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U.S. Bank Upheaval Shakes Bitcoin And Other Major Altcoins To Close The Week

It was a harrowing week in the cryptocurrency trading, with a trifecta of negative news hitting the sector. It was enough to take Bitcoin (BTC), the leader cryptocurrency by market cap, down below the psychological $20,000 before bouncing back late in the Friday session. Most altcoins experienced major pressure as well.

Market Shaken After Several Body Blows To The Industry

The week started off on a rough note with the continuation of the Silvergate Bank fallout dominating the headlines. The bank decided to liquidate its assets in the face of difficulties in keeping its operations afloat, sending shares down ever further despite a massive short interest in the stock.

The previous week, Silvergate has notified the SEC that it’s unable to file its annual report for 2022 because it requires additional time to perform analysis, record journal entries related to subsequent events and to complete management’s evaluation of internal controls over financial reporting. 

Another event that jolted the markets was the language deployed by Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who in recent days made discouraging comments about the US economy and in relation to the cryptocurrency market. Among them:

  • Inflation metrics have not reacted as expected, thus putting Powell and the Fed on standby to continue raising interest rates, possibly taking them high than originally anticipated
  • Powell ruled on the debt ceiling for the US government, warning that they do not have the necessary resources to financially support the nation if Congress does not increase the previous limits
  • Indicated the financial ecosystem is chaotic
  • Requested that Congress actively work on laws to appropriately regulate on cryptocurrencies and stablecoins

Adding to the chaos was news that the office of the Attorney for the Southern District of New York filed charges against the KuCoin exchange, accusing it of operating illegally in that jurisdiction, in addition to trading unregistered securities—specifically Ethereum ETH.

And the last precarious event occurred with Silicon Valley Bank—a crypto-friendly bank in the U.S.—which announced the closure of its services after measures taken by regulators. This triggered a massive selloff in the broader banking complex, some of which have peripheral dealings with cryptocurrency.

Major Altcoins Also Affected

Not only the Bitcoin price was affected this week by the tidal wave of events, most of the main altcoins purged this week as well.

ETH’s decline stood out, with the price falling below $1,400 during the Friday session. But other altcoins fell as well, with more pronounced falls in BNB, XRP, DOGE, SHIB, UNI and many others, generally declining between 3% and 7% on March 10. LTC and TRX were also big losers, losing over 13% on the Friday session.

Zooming back one week between the March 2-10 period, the five biggest losers are as follows:

5 most significant altcoin losers in the whole cryptocurrency market particularly from March 2 – 10. STX fell by 32.71%, AGIX fell by 30.81%, MINA fell by 29.43%, RNDR fell by 28.77% and DASH fell by 24.98%.


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