Mastercard agreed to buy BVNK, a stablecoin infrastructure company, for as much as $1.8 billion as it looks to strengthen its support for digital assets and onchain money transfers.

The deal expands Mastercard’s end-to-end support of digital assets and value movement across currencies, rails and regions, the payments company said Tuesday.

U.K.-based BVNK is a stablecoin company enabling businesses to move money in seconds across more than 130 countries. Its infrastructure, used by firms including Worldpay, Deel and Flywire, processes billions of dollars annually and is designed to bridge traditional fiat systems with blockchain-based payments.

By integrating BVNK’s technology, Mastercard said it aims to connect on-chain payments with its global network, enabling use cases such as cross-border transfers, remittances and business-to-business payments.

“We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will in time provide digital currency services,” said Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s chief product officer, in a statement. The deal will help bring “the benefits of tokenized money to the real world.”

The agreement comes several months after Coinbase ended $2 billion acquisition talks with the stablecoin startup. At the time, a Coinbase spokesperson declined to provide a reason for the talks’ collapse.

For Mastercard, the acquisition highlights its growing push into digital assets as stablecoin adoption accelerates. Just last week, it announced the launch of its Crypto Partner Program, which brings together more than 85 companies from across the digital asset and payments industries, an effort to link blockchain technology more directly with the infrastructure that underpins global commerce.

Stablecoin payment volumes reached at least $350 billion in 2025, according to the company, with increasing regulatory clarity prompting banks and fintechs to explore offerings tied to tokenized deposits and blockchain-based money movement.

The company also said the combined capabilities will focus on interoperability between fiat and digital currencies while maintaining compliance and security standards expected by financial institutions.

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close before the end of the year.

UPDATE (March 17, 12:45 UTC): Adds details on transaction, background starting in third paragraph, Coinbase’s approach in sixth.

Democratic lawmakers are trying to put a stop to potential manipulation of prediction markets by government officials who bet on events they know are happening, such as U.S. military actions, according to a new bill being introduced Tuesday.

The Banning Event Trading on Sensitive Operations and Federal Functions (BETS OFF) Act would outlaw corrupt wagers from those who already know the outcome of matters including government action, terrorism, war, assassination and other events the bettor has inside knowledge of. It’s backed by Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who has been a prominent critic of the administration of President Donald Trump, and Representative Greg Casar, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The lawmakers said they’re responding to reports that prediction market accounts had placed significant bets before the U.S. operations in Venezuela and Iran. While legislation from Democrats won’t likely be a priority for a Congress that’s still majority-controlled in both chambers by Republicans, the midterm elections are considered likely to swing the House back to a Democratic majority — and possibly the Senate, according to those same prediction markets the lawmakers are focused on. If Democrats control the gavels of congressional committees, their preferred legislation has a better chance at a hearing.

According to the text of the bill, any kind of bet that has the potential for insider trading would be barred. This extends beyond government-related actions, a one-pager shared alongside the bill text said. Events like surprise singers at the Super Bowl halftime show or winners of awards programming would also be barred “because insiders know the outcome in advance.”

The text of the bill itself defines “specified events” as including “any event … the outcome of which is under the complete control of any person; or the outcome of which is known by any person in advance.”

Market manipulation and fraudulent betting is a matter in the hands of the platforms’ regulator, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Trump’s appointed chairman, Mike Selig, is a fan of prediction markets who has argued they can represent an antidote to faulty political polling and media reporting.

They also have a potential insider-trading problem, as seen in a couple of internal disciplinary actions recently taken by one of the leading firms, Kalshi. It suspended and fined two of its users, including a political candidate who had placed a bet on his own candidacy for California governor that he knew the outcome of.

In January, Representative Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat who’s been a longtime ally of the crypto sector, introduced a bill with dozens of fellow lawmakers on board that was similarly meant to crack down on insider trading after suspicious bets on the actions in Venezuela. And just last week, Senator Adam Schiff of California introduced a bill to ban prediction market contracts tied to war, terror, assassinations or death outright, while fellow Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal introduced a bill of his own to target insider trading and market manipulation.

Murphy’s bill would similarly block the CFTC from listing contracts touching these areas outright.

Despite Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) best efforts to convince President Donald Trump to grant him a pardon, the latest update from Washington DC isn’t looking good for the FTX founder and convicted felon.

SBF stole over $8 billion from his customers, and was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. For months, the convicted fraudster has flooded X with pro-Trump posts, blaming his conviction on “Biden’s lawfare machine” and praising MAGA policies.

However, members of Congress on either side of the aisle are less than impressed.

Senator Bernie Moreno, a pro-crypto Republican, told Politico, “The guy’s a piece of ***t. He shouldn’t be pardoned.” 

