Crypto World
Bitcoin price climbs above $71k as Middle East tensions fail to trigger fresh sell-off
Bitcoin price pushed back above $71,000 on Wednesday, defying geopolitical jitters tied to escalating Middle East tensions and a spike in global oil prices, as on-chain data suggests selling pressure may be drying up.
Summary
- Bitcoin rose above $71,000, gaining over 5% and challenging the upper end of its recent consolidation range.
- Exchange inflows dropped to 28,235 BTC, a level historically linked to reduced selling pressure and potential accumulation phases.
- Technical indicators such as Balance of Power turning positive suggest short-term buyer momentum is strengthening.
Bitcoin seller exhaustion? Exchange flows fall to near-cycle lows
According to analysis from CryptoQuant, the recent military intervention in Iran sent shockwaves through energy markets, with WTI crude jumping above $75 and Brent topping $82 after successive 6% gains. While the broader macro backdrop remains fragile and the bear market structure technically intact, Bitcoin has shown notable relative strength.
At the time of the CryptoQuant assessment, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading near $68,637 and approaching what analysts describe as an accumulation zone. A key metric backing that thesis is Exchange Inflow, the amount of BTC transferred to exchanges, often a precursor to selling.
Historically, readings below 40,000 BTC have coincided with weak selling pressure and market bottoms, while levels above 90,000 BTC have marked cycle tops.
On March 3, 2026, exchange inflows registered just 28,235 BTC, dramatically lower than prior cycle highs that ranged between 97,587 BTC and 134,619 BTC. The subdued inflow suggests sellers may be exhausted, even as global instability persists.
Bitcoin price action and key levels
Based on the attached daily chart, Bitcoin is currently trading around $71,795 after posting a strong green daily candle, up more than 5%. The move follows a sharp correction from late January highs near $95,000, with price finding a local bottom in early February around the $63,000–$65,000 region.
Since that capitulation-style drop, Bitcoin has been consolidating in a broad range between roughly $65,000 support and $72,000 resistance. The recent breakout attempt above $71,000 puts price back near the upper boundary of this consolidation band.
Immediate resistance now sits around $72,000–$73,000, followed by the heavier supply zone near $78,000–$80,000, where prior breakdown momentum accelerated. On the downside, first support lies at $68,000, with stronger structural support near $65,000.
A loss of that level would reopen the path toward the February low near $63,000.
Volume has picked up modestly on the recent rebound, though it remains below the spike seen during the early February sell-off.
Meanwhile, the Balance of Power indicator has turned positive, currently reading around 0.77, signaling buyers are gaining short-term control after weeks of sideways churn.
While the broader macro picture remains uncertain, Bitcoin’s ability to rally through geopolitical stress, combined with low exchange inflows, suggests the market may be transitioning from distribution to early-stage accumulation.
A decisive daily close above the $72,000–$73,000 zone would strengthen the case for a broader recovery attempt.
The Iran war has set oil on fire and crypto exchanges are racing to offer 24/7 trading to fill tradfi gaps, with most copying decentralized giant Hyperliquid’s perpetual-futures play.
Crypto market-making giant Wintermute is taking a different approach. On Tuesday, its derivatives unit, Wintermute Asia, launched over-the-counter (OTC) trading in WTI crude oil contracts for difference (CFDs).
CFD is type of derivative that allows traders to speculate on the price movement of an asset without owning it. Similar to futures, CFDs track the asset’s price, but the key difference is that only the difference between the opening and closing prices is exchanged between the trader and the broker when the contract is closed.
These are typically traded over-the-counter and can be tailored in term sof size, duration and margin requirements. This bespoke flexibility allows professional traders and institutions to design strategies that match specific risk-return objectives, rather than conforming to one-size-fits-all derivatives such as Hyperliquid’s oil perpetual futures.
