Crypto World
Ghana selects 11 crypto exchanges for SEC regulatory sandbox pilot
Ghana has selected 11 crypto trading platforms to participate in a regulatory sandbox where they will “pilot their products and services in a controlled environment under the regulatory oversight” of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Summary
- Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission has admitted 11 crypto platforms into a regulatory sandbox to test their services under the country’s new Virtual Asset Service Providers Act.
- The 12-month pilot will allow platforms with market-ready products to transition to full licenses after six months.
- Regulators say data gathered during the program will guide future licensing guidelines as Ghana builds a formal regulatory framework for digital asset services.
Starting March 10, Africoin, Blu Penguin, Goldbod, Hanypay, Hyro Exchange, HSB Global, KoinKoin, Whitebits, Vaulta, XChain, and Bsystem will start operating under the country’s Virtual Asset Service Providers Act for the next 12 months.
After the first six months, the SEC will assess which of these platforms have products and services that are market-ready and can transition to a full license to operate. Meanwhile, those that fail to meet the requirements will continue operating within the sandbox for the remaining six months.
According to the commission, the sandbox has been designed to “support responsible innovation while strengthening investor protection, market integrity, and compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards.”
Data accumulated during this pilot will help shape “future policy and licensing frameworks for virtual assets services,” it added.
The SEC plans to develop guidelines and subsequently publish them for prospective applicants to apply under the various activity-based licensing categories outlined in the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act.
Ghana’s plans to start licensing crypto platforms were first disclosed in July last year, when Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Johnson Asiama, said regulators had already begun working on a draft framework intended to bring digital asset activity under formal oversight.
“We are actually late in the game,” Asiama said at the time, referring to the growing number of Ghanaians already using cryptocurrencies for transactions despite the absence of a clear regulatory structure.
Subsequently, in December, regulators passed the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) bill, which established the provisions that would allow crypto trading and related digital asset services to operate legally in the country under the supervision of the Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
As one of the larger crypto markets in the region in terms of grassroots adoption, Ghana is expected to see greater migration toward regulated platforms if authorities continue shaping a more structured and industry-friendly environment.
Earlier this month, crypto brokerage firm Blockchain.com said it had expanded operations into Ghana as part of a broader push to build digital asset infrastructure across some of the region’s fastest-growing markets.
Crypto World
Wells Fargo Submits WFUSD Trademark Application for Potential Stablecoin and Blockchain Payment Services
Key Takeaways
- A trademark application for “WFUSD” was submitted by Wells Fargo to the USPTO between March 9 and March 10, 2026, encompassing digital wallets, cryptocurrency payment systems, trading infrastructure, and asset tokenization capabilities.
- While the application doesn’t guarantee a product release, it indicates the financial institution may be developing a blockchain-based payment token or U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin.
- Three distinct classification categories are included in the trademark: technology software, financial service offerings, and technical infrastructure solutions.
- The bank has previous experience with blockchain initiatives, including a 2019 “Wells Fargo Digital Cash” pilot program, plus strategic investments in cryptocurrency companies such as Elliptic and Talos.
- This trademark filing arrives during ongoing congressional efforts to establish stablecoin regulations, while competing institutions like JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup develop their own blockchain settlement systems.
A recent trademark filing by Wells Fargo with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for “WFUSD” has ignited discussions about the banking institution’s potential plans to launch a stablecoin product.
Documented under serial number 99693533, the application was filed between March 9 and 10, with public records becoming visible on March 11, 2026. The official applicant is listed as Wells Fargo & Company.
This represents a standard character mark submission without any accompanying visual design or logo elements. The designation “WFUSD” follows familiar patterns seen in dollar-backed stablecoin naming structures, capturing interest from both cryptocurrency enthusiasts and traditional finance analysts.
Three international classification categories are encompassed by this trademark filing. The first addresses downloadable software applications designed for digital asset management, cryptocurrency transactions, and wallet operations, alongside blockchain infrastructure capable of facilitating stablecoin transfers.
The financial services component encompasses cryptocurrency trading platforms, digital asset brokerage operations, virtual currency payment processing systems, settlement services using blockchain technology, cryptocurrency staking programs, and oracle services providing financial data to smart contracts.
The third classification addresses technical infrastructure components, featuring software-as-a-service solutions for asset tokenization, blockchain-powered trading network operations, plus security and verification systems for decentralized application environments.
