An initiative to ban the U.S. Federal Reserve from issuing a government-run digital dollar has been approved in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 89-10 vote in the Senate, but it’s tucked inside a housing bill that may run into headwinds in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The effort to outlaw a central bank digital currency (CBDC) has long been a favorite of Republican lawmakers, though the U.S. government has never advanced beyond the research stage for establishing a government token that could compete with privately issued stablecoins (and rival other CBDCs pursued by China and other jurisdictions). The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act included an unrelated section that outlawed U.S. CBDCs until at least the end of 2030.

The section, in the final pages of the 302-page bill advanced by the Senate, declares that the Fed “may not issue or create a central bank digital currency or any digital asset that is substantially similar to a central bank digital currency directly or indirectly through a financial institution or other intermediary.”

“Financial privacy is a cornerstone of American freedom, and any decision to authorize a Central Bank Digital Currency must remain with Congress and the American people,” said Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone in a statement. “We appreciate the Senate reinforcing that digital innovation in the United States should be led by the private sector while protecting individual liberty.”

But lawmakers in the House have signaled they may force a second effort at the Senate’s version, which could disrupt the bill’s progress. At particular issue is the Senate bill’s forcing of large investors in U.S. housing, such as private equity firms, to sharply limit the number of homes they can own.

President Donald Trump has favored that concept himself — one of the few areas of overlap with Democratic lawmakers.

Though Trump has supported the effort to make housing more widely available in the U.S., he recently stated that he won’t sign any bills into law until Congress sends him legislation that would demand voters produce identification and proof of citizenship before they cast ballots in this year’s consequential congressional midterm election. The path for that initiative is unclear, adding to the uncertainty for those advocating the housing bill and other efforts, including the crypto market structure bill known as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.

Aster price is consolidating beneath key high-timeframe resistance as price compresses within a bullish broadening wedge pattern.

Aster’s (ASTR) recent price action is beginning to attract attention from technical traders as the asset consolidates within a bullish broadening wedge formation. After rebounding from a previous swing low, price has entered a period of compression near a critical high-timeframe resistance level.

This consolidation is occurring around the point of control, a zone where the highest amount of trading volume has historically taken place, often acting as a magnet for price before the next directional move unfolds.

If the bullish structure remains intact and resistance breaks, the setup could open the door for a significant rally toward the $1.05 region.

Aster price key technical points:

• High-timeframe resistance: $0.79 remains the key breakout level.
• Bullish broadening wedge: Price structure suggests building upside pressure.
• Technical target: A breakout could trigger a measured move toward $1.05.

Aster’s current structure shows price trading within a broadening wedge formation, a pattern often associated with increasing volatility and expanding price swings. Unlike traditional contracting patterns, a broadening wedge features widening support and resistance boundaries, reflecting an environment where buyers and sellers are actively testing both sides of the range. In Aster’s case, the structure is leaning bullish because price continues to hold above a key support region while gradually building pressure beneath resistance.

One of the most important levels within this structure is the point of control, the price zone that represents the highest traded volume within the current range. The point of control often acts as a fair-value area where buyers and sellers reach temporary equilibrium before the next directional move emerges. Aster’s price action currently rotating around this level suggests the market is still in a consolidation phase, absorbing liquidity before a potential expansion in volatility.

The bullish argument for Aster largely depends on the ability of price to break above the $0.79 high-timeframe resistance level. This area has historically acted as a barrier preventing further upside movement, making it a critical zone for confirmation. A clean breakout above this level would signal that buyers have regained control of market structure and that the current consolidation has successfully built enough momentum to push price higher.

From a technical perspective, the projected upside target of $1.05 is derived from the measured move of the current structure. This target is calculated by taking the distance from the recent swing low that initiated the current bullish leg and projecting that move from the point where the breakout occurs. Measured move projections are commonly used by traders to estimate potential continuation targets once price escapes consolidation patterns.

Another key factor supporting the bullish outlook is the broader structure of the wedge itself. For a bullish broadening wedge pattern to remain valid, price must continue respecting the two dynamic support and resistance trendlines that define the pattern. These expanding boundaries indicate that market participants are progressively testing higher and lower extremes, a characteristic that often precedes large directional breakouts when the pattern resolves.

However, confirmation will ultimately depend on volume behavior during the breakout attempt. A breakout that occurs on weak or declining volume may lead to a false move, commonly referred to as a liquidity sweep or bull trap. For the bullish scenario to fully materialize, traders will want to see strong and sustained buying pressure accompanying any move above the $0.79 resistance zone.

What to expect in the coming price action

As long as Aster continues consolidating above the point of control and maintains the bullish wedge structure, the probability of an upside breakout remains intact. A decisive move above $0.79 supported by strong volume could trigger the measured move toward the $1.05 target.

Failure to break resistance, however, could extend the current consolidation phase before the next major directional move develops.

One analyst believes that SOL below $90 is a “phenomenal offer.”

Solana (SOL) has seen reduced volatility over the past several days, but the emergence of a certain technical signal suggests it may soon chart a substantial move.

