Bitcoin Surges to $29,000 as First Republic Bank’s Stock Tubmles
Shares of First Republic Bank fell more than 22% in aftermarket trading on the 24th, despite the company taking steps to strengthen its balance sheet and cut its workforce after its deposits fell in the first quarter amid the U.S. banking crisis.
According to its April 24 earnings statement, the bank’s deposits fell to about $104.5 billion (down 35.5%) in the first quarter of this year, compared with $176 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. This decline was realized even after the First Republic received a $30 billion bailout from Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.
Without the $30 billion in assistance, First Republic’s deposit decline would have been nearly $102 billion.
First Republic said it began experiencing an unprecedented outflow of deposits on March 10, shortly after the U.S. banking crisis, but things began to stabilize after it received $30 billion on March 16.
Unsecured deposits from banks have reportedly allowed First Republic to reduce its short-term borrowings, and as of April 21, 2023, total deposits stood at $102.7 billion.
On April 24, the bank’s stock closed up 12.2% to $16 per share. Still, it fell 22.19% in aftermarket trading as investors reviewed first-quarter results and assessed the potential effect of increased funding costs on the bank as the Fed continues raising interest rates to their highest level since 2007.
Following the investors’ assessment, the stock tumbled to $8.10 apiece, and by the time the market closed on Monday, it had fallen more than 87% since the start of 2023.
READ MORE: Bitcoin: Will a Fed Interest Rate Hike Make or Break BTC’s Rally?
The chief researcher at Collective Shift stated that Bitcoin’s value experienced a surge following a news report by Charles Gasperino, a business correspondent at Fox News. The report indicated that First Republic Bank’s associates anticipate the bank’s regulation by the government.
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has risen 3.6% in the past 24 hours due to emerging concerns about another possible bank failure. As of the time of writing, the flagship cryptocurrency is trading at just over $29,000.
The asset’s daily trading volume is $21.2 billion and the market cap amounts to $562 billion market cap.
Also, the British multinational bank Standard Chartered said that Bitcoin could reach $100,000 by the end of 2024, adding that the so-called “crypto winter” is over.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
