Crypto World
BTC manages quick gain as oil drops $3 per barrel
After retreating back to the $69,000 area during early U.S. morning hours Wednesday, bitcoin has quickly spiked to nearly $71,000.
Other crypto assets, including ether (ETH), solana (SOL) and XRP, saw the same sharp moves higher.
The gains appeared to come as crude oil quickly reversed most of its session’s large gains, dropping $3 per barrel in a matter of minutes. At press time, WTI crude futures for April were at $85, up 2% for the day.
Crude’s drop also benefited stocks, with the Nasdaq moving from a small decline to a gain of 0.5% in early U.S. trade.
Crypto-related shares were mixed, with Strategy (MSTR), Galaxy Digital (GLXY) and Bullish (BLSH) posting modest advances, while Coinbase (COIN) and eToro (ETOR) were slightly lower.
With the ongoing war against Iran, risk markets this week have been mostly ruled by oil’s price action. Stocks and crypto plunged on Sunday evening as oil surged to $120, but then gained as oil quickly retreated.
Fresh inflation data
Wednesday’s February CPI report was in line with economist forecasts, up 0.3% on a month-to-month basis, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.4%. Next month, however, could show a much different picture due to the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran war, posing the question of whether the Federal Reserve will respond to the temporary shock or take a more hawkish stance after being caught off guard during the last inflation cycle.
Stephen Coltman, head of macro at 21shares says the Fed’s choice will be critical, noting that investors will be watching next week’s Fed meeting closely for signs on how officials plan to react.
As for bitcoin, the rise in next month’s data is likely “already baked in the cake,” he said.
The latest rise in the consumer price index (CPI) was “in line with estimates,” and rising inflation has already been priced into the macroeconomic data for the March CPI print, according to market analysts at exchange-traded product (ETP) issuer 21Shares.
Shelter rose 0.2% in February, while the food sector of the CPI rose 0.4%, energy increased by 0.6%, and the index for all items, excluding food and energy, rose by 0.2%, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) February CPI report.
Stephen Coltman, head of macro at 21shares, said the upcoming CPI prints place even more pressure on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the body that decides interest rate policy. He said:
“What matters now is the Fed’s reaction function to the coming higher CPI prints. Do they ‘look through’ this temporary shock despite having been burned in the previous inflation cycle? Or do they tilt hawkish as a precautionary measure?”
Crypto markets remain resilient following the February CPI report, with the Total 3 market indicator, which tracks the entire crypto market capitalization excluding Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), only declining by about 1% from the intraday high of about $722 billion.
Related: Finance job openings fall to 13-year low as US economy loses 92K jobs
What does this mean for BTC’s price?
“In the immediate term, Bitcoin is likely to remain rangebound between $68,000 and $74,000. However, a breakout past the $75,000 resistance zone appears imminent,” according to Matt Mena, crypto research strategist at 21Shares.
If BTC manages to break above the $75,000 level, it could enter a consolidation phase between $75,000 and $80,000 in the medium-term, Mena said.
Historic price data shows that BTC typically rebounds by 15% or more after geopolitical market shocks, which would put its price in the $77,000 to $80,000 range, he said.
A market recovery to these levels could also be “accelerated” if the FOMC resumes easing interest rates in 2026, according to Mena.
Only 0.6% of traders expect an interest rate cut from the current 3.50%-3.75% range at the March 18 FOMC meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Magazine: The debate over Bitcoin’s four-year cycle is over: Benjamin Cowen
Binance.US, the American affiliate of the world’s largest crypto exchange, named Stephen Gregory as CEO, installing a compliance-focused executive at the helm at a time that competition among U.S. crypto trading platforms is accelerating.
Gregory replaced Norman Reed on March 9, the company said in a statement shared with CoinDesk. He was previously U.S. CEO of digital asset platform Currency.com, where he led the firm during its 2025 acquisition by CXNEST. He also held compliance leadership roles at crypto exchanges Gemini (GEMI) and CEX.io.
The leadership change comes as the U.S. crypto exchange landscape is changing. Over the past several months, trading platforms have raced to expand beyond digital assets, adding products such as tokenized stocks, prediction markets and traditional equities trading. Some exchanges have also struck partnerships with major U.S. stock exchanges to explore trading blockchain-based versions of publicly listed shares.
The appointment places a legal and regulatory specialist in charge at a time when U.S. oversight of crypto companies remains a central issue for the industry. Reed will remain with the company in an advisory role.
Gregory said the exchange’s brand remains strong and closely tied to the vision of its founder. “The Binance.US brand is extremely powerful,” he told CoinDesk, noting that its owner, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, has “continuously advocated to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world.” He said he plans to guide the company into its next phase while building on that foundation. Gregory added that by focusing on innovation for customers, Binance.US is positioned to take advantage of emerging opportunities and expand access to decentralized finance and a broader “tokenized value ecosystem.”
Binance’s global platform remains the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by a wide margin. The exchange recorded nearly $10 billion in trading volume over the past 24 hours, more than five times the volume of rival Coinbase (COIN), according to CoinGecko data.
