MARA Holdings, the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miner in the U.S., sold 15,133 BTC for approximately $1.1 billion between March 4 and March 25, deploying the proceeds to retire roughly $1 billion in convertible debt, the company said Thursday.

The transactions represent one of the single largest BTC liquidations by a public miner and mark a decisive break from the accumulation-first playbook MARA pursued through much of 2024 and 2025, when it raised billions through zero-coupon convertible note offerings specifically to buy more Bitcoin.

Debt Slashed by 30%

MARA entered into privately negotiated agreements with noteholders to repurchase approximately $367.5 million of its 0.00% convertible senior notes due 2030 and $633.4 million of its 2031 notes, according to a press release. It paid roughly $322.9 million and $589.9 million, respectively — an average discount of about 9% to par — capturing approximately $88 million in cash savings.

The buyback cuts MARA’s total convertible note obligations from roughly $3.3 billion to $2.3 billion, according to the company’s disclosure.

The sale follows a policy change MARA disclosed in its 10-K filing with the SEC earlier this month, formally authorizing the sale of BTC held on its balance sheet — not just newly mined coins. In the second half of 2025, the company had already begun selling a portion of production to cover rising operating costs amid post-halving margin compression.

“Our decision to sell a portion of our Bitcoin holdings reflects a strategic capital allocation move designed to strengthen our balance sheet and position the company for long-term growth,” Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said in the announcement.

The shift is stark. Just a few months ago, MARA was among the most aggressive corporate BTC accumulators, alongside Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), using convertible debt issuances to expand its holdings to over 50,000 BTC.

Following the sale, its stash sits at 38,689 BTC, worth approximately $2.7 billion at current prices, according to BitcoinTreasuries data. The drawdown pushes MARA to third among corporate Bitcoin holders, behind Twenty One Capital, which holds 43,514 BTC. Strategy remains far ahead with more than 762,000 BTC and is still buying.

AI Pivot

Thiel framed the deleveraging as a prerequisite for MARA’s broader strategic pivot into digital energy and AI/high-performance computing infrastructure. In February, the company announced a joint venture with Starwood Capital targeting 2.5 GW of AI and HPC data center capacity, and last year agreed to acquire a 64% stake in Exaion, a high-performance computing subsidiary of French energy giant EDF.

The company said it plans to continue selling Bitcoin “from time to time” as part of its 2026 capital and liquidity strategy.

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

Only $2.93 billion in Bitcoin DeFi is deployed while $13.5 billion in crypto derivatives expire today on Deribit, and the BTC outlook turns uncertain as the token tests the 200 day moving average at $69,200 for the third straight session below $70,000.

But the real question now is not how to generate yield on Bitcoin but where to deploy capital before a listing that compresses what years of holding cannot. The bitcoin price prediction shows a pullback, but Pepeto is already past $8 million raised with a Binance listing approaching. This is the kind of entry that Bitcoin DeFi yield will never generate on its own.

Crypto derivatives face a major quarterly expiry on March 27 with $13.5 billion set to expire on Deribit, where positioning points to elevated demand for volatility strategies rather than strong directional bets, according to CoinDesk.

Bitcoin slipped more than 3% Thursday with ETH, XRP, SOL, and ADA losing 4% to 5% as fading hopes of Middle East de escalation weighed on risk sentiment, according to The Block.

The BTC forecast faces volatility from the expiry, and the exchange already running at presale pricing with 100x projected is where the capital lands before the listing.

Where the BTC Pullback Meets Presale Returns Before the Window Closes

Pepeto

The derivatives expiry creates volatility that rotates capital fast. Most traders chase whatever is already running, but traders who use Pepeto find what has not moved yet and enter before it does.

That is the core difference. Most traders who missed the early stages of major rallies simply did not have verified information at the right time. By the time an opportunity became obvious, the entries were already gone. The exchange exists to fix that directly, acting as the verification layer that keeps you informed, protected, and positioned before the move happens.

