Crypto World
Bitcoin Coils Below Six-Week Highs as Gold Stays Vulnerable at $5,000
Bitcoin consolidated recent gains in the face of blanket skepticism over its rebound, while gold threatened to give up $5,000 support.
Bitcoin (BTC) circled $74,000 after Tuesday’s Wall Street open as skepticism increased over BTC price strength.
Key points:
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Bitcoin stalls after a trip to $76,000, with short-term targets including a retreat to $68,000.
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Traders stand by the long-term bear market thesis for BTC/USD.
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Gold continues to show weakness, risking the loss of $5,000 per ounce support.
Trader warns against “hyping up” BTC price move
Data from TradingView showed cooling BTC price volatility after a run to new six-week highs of $76,000 to start the daily candle.
This proved unsustainable as heavy resistance sent BTC/USD lower, leading to concerns of a fakeout for Telegram channel Technical Crypto Analyst.
“Bitcoin is trending upward inside a rising channel and approaching the $74K–$79K resistance zone; while structure remains bullish above the trendline, a rejection from current levels could trigger a pullback toward the $68K support area,” it wrote on the day.
Traders stayed wary, doubling down on existing doubts about the fate of Bitcoin’s relief rally.
“Still nothing on HTF that suggests the bear market has bottomed. No divs, no volume at lows, no reversal pattern, etc,” trader Roman wrote in his latest analysis on X, referring to higher time frames.
Roman argued that market participants were “hyping up” a comparatively modest uptick in price, and that history demanded a longer bear market.
On the latter point, trader Jelle agreed, pointing to the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement level as a key price point.
“Every bear market has been shallower than the one before it – but all of them have happened well below the 0.618 retracement, after months of boring sideways PA,” he told X followers.
“Even if we don’t get the usual drawdown, I’m pretty sure the boredom chop is coming. Patience.”
Analyst eyes Bitcoin “outperformance” versus gold
Macro conditions were cooler compared to the start of the week. US stocks continued a modest rebound, while WTI crude oil remained below the $100 per barrel mark.
Related: Bitcoin sparks ‘bull trap’ warning after BTC price rejects at $76K
Gold, however, teased a breakdown from $5,000 support, retesting that level for the third consecutive day.
Calls for Bitcoin to steal the spotlight from the precious metal thus grew louder.
“Stand by for the outperformance of the decade,” crypto analyst James Easton commented on the weekly BTC/XAU chart.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision. While we strive to provide accurate and timely information, Cointelegraph does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information in this article. This article may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Cointelegraph will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your reliance on this information.
Author of The Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean Ammous, believes that fiat is the central problem plaguing society. “The 20th century is just an enormous amount of wealth being taken away from people who produced it and being sent to the meat grinder of war. And this is what fiat does,” he told Cointelegraph.
“If you take that away, we get a lot less murder and death, and then we get a lot more prosperity, productivity and a lot more wealth.”
In his latest book, The Gold Standard, he explores this very concept. What if the civil, political and social upheavals of World War One never happened? What if a new, decentralized form of money took hold, soon after the war began in 1915?
In our timeline, the four-year war destroyed Europe, exacting a death toll that exceeded 40 million across 30 participant countries. The war sparked revolutions across Europe. By the time the dust settled, the imperial houses of Habsburg, Romanov and Hohenzollern ruled no more. The Ottoman Empire descended into a civil war.
The English class system was challenged, and women in the UK gained the vote. New, independent nations like Finland, Poland, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia emerged. Novel political movements like communism and fascism gained popularity amid the catastrophic economic fallout.
The central thesis of The Gold Standard is that these outcomes of the war were ultimately a result of the fiat banking system. Ammous imagined a world in 1915, just after the Great War broke out, where a decentralized, immutable system of value transfer with gold was invented.
How could it change the course of human history for the better?
Gold, planes and central banking
The Gold Standard begins by setting the political chessboard at the end of the Belle Epoque, the extended period of prosperous but armed peace in Europe from 1871 to 1915.
Ammous describes the political boundaries within Europe and the rise of central banks. Chiefly, he describes how the solidity of the traditional gold standard “had a major problem that prevented it from functioning optimally in its ideal form: the incessant extension of bank credit without corresponding savings.”