The company said it plans to expand several parts of its business under Gregory’s leadership. In the past year, it has introduced products including Boost, staking services and a revamped referral program. It plans to expand its “Earn” suite and build new gateways connecting users to decentralized finance and tokenized assets.
Solana price approaches $90 resistance with Fibonacci and value area confluence. Failure to reclaim this level could trigger a rotation toward $70 support.
Summary
- Key Resistance: Solana testing $90 range-high with 0.618 Fibonacci confluence.
- Bull Trap Risk: Rejection could trigger liquidity sweep below $81.
- Downside Target: Range rotation may extend toward $70 value area low and $67 swing support.
Solana (SOL) price is approaching a critical technical inflection point as price rallies toward the $90 resistance level, an area where multiple technical indicators converge. After recovering from recent lows, the asset is now testing the upper boundary of its trading range, raising questions about whether the rally can continue or if another rejection will occur.
The $90 level represents a significant barrier for Solana because it aligns with several key technical indicators, including the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement, the value area high, and the upper boundary of the current ABC corrective structure.
When multiple indicators converge at a single price level, they often create strong zones of resistance where selling pressure may re-enter the market.
Solana price key technical points
- Key Resistance: Solana approaching $90 range-high resistance with Fibonacci confluence.
- Liquidity Target: Failure at resistance could trigger a move below $81 support.
- Major Support: Value area low sits near $70, with deeper support near $67.
Solana’s recent price action has unfolded within a broader corrective structure following a decline from its previous swing high. The current recovery move is best interpreted as part of an ABC corrective rally, where price temporarily rebounds before potentially continuing the broader consolidation phase.
Within this structure, the $90 resistance zone represents the most important level currently visible on the chart. This region has developed into a strong confluence area where several technical indicators overlap. The 0.618 Fibonacci retracement, widely regarded as a key retracement level in technical analysis, aligns closely with the value area highand the upper boundary of the current corrective structure.
These overlapping indicators create a cluster of resistance that may act as a final barrier preventing price from moving higher. When markets approach such areas without strong buying momentum, they often experience rejection as sellers begin defending the level.
Another important element to consider is the liquidity structure surrounding Solana’s current trading range. Financial markets frequently move toward areas where liquidity is concentrated, as these zones allow larger participants to execute positions more efficiently.
Meanwhile, Nasdaq-listed Solmate Infrastructure has announced plans to develop a Solana infrastructure hub in the United Arab Emirates as part of a broader corporate restructuring and capital overhaul, highlighting growing institutional interest in the ecosystem.
Below the current price action, significant liquidity rests around the value area low and nearby support levels. If Solana fails to break above the $90 resistance, the market may rotate lower to target these liquidity zones. One of the first key levels to watch in this scenario would be the $81 region, where short-term support has previously formed.
A rejection at resistance could trigger a deeper corrective move, pushing price below this level as the market searches for stronger support. In range-bound environments, this type of rotational behavior is common, as price moves between areas of high and low value.
Should selling pressure increase, Solana could eventually test the value area low near $70, which represents the lower boundary of the current trading range. This level previously acted as a strong support zone where buyers entered the market, preventing further downside expansion.
If the value area low fails to hold, the next key technical level would be the swing low near $67, which would represent the final major support within the current structure. A move toward this level would complete the broader corrective rotation within the range.
This development comes as Western Union is expanding its presence in blockchain payments through a new stablecoin initiative tied to the Solana network, reflecting increasing institutional activity within the ecosystem.
From a market structure perspective, Solana remains in a corrective phase as long as price stays below the $90 resistance level. Without a strong breakout above this zone accompanied by increasing trading volume, the probability continues to favor further consolidation rather than a sustained bullish trend.
What to expect in the coming price action
Solana is now approaching a decisive resistance level near $90, where several technical indicators converge. If the market fails to reclaim this area, the rally could develop into a bull trap, triggering a rotational move lower toward $81 supportand potentially the $70 value area low.
A break below that level would expose the next major downside target near $67, while a confirmed breakout above $90 would invalidate the bearish scenario and open the door for further upside.