Wintermute’s CFD launch comes amid weeks of intense geopolitical volatility in the Middle East. Escalating tensions between Iran and the U.S.–Israel coalition have left traders in a bind over weekends when traditional finance markets are closed, limiting their ability to adjust positions or manage risk effectively. This led to outsized trading activity on Hyperliquid’s energy market perpetuals and prompted WIntermute to offer CFDs.
“We are seeing strong demand from counterparties looking to use digital asset infrastructure to trade traditional products like oil. The recent price action made that need much more immediate, as many investors were unable to act until traditional venues reopened,” said Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of Wintermute.
“A Wintermute counterparty could have traded the weekend move before the Monday gap or responded immediately to the reversal,” Gaevoy added.
Note that Wintermute is a counterparty in the CFD. Traders aren’t matched with each other; they are trading directly against Wintermute, which is taking on the market risk. The firm is, therefore, leveraging its risk management systems and deep liquidity to monetize demand for 24/7 crude than simply supplying liquidity to perpetual futures.
Traders can access WTI CFDs with zero trading fees, using a variety of fiat and crypto assets as margin, the official announcement said. Contracts can be executed via chat, Wintermute’s electronic OTC platform, or API. The rollout builds on the recent introduction of tokenized gold, further broadening Wintermute Asia’s suite of offerings beyond purely digital assets.
Immunotherapy company Enlivex has raised $21 million via a debt financing agreement to purchase another 3 billion tokens tied to the prediction market platform Rain.
Enlivex said on Tuesday it exercised an option to acquire another 3 billion Rain (RAIN) tokens at a 62% discount for $10 million on Sunday while extending its option to purchase another 272.1 billion RAIN tokens at the same price to December 2027. The debt financing came from The Lind Partners, a New York-based asset manager.
“We are continuing to execute our prediction markets treasury strategy, and we are pleased that Lind provided us with substantial capital, allowing us to continue the execution of our operating plan, as well as to acquire approximately three billion additional RAIN tokens,” said Enlivex executive chair Shai Novik.
Enlivex develops cell therapy solutions for knee osteoarthritis, but is one of several non-crypto companies that have purchased cryptocurrencies in the hopes that it will strengthen their balance sheets and attract a wider base of investors.
The company also said it approved a $20 million share buyback program, aimed at enhancing shareholder value.
The value of Enlivex’s RAIN treasury is directly tied to Rain’s decentralized prediction market platform, which has a built-in 2.5% fee that automatically buys back and burns RAIN tokens in a bid to boost the token’s supply-demand dynamics.
RAIN token, Envilex shares trade mostly flat
The Rain token rose 7% to $0.009 after Enlivex’s announcement before falling slightly to $0.0088, trading flat over the last 24 hours with a 0.3% gain, according to CoinGecko.
Shares in Enlivex (ENVL) also traded mostly flat on Tuesday and closed the trading day down 0.9% to $1.10, but gained 4.5% in after-hours trading, rising to $1.15.
Related: Kalshi, Polymarket eye $20B valuations in potential fundraising: WSJ
Rain runs on the Ethereum Layer-2 Arbitrum network and ranks among the top 10 prediction market platforms by total value locked and fees over the past seven days, DeFiLlama data shows.
Prediction markets have become one of the hottest use cases in crypto, with trading volumes increasing more than 1,200% to $23.3 billion between February 2025 and February 2026.
The market continues to be dominated by Kalshi and Polymarket, however, which account for more than 80% of trading volumes.
Magazine: IronClaw rivals OpenClaw, Olas launches bots for Polymarket — AI Eye
Whales Control More of DeFi Than You Think
(And they’re better at the game.)
DeFi sells a powerful narrative: open, permissionless, and fair. Anyone with a wallet can participate. No gatekeepers. No middlemen. Just code.
But beneath that ideal lies a quieter reality—one where a relatively small group of high-capital players, known as whales, exert outsized influence over markets, governance, and even protocol design.
It’s not exactly a conspiracy. It’s just math… and a lot of money.