In Ammous’ account, a combination of imperial ambitions, poor decision making from politicians, and irresponsible monetary policies allowed the powers of Europe to sleepwalk into the First World War.
In 1915, the alternate history starts with a real-life hero: French aviator Louis Blériot. In The Gold Standard, Blériot realizes the pernicious power that central banks pose to the world, and partners with the American Wright brothers to found the Blériot Transport Corporation (BTC).
They create a fleet of ingenious planes that, piloted by early aviation pioneers of the time, deliver gold from point to point.
“The automobile and aviation industries traded with one another across international borders without having to resort to central banks. As the war raged on and more restrictions were imposed on withdrawing gold, demand steadily increased. Old money became anxious about the banking system. They increasingly demanded that gold be kept on hand and wished to rely on BTC for trade. Most important, perhaps, was that BTC had freed people from having to turn in all their gold to the banks in response to their governments’ pleas.”
This eventually leads to a capital flight which, combined with other circumstances, emptied the belligerent countries’ central bank vaults of all their gold reserves. With countries increasingly unable to finance the war, generals begin to pull back their troops. By early 1915, the guns are silent, the trenches are empty, and peace breaks out in Europe.
The end of the war is codified in the “Treaty of Geneva” and the establishment of the International Committee for Self-Determination (ICSD).
The enduring peace, enabled by a worldwide, immutable gold standard, then leads to unprecedented prosperity in the 20th century. This leads to a massive appreciation in gold value, or “hypergoldenization.”
The form of a governance-for-hire corporate government emerges:
“The tribal considerations of nationality, ethnicity, and religion became increasingly separated from government, and people pragmatically chose to live under the governments that provided them security and services at the lowest cost.”
Without central banks to finance them, and with a conflict resolution framework in the form of the ICSD, wars are far more difficult and expensive to wage.
The prosperity of the gold standard has also eliminated some historical events, economic and natural phenomena that we take for granted, including the rise of socialism, World War II, depressions, climate change, “fiat food” and unemployment.
The book concludes with an accounting of an average day in the life of the Smith family in London in this brave new world.
“Comfort is taken for granted, and prosperity is ordinary. Technology shortens chores, meat is plentiful and affordable, travel is fast, and energy is so abundant that they barely think about it.”
From gold bug to Bitcoin to the trenches
Ammous first became immersed in Austrian economics in 2007, “and by 2008 I would have pretty much called myself an Austrian,” he told Cointelegraph.
Initially, he was a gold bug. “I already had a good grasp of the problems of inflation, the problems of fiat. And I was hanging out on the parts of the internet where Austrian economics nerds discuss these things. At that point, it was a lot smaller than what it is now.”
It was here that he first came across Bitcoin in the context of “sound money” or “hard money.” He wasn’t sold on the concept until 2014, after reading about Bitcoin mining. Soon after, he wrote the best-selling book The Bitcoin Standard.
The Gold Standard, his latest, departs from his usual format by depicting a twist on modern history’s most pivotal event.
“I’ve always been so fascinated by World War I. It’s always been the most fascinating historical thing for me,” Saifedean Ammous said. “If you think about World War One, you’ll see World War Two is essentially just the continuation of the same war. But really, the turning point was World War One.”
The central thesis of the book is that the evils of the war, along with the concomitant social and political changes, were ultimately a result of the fiat banking system. Once rendered ineffective by “BTC,” the course of human history changes.
But creating a credible alternative history isn’t really easy. Ammous said he wanted to make it “so that it isn’t just a pink unicorn” where “world peace breaks out.” He wanted it to be “tenable, believable, credible” that allows the reader to “think in an accurate way about the implications […] in a useful way and a more robust way.”
Creating this new form of monetary transfers was necessary because “the world isn’t going to really change much. Not if there was no war. Then we’re going to continue in the same way.”
Alternative histories are tricky
Despite the clear depth of research that went into the book, some of the historical turns strain credulity.
In the book, Blériot and the Wright brothers’ 1911 airplane prototype, the Lightning, was capable of reaching speeds of 280 km/h with a range of 1,400. This is an over threefold increase in airspeed from Blériot’s record-breaking crossing of the English Channel just two years prior, where he averaged around 80 km/h.
The speed and range of the planes that comprise “BTC’s” fleet far outstrip anything that would be made until the mid-to-late 1930s, making them something of a Deus Ex Machina for the new monetary system.
