Yesterday, bitcoin started to grow sharply, reaching a local maximum at $30,028 – the highest level since April 19. At the moment, the cryptocurrency has adjusted somewhat and is trading at $29,057. The main driver of growth was the problems of First Republic Bank, which is probably close to bankruptcy. Yesterday, its shares fell by 49% after it became known about the massive outflow of funds, and the day before they fell by almost 20%. First Republic has presented a plan according to which the government will pay for bonds above market value so that the bank can raise funds, but so far the government does not want to sit down at the negotiating table. The cryptocurrency market also received support from the banking crisis in March, when major US banks Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Silvergate Bank went bankrupt. Then the problems of the financial system highlighted the supposed advantages of decentralized cryptocurrencies. An additional factor in the growth of bitcoin could be investors' hopes for a potential reversal of the Fed. Expectations that the regulator will raise the rate next week have fallen to 75%. It is also possible that bitcoin expects risky assets to recover in light of strong reports from technology companies this week, including Microsoft and Alphabet.
