Investors were spooked by the failing banks. Bitcoin is on the rise

The events surrounding Bank of Silicon Valley and Credit Suisse of Switzerland mainly sent stocks of European banks down, while cryptocurrencies, on the contrary, rose. And significantly. While bank house securities began to erase their morning losses during the morning, Bitcoin held a value well above average, the highest since last June.

Over the weekend, the Swiss government and the Swiss central bank agreed with UBS to take over struggling Credit Suisse competitor. The trade was intended to calm global markets – but it only partially succeeded, and tension remained, among other things, due to the fact that the deal “wiped out” the holders of the riskier 17 billion Euros of Credit Suisse bonds.

But there are plenty of such bonds, called AT1, in Europe – and other banks are issuing them as well. The European Central Bank and European Banking Association, which act as regulators in the EU and the eurozone (to which Switzerland does not belong), issued statements saying that the way Bern organized the Credit Suisse bailout and write-downs of bondholders was something they did not agree with. with.

AT1 remains an important part of the capital structure of European banks. I calmed down The institution in its statement a issued So according to the diary financial times An indication that they will not cut the holders of these bonds if necessary.

Even Czech banks, whose shares are traded on the Prague Stock Exchange, did not avoid losses. During Monday, Česká spořitelna, Komerční banka and Moneta all moved 1 percentage point below their value since last weekend.

The turmoil that the banking world has experienced in recent weeks (Credit Suisse’s collapse preceded the collapse of US banks Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank) helps cryptocurrencies – especially bitcoin, which was created from the very beginning as an alternative to traditional banks. Bitcoin has gained 28 percent over the past seven days, and as of Monday noon, according to the server Koenjiko sold for $28,330, while last Monday it was available for $22,150.

The incident even prompted some cryptocurrency critics to slightly modify their view of it. For example, well-known internet entrepreneur and investor Yann Barta took to Twitter to promote Bitcoin he wrote: “You could argue that cryptocurrency finally has some footing at this point.” Ethereum, which added more than 12 percent for the week, also boosted. BNB, the cryptocurrency of the largest exchange Binance, has strengthened by 17 percent in a week.