Bitcoin began Monday trading at just below $22,400 after falling sharply toward the end of last week. BTC dropped last week after news that crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank had requested more time to file its 2022 annual report. Ether was also trading in the red on Monday. Decentraland’s MANA token gained 5% Monday, going against the rest of the crypto market which traded down.

Bitcoin's 24-hour price chart

A U.S. Securities and Exchange official said that agency staff believe Binance.US is operating an unregistered securities exchange in the U.S. and that staff believe the sale of VGX tokens by Voyager Digital violated federal securities laws. Speaking at a bankruptcy hearing to determine if Voyager should be sold to Binance.US, William Uptegrove, an attorney for the SEC, said he was responding to Judge Michael Wiles of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Southern District of New York who said at the outset of the hearing that the SEC had provided little guidance or specifics about its objection to the Voyager sale. Voyager, a crypto broker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last July.

Crypto exchange Bybit on Saturday announced it is suspending U.S. dollar (USD) deposits. "We have temporarily suspended USD deposits via Wire Transfer (including SWIFT) due to service outages from our end-point processing partner until further notice," the exchange said, adding that withdrawals will be stopped from March 10. Users, however, can continue to deposit and withdraw crypto to and from wallet addresses and fund purchases through credit cards and other payment methods.

An ominous-sounding technical pattern has appeared on bitcoin's weekly price chart for the first time on record. Analysts, however, are split on what it means for the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin's 50-week simple moving average has crossed under the 200-week SMA, confirming a "death cross," a bearish indicator suggesting the short-term price pullback could become a more sustained downtrend.

Even though the moving average-based death cross represents what happened in the past, many consider it a forward-looking indicator.

"The death cross formed on the weekly time frame makes for a cautious view of the near-term outlook and keeps the potential for a return to the $18,000-$16,300," Alex Kuptsikevich, market analyst at FxPro, said in an email.

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