This Week in Coins: First Fortnight of Straight Loss in 2023, Bitcoin and Ethereum Dip

That was it second week in a row of direct losses for leading cryptocurrencies.

The start of the third month of the year comes after the first two weeks of losses in 2023. Considering that the end of 2022 was a virtual free fall for the entire market, it is too early to tell if crypto has stumbled back into the market. forest or not.

The pullback this week appeared to be one reaction to news such as the crypto bank Silvergate late filing of its annual 10-K report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), sending the stock down 31% in after-hours trading on Wednesday. Coin base, Tetherand a host of other crypto companies were quick to join cut their ties to the beleaguered crypto bank.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell 6.3% over the past seven days and is currently trading at $22,336, while Ethereum (ETH) fared slightly better on the news, falling just 4.7% to $1,564, according to data from CoinGecko.

Several leading currencies fell in value by double-digit percentiles, including Cardano (ADA), which fell 11.1% to $0.339492, Polygon (MATIC) fell 14.4% to $5.94, Avalanche (AVAX) fell 15.9% to $16.51, Cosmos Hub (ATOM) ) fell 12.5% ​​to $11.91 and Chainlink (LINK) fell 12.7% to $6.89.

Solana didn’t fall as far, falling about 10.8% to reach $20.96 at the time of writing – despite a mysterious power outage this week that took the network offline for 20 hours. The Solana Foundation is currently investigating the event.

After posting some blister gains last week, storage protocol token Filecoin (FILE) fell a staggering 21% to $6.05.

There were no significant gains among any of the leading cryptocurrencies this week.

Regulators tighten the screws

There was a lot of talk in political circles around the world that made crypto fans uneasy this week. First, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, told a Bloomberg reporter on Monday that “if regulation is slow to come and cryptoassets become a higher risk to consumers and potentially to financial stability,” the alternative of ban cryptocurrencies “should not be taken off the table.”

National Assembly of France voted Tuesday to adopt a bundle of EU laws, including an amendment setting stricter requirements for new entrants wishing to operate in the French crypto market. The bill now only requires President Macron’s signature to be approved into law.

Stateside on Monday, Coinbase announced that it was removes BUSD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin created by rival exchange Binance. The news came two weeks after stablecoin issuer Paxos said it would “end its relationship with Binance” after being hit by an SEC lawsuit over its stablecoin issuance; SEC accusing Paxos for violating investor protection laws.

Meanwhile, the SEC’s “regulation-by-enforcement” (read: crypto clampdown) strategy continued apace this week as Robinhood announced on Tuesday that it was subpoenaed by the federal regulator over the trading app’s “backed cryptocurrencies, custody of cryptocurrencies and platform operations.”