The BTC forecast may be turning uncertain, but the risk scorer goes through every contract before your capital touches it, catching the dangers that cause losses regardless of which direction the market moves. PepetoSwap handles every trade at zero fees and the cross chain bridge sends tokens at zero cost.

Now think about what that means for your position. More than $8 million raised at $0.000000186 with 193% APY staking compounding early wallets proves the conviction held through the worst fear readings in 16 months. The SolidProof audit verified every contract, and the developer who created the original Pepe coin reaching $11 billion with the same 420 trillion supply built the exchange alongside a former Binance expert. Pepeto with 100x projected by analysts is a path to returns that Bitcoin DeFi yield will never approach, regardless of how the derivatives settle.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: Will BTC Hold $69,560 or Break Lower After the Expiry?

Bitcoin trades at $68,560 as of March 27 after testing the $72,000 level repeatedly but meeting rejection each time, with futures open interest at a one week high as traders build short positions, according to CoinMarketCap.

The bitcoin price prediction depends on whether BTC holds the 200 day moving average at $69,200. Losing $69,200 opens $67,000 with $65,000 as the next floor. Reclaiming $72,000 opens $74,000 to $76,000 if expiry volatility clears for buyers.

Spot ETF outflows hit $124 million on March 25, the fifth straight day of redemptions. The BTC forecast for recovery depends on Friday’s PCE data and whether Iran talks produce real progress before the five day window expires March 28.

Bitcoin Price Prediction Confirms One Position Right Now Can Change How Your Entire Cycle Ends

The bitcoin price prediction turned uncertain after BTC settled below $70,000 for the third straight session. Even the $13.5 billion derivatives expiry did not create the directional move bulls needed.

The market is volatile, and capital always finds the entry that delivers the most from this level of fear. Right now, that capital is finding Pepeto with more than $8 million raised while the Fear and Greed Index sits at 10. DOGE went from $0.007 to a $90 billion market cap, and the same pattern is visible before the crowd confirms it. The Pepeto official website is where getting in before the Binance listing is how one position right now changes how your entire cycle ends.

Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs:

What does the latest bitcoin price prediction reveal after BTC dropped below $70,000?

The bitcoin price prediction shows BTC testing the 200 day average at $69,200 with $67,000 as the next support if it breaks, while reclaiming $72,000 opens $74,000.

What is the BTC forecast as $13.5 billion in derivatives expire?

The expiry drives volatility but not direction. The Pepeto official website is where the exchange targeting 100x from the listing is still at presale pricing while BTC consolidates.

What does the bitcoin price prediction mean for traders looking for better returns?

BTC targets recovery over months while Pepeto offers 100x from one listing event with a live exchange and more than $8 million in committed capital during the deepest fear in over a year.

Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed Law No. 15,358 on March 25, establishing what the government calls the Legal Framework for Combating Organized Crime. The legislation, also known as the Raul Jungmann Law, gives judges the authority to freeze, seize, and forfeit crypto and other digital assets tied to criminal organizations — and funnel the proceeds into public security funds.

The law is notable for explicitly incorporating digital assets into Brazil’s anti-crime toolkit. Article 9 of the legislation authorizes judges to order the “seizure, attachment, blocking or freezing of movable and immovable property, rights and assets, including digital or virtual assets” during investigations, as well as prohibit operations on crypto exchanges and block access to digital wallets — all without prior notice to the accused.

Crucially, the measures don’t require a conviction. Judges can authorize the provisional use or early sale of seized cryptoassets, with proceeds directed to state or federal security funds to finance police operations, intelligence work, and officer training. In cases where illicit origins are clear, an “extraordinary forfeiture” process allows assets to be declared lost even without a criminal judgment.

The bill was first introduced in November, shortly after authorities cracked down on an illegal Bitcoin mining operation. It was drafted to target the financial infrastructure of gangs like Comando Vermelho and the PCC.

