BlackRock and Fidelity purchased approximately $400 million in Bitcoin last week while selling $250 million, resulting in net institutional buying pressure, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham on March 23. Total Bitcoin ETF inflows for the week reached $93.1 million, indicating institutions are accumulating the cryptocurrency at current prices.

Arkham made tracking data available for BlackRock’s Bitcoin holdings on its platform. The buying activity suggests institutional investors are using market weakness to increase positions despite concurrent selling activity.

Sources: Arkham | Arkham

This article was generated automatically by The Defiant’s AI news system from publicly available sources.

Crypto market traders were whipsawed on both sides on Monday afternoon, with over $400 million in liquidations across long and short positions in the past 4 hours.

Bitcoin spiked from $67,500 to above $71,200 on Monday afternoon after U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he had instructed the Pentagon to postpone all strikes against Iranian power plants for five days, saying the U.S. and Iran had “very good and productive conversations.”

Then Iran reportedly denied everything.

“There is no direct or indirect communication with Trump,” Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing an anonymous source, adding that Trump “retreated after hearing that our targets would be all power plants in West Asia.” Bitcoin gave back roughly $1,200 from its high within minutes.

CoinGlass data shows $415 million in liquidations in the four-hour window around the two headlines, with short liquidations accounting for $280 million and longs taking $135 million. The nearly 2-to-1 ratio suggests the market was heavily positioned for escalation when Trump’s post landed.

Of the total liquidations, bitcoin accounted for $140 million, ether at $120 million, and Brent oil futures on Hyperliquid at $64 million. Tokenized gold lost $20.9 million, while tokenized silver losses stood at $19.8 million

Meanwhile, the oil liquidations were almost entirely one-sided.

The XYZ:BRENTOIL contract on Hyperliquid saw $64.4 million wiped, with the vast majority hitting longs who had been positioning for Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum to trigger an attack on Iran’s power plants rather than a postponement. Those traders were right about the direction of the war but wrong about the direction of the next Truth Social post.

Bitcoin spent the Asia session grinding between $67,500 and $68,500, ripped $3,700 higher in an hour on the Trump post, then faded $1,200 as Iran’s denial hit.

As of Monday evening, it was holding $70,000, up 2.3% on the day, sitting in the middle of a range it carved out in a few hours of headline-driven volatility.

The session reinforced what the Binance futures-to-spot data flagged earlier this month. When derivatives dominate trading activity at 5x the volume of spot, every headline gets amplified through liquidation cascades in both directions. Shorts get squeezed on the de-escalation post, then longs get caught when the counter-headline arrives.

The net movement ends up modest, but the damage to leveraged traders is not.

U.S. lawmakers are set to introduce a bipartisan bill that would prohibit sports betting on prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal. The legislative action targets the growing use of decentralized and offshore prediction platforms for wagering on sporting events.

Polymarket and Kalshi are among the largest prediction market platforms, with Polymarket operating on the Polygon blockchain and Kalshi operating as a regulated U.S.-based platform. The move reflects ongoing regulatory scrutiny of prediction markets and sports betting activities outside traditional regulated channels.

Sources: WSJ | The Block

This article was generated automatically by The Defiant’s AI news system from publicly available sources.

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.

The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 2025.84, up 0.2% (+3.37) since 4 p.m. ET on Friday.

Seven of 20 assets are trading higher.

Leaders: BCH (+2.3%) and SOL (+1.0%).

Laggards: APT (-5.3%) and ICP (-3.6%).

The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.

Strategy (MSTR) has unveiled a $42 billion at the market (ATM), equity program, split between $21 billion of Class A common stock (MSTR) and $21 billion of its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, Stretch (STRC), according to an 8-K filing.

The company also introduced a new $2.1 billion ATM for its STRK preferred stock, replacing a prior STRK program that had more than $20 billion remaining.

The company expanded its sales syndicate. Strategy added Moelis & Company, A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners, and StoneX Financial, bringing the total number of agents to 19. These firms act as intermediaries, selling shares into the market over time, allowing the company to raise capital gradually rather than through large, one-time offerings.

As of March 22, Strategy still had capacity remaining on its existing ATM programs. This included approximately $6.24 billion of common stock, $1.98 billion of STRC, $20.33 billion of STRK, and $1.62 billion of STRF available for issuance.

The company last week purchased another 1,031 bitcoin, bringing holdings up to 762,099 coins. Shares are modestly higher on Monday as bitcoin trades up slightly from the Friday close at $71,300.

Hyperliquid is generating $14M in weekly fees and leading DeFi growth, but analysts say HYPE still trades at a discount to its fee run‑rate and CEX-style positioning.

Hyperliquid (HYPE), a decentralized perpetuals exchange built around its own HyperEVM chain, has emerged as one of DeFi’s most aggressive fee‑generating protocols in early March 2026. In its latest weekly market brief, altFINS highlighted that “Hyperliquid generated $14.0M in fees over the past week, a +56% increase week‑on‑week, this is exceptional for a derivatives platform and confirms that on‑chain perps activity is picking up meaningfully.”

The same report singled out the underlying chain, noting that “HyperEVM deserves a specific mention, 55% transaction growth this week and a 25% uptick in active users. It’s the fastest‑growing chain by proportional activity, which correlates with HYPE’s strong price momentum.”