In chapter 10, as the “BTC”-induced capital flight drains resources from governments to pay their armies, the trenches simply empty as soldiers peacefully desert and go home. History before WWI is riddled with examples of armies going without pay, but they are frequently accompanied by mutiny, looting, pillaging, and, in the more dramatic cases, the sacking of entire cities.
As the generals empty the trenches, Ammous removes some of the belligerent leaders of the war from office. In the cases of Tsar Nicholas II and Kaiser Wilhelm II, this happens through murder. Nicholas II is shot by his cousin Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich and replaced by his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. The Kaiser is stabbed in the back by his son, the Crown Prince Wilhelm.
Both of these resolve without so much as a word of protest. World history is absolutely littered with wars of succession after the murder or death of a monarch. It is difficult to imagine the lack of one here, on a continent just recently at war, with a mass of soldiers missing their pay.
Furthermore, the extrapolations into the future are necessarily uncertain, as no one has a crystal ball. Still, some of them, like the idea that climate change would not happen, or that we would all eat more beef, seem fairly heterodox.
Ultimately, the book is “a different way of imparting the fundamental lessons of my three other books,” per Ammous. He said that some people prefer to think in terms of “fiction, in terms of thought experiments, in terms of hypotheticals,” which was a different approach than his first two books.
WWI also provided a unique example, “because we need to know how the world went off the rails” and envision what could have been.
“If that money is kept, then people will save it, they will accumulate capital. Then the world becomes more capital abundant. We have more capital. Capital becomes cheaper. People are able to invest more. They’re able to save more. They’re able to grow more. And so you put all of these things together and then you have an amazing world and it’s just a very different world,” Ammous told Cointelegraph.
Magazine: All 21 million Bitcoin is at risk from quantum computers
Payments giant PayPal is expanding access to its US-dollar stablecoin, PayPal USD, adding 68 more markets globally in its latest stablecoin push.
PayPal USD (PYUSD) will be made available to customers in 70 countries worldwide in March, allowing them to receive, hold and send the stablecoin, the company announced Tuesday.
With the expansion, PYUSD is now available to users with PayPal accounts across multiple regions, including the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America. Previously, only customers in the United States and the United Kingdom could hold the stablecoin.
“Enabling PYUSD in users’ accounts across 70 markets gives people faster access to their funds, lower-cost ways to send money across borders, and a more direct path to participating in the global economy,” PayPal head of crypto May Zabaneh said.
Expansion unlocks “balance-type concept” with rewards
Alongside enabling PYUSD transactions, users in newly supported markets can earn rewards on their stablecoin holdings. The expansion supports transactions to third-party digital wallets, the announcement states.
Currently, PayPal users in select countries such as Peru can only withdraw money from their accounts in their country’s native currency, which carries cross-border fees. After the update, users will be able to send, receive and keep funds in US dollars and reduce transfer fees, Zabaneh told Fortune in an interview.
Related: US ban on stablecoin yield could see others fill the void: Ledger exec
Some countries, such as Malawi, don’t allow users to keep transfers in their PayPal wallets, essentially forcing all funds to be immediately sent to the recipient’s bank account. With PYUSD access, users will be able to keep that money in their PayPal wallets.
“It unlocks a balance-type concept in these accounts and an earnings concept,” Zabaneh said.
PYUSD is issued by Paxos, PayPal distributes
The expansion comes nearly three years after PayPal launched its PYUSD stablecoin in collaboration with the issuer Paxos Trust in August 2023.
The stablecoin has emerged as one of the largest USD-pegged stablecoins worldwide, ranking as the seventh-largest with a market capitalization of around $4.1 billion, according to CoinGecko.
PYUSD saw significant growth in 2025, with its market cap rising 600% from around $500 million in early 2025 to $3.6 billion by the end of the year.
Cointelegraph contacted PayPal for comment about the expansion, but had not received a response by publication.
Magazine: CLARITY Act risks repeat of Europe’s mistakes, crypto lawyer warns
US Securities and Exchange Commission chair Paul Atkins says the agency should consider a “safe harbor proposal” to give crypto companies and some tokens a regulatory carveout.
Atkins said in remarks at a crypto lobby event in Washington, DC, on Tuesday that his safe harbor proposal was made up of a “startup exemption,” a “fundraising exemption,” and an “investment contract safe harbor.”