Some analysts who touched upon the asset see an upswing as the more likely outcome, though others warn that a sharp decline could follow.

Major Turbulence Ahead?

Despite some sporadic spikes and dips, SOL has been trading in a tight range between $80 and $87 over the past weeks. According to Ali Martinez, this price action has triggered a squeeze in the Bollinger Bands.

This technical indicator consists of a moving average and two outer bands (one lower and one upper). When they tighten, it suggests the valuation might be gearing up for a huge move, as long periods of slight volatility are often followed by breakouts or breakdowns.

Although the Bollinger Bands don’t offer a clear direction, Solana’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) stands out as a distinctly bullish signal. The technical analysis tool ranges from 0 to 100 and is often used by traders to spot potential reversal points. It runs from 0 to 100, with readings below 30 considered buying opportunities, while anything above 70 is seen as bearish territory. Data shows that SOL’s RSI on a weekly scale recently fell to 29, while currently it stands at around 32.

X users James and OxBossman are among the optimistic analysts. The former argued that SOL under $90 is a “phenomenal offer,” while the latter thinks that the price would first hit $200 rather than collapse to $40.

The Bears Could be Quite Stubborn

Other popular traders, though, believe Solana’s native cryptocurrency has yet to feel the real impact of the current bear market. X user DrBullZeus predicted that the price could dip to as low as $50, assuming that “bulls are running out of time.”

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UNKONWN TRADER was also pessimistic, forecasting heightened volatility in the coming weeks that might lead to a drop to $53, the lowest since the end of 2023.

When speculating on SOL’s price, it is useful to observe the asset’s recent exchange netflow. Over the past several days, inflows have outpaced outflows, indicating that more investors have been moving their holdings to centralized platforms. This doesn’t guarantee a price collapse but is a bearish factor since such behavior often precedes selling.

Playnance will launch G Coin on March 18 to power transactions across its blockchain gaming and prediction ecosystem.

Playnance is launching G Coin on March 18, introducing the token that will support economic activity across its blockchain entertainment ecosystem.

The company says the token will power interactions across gaming platforms, sports prediction markets, and financial participation tools operating within the Playnance network.

According to Playnance, the token already has more than 200,000 holders prior to its official launch. Roughly 13 billion tokens were distributed during the presale phase. The project’s market capitalization is estimated to be around $38 million ahead of the Token Generation Event.

G Coin is designed to function as the economic infrastructure across the ecosystem. It will facilitate gameplay activity, predictions, rewards, and settlement transactions across Playnance platforms.

The token runs on PlayBlock, the company’s blockchain infrastructure designed to support fast and gas-free interactions while maintaining non-custodial ownership and full on-chain transparency.

Playnance reports that its ecosystem currently includes more than 300,000 registered users and partnerships with over 30 game studios. More than 10,000 blockchain-based games are available across the network.

Across these platforms, around 2 million on-chain transactions are processed daily. Users also interact with more than 2.5 million sports events annually.

Playnance CEO Pini Peter said that G Coin introduces a usage-driven token economy designed to grow alongside its expanding global community.

The company also reported that its “Be The Boss” program has exceeded $2 million in payouts to participants. Total revenue generated across the ecosystem has surpassed $5.3 million.

The token will follow a fixed supply model capped at 77 billion tokens. Circulating supply will be managed through a lock and release system. Tokens lost during gameplay will remain locked for 12 months before being reintroduced to circulation. Unsold tokens from the Token Generation Event will be subject to a 12-month cliff and a 24-month linear vesting schedule.

For more than a decade, the cryptocurrency industry has promised to reinvent money. Permissionless. Trustless. Borderless. Immune to the recurring failures of traditional finance.

Yet, commonly cited estimates of global ownership all languish below 10% — and the proportion actually using crypto for payments and other tangible uses is likely even less. After billions in venture funding, endless meme coins and nonstop media cycles, crypto remains a niche product held by a tiny fraction of the world’s population. The uncomfortable question is whether crypto has delivered anything indispensable to everyday people.

It hasn’t.

Built for speculators, not users

The largest smart-contract network in the world introduced programmable finance and launched an entire pseudo-decentralized ecosystem. But the onchain experience remains daunting. Users must manage private keys, navigate fragmented exchanges, parse multiple token standards, cross a variety of bridges, and absorb transaction fees that spike without warning. For developers, this is manageable. For everyday users, it’s prohibitive.

One high-speed blockchain marketed itself as the answer: faster, cheaper, higher throughput. Repeated network outages told a different story. Financial infrastructure that goes offline repeatedly cannot realistically serve as the backbone of global commerce. Meanwhile, the network’s enthusiastic embrace of memecoins left ordinary users holding worthless tokens while insiders quietly exited.

Another major project positioned itself as a bridge between crypto and banking institutions. Retail adoption for everyday spending remains nonexistent. Most market activity still centers on speculation rather than commerce, while insiders continue liquidating their personal holdings into the hands of true believers.