Meanwhile, Senator Cynthia Lummis, a pro-crypto Democrat, expressed hope that Trump wouldn’t fall for SBF’s transparently self-interested rhetoric.

Mike Flood of Nebraska, another pro-crypto Republican, reacted with disbelief. “He crashed the market. He engaged in massive fraud,” Floodsaid. “Wall Street’s not bringing him back to fix anything,” he said.

Democratic Congressman Sam Liccardo piled on, cynically saying that only a large enough payout for a corrupt pardon would do the trick.

Painting on MAGA lipstick and saying whatever it takes

SBF’s X account, operated by a friend as a proxy for his Bureau of Prisons-permitted communication, has praised a host of Trump’s policies about which SBF has little understanding, including the new TrumpRX drug pricing initiative and “deep state” undermining of MAGA policies. 

Out of the blue, SBF has praised Trump’s social media companies. “Dems like censoring ‘misinfo’ on social media. Truth Social & GETTR have always put free speech first.”

SBF discussed sharing a cell block with Sean “Diddy” Combs, and blamed his conviction on a “Clinton-appointed” Democrat judge.

He also sat for an unauthorized jailhouse interview with Tucker Carlson last year in a clear attempt to argue for a pardon. That interview reportedly landed him in solitary confinement.

SBF’s parents, ex-Stanford professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, have reportedly consulted with Kory Langhofer, a lawyer who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

Unfortunately for him, none of his pardon attempts have worked. Indeed, Trump told The New York Times in January 2026 that he doesn’t plan to grant his pardon request.

A White House spokesperson reiterated to Fortune in February that Trump’s position hasn’t changed.

A group of U.S. regional banks is developing the Cari Network, a tokenized deposit platform built on ZKsync, a layer-2 network, as lenders seek a regulated path to modernize digital payments.

The network, announced Tuesday, is being developed with banks including Huntington Bancshares, First Horizon, M&T Bank, KeyCorp and Old National Bancorp. It’s designed to let banks turn customer deposits into digital tokens that can move instantly between institutions — without those funds ever leaving the banking system.

That’s a key distinction from stablecoins, which are often issued by nonbank companies. Cari says its tokens will still represent regular bank deposits, meaning they stay on banks’ balance sheets and remain subject to existing regulations and FDIC insurance.

Under the hood, the system will run on “Prividium”, which is a private, permissioned blockchain built by Matter Labs, the main developer firm building the ZKsync network. Only approved participants — like banks — can use it, and transactions are designed to be both fast and private while still allowing regulators to audit activity when needed.

The effort reflects a growing push by banks to compete with crypto-native payment systems by offering similar speed and round-the-clock settlement, but within familiar regulatory guardrails.

The Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America has backed the project, according to a blog post, highlighting regional lenders’ interest in upgrading payments infrastructure without risking a loss of deposits to newer digital alternatives.

The Cari network will roll out more broadly in 2026, and the banks involved will test how these tokenized deposits are created, transferred between parties and converted back into regular U.S. dollars.

“Banks should be leading the next phase of digital money, not reacting to it,” said Cari CEO Gene Ludwig.

Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski added that the project shows how banks can use blockchain technology while still meeting privacy and compliance requirements.

“Financial infrastructure is undergoing the same shift computing went through decades ago, from siloed databases to shared, programmable infrastructure,” Gluchowski said in the blog post. “With Prividium, banks can issue and move deposits on blockchain infrastructure while preserving the privacy, compliance, and control required by regulated institutions.”

Read more: Deutsche Bank’s L2 Blockchain to Be ‘Public and Permissioned,’ Says Tech Partner

Wall Street investment bank Citigroup lowered its 12-month price targets for bitcoin BTC$73,886.45 and ether (ETH), citing slower legislative momentum in the U.S., softer network activity, and reduced expectations for ETF inflows.

Citi now sees bitcoin reaching $112,000 and ether $3,175 over the next year, down sharply from prior forecasts of $143,000 and $4,304.

The revised targets still suggest substantial upside. Bitcoin was trading around $74,000 at the time of publication. Ether was at $2,330.

The bank said inflows remain the key upside driver, though it lowered its 12-month demand assumptions, even as recent ETF demand has picked up modestly despite geopolitical uncertainty.

“ETF demand where we reduce the assumption to $10 billion BTC$73,886.45 and $2.5 billion (ETH) is still the most important positive factor,” analyst Alex Saunders said in the Monday report.

Crypto markets have struggled to regain momentum after bitcoin’s run to record highs in October, with prices drifting lower amid weak risk appetite and fading post-halving enthusiasm. BTC has traded below key technical levels, while ether has lagged further, weighed by soft onchain activity. Despite the subdued price action, ETF inflows have remained resilient, helping to stabilize the market even as broader macro uncertainty and geopolitical tensions continue to cap upside.