Who Are the Whales?
In traditional finance, they’d be hedge funds, market makers, or ultra-high-net-worth individuals. In DeFi, they’re wallet addresses holding massive amounts of capital—often early adopters, crypto-native funds, or insiders who got in before things were cool.
While retail users are debating APRs on Twitter, whales are moving liquidity across protocols like chess pieces—strategically, quietly, and with a level of coordination that’s hard to track in real time.
Liquidity Is Power
In DeFi, liquidity isn’t just participation—it’s control.
Protocols rely on liquidity pools to function. The deeper the pool, the better the trading experience. But here’s the catch: whales provide a significant chunk of that liquidity.
That gives them leverage:
- They can move markets by adding or removing liquidity.
- They can farm incentives efficiently, capturing the majority of rewards.
- They can influence token price stability just by repositioning funds.
When a whale exits a pool, it’s not just a withdrawal—it’s a shockwave.
Governance: One Token, One Vote… Sort Of
On paper, DeFi governance is democratic. In reality, it’s closer to shareholder capitalism.
Voting power is typically proportional to token holdings. So when whales hold a large percentage of governance tokens, they effectively steer protocol decisions.
That includes:
- Emissions schedules
- Treasury allocations
- Protocol upgrades
- Incentive structures
Retail users can vote—but whales decide.
And if you’ve ever wondered why some proposals seem oddly favorable to large holders… well, now you know.
The Strategy Gap
It’s not just about capital. Whales are better at the game.
They have:
- Access to private deal flow (early token allocations, OTC trades)
- Custom tools and bots for execution and monitoring
- Teams and analysts tracking opportunities across chains
- Risk management frameworks that go beyond “ape and pray.”
While retail users chase yield, whales engineer it.
They hedge positions, loop strategies, and optimize gas like it’s a competitive sport. By the time a “hot opportunity” hits Crypto Twitter, whales have already extracted most of the value.
Incentives Are Designed Around Them
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: many DeFi protocols need whales.
High TVL looks good. Deep liquidity attracts users. Large holders stabilize ecosystems—until they don’t.
So protocols often design incentives that naturally favor bigger players:
- Tiered rewards
- Volume-based perks
- Early access programs
- Governance influence
It’s not malicious—it’s survival. But it does tilt the playing field.
So, Where Does That Leave Retail?
At a disadvantage? Yes. Completely powerless? Not quite.
Retail users still have advantages:
- Agility – You can enter and exit positions faster without moving markets.
- Narrative awareness – You’re often closer to emerging trends and communities.
- Lower expectations – You don’t need to deploy millions to win.
The key is understanding the game you’re in.
Stop assuming DeFi is a level playing field. It isn’t. But that doesn’t mean you can’t play smart.
Playing Smarter in a Whale’s Ocean
If whales dominate through capital and strategy, retail wins through awareness and timing.
A few mindset shifts:
- Follow liquidity, not hype
- Watch wallet movements, not influencer threads
- Prioritize sustainability over short-term APY
- Assume you’re late—and act accordingly
And most importantly: don’t confuse accessibility with equality.
Final Reflections
DeFi didn’t eliminate power dynamics—it just made them more transparent (if you know where to look).
Whales aren’t villains. They’re just better-equipped players operating in a system that rewards scale, speed, and strategy.
The real edge isn’t pretending they don’t exist.
It’s learning how they move—and positioning yourself before the splash hits.
REQUEST AN ARTICLE
Prediction markets are exciting, but they’re not reliable wealth builders for retail users.
Research by Citizens shows that retail prediction market users are losing more money than legal sports bettors, with the sharpest traders and market makers capturing returns on the other side of their flow which. The research note also reveals the platforms are drawing a younger demographic than traditional sportsbooks.
The median return for a prediction market user was -8% from July 2025 through mid-March, compared with -5% for sports book users over the same period, Citizens JMP Securities analyst Jordan Bender wrote, citing transaction data from analytics company Juice Reel.
