U.S. regulators are preparing to release new banking rules that will affect how banks handle digital assets on their balance sheets. The Bitcoin Policy Institute plans to challenge how the framework classifies Bitcoin risk. The group aims to influence upcoming Federal Reserve proposals linked to international banking standards.

Bitcoin Policy Institute Challenges Bitcoin Risk Treatment

The Bitcoin Policy Institute plans to respond to the Federal Reserve’s upcoming proposal on bank asset risk weighting. The organization intends to review the proposal and submit formal comments. It seeks regulatory changes that could reshape how banks treat Bitcoin exposure.

The Federal Reserve recently announced plans to issue a public consultation on implementing global Basel standards. These standards guide how banks measure asset risk and determine capital requirements. Consequently, regulators will define how digital assets appear within bank balance sheets.

The institute argues that the current Basel framework assigns Bitcoin an extremely high risk classification. Under the rules, banks must treat Bitcoin holdings as high-risk assets. Therefore, financial institutions face stricter capital requirements when holding cryptocurrency.

Basel Rules Assign High Capital Requirements To Bitcoin

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision created global rules that guide banking risk management. These rules classify assets according to their potential financial risk. As a result, banks must hold different levels of capital depending on the asset category.

Within this system, Bitcoin falls into a high-risk category that carries a 1,250 percent risk weighting. Such a rating requires banks to hold equivalent capital for any Bitcoin exposure. Consequently, banks must fully back Bitcoin positions with approved collateral.

Other assets receive far lower classifications under the same regulatory framework. Cash, government bonds, and physical gold carry zero percent risk weighting. Therefore, banks can hold these assets without allocating additional regulatory capital.

The Bitcoin Policy Institute argues that the classification places digital assets at a structural disadvantage. The organization claims the treatment limits financial institutions that want to offer Bitcoin-related services. As a result, banks may avoid integrating Bitcoin into their operations.

Federal Reserve Moves Toward Final Basel Implementation

The Federal Reserve plans to introduce rules that complete the final stage of Basel implementation in the United States. Regulators intend to strengthen financial stability while maintaining support for economic activity. Therefore, the proposal aims to balance growth and financial safety.

Supervisory officials stated that the rules should improve regulatory efficiency across the banking sector. They also intend to maintain strong risk management across financial institutions. Consequently, banks will adjust capital strategies based on the finalized guidelines.

The upcoming proposal will open a public comment period before regulators finalize the framework. Organizations, financial institutions, and policy groups will submit feedback during this stage. Therefore, regulators may revise aspects of the proposal before issuing final rules.

The debate over Bitcoin’s classification has grown since the Basel Committee introduced crypto guidelines in 2021. The committee placed digital assets in a high-risk category called Group Two. Under that structure, banks can hold only limited amounts of these assets.

Group Two assets remain capped at a small percentage of a bank’s overall holdings. The rule restricts exposure to assets considered volatile or uncertain. Consequently, the classification continues to shape how global banks approach cryptocurrency services.

TOKEN2049, which was due to take place in Dubai in April, has reportedly been cancelled amid growing concerns for conference goers’ safety due to the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran.

As reported by Wu Blockchain, a document was sent to TOKEN2049 sponsors warning that the event would be pushed back to April 2027 due to “current geopolitical conditions” and their impact on “international travel, participation, and event logistics.” 

It claimed that preparations for the conference had been continuing and that the decision “was not taken lightly.” 

Organizers said, “ensuring the global crypto industry can gather safely, and at the scale and quality that define TOKEN2049, remains our top priority.” 

Read more: Is ‘cloud seeding’ behind Dubai floods that wrecked TOKEN2049?

It noted that sponsors for the 2026 event will be carried over to next year’s conference, and stressed that it remains committed to maintaining its “long term presence” in Dubai.

The cancelation comes just four days after TOKEN2049 told Fortune that the event would continue as planned and preparations were in full swing. 

A separate conference for TON, a cryptocurrency once associated with Telegram, cancelled its May Dubai event yesterday due to the ongoing conflict. 

Dubai arrests people filming Iran strikes in the country 

The ongoing war in the Middle East has led to retaliatory attacks from Iran targeting US-Israel allied states in the Gulf, including the United Arab Emirates, specifically Dubai. 

