Bitcoin's coinbase premium reaches 3-year high due to increased USDC volatility

Bitcoin is currently trading at relatively higher prices on the Coinbase crypto exchange due to the crisis at Silicon Valley Bank and resulting volatility in the world's second-largest dollar-pegged stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC). The Coinbase Premium Index, which measures the spread between BTC's U.S. dollar-denominated price on Coinbase and BTC's tether-denominated price on offshore giant Binance, rose to 0.8, the highest since March 2020, according to data tracked by analytics firm CryptoQuant.

Bitcoin trading at a premium on Coinbase usually indicates stronger buying pressure from sophisticated traders and stateside institutions. It is likely, however, that this premium represents the flight or discount from USDC. In the past few months, Coinbase has merged its order book with USDC as the base currency, making BTC's price sensitive to USDC volatility. Users can deposit USDC on Coinbase, but it enters the order book as USD.

The fact that the BTC/USDT pair on Coinbase trades in line with prices on other offshore exchanges supports the argument that bitcoin's current dollar-denominated price on Coinbase stems from the USDC discount. This volatility in USDC has caused traders to seek safe-haven assets like bitcoin, driving up its price on Coinbase.

Major cryptocurrencies are trading as follows as of 9 am IST, 13th March 2023:

Bitcoin: $22,557.65

+8.56%

Ethereum: $1,606.83
+8.06%

Tether: $1.02
-0.36%

USD Coin: $1.00
-1.18%

BNB: $290.36
+3.27%

XRP: $0.374
+0.68%

Dogecoin: $0.07154
+5.66%

Cardano: $0.3417
+10.21%

Polygon: $1.15
+6.91%

Polkadot: $5.96
+7.15%