SOL spent weeks pinned between $80 and $87, with tightening Bollinger Bands signaling that a sharp move was coming either way.

Solana’s SOL token jumped past a key technical resistance level at about $93, turning what analysts called a “39-day distribution zone” into a structural floor.

The move has brought two price targets into focus, one being an initial level near $103 and a secondary one near $113.

Breakout Above $93 Shifts Sentiment

In a March 18 post on X, chartist Ali Martinez wrote that SOL’s return above the $93 level had turned a zone previously dominated by sellers into a potential base for further gains.

According to him, the setup has put a short squeeze in motion, meaning those who had bet on lower prices could be forced to buy back their positions, with the price moving against them, which could potentially speed up the rally.

“Solana just reclaimed $93.14, flipping a 39-day distribution zone into a structural floor,” Martinez explained. “If this level holds, a bull rally could happen much faster than people think.”

The breakout fits with other technical signals on longer timeframes, including a recurring pattern on Solana’s weekly chart of back-to-back candles with long lower wicks highlighted by analyst WebTrend.

According to them, the pattern has previously come before major rallies, with the first being in 2023, where it led to a 1,604% gain, and the second occurrence happening in 2025, leading to a 142% move upwards.

Fellow market watcher Bluntz also pointed to a completed accumulation phase following the daily breakout, suggesting that if the prices stay above the mid-$90 range, it could confirm a broader trend reversal.

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Although SOL indeed broke through $93 earlier today to tap $95, it has lost some traction since then and now sits below $90. It has jumped by 7% monthly, but it was still down nearly 25% over the last year. It remains more than 67% below its all-time high of nearly $293, reached about a year ago.

Improving Market Structure, But Confirmation Still in Progress

The current setup is coming off the back of a period of compressed volatility, with Solana previously trading between $80 and $87 as tightening Bollinger Bands pointed to an imminent breakout. At the time, analysts couldn’t decide on the asset’s next direction, with some predicting a move higher and others, like DrBullZeus, claiming SOL could even drop to the $50 level.

Traders could look at ETF data for further context, with figures from SoSoValue showing that as of March 17, there had been almost $1 billion in net inflows into Solana-linked spot products. Furthermore, daily inflows have turned positive again after a brief period of negative movement earlier in the month.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved on Wednesday Nasdaq’s proposal to allow certain securities to trade in tokenized form, a significant milestone to integrate blockchain tech into U.S. equity markets.

Nasdaq’s tokenization plan ties into a pilot run by the Depository Trust Company (DTC), which will handle clearing and settlement of tokenized trades. Nasdaq filed for regulatory permission in September,

Under the framework, eligible Nasdaq participants can choose to have trades settled as blockchain-based tokens rather than through standard book-entry systems.

Tokenized shares will trade alongside traditional shares on the same order book and at the same price. They will carry identical rights, use the same ticker and CUSIP (identification number) and follow existing market rules.

The SEC said the structure meets investor protection standards, noting that surveillance, data reporting and settlement timelines remain intact.

The move comes as tokenization of traditional assets like stocks, bonds and funds have become a fast-growing sector in the digital asset space. The process allows near-instant, around-the-clock trading with tokens tied to real-world assets.

The trend has captivated major U.S. exchanges. Nasdaq said last week that it is developing a framework that would allow publicly listed companies to issue blockchain-based versions of their shares. It has teamed up with crypto exchange Kraken to distribute tokenized stocks globally. Meanwhile, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the owner of the NYSE, invested in crypto exchange OKX with plans to launch new tokenized stocks and crypto futures.

Read more: Here is why Nasdaq and owner of NYSE are putting the $126 trillion equity market on blockchain

Bitcoin BTC$70,848.82 slipped below $71,000 on Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell flagged rising oil prices amid the war in Iran as a new inflation risk.

The Fed held interest rates steady as expected, but during his post-meeting press conference, Powell acknowledged that the recent surge in energy prices is already feeding into the central bank’s outlook.

“The oil shock for sure shows up” in higher inflation projections, he said, while cautioning that “nobody knows” yet how persistent the impact will be.

Policymakers raised their 2026 inflation forecast to 2.7% from 2.4%, underscoring concerns that price pressures could remain elevated longer than anticipated.

Despite that, Powell dismissed comparisons to a 1970s-style stagflation, even as the central bank faces growing tension between slowing growth and sticky inflation.

“That’s not the case right now,” he said, noting that unemployment remains near long-run norms while inflation is only modestly above target. “I would reserve the term stagflation for a much more serious set of circumstances.”

