The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has put forward a proposal which, according to SEC commissioner Hester Peirce, could help clear up years of confusion around how a key broker-dealer rule applies across markets.

On Monday, the SEC proposed an amendment to Rule 15c2-11 that would limit reporting requirements for broker-dealers in the over-the-counter market to equity securities only, effectively reversing the broader interpretation introduced in 2021.

The SEC Rule 15c2-11 was first introduced in 1971 to ensure broker-dealers maintain up-to-date issuer information before they can publish over-the-counter quotes.

By placing obligations for firms to review and maintain current information about an issuer, the rule was designed to reduce risks in thinly traded markets, particularly in penny stocks.

Without this information, a broker-dealer is not allowed to initiate or resume quotations for a security in OTC markets.

However, the rule was reinterpreted in 2021 to extend beyond equities into other asset classes, and as a result, there have been questions around whether it can apply to crypto assets if they are classified as securities.

The SEC’s proposal would limit the rule’s scope to equity securities.

As such, broker-dealers won’t be required to apply these reporting requirements to crypto assets, even in cases where questions around their classification as securities remain unresolved.

This could make it easier for broker-dealers to support crypto trading and quote digital assets without having to rely on disclosure standards that do not align with how these assets function.

A public comment period has been opened where the commission is seeking feedback on whether the definition of equity securities should extend to crypto assets and how the rule should apply going forward.

According to Commissioner Peirce, who also leads the agency’s crypto task force, the proposal could help address confusion created by the earlier interpretation.

“By its terms, the text of Rule 15c2-11 always has applied to quotations of a ‘security.’ Market participants and other observers including me, however, understood the rule to apply only to quotations of over-the-counter (‘OTC’) equity securities,”

However, it must be noted that there is still no final decision on whether “equity securities” could include crypto assets.

Peirce said she would closely watch “questions about the definition of ‘equity security,’ the rule’s application to crypto assets, and the appropriate next steps with respect to the formation of an ‘expert market.’”

Argentina has ordered a nationwide block of prediction market platform Polymarket, tightening its stance on what authorities describe as unlicensed online betting activity.

According to local media, a Buenos Aires court has directed regulators to move forward with enforcement after concluding that the platform operated outside the country’s legal gambling framework.

Authorities highlighted consumer protection risks among others, including the use of crypto payments, credit card deposits, and the absence of robust age or identity verification checks that could allow minors to participate.

There are also broader regulatory concerns behind this decision, tied to how prediction markets blur the line between financial speculation and gambling.

Authorities raised concerns about Polymarket’s handling of Argentina’s February inflation rate of 2.9% before the official release. Reports say the platform reportedly reversed its prediction just 15 minutes before the data was published, which authorities found suspicious.

The authorities concluded that the platform functioned as an online betting system rather than a neutral prediction market.

Subsequently, authorities asked the telecom regulator ENACOM to coordinate with internet service providers to enforce the block. Meanwhile, Google and Apple have been ordered to remove the platform’s apps, limiting access for local users.

The latest order also follows multiple complaints from entities such as the Buenos Aires City Lottery and the Argentine Chamber of Casinos and Bingos, which pushed for action against the platform.

Argentina now joins a long list of countries, notably across Europe and Latin America, that have taken action against the platform.

Last year, Colombia and Romania banned the platform, classifying it as unauthorized gambling activity within their jurisdictions.

Similar concerns have been raised across several states in the U.S., where regulators are examining whether event-based contracts offered by platforms like Polymarket fall under existing gambling or derivatives laws.

Separately, Polymarket is also facing scrutiny over its handling of markets tied to sensitive events, including contracts linked to death and violent outcomes, which have drawn criticism from lawmakers and prompted fresh legislative efforts.

XRP just reclaimed a ranking it hasn’t held in weeks, and the derivatives market suggests traders are positioning for more.

The token surged to $1.53 on Tuesday, up 11% on the week, overtaking BNB to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap at $93.4 billion. The move broke through $1.40 resistance, per CoinDesk analytics, with trading volume exploding 125% to $3.22 billion.

Coinglass data shows XRP open interest on Binance has climbed to 353.49 million XRP as of March 17, up from 222.79 million on Oct. 24, 2025, when XRP was trading at $2.39. That’s a 59% increase in open interest while the price is 37% lower. New leveraged positions are building into the recovery rather than unwinding, which is a fundamentally different setup from the deleveraging that dominated January and February.

The Binance OI chart shows the full arc. Open interest peaked above 400 million XRP in September 2025, collapsed during the October crash that took the price from $3.65 to below $2, and spent the next four months slowly rebuilding.

The current 353 million is approaching but hasn’t yet matched those pre-crash levels, which means the market has room to add leverage before hitting the concentration that preceded the last wipeout.

Traders will likely now monitor whether the $1.50-$1.60 zone holds or becomes another failed breakout in a token that has been full of them since October. Open interest building into the move gives it more structural support than previous attempts, but XRP approaching pre-crash leverage levels at 58% below the pre-crash price is a setup that works until it doesn’t.

US-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded their sixth day of inflows on Monday as Bitcoin rose over 12% over the period, marking the longest streak of fresh capital into the ETFs since October last year. 

Data from Farside Investors shows Bitcoin ETFs raked in $199.4 million of net inflows on Monday. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund led with $139.4 million and $64.5 million in inflows, respectively.

The Bitwise Bitcoin ETF and Franklin Bitcoin ETF tallied inflows of $2.8 million and $2.1 million, while the VanEck Bitcoin ETF and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF saw outflows of $6.3 million and $3.1 million, respectively.

This brings the total net inflows since March 9 to $962.8 million, coinciding with Bitcoin (BTC) rising 12.5% from $65,960 to $74,250 over the period. 

The inflow streak follows a much larger nine-day run between September and October 2025, which saw Bitcoin products tally nearly $6 billion worth of inflows.

Bitcoin was significantly higher at the time, hitting an all-time high of $126,080 during that stretch. 

The recent rise in Bitcoin ETF inflows and the cryptocurrency’s spot price comes amid ongoing uncertainty between the US and Iran and volatility in the oil markets.

Rumors of progress have helped Bitcoin

However, blockchain analytics platform Santiment said rumors swirling about progress being made by the US, Iran and Israel have been a contributing factor to Bitcoin soaring above the $74,400 mark for the first time in six weeks.

“This bullish momentum has been enough to push FOMO to its highest level since January 2nd,” Santiment noted.

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“In spite of global uncertainty at the moment, traders are once again seeing crypto as a sector with rise potential in the coming weeks and months.”

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index score, a measure of Bitcoin and crypto market sentiment, also increased five points to 28 on Tuesday — escaping the “Extreme Fear” zone for the first time since late January.

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