The law also introduces two new criminal categories — “structured social domination” and “aiding structured social domination” — carrying sentences of 12 to 40 years. Leaders of ultraviolent criminal organizations face mandatory imprisonment in maximum-security federal facilities, and the use of encrypted messaging apps or privacy tools to conceal criminal activity is designated as an aggravating factor that increases sentences.

The legislation mandates the creation of a national criminal database that maps the financial structures of known criminal organizations, designed to improve coordination between police, prosecutors, and the judiciary across Brazil’s states. The law also enables international cooperation for asset recovery and intelligence sharing, allowing Brazilian agencies to work with foreign counterparts to trace and recover illicit funds.

Upon final conviction, individuals permanently lose access to the formal financial and crypto systems and are barred from contracting with the government, participating in public tenders, or receiving fiscal incentives for 12 to 15 years.

The law stands in pointed contrast to a separate legislative effort introduced in February by Federal Deputy Luiz Gastão. His bill, an expanded version of PL 4501/2024, proposes a Strategic Sovereign Bitcoin Reserve, known as RESBit, to gradually acquire up to 1 million BTC over 5 years. That proposal would explicitly prohibit the sale of judicially seized Bitcoin, retaining confiscated assets within the reserve rather than liquidating them.

Law No. 15,358 takes the opposite approach: it treats seized crypto not as a reserve asset but as a resource to be converted and spent on law enforcement. Whether the two frameworks can coexist — or whether the RESBit bill advances at all — remains an open question.

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

Felix Protocol has launched tokenized U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds on HyperEVM, delivering on a partnership with Ondo Finance that was first announced in January.

The launch gives on-chain traders access to more than 250 tokenized equities through Felix’s native trading interface, with assets backed by real shares held off-chain through Ondo Global Markets. Felix claims users can execute orders as large as $1 million with net execution costs below 10 basis points — a threshold the protocol says addresses one of the key barriers to on-chain equity adoption.

“On-chain traders no longer have to off-ramp funds to gain exposure to US capital markets,” the protocol said in a post on X. The offering is not available to U.S. users or those in other prohibited jurisdictions.

Ondo Infrastructure

All tokenized assets on Felix are built on Ondo Global Markets’ spot infrastructure, which routes mints and redemptions through Felix’s smart contracts. Each token gives users economic exposure to the underlying asset’s price action and dividends, rather than direct share ownership.

Ondo is the dominant issuer in the tokenized equity space. The protocol’s total value locked (TVL) recently surpassed $550 million in tokenized stocks alone, commanding 59% of the market, according to data from RWAxyz. Ondo’s broader platform — which includes tokenized Treasuries and its USDY dollar-yield product — holds roughly $2.9 billion in total TVL, per DefiLlama.

From Lending to Equities

Felix began as a collateralized debt position and lending protocol on HyperEVM, and has grown into the fifth-largest DeFi application on Hyperliquid’s Layer 1 network. The protocol currently holds approximately $167 million in TVL, according to DefiLlama.

Felix said future iterations of the equities product will include limit orders and dollar-cost averaging across tokenized assets, exposure to international equity markets in countries such as South Korea, Japan, and India, support for hundreds of additional U.S. equities, and the integration of stocks and ETFs as collateral on Felix’s lending markets.

The collateral use case could be particularly significant: it would allow traders to borrow against their tokenized equity holdings on-chain, merging the protocol’s existing lending infrastructure with its new equities product.

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

Flare Network cofounder Hugo Philion predicted $1 billion in XRP locked on his blockchain last year, and thinks it will somehow surpass $5 billion by this summer. Meanwhile, his network’s native token just hit an all-time low.

Six months after launch, his Flare XRP DeFi ecosystem averages fewer than 80 new users per day.

Flare Bridged XRP, a 1:1 representation of the XRP coin on Flare, launched in September 2025. It was pitched by former derivatives trader Philion as XRP’s DeFi breakthrough with a billion-dollar, “500% growth” target just around the corner.

