South Korea’s benchmark stock index posted its steepest single-day decline on record, as geopolitical tensions from the widening US-Israel-Iran conflict rattled markets.

Despite the dip in equities, traders focused on fresh crypto exchange listings, with newly listed tokens posting double-digit gains even as broader market sentiment deteriorated sharply.

Korean Stock Market Under Pressure Amid Geopolitical Tensions

According to Google Finance data, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plunged more than 12% on Wednesday. In addition, Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) saw losses exceeding 10%.

“Seoul KOSPI officially ends down 12.06%, biggest daily percentage loss on record,” market analyst David Scutt posted.

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Channel News Asia reported that the Korean Stock Exchange imposed a temporary trading halt on Wednesday morning after both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices dropped by more than 8%.

Besides South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and China’s stock markets dipped on Wednesday, driven largely by escalating global tensions. The ongoing crisis has led to a sharp spike in oil prices. Meanwhile, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has further heightened concerns.

Asian economies are especially vulnerable to disruptions in energy supplies from the Middle East. Many of them rely heavily on crude oil imports from Gulf states.

Japan and South Korea are particularly exposed. 87% of Japan’s and 81% of South Korea’s total energy consumption comes from imported fossil fuels.

Why KOSPI’s Performance Matters For Crypto

The latest decline in the KOSPI follows a 7.2% drop on Tuesday, marking its worst two-day performance in decades. The index is now approaching the 5,000 level, a threshold that carries symbolic significance beyond being just a round number.

During this election, President Lee Jae-myung outlined his “KOSPI 5,000” vision and pledged to boost the stock market.

“I don’t think Kospi 5000 is that difficult. If you believe in me, you should take a greater interest in the stock market,” he said.

Notably, on the final trading day before the June 3 presidential election, the KOSPI closed at 2,698.97. Over the next eight months, it surged by approximately 85%, crossing the 5,000 mark for the first time in January 2026.

The stock market rally had real consequences for crypto. As equities rose, liquidity from Korean retail investors shifted away from crypto, with many moving their funds into stocks.

BeInCrypto reported in November that crypto trading volumes had dropped by over 80%. Moreover, according to the Bank of Korea’s Financial Stability Report, the turnover in Korea’s crypto market reached 157%, compared to the global figure of 112%, as retail investors increasingly sought short-term profits.

Crypto Listings Defy Broader Market Turmoil

This drop in equities sharply contrasts with developments in South Korea’s digital asset sector. While stocks fell, new altcoins on South Korean exchanges saw strong demand.

CoinGecko highlighted that Definitive Finance’s EDGE token posted strong gains after its Upbit listing.

Ripple Prime, also known as Hidden Road Partners CIV and now a wholly owned subsidiary of Ripple, appeared in a directory of a DTCC subsidiary with a “first trade date” of March 2. Mistaken members of the XRP community quickly declared the listing as proof that massive settlement volumes are migrating to the XRP Ledger (XRPL). 

They haven’t. 

The Depository Trust Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has approximately $100 trillion in assets under custody and processes $4 quadrillion worth of annual transaction settlements.

Its numbers were so impressive that they fooled fans of Ripple into thinking that its blockchain could benefit from these financial flows.

Even XRPL co-creator David Schwartz praised the news. 

Instead, the DTCC subsidiary National Securities Clearing Corporation’s (NSCC) listing of Ripple Prime in its Market Participant Identifier (MPID) directory simply means that a very mundane authorization has been granted that doesn’t involve the XRPL settling DTCC transactions.

The DTCC notice assigns Hidden Road the executing broker MPID “HRFI” under clearing broker “PERS” with numeric code “0443.” That code belongs to Pershing LLC, the BNY Mellon subsidiary that handles custody, settlement, and clearing for hundreds of smaller broker-dealers. 

By order of operations, Ripple Prime/Hidden Road executes OTC trades, then Pershing clears and settles them through NSCC. XRPL plays no role in those clearing or settlement transactions.

