This week saw continued banking and regulatory fallout as JPMorgan Chase acquired First Republic, Binance.US withdrew from the Voyager deal citing regulatory uncertainty, and Coinbase sued the SEC demanding clear rules for crypto.

A whole bunch happened on the regulatory front last week as BTC dipped below $30k: SEC chair Gary Gensler gave a marathon defense of the crypto crackdown, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Bittrex, and the landmark MiCA European crypto framework became law.

ETH hit 11-month highs following the Shapella upgrade despite expectations of significant sell pressure after more than 1mn staked ETH were withdrawn. BTC also soared past $30k for the first time since last June and is up more than 80% YTD.

BTC hit $30k for the first time since June 2022. Also, peer-to-peer exchange Paxful announced that it would be suspending operations, U.S. job openings hit a two-year low, and the U.S. Treasury released a report on illicit finance risks in DeFi.

Bitcoin closed the week slightly up despite a major CFTC lawsuit against Binance and news that the U.S. government had sold 9,861 BTC connected to Silk Road (with plans to sell more).

Bitcoin continues to trade at 9-month highs after the Fed hiked rates by a quarter percentage point, suggesting increases are nearing an end. Crypto markets largely ignored news that Coinbase was served a Wells notice, the SEC charged Justin Sun with market manipulation, and Sushi received a subpoena from the SEC.

Bitcoin is on an absolute tear, currently trading at 9-month highs and up 30% in the past seven days. The rally kicked off after the USDC turmoil subsided, and continued throughout the week despite ongoing stress in the banking sector and uncertainty around this week’s Fed meeting.

Today, the Kaiko Research team presents a post-mortem of the mass chaos crypto markets experienced amid SVB’s collapse.