According to Saunders, the outlook hinges heavily on U.S. regulation. The analyst said the window to pass digital asset legislation this year is narrowing, with market-implied odds falling to around 60%. While broader global policy remains supportive, he argued that headline U.S. legislation would be a stronger catalyst for institutional flows than incremental rulemaking.

The CLARITY Act, a sweeping U.S. crypto market-structure bill, has cleared the House but remains stalled in the Senate as lawmakers negotiate competing proposals, leaving its path forward uncertain.

The legislation is seen as critical because it would establish clear rules for how digital assets are classified and which agencies oversee them, resolving a long-running turf battle between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that has created legal ambiguity for investors and firms.

By defining categories of tokens and setting registration frameworks for exchanges, the bill aims to reduce regulatory risk and provide the certainty many institutional investors need before allocating more capital to crypto markets.

The analyst also flagged weakening momentum in the crypto market since bitcoin’s October peak, citing futures liquidations, positioning fatigue, and prices sitting below key technical levels. Bitcoin may continue to range trade, with around $70,000 seen as an important psychological level tied to pre-election pricing.

In the bank’s framework, the bull case depends on stronger end-investor adoption, particularly via ETFs, with a target of $165,000 for bitcoin and $4,488 for ether. The bear case reflects recessionary macro conditions, with targets of $58,000 for BTC and $1,198 for ETH.

Ether’s outlook is more uncertain, the report said, given its sensitivity to onchain activity, which has recently been weak. Still, there is potential upside from stablecoin growth, tokenization trends and possible regulatory focus on DeFi, which could lift usage and demand.

Read more: Bitcoin outperforms gold and stocks in global turmoil as ETFs and Strategy accumulate

Ripple, the payments-focused blockchain company closely associated with the XRP Ledger (XRP) network, is expanding its digital asset services in Brazil while preparing to apply for a license with the country’s central bank, a move that would place it under the nation’s new crypto framework.

The company said Tuesday it is rolling out a broader set of services that bundle cross-border payments, digital asset custody, brokerage and treasury tools. It said the combined offering targets banks and fintechs that want to move money across borders, hold crypto and manage liquidity in one system.

It said it also plans to apply for a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license with the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB), in line with the country’s crypto regulation.

“Latin America has always been a priority market for Ripple — not just because of the scale of the opportunity, but because Brazil has built one of the most advanced and forward-thinking financial ecosystems in the world,” Monica Long, president at Ripple, said in a statement.”

The firm said that several Brazilian firms already use Ripple’s payments network and crypto services. Banco Genial, for example, handles same-day U.S. dollar transfers, while Braza Bank uses the system for foreign exchange flows and issued a real-backed stablecoin on the XRP Ledger. Fintech Nomad and others use the network to shift funds between Brazil and the U.S. and settling in stablecoins.

Ripple is also pushing its custody product in the country, aimed at institutions that need secure storage tied to trading and tokenization. The firm said partners such as CRX and Justoken are using the setup to issue tokenized assets, including real-world assets like commodities.

The Brazil push comes as Ripple has been quickly expanding through acquisitions, building services around trading and digital asset infrastructure. That included the $1.25 billion purchase of prime brokerage Hidden Road and buying corporate treasury business GTreasury for $1 billion. The firm also issues a U.S. dollar stablecoin, the $1.5 billion RLUSD$0.9997, via its custody arm.

The firm said it has processed over 100 billion in transactions across its payments ecosystem. Recently, Ripple started a share buyback program that valued the the firm at $50 billion.

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.

The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 2148.63, down 0.9% (-20.59) since 4 p.m. ET on Monday.

One of 20 assets are trading higher.

Leaders: NEAR (+0.4%) and CRO (+0.0%).

Laggards: UNI (-4.1%) and SUI (-4.0%).

The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.

Key Takeaways

• Atomic Alchemy, Oklo’s fully-owned subsidiary, obtained its inaugural NRC materials license for isotope handling, processing, and distribution at its Idaho facility.
• This approval creates Oklo’s first commercial revenue opportunity through isotope sales from the Idaho Radiochemistry Laboratory.
• This license is separate from Oklo’s primary advanced reactor projects, which remain pending NRC authorization before power generation can commence.
• A concurrent announcement revealed Oklo’s new partnership agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy for its inaugural reactor deployment at Idaho National Laboratory.
• Shares climbed 4.6% during premarket hours on Tuesday, with quarterly earnings scheduled for release after market close.

On Tuesday, Oklo achieved a significant regulatory victory, albeit with an important distinction. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission awarded its first materials license—though notably, the approval went to Atomic Alchemy, a wholly-owned subsidiary that Oklo acquired in 2025, rather than to the parent company directly.