Individuals trading more than $500,000 on prediction markets generated a median ROI of +2.6%, consistent with sharp-bettor benchmarks validated by professional players. Every cohort below that level was negative, sliding to -26.8% for users trading less than $100.
No cohort within legal sports betting was profitable either, but the decay is less severe: the $500,000-plus sports betting cohort posted -0.6%, and the smallest accounts came in at -29.3%.
One of the major differences between the two platforms is who is on the other side of the trade.
Prediction markets do not limit or ban profitable users the way regulated sportsbooks do, concentrating informed flow on the platforms. That flips the traditional model. In sportsbooks, the house manages risk and filters out winning players. In prediction markets, retail traders are directly exposed to professionals, market makers, and high-volume participants who consistently take the other side of less informed flow.
Two professional bettors on a Citizens JMP call last week said prediction markets offer a more attractive path to positive returns precisely because retail users provide the liquidity, the note reads.
Are prediction markets a threat to online gambling?
Gaming CEOs have dismissed the threat of prediction markets, according to the Citizens JMP report, which compiled executive commentary from 4Q25 earnings calls.
DraftKings’ Jason Robins said prediction markets are not materially incremental to existing customers. Flutter’s Peter Jackson said the company found no evidence of material cannibalization. BetMGM’s Adam Greenblat estimated a low-to-mid-single-digit percentage impact on betting revenue. Citizens JMP’s own estimate is around 5%.
The bigger issue may not be cannibalization but acquisition. About 24% of Kalshi users are under 25, with a median age of 31, compared with just 7% for DraftKings and FanDuel, where the median age is closer to 35, according to Sensor Tower data cited in the report. Roughly 90% of DraftKings revenue comes from users over 30, the report said.
FanDuel and DraftKings downloads fell 18% and 13% year-over-year from September 2025 through February 2026, per Sensor Tower data cited by Citizens JMP. Over the same stretch, Kalshi logged 6.3 million downloads.
Prediction markets may not be pulling existing sportsbook users away. They may be intercepting the next generation before they ever download DraftKings.
Whales Control More of DeFi Than You Think
(And they’re better at the game.)
DeFi sells a powerful narrative: open, permissionless, and fair. Anyone with a wallet can participate. No gatekeepers. No middlemen. Just code.
But beneath that ideal lies a quieter reality—one where a relatively small group of high-capital players, known as whales, exert outsized influence over markets, governance, and even protocol design.
It’s not exactly a conspiracy. It’s just math… and a lot of money.
Who Are the Whales?
In traditional finance, they’d be hedge funds, market makers, or ultra-high-net-worth individuals. In DeFi, they’re wallet addresses holding massive amounts of capital—often early adopters, crypto-native funds, or insiders who got in before things were cool.
While retail users are debating APRs on Twitter, whales are moving liquidity across protocols like chess pieces—strategically, quietly, and with a level of coordination that’s hard to track in real time.
Liquidity Is Power
In DeFi, liquidity isn’t just participation—it’s control.
Protocols rely on liquidity pools to function. The deeper the pool, the better the trading experience. But here’s the catch: whales provide a significant chunk of that liquidity.
That gives them leverage:
- They can move markets by adding or removing liquidity.
- They can farm incentives efficiently, capturing the majority of rewards.
- They can influence token price stability just by repositioning funds.
When a whale exits a pool, it’s not just a withdrawal—it’s a shockwave.
Governance: One Token, One Vote… Sort Of
On paper, DeFi governance is democratic. In reality, it’s closer to shareholder capitalism.
Voting power is typically proportional to token holdings. So when whales hold a large percentage of governance tokens, they effectively steer protocol decisions.
That includes:
- Emissions schedules
- Treasury allocations
- Protocol upgrades
- Incentive structures
Retail users can vote—but whales decide.