“What we have is some tension between the goals, and we’re trying to manage our way through it,” he added.

Cautious markets

Already under pressure prior to the Fed news on poor February inflation data and no sign the war in Iran is letting up, markets fell further late in the session.

Bitcoin BTC$70,848.82 late Wednesday afternoon had pulled all the way back to $70,900, down almost 5% over the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH) was sporting a 6.5% decline.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at the day’s lows, down 1.4% and 1.5%, respectively. Gold extended its decline below $4,850 an ounce, now 3.1% lower on the day at its weakest price in more than a month.

Digital asset-related stocks remained sharply lower, following crypto prices. Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate BTC holder, and Bitmine (BMNR), the leading Ethereum treasury firm, were 5%-6% lower. Investment firm Galaxy (GLXY) declined almost 7%, while crypto exchange Gemini (GEMI) tumbled 15% to about its lowest level since it went public last year.

Crypto markets erased most of their weekly gains on Wednesday after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that U.S. wholesale prices rose sharply in February and the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged.

Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at around $71,300, down nearly 5% over the past 24 hours. ETH and SOL fell 6% to $2,190 and $90, respectively.

Meanwhile, Ripple (XRP) dropped by 5%, and BNB by 4%.

The overall crypto market capitalization slipped 4% to $2.52 trillion, according to Coingecko.

PPI Report

February PPI rose 0.7% month-over-month, more than double the 0.3% economists had forecast. Core PPI (ex-food and energy) gained 0.5%, also above the 0.3% consensus. On an annualized basis, headline PPI hit 3.4%, the highest in a year.

Energy prices climbed 2.3% in February, rising in anticipation of a Middle East conflict, and the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran threatens to keep inflation elevated well into the year.

Fed Decision

The central bank held the federal funds rate target range at 3.5% to 3.75%, citing elevated inflation, solid economic growth, and elevated uncertainty over the economic outlook.

The statement specifically flagged that “the implications of developments in the Middle East for the U.S. economy are uncertain.”

Officials indicated they still expect to cut rates once in 2026.

Big Movers

Nearly all of the Top 100 digital assets posted losses over the last 24 hours.

Today’s top gainers are Kaspa (KAS) and Hyperliquid (HYPE).

ASTER and Zcash (ZEC) are the biggest losers, down around 10%.

Around 131,000 leveraged traders were liquidated for $420 million in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass. Bitcoin accounted for $136 million, while ETH made up $139 million.

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded inflows of $199 million on Tuesday, marking a seventh straight day of gains.

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao embraced a chance to distance himself from recent accusations against Binance that it has been involved in handling transactions that potentially enabled terrorism financing in Iran.

“I have zero interest in doing that,” said the founder and former chief executive of the exchange, who agreed to leave his company under a criminal settlement with the U.S. “I live in a country that’s being attacked by Iran. Even before that, I was just not interested in that,” he said in a video appearance at the Digital Chamber’s DC Blockchain Summit on Wednesday.

CZ, a resident of the United Arab Emirates, cited a couple of civil lawsuits recently dismissed in U.S. courts that had accused Binance of acting as a conduit for terrorism financing. He also argued that the Iran-tied transactions in question don’t generate fees and wouldn’t offer any business attraction for the firm to get involved in.

“There’s no benefit,” CZ, who’d served a prison sentence and received a pardon from President Donald Trump, said in defense of the implications against his former company.

Binance, the largest global crypto exchange that had settled U.S. anti-money-laundering and sanctions-violation accusations in 2023, sued the Wall Street Journal last week for reporting that it had fired compliance personnel who’d flagged suspicious transactions that may have violated sanctions. Internal investigators had allegedly flagged more than $1 billion in crypto transfers from Chinese clients into wallets linked to Iranian financing networks.

The company has asserted that it couldn’t find evidence that accounts on its platforms had transacted directly with Iranian entities.

CZ, who is close to launching a memoir he’d worked on during his time in prison, said he’s been targeted by false accusations.

“The way they’re attacking, they’re completely using false, baseless information,” he said.

Read More: Binance tells Senate probe no accounts sent crypto directly to Iran

Prediction markets platform Polymarket announced Wednesday the acquisition of Brahma, a financial infrastructure company that built real-time execution and settlement systems for high-volume digital asset and fintech transactions.

“[Brahma has] quickly become an industry leader in building and developing programmable systems across blockchain systems, trading execution, and payments,” said Polymarket in a press release sent via email.