Drone attacks reportedly targeted the city’s financial centre earlier today, while drones fell near its airport earlier in the week.

It’s also been targeted by missile fire, and the Burj Al Arab and luxury Palm Jumeirah area, both situated near the intended TOKEN2049 venue, have been attacked.

Several people have been arrested and charged after filming and posting the attacks. 

Crypto exchange Bybit has introduced a new artificial intelligence feature that allows automated trading through external AI assistants. The tool enables users to connect AI systems and execute trades using simple natural language commands. The launch reflects a broader push among crypto platforms to integrate AI into digital asset trading services.

Bybit Launches AI Trading Skill For Automated Trading

Bybit has launched an AI Trading Skill that allows external AI assistants to perform trading actions on its platform. The feature enables users to access market data, place trades, and manage assets through natural language prompts. As a result, traders can interact with the exchange without relying on a traditional trading interface.

The system connects with several AI assistants that interpret instructions and convert them into trading commands. Users can issue requests to check prices, open positions, or review portfolio balances through conversational prompts. Consequently, the feature simplifies trading operations and reduces the time required to execute market actions.

The exchange designed the AI Trading Skill to operate without complex installation processes. Users only need to connect supported AI assistants through secure API authentication. Therefore, traders can quickly activate the system and begin using AI-driven commands across their accounts.

AI Agents Execute Trades Through Extensive API Access

The AI Trading Skill operates through a network of 253 API endpoints that enable wide access to trading functions. These endpoints allow AI assistants to retrieve market data and execute various trading instructions instantly. As a result, AI systems can process commands and respond to market conditions more efficiently.

Users can chain several commands together and follow up with additional requests within a single conversation. The system also supports advanced operations such as margin lending and price differential trading strategies. Consequently, traders can manage multiple tasks without navigating separate trading dashboards.

Bybit also integrated real-time market intelligence through WebSocket data streams that deliver continuous market updates. These streams help AI assistants analyze live market conditions and respond to price movements quickly. Therefore, automated trading decisions can occur faster than manual execution.

The exchange described the feature as its most comprehensive AI integration across trading and digital asset management. Earlier tools provided analysis and strategy support, but required manual action from traders. However, the new framework allows AI agents to move from analysis to direct execution.

Safeguards Aim To Protect Users During AI-Driven Trading

Bybit added several safeguards to ensure that automated trading operates securely within its ecosystem. The exchange requires new users to perform test trades in a testnet environment before accessing live markets. This step allows traders to experiment with AI commands while avoiding financial risk.

All live trades require manual confirmation from the user before the order reaches the market. This control mechanism ensures that traders maintain final authority over every transaction. Consequently, AI assistance does not remove human oversight during trading activity.

The system also protects account data through secure API authentication that manages communication between AI assistants and the exchange. Users do not need to expose sensitive credentials when connecting to the feature. Therefore, the infrastructure reduces security risks while supporting automated trading commands.

Crypto exchanges have steadily expanded artificial intelligence tools to improve trading efficiency and platform accessibility. Other major exchanges have released AI tools that assist with market monitoring, strategy generation, and automated execution. As AI adoption grows, exchanges continue to test new ways to combine automation with digital asset trading services.

The XRP Ledger is reviewing two proposed amendments that could expand lending functions and strengthen vault infrastructure. Validators have begun voting, yet early participation remains limited. Current results suggest the proposals still face significant hurdles before reaching activation requirements.

Data from XRPScan shows that validators have submitted only a small portion of the required votes. The network requires a strong consensus before any protocol change becomes active. Consequently, both amendments remain far from the necessary approval threshold.

The proposed changes target deeper financial functionality across the XRP ecosystem. Developers designed them to enhance lending capabilities and asset management tools. However, the current voting pace indicates that activation may take longer than expected.

SingleAssetVault Amendment

Validators are currently assessing the v3.1.0 SingleAssetVault amendment across the network. The proposal introduces vault mechanisms designed for single asset management within decentralized environments. As a result, developers expect stronger custody options for on-chain financial applications.

So far, only eight validators have recorded votes supporting the proposal. This number remains well below the required activation threshold. Therefore, the amendment currently shows limited progress toward implementation.

