Market Signal Briefing

Stablecoins anchored market liquidity, with total supply near $315.85 billion and USD Coin [USDC] accounting for about $78.7 billion.

USDC wallet freezes drew scrutiny after on-chain investigator ZachXBT flagged multiple exchange-linked wallets affected on the 23rd of March 2026.

However, recent USDC wallet freezes disrupted that expectation, as compliance actions extended beyond intended targets. Reports suggested at least 16 unrelated hot wallets were frozen, disrupting transactions across bridging and settlement flows.

That shift set up a broader concern. Focus moved from isolated enforcement to systemic reliability risks.

This raised a key question: Why were operational exchange wallets affected?

USDC wallet freezes spill into exchange and bridge flows Source: ZachXBT/ X ZachXBT noted that several frozen wallets showed normal operational activity, raising concerns around targeting accuracy.

Reports suggested that exchange-linked hot wallets were flagged alongside intended addresses, extending the impact beyond enforcement targets.

Circle later reversed some freezes, including the Goated wallet, indicating a correction rather than a final decision.

That sequence showed how compliance actions can misfire when applied across interconnected wallet systems.

USDC blacklist count hits 596 as compliance tightens USDC’s control structure became clearer as enforcement activity increased across the network. Blacklisted addresses reached 596, reflecting steady growth rather than isolated actions.

Source: Dune That move aligned with deeper regulatory integration into stablecoin infrastructure, rising from near zero levels in 2020.

On top of that, distribution data showed concentration among a few large holders. This amplified the impact of each freeze.

When key wallets were affected, liquidity disruptions extended beyond individual users into broader market flows. That explained settlement failures across exchanges and bridges.

This left traders focused on a structural shift. USDC operated less like neutral infrastructure and more like a controlled settlement layer.

USDC outflows drive liquidity shift toward USDT dominance The market reaction showed a subtle shift beneath stable price action. USDC held near $78.7 billion, yet declined 0.90% weekly, signaling selective capital movement.

At the same time, total stablecoin supply rose 0.04%, showing funds rotated rather than exited.

By contrast, Tether [USDT] expanded its lead to 58.29% dominance at $184.1 billion, absorbing redirected liquidity.

That move reflected a search for perceived stability rather than a rejection of stablecoins entirely.

Confidence remained, yet behavior shifted. Partial reversals exposed operational strain, while unintended freezes raised concerns around exposure.

Source: X This implied trust weakened at the margins, which could fragment liquidity and reshape capital allocation across stablecoin ecosystems.

Final Summary USD Coin [USDC] freezes expose centralized control risks, with rising blacklists and failed settlements weakening neutrality and shaping liquidity flows. Tether [USDT] absorbs rotation with 58% dominance, signaling trust shifts rather than exits, as stablecoin liquidity fragments across ecosystems.

It was recently revealed that the XRP Ledger will integrate Artificial Intelligence to proactively strengthen its network infrastructure. Reece Merrick, a Ripple executive, stated that this initiative aims to address vulnerabilities before they reach the production phase. With over 3 billion transactions processed since 2012, the priority is to ensure total resilience while scaling its capacity to support tokenized assets and high-level institutional applications.

This integration marks a significant shift from reactive defense to proactive protection through the use of AI-assisted “Red Teams” and intelligent testing within the development cycle. The relevance of this advancement is critical, considering that payments represent more than 50% of the ledger’s activity and that the stablecoin supply on the network, led by RLUSD, exceeds $570 million. AI not only detects complex code errors but also supports the arrival of “Agent Commerce”—autonomous agents that optimize on-chain transactions.

In summary, XRPL is making strategic efforts to attract the next wave of institutional investors and developers. The next step in the roadmap is the complete modernization of its codebase, aligned with global cybersecurity standards. This commitment to the convergence of blockchain and AI positions XRP as a resilient leader in the future of digital finance and cross-border payment settlements.

Source:https://n9.cl/msfav

Disclaimer: Crypto Economy Flash News is prepared from official and public sources verified by our editorial team. Its purpose is to quickly inform about relevant events in the crypto and blockchain ecosystem. This information does not constitute financial advice or investment recommendations. We recommend always verifying the official channels of each project before making related decisions.

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Morgan Stanley is inching closer to launching the first spot Bitcoin ETF issued by a major US bank, a move that underscores just how far the cryptocurrency has traveled from its wild early days.

The bank recently received an official NYSE listing notice for its fund, MSBT — a step that analysts say typically signals a debut is near.

Wall Street’s Deepening Embrace That development arrives alongside fresh data from Charles Schwab showing Bitcoin’s price swings have dropped sharply over the past four years.

According to the firm’s analysis, Bitcoin’s historical volatility hit 42% in 2025 — roughly half what it recorded in 2021. For context, Tesla’s historical volatility came in at 63% that same year.

The table shows Bitcoin’s volatility fell below Nvidia (50) and Tesla (63) in 2025, and came close to silver futures at 38, which still saw notable swings. Source: Charles Schwab  Nvidia’s was 50%. Both exceeded Bitcoin’s. Measures of daily price movement told a similar story, with Bitcoin tracking closer to major equities than the volatile fringe asset it once resembled.

Schwab concluded the shift reflects Bitcoin’s deeper integration into mainstream finance, now trading on major exchanges worldwide through regulated products and ETF wrappers. The report described Bitcoin’s volatility as having “calmed down” as it matured.

Still, calm is relative. Bitcoin dropped as much as 30% in 2025, with losses carrying into early 2026. Over a three-year stretch, the asset fell 50% from peak to trough.

Those numbers are significant by almost any measure — but not unique. Tesla’s worst drawdown over the same period hit 54%. Nvidia fell 37% at its low point. The data suggests high-growth technology stocks can swing just as hard, or harder, than Bitcoin on a bad run.

Bitcoin is now trading at $69,534. Chart: TradingView The Long View Tells A Different Story Zoom out further and Bitcoin’s profile grows more extreme. During the 2022 market downturn, Bitcoin fell 77% from its peak. Tesla dropped 74%. Nvidia lost 66%. The losses were steep across the board, but Bitcoin’s were steeper.

Schwab also put Bitcoin up against commodities. Silver futures often moved more erratically on a day-to-day basis, despite recording smaller overall declines.

Gold, by contrast, posted steadier gains at lower volatility — a clear reminder that Bitcoin, whatever its trajectory, still operates in a different risk class from traditional safe-haven assets.

Within crypto markets, Bitcoin’s relative stability has grown more noticeable. Ethereum continues to trade with higher volatility and deeper drawdowns, and the gap between the two assets has widened since 2021.

A Benchmark Shift In The Making The Schwab report lands as Bitcoin increasingly gets measured against blue-chip equities rather than speculative assets. Whether that framing sticks may depend on how the asset behaves through the next major market stress test — a question the data cannot yet answer.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

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Jack Mallers’ Twenty One Capital is now the second-largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury by BTC holdings, after miner MARA sold off a portion of its holdings and fell to the number three spot.

The newly formed Bitcoin (BTC) treasury company holds 43,514 BTC in its corporate treasury, valued at over $2.9 billion using the market price at the time of this writing, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.

Twenty One Capital becomes the second-largest BTC treasury company by BTC holdings. Source: BitcoinTreasuriesTwenty One Capital was publicly listed late last year following its business combination with Cantor Equity Partners, a special purpose acquisition company. Now trading under the ticker XXI, the NYSE-listed shares are down more than 25% year to date.

MARA sold 15,133 BTC, valued at about $1.1 billion, throughout March 2026. The next largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder is Japanese BTC treasury company Metaplanet with 35,100. Bitcoin Treasuries analyst Tyler Rowe in a note Thursday said: 

“For the industry, it's a cautionary signal. MARA borrowed aggressively to stack sats during the bull run and is now selling Bitcoin at a loss to service that debt. This is the precise scenario critics of debt-fueled treasury strategies have warned about.”This aggressive borrowing is in “sharp contrast” to the business model popularized by BTC treasury company Strategy, which treats BTC as “perpetual digital credit,” using it as collateral to continually finance BTC acquisitions.

The distribution of BTC among public companies, private businesses, governments, investment funds and exchange-traded vehicles. Source: BitcoinTreasuries"Can miners sustainably operate as Bitcoin treasury companies without the capital markets infrastructure Saylor spent five years building," Rowe said in the note shared with Cointelegraph.

Some market observers note the change signals the capitulation of crypto treasury and mining companies amid a challenging business environment, worsened by the crypto bear market that started in October 2025 and declining share prices.

Analysts forecast the decline of the crypto treasury space in 2025In June 2025, venture capital firm Breed said that only a few crypto treasury companies would survive the “death spiral” of contracting market net asset values (mNAVs) by maintaining a price premium that would allow these companies to secure more financing.

As access to cheap financing options disappears, companies trading at or below their net asset value would have to sell their BTC holdings to meet debt obligations, according to Breed.

Companies that treat their crypto holdings as a speculative bet, rather than a long-term play, were likely to capitulate between cycles, Deng Chao, CEO of asset manager HashKey Capital, told Cointelegraph. 

At the same time, crypto treasury companies with a disciplined treasury strategy would last through multiple cycles, he said.