Wells Fargo’s Previous Blockchain Initiatives
Wells Fargo has established experience working with distributed ledger technology. The institution introduced “Wells Fargo Digital Cash” in 2019, a tokenized deposit platform utilizing the R3 Corda blockchain designed for internal international payment transfers.
Additionally, the bank invested in Elliptic, a blockchain intelligence company, during 2020 and contributed to Talos’ 2022 funding round, an institutional cryptocurrency trading platform. A Wells Fargo Investment Institute publication from 2025 characterized digital assets as worthy of investment consideration.
Industry reports from 2025 indicated Wells Fargo engaged in conversations with JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup regarding a collaborative stablecoin project aimed at tokenized transaction settlement.
Current Status of Stablecoin Oversight
Congressional representatives have been developing stablecoin regulatory frameworks to establish comprehensive supervision standards for dollar-backed digital currencies. Given Wells Fargo’s status as a federally regulated banking institution, launching a stablecoin would necessitate regulatory clearance from both the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The existing stablecoin ecosystem is primarily controlled by Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT. PayPal introduced PYUSD, its dollar-pegged digital token, in 2023. JPMorgan previously developed JPM Coin for enterprise-level blockchain payment systems.
The WFUSD trademark application remains in preliminary stages without assignment to a reviewing attorney. The registration process typically requires twelve months or longer, contingent upon examination procedures and demonstration of actual commercial deployment.
Wells Fargo has issued no official communications regarding this trademark submission.
A man wears a lobster hat that represent the OpenClaw logo, an open-source AI assistant at the Baidu headquarter in Beijing on March 11, 2026.
Adek Berry | Afp | Getty Images
China is rapidly embracing the popular artificial intelligence tool OpenClaw, with major tech companies and even local governments rushing to expand access to the lobster-themed, open-source AI agent in recent weeks.
AI agents are digital assistants that can handle tasks such as sending emails, scheduling meetings and booking restaurant reservations with minimal human guidance. Unlike chatbots that simply respond to prompts, AI agents can take proactive actions, which often require broader access to data and systems and raise privacy and security concerns.
Chinese tech giant Tencent said Tuesday it had launched a full suite of easy-to-use AI products built on OpenClaw, which it dubbed “lobster special forces” and compatible with its popular superapp WeChat.
The same day, startup Zhipu AI launched its own local version of OpenClaw, offering an AI agent pre-installed with over 50 popular skills through “one-click installation.”
Similar moves by other Chinese companies have helped drive consumer interest, with usage of OpenClaw in China surpassing the U.S., according to American cybersecurity firm SecurityScorecard.
“In terms of adopting the new technologies, I think China definitely has a really large community that always wants to try what’s there, what’s new, and don’t want to be left behind,” said Jaylen He, CEO of Violoop, a Shenzhen-based startup building a device that claims to have similar features to OpenClaw but with lower security risks.
“I have friends who are not even in the tech industry … they are doing this, they are also running it,” he said.
As China’s economy continues to face headwinds, OpenClaw offers an opportunity that domestic tech companies, eager to attract paying users, are rushing to capture.
The nationwide OpenClaw craze has boosted the popularity of Chinese-developed large language models, said Winston Ma, adjunct professor at NYU School of Law.
Autonomous AI agents like OpenClaw are typically model-agnostic, which means they can be integrated with various large language models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude.
According to OpenRouter, a startup offering developers access to AI models through a single interface, the top three tools used by OpenClaw users on its marketplace in the past month were all Chinese companies, with combined usage double that of the three most-used Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude models.
Chinese-made AI models released this year have increasingly narrowed the gap with their U.S. rivals, while offering AI capabilities at a fraction of the price.
That significantly lowers the bill for users running OpenClaw. First launched in November, the tool allows users to send requests through popular messaging apps such as Telegram and WhatsApp, enabling the AI agent to perform multiple tasks autonomously. The Austrian developer behind the tool, Peter Steinberger, joined OpenAI in mid-February.
Easing installation hurdles
While OpenClaw has surged in popularity in the tech world, experts have previously pointed out limitations to the AI agent’s mass adoption, including a complex installation process that’s challenging for nontechnical users.
Chinese technology companies are also trying to simplify installation for less technical users.
After an initial surge of interest last month, Chinese social media platforms have been flooded with posts about company-organized installation events. Some organizers have handed out red lobster plush toys, highlighting the project’s crustacean-themed branding.