“Building reliable infrastructure across blockchain networks and traditional financial rails is hard — there are no shortcuts,” said Shayne Coplan, Polymarket CEO and founder.

“The Brahma team has shown they can design, operate, and scale complex products for sophisticated users,” he added. “As Polymarket grows, we’re intentionally adding teams that have already solved difficult problems and can execute at a very high level.”

A Polymarket spokesperson told CoinDesk the terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

Brahma also released a statement Wednesday saying Polymarket acquired its DeFi infrastructure to bring its team and technology into the prediction market company as it seeks to scale its infrastructure suite.

“With this acquisition, our team and our technology live on, to help scale Polymarket and its ecosystem,” the Brahma team said in a post on X. “Our mission to build at the core of crypto continues.”

The acquisition brings Brahma’s team and technology into Polymarket, where they will focus on expanding the platform’s infrastructure and product suite. It also appears aimed at improving

Earlier this month, reports emerged that Polymarket was discussing potential fundraising rounds that could double 2025 valuation to about $20 billion. The discussions remain early and may not lead to finalized investments.

Prediction markets allow users to trade contracts tied to real-world events, including sports, politics and elections. Traders buy and sell contracts based on expected outcomes. The sector has grown significantly, with companies including Coinbase and Robinhood entering the space.

Brahma said it has processed more than $1 billion in transaction volume and over $100 million in total value locked. The company also said that all of its products, including Brahma Accounts, Agents and Swype.fun, will be phased out within 30 days. Users have been instructed to migrate funds and positions via its website and community channels.

Welcome to our institutional newsletter, Crypto Long & Short. This week:

• Ruchir Gupta on how we’re moving toward a true fixed-income market for crypto-native yield.
• Clara García Prieto on bitcoin becoming mainstream collateral, but most are not prepared for its risks.
• Top headlines institutions should pay attention to by Francisco Rodrigues.
• Crypto card volumes hit $140 million record in Chart of the Week.

-Alexandra Levis

Expert Insights

When price stops working, yield starts mattering

– By Ruchir Gupta, co-founder, Gyld Finance

There is a pattern that repeats itself across asset classes. Bull markets are simple: buy risk, ride beta, everything looks like genius. Then conditions shift, leverage unwinds, volumes thin and the question changes from “how much did you make” to “what are you actually earning while you wait.”

Crypto is in that shift right now. Prices have corrected significantly, with bitcoin about 50% below its peak. Speculative positioning has compressed. Perpetual funding rates have normalized. For investors holding digital assets through this, yield has become the cushion that makes staying in the trade worthwhile.

Ether (ETH) staking, as measured by the benchmark Composite Ether Staking Rate (CESR), returns roughly 2.5% to 4% annualized. Solana (SOL) validator rewards run closer to 6% to 8%. Lending protocols offer variable rates across collateral types. Crypto-native yield is real, diversified across sources and does not require price appreciation to accrue.

The clearest evidence is in the staking participation data. ETH staking supply has hit all-time highs, with close to 30% of all ETH staked now. That growth continued through periods of significant price weakness. Allocators kept staking regardless of what ETH was doing in spot markets because the yield was there independent of price.

Institutions have noticed. After the SEC provided regulatory clarity around staking in U.S.-registered funds last year, nearly twenty staking-linked ETFs and ETPs have launched or been filed, including BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust and products from VanEck, Grayscale and Fidelity, more than in all previous years combined. Morgan Stanley, which manages roughly $8 trillion in client assets, applied in February for a national trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to offer crypto custody and staking services to its investment clients.

But every one of these products is, today, a passive fund. You get yield at whatever rate the network happens to be paying, bundled with price exposure, with no ability to manage duration or isolate income from principal. That leaves a lot on the table.

Staking yield has two characteristics that make it particularly interesting as a traded market:

First, rewards are variable and driven by network-level activity. Transaction volumes, validator set size and overall participation all move the rate. Staking rewards behave somewhat like a macro rate: when the network is busy and demand for block space is high, rewards rise; when activity falls, they compress. That variability is not just a risk to be passively absorbed. It is a signal that can be traded.

Second, staking is partly illiquid in a structured way. ETH’s validator entry queue currently runs over two months, meaning capital committed today does not start earning for more than sixty days. That queuing dynamic creates a forward curve. The rate you expect to earn in three months is not the same as the rate available today and the gap between them is something a market should price.