Magazine: Bitcoin’s ‘biggest bull catalyst’ would be Saylor’s liquidation: Santiment founder

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read our Editorial Policy https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy

In brief Bitcoin slipped alongside U.S. stocks as President Trump insisted that he’s “the opposite of desperate” when it comes to negotiating an end to conflict in the Middle East. On Wednesday, Iran’s foreign minister indicated that the country under pressure from the U.S. and Israel has “no intention of negotiating for now.” Bitcoin remained above its lowest point on the day that the war broke, but it entered negative territory on the week alongside Ethereum and Solana. Bitcoin slipped on Thursday alongside U.S. equities as investors weighed conflicting accounts regarding Iran leadership’s willingness to negotiate an end to the conflict in the Middle East.

The digital asset recently changed hands around $69,170, a 2.3% decrease over the past day, according to CoinGecko. Bitcoin had dipped closer to $68,000 earlier in the afternoon before ticking back up. Meanwhile, Ethereum had fallen 4.4% to $2,070, while Solana fell 5% to $86. The drops pushed all three cryptocurrencies into negative territory on the week.

Mirroring Wall Street declines, the S&P 500 closed 1.7% lower on the day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell more than 2.3%, while the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 470 points after stocks showed relative strength on Wednesday.

After the stock market closed on Thursday, crypto prices turned higher. Trump said in a Truth Social post that peace talks “are going very well,” while extending a self-imposed deadline on targeting Iranian energy facilities.

Before the opening bell, Trump said in a separate post that Iran’s leadership “better get serious soon” about facilitating an end to nearly four weeks of fighting that has rattled the global economy—before there’s “NO TURNING BACK,” he wrote.

During a cabinet meeting, he later insisted from the White House that Iran’s leadership is “begging to make a deal” that ends the war, not himself. He described himself as “the opposite of desperate,” countering media reports that detailed the opposite.

During the meeting, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff said that the U.S. had presented a 15-point framework for a peace deal that Pakistan conveyed to Iran. On Wednesday, Abbas Arghici, the country’s foreign minister, said there’s “no intention of negotiating for now,” per BBC.

Although Bitcoin remains above $63,200—its lowest price when the war broke out 28 days ago—crypto markets are reflecting geopolitical uncertainty, Aurelie Barthere, principal research analyst at crypto data firm Nansen, told Decrypt. She pointed to Bitcoin derivatives positioning, noting “persistent demand for downside hedging” among market participants.

“On-chain, capital is behaving defensively,” Barthere added. “The clearest inflows are into yield-bearing stablecoins and liquid staking tokens, suggesting investors are prioritizing carry and capital preservation amid macro uncertainty.”

As investors assess whether negotiations progress toward a credible deal framework, Barthere said that geopolitical tensions will likely remain a key driver. On Thursday, Brent crude oil futures jumped 5% to $107 per barrel, paring weekly losses, according to Trading Economics.

On Myriad, a prediction market owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, traders foresaw a 60% chance on Thursday that crude spikes to $120 before hitting $55. This month, they’ve foreseen as much as a 78% chance of crude hitting $120 per barrel first.

Thursday’s dip contrasts with Bitcoin buoyancy to start the week. The digital asset topped $71,000 after Trump said he had instructed the U.S. military to pause planned strikes against Iran's power plants and energy infrastructure for five days, pending further meetings.

Over the last 24 hours, users on Myriad—a prediction market platform operated by Decrypt's parent company, Dastan—have flipped bearish on Bitcoin's short-term prospects, penciling in a 52% chance that its next stop is $55,000 rather than $84,000.

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Moonwell, the decentralized lending protocol operating on Moonriver, is fighting an active attempt by an unknown attacker to seize administrative control of its smart contracts through a manipulated governance vote. 

The proposal, if executed, would hand control of seven lending markets, holding around $1.08 million in user assets, to a wallet that is reportedly designed to drain them.

How did an $1,808 bet threaten a $1 million protocol? On March 24, the attacker funded a deployer wallet and used it to purchase 40.17 million MFAM tokens, Moonwell’s native governance token, from the SolarBeam decentralized exchange on Moonriver for 1,600 MOVR, worth $1,808.

The attacker then deployed a contract containing purpose-built exploit logic and submitted Proposal #74, titled “MIP-R39: Protocol Recovery – Admin Migration.”

This proposal calls for the transfer of the administrative control of all seven lending markets, the Comptroller, and the Oracle to the attacker’s contract. 

Blockful, a governance security platform for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), wrote that the proposal is clearly an attack, adding that the attacker’s contract already contained the transactions needed to drain all markets upon execution. 

At the snapshot block, the attacker’s 40.17 million MFAM exceeded the protocol’s 40 million quorum threshold. The implied return, if successful, would have been approximately 597 times the cost of the attack.

The funds exposed across Moonwell’s Moonriver markets total about $1.08 million. This attack is coming roughly a month after Moonwell suffered a loss of about $1.8 million in bad debt, which is attributed to a misconfigured oracle for its Coinbase-wrapped ETH (cbETH) market.

Can Moonwell stop the vote, and what happens next? Community voting data as of 26 March shows 66.7% of cast votes opposing the proposal. The vote closes on 27 March at 10:28 UTC, leaving a narrow window for action.

Snapshot of the Moonwell vote. Source: Moonwell governance forum Moonwell’s governance lead has asked whoever is behind the proposal to come forward and provide more clarity by sharing details on the intent of the proposal and a technical explanation of the changes. The lead also asked the proposer to engage with the community in the forum. 

Until the required context is provided, Moonwell advises community members to exercise caution when reviewing or voting on this proposal, avoid supporting proposals that lack sufficient transparency, and wait for further clarification before taking action. 

So far, the number of votes against the proposal indicates that Moonwell is gaining the upper hand.

Blockful outlined two viable defense strategies to mitigate the proposal from being passed. The first is mobilizing sufficient “Against” votes before the deadline. However, this move is also complicated due to the fact that voting power is snapshotted at the proposal’s start block, meaning MFAM purchased after the attack carries no weight on this vote. 

Blockful noted that the proposer of the prior legitimate proposal holds at least 48.8 million voting power in staked MFAM, enough to defeat the proposal outright with a single transaction.

The second and, according to Blockful, safer option is the Break Glass Guardian, a 2-of-3 Gnosis Safe multisig that can bypass the protocol’s timelock entirely and transfer admin back to the legitimate governance address, rendering the attacker’s proposal a no-op even if it passes. 

If the proposal passes without intervention, the attacker could queue execution as early as 27 March, with a 24-hour timelock expiring on 28 March, the earliest date all funds could be drained.

There have been a series of governance attacks in the past that left some DeFi platforms with major losses. A notable incident occurred in April 2022 with the Beanstalk stablecoin protocol, which lost $181 million to a flash loan-based governance attack that exploited the same fundamental vulnerability with temporary voting power with immediate execution. 

In 2024, a faction of Compound Finance investors submitted an unsolicited proposal to redirect 5% of the COMP treasury to a multisig they controlled, prompting a community backlash.

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Bitcoin crashed hard Tuesday. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency fell to $26,850, dropping below the key $27,000 level that traders had been watching closely for weeks. Ethereum didn’t escape the selloff either, tumbling to $1,680 and breaking under $1,700 support.

The crypto carnage came after former President Donald Trump made some pretty stark comments about Iran during a Tuesday interview. Trump said he’s “not desperate” to end the ongoing conflict with Iran, which sent shockwaves through both traditional and digital asset markets. His words basically killed any hopes traders had for a quick diplomatic solution to the Middle East tensions.

Markets hate uncertainty. And Trump delivered plenty of it.

Broader Market Selloff Hits Hard The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both got hammered as investors scrambled for the exits. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2% by the closing bell, with analysts at JPMorgan saying geopolitical tensions always create these kinds of ripple effects across different asset classes. Their latest report showed traders taking a pretty cautious stance given what’s happening in the political world right now.

Oil prices went the opposite direction, which makes sense. Brent crude surged to $80 per barrel as energy markets braced for a prolonged Middle East standoff. Energy traders know that any conflict in that region can mess with supply chains fast. The prospect of things dragging on has them buying up crude like there’s no tomorrow.

Gold also caught a bid, climbing to $1,950 per ounce according to Treasury Department data from March 26. Investors are doing what they always do when things get scary – they run to safe havens. The yellow metal benefits when people get nervous about stocks and crypto.

But crypto got hit the hardest.

Crypto Traders Panic Into Stablecoins Binance saw a 15% spike in stablecoin trading volume as crypto traders parked their money in Tether and other dollar-pegged tokens. CEO Changpeng Zhao said that’s totally normal behavior when people expect more turbulence ahead. “Traders always flee to stability when the market gets choppy,” he said in a statement Tuesday.

Michael Novogratz from Galaxy Digital called the current situation a “perfect storm” for market unpredictability. The crypto billionaire thinks short-term volatility is basically guaranteed right now, but he’s still bullish on digital assets long-term for investors who can stomach the risk. This echoes themes explored in Bitcoin Hits K Wall as Crypto, underscoring the shifting landscape.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry hasn’t responded officially to Trump’s remarks yet, which is keeping everyone on edge. No new diplomatic talks are scheduled either, according to a source close to the situation who didn’t want to be named. The lack of any concrete progress on the diplomatic front just adds more fuel to the uncertainty fire.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is supposed to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee later this week. Investors are hoping he’ll shed some light on the Biden administration’s Iran strategy, which could move markets in either direction depending on what he says.

Even Elon Musk got in on the action, tweeting about “stormy weather ahead” on Tuesday. Crypto traders always pay attention to what Musk says, even when he’s being cryptic. His tweets have moved Bitcoin prices by thousands of dollars before.

The Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision on March 29 is another wild card hanging over markets. Goldman Sachs analysts think any hint of rate hikes could make things worse for risky assets like crypto. The Fed meeting was already on everyone’s radar, but now it’s got extra importance given how jittery markets are.