On-chain data, however, tells a different story. Its DeFi ecosystem averages 76 new users per day since launch with the median day attracting a mere 33 people.

A new user, precisely defined, is a wallet that first interacted with the FXRP ecosystem via a mint, swap, burn, borrow, or repay. By that count, over half of all days since launch saw fewer than 50.

The data reveals brief spikes followed by rapid decay. On February 27, 2026, new users peaked above 2,000, coinciding with Flare’s one-click Xaman wallet integration.

Within two weeks, that number had fallen below 30. 

The same pattern arose in September 2025 with a 467 new user spike on the day FAssets launched. Entrants then dropped more than 90% a week later.

Exclude the sparse days with anomalous spikes above 500, and the entire six-month average drops to under 50. The last seven days have averaged 60 new users. 

An XRP enthusiast on X claimed that Flare XRP DeFi had more than $149 million in value secured and that user growth was accelerating fast.

That’s certainly less than one, let alone multiple billions, and no, growth in Flare XRP DeFi has actually flatlined.

A top U.S. regulator says blockchain could become a core tool for verifying AI-generated media, arguing that distributed ledgers can help distinguish authentic content from synthetic outputs as concerns over misinformation grow. Speaking on The Pomp Podcast, Michael Selig, chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), described timestamping and unique identifiers for memes and AI-generated posts as a practical path to verification. He also stressed the importance of maintaining U.S. leadership in crypto, saying that “you can’t have AI without blockchain.”

When pressed about how regulators view AI agents in markets, Selig advocated a cautious, targeted approach. He cautioned against over-regulation that could dampen innovation and outlined a strategy that focuses on the actors participating in financial transactions, rather than imposing burdens on software developers who create the tools. The overarching aim, he said, is to ensure enforcement targets the right participants while regulators continue to study how AI models are used in trading.

Key takeaways

• Blockchain could be used to timestamp and identify AI-generated content, aiding validation of authenticity in a noisy information landscape.
• U.S. regulators favor regulating actors in financial markets rather than software developers, aiming for a “minimum effective dose” of regulation.
• Proof-of-personhood tools and related verification tech are being explored as a means to prove human backing for AI agents interacting online.
• Broader AI policy discussions in the U.S. include a push for a unified federal framework to avoid a patchwork of state rules that could hinder innovation.

Blockchain meets AI verification: the evolving playbook

The discussion situates blockchain at the center of a broader push to authenticate online content amid growing AI capabilities. Proponents point to the potential of verifiable timestamps and content identifiers on a public ledger to help users and markets distinguish real signals from AI-generated outputs. This line of thinking aligns with ongoing interest in provenance technologies that can preserve the integrity of information while limiting exposure to manipulated or misleading media.

In parallel, industry-driven efforts on proof-of-personhood are gaining attention as a possible backbone for AI interactions. World ID, developed by the startup World, aims to let users prove they are real humans without revealing sensitive data. The approach centers on cryptographic proofs and device-hosted biometrics, rather than centralized credential databases. While supporters argue this could curb automated abuse, critics raise privacy and coercion concerns that policymakers will need to weigh as these systems mature.

Another notable development is AgentKit, a toolkit unveiled earlier this year that enables AI agents to demonstrate a link to verified human backing while engaging with online services. It couples proof-of-personhood credentials with the x402 micropayments framework created by Coinbase and Cloudflare, enabling agents to pay for access while maintaining cryptographic attestations of human origin. The goal is to strike a balance between functional automation and accountable participation in digital ecosystems.

Tech leaders have long envisioned cryptographic approaches to content integrity. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed using zero-knowledge proofs and on-chain timestamps to validate how content is generated and distributed, without exposing private data. Such ideas echo a broader aspiration: to build verifiable, privacy-preserving rails for online discourse and market activity as AI becomes more embedded in everyday operations.