And if you’ve ever wondered why some proposals seem oddly favorable to large holders… well, now you know.
The Strategy Gap
It’s not just about capital. Whales are better at the game.
They have:
- Access to private deal flow (early token allocations, OTC trades)
- Custom tools and bots for execution and monitoring
- Teams and analysts tracking opportunities across chains
- Risk management frameworks that go beyond “ape and pray.”
While retail users chase yield, whales engineer it.
They hedge positions, loop strategies, and optimize gas like it’s a competitive sport. By the time a “hot opportunity” hits Crypto Twitter, whales have already extracted most of the value.
Incentives Are Designed Around Them
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: many DeFi protocols need whales.
High TVL looks good. Deep liquidity attracts users. Large holders stabilize ecosystems—until they don’t.
So protocols often design incentives that naturally favor bigger players:
- Tiered rewards
- Volume-based perks
- Early access programs
- Governance influence
It’s not malicious—it’s survival. But it does tilt the playing field.
So, Where Does That Leave Retail?
At a disadvantage? Yes. Completely powerless? Not quite.
Retail users still have advantages:
- Agility – You can enter and exit positions faster without moving markets.
- Narrative awareness – You’re often closer to emerging trends and communities.
- Lower expectations – You don’t need to deploy millions to win.
The key is understanding the game you’re in.
Stop assuming DeFi is a level playing field. It isn’t. But that doesn’t mean you can’t play smart.
Playing Smarter in a Whale’s Ocean
If whales dominate through capital and strategy, retail wins through awareness and timing.
A few mindset shifts:
- Follow liquidity, not hype
- Watch wallet movements, not influencer threads
- Prioritize sustainability over short-term APY
- Assume you’re late—and act accordingly
And most importantly: don’t confuse accessibility with equality.
Final Reflections
DeFi didn’t eliminate power dynamics—it just made them more transparent (if you know where to look).
Whales aren’t villains. They’re just better-equipped players operating in a system that rewards scale, speed, and strategy.
The real edge isn’t pretending they don’t exist.
It’s learning how they move—and positioning yourself before the splash hits.
REQUEST AN ARTICLE
Ripple is testing whether its stablecoin can replace the manual payment processes that have slowed cross-border trade for decades, and Singapore’s central bank is giving it a sandbox to prove it.
The company said in a note shared with CoinDesk on Wednesday that it is participating in BLOOM, a Monetary Authority of Singapore initiative designed to extend settlement capabilities for tokenized bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins.
As part of the plan, Ripple is partnering with Unloq, a supply chain finance technology provider, to pilot a system where cross-border trade payments using RLUSD are released automatically when predefined conditions are met, such as shipment verification.
Traditional trade finance is built on layers of manual verification, documentary credits, and correspondent banking relationships that can take days or weeks to settle. The Ripple-Unloq pilot uses Unloq’s SC+ platform to bundle trade obligations, settlement conditions, and financing workflows into a single execution layer, with RLUSD on the XRP Ledger handling the actual money movement.
Singapore has positioned itself as the regulatory testing ground for institutional digital asset use cases, and BLOOM specifically targets the infrastructure layer rather than speculative products.
Getting into the program signals that MAS considers the RLUSD-on-XRPL stack credible enough for regulated experimentation, which matters more for Ripple’s enterprise pipeline than another exchange listing or payments corridor ever could.
This is the third significant Ripple announcement in three weeks.
The company expanded Ripple Payments into a full-stack stablecoin infrastructure platform, secured an Australian financial services license through acquisition, and now has a central bank-backed pilot for trade finance.
Ripple is building the regulatory and institutional credibility layer that turns RLUSD from a stablecoin with modest adoption into the settlement asset for enterprise use cases that require compliance and programmability.
The average Cardano holder who bought in the past year is down 43%. The derivatives market is betting it gets worse. But both of those things happening at once have historically meant the opposite.
