Bank Failures May Be ‘Appetizer’ to a Larger Crisis: Coinbase ex-CTO

• Crypto experts warn of a potential banking crisis in the US.
• Ex Coinbase CTO said the recent bank failures are appetizers to something more significant.
• He draws parallels with the 2008 financial crisis.

Recently, experts in the crypto community have been arguing over the potential for a financial crisis and bank failures, mainly in the United States, given the U.S. Federal Reserve (FED)’s actions on interest rates and inflation.

Jeffrey Snider, the Chief Strategist at Atlas Financial, said a big chance of a banking crisis is likely, given that the futures market for the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) contract expiring in June 2023 is being heavily bought after hours.

According to Snider, the heavy buying of these contracts after hours indicates a significant chance that the financial situation could escalate to the point where the FED will have to cut interest rates at its next meeting in June 2023.

On the other hand, the former CTO of the Coinbase crypto exchange, Balaji Srinivasan, argued that the recent bank failures may only be the ‘appetizer’ of a much larger crisis that is yet to come.

Srinivasan suggested that the current situation could follow a similar pattern to that of the 2008 financial crisis, where the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15 led to the failure of Washington Mutual (WaMu) ten days later — a domino effect.

Furthermore, Srinivasan criticized Jerome Powell, the current FED chairman, for talking about ‘soft landings.’ Although soft landing refers to a gradual slowdown of the economy without a significant recession or crisis, the Coinbase ex-CTO believes Powell is in denial, failing to acknowledge the potential risks.

Srinivasan concluded by asking what will happen when it is finally admitted that the FED has caused another financial crisis.