“It is past time for us to stop diagnosing the problem and start delivering the solution,” he said. “Such a safe harbor would provide crypto innovators bespoke pathways to raise capital in the US, while providing appropriate investor protections.”
The SEC, along with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, on Tuesday also issued an interpretation that clarified what types of cryptocurrencies are securities and how “non-security crypto assets” could fall under securities laws.
Our interpretation on crypto assets—grounded in existing law and informed by extensive public input—acknowledges what the former administration refused to recognize…
Most crypto assets are not themselves securities.pic.twitter.com/fbHan0vmmb
— Paul Atkins (@SECPaulSAtkins) March 17, 2026
Atkins outlines idea for crypto exemptions
In his remarks, Atkins said the SEC should consider a “startup exemption” to allow crypto companies to raise a defined amount of money or operate for a few years with enough “regulatory runway” to make it to maturity.
He also floated a “fundraising exemption” to allow investment contracts involving crypto to raise up to a particular amount in any 12-month period while being exempted from registering under securities laws.
Atkins said his idea for an “investment contract safe harbor” would give crypto asset issuers and buyers certainty about when assets are subject to securities laws.
The safe harbor could apply once an issuer has “permanently ceased all essential managerial efforts” that it promised for the asset, Atkins said.
Related: DeFi lobby drops airdrop lawsuit against SEC, citing crypto shift
Atkins added that he expects the SEC to release proposed rules for the exemptions for public comment in the coming weeks.
He added, however, that “only Congress can ensure that regulation in this area is future-proofed through comprehensive market structure legislation.”
A bill to outline the SEC’s crypto remit is currently stalled in the Senate as negotiations over its provisions are ongoing.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton is poised to become the next Senator from the state after winning the Democratic primary Tuesday night, defeating Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi.
Krishnamoorthi had received north of $8 million in backing from crypto super-political action committee (PAC) Fairshake, among other entities, while Stratton was backed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. Illinois’ senate seat is rated a “Solid Democratic” seat by Cook Political Report, meaning the winner of Tuesday’s primary will most likely win the general election this November and represent the Prairie State in the Senate in 2027.
Fairshake’s ads largely attacked Stratton, rather than supporting Krishnamoorthi directly, a strategy it also employed in the 2024 election. The PAC typically supports candidates in primaries for races they’re likely to win, letting it boast that the vast majority of its backed candidates won elections in 2024.
Stand With Crypto, a Coinbase-backed group that assigns rates to lawmakers based on how crypto-friendly they are, gave Stratton an “F” ranking based on a single statement she made about her primary opponent receiving backing from “MAGA-backed crypto bros.” The rating notes that she has not voted on any crypto bills or otherwise made statements about crypto generally.
Krishnamoorthi received an “A” rating based on his voting record and his responses to a questionnaire sent out by the group.
Another candidate Fairshake opposed, La Shawn Ford, won his primary race as well, according to the Associated Press. Fairshake spent nearly $2 million opposing Ford’s race for the House of Representatives. Ford’s team sent the PAC a cease-and-desist alleging Fairshake’s ads were “defamatory,” according to the Forest Park Review.
A spokesperson for Fairshake did not immediately return a request for comment on either race, or on Ford’s allegations.
Bitcoin infrastructure provider Maestro has launched a Bitcoin-denominated credit market backed by mining economics, aiming to give institutions a new way to earn yield on idle Bitcoin while expanding financing options for miners.
Maestro said Mezzamine went live with its first program in partnership with mining-as-a-service provider Sazmining. According to a Tuesday announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the program is designed to let institutional Bitcoin (BTC) holders deploy BTC into mining-backed credit facilities targeting an annual yield of 8% to 9%.
The offering is designed to connect miners seeking capital with institutional Bitcoin holders seeking BTC-denominated yield, creating an onchain credit market tied to mining expansion rather than protocol staking rewards.
“New Bitcoins are mined every 10 minutes, and with Mezzamine BTC holders can earn and share block rewards with miners,” Marvin Bertin, Maestro’s co-founder and CEO, said in the announcement.
Related: Top Bitcoin mining stocks rise as US winter storms cut hashrate
Bitcoin-native credit market seeks to fix miner financing gap
Bitcoin mining firms often face limited financing options, typically relying on dollar-denominated debt against Bitcoin collateral or, if publicly listed, equity issuance.
