Crypto World
White House Talks With Crypto Executives On Market Structure
The White House hosted senior officials from the administration and leaders across the cryptocurrency and banking sectors to chart how stablecoins and other digital assets might fit within a refreshed market-structure framework under the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. The session came after the Senate Banking Committee postponed a markup on the act earlier in the year, a reminder of the legislative complexity surrounding a rapidly evolving space. Attendees from the Digital Chamber, a crypto advocacy group, underscored the need for guardrails on tokenized equities, decentralized finance, and the ethics of elected officials holding digital assets as policy detail is negotiated. The discussions signal a willingness to bridge policy ambitions with industry realities, even as lawmakers prepare for a multichamber, intercommittee process before any final vote.
Key takeaways
- The White House meeting focused on how CLARITY Act provisions on stablecoins and market structure could be reconciled with ongoing regulatory debates in Congress.
- Lawmakers from the Senate Banking Committee and Senate Agriculture Committee are expected to merge their market-structure bills before a full chamber vote, reflecting intercommittee coordination.
- Stakeholders emphasized that clarifying tokenized assets and yield mechanisms will be central to advancing policy that does not stifle innovation in digital markets.
- The Digital Chamber’s leadership framed the discussions as a constructive step toward a level playing field for digital assets in the United States.
- Democrats on the Agriculture Committee previously opposed the passage of their version of the bill, citing concerns about elected officials holding digital assets, signaling continued political sensitivity around asset exposure.
- Expect ongoing policy refinement and negotiations as committees seek to align competing visions on governance, disclosures, and investor protections.
Market context: The policy trajectory for digital assets in the United States remains in a fluid phase, with intercommittee alignment and executive engagement shaping the pace of reform. Stakeholders expect that concrete text and a unified path to a floor vote will depend on how policymakers balance investor protections, market integrity, and the innovative potential of stablecoins and DeFi within a phased, pragmatic framework.
Why it matters
The episode matters because it marks a tangible effort to translate high-level regulatory intent into a legislative framework that could govern stablecoins, tokenized assets, and related crypto activities in the near term. For market participants, a clearer pathway—one that avoids stifling innovation while expanding guardrails—could unlock a broader set of financial products and services linked to digital assets. If policymakers can converge on a bipartisan text that addresses yield dynamics in stablecoins, governance standards for tokenized assets, and ethical considerations for officials, the roadmap for market structure reform could gain momentum after months of stalemate.
From an industry perspective, the discussions signal a shift from abstract debates to policy specifics that directly impact how liquidity, risk, and compliance are managed in the United States. The focus on tokenized equities and DeFi reflects a recognition that traditional market infrastructure may need to adapt to accommodate new asset classes and programmable financial products. Yet the political undertone remains salient: any final framework will require buy-in from lawmakers who are wary of asset exposure by public officials, which could shape the balance of provisions related to disclosures, eligibility, and oversight.
What to watch next
- Whether Banking and Agriculture committees publish a merged market-structure bill in a single text for a floor vote.
- Positions and amendments on tokenized equities, DeFi governance, and stablecoin yield structures to be incorporated into the final draft.
- Any schedule for a markup resumption or formal committee hearings detailing the proposed governance and reporting requirements for digital assets.
- Clarifications around ethics rules for elected officials holding digital assets and how those rules would be enforced in practice.
- Public-facing statements from the White House outlining a concrete timeline for regulatory clarity and potential cross-agency coordination.
Sources & verification
- The Digital Chamber’s post on X describing the White House meeting and policy discussions surrounding the CLARITY Act. Verify at https://x.com/DigitalChamber/status/2018422998034718813
- Cointelegraph coverage noting that the Senate Banking Committee postponed the CLARITY Act markup in January. Verify at https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-senate-banking-cancels-thursday-crypto-bill-markup-for-negotiations
- The Agriculture Committee’s passage of its version of the market-structure bill without Democratic support, as reported by Cointelegraph. Verify at https://cointelegraph.com/news/live-senate-markup-crypto-market-structure-bill
What the article means for the ecosystem
The ongoing policy dialogue highlights an ecosystem-wide emphasis on practical regulation that can accommodate innovation without compromising investor protection. If a unified bill emerges, market participants could see clearer guidance on the treatment of stablecoins, the viability of tokenized securities, and the governance rules that apply to assets held by public officials. These elements are critical in determining whether institutions will participate more broadly, how yield mechanisms will be overseen, and what kinds of disclosures may become standard for digital-asset products.
