Bitcoin Rushes Back Above $26,000 As SVB Financial Group Files For Bankruptcy ⋆ ZyCrypto
Bitcoin (BTC) has soared over the past 24 hours as cryptocurrency prices surge amid US banking woes. The Pioneer crypt is trading back above $26,000 for the second time this week. This occurs while SVB Financial Group has filed for voluntary court-supervised reorganization under Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
$2.2 billion in liquidity
Silicon Valley Bank’s parent company SVB Financial Group (SIVB), has filed for Chapter 11 protection.
In a press release Friday, the troubled company announced it had begun voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings to preserve its value. According to the announcement, SVB Securities and SVB Capital’s funds and general partner entities will continue to operate as usual while SVB Financial Group moves to explore strategic options for its businesses.
Said William Kosturos, Chief Restructuring Officer for SVB Financial Group:
“The Chapter 11 process will allow SVB Financial Group to preserve value as it evaluates strategic options for its valuable businesses and assets, particularly SVB Capital and SVB Securities. SVB Capital and SVB Securities continue to operate and serve clients, led by their long-standing and independent leadership team.”
SVB Financial Group also stressed that the firm is no longer affiliated with Silicon Valley Bank – which was shut down by state regulators last week – or the bank’s private banking and wealth management business, SVB Private.
According to SVB Financial Group’s estimates, the company has approximately USD 2.2 billion in liquidity. Besides cash and its interests in SVB Capital and SVB Securities, the firm has “other valuable investment accounts and other assets” for which it is also pursuing strategic options.
SVB Financial Group’s funded debt is about $3.3 billion in aggregate principal amount of unsecured notes “which are recourse only to SVB Financial Group and have no claim against SVB Capital or SVB Securities.” The release also indicates that SVB Group has preferred equity of $3.7 billion.
BTC tops $26K
Interestingly, bitcoin benefits from instability in the US banking system. Last week, the dramatic collapse of three prominent US banks led to market volatility and cries that decentralized finance could solve many of the problems caused by legacy banking systems.
Bitcoin pushed past $26,000 on Friday, up 7.35% in the past 24 hours, per data from CoinGecko. BTC’s rise came alongside a broader boost in the crypto market, which saw the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies rise over 5.4% in the last day to $1.18 trillion. Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is up 5.62% to $1,743.41.
BTC is close to clearing the key barrier of $27,000. The next technical hurdle for the top cryptocurrency is $28,000.
Meanwhile, cryptoanalyst Charles Edwards has identified a textbook bullish “Bump & Run Reversal” formation on bitcoin’s chart, predicting that BTC could run for $100,000 if the pattern plays out.