Engineers (L) install and set OpenClaw, an open-source AI assistant for users at the Baidu headquarter in Beijing on March 11, 2026.
Adek Berry | Afp | Getty Images
TikTok owner ByteDance’s cloud unit Volcano Engine recently unveiled a version of OpenClaw called ‘ArkClaw,’ that can be used in a web browser, eliminating the need for complex local setup.
Meanwhile, some companies have even provided support to consumers in China who are looking to use OpenClaw with their tools.
Tencent held a free in-person OpenClaw setup session last week in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen, where it is headquartered, to help “hundreds” of people install the tool on TencentCloud.
JD.com on Tuesday launched a dedicated page where users can pay 399 yuan ($58) to get remote help from Lenovo’s information technology maintenance team, Baiying, to deploy the software. Meituan reportedly announced a similar partnership with Lenovo on Monday.
The growing interest in OpenClaw is changing how Chinese consumers pay for AI.
Engineers (front) install and set OpenClaw, an open-source AI assistant at the Baidu headquarter in Beijing on March 11, 2026.
Adek Berry | Afp | Getty Images
Violoop, which plans to launch its first device on Kickstarter in April at roughly $300 per unit and $30 a month for AI services, originally intended to focus on the U.S. and other overseas markets, CEO He said.
But now, the startup is focusing on a China launch instead.
“After 2026, after OpenClaw, I think we are seeing a significant rise, both in terms of [interest in] paying for good models and also that MiniMax and Kimi have released very capable models,” he said Wednesday. “I wouldn’t say that they can surpass maybe ChatGPT or Anthropic, but they are definitely approaching that and definitely are creating value for users. So this is a new change for us.”
The startup has already closed at least two rounds of initial funding this year, primarily to cover production costs.
Governments get involved
Despite official warnings published by China’s state media about OpenClaw’s security risks, several local governments have proposed incentives in the past week to encourage companies to develop applications using the AI tool.
Shenzhen’s Longgang district and Hefei’s high-tech development zone proposed equity financing support of up to 10 million yuan ($1.46 million), along with other direct subsidies aimed at “one-person companies” using OpenClaw. A district of Suzhou city said it would offer similar subsidies, along with 30 days of free office space, accommodation and meals.
The term “one-person company,” referring to one or a few individuals using AI to quickly build a business, has become increasingly popular in China, especially as Beijing this week wrapped up a meeting to formalize a five-year plan to spur domestic tech development.
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Increased Chinese participation in the OpenClaw craze is just adding to a global phenomenon. In a sign of its popularity, the AI agent project has gained more stars on the GitHub coding platform than Linux, a transformative open-source operating system that underpins modern computing.
“This is like the 2022 ChatGPT moment. This is like the 202[5] DeepSeek moment,” Violoop’s He said. “I think the craving, the desire, for a personal assistant that can really help the user, the desire has been there, and has been suppressed for a very long time.”
— CNBC’s Anniek Bao contributed to this report.
People queue to have their laptops install with OpenClaw, an open-source AI assistant at the Baidu headquarter in Beijing on March 11, 2026.
Adek Berry | Afp | Getty Images
Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.
In the 1840s, thousands of investors funded unproven rail lines during the Great British Railway Mania because they believed the steam engine was an overnight breakthrough. And it was. But what followed was an enormous market crash based on the fact that the tracks were still disconnected, built in isolation from each other, and lacked the standardization needed for interoperability. It wasn’t until the government stepped in and managed the railways at a national level that this was resolved. This is exactly what happened in decentralized finance, or DeFi.
Summary
- DeFi fragmented tokenization: Early RWA projects failed because they lacked legal alignment, sovereign integration, and interoperable infrastructure — creating “digital shadows” instead of enforceable ownership.
- ProFi embeds compliance at the protocol level: Programmable finance integrates law, settlement, and sovereign authority directly into blockchain rails, turning regulation from an obstacle into infrastructure.
- Sovereign-led tokenization is scaling: Markets like Saudi Arabia are proving that government-aligned RWA rails — not permissionless experiments — will unlock the projected $30T tokenization market.
Investors and developers built DeFi protocols in isolation from one another, leading to fragmented liquidity and assets that cannot be moved easily from one chain to another. They built exceptional tracks, but these do not work well together. What we are now witnessing, as a result, is the start of a new era of government involvement in the sector, synthesising law, code, assets, and capital into sovereign-grade blockchain rails capable of unlocking trillions in value. We call this programmable finance, or ProFi.