Santiment data shows ADA’s 365-day Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) ratio has fallen to -43%, meaning wallets that have been active on the Cardano network over the past year are sitting on an average loss of 43% on their positions.
The metric is deep in what Santiment labels the “opportunity zone,” a band that previous instances in 2023 and late 2024 preceded recoveries as the MVRV mean-reverts toward zero.
MVRV measures average trading returns across a given timeframe, and it always gravitates back toward zero over time. When it’s extremely negative, the holders most likely to panic-sell have already sold. The remaining supply sits in hands that are either committed to holding or have already accepted the loss. That’s the kind of positioning that reduces further selling pressure and sets up the conditions for a bounce when any catalyst arrives.
At the same time, Binance’s weekly average funding rate for ADA has turned to its most negative reading since June 2023. Funding rates reflect the balance between long and short positioning in perpetual futures. A deeply negative rate means shorts are dominant and paying longs to keep their positions open. In simpler terms, the derivatives market is crowded on the bearish side.
That crowding is what makes it a contrarian signal. When shorts are this concentrated, any positive price movement triggers liquidations that force short sellers to buy back their positions, which pushes the price higher, which triggers more liquidations.
The cascade works in reverse too, but the historical pattern on ADA shows that funding rate extremes of this magnitude have preceded short squeezes more often than they’ve preceded further declines.
The last time both signals aligned this clearly was mid-2023, when ADA was trading around $0.25 before rallying roughly 300% over the following 18 months. That doesn’t mean the same outcome is guaranteed, however, as ADA is down 71% since its September peak, the broader market is dealing with a war, sticky inflation, and no rate cuts in sight, and Cardano’s ecosystem metrics haven’t produced the kind of usage growth that would justify a fundamental repricing.
But bottom signals aren’t about fundamentals. They’re about positioning. And the positioning on Cardano right now, with average holders at -43% returns and shorts at a three-year high, is the kind of setup where the next move catches the majority off guard.
ADA was trading at $0.26 on Tuesday, down roughly 7% on the week.
XRP is holding near $1.41 after a steady session, but price is stuck in a tight range, with neither buyers nor sellers taking control. The longer it stays compressed between support and resistance, the more likely a sharper move becomes.
News Background
- XRP traded in line with the broader crypto market, with no major token-specific catalyst driving price action.
- Whale wallets added roughly 40 million XRP over the past week, suggesting accumulation during consolidation.
- Market sentiment remains tied to macro conditions, with crypto reacting cautiously to interest rate expectations.
Price Action Summary
- XRP gained about 0.6%, moving from roughly $1.38 to $1.41
- Price traded within a tight $1.38–$1.43 range
- Repeated rejection near $1.42 capped upside
- Buyers defended dips near $1.38, forming higher lows
Technical Analysis
- XRP is trading in a tightening range, with support near $1.38 and resistance around $1.42.
- Higher lows suggest buyers are slowly stepping in, but lack of strong follow-through keeps momentum muted.
- The structure resembles a compression setup, where price coils before a larger move.
- Volume is slightly elevated but not strong enough yet to confirm a breakout.
What traders say is next?
- Traders are watching a break above $1.42 for a move toward $1.45–$1.50.
- If $1.38 support fails, downside could extend toward $1.30.
- For now, XRP remains range-bound, with the next move likely driven by a break on either side of this tightening range.
Stock and crypto trading platform Robinhood has approved to buy back $1.5 billion worth of its shares.
Robinhood said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Tuesday that the company’s board of directors approved the $1.5 billion share repurchase program, which it will carry out over the next three years.
The program includes $1.1 billion in new incremental capacity, with the remainder rolled over from an older repurchase program.
“Robinhood is a generational company with a massive long-term opportunity,” Robinhood financial chief Shiv Verma said in a statement. “This authorization reflects the confidence of our management team and board in our ability to continue delivering innovative products for customers and creating value for shareholders while returning capital over time.”