European Markets Feel the Pain Too European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde issued a statement expressing concern about potential economic fallout from prolonged geopolitical instability. The ECB wants coordinated international efforts to manage the situation, she said. European markets didn’t escape the selloff either – the FTSE 100 dropped 0.8% in its latest session.

Over in Tehran, the stock exchange saw mixed results with some sectors actually gaining ground due to increased domestic trading activity. Iranian financial analysts think local investors are adjusting their portfolios based on the international political climate. Still no official government statement from Iran about Trump’s comments though. Industry observers have noted parallels with Bitcoin Stalls Below K Mark as in recent weeks.

As of March 26, diplomatic efforts appear completely stalled. Both sides keep giving conflicting accounts of potential resolutions, which isn’t helping investor confidence at all. The whole situation has created a trading environment where everyone’s watching every political development like hawks.

Some analysts think the current crypto crash might create buying opportunities for brave investors. But with Trump’s comments suggesting a prolonged conflict could be ahead, most traders are staying cautious. The market’s reaction shows just how sensitive crypto prices are to geopolitical announcements these days.

Bitcoin and Ethereum have both been pretty volatile this year, but Tuesday’s drop was particularly sharp. The speed of the decline caught some traders off guard, especially those who thought the $27,000 level would hold for Bitcoin. Now they’re wondering where the next support level might be if selling continues.

Trading volumes spiked across major crypto exchanges as investors tried to get out of positions. The fear gauge is definitely elevated right now, with many traders expecting more choppy price action in the days ahead. Without any clear diplomatic progress, markets will probably stay on edge until something changes on the Iran front.

Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat exactly did Trump say about Iran?Trump said he’s “not desperate” to end the ongoing conflict with Iran during a Tuesday interview, which spooked markets worried about prolonged geopolitical tensions.

How much did Bitcoin and Ethereum fall?Bitcoin dropped to $26,850, falling below the key $27,000 level, while Ethereum tumbled to $1,680, breaking under $1,700 support.

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Ethereum (ETH 4.77%) may be down more than 20% in 2026, but so is just about every other Layer-1 blockchain network. Solana (SOL 5.47%) is down 27%, Cardano (ADA 5.39%) is down 21%, and Avalanche (AVAX 5.86%) is down 22%.

That leads to a tough question for crypto investors: Should they continue to put their faith in Ethereum, or should they move their money into one of these top Ethereum competitors and hope for a rebound? Here's a look at a few Ethereum rivals.

Solana With a market cap of $50 billion, Solana has emerged as the cream of the crop of top Ethereum rivals. While it has never lived up to its billing as a potential "Ethereum killer," it continues to display enormous promise. It's rapidly evolving from a blockchain best known for meme coins into something much more.

Most importantly, Solana has displayed newfound strength in decentralized finance (DeFi). Already, Solana has surpassed Ethereum in terms of monthly trading volume on its decentralized exchanges. And it now ranks second only to Ethereum in terms of Total Value Locked (TVL), which is arguably the most important metric for measuring overall DeFi strength.

Image source: Getty Images.

Solana is also fast supplanting Ethereum as the go-to blockchain for new stablecoin launches. In October, for example, Western Union launched a new Solana-based dollar stablecoin that will make it easier for its customers to send money internationally.

At the same time, Solana's blockchain ecosystem is showing signs of rapid growth. According to a report last October by 21Shares, Solana's blockchain ecosystem generated nearly $3 billion in revenue over the most recent 12-month period.

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The only problem, of course, is that Solana's price hasn't kept up with its rapid growth. At a current price of $89, Solana trades at a remarkable 70% discount to its all-time high of $294 in January 2025. From my perspective, that makes Solana wildly undervalued. What has really changed over the past 12 months?

What about the other Ethereum competitors? While both Cardano and Avalanche have shown promise over the past five years, it's time for investors to forget about them. Avalanche is now down a head-spinning 94% from its all-time high in 2021. And it's not much better for Cardano, which is down 92% from its all-time high in 2021.

From my perspective, what was once a crowded field has narrowed down to just two main competitors: Ethereum and Solana. It's the longtime market leader versus the upstart.

If forced to pick between the two, my current lean is toward Solana. It's simply growing faster than Ethereum right now. If Ethereum were the one Layer-1 blockchain network you needed to have in your portfolio over the past decade, Solana may be the one Layer-1 blockchain network you need to have in your portfolio over the next decade.

Dominic Basulto has positions in Cardano, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Avalanche, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Shiba Inu is showing renewed momentum after a dramatic spike in its daily token burn rate. The development has reignited confidence among holders, known as the SHIB Army, just as the token tests a critical price ceiling for the third consecutive time this week.

On March 23, 2026, SHIB posted a sharp bullish candle, briefly reclaiming the $0.00000600 resistance level. The token made two subsequent attempts to break past $0.00000625, both unsuccessful. Now, a fresh catalyst has emerged, putting SHIB in position for a third attempt to overcome that barrier.

According to the latest data from Shibburn, 23,729,119 SHIB tokens were destroyed within a 24-hour window. Ten separate transactions executed the burns. Three of those involved multi-million token transfers sent to dead wallets in a single move.

The largest single burn involved 14,235,163 SHIB sent to a null address. Etherscan confirmed the transfer was valued at just over $105 at the time of execution. The burn accelerated SHIB's daily destruction rate by 1,086.38%, a figure that caught the attention of traders and long-term holders alike.

Exchange Reserves Signal a Tightening MarketSHIB's circulating supply on centralized exchanges is shrinking fast. Etherscan data places the remaining token reserves at 585.48 trillion following Thursday's burns. Exchange-held balances across major platforms, including Binance and Coinbase, are declining in parallel.

At the start of March 2026, approximately 80.9 trillion SHIB tokens were held across major exchanges. That figure represents a steep drop from the 166 trillion recorded two years prior. Some profit-taking has since added around 300 billion tokens back into exchange reserves, pushing the current balance to approximately 81.2 trillion. The overall trend, however, remains sharply downward.

This supply compression marks the tightest exchange reserve count in over two years. When token availability on exchanges shrinks, the market typically faces upward price pressure, provided demand holds or increases. For SHIB, this dynamic is developing in real time.

Trading volume on Thursday landed just above $113 million. That figure reflects limited speculative activity for now. It suggests that current price movement is being driven more by supply mechanics than by short-term speculation.

Holders Shift to Self-Custody, Reducing Sell PressureA notable trend accompanying the supply squeeze is the movement of SHIB holdings into self-custodial wallets. When token holders transfer assets off exchanges, those tokens are effectively removed from immediate sell pressure. This behavior signals long-term conviction rather than short-term trading intent.

This shift is significant. As fewer tokens remain on exchanges, the gap between SHIB's price and its constrained supply is likely to narrow. At the time of writing, Shiba Inu trades at around $0.00000594, down 2.51% in the last 24 hours.

Ethereum is holding above $2,000. The price chart looks uncertain. The exchange data tells a different story entirely.

A CryptoQuant report has identified a withdrawal pattern that cuts against the bearish surface narrative: on March 22, a single OKX outflow of $1.67 billion in ETH left the exchange in one movement — the largest single withdrawal event recorded in the period under review. Binance followed with its own signals, registering two separate outflows each exceeding $300 million, on February 5 and February 7.

Three large withdrawals. Two major exchanges. One direction.

When ETH moves off exchanges at this scale, it does not disappear — it migrates into cold storage, staking contracts, and long-term custody. It stops being available for immediate sale. The pool of coins that can be sold at a moment’s notice shrinks, and the market’s sensitivity to any new wave of buying demand increases proportionally.

What the withdrawal data describes is a supply side that is quietly tightening while the price holds a key psychological level. Ethereum above $2,000 with contracting exchange supply is not the same market as Ethereum above $2,000 with abundant sell-side liquidity. The number is the same. The structure beneath it is not.

One Exchange Would Be a Data Point. Two Is a Pattern. The report is precise about why the scope of the withdrawal signal matters. A single large outflow from a single exchange can reflect any number of explanations — an institutional custody transfer, a wallet reorganization, a single large holder moving funds for reasons entirely unrelated to market outlook. What it cannot easily explain is the same behavior appearing across multiple major exchanges within the same quarter.

Ethereum Exchanges Netflow | Source: CryptoQuant OKX posted the largest single withdrawal in the period. Binance registered two separate outflows above $300 million within 48 hours of each other in early February. When that kind of coordinated supply reduction appears across venues simultaneously, the isolated wallet movement explanation loses credibility. What remains is the more consequential interpretation: a broad contraction in the ETH available for immediate spot selling across the market’s deepest liquidity pools.

The report is careful about what this means and what it does not. Lower exchange-held supply is not a rally trigger. It is a structural condition — one that reduces the overhead of available sell-side pressure and makes the market more reactive to any uptick in demand. The floor does not rise automatically. It becomes easier to defend.

If the pattern holds, Ethereum is not just above $2,000. It is above $2,000 with a progressively thinner book of coins willing to be sold at this price.

The Ethereum Trend Has Not Changed Ethereum is trading at $2,079, down 4.13% on the day. The session opened at $2,169, reached a high of $2,172, and has spent the remainder of the day selling off — a candle that opened near its high and is closing near its low. That is not consolidation. That is distribution.

