the company.
In a sign of how seriously officials are taking the SVB failure — the biggest of the three banks — US President Joe Biden told Americans Monday that they “can rest assured that our banking system is safe,” adding:
“We will do whatever is needed on top of all this.”
SVB benefited hugely from the tech sector’s explosive growth in recent years, fueled by ultra-low borrowing costs and a pandemic-induced boom in demand for digital services.
The bank’s assets, which include loans, more than tripled from $71 billion at the end of 2019 to a peak of $220 billion at the end of March 2022, according to financial statements.
The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has transferred all deposits of Silicon Valley Bank to a newly created bridge bank and all depositors had access to their money since last Monday.
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