Moreover, the execution approval covers OTC products eligible for NSCC which are, as its name suggests, National Securities Clearing transactions. The DTCC notice shows OTC approval only for Ripple Prime and shows no checkmarks for standard corporates, municipals, or unit investment trusts.

Dozens of firms go through this exact onboarding process every month. On the same notice, NSCC added directory updates for Paralel Distributors, US Bancorp Fund Services, and several others alongside Ripple Prime.

What Ripple actually said versus what fans heard

When Ripple announced its $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road in April 2025, the press release stated, “Hidden Road will, in turn, migrate its post-trade activity across XRPL to streamline operations and lower costs.” 

The future tense of the verb “will” indicated aspiration, not a current operation. 

That deal closed in October 2025, and although Hidden Road has rebranded to Ripple Prime and gained an enviable directory listing with NSCC, it’s not yet settling any DTCC trades on XRPL.

Moreover, it doesn’t have that authorization.

Ten months later, Hidden Road’s own website still describes the company as a “global credit network for institutions” offering prime brokerage, clearing, and financing across traditional and digital assets.

Aside from a single mention on its Ripple acquisition press release, its website otherwise makes zero mention of XRPL on its website.

Vitalik Buterin has sparked debate within the crypto community after outlining a vision for Ethereum as part of a broader ecosystem of what he calls “sanctuary technologies,” open-source systems designed to preserve freedom, privacy and resilience in an increasingly unstable world.

Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin faces backlash over vision for ‘sanctuary tech’

In a series of posts on X, Buterin acknowledged growing concerns about government and corporate surveillance, geopolitical conflict, social media degradation, and the concentration of power in artificial intelligence systems.

He also admitted that Ethereum has played only a limited role in meaningfully improving people’s lives on those fronts.

Rather than pivoting Ethereum toward direct political engagement, Buterin argued the network should focus on building neutral digital infrastructure, a shared, ownerless “space” where people can coordinate, transact and organize without centralized control.

He described Ethereum’s role as shaping the structural properties of the digital world, not intervening in specific political disputes.

After one user accused him of contradicting earlier comments about keeping Ethereum independent of his personal politics, Buterin clarified that he sees two ways of influencing global events: altering systemic structures in ways that promote broadly desirable outcomes, and taking positions on specific real-world situations.

He argued that Ethereum as a community should focus on the former, while individual contributors remain free to hold personal views.

The discussion intensified when Buterin listed Starlink among examples of liberating technologies, alongside encrypted messaging platform Signal and community-driven moderation systems. Critics questioned whether praising a company linked to Elon Musk conflicted with crypto’s decentralization ethos.

Buterin responded that the goal is not to oppose Starlink, but to encourage the creation of many alternative systems — ideally open-source and interoperable — to prevent any single entity from holding dominant control.

“The answer is being pro ten more orgs building their own Starlink-like systems,” he wrote.

The exchange highlights a broader tension within Ethereum: whether it should remain a neutral financial and coordination layer, or adopt a more explicit political posture amid global instability. Buterin rejected the idea that Ethereum should “hunker down” and focus solely on finance, arguing that financial sovereignty alone cannot address deeper societal concerns.

Instead, he framed Ethereum as one component of a larger resilience stack, an infrastructure that reduces the risk of “total victory” by any centralized power. The objective, he said, is not world domination through blockchain, but “de-totalization”: building digital islands of stability in a chaotic era.

Head of Product Nikita Bier announced that X is revising its Creator Revenue Sharing policies to penalize users who post AI-generated videos depicting armed conflict without clear disclosure.

Post AI war videos without a label? X will cut your pay

In a post on the platform, Bier said that effective immediately, creators who share AI-generated war-related videos without labeling them as synthetic will be suspended from the revenue-sharing program for 90 days.

Repeat violations will result in permanent removal from monetization eligibility.

