It's been another week, which means we have a lot of news from the crypto world to share. Today we will focus on bitcoin's growth amidst banking problems, the announcement of a new update date for Ethereum with a staked ETH withdrawal option, USDC and DAI rebounding in price, and much more.

Let's get started!

Bitcoin and Ethereum Exchange Rates

Last week, Bitcoin was able to rise in earnest from the $20,000 mark on Monday to the $27,000 mark by the end of the week. The growth was more than 30%, which was also reflected in other cryptocurrencies. All of CMC's top cryptocurrencies ended the week in the green, showing significant gains comparable to Bitcoin's price movement.

The price of Ethereum was also affected by the news of the start of testing of the update on the Goerli testnet, as well as the announcement of the release date of the update on the main network. According to the announcement, the Shapella hardfork, which will allow users to withdraw staked ETH, will be installed on the main network as early as April 12.

The situation with banks and the bullish signal for risky assets

Since the beginning of the month, US banks have been in crisis. Three major U.S. banks declared bankruptcy or were shut down by regulators. These banks were Silvergate, Silicon Valley, and Signature. The US government refused to bail out the banks but said that all depositors would get their money back.

The news of the refund by injecting new money into the economy means a halt to the policy of reducing the amount of cash and also reduces the likelihood of further Fed rate hikes. Together, this is a serious bullish signal for all risky assets.

On the back of this news, bitcoin has already risen to the June 2022 price level and continues to rise.

USDC and DAI recover

Both of these stablecoins lost their peg to the dollar when Circle announced that it had stored more than $3 billion in one of the closed banks. Following the USDC, DAI, which had stored some of its funds in the USDC, also lost its peg.

The USDC's low was $0.9, but the coin quickly regained nearly its full value amid claims from Circle that they would refund all reserves and make up for the loss. However, that wasn't necessary, because, on Monday, March 13, Circle got its money back, thanks to the American regulators.

Against the backdrop of the return of all funds, stablecoins regained their price and returned to normal. However, the overall level of confidence in USDC and DAI was reduced amid the demonstration of such a rapid, albeit short-lived, decline.

Cryptocurrency wallet discovered in Microsoft Edge browser

Albacore, a software researcher, discovered a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet functionality in the Microsoft Edge browser.

In addition, the user provided screenshots showing not only the wallet interface, but also the decentralized app store and news feed. It is reported that the purchase of cryptocurrency is available through the CoinBase exchange and the MoonPay service.

The researcher noted that all the functionality is already ready and present in the latest version of the browser, but it is hidden from the end user.

Microsoft itself did not directly confirm or deny any plans to introduce cryptocurrencies and decentralized applications. An official representative of the company said that it often tests various functionalities, but they do not always become available to users and are also quietly removed from the product. The appearance of any features is not a sign that they will actually be implemented on the platform.

OpenAI has released a new version of ChatGPT

A new version of artificial intelligence from OpenAI has seen the light of day. According to the company, the new GPT-4 is several times more perfect than its predecessor. The algorithms of the new neural network can handle a thousand times more parameters, have a large database, and can also work with images, and audio text, create websites and presentations.

At the moment, the new version of AI is available only by subscription but is already present in the products of Microsoft, which recently invested a large sum in OpenAI. For now, users can ask a neural network to create a presentation based on a document, highlight key points or summarize a meeting. It also allows the algorithm to populate tables with data based on existing information or user requests.

GPT-4 has already been asked to highlight the most interesting cryptocurrencies, predict price changes and analyze smart contracts. The AI was able to detect a vulnerability in one of the contracts on the Ethereum network.

Summary

The recent banking crisis has had a major impact on both the banking system and cryptocurrencies. Amidst the panic, the outflow of funds from traditional finance, as well as the softening of US quantitative policy, and the perceived reduction of the interest rate growth, bitcoin was able to start a strong growth, leading all other altcoins.

The USDC and DAI stablecoins were somewhat less fortunate, temporarily losing their peg to the dollar amid news of problems with funds held in reserve by banks. However, both stablecoins regained their previous prices and stabilized after US regulators returned the funds.

Unlike stablecoins, US banks are still unable to stabilize after the turmoil. Bank stock prices have fallen to record lows and continue to fall intermittently. Banks start trading stocks and then close them. This is expected to continue for some time until people's emotions settle after the shock.

Microsoft is actively introducing the most advanced technologies in its services. In their browser found a ready cryptocurrency wallet and decentralized application store, and many services now work with the support of GPT-4, a new version of ChatGPT from OpenAI.

The Ethereum developers also continue to make updates, they are testing an update to Shapella in a new testnet and have announced a release date of April 12th on the main network.

And that's it for the most important and high-profile news. Check back next week for more news and developments in the next PointPay Crypto Digest.

In the meantime, you can participate in our PointPay contests and win PXP tokens! All you have to do is trade on the PointPay exchange or send us your bug or idea for platform development. The results will be compiled at the end of the week and will be available in the Weekly Update!