After the end of last year’s F-debacle that has shaken up the whole market, 2023 is off to a pretty good start. Bitcoin has officially recovered all its losses since FTX’s collapse in November 2022. After several unsuccessful attempts of recovery throughout December, the premier cryptocurrency has entered into a significant bull run this month, surging 40% to $23,116 by January 31.

Last year’s bankruptcies haven’t stopped though. On January 20, the holding company of crypto lender Genesis Global Capital filed for bankruptcy in New York, joining the ranks of fellow lending firms Celsius and BlockFi. Taking a hit from both the FTX fiasco and the collapse of the crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, Genesis owes over $3.5 billion to its 50 largest creditors. 

On a more positive note, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and four other banks have reportedly joined forces to challenge the dominance of Apple Pay, Google, Pay, PayPal, and other leading third-party wallet providers. According to a WSJ report, the banking giants seek to introduce the new product in the second half of the year. Managed by Early Warning Services, a fintech company owned by the seven financial institutions, the upcoming financial service will enable users to settle their payments at merchants and link their wallets with their credit and debit cards. While we don’t know the details yet – including the product’s name –, the digital wallet will reportedly allow customers to shop for items without manually providing their payment details.

Stay tuned for our monthly news summaries and if you are hungry for more (just like we are) – follow us on Linkedin for market tendencies, hot news, and PR tools.