Regulatory backdrop: a national AI framework and the risk of a fragmented regime

The policy conversation in Washington has intensified around AI governance. In March, the White House signaled a move toward a unified federal AI framework, warning that a mosaic of state-level rules could hinder American innovation and global competitiveness. The administration’s framing suggests regulators want guardrails that protect consumers and markets while preserving incentives for technological advancement.

Within this landscape, the CFTC’s stance reflects a philosophy of precision regulation—addressing how market participants use AI tools and ensuring that enforcement targets the actors who cross lines, rather than stifling the underlying technologies. The agency is also closely watching how AI models operate in trading contexts, seeking to establish clear boundaries for permissible activities without throttling beneficial innovation.

Meanwhile, the broader crypto and AI ecosystems continue to intersect with debates about data sovereignty, privacy, and user control. The World ID approach and AgentKit illustrate a trend toward cryptographic identity and verifiable interaction as foundational layers for AI-enabled services. As policymakers weigh federal coordination against state experimentation, investors and builders will be watching for indications of regulatory clarity that could shape product strategies and risk management in the near term.

In sum, the conversation underscores a central question for markets: can verification technologies anchored in blockchain and cryptography deliver trusted AI interactions without compromising privacy or innovation? The answer may unfold through a combination of targeted enforcement, architectural shifts toward verifiable identities, and a balanced federal policy framework that harmonizes incentives with safeguards.

As these conversations advance, the next milestones to watch include any formal CFTC guidance on AI applications in regulated markets, new demonstrations of proof-of-personhood credentials in real-world services, and the regulatory community’s response to World ID and AgentKit-style initiatives as prototypes mature and scale.

GameStop’s (GME) massive, $420 million bitcoin BTC$69,068.69 transfer earlier this year was not an exit – but it’s not holding the coins anymore either.

In its annual report filed Tuesday, the video game retailer revealed that 4,709 BTC – out of its 4,710 coins – had been pledged to crypto exchange giant Coinbase (COIN) as part of an over-the-counter covered-call strategy.

The disclosure offers a clearer explanation for a January wallet that showed GameStop shifting nearly its entire bitcoin position to Coinbase Prime. The move had stirred speculation that the company was preparing to sell its holdings. Especially so as digital asset treasury firms faced mounting pressure from falling crypto prices, sparking questions about whether GameStop was cutting risk.

The BTC options strategy

What happened instead is that the company has written short-dated call options on its bitcoin, with strike prices between $105,000 and $110,000 and expiries through late March.

The trade was aimed at generating income from option premiums, while limiting gains above those levels.

The filing shows a $0.7 million liability linked to the options and a $2.3 million unrealized gain. It also said that after the fiscal year ending on January 31, a portion of the covered-call contracts expired unexercised, while the related collateral remained with Coinbase Credit.

No longer holding bitcoin

The structure also changed how GameStop accounts for its holdings.

Because Coinbase can rehypothecate or redeploy the pledged bitcoin, the company no longer classifies the assets as directly held. It now records a receivable, the right to reclaim equivalent BTC later.

That is a notable shift from its buy-and-hold strategy. While GameStop said its economic exposure remains similar to holding bitcoin outright, the position is no longer unencumbered. It sits with a counterparty and is tied to derivatives.

The firm reported that receivables linked to the pledged bitcoin were worth $368.3 million at fiscal year-end. It also booked a $59.7 million unrealized loss tied to bitcoin’s price decline.

OKX does not plan to rush into public markets in the U.S., even as the crypto exchange pushes deeper into global expansion and tokenized finance.

“We will go public when we have confidence that we can give back shareholder value,” said Haider Rafique, the firm’s general manager and chief marketing officer, during a conversation at the Digital Asset Summit in New York on Thursday. “If we are not confident that we can do that, I don’t think there’s going to be any desire for us to go into the public markets.”

The stance comes as OKX recently secured a strategic investment tied to Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, in a deal that valued the company at $25 billion. Rafique said the firm intentionally priced the round conservatively. “I think we did underprice ourselves when you look at our revenue growth, when you look at our licenses and our assets,” he said, adding the move was “very intentional” and tied to long-term shareholder returns.