The institutional disconnect
Leaders in the web3 space have consistently argued that institutions were simply too slow or legacy-driven to adopt digital assets. However, in reality, governments and large companies are not famous for building on rocky foundations. The structural limitations of early blockchains were their lack of sovereign alignment — a permissionless ledger could be a powerful tool for quickly transferring value across the globe, but it does not work for regulating the ownership of national assets.
No government will ever concede control of its essential assets, such as homes, commodities, or bonds, to a market it does not control. As such, companies wanting to work within the confines of the law have had to be naturally conservative about bringing their assets on-chain.
A token without legal alignment is just a digital shadow. To a serious investor, holding a tokenized asset on an unregulated chain is comparable to holding a blank deed. They do not seek a workaround to the law, but rather the protection of it.
Tokenization pilots
For years, the tokenization of real-world assets was where good ideas got derailed by un-compliant execution. A graveyard of high-profile tokenization projects backed by the world’s largest institutions failed.
The Australian Securities Exchange’s $250 million tokenization project failed because it couldn’t adhere to the market’s non-functional requirements and existed in a regulatory vacuum. IBM and Maersk’s platform TradeLens failed because it operated as a private venture without government involvement, where competitors were reluctant to cede control of their valuable data. Private real estate tokenization wasn’t integrated with National Land Registries and was illegally invisible to courts. When disputes arose or platforms failed, investors found themselves holding “digital shadows.”
The list goes on. These projects, typically built on permissionless blockchains, operated in a regulatory vacuum. They were platforms attempting to bring entire industries onto a single, privately-controlled ledger without Sovereign oversight.
With Standard Chartered forecasting a $30 trillion market for tokenized assets by 2034, the industry is moving aggressively away from speculative projects. Compliance is no longer a retrospective task but the very infrastructure that tokenization runs on. This is what BlackRock CEO Larry Fink describes as the repotting of TradFi assets into a digital ecosystem, a transition that only ProFi can facilitate by providing the necessary order of operations for global finance.
Enter ProFi
The past two decades have defined digital transformation as the migration of paper records to static databases. While this made processes faster, it failed to make them smarter. We are now entering the programmable economy where the asset itself holds intelligence. The true evolution is not moving records to a ledger, but authoring the technical standards that govern how assets are created, transferred, and settled at the protocol level.
This is where sovereigns can translate their rulebooks into executable code. They can ensure their national assets, ranging from energy infrastructure to real estate, stay protected under local jurisdiction while still attracting global capital through a unified, regulator-native stack. This is programmable finance.
ProFi solves what DeFi could not. It replaces fragmented liquidity with unified settlement rails. It substitutes regulatory ambiguity with enforceable compliance at the protocol level. It trades speculative hype cycles for institutional-grade infrastructure that can withstand market stress. Where DeFi is built in isolation and collapses under pressure, ProFi builds with sovereign alignment and compounds trust.
The current leader of the ProFi race
Wall Street is replete with tokenized ETFs, but a more profound revolution is unfolding in developing economies, particularly across the Middle East. Nations are finally unlocking the ability to monetize their entire balance sheets through the construction of sovereign real-world asset rails, effectively upgrading the operating system of their entire national economy into programmable finance.
Saudi Arabia has just started approving tokenization at the government level, leading to an explosion of multi-billion-dollar projects. Major real estate projects are already being tokenized, including a 10 million square meter industrial zone, numerous premium Riyadh skyscrapers, and master-planned communities. Energy giant EDF is also looking to tokenize the Kingdom’s massive energy infrastructure, from utility-scale solar and wind farms to thermal power plants.
At the government level, Saudi Arabia is transforming its real estate into a liquid and programmable asset class for global institutions, all while ensuring the national registry remains under absolute sovereign authority. This sovereign moat creates trust where doubt lingers, and turns blockchain from a tool of disruption into a tool of national alignment. Now, Saudi Arabia sets its sights on achieving Vision 2030 and tapping into the tokenization of numerous asset classes across its economy.
Whilst other jurisdictions are making progress, none have approached tokenization at the sovereign level quite like how Saudi Arabia has. And this approach has led to an explosion of RWA tokenization in the nation, proving that programmable finance is the catalyst needed to make tokenization truly work.