ETH consolidates around key MA | Source: ETHUSDT chart on TradingView The daily chart context is unambiguous. ETH peaked near $4,100 in September 2025 and has been in a structured downtrend for six consecutive months. The February capitulation — a near-vertical drop from $3,000 to $1,770, accompanied by the heaviest sell volume on the entire chart — was the most violent single move of the decline. Price recovered from that wick, but the recovery has been labored, range-bound, and unconvincing.

All three moving averages confirm the bearish structure. The 50-day MA has crossed below the 100-day MA — a death cross on the intermediate timeframe — and both are accelerating lower. The 200-day MA, descending from the $3,200 region, remains the dominant overhead resistance. Price has not traded above it since November. Every rally attempt has stalled well beneath it.

Today’s 4.13% decline while trading below all three downward-sloping MAs is not noise. It is the trend reasserting itself. The $2,000 level is the immediate line. Below it, the February lows at $1,770 come back into view.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

The total Bitcoin (BTC) supply in profit stands at 60.6% on Thursday, continuing to move within a range historically associated with market cycle resets. The metric previously dropped to 50.8% on Feb. 5, its lowest level since January 2, 2023, leaving a large share of holders at breakeven or at a loss.

Similar conditions in the past cycles have preceded strong upside moves. In January 2023, BTC traded at $16,682 when profitability levels were comparable at 51%, before rallying 655% to $126,000 in 2025.

A similar setup occurred in March 2020, when the total supply in profit fell below 50% as BTC traded at $6,500, ahead of a move to $69,000 in 2021.

Bitcoin profitability returns to prior market cycle base levelsOver the past five years, the 50–60% profitability range has repeatedly marked periods where a large portion of holders sat near the BTC cost basis. That compresses unrealized gains across the network and reduces the incentive to sell into weakness.

Bitcoin Supply in Profit (%). Source: CryptoQuantIt is important to note that the metric does not pinpoint a price bottom. It outlines a zone where long-term accumulation has led to high returns while the downside sell pressure has eased.

In past cycles, Bitcoin price bottoms were formed when the long-term holder net unrealized profit/loss (LTH-NUPL) turned negative, as seen during the 2015, 2018, and 2022 bear markets. This phase marked a period where the long-term investors were holding at a loss.

However, the current LTH-NUPL reading is near 0.40, which means that the long-term holders are still comfortably in profit, even as the overall supply profitability has dropped near market cycle lows.

Bitcoin LTH-NUPL data. Source: CryptoQuantThis gap highlights a shift in the market environment. A growing share of Bitcoin supply is now held by corporate entities and spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which collectively control close to 15.8% of the circulating supply, i.e., 3,319,677 BTC.

These participants typically operate with a longer holding period and lower sensitivity to short-term price swings.

As a result, the profitability compression across the BTC market does not translate into the same level of forced selling from long-term holders seen in previous cycles in 2015, 2018, and 2022.

This change helps explain why the total supply in profit may revisit historical accumulation zones while the long-term holder profitability stays elevated.

BTC exchange flows align with valuation modelsThe short-term holder BTC flows to Binance fell to 25,000 BTC on March 25. Crypto analyst Darkfost said it is a new market low, down from roughly 100,000 BTC during the early February sell-off. This decline shows a clear reduction in reactive selling from the newer market participants.

Bitcoin STH inflows on Binance. Source: CryptoQuantMeanwhile, crypto analyst GugaOnChain noted that the valuation models can help identify where the deeper market stress may emerge for BTC. Metrics such as market-value to realized-value (MVRV) below 1, NUPL under -0.2, and a Puell Multiple near 0.35 have historically appeared during periods of heavy retail pressure and undervalued conditions.

While these indicators do not predict the exact market bottoms, they highlight zones where downside risk has historically been limited relative to long-term upside, offering a clearer view of overall market positioning.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision. While we strive to provide accurate and timely information, Cointelegraph does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information in this article. This article may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Cointelegraph will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your reliance on this information.

Published: Mar 26, 2026 at 19:02
Updated: Mar 26, 2026 at 20:10

BNB's price has declined after buyers failed twice to sustain it above the moving average lines.

BNB price long-term prediction: ranging The most recent price action saw bullish momentum rejected at the $687 and $652 highs. Today, the cryptocurrency has dropped between the moving average lines. BNB is trading above the 50-day SMA support but below the 21-day SMA. As it is positioned between the moving average lines, the altcoin is likely to remain range-bound.

However, if the bears break below the 50-day SMA support, BNB will decline further and return to its range above the $570 level. Conversely, BNB will rise if it breaks above the 21-day SMA. Currently, BNB is at $642.

Technical indicators: Resistance Levels – $1,000, $1,050, $1,200

Support Levels – $900, $850, $800

BNB price indicators reading The price has fallen between the horizontal moving average lines. The formation of Doji candlesticks has caused the price movement to remain stagnant.

On the 4-hour chart, the cryptocurrency price has dropped below the horizontal moving average lines. Long candlestick wicks at the latest peak indicate significant selling pressure.

What is the next direction for BNB/USD? The cryptocurrency has fallen twice from its recent peak, resuming its sideways trend. BNB will continue to trade within the range of the moving average lines until a clear trend emerges.

Currently, BNB is declining as it approaches the $620 support. BNB is trading above $620, with resistance at $680. If the current support level of $620 is breached, the altcoin will fall to its lower price range.

Disclaimer. This analysis and forecast are the personal opinions of the author. The data provided is collected by the author and is not sponsored by any company or token developer. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell cryptocurrency and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Coinidol.com. Readers should do their research before investing in funds.

The corporate Bitcoin treasury boom is losing oxygen: a $100 billion public-company bet has shrunk, buying has collapsed outside Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), and the financing model that drove the trade is starting to fail.

Data from CryptoQuant show that the Michael Saylor-led company bought about 45,000 Bitcoin over the last 30 days, the largest 30-day haul since April 2025.

Over the same period, all other Bitcoin treasury companies combined purchased about 1,000 Bitcoin, down about 99% from the 69,000 BTC they bought at the peak of the trade in August 2025.

Strategy Dominates Bitcoin Treasury Companies BTC Purchases (Source: CryptoQuant)CryptoQuant noted that the gap has widened to the point that Strategy now accounts for about 98% of all Bitcoin bought by treasury firms over the past month.

Last October, the balance looked very different, with companies outside Strategy responsible for about 95% of net purchases during a period when corporate buying was spreading across a wider list of names.

That shift has left Strategy as the dominant source of incremental treasury demand in a sector that, only months ago, was being promoted as a broader corporate movement tied to Bitcoin’s rally and to publicly listed companies' ability to use their stocks as financing tools.

Participation shrinks beyond StrategyThe slowdown outside Strategy is showing up not only in the size of purchases but also in the number of companies still participating.

Treasury companies other than Strategy made 13 Bitcoin purchases in the last 30 days, down 76% from the 54 recorded in August 2025, when corporate activity was at its peak. Strategy, by contrast, has maintained a steadier pace, posting about 4 to 5 purchases each 30-day period.

The numbers point to a market where both the depth and breadth of demand have weakened. Fewer companies are buying, and those that remain active are deploying less capital than they did during the peak of the trade.

That change has altered the makeup of the sector. While Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings have grown by about 90,000 Bitcoin so far this year, other treasury companies together have added a net 4,000 Bitcoin over the same period.

As a result, their share of total corporate treasury holdings has slipped from 26% in November 2025 to 24% now, while Strategy’s share has continued to climb.

Strategy Dominates Bitcoin Treasury Companies' Daily BTC Purchases (Source: CryptoQuant)Strategy now holds about 76% of all Bitcoin owned by treasury companies. The next two largest holders, XXI and Metaplanet, account for 4.3% and 3.5%, respectively.

For a sector that expanded quickly as rising Bitcoin prices pulled in new entrants, the concentration is becoming harder to ignore.

A trade built on rising prices loses momentumThe corporate treasury model gained momentum last year as Bitcoin rose and public-market investors rewarded listed companies that offered leveraged exposure to the asset.

As Bitcoin climbed, many companies were able to issue shares at premiums to the value of the BTC already on their balance sheets.

That gave them a way to raise capital, buy more Bitcoin, and, in some cases, widen the gap between their market value and the underlying value of their holdings. Notably, some also used debt financing to add exposure.

That structure worked well in a rising market. However, it became far more difficult once Bitcoin stopped advancing and equity premiums narrowed.

Bitcoin price has fallen from its all-time high of $126,000 in October to around $70,000, erasing much of the gains that had supported the trade.

As prices fell, the net asset value tied to corporate holdings also fell. At the same time, equity valuations for many digital asset treasury companies moved lower, reducing their ability to issue stock on favorable terms.

Consequently, the result has been a tighter feedback loop across the sector, in which a lower Bitcoin price reduces Bitcoin's net asset value per share. This leads to lower equity premiums, making stock issuance less accretive.

Once those conditions are set in, the same financing mechanism that helped companies expand their Bitcoin positions begins to lose effectiveness.

That pressure has hit treasury-company equities hard. Shares that had traded as high-beta expressions of Bitcoin’s upside have declined sharply from their 2025 highs, and many have underperformed BTC itself.

For companies that bought heavily near the top of the market, such as Metaplanet, unrealized losses are beginning to mount.

Metaplanet Bitcoin Holdings Net Value (Source: Metaplanet)Stress emerges across the sectorMeanwhile, signs of strain are beginning to appear in individual cases across the sector.

One recent example came from GD Culture, the publicly traded artificial intelligence and livestreaming firm, which approved the sale of its 7,500 Bitcoin, worth about $503 million, to fund share buybacks and support its stock price.

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The sector’s aggregate numbers also reflect the change in conditions. More than 100 public companies piled roughly $100 billion into Bitcoin last year as the trade gathered pace.