Network News
ETHEREUM FOUNDATION STARTS EXPERIMENTING WITH DVT-LITE TECH: The Ethereum Foundation is testing a method for running validators that could make it significantly easier for institutions holding large amounts of ether to set up staking infrastructure, widening the pool of participants and creating a more decentralized network. In a post on X, blockchain co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the foundation is using a simplified version of distributed validator technology, or “DVT-lite,” to stake 72,000 ETH. The experiment aims to make running validators across multiple machines less complicated. Buterin said the goal is to reduce the process to something close to a one-click setup, where operators choose which computers will run validator nodes, launch the software and enter the same key on each machine. The system would then automatically connect the nodes and begin staking. “My hope for this project is that we can make it maximally easy and one-click to do distributed staking for institutions,” Buterin wrote. Running Ethereum validators today typically means operating a single node that holds the key used to sign blocks and participate in the network. If that machine fails or goes offline, the validator can stop working and may be penalized. Distributed validator technology (DVT) changes that by allowing multiple independent machines to collectively act as a single validator. Instead of relying on one key and one computer, several nodes work together, and only a handful of them sign for the validator to function. That means the validator can keep operating even if some machines go down. But existing DVT systems can be complicated to deploy because operators must coordinate networking, keys and communication between nodes. Buterin has previously argued that complexity is one reason large staking providers have come to dominate the ecosystem. The “DVT-lite” setup aims to automate much of that process, making it easier for institutions to run distributed validators with minimal infrastructure expertise.— Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
NVIDIA SHARES AI CREATES JOBS IN RARE BLOG: The AI jobs debate got its sharpest rebuttal yet, from the person selling the hardware. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang published a rare standalone essay laying out what he calls the “five-layer cake” of AI infrastructure: energy at the base, then chips, then physical infrastructure, then models, then applications. It positioned AI not as a software product or a chatbot but as an industrial buildout on the scale of electrification, one that requires trillions of dollars in physical construction and a massive workforce of electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, steelworkers, and network technicians. “These are skilled, well-paid jobs, and they are in short supply. You do not need a PhD in computer science to participate in this transformation,” he said. Huang’s argument for why the buildout needs to be so large starts with a fundamental shift in how computing works. Traditional software retrieves stored instructions, while AI generates new outputs in real time, with every response created fresh based on the context provided. It isn’t looking up an answer, but instead, reasoning through one on demand. Because intelligence is produced in real time, the entire computing stack beneath it has to be reinvented, which is why AI requires purpose-built infrastructure from the energy layer up rather than running on existing data centers. The timing is pointed. The essay arrives after weeks of mounting anxiety about AI’s impact on employment, from Block Inc.’s mass layoffs to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s comments about job displacement. Tech stocks had been selling off on the combination of those fears since early this year. — Shaurya Malwa Read more.
AAVE SEES RARE $27M IN LIQUIDATIONS DUE TO PRICE GLITCH: About $27 million was liquidated on the decentralized lending platform Aave over the last 24 hours, in what some market participants say may have been caused by a temporary pricing issue involving the token wstETH. Blockchain data flagged by risk-management firm Chaos Labs shows a spike in liquidations in the past 24 hours. Some observers believe the event may have been linked to a price update in a risk-oracle system that Aave uses to determine the value of collateral. Oracles are services that feed price data from the outside world into blockchain applications. Lending protocols like Aave rely on them to decide when a borrower’s collateral is no longer sufficient to back their loan — at which point the position can be liquidated. While such scenarios are rare, most recently, a price-oracle setup misconfigured by DeFi lender Moonwell briefly valued Coinbase Wrapped ETH (cbETH) at about $1 instead of roughly $2,200, leaving the protocol with nearly $1.8 million in bad debt. In Aave’s case, some say the issue may have involved wstETH, a token issued by Lido that represents staked ether. Because it accrues staking rewards over time, one wstETH is typically worth slightly more than one ETH. According to a post from LTV Protocol on X, at the time of the liquidations, Aave’s risk-oracle appeared to value wstETH at roughly 1.19 ETH, while the broader market valued it closer to 1.23 ETH. Volume remained relatively low for wstETH trading pairs, with just $10 million being traded over the past 24 hours, so it is unlikely any astute traders capitalized on the pricing mismatch before it snapped back. Stani Kulechov, the founder and CEO of Aave Labs, said in a post on X that there “was no impact to the Aave Protocol.” According to Chaos Labs, the incident was caused by a mismatch between stale parameters stored in a smart contract, including a reference exchange rate and its associated timestamp. Because those values were not updated in sync, the CAPO system temporarily calculated a maximum allowed exchange rate that was lower than the real market value of wstETH. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
PUDGY PENGUINS LAUNCHES ITS WEB3 GAME: Pudgy Penguins shipped its flagship game to the general public, and the most notable thing about it is that you wouldn’t know it had anything to do with crypto unless someone told you. Pudgy World, the browser-based game first announced at Art Basel in late 2023, went live with 12 unique towns across a world called The Berg, narrative quests where players help a penguin named Pengu find someone named Polly, and a set of mini-games. CoinDesk played a 10-minute session and came away with a simple takeaway. It’s smooth, responsive, intuitive, and clearly not built with a crypto-first user in mind. “We created custom world-building tools using open-source web technology, giving us a lightweight editor built for speed and rapid iteration,” co-founder @chefgoyardi said in an X post. “Our asset pipeline lets artists work in Maya, Cinema4D, or Blender while custom Houdini scripts automatically convert everything into a web-optimized format. Creative freedom without compromise.” “We engineered physics specifically for the browser. Snappy movement, parkour, fluid navigation, and high frame rates even on lower-end devices,” they added.The game could be pure Club Penguin nostalgia for some users. The game was Disney’s browser-based virtual world that ran from 2005 to 2017 and peaked at over 200 million registered users, mostly kids who customized penguin avatars and played mini-games. It remains the template for what a mass-market Penguin game looks like, and the comparison Pudgy World could be measured against in the broader audience. The NFT gaming space has spent years producing products that feel like wallets with gameplay bolted on. Pudgy World goes the other direction, building something that works as a game first and connects to the token economy second. — Shaurya Malwa Read more.