With ProFi, tokenization is set to explode at record levels. The infrastructure makes the entire pipeline compliant, liquid, and programmable from day one. When an institution can tokenize an asset with the knowledge that that token will carry the same legal weight as its TradFi alternative, and a government can tokenize its assets without ceding its sovereignty, everyone’s needs are met. Whilst Saudi Arabia is leading the charge, other jurisdictions will quickly follow.
Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) may reach the 1 million Bitcoin (BTC) milestone faster than expected, potentially overtaking BlackRock in total holdings.
Key takeaways:
-
STRC share sales have generated cash to acquire over 3,500 BTC so far this week.
-
Strategy’s implied buying power could rise to roughly 5,700 BTC per day at Tuesday’s record pace.
Rising STRC demand implies 1,940 BTC of daily buying power
Strategy currently holds 738,731 BTC, including the 17,994 BTC purchase announced on Monday. Meanwhile, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) holds 775,156 BTC, or roughly 36,500 BTC more than Strategy today.
But a relatively new instrument, Strategy’s STRC preferred stock, is helping close that gap faster.
STRC currently pays an 11.50% annual dividend, distributed monthly in cash.
The dividend rate adjusts every month to encourage the stock to trade near its $100 par value, which helps limit volatility. Strategy uses the proceeds from the share sales to buy Bitcoin.
Just this week, Strategy is estimated to have purchased over 3,500 BTC after selling roughly 6 million STRC shares through its at-the-market (ATM) program, data resource STRC.LIVE shows.
Among the top STRC buyers is Bitcoin investment firm Strive.
On Wednesday, chief risk officer Jeff Walton said they acquired $50 million in STRC, noting that the allocation would generate about $5.75 million in annual income at STRC’s current yield.
That is higher than roughly $1.85 million from 13-week T-bills, a difference of about $3.90 million per year.
On Tuesday, STRC logged a record $409 million daily volume and a $138.5 million 30-day average.
Using the $138.5 million average daily trading volume and a Bitcoin price near $71,000, STRC could theoretically buy roughly 1,940 BTC per trading day, more than four times Bitcoin’s daily mined supply.
On days when STRC trading approaches its $409 million record, the implied buying power rises to around 5,700 BTC, or nearly 13 times daily mining supply.
At this rate, Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings can surpass the 1 million BTC mark by August, likely leaving behind BlackRock as well.
MSTR may tap $145.1 trillion fixed-income market
STRC may soon start competing with the traditional fixed-income markets, according to analyst Adam Livingston.
Global fixed-income markets outstanding reached $145.1 trillion in 2024, and US fixed income outstanding was $48.9 trillion as of Q3 2025, Livingston said in a Wednesday post, adding:
“If products like STRC eventually attract even 0.1% of global fixed income outstanding, that is $145.1 billion. At $71.2K per Bitcoin, that amount of capital would be enough to buy roughly 2.04 million BTC, purely as a scale illustration.”
STRC still carries risk for investors
In its disclaimer, Strategy warned that STRC doesn’t guarantee returns, noting that it is “neither a bank deposit, nor FDIC insured, nor regulated in the same way.”
Additionally:
“It does not have the same regulatory and other protections as bank accounts, money market funds, treasuries, or similar instruments and as a result may not be a comparable investment.”
Strategy Analyst ColinTalksCrypto also warned that STRC can cut the dividend, its share price can fall below its $100 par value, and Strategy can issue more shares that dilute existing holders.
I’ve been seeing a lot of euphoric bullposting about $STRC.
It’s an interesting financial product, but I will be the black sheep and state that I personally feel it’s too risky of an investment.$STRC doesn’t really give you any guarantees (despite seeming like guaranteed fixed…
— 𝙲𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚜 𝙲𝚛𝚢𝚙𝚝𝚘 🪙 (@ColinTCrypto) March 10, 2026
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision. While we strive to provide accurate and timely information, Cointelegraph does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information in this article. This article may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Cointelegraph will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your reliance on this information.
For the first time in over a month, Tether mints $1 billion USDT on the Tron network.
Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, just minted $1 billion worth of USDT on the Tron network. This is the first time the company has issued such a large amount in over a month, and it pushes the total circulating supply to about $183 billion, which is over $100 billion more than its closest competitor, USDC.
According to its official transparency page, over $96 billion of the total supply sits on Ethereum, while Tron is a close second with $86 billion.
Tether minted another 1B $USDT on #Tron 6 hours ago.