Across ecosystems, the pattern repeats: heavy trading volume, much of it wash trading, masking modest real-world usage. Founders unlock their holdings and dump on the people who believed in them most.

Permissionless in theory, custodial in practice

Crypto markets celebrate self-custody and decentralization. In practice, most users hold assets on centralized exchanges because self-custodial wallets remain incomprehensible to anyone outside the industry.

Those exchanges layer on leverage, derivatives and yield instruments that everyday people neither understand nor want. Deposits are frequently rehypothecated — reused as collateral elsewhere — creating synthetic exposure that echoes the very financial engineering crypto claimed to replace. When markets turn volatile, these structures amplify forced liquidations. Price swings cascade through leveraged positions, and true onchain price discovery becomes impossible to separate from derivatives-driven noise.

The result is a paradox: a technology designed to eliminate opaque balance sheets has spawned a new generation of them.

The adoption ceiling

If crypto were solving clear everyday problems, utilization would reflect it. But paying rent in crypto remains a fantasy. Small businesses won’t price goods in volatile native tokens and remain hesitant about stablecoins. Transaction fees are unpredictable. Wallet recovery intimidates new users. Interfaces are confusing and fragmented.

For most holders, crypto is something to buy and hope appreciates, not something to use. Many barely understand what the underlying technology does. A financial revolution that requires tutorials, Discord communities and gas fee calculators has not crossed into mainstream simplicity. People don’t want another tutorial. They want utility they can actually control.

The UX problem no one wants to admit

Most crypto products are built by engineers for engineers, with little consideration for users encountering the technology for the first time. Slippage tolerances, bridging risk, liquidity pools and yield strategies greet newcomers before they’ve completed a single transaction. A single mistake can permanently destroy funds. The onboarding experience is less like opening a bank account and more like configuring a server.

Simply put: The user experience is terrible.

Contrast this with modern consumer finance apps, where transfers are intuitive and costly errors are rare.

Mass adoption will not come from more chains or ever-more-complicated concepts that users must untangle. It will come from abstraction, from making the underlying complexity invisible, the way Apple and Microsoft once hid the command line behind the operating system. Crypto needs to be as easy as sending a text message. Until it is, it will stay in its niche.

The synthetic spiral

Perhaps the most underexamined problem in crypto markets is the dominance of offchain financialization. Perpetual futures routinely exceed spot volume. Leveraged tokens multiply exposure. Lending desks re-collateralize deposits. Wrapped assets circulate across chains. The same underlying token can support multiple layers of claims simultaneously.

The consequences are not theoretical. Bitcoin recently lost half its value, with billions in leveraged long positions liquidated in single-day cascades. Forced selling triggered more forced selling. Prices deviated violently from any reasonable measure of fundamental value, and retail participants, overwhelmingly positioned long, absorbed the damage. The crash was not driven by a change in Bitcoin’s utility or a collapse in adoption. It was driven by the very leverage and synthetic structures the market had layered on top of it.

This is the trap: In trying to escape traditional finance’s complexity, crypto rebuilt it, only faster, more automated and with fewer second chances.

What needs to change

Moving beyond minuscule crypto use requires an honest shift in priorities.

• Simplify the experience. Key management, gas abstraction and cross-chain interaction must become invisible. The technology should disappear behind the task.
• Prioritize real utility over token velocity. Products should enable payments, savings and transfers in ways that are tangibly better than existing systems, usable in daily life rather than merely speculative.
• Ensure transparent backing and verifiable supply. Onchain proof must replace opaque leverage structures. No exceptions.
• Deliver predictable costs. Fee volatility is incompatible with financial infrastructure. Everyday tools shouldn’t behave like auction houses.
• Design for humans, not developers. Consumer-grade UX is not cosmetic. It is existential.

A crossroads

Speculation built awareness. It funded infrastructure. It attracted talent. But speculation alone does not build permanence.

The next chapter of crypto will not be written in token prices or meme cycles. It will be written by projects that quietly integrate into daily life, enabling transactions that are simpler, cheaper and more transparent than the systems they aim to replace. That means tools ordinary people can actually use, seamlessly integrated into their daily lives. Yields that don’t require a Ph.D. to understand. Payment rails that feel as natural as the apps people already trust, backed by infrastructure that serious finance demands.

Until then, the promise of the financial revolution remains exactly that.

And the emperor, for all the code written in his name, still doesn’t have a wallet most people can use.

Tether’s investment arm has invested in Ark Labs, the developer of the programmable Bitcoin infrastructure Arkade, as part of a $5.2 million funding round to expand stablecoin capabilities on the Bitcoin network.

According to Thursday’s announcement from Ark Labs, the investment is intended to support infrastructure that enables stablecoins such as USDT (USDT) to be issued, transferred and settled more efficiently on Bitcoin (BTC).

The Lugano, Switzerland-based startup is developing an execution layer designed to support instant and programmable transactions on Bitcoin. The funding round brings the company’s total funding to $7.7 million.

Other investors in the seed round include Sats Ventures and Contribution Capital, with participation from Anchorage Digital. Specifics on the sizes of the various stakes were not disclosed.