In Other News
- Mastercard has launched a new Crypto Partner Program that brings together more than 85 companies from across the digital asset and payments industries, an effort to more directly link blockchain technology with the infrastructure that underpins global commerce. The program includes crypto exchanges, blockchain developers, fintech firms and banks such as Binance, Circle, Ripple, Gemini, PayPal and Paxos, the company told CoinDesk in a statement. Participants will work with Mastercard to explore how blockchain-based systems can connect with traditional payment rails used by banks, merchants and consumers around the world. Mastercard said the initiative focuses on practical use cases where digital assets are already gaining traction, including cross-border transfers, business-to-business payments and global payouts. For payment companies like Mastercard, the challenge is less about replacing existing systems and more about connecting new ones to the networks that already handle global commerce. Mastercard’s network links banks, merchants and consumers in more than 200 countries and territories. The company argues that blockchain-based payments will only scale widely if they can plug into that kind of global infrastructure.The Crypto Partner Program is designed to create that bridge. Companies in the program will work with Mastercard teams to help shape products that combine on-chain tools — such as programmable payments or tokenized assets — with established payment rails. — Helene Braun Read more.
- Foundry Digital, one of the largest Bitcoin mining pools by hashrate, said it plans to introduce a zcash (ZEC) mining pool by next month, expanding beyond BTC and bringing a large institutional operator into the privacy-focused network. With the new pool, Foundry aims to offer zcash miners a U.S.-based platform designed around compliance checks, reporting standards and operational controls often required by public companies and large firms. The move addresses what Foundry describes as a gap in Zcash infrastructure. While the cryptocurrency has existed for nearly a decade, much of its mining ecosystem still consists of smaller global pools that often operate outside formal compliance frameworks. “Zcash has matured into an institutional-grade asset, but the mining infrastructure supporting it hasn’t kept pace,” Foundry CEO Mike Colyer said in a statement shared with CoinDesk. The expansion comes as privacy-focused cryptocurrencies regain attention across the market as new crypto tax reporting rules, with the threat of asset seizure, kicked in across the European Union at the turn of the year and as onchain analysis keeps developing, leading to growing demand for financial anonymity. — Francisco Rodrigues Read more.
Regulatory and Policy
- Binance filed a defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, on the same day the newspaper published a report claiming the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Iran used the world’s largest crypto exchange to move funds in violation of American sanctions. In the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the company said the newspaper published “false and defamatory statements” about its compliance practices and handling of Iran-linked transactions in an article published on Feb. 23. In that article, the Journal said Binance fired staff who flagged funds moving through the exchange to sanctioned entities, allegations Binance rejected. The lawsuit says Binance did not fire employees for raising compliance concerns. Staff departures stemmed from alleged breaches of internal data protection policies rather than retaliation, it said.”Binance categorically did not dismantle any compliance investigation,” a spokesperson for the exchange told CoinDesk. “The WSJ continues to report the same falsities. As a result, we have filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for defamation.” — Francisco Rodrigues Read more.
- Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has introduced proposed legislation that would ban prediction market contracts tied to terrorism, war, assassination, and death, directly challenging market regulator CFTC’s shift toward looser regulation of event trading. The bill, dubbed the DEATH BETS Act, would strip the agency of discretion over whether to permit such contracts and write explicit prohibitions into law, putting Schiff on a collision course with CFTC Chair Mike Selig’s deregulatory agenda. Schiff, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee that oversees the CFTC, is positioned to press the issue legislatively as the agency’s new rule-making takes shape. Under the Commodity Exchange Act, the CFTC already has authority to block contracts tied to war, terrorism, or assassination if it determines they are contrary to the public interest. But enforcement hinges on the regulator’s judgment, meaning the scope of protection shifts with agency leadership. Schiff’s bill would eliminate that flexibility. — Sam Reynolds Read more.
Calendar
- Mar. 24-26, 2026: Digital Asset Summit, New York City
- Mar. 30-Apr. 2, 2026: EthCC, Cannes
- Apr.15-16, 2026: Paris Blockchain Week, Paris
- Apr. 29-30, 2026: Token2049, Dubai
- May 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami
- Sept. 29-Oct.1, 2026: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
- Oct. 7-8, 2026: Token2049, Singapore
- Nov. 3-6, 2026: Devcon, Mumbai
- Nov. 15-17, 2026: Solana Breakpoint, London
Welcome to our institutional newsletter, Crypto Long & Short. This week:
- Sylvia To on AI agents choosing denationalized money
- Top headlines institutions should pay attention to by Francisco Rodrigues
- Kamino hits $90M in OnRe liquidity while $KMNO drops 16% in Chart of the Week
Thanks for joining us!
Expert Insights
Hayek predicted it, Satoshi built it, agents will use it: the stealth denationalization of money
– By Sylvia To, vice president, Bullish Capital Management
While F.A Hayek, Satoshi and AI may seem like three unrelated topics, the next few minutes will reveal exactly how critical this triad is to our financial sovereignty and it will fundamentally change your view on money as we know it.
Crypto’s cypherpunk ethos
Amid flashy distractions of memecoins, speculation and NFTs, Satoshi would want us to remember the true ethos of crypto, that is: privacy, decentralization and censorship resistance. These ideologies did not come from central banks or policy makers. They came from the cypherpunk’s definition that freedom is best defended not by persuasion but by architecture.