The circulating supply of $USDT on #Tron has reached 85.3B, far more than on #Ethereum.https://t.co/2wFo2DEvz3 pic.twitter.com/YPmRZ7nFHM
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 12, 2026
While moves of this kind don’t usually cause significant volatility in the markets immediately, the firm may be anticipating increased demand for USDT amid ongoing military tensions worldwide.
The war in Iran has sent massive ripples across the global economy. Just last week, the price of crude oil exploded by more than 30% daily, reaching a high above $120, before plummeting during the same day (and the ones to follow) on subsequent announcements. This had an immediate impact on Bitcoin’s price, which followed suit and also went through extreme volatility.
It’s inevitable that global geopolitical turmoil impacts crypto markets, and while the current move to mint $1 billion USDT might not lead to an immediate change in pricing, increased liquidity across the board can help the market absorb potential shocks.
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Key Highlights
- Two new wholly owned entities introduced: Metaplanet Ventures and Metaplanet Asset Management
- Venture capital division plans to invest approximately 4 billion yen (~$25M) in Japanese Bitcoin infrastructure companies throughout the coming years
- Initial portfolio investment announced — 400 million yen ($2.5M) stake in JPYC, a Japanese stablecoin provider, as part of its Series B funding
- U.S.-based asset management division will operate from Miami, targeting Bitcoin financial products for investors across Asia and the West
- MTPLF shares gained 5.53% Wednesday, finishing at $2.29; Tokyo shares declined 1.9% Thursday to 362 yen
The Tokyo-based Bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet has significantly broadened its strategic footprint. On Thursday, the firm unveiled two newly formed, fully owned subsidiaries — a venture capital division and an American asset management operation — signaling a major evolution in its Bitcoin-centric business model.
Chief Executive Simon Gerovich announced the developments on X, noting board approval for both entities. These strategic moves arrive as Japanese regulatory frameworks progress toward formal recognition of Bitcoin as a regulated financial instrument, with Metaplanet anticipating official classification by January 2028.
The venture capital subsidiary, Metaplanet Ventures, will concentrate investments in seed through growth-stage companies developing Bitcoin financial infrastructure across Japan. Priority sectors encompass lending platforms, payment solutions, custody services, stablecoin technology, derivative products, and compliance systems. Additionally, the venture division will operate an incubator alongside a grants initiative supporting nascent founders, open-source contributors, educators, and academic researchers.
The planned $25M capital deployment spans a two-to-three-year timeframe and will draw funding from Metaplanet’s Bitcoin-related revenue streams — explicitly avoiding liquidation of its existing Bitcoin treasury.
Inaugural Investment: JPYC Stablecoin Platform
The venture arm moved swiftly with its debut investment. Metaplanet Ventures committed 400 million yen ($2.5M) to JPYC Inc., the company behind Japan’s first officially licensed stablecoin. This capital injection forms part of JPYC’s Series B funding round.
JPYC debuted in October 2025 and maintains its 1:1 Japanese yen peg through a combination of bank deposits and government securities. The stablecoin operates across Ethereum, Avalanche, and Polygon networks. In recent weeks, JPYC established a strategic partnership with Sony Bank to penetrate Japan’s music and entertainment industries.
Gerovich articulated the strategic rationale behind the investment: “Every Bitcoin transaction has two sides: Bitcoin and a currency. As this market goes institutional, that currency side goes digital.”
Establishing U.S. Operations in Miami
The companion subsidiary, Metaplanet Asset Management, will establish headquarters in Miami, functioning as a “digital credit and Bitcoin capital markets platform.” The entity aims to bridge Asian and Western capital markets while delivering Bitcoin investment vehicles, capital markets consulting, and associated regulatory frameworks.
Management indicated forthcoming announcements regarding specific fund launches and investment approaches, spanning fixed income instruments through actively managed equity positions and volatility-based strategies.
Metaplanet’s current treasury contains 35,102 BTC — valued at approximately $2.45 billion — positioning the firm as the fourth-largest corporate Bitcoin holder globally. The company maintains an ambitious acquisition target of 210,000 BTC by the conclusion of 2027.
Financial results released last month showed a net loss of 95 billion yen ($598M) for 2025, primarily attributed to unrealized mark-to-market adjustments on Bitcoin holdings. Gerovich countered negative interpretations of the headline figure, highlighting a remarkable 1,695% year-over-year increase in operating profitability.
“Even in this year’s down market, our stock fell 23% while Bitcoin fell 24% — we have not underperformed,” he stated.