The XRP Ledger requires at least 28 validator approvals to activate protocol changes. This requirement represents roughly 80 percent of the network’s validator set. Without that support, the activation process automatically resets after the voting period ends.

Lending Protocol Amendment

Validators are also reviewing the v3.1.0 Lending Protocol amendment during the same voting cycle. This proposal introduces infrastructure for native lending services within the XRP Ledger ecosystem. Consequently, developers aim to expand decentralized finance capabilities directly on the network.

The amendment has gathered only six validator votes so far. That participation rate equals about 17% of the total validator pool. Therefore, the proposal remains far below the required approval threshold.

If voting participation does not accelerate, the activation timer will expire. When that happens, the amendment returns to a pending state. Validators may then reconsider the proposal during a future voting round.

Amendment Oversight and Security Context

Protocol amendments carry major consequences because they directly modify core blockchain functionality. Developers, therefore, apply strict governance rules before enabling any change. The XRP Ledger uses extended validator voting periods to confirm broad consensus.

A recent example demonstrated why careful review remains essential. Security researchers discovered a vulnerability in the proposed Batch amendment, known as XLS-56. That issue appeared during its voting phase and never reached activation.

The flaw could have allowed attackers to withdraw funds from user wallets. Notably, the exploit did not require access to private keys. Early detection prevented potential damage and reinforced the network’s review process.

Such events highlight the importance of gradual amendment adoption. Validators must carefully examine technical risks before approving protocol upgrades. Consequently, the slow progress of current proposals reflects the network’s cautious governance approach.

Why Arthur Hayes is bullish: In an interview with CoinDesk’s Jennifer Sanasie on MArkets Outlook, Hayes said Hyperliquid has separated itself from competing perpetual futures exchanges with real usage rather than incentive-driven volume.

• Hayes told Sanasie he sold his firm’s HYPE position around $50–$55 ahead of expected token unlock pressure but turned bullish again after the team chose not to sell most of its monthly token allocations.
• He said Hyperliquid still generates close to a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate based on 30-day fee data.
• The platform’s HIP-3 permissionless listing system has expanded trading beyond crypto into assets like oil or equity indices.

What’s driving activity: Hayes said traders are increasingly using Hyperliquid to access markets unavailable through traditional platforms.

• Retail traders can trade assets like oil or Nasdaq proxies 24/7 on-chain using stablecoins and crypto wallets.
• Hayes said leverage of 10x–20x is often available compared with the 2x–3x many retail investors receive on traditional brokerage platforms.
• Weekend geopolitical events, such as sudden conflict announcements, have pushed traders to use Hyperliquid while traditional markets are closed.

Why Hyperliquid stands out: Hayes argued Hyperliquid’s liquidity and trading metrics show more genuine market activity than rival decentralized exchanges.

• Many competing platforms rely on wash trading or token incentive programs to inflate activity, Hayes said.
• He evaluates exchanges using the ratio of trading volume to open interest, which he said helps identify genuine trading demand.
• Hayes said Hyperliquid has the lowest ratio among major perpetual DEXs, indicating more “real” trading.
• The platform also offers the lowest slippage for large bitcoin perpetual trades ranging from $100,000 to $10 million, he said.

What could derail the thesis: Hayes said rising hype and stronger competition could signal a potential exit point.

• He said he would reconsider his position if HYPE’s price-to-earnings ratio rises sharply and market sentiment becomes overwhelmingly bullish.
• Another risk is whether competitors offering lower fees can erode Hyperliquid’s roughly 70% share of perpetual DEX revenue.
• Hayes said maintaining strong revenue and continued restraint in team token selling are key to sustaining the bull case.

Beyond HYPE: Hayes also highlighted privacy-focused crypto projects as a developing narrative.

• He said Zcash could benefit from growing concerns about blockchain surveillance and AI-powered transaction analysis.
• Hayes cited Zcash’s cryptographic upgrades and privacy model as reasons he favors it over alternatives like Monero.

Bitcoin outlook: Hayes maintained his aggressive forecast for Bitcoin.

• He reiterated that Bitcoin could reach $250,000 by the end of the year despite missing earlier targets.

The Ethereum Foundation released the EF Mandate today, a foundational document it says functions as part constitution, part manifesto. The 38-page document, published by the EF’s board today, March 13, as a PDF and on-chain, aims to articulate the “promise of Etheruem,” as well as the EF’s role in the ecosystem.