Together, these two features mean staking yield has the ingredients of a proper rates market: a floating benchmark that moves with observable fundamentals, and a term structure created by real illiquidity and expectations of forward network activity. This is exactly the kind of market active managers get paid to navigate.

Capturing that opportunity requires a toolkit that does not yet exist in regulated form: instruments that let you price yield independently of principal, so a buyer can take a view on rate direction without carrying spot exposure; instruments with defined maturities that make the illiquidity premium explicit and tradable; and instruments that separate the income stream from the capital claim entirely, so each can find its natural holder. In traditional fixed income, these are strip bonds, zero coupon instruments and floating-rate notes. They are the building blocks without which you cannot run anything more sophisticated than a passive fund.

Once those instruments exist, the rest follows naturally. The first active staking funds will look like something money market managers do today: rotating across maturities, pricing illiquidity risk and taking views on forward network activity rather than just collecting whatever rate the network is currently paying.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) tackled this problem early, though aimed at a different market and built on different yield sources. Protocols like Pendle Finance have built an elegant yield tokenization engine that separates principal tokens from yield tokens and lets them trade independently. The mechanics work, but the wrapper is unsuitable for institutional capital, as it looks too much like a security in most jurisdictions and lacks regulatory clarity.

What we are moving toward is a genuine fixed income market for crypto-native yield, with term structures, actively managed duration strategies and products that compete on the precision of their yield management rather than simply on access.

Bull markets reward beta. Bear markets reward income. Mature markets reward the ability to manage risk precisely. We are somewhere between the second and third phase, and the infrastructure for that third phase is largely still missing.

Principled Perspectives

Bitcoin as collateral: the shift redefining the financial system

– By Clara García Prieto, founder, BTL

More than five years ago, suggesting that bitcoin could be used as collateral — and that traditional financial institutions might seriously consider it — would have sounded improbable. Today, that scenario is no longer theoretical: bitcoin has entered the financial system and, in doing so, is redefining what we understand as collateral. Bitcoin is not just becoming collateral — it is redefining what collateral means.

As a lawyer, my view is clear: the use of bitcoin as collateral is inevitable, but most participants are not prepared for the risks it entails. In my opinion, this will be the dominant pattern over the next five to ten years.

To understand the magnitude of this shift, it is useful to look at a classic example: a real estate mortgage. In this structure, there is a loan (the principal obligation) and a guarantee (the property) that secures it. Bitcoindoes not fit neatly within the current logic:: it is not tied to a specific jurisdiction, it does not rely on public registries and its control is based on cryptographic keys. This forces us to reinterpret the concept of collateral rather than simply replicate it.

Bitcoin has unique characteristics: it is a digital asset, finite, with a fixed and deterministic supply. Many who hold it — whether individuals or companies — do not to part with it. On the one hand, this is because of its scarcity and potential appreciation; on the other, because of the tax implications of disposing of it. This is where a key shift emerges: obtaining liquidity without selling the asset.

However, there is a structural tension. Bitcoin does not typically depend on intermediaries, but collateralized transactions must depend upon them to some extent. And this is the real critical point.

In centralized models, the primary risk is custody. The user must trust that the entity holding the collateral acts diligently and remains solvent. Translating this to trust to the crypto context is not a minor issue and requires careful analysis of how custody is managed. Traditional financial institutions are already exploring this — for example, by assessing the use of bitcoin ETFs as collateral for institutional clients. The movement has begun, even if we are still only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

In decentralized finance (DeFi), the problem is different. Native bitcoin cannot be used directly, as it requires the use of tokenized representations. This introduces new risks: reliance on smart contracts, protocol risk, potential price discrepancies and the need for active collateral management. Additionally, there may be tax implications, depending on jurisdiction, if the transaction is treated as a taxable event.

At the same time, the use of bitcoin as collateral is beginning to be integrated into corporate treasury strategies. In my view, this will be one of the most relevant developments. Companies with strong liquidity and solid balance sheets can use bitcoin as a strategic asset, reducing their reliance on external financing. Those who adopt it early will have a clear competitive advantage.

That said, bitcoin’s volatility will prevent it from replacing traditional collateral. No financial system can rely exclusively on an asset that can fluctuate significantly over short periods of time, as they require overcollateralization and strict risk management mechanisms.

We are facing a form of collateral with unique characteristics that cannot be ignored. Volatility and the associated risks — custody, counterparty and structural — are real. But so is its potential. The use of bitcoin as collateral is no longer a hypothetical; it will become increasingly common. The question is not whether it will happen, but who is prepared to manage it properly.