MTPLF shares advanced 5.53% during Wednesday’s session, closing at $2.29. The Tokyo-listed equity experienced a 1.9% intraday decline Thursday, trading at 362 yen.
PI has become one of the trendiest tokens today on CoinGecko, but its price has not benefited from the big announcement.
Ever since it saw the light of day over a year ago, the vast Pi Network community has speculated whether (or when) the underlying token will be listed on some of the largest and oldest crypto exchanges.
Although a few trading platforms continue to stay clear, the veteran US giant Kraken has joined the PI bandwagon following the likes of OKX, Bitget, MEXC, Gate, and others.
Coming soon: $PI@PiCoreTeam Pi Network is a mobile-first Layer-1 blockchain and developer platform enabling accessible crypto mining via smartphone, with a utility-based ecosystem on an identity-verified mainnet.
Trading starts March 13
Get ready → https://t.co/47fNCUnRqD pic.twitter.com/nPmrRElAPW
— Kraken Listings (@krakenlistings) March 12, 2026
There have been a growing number of speculations in the past month or so about this listing. In fact, one user tried to “manifest” precisely this – PI going live for trading on Kraken before March 14, known in the Pi Network community as Pi Day.
The exchange stated that trading will commence tomorrow, March 13. Interestingly, there has been no positive reaction from the underlying asset despite this major announcement.
Big listings tend to boost the token, but PI has remained flat over the past 24 hours. However, it’s one of the best performers on a weekly and monthly scale, gaining 24% since last Thursday and a whopping 65.6% since February 12.
A large portion of its recent gains could be attributed to the protocol updates, as the team announced the successful implementation of v19.6 and v19.9 consecutively. The next version, 20.2, is actually expected to be introduced today.
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Ethereum has reclaimed $2,000 overnight with a modest +0.6% move to the upside as ETH USD continues to chop sideways as the broader market searches for direction.
However, under the hood on Binance, a key supply metric just flashed a positive 0.67 reading. While price action looks hesitant, this signal suggests the order book is thinning out in favor of sellers.
The Scarcity Index, tracked by CryptoQuant analysts, measures the deviation of exchange reserves against historical baselines. A positive reading indicates that the platform’s available inventory is dropping below average levels, reducing the liquidity cushion for sell orders.
At 0.67, the index isn’t screaming an immediate supply shock, but it marks a definitive structural shift. Historically, similar transitions from negative to positive scarcity values have preceded recovery phases, as sell-side pressure exhausts itself against steady accumulation.
Ethereum Price Prediction: Can the Scarcity Signal Push ETH Back Above $2,200?
ETH is currently compressing in a tight range between $1,900 and $2,100. The asset remains significantly below its 50-day simple moving average of $2,278 and the 200-day average near $3,038.
This technical weakness suggests that while supply is shrinking, demand has not yet risen enough to overcome overhead resistance.
If bulls can leverage the thinner order books to push past $2,150, the next major resistance cluster sits at $2,200–$2,400. A reclaim of the $2,278 level would align the technicals with the bullish on-chain data.
Some analysts argue that smart money is positioning for the long haul, as Wall Street shows signs of choosing Ethereum as a backbone for future finance.
However, if the consolidation breaks downward, the scarcity signal will be invalidated by sheer selling volume. A daily close below $1,900 opens the door to a retest of the $1,800 support zone.
DISCOVER: Next Crypto to Explode in 2026
What Traders Are Watching Next for ETH USD
The key to validating the 0.67 scarcity reading is volume. Traders are watching for a spike in spot buying activity amid the reduced supply. Without volume, low liquidity simply means price action remains choppy.
Per CoinGlass data, institutional flows also remain a wildcard with BlackRock beginning the week by selling over 28,000 ETH ($55M). However, the past two days have finished in the green, with nearly +$70M in positive flows across March 10 and 11.
ETF data needs to maintain the positive momentum of the past few days to support the spot market recovery and any ETH USD push toward $2,200 and above.
Away from ETFs, Digital Asset Treasury firms like the Tom Lee-led Bitmine continue to scoop up ETH USD, adding to the scarcity as the company has now locked over 3M ETH, totalling around $6Bn at current prices.
Investors are monitoring regulatory headlines, such as recent news that Binance is suing the WSJ over defamation claims, which can impact user sentiment and flow dynamics on the platform.
If the Scarcity Index climbs above 1.0 while price holds $2,000, the probability of a supply-shock rally increases significantly.