Per the Mandate, the EF defines its role not as Ethereum’s owner or ruler, but as a steward with one core mission: ensuring Ethereum becomes and stays a decentralized, resilient tool for user self-sovereignty.

The Mandate also reaffirms the definition of Ethereum as humanity’s “World Computer” as the ecosystem’s first “promise” — what the EF says represents a “common computational substrate that anyone can interact with trustlessly, permissionlessly, and persistently.” Ethereum’s second promise, per the EF Mandate, is to enable self-sovereign coordination at scale, without coercion or capture.

Per the document, the EF’s mandate consists of two main principles: ensuring Ethereum stay decentralized and resilient, specifically as a tool for self-sovereignty; secondly, “scaling the guaranteed availability of self-sovereignty to users ready to
exercise it directly.”

The document states that a core aim of the EF within the first of its mandates is to ensure that Ethereum remain “CROPS” — censorship resistant, open source, private, and secure. This collection of properties, the EF says, is the non-negotiable baseline for all EF decisions for Ethereum, at both the protocol and application layers, per the Mandate.

“May the Foundation fall on its own sword if it fails to uphold its solemn promise to Ethereum,” an illustrated part of the EF Mandate reads.

Buterin Responds

Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, posted a detailed breakdown of the Mandate on X today, describing Ethereum’s as “a sanctuary technology” built to “preserve technological self-sovereignty” and “ensure that no single person, organization or ideology’s victory in cyberspace can be total.”

Buterin outlined the EF’s role as well, including developing “the zero option” at the Ethereum application layer — UX that “goes hard” on security, privacy, and respecting user agency — while leaving broader adoption-first efforts to outside players. “Such work has its natural home outside the EF,” he wrote.

The Mandate also formally enshrines passing the “walkaway test” as the EF’s norttart for Ethereum. Buterin first introduced the concept on Jan. 12, as The Defiant reported at the time.

The walkaway test refers to making sure Ethereum is robust and resilient enough to function and evolve even if the EF and the protocol’s core developers “disappeared tomorrow.” The Foundation frames its own diminishing relevance as the truest measure of success, arguing that despite what may sound like a contradiction, “we believe, and history shows us time and again, that the only way to grow a garden into something truly infinite is to choose subtraction,” referring to the eventual “subtraction” of the EF itself as steward of Ethereum.

“For we are building nothing less than the machinery of freedom — not just for today, but for the next thousand years,” the Mandate states in its closing section.

The release comes amid significant internal change at the EF, following leadership restructuring last summer, and more recently, executive departures.

“We are doubling down on Ethereum,” Buterin wrote in his X post today, “and are excited about its next chapter.”

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.

Robinhood’s February data show crypto notional volumes up 9% to $25b while equity, options and event contracts shrink, proving speculative energy has rotated back into coins.

Robinhood’s February numbers are clear: crypto is where the life is, everything else is fading.

Robinhood crypto volume jumps in February

Robinhood reported February crypto notional trading volumes of $25.0 billion, up 9% month‑on‑month and 74% year‑on‑year. Of that, $9.4 billion ran through the Robinhood app itself, with the remaining volume routed via Bitstamp, which Robinhood acquired in 2025 and now uses as its institutional and deep‑liquidity back‑end. This follows January’s $22.9 billion in crypto volume, meaning Robinhood has printed back‑to‑back months of sequential growth in digital‑asset activity to start 2026.

The crypto growth comes as Bitcoin trades near all‑time highs and volatility returns across majors and meme‑adjacent tokens, pulling in both retail flow on the app and larger tickets via Bitstamp. For Robinhood, that mix is ideal: more notional, fatter spreads and higher engagement in a product line that was supposed to be dead post‑2021 but is now the only one actually inflecting up.

Equities, options and event contracts slump

Everything outside crypto is going the other way. Equity notional trading volume in February came in at $194.4 billion, down 14% from January, even though that still marks a 36% increase versus a year earlier. Options contracts traded fell to 180.3 million, a 10% month‑on‑month decline and only a 9% gain year‑on‑year, with average daily option volume at 9.5 million contracts, down 5% versus January.