Those holdings are now worth about $83.7 billion, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data, a sharp reduction from their peak value.

Public Companies Total Bitcoin Holdings (Source: Bitcoin Treasuries)At the same time, only two of the public companies that hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets bought more of the asset in the past week, according to data compiled by Hodl15Capital.

The slowdown suggests that, outside a small number of committed players, the appetite to keep adding exposure has faded with the market.

Even among firms that continue to present Bitcoin accumulation as a long-term strategy, activity has become more uneven.

Metaplanet, one of the highest-profile Bitcoin treasury companies in Japan, raised 40.8 billion yen, or about $255 million, as part of a financing that could deliver up to $531 million in total capital for Bitcoin purchases.

Yet it has not made a Bitcoin purchase this year, even as it maintains a long-term target of holding 210,000 Bitcoin. The company currently holds 35,102 Bitcoin.

The next phase looks more selectiveAgainst that background, research across the sector is increasingly pointing to a more difficult environment for firms that built their strategy around equity issuance and rising Bitcoin prices.

Analysts at Galaxy Digital have said the same financial engineering that amplified upside when valuations were strong is now magnifying downside as equity premiums compress.

For treasury companies whose shares had functioned as leveraged crypto trades, softer markets and weaker risk appetite across public equities have changed the economics of the model.

Crypto research firm 10x Research also argued that the first stage of the treasury-company trade has already run its course, with the easy gains from rich premiums to net asset value no longer available to most firms.

In that environment, companies are likely to face stronger scrutiny over how much stock they issued at peak valuations, how much Bitcoin they bought near cycle highs, and how much debt they took on to fund those positions.

Now, a more selective phase is beginning to take shape.

Galaxy Digital stated that companies with stronger balance sheets and more durable access to capital are better positioned to endure a long period of flat or negative premiums to net asset value.

Already, several Bitcoin treasury firms, including Strategy and Strive, are using preferred stock options to fund new BTC acquisitions, aiming to outperform the top crypto over the long term.

On the other hand, others may need to scale back purchases, rethink capital strategy, or defend shareholder support if equity markets remain unreceptive.

Mentioned in this articlePosted in

TL;DR

Several funds accumulated WLD over the past week, led by DACM with a new 1.4 million token position built through Binance withdrawals. Kenetic Capital, CoinFund and Hashed also added exposure, while no selling activity was reported from those entities during the same period. WLD remains inside a descending channel near $0.30, with resistance at $0.40 to $0.45 and downside risk toward $0.22 to $0.25 ahead this week. Worldcoin is attracting fresh scrutiny for a reason that sits uneasily beside its chart. While price keeps sliding, a cluster of funds has begun accumulating WLD with discipline. The token has been losing traction since its 2025 rejection and recently fell more than 8% in 24 hours to around $0.30, even as trading volume climbed close to 30% above $186 million. Normally that kind of backdrop suggests stress, not conviction. Yet several crypto funds have been adding exposure over the past week, creating the impression that positioning may be turning before price confirms it.

Four funds accumulated $WLD this week

DACM made the biggest move – a brand new position. Zero holdings a week ago. 1.4M tokens today. All withdrawn directly from Binance.

They're not alone:
– Kenetic Capital: +143.8K across 2 wallets
– CoinFund: +67.2K
– Hashed: +38.4K —… pic.twitter.com/z9A1ZEPArK

— Nansen 🧭 (@nansen_ai) March 26, 2026

Why smart-money flows are getting noticed The strongest move came from DACM. Its sudden buildup stands out because it was not an incremental top-up, but a seven-day position built from zero. DACM accumulated 1.4 million WLD tokens over the week, with the tokens withdrawn directly from Binance rather than received through passive inflows. Other funds moved in the same direction. Kenetic Capital added more than 143,000 WLD across two wallets, CoinFund increased its holdings by about 67,000 tokens, and Hashed added roughly 38,000, bringing its total exposure close to 1.7 million WLD. Importantly, there was no reported selling from those entities.

The accumulation story, however, is colliding with a chart that still looks fragile. Worldcoin remains trapped inside a descending channel, and the technical structure has yet to validate the bullish narrative implied by fund behavior. On the daily timeframe, WLD continues to print lower highs and lower lows, with price hovering near the lower boundary of the channel around $0.30. RSI sits in the 35 to 40 range, signaling weak buying momentum without entering deeply oversold territory. Chaikin Money Flow also remains negative, suggesting that broader spot demand still has not aligned with the fund positioning.

That divergence is what makes the current setup so intriguing. Worldcoin is no longer just a story of weakness, but a test of whether institutional-style accumulation can get ahead of the chart. Immediate resistance sits between $0.40 and $0.45, while a confirmed move above $0.60 would signal a broader trend reversal and open the way toward $0.75 to $0.85. On the downside, support remains at $0.28 to $0.30. If that zone breaks, the token could slide toward $0.22 to $0.25. For now, the market has positioning without confirmation, and that tension is the real signal.

MicroStrategy appears to be the only major corporate buyer of Bitcoin right now, raising concerns about the strength of institutional demand. 

Recent data shows the firm purchased roughly 45,000 BTC in the past 30 days, while all other treasury companies combined bought just around 1,000 BTC. That marks a near-total collapse in participation across the sector.

Bitcoin treasury demand is now entirely driven by Strategy.

45K BTC bought in 30 days vs ~1K from others (−99%), with participation collapsing.

With ~76% of holdings, the industry is highly concentrated; there is no broad corporate demand right now. pic.twitter.com/KdAigUFt12

— CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) March 25, 2026 This shift signals a sharp change in market structure. What was once framed as a growing corporate trend now depends almost entirely on a single company. 

MicroStrategy now accounts for an estimated 76% of total Bitcoin holdings among treasury firms, highlighting how concentrated the strategy has become.

At the same time, cracks are beginning to show in MicroStrategy’s own model. The company’s mNAV (multiple to net asset value) remains below 1, sitting around 0.97x. 

This means the stock trades at a discount to the value of its Bitcoin holdings when accounting for dilution.

MicroStrategy mNav Data Year-to-Date. Source: Strategy TrackerThat matters because MicroStrategy’s strategy relies heavily on market confidence. When the stock trades at a premium, the company can raise capital more efficiently to buy more Bitcoin. 

A discount weakens that engine and signals reduced investor appetite for the structure.

Meanwhile, MicroStrategy shares have fallen about 14% year-to-date, compared to Bitcoin’s 22% decline over the same period. 

While that relative outperformance may seem positive, it reflects a more cautious interpretation. Investors still value the company’s ability to accumulate Bitcoin, but they are no longer assigning a strong premium to its model.

Strategy Stock Price Chart Year-to-Date. Source: Google FinanceTaken together, the data points to a fragile setup. Bitcoin treasury demand has not expanded across corporations. Instead, it has narrowed to one dominant player.

As a result, the broader narrative of institutional adoption through corporate treasuries appears weaker than expected. 

The market now relies on MicroStrategy’s continued buying activity rather than a diversified base of corporate demand.

If that dynamic changes, the impact on Bitcoin demand could be immediate and significant.

BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) stock is trading near $21.24, up just 4% over the past month, while Ethereum (ETH), the asset that underpins its entire treasury, has gained 14% in the same period.

That performance gap reveals a negative upside beta, where BMNR fails to capture ETH’s rallies but remains exposed to its declines. Three technical signals explain why the disconnect persists and what it would take to close it.

Weak Ethereum Beta Keeps BitMine TrappedBeInCrypto’s exclusive BMNR-ETH proxy indicator on the daily chart shows the correlation between BitMine stock price and Ethereum sitting at 0.57, with a smoothed reading of 0.36. While that correlation is positive, the beta to ETH reads -0.26, which means BMNR is moving in the opposite direction of Ethereum on a magnitude basis.

This negative beta explains the monthly performance gap. When ETH rallied 14%, BMNR captured only a fraction of that upside. The stock has been locked inside a descending parallel channel on the daily chart since early October, a 6-month downtrend that has compressed the price from above $65 to the current $21 range, a 68% slide.

Want more insights like this? Sign up for Editor Harsh Notariya’s Daily Crypto Newsletter here.

BMNR-ETH Proxy Correlation: TradingViewBitMine continues to buy ETH aggressively. The company’s latest transaction on March 23 added 65,341 ETH to its treasury, bringing total holdings to 4,660,903 ETH. Weekly purchases have accelerated from roughly 35,000 ETH per week in late January to over 65,000 ETH per week by late March. Yet the stock price has not responded positively, more so when ETH remains up month-on-month.

BitMine ETH Transaction History: CoinGeckoThe purchases alone are not enough. Institutional money flowing into the stock itself tells a different story.

Institutional Flow Failed to Sustain, Capping Each RallyChaikin Money Flow (CMF), a proxy for institutional buying and selling pressure, sits at -0.11 on the daily chart. That negative reading means institutional capital is flowing out of BMNR rather than in, even as the company adds ETH to its balance sheet every week.

CMF briefly moved above the zero line in early March, coinciding with a short rally. However, between March 6 and March 16, prices trended higher while CMF trended lower, forming a bearish divergence. That divergence resolved to the downside. Prices corrected back toward $20, and CMF fell below zero again.

CMF Bearish Divergence: TradingViewThe pattern is clear. Without sustained institutional buying pressure above zero, every rally attempt gets sold into. ETH’s upside is not translating into BMNR inflows because the institutional participants who move stock prices are not participating.