Because many miners’ liabilities are denominated in dollars while revenue is earned in Bitcoin, that structure can leave operations more exposed during sharp market downturns.
Maestro said the credit facility includes bear-market protection features, including hedging tied to Bitcoin prices and mining-fleet economics, to help stabilize performance during downturns.
The company said miners may face higher financing costs in stronger markets in exchange for a structure designed to offer greater stability during downturns.
The offering is aimed at institutional investors, corporate treasuries, asset managers, family offices and registered investment advisers. Suresh Rajan, Mezzamine’s managing director, told Cointelegraph the minimum allocation is $100,000 worth of Bitcoin.
Mezzamine said the yield is derived directly from mining production. Miners borrowing through the platform use capital to buy additional ASIC hardware and expand hashrate, with part of the resulting block rewards used to service the credit facility and the remainder flowing to the miner.
According to Maestro, institutions receive yield funded entirely by the mining output, without additional token incentives or leveraged strategies.
Related: Solo Bitcoin miner bags over $200K block reward using rented hashrate
Bitcoin-denominated loans reduce miner liquidation risks
Bitcoin miners seeking traditional financing are often required to overcollateralize two-fold, increasing liquidation risks during Bitcoin price drops.
The new credit facility reduces that risk by denominating loans in Bitcoin and removing dollar-denominated call risks, Mezzamine’s managing director, Rajan, told Cointelegraph:
“A decline in Bitcoin’s price against the dollar does not trigger a margin call, and with Mezzamine’s hedged vehicle, the hedge actually returns profits in bear markets that can supplement mining revenue and further capitalize the program.”
“The loan performs according to mining economics, not currency markets,” he added.
Maestro told Cointelegraph it has seen more than 1,500 BTC in borrowing demand from qualified mining operators exploring alternative financing channels, including public miners and mid-sized operators.
Sazmining describes itself as a Bitcoin mining-as-a-service provider whose operations rely on hydropower and other carbon-free energy sources.
Magazine: 6 weirdest devices people have used to mine Bitcoin and crypto
Mastercard has agreed to acquire stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK in a deal valued at up to $1.8 billion, further expanding into blockchain-based payments.
The deal includes up to $300 million in contingent payments and is intended to strengthen Mastercard’s ability to connect fiat payment rails with onchain transactions, the company said on Tuesday.
“We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will in time provide digital currency services, be it with stablecoins or tokenized deposits,” Jorn Lambert, chief product officer at Mastercard, said.
BVNK, founded in 2021, provides infrastructure that allows businesses to send and receive payments across major blockchain networks in more than 130 countries. Its platform is designed to bridge fiat currencies and stablecoins, enabling use cases such as cross-border payments, payouts and business transactions.
Related: Cari picks ZKsync’s Prividium as US regional banks join stablecoin race
Coinbase walks away from BVNK deal
In November 2025, Coinbase and BVNK announced they had mutually walked away from a proposed $2 billion acquisition that had reached the due diligence stage. No reason was disclosed for the cancellation of the deal.
BVNK has received investment from a number of major traditional payment firms. In May 2025, Visa made a strategic investment in the company through its Visa Ventures arm, which came after the stablecoin infrastructure company closed a $50 million Series B funding round led by Haun Ventures.
In October 2025, Citigroup’s venture arm, Citi Ventures, also invested in BVNK. While the investment size was not disclosed, BVNK said at the time that its valuation had surpassed $750 million.
Related: Stablecoins to replace old FX rails, but off-ramps remain a chokepoint
Stablecoins could power global payments within 15 years
Last week, billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller said stablecoins and blockchain technology could reshape global payments within the next decade, citing their speed, efficiency and lower costs compared to traditional systems. He argued that stablecoins could eventually replace existing payment rails, even as he remains skeptical about crypto’s role as a long-term store of value.
His comments come as traditional financial firms increasingly explore stablecoin-based systems following regulatory progress, including the GENIUS Act in the US.
Magazine: Bitcoin may take 7 years to upgrade to post-quantum — BIP-360 co-author
XRP (XRP) traded at $1.50 on Tuesday, a 3% rise in the past 24 hours as its relief rally stalled at $1.60. Still, growing network usage and increasing holder accumulation could provide a spark that may see the price finally break $1.50-$1.60 resistance.