Oklo Inc., OKLO

This authorization permits Atomic Alchemy to accept, store, handle, and sell isotopes through its Idaho Radiochemistry Laboratory located in Idaho Falls. The license specifically covers up to 2 Curies of Radium-226, plus Cobalt-60 and Americium-241 for calibration applications.

These isotopes serve critical functions in medical applications, scientific research, industrial manufacturing, and national defense sectors. Oklo’s CEO Jacob DeWitte addressed the market gap directly: “Demand for critical isotopes is rising, but U.S. supply remains limited.”

The business implications are tangible and immediate. With this licensing approval, Atomic Alchemy can launch commercial isotope sales from its Idaho laboratory—representing the first revenue-generating capability within Oklo’s portfolio. Currently, the parent company has yet to record any revenue.

Crucially, investors should understand that this license differs entirely from the reactor authorization that markets have been anticipating. Oklo’s advanced fast reactor technology continues navigating the NRC approval pathway. Until that separate clearance arrives, the company cannot commercialize electricity generation—which represents its primary long-term business model.

Scope and Implications of the New License

The regulatory approval followed comprehensive review procedures and an on-location inspection of the Idaho operations. Atomic Alchemy’s strategy involves recovering and reprocessing retired radium sources—materials historically classified as waste—converting them into valuable feedstock for medical isotope manufacturing, particularly for targeted alpha therapy applications.

Beyond immediate operations, this laboratory serves as groundwork for larger ambitions. Atomic Alchemy is engineering a multi-reactor isotope production facility featuring up to four Versatile Isotope Production Reactor (VIPR) units, each designed for approximately 15 MWth output capacity.

Tuesday’s announcements included a second development. Oklo formalized an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy covering design, construction, and operational support for its debut reactor at Idaho National Laboratory through the DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program initiative.

The Meta Partnership and Earnings Expectations

Oklo’s nuclear energy vision has attracted substantial corporate interest. A notable partnership with Meta Platforms involves developing a nuclear energy campus in Ohio’s southeastern region. BofA Securities characterized this arrangement as “one of a few firm, binding partnerships today” within the emerging nuclear sector.

Shares appreciated 4.6% in premarket activity Tuesday as market participants evaluated the regulatory milestone. The company’s quarterly financial results are scheduled for release after the closing bell on the same day.

Oklo maintains its target timeline for commercial nuclear power delivery between late 2027 and 2028.

Stablecoins are gaining traction in high-cost cross-border payment corridors in emerging markets as they reduce some of the inefficiencies of legacy foreign exchange (FX) infrastructure, according to research firm Delphi Digital.

Stablecoins are emerging as the cheapest alternative to move US dollars in emerging economies due to the high costs of legacy FX corridors, which can reach up to 8% in combined fees when sending money to Argentina or Nigeria. 

Delphi said in a Monday article on X that 81% of the cost in those corridors comes from servicing the underlying banking infrastructure, which it argues gives stablecoin rails a structural advantage.

“Stablecoin rails eliminate most of what makes these corridors expensive to operate.”

“Settlement is atomic, so pre-funded liquidity sitting idle in local currencies is no longer necessary,” Delphi said, adding that volume thresholds and intermediary chains also become obsolete as stablecoins settle directly against the US dollar.

Related: Yield-bearing stablecoins surge as Washington fights over yield

Delphi’s prediction highlights the real-world impact of stablecoins in emerging markets, where locals use them to cut remittance costs to pennies or send instant transactions, bypassing legacy banking infrastructure. 

Off-ramps remain a chokepoint for stablecoin adoption

Off-ramps, such as access to bank accounts or interbank rails, remain a significant chokepoint when value needs to move between onchain and legacy environments, according to the company.

Most of the “friction” lies outside the blockchain, they said. While stablecoin minting and burning settle in seconds, bank wires feeding into these systems add significant delays due to batch processing schedules.

“Closing the gap is as much a regulatory problem as a technical one.”

The company added that stablecoins won’t replace the major FX corridors overnight, but the ones in emerging markets where “infrastructure costs dwarf currency risk and banks have largely given up on competing.”

Related: Stablecoin payments startup Kast raises $80M at $600M valuation: Report

Stablecoin supply on the rise despite falling crypto prices

Despite falling cryptocurrency valuations, the stablecoin supply rose 2.5% during the past month, from $308 billion on Feb. 17 to $316 billion as of Tuesday, according to DeFiLlama.

Delphi said emerging markets remain one of the clearest sources of stablecoin demand, particularly where users need cheaper access to dollar liquidity and cross-border transfers.

Investment companies continue pouring capital into stablecoin payment providers. On Tuesday, Singapore-based digital payment company Dtcpay raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by investment firm Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India to fuel the expansion of its compliant stablecoin-based payment network.