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Traditional financial institutions are increasingly showing interest in venturing into the crypto sector amid growing client demand. In this line, banking giant Standard Chartered is particularly expanding its crypto involvement by planning to offer spot trading services for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), Bloomberg reported on June 21. This move will make Standard Chartered, which controls over 800 billion in assets, the first major global bank to establish a spot crypto trading desk. Bloomberg , citing individuals familiar with the matter, noted that the bank will incorporate trading into its FX unit, which will have operations based in London. Picks for you Massive sell-off: Ripple dumps the remaining 250 million XRP from June 48 mins ago ...

The Spring Development Bank is Myanmar’s first financial institution to run entirely on crypto and blockchain. Myanmar’s first entirely crypto - based banking institution has announced a soft launch for July 22 — a move that could see the country’s shadow government given greater access to financial services and funding. The Spring Development Bank is named after the Spring Revolution, the opposition movement led by Myanmar’s exiled National Unity Government (NUG) against the ruling State Administration Council (SAC) — a military junta that seized control of the country in February 2021. The bank’s target demographic isn’t just the 55 million Burmese living in Myanmar, but also the two-million-strong “Burmese diaspora”, who live and work outside of Myanmar and frequently send money back to the country. Constructed on Polygon, the bank’s main goal is to make both domestic and international payments faster and more efficient, as well as offer international access to a broad array of...

Bitcoin has decoupled from stocks and rising ten years after the Cyprus banking crisis coincided with a BTC price boom. The market capitalization of Bitcoin (BTC) has added $194 billion in 2023. Its 66% year-to-date (YTD) growth is vastly outperforming top Wall Street bank stocks, particularly as fears of a global banking crisis are rising. BTC market cap daily performance chart. Source: TradingView Moreover, Bitcoin has decoupled from U.S. Stocks for the first time in a year, with its price rising about 65% versus S&P 500's 2.5% gains and Nasdaq's 15% decline in 2023.  SPX and NDAQ YTD performance vs. BTC/USD. Source: TradingView  Wall Street banks lose $100B in 2023 The six largest U.S. banks — JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Goldman Sachs (GS) — have lost nearly $100 billion in market valuation since the year's start, according to data gathered by CompaniesMarketCap.com. Bank of America's st...

Bitcoin's rebound in 2023 has also seen Coinbase stock gaining over 100% year-to-date, boosting Cathie Wood's ARK portfolio. In 2023, Bitcoin (BTC) and Cathie Wood's Coinbase (COIN) investment are finally outperforming Warren Buffett's popular " crypto bet" in Brazil's fintech giant Nubank (NU).  Bitcoin vs. crypto-exposure stocks NU, COIN As of March 17, Bitcoin's price is up nearly 55% year-to-date (YTD). In comparison, Nubank has risen by only 26%. Meanwhile, another crypto-exposure asset, namely Coinbase stock (COIN), has seen the biggest rebound of the three, rising over 100% YTD.  BTC/USD and COIN versus NU yearly performance. Source: TradingView Nevertheless, Buffett's investment has fared better than COIN over the past 12 months. As of March 17, NU is down 38% year-over-year compared to COIN's 61.76%, nearly equal to Bitcoin's 37% losses in the same period. Warren Buffett sticks by his neobank investment Buffett's investment f...