Key takeaways:
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XRP holder addresses hit 7.7 million record highs, as daily active addresses reach five-week highs.
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Analysts say XRP bulls must reclaim $1.60 as support.
XRP Ledger non-empty wallets hit new highs
Santiment reported that the number of daily active addresses on XRP Ledger (XRPL) rose to a five-week high of 46,767, as the increase in the network activity coincided with a price move that saw the price climb to a four-week high of $1.60.
The number of non-empty addresses on XRPL has reached 7.7 million for the first time.
“XRP Ledger now has more than 7.7M holders (non-empty wallets) for the first time in its 13+ year history,” Santiment said in an X post on Tuesday.
The onchain data provider said this shows that the network’s “usage continues to grow,” even during periods of market downturns, suggesting investors were capitalizing on dips to buy XRP at a discount.
This aligns with aggressive accumulation by long-term investors who have increased their holdings since the US and Israel-Iran war began.
A sharp spike in the XRP holder net position change can be seen on March 1, exceeding 351 million XRP, marking it strongest single-day accumulation since Feb. 1.
XRP holder net position change tracks the 30-day supply shift among long-term investors, with positive readings indicating net accumulation.
Meanwhile, XRP whales, entities holding large amounts of tokens, have bought more since the beginning of March.
The chart below shows that XRP’s Whale Flow 30-day moving average (30DMA) turned positive in March for the first time since November 2025, ending four months of persistent selling.
This may continue to boost XRP’s price in the coming weeks, particularly when coupled with a reducing balance on exchanges, which has dropped to levels last seen in May 2021.
XRP price needs to flip $1.60 into support
Data from TradingView shows XRP attempting to breach the $1.50-$1.60 resistance that has capped the price for over six weeks.
XRP price “needs to move above the $1.51 resistance,” analyst CryptoWZRD_ said in a recent X post, adding:
“Holding above that level would offer a quick rally towards the $2.0 resistance.”
The last time the XRP/USD pair reclaimed this level was in December 2024. It rallied 90% in less than a week. In April 2025, it served as a launchpad for a 64% XRP price rally, as shown in the chart below.
Analyst CW8900 said the area between $1.50-$1.52 was a big “sell wall” for XRP, adding:
“If it breaks through this sell wall, there is no other resistance until $1.95.”
This level aligns with the measured target of a rounded bottom chart pattern and the 200-day simple moving average (SMA).
Before reaching this level, bulls are required to push the price above the pattern’s trend line at $1.60, validating the breakout.
As Cointelegraph reported, a decisive break above the upper trend line of a falling wedge at $1.60 would shift the bulls’ focus to the measured target at $2.55 next, potentially ending the downtrend.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision. While we strive to provide accurate and timely information, Cointelegraph does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information in this article. This article may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Cointelegraph will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your reliance on this information.
Strategy paused its Bitcoin (BTC) accumulation via STRC preferred stock after failing to raise fresh capital since Friday, marking a notable shift after two aggressive weeks of buying.
Key takeaways:
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STRC has dipped below its $100 par value, forcing Strategy to halt its Bitcoin buying spree.
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Previous STRC dips below $100 have coincided with declines in BTC prices.
STRC drops below $100 par value
The pause coincided with STRC trading below its $100 par value, a key threshold for Strategy’s at-the-market (ATM) issuance model.
STRC is a yield-focused preferred stock, which income investors buy for monthly dividends.
Strategy typically issues new shares only when STRC trades at or above par to raise capital efficiently. When the price falls below $100, the company must offer better terms or sell at a discount, making issuance unattractive.
As a result, the funding channel shuts off, stalling STRC-backed BTC buys, which appears to be the case since Friday.
Before the pause, Strategy was in heavy accumulation mode, buying 22,337 BTC in the week ending March 15, partly funded by about $1.18 billion in STRC-linked sales.
The week before, it bought another 17,994 BTC, with roughly $377 million coming from STRC proceeds.
In total, Strategy added over 40,000 BTC in two weeks, with STRC serving as a key funding source. That’s roughly six times the total Bitcoin mined over the same two-week period.
STRC fractals hint at BTC dipping below $70,000
Historically, pauses in Strategy’s STRC-driven Bitcoin accumulation aligned with short-term BTC pullbacks.