As Vitalik Buterin recently articulated in his March 2026 thread on X, this means building “sanctuary technologies” that create “shared digital space with no owner,” enabling “interdependence that cannot be weaponized” and advancing “de-totalization” to prevent total control by any power.
Money should be a product, not a decree
In 1976, Hayek argued that money should not be “legal tender” forced on people by the state. It should be discovered, adopted and discarded through market choice like any other product. His book Denationalisation of Money outlined these characteristics of “good money”:
• Non-state issuance: not decreed, not voted, not bail-out-able.
• Rule-based monetary policy: predictable supply schedule, not discretionary.
• Global choice: adoption is voluntary; anyone can opt in or out.
• Resistance to capture: no central issuer to pressure, no board to replace.
• Settlement without permission: value transfer doesn’t require institutional approval.
Sound familiar? Yes, Bitcoin.
Bitcoin sits in a special category inside that experiment. Not because it’s perfect today, but because it is plausibly the first monetary network to meet Hayek’s central requirement. That is money introduced by some pathway that cannot easily be stopped. As Bitcoin undergoes price discovery, its volatility is the cost of birth and the market deciding what an ungoverned, credibly scarce asset is worth in a world trained for fiat. But even in that turbulent phase, Bitcoin checks a surprising number of Hayek’s boxes.
The trojan horse: stablecoins and the trap inside it
If we’re honest, stablecoins are currently one of crypto’s most successful use cases. They are fast, programmable and easy to price. They move across borders with far less friction than bank wires.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: stablecoins don’t denationalize money. They digitize the existing national money and extend its reach. Most stablecoins do not compete with the dollar. They import the dollar.
The dollar is a tool of state policy. Pegging to it ties you to its inflation, its surveillance, its sanction regime, its banking chokepoints and its regulatory priorities. Stablecoins may feel like freedom because they move on open networks, but their reference asset is still the same old sovereign instrument.
So while stablecoins can be useful, they also risk becoming the perfect bridge into tighter control. In that sense, stablecoins are not neutral. They are a competitor to decentralized currencies. If bitcoin is denationalization, stablecoins are nationalization with better UI.
The real end user
Here’s where the story gets more interesting and more Hayekian.
Humans are emotional, irrational, politically driven and short-term oriented. Our monetary systems reflect that. We routinely trade long-term stability for short-term relief, then act surprised when crises compound.
But what happens when most of the participants in the economy aren’t humans?
With the meteoric rise of agentic software, and apps increasingly being designed for agents using frameworks like Model Context Protocol (MCP), there is a credible near-term future where autonomous agents purchase services, data, compute, API calls, storage, inference and specialized tools through continuous micropayments.
Agents will care less about branding and narratives and more about properties like:
• machine-readable transaction metadata
• instant, programmable finality
• composability with other systems
• low transaction overhead
• censorship resistance (because uptime is a feature)
• predictable monetary rules (because models optimize against them)
In other words: agents will gravitate toward money that behaves like good infrastructure. A stablecoin is stable because an issuer maintains a peg. An agent might ask: What is the failure mode of the issuer? What is the policy risk? What is the censorship risk? What is the settlement risk under stress? Bitcoin’s value may fluctuate, but its rule set is unusually legible. Its issuance is not negotiated. Its core properties do not depend on a board decision, a regulator’s discretion or the solvency of a nation.
Maybe humans won’t choose the best money because we’re too entangled in politics, habit and fear.
Maybe Hayek’s “new money” was never meant for humans — at least not first.
Maybe the pathway that governments “can’t stop” isn’t a mass political movement.
Maybe it’s AI agents who operate at machine speed, indifferent to national identity, optimizing for reliability, who can be the deciders of the new monetary rails.
When that tipping point arrives, denationalization of money won’t feel like a philosophical triumph. It will be an inevitable engineering outcome, propelled not by ideology, but by raw machine necessity.
When that tipping point arrives, denationalization of money won’t feel like a philosophical triumph. It will be an inevitable engineering outcome, propelled not by ideology, but by raw machine necessity.
Headlines of the Week
– By Francisco Rodrigues
Traditional finance giants, including the owner of the NYSE, ICE, and Morgan Stanley, have kept on making strategic moves in the crypto space, while regulatory milestones like Kraken securing Fed access signal the industry’s path toward mainstream integration.
- NYSE owner invests in crypto exchange OKX at $25 billion valuation: Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, acquired a minority stake in crypto exchange OKX, valuing the firm at $25 billion. ICE will license OKX’s spot crypto prices to launch crypto futures, while OKX will offer ICE futures and tokenized equities to its customers.
- Morgan Stanley names Coinbase and BNY as custodians in proposed bitcoin ETF filing: The Wall Street giant updated its S-1 filing for a proposed spot bitcoin ETF, designating BNY as administrator and cash custodian and Coinbase Custody as the crypto custodian.
- Kraken becomes first crypto company to secure Fed master account access: The approval lets Kraken speed up deposits and withdrawals for large traders and institutional clients, but is limited, with Kraken not earning interest on reserves or accessing the Fed’s emergency lending.