The stock buyback, typically seen as signaling that a company believes its stock is undervalued, comes as shares in Robinhood (HOOD) have struggled so far this year amid a broad downturn in stocks and crypto.
Robinhood also said that its subsidiary, Robinhood Securities, entered a $3.25 billion revolving credit facility with JPMorgan Chase, replacing the prior $2.65 billion facility. It can expand by up to $1.62 billion, bringing the maximum credit to $4.87 billion.
Robinhood stock tanks nearly 5%
Shares in Robinhood ended trading on Tuesday, down 4.7% to $69.08, closing at the lowest level this year. The stock slightly recovered to $70.90 after hours.
Robinhood’s stock is down almost 39% so far this year and has lost 54.7% since its October all-time high of $152.46, as broader macroeconomic concerns and the Iran war impact stocks.
However, Robinhood’s share price over the past 12 months has seen it gain nearly 43% as its expanded into other products such as prediction markets and banking.
Analyst sentiment aggregator TipRanks puts the 12-month average Robinhood stock price forecast at $123.85 and agrees that the stock is a “strong buy” based on 16 Wall Street analysts.
Related: SEC gives go-ahead to Nasdaq for tokenized trading trial
Robinhood Chain to launch this year
Despite its share price woes, Robinhood remains committed to crypto and real-world asset tokenization, launching its own Ethereum layer-2 network to testnet in February.
CEO Vlad Tenev said that the network processed 4 million transactions in its first week of public testnet activity.
Robinhood Chain is designed to support tokenized equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other traditional financial instruments, and the mainnet launch is planned for later this year.
Magazine: Banks want to run Vietnam’s crypto exchanges, Boyaa’s $70M BTC plan: Asia Express
Tokenized deposits and stablecoins need tokenized central bank money as a public settlement anchor if Europe’s tokenized financial markets are to scale, Piero Cipollone, a member of the European Central Bank’s Executive Board, said on Monday.
Cipollone pointed to Pontes, the Eurosystem’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) settlement initiative, which is designed to connect market DLT platforms with the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services and provide settlement in central bank money.
“Without tokenised central bank money, a seller of a tokenised security may receive payment in an asset they are not comfortable holding – one exposed to price volatility or credit risk – which limits the market’s ability to scale,” Cipollone said in a speech at the House of the Euro in Brussels on Monday.
The ECB said Pontes is due for an initial launch in the third quarter of 2026, allowing market participants to settle DLT-based transactions in central bank money. The comments build on the ECB’s broader Appia initiative, published on March 11, which is intended to produce a blueprint for a future European tokenized financial ecosystem by 2028.
Related: ECB opens digital euro work on ATMs and payment terminals
Europe’s tokenized markets need legal clarity
Beyond settlement in central bank money, Cipollone said Europe also needs closer public-private cooperation and a legal framework that matches the technology.
One of Appia’s building blocks serves as an interoperability standard for assets, ensuring that tokenized assets can be transferred across different DLT platforms via a compatible data format and smart contract standards.
Cipollone urged market infrastructure operators, banks, custodians and technology providers to explore and submit feedback related to the Appia roadmap, seeking to foster more public-private partnerships.
Related: Sweden’s H100 eyes Europe’s No. 2 Bitcoin treasury with 3,500 BTC deal
Cipollone also said Europe may ultimately need a dedicated legal framework to support the seamless issuance and transfer of tokenized assets across the bloc.
He called the European Commission’s proposal to extend the DLT Pilot Regime an “important development,” but cautioned that the absence of a holistic tokenization framework introduces the risk of “building advanced settlement infrastructure on a patchwork of regulations, leaving us unable to fully reap the benefits.”
The comments come days after stablecoin issuer Circle submitted feedback to the European Commission’s Market Integration Package on March 20, urging lawmakers to expand the existing DLT Pilot Regime and provide e-money token (EMT) cash account services to authorized crypto-asset service providers.
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