Bullish For Bitcoin? Contagion Might End As Genesis Creditors Seek Options
Bitcoin investors are eagerly awaiting Jerome Powell’s speech today. The chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve will comment on the current situation and policy this Wednesday at the Brookings Institution, an American research group.
Market analysts will be closely assessing Powell’s every word, looking for clues about the central bank’s future monetary policy.
After the third rate hike of 75 basis points, the market is currently speculating that Powell will pull the brakes. In recent days, various Fed officials have hinted that the central bank may raise the benchmark rate by as little as 50 basis points.
Bitcoin, presumably driven by expectations, is currently seeing a 2.5% price increase in the last 24 hours. The price had reached a 2-week high of $17,072 on Binance at one point.
Bitcoin has spiked to a two-week high, 4-hour-chart. Source. TradingView
Bitcoin Sentiment To Pivot After Genesis Rebirth?
However, another factor may have also had an impact on the price rise and provided bullish sentiment. As Bitcoinist reported, the Bitcoin market sentiment is heavily depressed by uncertainty about the ongoing survival fight of Genesis Trading.
However, Bloomberg now reports that creditors of the troubled crypto broker are organizing with restructuring lawyers and looking for options that would save the company from bankruptcy. This is according to people familiar with the situation.
Genesis had warned of a possible bankruptcy filing just last week. Barry Silbert, the CEO of parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG), released a statement addressing all the “noise” surrounding the company, stating that most of its units are “operating as usual.”
Regarding Genesis’ lending business, Silbert said in the letter that the Nov. 16 suspension of repayments and new loans was “a liquidity and maturity mismatch issue” in the loan book.
The letter also said the company is exploring other options. According to Bloomberg, several creditor groups have now taken their own initiative to prevent Genesis from filing for bankruptcy.
One group of creditors is taking advice from law firm Proskauer Rose, while another group is working with Kirkland & Ellis, Bloomberg said.
Earlier, it was revealed that Genesis was seeking up to $1 billion in emergency financing for its loans division, apparently failing to raise that amount in its first attempt.
Sentiment Remains Divided
Ryan Selkis, co-founder of Messari stated that a recapitalization of DCG at a total enterprise value of $3.2 billion could lead to a rebirth of Genesis. Moreover, the crypto industry’s contagion fears would be gone in one fell swoop.
+ Make 100% of Genesis creditors whole. + Net new investors 2.5x their money in five years. + Give a mere ~25% haircut to existing DCG investors.
Under that sort of plan, Grayscale trust shareholders would have the best possible outcomes, too. Genesis might have a rebirth. And the other operating subs would have better stability.
Other voices, most notably Andrew Parish, co-founder of ArchPublic, continue to take a very critical view of the situation. Parish, who in recent weeks quoted a supposed insider to draw attention to Genesis’ desperate situation, remains pessimistic. He continues to assert:
NOBODY is biting on a ‘cap raise’ solution for Genesis Trading. Zero. Nada. None.
OhNoCryptocurrency via https://www.ohnocrypto.com/ @Jake Simmons, @Khareem Sudlow