If institutions are absent, the question becomes whether any buyer segment is providing support. The RSI offers a possible answer.

BitMine Stock Price Levels Hinge on $23.84 Channel BreakWhile CMF shows institutional weakness, the Relative Strength Index (RSI), a momentum oscillator, is telling a different story. Between December 31 and March 20, the BitMine stock price made a lower low. During the same period, RSI made a higher low, forming a standard bullish divergence.

This divergence suggests that selling momentum is weakening at the lows. The buyers providing that floor may be retail participants or smaller funds accumulating at discounted levels, given that institutional flow via CMF remains negative. RSI currently reads 48.91, approaching the neutral 50 line from below.

RSI Bullish Divergence: TradingViewHowever, the RSI signal faces a structural ceiling. The falling channel’s upper trendline and a key technical level converge at $23.84. A daily close above that level would confirm the channel breakout and potentially attract the institutional flow that has been absent for months. The move from the current price to $23.84 requires an 11% rally.

BMNR Price Analysis: TradingViewBefore $23.84, the interim structural resistance sits at $21.89. On the downside, $19.80 is the first support. A close below that level could expose $17.30, where the channel low sits. If institutional outflows continue, even $15.28 and $13.26 become possible targets.

A daily close above $23.84 would break the six-month channel and potentially realign the BitMine stock price with Ethereum’s rally, while a failure below $19.80 confirms that even a 4.66 million ETH treasury cannot rescue a stock that institutions refuse to buy.

Tether has launched XAU₮ on BNB Chain and Binance, extending its 60% share of a $4b tokenized gold market across 12+ networks via the USDt0 cross-chain system.

Summary

Tether’s gold-backed token XAU₮ is now live on BNB Chain, bringing the product to the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange ecosystem and expanding its cross-chain reach to over 12 blockchains via the USDt0 network. The gold-backed stablecoin market grew from roughly $1.3 billion to over $4 billion in 2025, with XAU₮ commanding approximately 60% of total supply. Binance simultaneously listed XAUt on March 26, offering spot trading, 1–50x USDT perpetual contracts, VIP borrowing, and one-click purchases via card and mobile pay. Tether on March 26 announced that Tether Gold (XAU₮) is now live on BNB Chain, placing the dominant tokenized gold product directly into the ecosystem of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and its hundreds of millions of users. Each XAU₮ token represents one fine troy ounce of physical gold — London Good Delivery standard — held in Swiss vaults and independently attested on a 1:1 basis.

The launch is timed to a market that has moved sharply in tokenized gold’s favor. Gold surged 64% in 2025 — its largest annual gain in 40 years — setting more than 50 all-time highs as geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainty pushed investors toward safe-haven assets. The gold-backed stablecoin market nearly tripled over the same period, climbing from roughly $1.3 billion to over $4 billion, with XAU₮ holding approximately 60% of total supply.

The BNB Chain deployment is backed by Tether’s USDt0 cross-chain network, which gives XAU₮ unified liquidity across more than 12 blockchains. The architecture is designed to improve the efficiency of issuance, transfer, and settlement, and eliminates the need for users to navigate traditional custody logistics, counterparty premiums, or settlement delays associated with physical gold markets.

What Tether and BNB Chain executives said “With XAU₮, we are not changing what gold is; we are making it usable in a modern financial system,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, in the official announcement. “You still have direct exposure to physical gold, but now it can move instantly, settle globally, and integrate seamlessly with digital markets. Listing on BNB Chain expands that access to hundreds of millions of users, bringing gold into a system where it can actually be used, not just held.”

Nina Rong, Executive Director of Growth at BNB Chain, added: “XAU₮ on BNB Chain extends what is already the second-largest RWA ecosystem by TVL. It gives users a trusted, gold-backed asset they can use across DeFi without friction.”

BNB Chain doubles down on real-world assets The Tether Gold deployment deepens BNB Chain’s position in tokenized real-world assets. As reported in a previous crypto.news story, the network’s RWA value surged 555% year over year in Q4 2024, making it the second-largest RWA blockchain behind Ethereum. The addition of XAU₮ — already the largest gold-backed token by market cap — reinforces that trajectory as institutions accelerate tokenized commodity adoption.

XAU₮ is issued by TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V., a registered Digital Asset Service Provider under El Salvador’s Digital Asset Issuance Law. Reserve details and vault attestation reports are publicly accessible at gold.tether.to. Binance also listed XAUt on March 26 with perpetual futures, leveraged trading pairs, and principal-protected yield products — though the launch was briefly delayed from 21:30 to 22:00 UTC+8.

The move follows Tether’s January launch of Scudo, a fractional unit for XAU₮ equal to one-thousandth of a troy ounce, detailed in a previous crypto.news story, which was aimed at making tokenized gold viable for payments and everyday on-chain use.

This Thursday, the Bitcoin-native lending protocol Mezo unveiled a strategic alliance with Aerodrome Finance. The partnership aims to foster trading activity for both its native token and its Bitcoin-backed stablecoin (MUSD) on Base, an Ethereum Layer 2 solution.

Can you say 'bitcoin banking on @base' five times fast?

Soon 👀 https://t.co/ki9hhiQAwJ

— Mezo (@MezoNetwork) March 26, 2026

A key highlight of the agreement is that Mezo will allocate 2.25% of its total supply to Aerodrome’s vote-escrow (veAERO) participants. This incentive encourages users who lock tokens in exchange for governance rights to direct liquidity toward MEZO and MUSD trading pairs. As a leading liquidity provider on Base, Aerodrome will facilitate this integration, granting Mezo access to an active DeFi user base.

This collaboration comes as developers strive to adapt existing Decentralized Finance (DeFi) models to the Bitcoin ecosystem, which has traditionally struggled to capture consistent trading activity. By leveraging Aerodrome’s infrastructure on Base, Mezo intends to overcome this challenge. To date, Mezo has issued at least 2,000 loans and managed $23 million in assets denominated in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Source:https://x.com/MezoNetwork/status/2037181666435961178

Disclaimer: Crypto Economy Flash News are prepared from official and public sources verified by our editorial team. Their purpose is to provide rapid information on relevant events in the crypto and blockchain ecosystem. This information does not constitute financial advice or investment recommendations. We always recommend verifying the official channels of each project before making related decisions.

GameStop turned its $368 million bitcoin stash into an options income playThe video retailer sparked speculations of selling bitcoin after it transferred nearly all its coins to Coinbase Prime in January. Mar 26, 2026, 8:20 p.m.

GameStop's (GME) massive, $420 million bitcoin BTC$69,222.82 transfer earlier this year was not an exit – but it's not holding the coins anymore either.

In its annual report filed Tuesday, the video game retailer revealed that 4,709 BTC – out of its 4,710 coins – had been pledged to crypto exchange giant Coinbase (COIN) as part of an over-the-counter covered-call strategy.

The disclosure offers a clearer explanation for a January wallet that showed GameStop shifting nearly its entire bitcoin position to Coinbase Prime. The move had stirred speculation that the company was preparing to sell its holdings. Especially so as digital asset treasury firms faced mounting pressure from falling crypto prices, sparking questions about whether GameStop was cutting risk.

The BTC options strategyWhat happened instead is that the company has written short-dated call options on its bitcoin, with strike prices between $105,000 and $110,000 and expiries through late March.

The trade was aimed at generating income from option premiums, while limiting gains above those levels.

The filing shows a $0.7 million liability linked to the options and a $2.3 million unrealized gain. It also said that after the fiscal year ending on January 31, a portion of the covered-call contracts expired unexercised, while the related collateral remained with Coinbase Credit.

No longer holding bitcoinThe structure also changed how GameStop accounts for its holdings.

Because Coinbase can rehypothecate or redeploy the pledged bitcoin, the company no longer classifies the assets as directly held. It now records a receivable, the right to reclaim equivalent BTC later.

That is a notable shift from its buy-and-hold strategy. While GameStop said its economic exposure remains similar to holding bitcoin outright, the position is no longer unencumbered. It sits with a counterparty and is tied to derivatives.

The firm reported that receivables linked to the pledged bitcoin were worth $368.3 million at fiscal year-end. It also booked a $59.7 million unrealized loss tied to bitcoin’s price decline.

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As stablecoins evolve into core financial infrastructure, North America leads. This report maps the regulation, market shifts, and players driving adoption.

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Stablecoins are entering their third phase of evolution - the institutionalization era - becoming increasingly embedded into core financial infrastructure. As institutions prioritize transparency and compliance, regulated issuers like USDC, RLUSD, and PYUSD are steadily gaining share with RLUSD surpassing $1B in market cap within its first year. North America, leading in regulatory frameworks and institutional distribution, is at the center of it all.

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OKX says it will delay a U.S. public listing until it is confident it can deliver long-term shareholder value, despite its rapid global expansion.The exchange was recently valued at $25 billion in a strategic deal involving Intercontinental Exchange, which executives say was intentionally conservative to support future returns.Citing...

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Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has highlighted a new partnership on X between privacy-focused blockchain Midnight and UK-regulated Monument Bank, describing it as one of the most significant deals the ecosystem has seen so far.

Hoskinson believes the collaboration could unlock billions in total value locked (TVL).

This is one of the largest deals we've ever done and could bring hundreds of millions to billions of TVL to the Midnight ecosystem. I'm extremely proud of @F_ZK_Now and his team at the @midnightfdn for the hard work they put into the negotiations with Monument.

