CoinMarketCap News, Mar 2: Now Silvergate is in Trouble

Crypto regulation "is a matter of national security" for the U.S., Coinbase's CEO Brian Armstrong has claimed. In an interview with Bloomberg, he pointed to how major financial hubs — including London, Singapore and Hong Kong — have "embraced" crypto and grappled with policy. And he warned that, unless the same happens in America, there's a chance that the future of the financial system will be built elsewhere. Armstrong pointed to 5G and semiconductors as examples of areas where the U.S. lack dominance because the technology went offshore — alluding to concerns that have been raised about Chinese infrastructure being used for such products. He wants regulators to work with U.S. crypto firms, not against them.

Silvergate Bank has warned it may not be able to survive over the next 12 months. The crypto-focused company was dealt a double blow by the bear market and its close exposure to Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX empire. In a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, it warned that its annual report would not be filed on time. And while Silvergate brought in a profit of $76m in 2021, it suffered a net loss of $949m in 2022. Silvergate's stock fell by 44.2% in after-hours trading to lows of $7.55 — a stark contrast to its price of $13.53 as of Wednesday's close. Coinbase has announced that it is no longer accepting or initiating payments to or from Silvergate "out of an abundance of caution."

A prolific crypto scammer that enabled other cybercriminals to operate has announced that they're "moving on to something better." In a way, Monkey Drainer operated as a "scam-as-a-service" outfit — helping others to orchestrate devastating thefts and taking a cut of the proceeds. PeckShield, which had been monitoring its wallets, revealed that 200 ETH had been transferred to Tornado Cash. A further 840 ETH was sitting in their main address. It's highly likely that these funds will be moved through mixing services in an attempt to launder the crypto and obfuscate the next destination. While you might think this will mean fewer attacks, cybersecurity experts have warned "there are plenty of other vendors willing to fill their shoes."

Yet another British bank has announced that it's imposing limits on the amount of cryptocurrency that their customers can buy. Nationwide will now forbid the purchase of digital assets using credit cards — and in normal checking accounts, no more than $6,000 can be sent to exchanges per day. While you could argue limiting the use of credit cards to buy volatile cryptocurrencies is a good move, financial institutions have faced criticism for restricting how consumers spend their money. Nationwide, said the new policy was in response to regulatory concerns. Last November, Santander also announced that it would stop consumers from sending real-time payments to crypto exchanges — a move that was designed to protect them against scams.