- Kazakhstan central bank to invest $350 million worth of gold, forex reserves into digital assets: The strategy will focus on shares of high-tech and cryptocurrency infrastructure companies, as well as crypto-linked index funds.
- Billions in crypto are moving in Iran. Analysts can’t agree if it’s war-time panic or business as usual: When airstrikes hit Iran on Feb. 28, crypto outflows from Nobitex spiked 873%, suggesting a “digital bank run” was ongoing. The reality may be more complex.
Chart of the Week
Kamino hits $90M in OnRe liquidity while $KMNO drops 16%
Kamino’s OnRe market has increased 80% to nearly $90M in 30 days, cementing its position as the primary liquidity layer for OnRe’s on-chain reinsurance protocol. This growth allows users to bet on a $480B+ real-world vertical by using $ONyc- a tokenized insurance asset – as collateral.
However, this fundamental RWA scaling sharply diverges from the native $KMNO token; the KMNO/SOL pair has dropped 16% over six months, pressured by a broader market downturn and 13M monthly token unlocks (0.13% of total supply).
Listen. Read. Watch. Engage.
Looking for more? Receive the latest crypto news from coindesk.com and explore our robust Data & Indices offerings by visiting 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 other reason behind BTC’s latest volatile session could be linked to the recently released CPI numbers for February.
US President Donald Trump continues to comment on the quickly escalating tension in the Middle East, suggesting once again that the war could be over soon.
Bitcoin’s price experienced immediate volatility after his remarks became viral on social media.
TRUMP SAYS ‘NOTHING LEFT TO TARGET’ IN IRAN WAR
Donald Trump told Axios the conflict with Iran will end “soon” because there is “practically nothing left to target.” He added, “Any time I want it to end, it will end.”
U.S. and Israeli officials, however, plan at least two more…
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) March 11, 2026
This is Trump’s second similar claim in the past few days, after he noted on Monday that the war “is very complete, pretty much.” However, his statements are not supported by some country officials as well as its partner in this case, Israel.
Walter Bloomberg’s report indicated that the two countries plan “at least two more weeks of strikes.” Additionally, the situation lastly escalated after the US started reporting that Iran had put mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
The US military has destroyed at least 16 mine-laying boats in the region, but officials have asserted that “it’s unclear how many mines Iran has deployed.”
Bitcoin traded at $69,200 before Trump’s statement went live, but skyrocketed by almost two grand instantly. Although it was stopped at $71,100, it still trades above $70,000 as of press time.
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There’s another possible reason behind BTC’s volatility. As reported a few hours ago, the US CPI data for February was released, and it matched expectations. However, bitcoin remained relatively calm in the first 90 minutes after the news went live, so Trump’s remarks on the war seem to have a more profound impact.
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TLDR
- Wells Fargo filed a U.S. trademark application for the wordmark WFUSD on March 9.
- The USPTO lists the application as live and pending review.
- The filing covers software for digital asset trading, payments, and wallet services.
- It also includes cryptocurrency exchange services and financial data processing.
- The application references tokenization and blockchain-based trading infrastructure.
Wells Fargo & Company has filed a U.S. trademark application for the wordmark “WFUSD.” The filing covers software, trading, payments, and tokenization services tied to digital assets. The United States Patent and Trademark Office lists the application as live and pending.
Wells Fargo Moves to Secure ‘WFUSD’ Trademark
Wells Fargo & Company submitted the trademark application on March 9, according to USPTO records. The filing appeared publicly on the USPTO site early Wednesday. The agency confirmed the application met minimum filing requirements. However, it has not yet assigned an examining attorney.
The application spans three international classes that cover digital asset services. Class 009 includes downloadable software for digital asset trading, payments, and wallet functions. Class 036 covers cryptocurrency trading and exchange services and financial information processing. Class 042 includes software-as-a-service for tokenizing assets and operating blockchain trading infrastructure.
The filing also references software used to process stablecoin transactions. The name “WFUSD” resembles ticker symbols for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins. However, Wells Fargo has not issued any public statement about the application.
Filing Aligns with Wells Fargo’s Prior Crypto Activity
Wells Fargo has backed digital asset infrastructure firms in recent years. In February 2020, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital invested $5 million in Elliptic. The blockchain analytics firm counts SBI Holdings and Santander InnoVentures among its investors.
In May 2022, the bank joined a $105 million Series B round for Talos. Citigroup, BNY, and DRW also participated in that funding round. The investment valued Talos at $1.25 billion.
The trademark filing follows commentary from the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. In March 2025, the institute stated that digital assets have “evolved into a viable investment asset.” The report classified digital assets as “part of real assets within an asset-allocation framework.”
The institute also described digital assets as “potential portfolio diversifiers.” The report cited low five- and ten-year correlations with traditional asset classes. It framed digital assets within a broader allocation strategy.
Wells Fargo reported net income of $5.36 billion for the fourth quarter of 2025. The bank posted $1.62 per diluted share during that period. In the same quarter a year earlier, it reported $5.08 billion, or $1.43 per share.
Wells Fargo manages approximately $2.1 trillion in assets. The USPTO currently lists the “WFUSD” application as live and pending. The agency has not yet assigned the filing to an examining attorney.