Midnight is the… https://t.co/T98Z1jVEQR

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) March 25, 2026 Monument Bank to Tokenize £250M in Retail Deposits on Midnight Blockchain Monument Bank revealed it aims to pioneer the tokenization of retail deposits on a public blockchain among UK-regulated institutions. For this rollout, the London-based challenger bank will rely on Midnight, the highly anticipated privacy-centric blockchain tied to Cardano, with its official debut set for the final week of March.

The integration will be introduced in three stages, starting with a target of £250 million ($335 million) in tokenized retail deposits. These digital assets will be fully backed, representing a one-to-one equivalent of the underlying fiat funds held by Monument Bank.

According to the announcement, the deposits will remain redeemable on a one-for-one basis in pounds sterling and safeguarded under existing UK regulatory frameworks. The initiative also highlights data privacy as a major barrier that has long slowed blockchain adoption within the banking industry.

 

It’s important to note that Midnight’s architecture leverages zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to protect transaction data, ensuring that sensitive financial information remains private and visible only to the bank and its customers.

In simple terms, it acts like a smart curtain for blockchain activity—allowing users to reveal only selected details while keeping the rest hidden. Operating as a partner chain to the Cardano smart contract platform, Midnight is designed to deliver both privacy and regulatory compliance for decentralized applications.

In later stages, Monument Bank plans to introduce tokenized investment products, including private market and commodity funds, and eventually enable lending against these holdings directly within the Monument app.

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PIPPIN got hammered Wednesday. The crypto token lost a third of its value as $37 million vanished from its market cap in what traders are calling one of the most brutal selloffs of the year.

Trading volume exploded to $150 million – an all-time high for the token. Investors scrambled to dump their holdings or bet against further drops. The panic selling created a nasty feedback loop where forced liquidations triggered more selling, which pushed prices down even harder. Automated trading bots made things worse by firing off sell orders as the price fell.

Market cap destruction hit fast.

Liquidation Cascade Triggers Selloff Leveraged traders got crushed when margin calls started hitting. People who borrowed money to buy PIPPIN had to sell their positions to cover losses. Each wave of forced selling pushed the price down more, creating what one trader called “a liquidation death spiral.”

Short positions piled up during the chaos. Traders betting against PIPPIN jumped in as the price started falling, adding fuel to the fire. The bearish sentiment spread fast through crypto Twitter and trading forums. “Everyone wanted out,” said one anonymous trader who lost $50,000 on the move.

Binance and Coinbase saw massive traffic spikes as users rushed to trade PIPPIN. The exchanges didn’t comment on liquidity issues, but several traders reported delays getting orders filled during peak selling periods.

Regulatory Scrutiny Mounts The SEC is reportedly watching the PIPPIN situation closely. An insider familiar with the matter said regulators want to know if market manipulation played a role in the selloff. The agency is particularly interested in the trading patterns and whether any coordinated selling took place.

Galaxy Digital cut its PIPPIN holdings by 15% Thursday, confirming what many suspected – big funds are backing away from the token. The crypto investment firm didn’t elaborate on its reasoning, but the move signals growing caution among institutional players. Industry observers have noted parallels with BeaconOnBase Crashes to INR 23.45 as in recent weeks.

PIPPIN’s development team hasn’t said anything about the crash. The silence is pretty telling, and it’s making investors even more nervous. Without any official word on what went wrong or what comes next, people are basically flying blind.

Some analysts think strategic partnerships could help PIPPIN recover. Mike Thompson from BlockFi said new tech developments might stabilize the price, but he stressed that leadership needs to communicate better. “You can’t just go dark when your token loses a third of its value,” Thompson said.

Not everyone is bailing out though. A few smaller investment groups actually bought more PIPPIN during the crash, betting on a bounce back. These contrarian plays suggest some people still believe in the token’s long-term potential, even if the short-term outlook looks grim.

Crypto analyst Jamie Lee from Crypto Insights pointed out the unusual trading patterns during the selloff. She said the automated algorithms probably made the crash worse by triggering cascading sell orders. “When the bots start selling, it can get ugly fast,” Lee explained.

The broader crypto market didn’t help PIPPIN’s cause either. Smaller tokens have been getting hit harder as investors flee to safer assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. PIPPIN’s crash fits into this pattern of risk-off behavior that’s been building for weeks.

Wednesday’s chaos left many traders wondering if PIPPIN can recover from such a massive hit. The token had been showing promise before the selloff, but investor confidence took a serious beating. Without clear direction from the development team, it’s hard to see how sentiment improves anytime soon. This echoes themes explored in MARA Holdings Dumps 15,133 Bitcoin as, underscoring the shifting landscape.

The crypto community is watching closely to see if any recovery plans emerge. So far though, there’s been radio silence from PIPPIN’s leadership, leaving investors to guess what happens next. Trading volumes remain elevated as the market tries to find a new equilibrium after the dramatic price action.

The crash mirrors similar token collapses seen with LUNA and FTT, where rapid deleveraging created unstoppable downward momentum. Crypto markets have witnessed at least twelve major token crashes exceeding 30% in single-day moves this year, with smaller altcoins proving especially vulnerable to liquidity crises.

Several DeFi protocols holding PIPPIN in their treasury reserves also took hits Wednesday. Uniswap pools showed severe imbalances as liquidity providers pulled funds, while lending platforms like Aave temporarily increased collateral requirements for PIPPIN-backed loans. The contagion effect reached at least six other tokens in PIPPIN’s ecosystem.

Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat caused PIPPIN’s 33% crash on Wednesday?The crash was triggered by a surge in liquidations and increased short positions, with automated trading algorithms making the selloff worse as $37 million was wiped from the market cap.

How did trading volumes change during the PIPPIN selloff?Trading volume hit an all-time high of $150 million as investors rushed to either dump their holdings or speculate on further price drops.

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TLDR Ripple will strengthen XRP Ledger security by integrating artificial intelligence tools into its core testing processes. The company will introduce AI-assisted testing to identify vulnerabilities earlier in the development cycle. Ripple will establish a dedicated red team to simulate real-world attacks on the network. The engineering team will apply stricter standards before approving protocol amendments. XRP Ledger continues expanding into global payments and tokenized asset use cases. Ripple will reinforce network defenses by integrating artificial intelligence tools into its core systems. The company confirmed it will upgrade XRP Ledger (XRPL) security through structured testing and adversarial simulations. The initiative introduces AI-assisted testing, a dedicated red team, and stricter amendment standards.

XRP Ledger Security Upgrade Centers on AI Testing RippleX engineering leadership confirmed plans to embed artificial intelligence tools into XRP Ledger security workflows. Ayo Akinyele, Head of Engineering at RippleX, shared the update on X. He said teams will act early instead of reacting after incidents occur.

The company will use AI-assisted testing to review code and detect weaknesses. These tools will scan large codebases and flag unusual patterns. They will also simulate stress conditions and edge cases across network components.

Akinyele stated, “We are integrating AI tools to identify and prevent vulnerabilities earlier.” He added that teams want faster detection and stronger validation. Therefore, engineers will test amendments under tighter review standards.

We’re taking a more proactive, AI-driven approach to strengthening XRPL security.

That includes AI-assisted testing across the development lifecycle, a dedicated red team, and higher standards for how changes are evaluated before they go live.

As XRPL scales to support global…

— J. Ayo Akinyele (@ja_akinyele) March 26, 2026

Ripple will also apply higher thresholds before approving protocol amendments. The company wants structured review processes before deploying updates. This approach aims to reduce exposure to unforeseen risks.

Dedicated Red Team to Simulate Real-World Attacks Ripple confirmed it will form a dedicated red team for adversarial testing. The red team will simulate real-world attack scenarios against XRP Ledger systems. Engineers will then assess weaknesses and patch gaps before external threats emerge.

Akinyele explained that structured adversarial testing strengthens resilience. He stated that proactive simulation helps teams measure defense readiness. The company expects faster remediation cycles through continuous testing.

XRP Ledger now supports more than basic XRP transfers. The network continues expanding into global payments and tokenized asset issuance. Institutional use cases also drive higher transaction volumes.

As network usage expands, exposure to malicious actors increases. Ripple plans to scale security controls alongside system growth. The firm believes AI-assisted testing will support that expansion.

Blockchain firms across the sector are integrating artificial intelligence into operations. Advanced systems now analyze smart contracts and consensus mechanisms at scale. These tools can surface hidden failure modes during development stages.

In related developments, several Bitcoin miners have redirected infrastructure toward AI computing services. This transition reduced active mining capacity across parts of the Bitcoin network. Public blockchain data showed a sharp drop in hashrate during that period.

Separately, crypto exchange Gate disclosed plans to expand AI-driven trading services. The company introduced initiatives such as GateAI and Gate for AI. These programs will provide market analysis and strategy support tools.

Gate stated that its systems will assist users from data review through trade execution. The firm confirmed development efforts remain ongoing. Ripple’s latest announcement marks its current step to reinforce XRP Ledger security through AI integration.

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Thursday! Bitcoin (BTC) is holding a tight range around $68,000 as macro forces squeeze liquidity, with analysts saying the market is in a compression phase awaiting fresh demand to drive a breakout.

In today's newsletter, Fannie Mae is set to accept crypto-backed mortgages for the first time, Trust Wallet launches AI agents that can place crypto trades, MARA sells over 15,000 BTC, and more.

Meanwhile, Circle unfroze one of 16 blacklisted USDC wallets following a backlash, onchain sleuth ZachXBT flagged.

P.S. Don't forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It's a great read — and just like The Daily, it's free to subscribe!

Fannie Mae to accept bitcoin and USDC-backed mortgages Fannie Mae is preparing to accept bitcoin and USDC as collateral for mortgages in a first for U.S. housing finance.