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The post Ethereum Scarcity Index Turns Positive as ETH USD Pushed Back Above $2,000 appeared first on Cryptonews.
Ripple has unveiled a $750 million buyback plan for the XRP token, sparking speculation about whether the move could trigger renewed bullish momentum for the XRP price.
Summary
- Ripple announced a $750M buyback plan that could tighten circulating supply of XRP.
- On-chain data from CryptoQuant shows XRP reserves on Binance dropping to a 10-month low of $3.7B, signaling potential accumulation.
- XRP price remains in consolidation near $1.37, with $1.50 acting as key resistance and $1.30 as immediate support.
Corporate buybacks are often interpreted as a signal of confidence in an asset’s long-term value. In crypto markets, similar strategies can also affect liquidity by reducing circulating supply, potentially supporting prices if demand remains strong.
While the company has not disclosed the precise timeline or execution strategy, reports on the buyback has already drawn attention from traders looking for potential catalysts in a market that has been largely range-bound in recent weeks.
The move comes as XRP price continues to attract institutional interest and broader adoption across cross-border payment networks tied to Ripple’s ecosystem.
Exchange supply tightening signals potential pressure
Recent on-chain data from CryptoQuant suggests that exchange supply for XRP is already tightening.
According to the analytics firm, Binance’s XRP reserves have dropped sharply to $3.7 billion as of March 10, the lowest level recorded in 10 months. The metric tracks the total value of XRP held on the exchange and reflects both token balances and price fluctuations.
Earlier in 2025, reserves on Binance exceeded $10 billion during peaks in January and July. Those periods were followed by steep corrections that pushed XRP prices below $1.20.
The continued decline in reserves, down from roughly $3.9 billion on March 6, could indicate that traders are withdrawing XRP from exchanges, often interpreted as a signal of accumulation or long-term holding.
If the buyback initiative coincides with shrinking exchange supply, the combination could create upward pressure on prices.
XRP price analysis
Based on the latest XRP/USDT daily chart, the token remains locked in a consolidation phase despite the broader bullish narrative.
XRP is currently trading near $1.37, hovering within a relatively tight range that has formed since early February following a sharp correction from higher levels.
The $1.45–$1.50 zone remains the immediate hurdle for bulls. A decisive breakout above this region could open the door for a push toward the $1.70–$1.80 range.
The chart shows strong support around $1.30, with deeper support near $1.20 if selling pressure intensifies.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is currently hovering around 45, indicating neutral momentum. The reading suggests the asset is neither overbought nor oversold, leaving room for a potential move in either direction
Meanwhile, the Accumulation/Distribution indicator continues trending slightly downward, hinting that market participants remain cautious despite improving fundamentals.
For now, the market appears to be waiting for a decisive catalyst. If Ripple’s buyback plan and declining exchange reserves translate into stronger demand, XRP could attempt to break out of its current consolidation range.
Otherwise, the token may continue trading sideways as investors assess the broader crypto market environment.
Bonk.fun warned users not to use its site after attackers hijacked the domain and pushed a fake wallet-draining prompt.
The domain of Solana-based platform memecoin launchpad Bonk.fun has been hijacked after attackers gained access to a team account and deployed a wallet-draining scheme through the site.
The Bonk.fun account on X warned users early Thursday not to interact with the website while the team worked to secure the domain. “A malicious actor has compromised the BONKfun domain, do not interact with the website until we have secured everything,” the project wrote in a post on X.
X user Tom, who is an operator behind Bonk.fun, said the attackers used the compromised access to push a fake message designed to trick visitors into signing a malicious transaction.
In a follow-up post, Tom said the exploit targeted users who signed a fraudulent terms-of-service prompt that appeared on the site during the breach. Users who had previously connected wallets to Bonk.fun were not affected, and traders interacting with Bonk-related tokens through external terminals were also safe.
Related: Trust Wallet adds real-time scam address checks for crypto users
Some users report losses
Some users reported losses in replies to the warning posts. One user claimed roughly 50 Solana (SOL) had been drained from their wallet, while another said they lost about 10 SOL. More users claimed varying amounts of losses.
Meanwhile, Tom said the incident was contained quickly and that reported losses appear limited so far. “We understand a lot of people are scared and rightly so but we’re doing everything in our power to fix the situation,” he added.
Cointelegraph reached out to Tom for comment but had not received a response by publication.
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