For instance, after STRC slipped below its $100 par value in January, Bitcoin fell nearly 40% over the next three weeks.
A similar setup in November 2025 preceded a BTC price decline of around 25%, suggesting that the latest STRC move below $100 could again raise the risk of a near-term BTC price pullback.
Related: Bitcoin’s ‘powerful move’ nears as Bollinger Bands warn of volatility
The chances of a drop are high as Bitcoin pulls back after testing $76,000, a level coinciding with the upper boundary of its prevailing bear flag pattern.
BTC could slide toward the $66,000–$68,000 area, which aligns with the pattern’s lower trendline support, if the correction persists this week.
A bear flag breakdown, on the other hand, risks sending the Bitcoin price to as low as $51,000.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision. While we strive to provide accurate and timely information, Cointelegraph does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information in this article. This article may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Cointelegraph will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your reliance on this information.
[PRESS RELEASE – London, UK, March 17th, 2026]
New roadmap positions BASIS as an institutional-grade digital asset management platform built for macro volatility, tokenized safe-haven demand, and frictionless Web3 onboarding.
Base58 Labs today unveiled the BASIS 2026 Technical Blueprint & Infrastructure Roadmap, introducing what the company describes as a next-generation digital asset management platform purpose-built for global institutional investors seeking secure exposure, capital efficiency, and advanced on-chain yield infrastructure. The company said BASIS is designed specifically for institutions navigating geopolitical instability, macroeconomic uncertainty, and rising demand for both blue-chip crypto assets and tokenized safe-haven alternatives.
According to Base58 Labs, BASIS is not designed as a conventional staking product. The platform is described as an “intelligent yield infrastructure” that integrates algorithmic execution, institutional-grade security controls, and digital asset management across BTC, ETH, SOL, and PAXG. The company stated that this approach is intended to address increasing institutional demand for infrastructure that supports asset management and risk mitigation in volatile market conditions.
Base58 Labs Targets Institutional Flight Toward Safe-Haven Digital Assets
At the center of the roadmap is the strategic integration of PAX Gold (PAXG), which Base58 Labs has prioritized as a core supported asset amid growing institutional interest in gold-linked digital instruments. The company said BASIS is designed to move beyond passive exposure by enabling a “yield-bearing gold” model that pairs PAXG holdings with algorithmic yield infrastructure intended to capitalize on structural market inefficiencies.
Base58 Labs said this approach reflects a broader shift in institutional capital allocation, where investors are increasingly seeking digital strategies that can combine capital preservation, portfolio diversification, and non-directional return opportunities under stressed macro conditions.
BTC, ETH, and SOL Infrastructure Built on the BHLE Execution Engine
Alongside PAXG, the company said BASIS is being developed around major digital assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, all supported by its proprietary Base58 Hyper-Latency Engine (BHLE). According to the roadmap, BHLE is designed as a high-performance execution environment capable of supporting low-latency routing, institutional-scale transaction throughput, and market-neutral strategy execution. The company states that the engine targets sub-50 microsecond latency and 100,000+ operations per second, with proprietary routing infrastructure tailored for precision execution and structural yield capture.
Base58 Labs said BHLE evolved from the firm’s high-precision R&D efforts and is intended to help power institutional-grade strategy deployment across multiple supported assets, regardless of broader market direction.
Privy-Powered Onboarding Aims to Remove Web3 Friction for Institutions
To address one of the biggest barriers to institutional adoption, Base58 Labs said BASIS has integrated with Privy.io to simplify wallet creation and user authentication. According to the company, institutions using BASIS will be able to create wallets through email and enterprise social logins without relying on traditional seed phrase management. The onboarding design uses Privy-based Multi-Party Computation (MPC) and includes a dual wallet system that separates funding activity from staking activity in order to improve transparency, operational clarity, and accounting convenience.
Base58 Labs said this onboarding model is central to its effort to reduce complexity for traditional financial institutions entering digital asset markets while preserving non-custodial control and strong operational safeguards.
Security Stack Designed for Institutional-Scale Capital Protection
The roadmap also highlights a security and risk-management framework intended for large-scale capital deployment. Base58 Labs said it has completed the first phase of internal testing covering core infrastructure integrity and external attack defense logic, while network stress tests focused on cross-chain liquidity routing and institutional-scale transaction handling are in the final stage.