Headlines of the Week

– By Francisco Rodrigues

The cryptocurrency industry has kept on slowly maturing over the week, with headlines pointing to the Bitcoin network’s physical resilience, the Ethereum Foundation’s evolution, and further institutionalization of the technology underpinning it.

• Bitcoin can survive 72% of the world’s submarine cables being cut: That’s according to a Cambridge study spanning 11 years and 68 verified cable failures. It found Bitcoin’s physical infrastructure is far more resilient than previously thought.
• Ethereum Foundation publishes new mandate defining its role, core principles: In a 38-page document, the Ethereum Foundation outlined its philosophy and role as a steward of the Ethereum network. The document emphasizes Ethereum’s core mission to enable user self-sovereignty, and that it must preserve censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security.
• European Central Bank unveils tokenized finance plan to bolster EU’s financial autonomy: The European Central Bank published its Appia roadmap, outlining a long-term plan to build a euro-anchored tokenized wholesale financial system using distributed ledger technology and central bank money settlement.
• Mastercard Launches Global Crypto Partner Program with 85+ Companies: Mastercard unveiled its Crypto Partner Program, bringing together more than 85 companies, including Ripple, Solana, Circle, Binance and other major players, to accelerate real-world blockchain use cases in cross-border payments, settlement and consumer crypto spending.
• Prediction markets get tailored U.S. guidance from former foe CFTC: The agency, which was once a legal opponent of certain activity at prediction markets, is now establishing policy for their oversight, with staff-issued advisory to regulated firms and initial guidance rolling out.

Chart of the Week

Crypto card volumes hit $140 million record as Neobank tokens lag behind

Weekly crypto card volumes continue their steady uptrend, reaching a new milestone of $140 million this week driven largely by RedotPay’s dominant $91 million contribution. While the broader Neobank Performance Index (including tokens like Avici and ETHFI) remains down 34% since the start of 2025, it has shown signs of a recent turnaround with a 10% recovery month-to-date. This divergence suggests that while asset valuations are still recovering from yearly lows, the actual utility and transaction volume of crypto cards are scaling to all-time highs.

Listen. Read. Watch. Engage.

Looking for more? Receive the latest crypto news from coindesk.com and market updates from coindesk.com/institutions.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc., CoinDesk Indices or its owners and affiliates.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index remained at 26 on Wednesday, after rising to 28, a day earlier, ending the indicators’ 48-day stretch in the “extreme fear” zone.

The Crypto Fear & Greed index tracks market sentiment using volatility, momentum, volume, and social data. Any reading below 25 signals extreme fear, while higher values reflect an improving risk appetite.

The index reading points to an improvement in market sentiment this week, marking its first exit from extreme fear in over six weeks.

The move coincides with a recovery in the total crypto market capitalization, which has added 7.65% in March, equivalent to roughly $174 billion. This marks the first monthly bullish expansion since September 2025. Before this, the market declined nearly 40%, dropping to $2.28 trillion from $3.65 trillion in the previous five months.

Market researcher Sminston With provided additional context to the Fear & Greed index.

With said that an analysis of the past Bitcoin market cycles shows that buying BTC during fear phases delivered stronger returns over a two to four-year window.

The average gains reached 331% over three years, compared to 100% for BTC entries made during the greed phases. However, over longer time periods (four to five years), the return differences narrowed, with both the entry strategies converging as Bitcoin’s long-term growth trend dominated the price action.

Related: SOL price signal tied to previous 142% rally flashes again: Are the bulls back?

A rise in stablecoin inflows signals liquidity return

Binance exchange flow data shows a shift in capital movement. Binance recorded a $2.2 billion inflow in Tether USDt (USDT) on March 18, marking the largest single-day stablecoin deposit since November 2025.

These inflows represent the available capital, often referred to as “dry powder,” that can be deployed into the crypto markets. The spike coincided with Bitcoin pushing into higher price levels near $75,000 on Monday, linking the liquidity injection with active trader positioning.

Meanwhile, the total stablecoin reserves across exchanges surged to $68.5 billion from a six-month low of $64 billion on March 8, marking a sharp increase of 7%, within a short period.

A rise in exchange-held stablecoins typically signals that participants are preparing to deploy funds into spot or derivatives markets. This indicates that traders are re-entering with the intent to take positions, adding to near-term buying capacity.

Related: Australian crypto shopping surges, but so do banking blocks: Survey