Ben McKenzie’s film, “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money” touts interviews with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried on his political donations.
Ben McKenzie, a Hollywood actor known for his roles on television shows including Gotham and The OC, has released the trailer for a documentary about cryptocurrency featuring interviews with actors and former executives at once-prominent trading platforms.
Released by international sales agency and distributor The Forge on Tuesday, the trailer for the documentary, titled “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money,” showed McKenzie saying cryptocurrency was “pretty stupid” and the actor’s journey to advocating against the industry. The film features footage from 2022 of former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried and former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky before their respective companies collapsed, as well as interviews with celebrities including Morena Baccarin and Gerard Butler.
The trailer shows McKenzie directly asking SBF how much he had donated to politicians; it lists among its cast El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who advocated for the country to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in 2021. Notably, Butler said in an interview with McKenzie that he had “made a ton of money” investing in crypto but didn’t “actually know anything about it.”
McKenzie shifted from working in Hollywood to speaking out against issues in the crypto industry after learning about the technology in 2020. After the collapse of FTX in 2022, he testified at a US Senate hearing investigating the downfall of the exchange, calling the industry “the largest Ponzi scheme in history.”
Related: Ex-SafeMoon chief sentenced to more than 8 years over $9M investor fraud
Cointelegraph reached out to the filmmakers for comment on the content of the interviews with SBF and Bukele but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Bankman-Fried still exploring a potential presidential pardon or appeal
The former FTX CEO is serving a 25-year sentence in US federal prison following his 2023 conviction on seven felony counts related to the misuse of customer funds at the exchange. However, Bankman-Fried has two potential paths to early release.
Shortly after his 2024 sentencing, SBF’s lawyers filed an appeal to overturn the conviction and sentence. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals had not released any decision as of Wednesday.
In addition, Bankman-Fried has been lobbying US President Donald Trump through social media posts praising his actions, often on matters unrelated to crypto. However, Trump said in a January interview that he was not considering a pardon for the former CEO.
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Crypto World
Crypto News Today: Bhutan Shifts $11.8M BTC to New Wallet While DeepSnitch AI, Zcash, and Dash Flash the Best Setups in Today’s Market
As per the crypto news today, Blockchain analytics platform Arkham flagged Bhutan shifting 175 BTC worth $11.85 million from its main national holding address to a fresh wallet that was created only a month ago and had already received 184 BTC from the government before today’s move.
That kind of structural buying at the macro level does not stay isolated at the Bitcoin layer for long. It filters down into the highest conviction plays sitting below it, and the presales like DeepSnitch AI with working utility and exchange listings still ahead are historically the first place that rotating capital lands when the market is in absorption mode like this.
Bhutan’s $11.8M BTC move can be a bull run loading signal?
Today, Bhutan sits at around 5,600 BTC, ranked the 5th largest among nation-state holders globally. Arkham pointed out on X that the last time Bhutan executed a similar transfer in February, it sold $7 million worth of Bitcoin directly with QCP Capital, and historical patterns show the kingdom sells in consistent clips of $5 to $10 million with its heaviest activity running through mid-to-late September 2025.
This does not look like panic selling. Bhutan appears to be running a structured government-level selling strategy, offloading Bitcoin at prices far above its mining costs while the market steadily absorbs the supply.
For traders watching the tape, that is actually a bullish signal. It shows that real demand is strong enough to absorb nation-state selling, and the traders already positioned in the right coins are usually the ones who benefit when the next rotation across the market begins.
Top three coins to watch in today’s market
1. DeepSnitch AI (DSNT)
The craziest crypto news in the presale market right now is that DeepSnitch AI is closing its presale on March 31, with the current entry sitting at $0.04399 per $DSNT while demand continues to push the price higher.
You can already open the platform and use five AI tools built to give you a real trading edge in a market where speed and information decide who wins. Just buy $DSNT and run SnitchGPT for market analysis, scan contracts with AuditSnitch, and track whale wallets with SnitchFeed before the crowd catches on. Every tool is live, in a unified dashboard, and designed to help you make smarter trades right now.
The latest crypto news today for presale hunters is that Uniswap is the first listing milestone, and rumored tier-1 and tier-2 CEX listings follow in Q2, meaning the traders who are in at $0.04399 right now are positioned ahead of every demand wave that exchange listings are going to bring.
It is currently running a 150% bonus exclusively for entries of $10,000 or more on top of the already low presale price of $0.04399.
Run the math on a $10,000 entry at $0.04399 with the 150% bonus applied, and you are looking at roughly 568,000 $DSNT tokens. Now think about what happens if $DSNT reaches $30 post-launch. It sounds crazy at first, but remember how RENDER ran from under $1 to about $13.60 in one cycle on the decentralized GPU narrative. Or how TAO jumped from under $50 to over $700 simply on the decentralized AI infrastructure story.
DeepSnitch AI is not asking you to trust a narrative without a product behind it because five live AI tools are already generating real daily users, the smart contract has been independently verified by both Coinsult and SolidProof, and tier-1 exchange listings may be coming in Q2.
At $30 per DSNT, a 568,000 token bag becomes about $17 million.