The move comes amid heightened global tensions and growing concerns about the use of generative AI tools to create realistic but misleading battlefield footage. Bier said that during times of war, access to authentic information is critical, and that AI technologies now make it “trivial” to produce deceptive content that can distort public understanding.

Under the updated policy, enforcement will be triggered if a post receives a Community Note identifying it as AI-generated, or if metadata and other technical signals indicate the use of generative AI tools. The company said it will continue refining its detection systems and moderation policies to maintain trust on the platform.

The announcement reflects a broader industry struggle to balance open expression with the risks posed by increasingly sophisticated AI media tools. Platforms worldwide have faced pressure from governments and civil society groups to prevent manipulated war footage and deepfakes from spreading during geopolitical crises.

X’s updated monetization rules focus specifically on revenue eligibility rather than account bans, signaling an effort to deter misleading content by targeting financial incentives tied to virality and engagement.

If DeFi and TradFi truly converge, the pressure point will be on and off-ramps. Few things, other than secure custody, are more critical than having a low-friction way to convert digital tokens into the fiat currency people use every day. For years, that conversion layer was crypto’s weakest link, slowing down mass adoption.

When the age of cryptocurrency first began, off-ramping was clunky, slow, and often expensive. Converting digital tokens into dollars or euros typically requires multiple intermediaries, exchange accounts, manual bank transfers, and waiting periods that could stretch for days. Fees were opaque. Settlement times were inconsistent. In many jurisdictions, reliable withdrawal rails barely existed. This friction did more than frustrate users. It held the industry back.

Liquidity trapped inside exchanges limited crypto’s usefulness as a medium of exchange. Businesses hesitated to integrate digital assets into their operations because accessing fiat capital was operationally complex. Freelancers paid in crypto often waited days before funds became spendable. For many users, difficulty exiting positions reduced confidence in entering them in the first place. Crypto built a powerful on-chain infrastructure, but without efficient exit rails, digital value could not fully connect back to the real economy. That bottleneck is now being addressed.

Earlier this year, Mercuryo integrated off-ramp services with Visa Direct, enabling users to convert crypto balances directly to a credit or debit Visa card. The service provides fast, low-cost conversion into fiat spendable at more than 150 million Visa-accepting merchant locations worldwide. The difference is not incremental. It is structural. When digital assets can move onto global card rails in near real time, they begin to function as usable money.

More users, higher standards

Global crypto ownership continues to climb. According to Crypto.com’s 2025 Global Crypto Market Sizing Report, the number of crypto owners reached 741 million worldwide by December 2025, marking a substantial increase in global participation. But raw growth in user numbers does not mean frictionless access into or out of cryptocurrency. Consumers increasingly expect real-time, intuitive payment experiences. 

Traditional and fintech payment networks have invested heavily in instant settlement rails. McKinsey’s 2025 Global Payments Report highlights a payments industry handling trillions of transactions and generating $2.5 trillion in revenue, underscoring how mainstream finance operates at scale with speed and seamless UX as a baseline expectation. Web3 must also meet these standards or risk remaining disconnected from everyday financial life. 

Stablecoins are now foundational to transaction volume

Stablecoins have grown into a structural part of the digital asset ecosystem. Andreessen Horowitz’s 2025 State of Crypto report estimates that stablecoins processed approximately $46 trillion in on-chain transaction volume in 2025. That scale reflects growing use beyond trading.

Stablecoins increasingly power remittances, cross-border payroll, treasury operations, and tokenized settlement flows. Yet on-chain transaction volume does not create real-world utility. Stablecoins become practical financial tools only when they can be converted into local fiat quickly and predictably. Without reliable off-ramps, even trillions in digital settlements remain operationally constrained.

Off-ramps are migrating to institutional rails

Over the past 12 months, off-ramping has shifted toward established financial infrastructure.  Real-time payment platforms such as Visa Direct, which processes high-speed payouts to credit and debit cards in more than 190 markets, provide a low-touch means of converting digital tokens to fiat currency. This shift bridges the liquidity gap between digital and traditional finance. 