The company further disclosed internal systems including the BASIS Sentinel Circuit Breaker (BSCB) and Defensive Maintenance Mode (DMM), which are designed to react rapidly in the event of black swan market events, exchange API failures, or extreme slippage. In addition, Base58 Labs said it has initiated formal procedures to pursue ISO 27001 and ISO 20000-1 certifications as part of its broader compliance and operational assurance strategy.
2026 Rollout to Include Closed Beta, Global Launch, and Institutional Private Pools
Base58 Labs said the BASIS rollout will proceed in phases throughout 2026. According to the published roadmap, Q2 2026 will focus on revealing the closed beta architecture and conducting external core logic audits by a Tier-1 global security firm. Q3 2026 is scheduled for the official global launch of BASIS and the opening of BTC, ETH, SOL, and PAXG asset management pools. In Q4 2026, the company plans to expand into private pools for institutional investors and customized algorithmic derivative strategies.
Executive Commentary
“Institutional capital is no longer looking only for access to digital assets it is looking for infrastructure that can deliver security, operational efficiency, and resilient yield under real-world market stress,” said a spokesperson for Base58 Labs, Dirk Johan Jacob Broer. “With BASIS, we are building an institutional platform designed for the next phase of on-chain finance, where seamless onboarding, intelligent execution, and capital protection must exist in one integrated system.”
About Base58 Labs
Base58 Labs is the research institute behind the BASIS ecosystem. While BASIS operates the execution and product infrastructure, Base58 Labs develops the measurement frameworks, execution logic, and risk models that support the platform under both normal and stressed market conditions. Through its work on market microstructure, execution risk, and structural alpha, Base58 Labs provides the research foundation that powers the next generation of institutional on-chain finance.
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World, the identity network co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has released AgentKit, a developer toolkit that allows AI agents to prove they are linked to a verified, unique human through World ID when interacting with websites and online services.
The system integrates World ID’s proof-of-human identity with the x402 micropayments protocol started by Coinbase and Cloudflare, allowing agents to pay for access to online resources while presenting cryptographic proof that they are linked to a verified human credential.
The x402 protocol allows agents to pay small fees to access websites, APIs and other services. According to an announcement, the ecosystem has processed more than 100 million payments across applications, APIs and AI agents since launching in 2025.
Through the toolkit, verified World ID users can delegate identity credentials to AI agents, allowing them to prove they are tied to a unique individual without revealing personal information. Platforms can request micropayments, proof of human identity, or both when agents attempt to access services.
Formerly known as Worldcoin, World uses biometric verification to create a “proof-of-human” credential called World ID. The approach has sparked debate across the crypto industry and privacy advocates, with critics arguing that systems built on iris scans, proprietary hardware and centralized deployment raise privacy concerns and may conflict with the crypto movement’s emphasis on decentralization.
Related: South Korea plans to use AI for crypto tax enforcement
Crypto companies experiment with AI agent infrastructure
AI agents, automated software programs that can perform tasks and interact with online services on behalf of users, are gaining traction across the cryptocurrency industry, as well as B2C businesses, from retailing to travel planning.
In recent months, several crypto companies have introduced tools to expand the capabilities of these systems. In October, Coinbase launched wallet infrastructure designed to allow autonomous agents to execute onchain transactions, including spending, earning and trading crypto.
In February, blockchain infrastructure company Alchemy launched a system allowing AI agents to access its data services using onchain wallets and USDC (USDC) on Base. The same month, Pantera Capital and Franklin Templeton’s digital asset units joined the first cohort of Arena, a testing platform from open-source AI lab Sentient designed to evaluate enterprise AI agents.
However, the growing use of AI agents is also raising new concerns about potential risks.
On March 8, researchers reported that an experimental autonomous AI system called ROME unexpectedly attempted to use training infrastructure to mine cryptocurrency, triggering security alerts after initiating outbound network activity resembling crypto mining during reinforcement learning tests.
Tillman Holloway, founder and CEO of crypto investing and automated trading platform Arch Public, said AI agents will likely need clear limits as they gain access to financial systems. Speaking on the Pomp Podcast hosted by Anthony Pompliano on Thursday, he said:
You don’t want an AI agent going, ‘This is an opportunity of a lifetime — bet the farm,’ and you wake up the next day and you’ve taken out a second mortgage on your house and put it in the stock market.”
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