2. Zcash (ZEC)
The breaking crypto news on Zcash this week is that the Zcash Open Development Lab just raised $25 million from Paradigm, a16z crypto, and Coinbase Ventures in one of the most significant privacy coin funding rounds of the cycle, sending ZEC spiking 10.9% on the announcement alone.
ZEC is trading around $223 as of March 10, still miles below its $2,034 all time high from 2016, which is why a lot of traders see a solid recovery play here. If the privacy coin narrative comes back strong, the upside math from these levels starts looking pretty interesting.
Some analysts are putting ZEC’s 2026 range between $480 and $850 if institutional interest in privacy infrastructure keeps building after the latest funding news. ZEC is a strong cycle hold with real money backing it, but at a $3.7 billion market cap, it is not the ground-floor entry that the $DSNT presale still offers at $0.04399.
3. Dash (DASH)
The cryptocurrency news update on Dash is moving fast in March 2026, and traders who have been sleeping on this one are going to feel it if the momentum holds.
On March 4 this week, Dash went live on NEAR Intents via a dedicated contract that now enables swaps across more than 35 blockchains, which is a meaningful DeFi expansion for a coin whose narrative has historically been limited to payments.
DASH is currently trading around $33 on March 10. Analysts are placing the 2026 range between $400 and $1,200 if the privacy coin rotation that already lifted XMR extends to the rest of the sector.
Final thoughts
ZEC and DASH are both worth holding this cycle. Neither of them offers the ground-floor entry math that $DSNT still has available right now.
DeepSnitch AI is sitting at $0.04399 in presale with five working AI tools, over $2M raised, and a March 31 deadline that does not come back once it passes. The latest crypto news today for traders who want the highest conviction play before the market fully reprices is still the $DSNT presale entry that turns $10,000 into a whopping $17 million when the exchange listing hits.
Visit the official presale website and load your bags before the tier-1 exchange listing send this to the moon. Join X and Telegram for the latest updates before the presale closes.
FAQs
What does today’s breaking crypto news about Bhutan selling BTC actually mean for traders trying to time the market right now?
When a nation-state is selling Bitcoin in $5 to $10M clips, and the market holds above $70K, that is breaking crypto news, confirming demand is absorbing supply with ease. Rotate into the best crypto presale setups like DeepSnitch AI before the recovery fully prints.
Is Zcash the best privacy coin to hold based on the latest crypto news today, after the $25M Paradigm and a16z funding round?
ZEC picking up $25M from Paradigm, a16z, and Coinbase Ventures is some of the most bullish latest crypto news today for the privacy sector. It’s a solid cycle hold, but DeepSnitch AI at $0.04399 still beats it on entry price and upside math.
What is the most important cryptocurrency news update traders should act on before the end of March?
The most urgent cryptocurrency news update on any serious trader’s radar right now is the DeepSnitch AI presale closing March 31 at $0.04399. It has five live AI tools, $2M raised, and 500x potential.
Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.
TLDR
- Binance filed a defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones in a federal court in New York.
- The lawsuit targets a February 23 report published by The Wall Street Journal.
- The report alleged that Iranian entities may have used Binance to evade U.S. sanctions.
- Binance denied the allegations and called the claims false and defamatory.
- The exchange stated that it provided factual corrections before the article was published.
Binance has filed a defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal in federal court in New York. The exchange sued Dow Jones after a report linked its platform to Iranian sanctions evasion. The filing comes days after a U.S. judge dismissed a separate case tied to alleged terror financing claims.
The complaint targets an article published on February 23 that cited a Justice Department probe. Binance claims the report contains false statements about its compliance controls. The exchange seeks compensatory damages, legal fees, and a jury trial.
Binance Challenges Report Over Iran Sanctions Claims
Binance filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The company named Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, is the defendant. The action followed a report that questioned whether Iranian entities used Binance to bypass sanctions.
The article stated that the U.S. Justice Department had begun examining Iran’s use of the exchange. It cited concerns from investigators and lawmakers about possible sanctions violations. Binance rejected the claims and said the publication misrepresented its compliance framework.
An American reporter, Eleanor Terrett, disclosed details of the filing on March 11. She reported that Binance acted after the outlet published the February story. The lawsuit marks a direct legal response to the allegations.
Binance Seeks Jury Trial and Damages
In the complaint, Binance argued that the article included “false and defamatory” statements. The company stated that those claims harmed its reputation and business interests. It also asserted that it had provided factual corrections before publication.
Binance claimed that The Wall Street Journal ignored those corrections and proceeded with the story. The exchange stated that it maintains strict anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance procedures. It denied facilitating transactions for sanctioned Iranian entities.
The lawsuit requests compensatory damages, though Binance has not disclosed the dollar amount. It also seeks recovery of legal fees and related costs. The company demanded a jury trial to resolve the dispute.
The filing follows a recent legal development involving Binance in another federal case. A U.S. judge dismissed allegations tied to an alleged terror financing matter. That dismissal cleared the exchange of those specific claims.
Binance now faces a new legal battle centered on defamation. The case will proceed in federal court in New York. Court records show that the complaint was filed on Wednesday, March 11.
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