When users or businesses can receive fiat via familiar payment paths in minutes rather than days, digital assets function as usable money. Faster access reduces operational delays and exposure to volatility, which is important for freelancers, cross-border businesses, and consumers alike.

On-ramps are becoming native to UX

If off-ramps determine how users exit crypto, on-ramps can help shape who enters. In the past year, major wallet providers and exchanges have deepened integrations with mainstream payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. These integrations enable one-tap onboarding experiences that mirror everyday mobile transactions, dramatically reducing friction compared to traditional bank transfers. 

This trend matters because consumer expectations are now anchored in the world of mobile wallets and instant digital payments, as highlighted by industry reports such as the FIS Global Payments Report 2025, which shows digital wallets dominating e-commerce and point-of-sale value flows. When buying crypto feels like buying a coffee, adoption expands beyond early adopters into broader user bases.

Embedded crypto is accelerating

Beyond basic ramp UX, crypto capabilities are increasingly embedded within fintech and consumer platforms. Integrating crypto buying and selling directly into apps, from payment platforms to online marketplaces, requires a reliable payment ramp infrastructure that works globally and meets regulatory standards. This is similar to how embedded finance transformed lending, payments, and savings, where infrastructure became invisible, and the functionality worked seamlessly within the context users already understood. Web3 faces the same requirement.

Emerging markets show what’s at stake

Remittances remain one of the largest and most resilient financial flows globally. According to the World Bank’s latest available data, global remittance flows reached an estimated $905 billion in 2024, continuing a strong upward trend from 2023, with $656 billion flowing to low and middle-income countries. Yet the average cost of sending $200 remained above 6%, more than double the UN Sustainable Development Goal target of 3%.

Crypto payments, particularly when routed through stablecoins, offer a pathway to lower-cost, faster cross-border transfers. But without reliable fiat off-ramps, digital transfers remain trapped as on-chain balances rather than functioning as practical money in local economies. Efficient off-ramps connected to domestic banking systems or widely accepted card rails are essential if crypto is to fulfill its promise as a border-agnostic financial medium.

Infrastructure will define the next cycle

Narratives in web3 will continue to rotate, and markets will cycle between fear and greed. But at the end of the day, what determines adoption is payment infrastructure. When entering and exiting crypto feels as seamless as any mobile wallet transaction, digital assets shift from speculative holdings to functional tools. Liquidity flows more freely. Businesses integrate blockchain settlement into operational workflows. Consumers stop drawing lines between “crypto money” and “money.”

On and off-ramps may not always make the headlines, but they determine whether web3 remains parallel to global finance or embedded within it, opening up crypto services to hundreds of millions of users. The bridge between fiat and crypto is strengthening. The faster it disappears into the background, the faster web3 scales.

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

Bitcoin BTC$70,885.42 rose to just short of $72,000, hitting a one-month high and lifting the broader crypto market even as the war in the Middle East wreaks havoc on traditional markets.

The outperformance stems from several factors, including relative positioning, rising odds of the passage of the U.S.’s long‑debated Clarity Act aimed at legalizing stablecoins and hopes that conflict with Iran will end soon.

Bitcoin, down nearly 50% from its record high in October, was oversold before hostilities began Saturday. So as traditional assets tumbled, BTC held up well. That has likely revived investor interest in the largest cryptocurrency, drawing institutions back to the spot ETFs.

As noted on Monday, bitcoin stands to gain because the war will only worsen government finances worldwide, leading to more “fiat debasement.“

Meanwhile, the New York Times put out an interesting report that likely aided the price bounce, according to Bloomberg. The report said that the day after the attacks began, operatives from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence contacted the CIA to discuss terms for ending the war. While the U.S. ignored the overture, the outreach suggests backchannels are still active and could be used again, potentially leading to a ceasefire.