Off‑chain statistics mirror that acceleration. HyperEVM has processed roughly 97.8 million total transactions with average daily volume near 434,000, while cumulative on‑chain fees have surpassed $256.2 million since launch, according to analytics compiled by CoinLaw. Daily DEX volumes on HyperEVM peaked near $0.9 billion in late May 2025, with app fees topping $8 million in June and weekly active addresses recently pushing above 106,000 as TVL approached $1.9 billion. “Sustained growth signals that both traders and developers are participating in HyperEVM ecosystem activities,” the report concluded, underscoring how deeply Hyperliquid’s order books now anchor DeFi trading flows.​

That surge in usage is feeding directly into HYPE’s token economics. A recent daily market analysis from MEXC noted that Hyperliquid’s platform “generated $13M in weekly fees with TVL exceeding $6.2B, signaling strong institutional demand,” even as HYPE “is up 662% since its November 2024 launch, currently trading 44% below its all‑time high.” On March 3, the token “surged 17.1% to $31.86 as traders flocked to its 24/7 commodity derivatives during US‑Iran tensions,” with open interest hitting $1.23 billion and deflationary buybacks removing 17,146 tokens to offset an upcoming $316 million contributor unlock, according to a follow‑up report.

Key Highlights

• Shares of MGRX skyrocketed more than 129% during Monday’s trading following SEC disclosure of a 500,000-share bonus awarded to CEO Jacob Cohen.
• An additional 200,000 shares were transferred by Cohen to The Tiger Cub Trust, an entity under his control, increasing the trust’s holdings to 805,000 shares.
• Daily trading volume exploded to over 107 million shares, vastly exceeding the three-month average of approximately 208,000.
• Despite Monday’s surge, the stock declined 54.51% in Friday’s session and remains down 78.11% for the year.
• Analyst consensus remains at “Strong Sell” with no current price target coverage from major firms.

Shares of Mangoceuticals (MGRX) experienced a dramatic surge exceeding 129% during Monday’s trading session following the disclosure of regulatory filings showing CEO Jacob Cohen was granted 500,000 shares as bonus compensation.

Mangoceuticals, Inc., MGRX

In the same filing, Cohen relocated 200,000 shares into The Tiger Cub Trust, which operates under his direction, pushing the trust’s aggregate position to 805,000 shares. The simultaneous disclosure of both equity movements ignited significant market attention.

The rally represents a sharp reversal from Friday’s trading, when shares plummeted 54.51%. Year-to-date performance shows MGRX down 78.11%, while the 12-month decline stands at 96.59%.

Trading activity on Monday was extraordinary, with transaction volume surpassing 107 million shares—a massive increase compared to the typical three-month daily average of roughly 208,000 shares.

According to MarketBeat records, the most recent closing price stood at approximately $2.33 per share as of late October 2025. Currently, no active analyst price targets are available for the stock.

Legal Action and Intellectual Property Initiatives

Beyond executive compensation disclosures, Mangoceuticals has been active on multiple strategic fronts. The company announced it initiated litigation against Clarity Ventures, Inc., its former technology partner, pursuing damages in excess of $73 million. The legal action alleges breaches related to technology service delivery and platform development obligations.

Regarding intellectual property expansion, the company submitted a PCT international patent application in February for MGX-0024, described as an antiviral additive technology designed for incorporation into animal feed and water systems. The February 26, 2026 filing aims to secure worldwide patent protection.

Operational Highlights

The company’s $99 monthly injectable testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) subscription service has demonstrated strong performance. Company executives reported 336% month-over-month revenue growth beginning in mid-December, accompanied by a 54% reduction in customer acquisition expenses.

Mangoceuticals additionally launched MangoRx Direct and PeachesRx Direct in November 2025. These direct-to-consumer platforms offer access to GLP-1 weight management medications including Zepbound and Wegovy, with monthly pricing beginning around $499 on a cash-pay model.

However, despite operational developments, Wall Street coverage remains limited and unfavorable. MarketBeat data shows one Sell rating with no Buy or Hold recommendations currently assigned to the stock.

The overall analyst consensus stands at “Strong Sell,” with no major investment firms having issued upgrades, downgrades, or fresh price objectives in recent months.

The latest available closing price on record stands at roughly $2.33 per share from late October 2025.

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals (NBY) — a nanocap with a market capitalization of about $30 million — has renamed itself Stablecoin Development Corporation and changed its ticker to SDEV, marking a full shift from healthcare to crypto.

This follows a $134 million private placement backed by firms including Framework Ventures and Tether Investments, the company said.

The firm is using those funds to build a large position in SKY, the governance token tied to the Sky protocol, a decentralized finance protocol that issues the cryptocurrency-backed dollar-pegged stablecoin USDS..

The company currently holds about 2.06 billion SKY tokens, roughly 8.78% of the total supply, worth around $147 million. It acquired over half of that on the open market at an average price near $0.065. The rest came as part of the financing deal, which included cash and stablecoins.

The firm has also begun staking its holdings to earn rewards. It reports earning about 26.6 million SKY tokens so far, with these rewards varying based on network rules and participation.

CoinDesk has reached out to Stablecoin Development Corp for comments, but hasn’t heard back at the time of writing.

Sky, which evolved from MakerDAO, currently has a SKY staking rate of over 10%, according to the protocol’s website. The token’s value is down around 1.45% over the last 24 hours, while the broader crypto market rose 4% over the same period, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index.

NBY is higher by 5% on Monday.