Fannie Mae plays a central role in the U.S. housing system, backing a large share of the country's mortgages. The product, developed with Better Home & Finance and Coinbase, will allow borrowers to pledge crypto when securing a Fannie-backed loan without selling their holdings. Coinbase will custody the assets via Coinbase Prime, returning them once the loan is repaid, a company spokesperson told The Block. The structure uses an overcollateralized crypto loan for the down payment while keeping the primary mortgage insulated from price volatility. Trust Wallet launches AI agents that can execute crypto trades Changpeng Zhao-owned Trust Wallet, which claims to have more than 220 million users, launched a new AI agent toolkit that allows users to automate crypto transactions, including trades, transfers, and recurring buys.

The agents operate across more than 25 blockchains and can execute cross-chain swaps spanning networks like Bitcoin and Solana. Users can choose between fully autonomous agents with their own wallets or assistive agents that require transaction approval. The launch reflects a broader industry push to integrate AI agents into crypto trading and portfolio management. MARA sells 15,133 BTC for $1.1 billion to fund convertible note repurchase Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings sold 15,133 BTC between March 4 and March 25 for about $1.1 billion to fund the repurchase of roughly $1 billion in convertible senior notes.

The buybacks reduce MARA's total convertible debt by about 30% to $2.3 billion while capturing an estimated $88.1 million discount, the firm said. The move follows a policy shift at MARA on March 3, allowing sales from its bitcoin treasury for the first time, rather than limiting disposals to newly mined supply. CEO Fred Thiel said the transaction aims to improve financial flexibility as MARA expands into digital energy and AI/HPC infrastructure. JPMorgan says bitcoin shows safe-haven-like demand during Iran war as gold weakens JPMorgan analysts argued that bitcoin has shown safe-haven-like demand during the Iran war, with inflows and stronger activity while gold and silver weakened.

Gold and silver saw heavy outflows and position unwinds, including nearly $11 billion exiting gold ETFs in March, the analysts said. Crypto usage in Iran surged as citizens turned to bitcoin for capital movement amid currency instability and geopolitical stress, they noted. Bitcoin's momentum has rebounded from oversold levels while gold and silver flipped from overbought to liquidations, signaling a positioning reset across assets, they added. Elon Musk taps former Base, Aave exec Benji Taylor to lead design on X Elon Musk hired Benji Taylor, a former Aave and Base executive, to lead design at X.

Taylor's crypto-native background in wallets and DeFi aligns with X's push into financial services and on-platform payments. Nikita Bier, head of products at X, revealed that he had invested in Taylor's Family wallet app six years ago and expressed confidence in his capabilities. The hire comes as X develops X Money, a payments system targeting a public launch in April 2026. In the next 24 hours U.S. FOMC members Thomas Barkin and Mary Daly will speak at 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. ET, respectively, on Friday. Cheatcode continues in the UK. Stable Summit 2026 kicks off in Cannes. Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.

Disclaimer: This article was produced with the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT/xAI’s Grok and reviewed and edited by our editorial team.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

U.S. mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae is moving to recognize Bitcoin (BTC) as acceptable collateral in home-lending decisions, a step that could deepen the connection between crypto wealth and one of the largest traditional finance markets. The development comes as U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs continue to attract inflows while spot Ether funds extend a multi-day stretch of outflows, underscoring diverging institutional sentiment across major digital assets.

The policy shift was first flagged by journalist Pete Rizzo, who reported that Fannie Mae will allow Bitcoin to be treated as collateral in the mortgage process for the first time. While details of implementation and eligibility were not fully disclosed, market participants view the change as potentially consequential: if Bitcoin can be recognized as part of a borrower’s collateral profile, it may reduce the need for crypto holders to liquidate assets to qualify for financing, while simultaneously raising new questions about custody, volatility management, and underwriting standards.

Fannie Mae’s influence in the U.S. housing ecosystem is hard to overstate. As a cornerstone of the mortgage market, changes to its frameworks can ripple through lenders, servicers, and securitization pipelines. For crypto markets, the key implication is narrative and structural: Bitcoin’s perceived transition from speculative instrument to financially recognized 'collateral asset'—a status historically reserved for more conventional stores of value.

At the same time, ETF flow data showed U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net inflow of $7.81 million on March 25 ET, led by Fidelity’s Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC). The category’s total net asset value stood at roughly $91.63 billion, highlighting the scale of demand that has built since spot products launched. Even relatively modest daily inflows are closely watched as a gauge of 'institutional demand' and liquidity conditions in crypto, particularly during periods of macro uncertainty.

U.S. spot Ethereum (ETH) ETFs, by contrast, posted their sixth consecutive trading day of net outflows. On March 25 ET, the group saw $8.51 million in withdrawals. While the figure is small relative to the broader market, persistent outflows can reinforce a cautious tone among professional allocators—especially when paired with elevated options activity in Bitcoin and shifting macro headlines.

Derivatives positioning appeared to reflect that tension. Options analytics platform Greeks.live reported a surge in Bitcoin call option turnover to around $850 million, suggesting traders have been paying up for upside exposure amid heightened volatility. Market observers attributed the move to a blend of Middle East geopolitical stress and sensitivity to U.S. equity-market swings, which often serve as a proxy for global risk appetite.

In parallel, crypto-native infrastructure continued to attract venture backing. According to The Block, DeFi trading platform DeFi.app raised $4 million in a financing round led by Mechanism Capital, with participation from DCF Capital Partners, former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, Comfy Capital, and the George Bull Group. The round highlights ongoing investor interest in tools that simplify access to decentralized finance, even as regulatory and macro crosswinds remain prominent.

Regulatory developments in Washington also remained in focus. U.S. lawmakers introduced the 'PREDICT Act,' a bill aimed at banning presidents and senior public officials from trading prediction markets, citing concerns about conflicts of interest and misuse of non-public information. The proposal arrives as prediction markets increasingly intersect with politics, macro forecasting, and crypto rails—an overlap that has prompted renewed scrutiny of governance and compliance standards.

Separately, Senator Cynthia Lummis said efforts are accelerating to advance legislation on Bitcoin and broader crypto market structure. Lummis has repeatedly argued that clearer rules are needed to support the U.S. financial system’s evolution, and her renewed push comes as policymakers debate how to balance innovation with consumer protection and systemic risk controls.

Outside crypto, energy and shipping risks added to the backdrop. Iran is reportedly exploring tolls on transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a move framed as a revenue measure that could nonetheless affect global shipping and energy prices. Meanwhile, Ukraine has expanded strikes targeting Russia’s Ust-Luga oil export port, fueling concerns about supply disruptions and fostering a risk-sensitive environment across global markets.

Taken together, the day’s developments point to a market increasingly shaped by two forces: the steady integration of crypto assets into mainstream financial plumbing—now reaching into mortgage finance—and a macro environment where geopolitics, regulation, and liquidity signals from ETFs and derivatives can quickly shift sentiment. For Bitcoin, recognition as mortgage collateral would represent another step toward broader financial legitimacy; for the wider market, uneven ETF flows and elevated options activity suggest investors remain selective about where they take risk.

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Bitcoin [BTC] has been holding up pretty well despite ongoing geopolitical tension. It has been hovering around $70k for over three weeks straight. That said, on the daily chart, BTC would need to break above $75k to set a second higher high and start eyeing the $80k zone.

The environment is extremely volatile right now. With such a huge Options expiry on the horizon, price swings could get amplified.

According to Deribit data, nearly $14 billion in Bitcoin Options are set to expire on the 27th of March. In fact, this expiry accounts for almost 40% of Deribit’s total open positions.

Source: Deribit Now, to get a sense of how this might play out, it helps to look at a few key metrics. 

For instance, Bitcoin’s put/call ratio is currently at 0.62, which means that calls are dominating. From a technical standpoint, out of a total Open Interest of 196k contracts, around 121k are call options, so traders are leaning bullish heading into the expiry. 

Moreover, the max pain level is coming in at $75k. Basically, this level represents the sweet spot where option sellers stand to benefit the most. According to AMBCrypto, this creates an interesting setup. 

On the technical side, Bitcoin has been chopping around $70k for weeks, showing resilience, but the $75k mark has acted as a strong ceiling.

The sheer size of the Options expiry has traders on high alert, watching to see whether BTC can finally push past $75k or if sellers will cap it near max pain.

Looking at sentiment, though, it feels like traders have already made up their minds.

This Friday could put Bitcoin’s resilience to the ultimate test The Crypto Fear and Greed Index shows that since Bitcoin hit resistance around $75k in mid-March, the index has slid back into the fear zone.

The fascinating part is that when BTC topped in this range, it wasn’t accompanied by greed, which tells you traders weren’t fully confident in pushing the market higher.

Source: CoinMarketCap Put simply, Bitcoin ran into resistance because bulls didn’t have enough follow-through.

Add consistent selling pressure to the mix, and it’s clear the market is still hitting friction before any meaningful upside. Every rally has stalled, and buyers aren’t stepping up aggressively, keeping BTC pinned below key levels.

Against this backdrop, the $14 billion Options expiry on Friday adds another layer of uncertainty. With so much of the market’s open positions coming off the table, pushing past $75k looks tough, especially since sentiment is still cautious and traders are hesitant to take on risk.

Final Summary Bitcoin faces a critical test this Friday as the $14 billion Options expiry could keep it pinned below $75k. Resistance and selling pressure remain key hurdles, making BTC’s ability to hold $70k support the main focus for short-term market direction.