Lastly, there’s the possibility the Clarity Act could be passed soon.

“There was speculation circulating in the U.S. that the Clarity Act was close to being signed into law. This helped lift many altcoins relative to major assets, as they are expected to be among the biggest long-term beneficiaries of the legislation,” Paul Howard, director at trading firm Wincent, said in an email.

However, he added that there is currently no strong evidence that a large pool of sidelined money is waiting to flood into digital assets, and any rotation is still relatively small or gradual.

Looking ahead, traders expect volatility to persist, particularly if the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil-supply chokepoint, remains closed and oil prices continue to surge.

“We expect continued volatility, but if the disruption persists, pressure to reopen Hormuz is likely to build. Bitcoin has held up better than broader risk, and bears watching as an early signal of stabilizing sentiment,” QCP Capital’s market insight team said. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today

What to Watch

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead“.

• Crypto
• Macro
  • March 4, 8:15 a.m.: U.S. ADP employment change for February (Prev. 22K)
  • March 4, 10:00 a.m.: U.S. ISM services PMI for February (Prev. 53.8)
  • March 4, 2:00 p.m.: U.S. Fed Beige Book
• Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)

Token Events

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead“.

• Governance votes & calls
  • Uniswap DAO is voting across two linked proposals to expand v2 and v3 protocol fees to eight layer-2 networks and enable a new tier-based fee system across all v3 pools. Voting ends March 4 & 5.
  • ENS DAO is voting to replace three DNSSEC oracle algorithms to patch a critical RSA signature forgery vulnerability and significantly reduce gas costs. Voting ends March 4.
• Unlocks
• Token Launches
  • March 4: Block Street (BSB) to list on Binance Alpha, Bybit, others.

Conferences

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead“.

Market Movements

• BTC is up 4.49% from 4 p.m. ET Wednesday at $71,283.58 (24hrs: +6.65%)
• ETH is up 5.19% at $2,068.65 (24hrs: +5.64%)
• CoinDesk 20 is up 4.31% at 3,086.55 (24hrs: +5.45%)
• Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is down 1 bps at 2.85%
• BTC funding rate is at 0.0051% (5.6119% annualized) on Binance

• DXY is down 0.25% at 98.81
• Gold futures are up 1.70% at $5,194.10
• Silver futures are up 4.00% at $86.24
• Nikkei 225 closed down 3.61% at 54,245.54
• Hang Seng closed down 2.01% at 25,249.48
• FTSE 100 is up 0.18% at 10,502.97
• Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.70% at 5,812.08
• DJIA closed on Tuesday down 0.83% at 48,501.27
• S&P 500 closed down 0.94% at 6,816.63
• Nasdaq Composite closed down 1.02% at 22,516.69
• S&P/TSX Composite closed down 2.19% at 33,784.90
• S&P 40 Latin America closed down 4.95% at 3,539.33
• U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is up 1 bps at 4.06%
• E-mini S&P 500 futures are unchanged at 6,825.00
• E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are unchanged at 24,762.00
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down 0.12% at 48,501.00

Bitcoin Stats

• BTC Dominance: 59.61% (+0.81%)
• Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.02909 (0.26%)
• Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,025 EH/s
• Hashprice (spot): $31.26
• Total fees: 2.71 BTC / $183,733
• CME Futures Open Interest: 101,620 BTC
• BTC priced in gold: 13.7 oz.
• BTC vs gold market cap: 4.77%

Technical Analysis

• The chart shows bitcoin’s weekly price swings in candlestick format from early 2024.
• The bounce above $71,000 has renewed focus on the $74,000 level, which acted as resistance, an area where buyers tapped out in March 2024 and later as support, where selling stalled last April.
• This level, therefore, represents an area of significant historical economic activity and could now serve as a key inflection zone: A break and hold above $74,000 may open the door to a push toward higher levels, while repeated failure there could reignite selling pressure.