The comments reflect a broader concern about how crypto companies have performed in public markets. Rafique pointed to at least one major listing that has struggled since going public. “I bought one share… and that one share is at a negative 50% return,” he said. “That’s not a good thing. That’s actually bad for the category.”

While he did not name the company, Coinbase (COIN) — the largest U.S.-listed crypto exchange — has faced volatility since its 2021 debut and currently trades nearly 50% lower than its IPO price. Other crypto-linked listings have also struggled to maintain consistent investor returns, raising questions about how public markets value the sector.

Rafique warned that repeating past patterns could damage the industry further. “If we treat going public the same way we treated ICOs and the 5 million tokens that were put in market last year… then I think we’re doomed as an industry,” he said.

Instead, OKX is positioning itself as a longer-term builder. The exchange, founded in Asia, has grown into one of the largest global crypto trading platforms, particularly in derivatives, where Rafique said it ranks among the top venues. Unlike U.S.-focused rivals such as Coinbase and Kraken, OKX operates across multiple regions, including Europe, Latin America and Asia, giving it a broader liquidity base.

That global footprint is central to its strategy as it eyes further expansion into the U.S. Rafique said international exchanges bring structural advantages, including deeper liquidity across time zones. “Our unified order book becomes a really strong competitive advantage,” he said, particularly during off-hours in U.S. markets.

The company is also betting on tokenized financial assets and blockchain-based infrastructure as the next phase of growth. Its partnership with ICE is expected to support efforts to bring equities and other traditional assets onchain, with OKX acting as a distribution layer for those products.

For now, though, Rafique said the focus remains on building before listing. “We’re going to build this company over 20, 30 years,” he said, framing the IPO decision as one tied to durability rather than timing.

LayerZero has integrated with the institution-focused blockchain Canton (CC), becoming the first interoperability protocol to go live on the network, per a press release shared with The Defiant.

The integration, announced today, March 26, lets traditional financial institutions on Canton route tokenized assets, including securities, digital bonds, and equities, across the more than 165 public blockchains supported by LayerZero, while maintaining their compliance and confidentiality requirements, according to the release.

Also part of the integration, investors can now use stablecoins on external public chains to fund primary purchases of Canton-based tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), while Canton-native tokenized instruments can move into other ecosystems for secondary market trading.

“Canton has already built the rails for traditional finance, processing more than $350B in daily U.S. Treasury repo volume,” LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino said in the release. “LayerZero’s job is to make sure those assets are available in every global market, across blockchains.”

The deal extends LayerZero’s already notable institutional push. In February, LayerZero unveiled its own Layer 1 blockchain, Zero, backed by strategic investments from Citadel Securities and Tether.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and the New York Stock Exchange’s parent Intercontinental Exchange both said they are evaluating the network for tokenized securities and settlement workflows.

More recently, LayerZero partnered with Centrifuge to expand multichain access for tokenized funds including nearly $861 million in tokenized U.S. Treasuries, as The Defiant reported last week.

For its part, Canton positions itself as the L1 blockchain network for TradFi institutions, with configurable privacy features. Per data from RWAxyz, Canton currently has $342.7 billion in represented asset value from tokenized RWAs, all of which is attributed to Broadridge’s Distributed Ledger Repo (DLR) platform.

Canton’s native CC token now carries a market cap of roughly $5.2 billion, ranking it #21 on CoinGecko. Last June, Digital Asset, the firm behind Canton, raised $135 million in a round that included Goldman Sachs, Citadel Securities, BNP Paribas, the DTCC, and Paxos, with CEO Yuval Rooz saying the capital would accelerate adoption for tokenized bonds, money-market funds, and commodities, as The Defiant reported at the time.

Just yesterday, Visa announced that it has become a Super Validator on the Canton network, becoming the first global payments company to do so, and is set to introduce privacy-preserving payments to the network.

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