The sharpest hit is in Robinhood’s event contracts — its prediction‑market‑style product. February saw just 2.4 billion event contracts traded, a 29% drop from January’s level, giving back a chunk of the growth the firm had touted as part of its post‑meme diversification story. That tells you where speculative energy has rotated: away from binary macro bets and back into leveraged plays on BTC and friends.

What this rotation really means

From a market‑structure perspective, Robinhood is simply reflecting the broader tape: crypto volatility plus upside trends are attracting flows at the margin, while single‑stock and options trading cools off after a heavy run. For crypto markets, more retail flow through Robinhood and Bitstamp means more noise, more forced buying and selling around headlines, and fatter tails on both sides when the Fed or macro shocks hit.

XRP remains in a fragile position, with both the USDT and BTC pairs still trading within broader bearish structures. Although the price is attempting to stabilize near key support zones, buyers have yet to reclaim the major moving averages or break the descending trendlines that continue to define the downtrend.

Ripple Price Analysis: The USDT Pair

On the XRP/USDT chart, the asset is still moving inside a falling channel and remains below both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, which keeps the broader outlook tilted to the downside. XRP is now trading around $1.43, holding above the $1.10 to $1.20 support zone, while the first meaningful resistance sits at the $1.80 mark.

If buyers manage to push above that area, the next major hurdle comes in around $2.40 to $2.50. For now, though, the structure remains weak, and the recent RSI recovery only points to mild momentum improvement rather than a confirmed trend reversal.

The BTC Pair

Against Bitcoin, XRP continues to underperform and again, remains pinned below both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages. The pair is trading near 1,968 sats and is once again testing the key 1,950 to 2,000 sats support area, which has acted as an important floor in recent months.

As long as that support holds, a short-term bounce remains possible, but any recovery still needs to clear the 2,500 sats resistance zone to shift momentum more decisively. If the current support breaks, the next downside target would likely be the 1,500 sats region, while a stronger reclaim of overhead resistance could open the way toward the key 2,700 sats resistance level.

Circle’s (CRCL) USDC has overtaken Tether’s USDT in transaction volumes for the first time since 2019, prompting Japanese investment bank Mizuho to raise its price target for the stablecoin issuer to $120 from $100, while reiterating its neutral rating on the stock.

The shares rose 1% in early trading to $115.40 and are up roughly 95% from their February lows.

Analysts Dan Dolev and Alexander Jenkins increased their Circle estimates, citing “USDC activity trends and use cases like Polymarket or agentic commerce expectations.”

Stablecoins, digital tokens backed by reserves such as fiat currency or gold, serve as key payment and settlement rails in the crypto economy, particularly for trading and cross-border transfers. The sector is dominated by Tether’s USDT with a $143 billion market cap, followed by Circle’s USDC at $78 billion.

According to their Friday report, USDC has recorded about $2.2 trillion in adjusted transaction volume so far in 2026, compared with $1.3 trillion for USDT. That gives USDC roughly 64% share of adjusted volumes, a sharp reversal from 2019–2025 when Tether consistently led, and USDC averaged about a 30% share.

The analysts said the shift matters because the long-term winner among stablecoins will likely be determined by real economic usage rather than market capitalization alone. Standard Chartered expects the stablecoin market cap to reach $2 trillion by the end of 2028.

Reflecting stronger USDC activity and expanding use cases, the Mizuho analysts raised several long-term Circle forecasts. They now expect “meaningful wallets” to reach 11.7 million by 2027, up from a prior estimate of 10 million, helping lift projected USDC market capitalization to $139 billion from $123 billion.

Circle has outperformed other crypto-linked equities recently.

William Blair analysts said in a Thursday note that while recent gains could easily be linked to rising oil prices and a potentially more hawkish Federal Reserve, other factors are likely driving the move.

They pointed instead to the resilience of USDC’s market capitalization despite the broader crypto downturn, along with increasing investor recognition of Circle’s economic model and its leadership in stablecoin infrastructure.

Other analysts pointed to a positioning-driven short squeeze rather than fundamentals as the driver of the recent move higher in the shares.

While the company delivered strong growth in USDC supply, the stock’s outsized reaction post earnings was driven more by crowded short bets heading into the print than by strong financials, according to Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research.

Read more: Circle’s outperformance highlights USDC’s staying power, says bullish Wall Street analyst