Crypto Equities

• Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Tuesday at $182.36 (–1.55%), +6.66% at $194.51 in pre-market
• Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $20.68 (–4.83%), +4.01% at $21.51
• MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $8.66 (–8.36%), +6.47% at $9.22
• Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $15.29 (–6.94%), +3.53% at $15.83
• Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $15.30 (–7.22%), +2.55% at $15.69
• CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.89 (–6.26%), +4.25% at $10.31
• Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $10.83 (+3.44%), +0.65% at $10.90
• CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI): closed at $37.88 (–6.31%), +4.67% at $39.65
• Circle Internet Group (CRCL): closed at $99.63 (+3.63%), +6.15% at $105.76
• Bullish (BLSH): closed at $33.12 (–2.04%), +2.93% at $34.09

Crypto Treasury Companies

• Strategy (MSTR): closed at $132.68 (–3.61%), +7.70% at $142.89
• Upexi (UPXI): closed at $0.79 (–10.80%), +14.65% at $0.90
• Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.15 (+2.68%)
• Sharplink (SBET): closed at $7.26 (–1.76%), +4.68% at $7.60

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs

• Daily net flows: $225.2 million
• Cumulative net flows: $55.47 billion
• Total BTC holdings ~1.28 million

Spot ETH ETFs

• Daily net flows: -$10.8 million
• Cumulative net flows: $11.66 billion
• Total ETH holdings ~5.71 million

Source: Farside Investors

While You Were Sleeping

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls are eyeing a move back toward $80,000 in March, with at least three indicators flashing increasing upside momentum.

Key takeaways:

• Bitcoin jumped by over 5% toward $72,000 on Wednesday.

• Multiple indicators, including a symmetrical triangle, hint at an extended price rally toward $80,000.

Bitcoin invalidates bearish chart pattern

On Wednesday, BTC’s price showed signs of invalidating what initially appeared to be a bear pennant.

The BTC/USD pair pierced the pennant’s upper trend line after jumping 5.21% to around $71,900. Its breakout came alongside a rise in trading volume, implying stronger conviction behind the rally.

That simultaneously increased the odds of a symmetrical-triangle bullish reversal.

A symmetrical triangle forms when price makes lower highs and higher lows, compressing into a tightening range.

It resolves when the price breaks either of the trendlines and moves by as much as the pattern’s maximum height.

In BTC’s case, the triangle’s widest range is roughly $63,000 to $71,000–$72,000.

A standard measured move above the upper trend line points to about $80,000 in March if the breakout sticks. The level aligns with BTC’s 100-day exponential moving average (100-day EMA, the purple line).

Related: US spot Bitcoin ETFs add $225M as BlackRock’s IBIT offsets redemptions

BTC’s next hurdle is the 50-day EMA (red) near $74,400. A rejection there would weaken the breakout and raise the odds of a pullback toward the 20-day EMA (green) around $68,700.

BTC futures gap remains unfilled at $80,000

The triangle’s $80,000 measured target also overlaps with an unfilled CME futures gap, turning the area into a clear magnet zone for the bulls.

A CME gap happens because CME Bitcoin futures stop trading over the weekend. If Bitcoin’s spot price moves while the futures market is closed, the latter can reopen at a new level, leaving an empty price zone on the chart.

As of Wednesday, that gap has been sitting around $79,660–$81,210 since early February.

Nine of the last 10 CME gaps have been filled since August 2025, which is why traders may view the $79,660–$81,210 region as a high-priority target as spot and futures prices re-align.

Polymarket raises odds of $80,000 Bitcoin in March

Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction market where users trade contracts on real-world outcomes, is showing a clear bullish shift for BTC in March.

Traders now assign 40% odds that Bitcoin reaches $80,000 on Wednesday, up from 20% a day ago. The $75,000 target carries even stronger conviction at 70%, up from 40% yesterday.

At the same time, the odds of the BTC price reaching $65,000 and $60,000 in March are priced lower than before, suggesting the crowd is trimming downside expectations.