Key figures and next steps
Central to the discussions is Cody Carbone, CEO of The Digital Chamber, whose comments at the White House session underscored the sector’s appetite for constructive policy alignment. While the exact contours of forthcoming legislation remain unsettled, the consensus among participants is that meaningful progress requires a carefully calibrated balance between encouraging innovation and imposing robust safeguards. The next few weeks are likely to feature renewed committee conversations, potential text releases, and a more explicit schedule for continued negotiations across the Banking and Agriculture panels, all aimed at piercing through political gridlock toward a workable market framework.
Rewritten Article Body: Pathways to CLARITY in US digital-asset policy
The White House hosted a high-level exchange on the future of digital-asset regulation, inviting leaders from both the crypto industry and the traditional banking sector to discuss the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act in a setting designed to translate policy talk into tangible legislative steps. The dialogue followed a February timeline where the Senate Banking Committee had formally postponed a markup of the act earlier this year, a procedural decision that reflected the intricacies of reconciling innovation with investor protections. In attendance were representatives from advocacy groups like The Digital Chamber, who argued that the evolving policy landscape must not merely react to headlines but create a stable framework for tokenized assets, stablecoins, and DeFi that can function within existing financial markets without compromising safety or compliance.
Central to the conversation were three themes: governance for digital assets held by public officials, the treatment and oversight of stablecoin yield structures within market-structure rules, and the broader implications for tokenized securities and DeFi platforms. The dialogue acknowledged that the policy architecture will need to accommodate a spectrum of digital assets—from collateral-backed stablecoins to more complex programmable instruments—without stymying legitimate innovation. The Digital Chamber’s leadership, including CEO Cody Carbone, stressed that progress depends on translating broad policy goals into specific, workable rules that can withstand the scrutiny of both chambers of Congress and the executive branch. He framed the White House meeting as a constructive step toward a path that could harmonize regulatory intent with market realities, insisting that policy refinement can yield a fair playing field for digital assets in the United States.
“Today’s meeting at the White House was exactly the kind of progress needed to find a resolution to one of the biggest issues blocking next steps in market structure legislative progress,” said Carbone, adding: “We […] are optimistic that as we continue to dive into the policy details, a fair playing field can be created for digital assets in the US.”
The push for a cohesive approach involves both the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee. Each panel has stewarded a version of the market-structure bill, with the Banking Committee focusing on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s oversight of digital assets and the Agriculture Committee addressing commodities regulation through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The practical challenge lies in stitching together their separate drafts into a single, floor-ready text that can command bipartisan support. The necessity of intercommittee coordination underscores how a single, unified bill may be the vehicle that finally advances a market framework—one that clarifies how tokenized equities, stablecoins, and DeFi could operate within the U.S. financial system while preserving safeguards against abuse and manipulation.
Additionally, the Agriculture Committee’s recent passage of its version—without Democratic votes—spotlights the political sensitivity surrounding digital-asset holdings by public officials. Critics within the Democratic caucus have argued that asset ownership by elected representatives raises conflicts of interest and governance questions, adding another layer of complexity to the policy process. These concerns are not only procedural but potentially substantive: they shape the final contours of disclosure requirements and eligibility restrictions embedded in any final CLARITY Act text. As lawmakers wrestle with these questions, industry participants are watching closely to assess how far the policy framework will extend, where it will draw the line between permissible investment and potential conflicts, and how these decisions will influence the practical rollout of regulated crypto markets in the United States.
In the broader market context, these negotiations occur against a backdrop of evolving liquidity conditions and risk sentiment around digital assets. Institutional participants in particular seek clarity—both in terms of what constitutes compliant behavior and in the precise mechanics of how stablecoins will interact with traditional financial infrastructures. The White House engagement signals that executive and legislative branches are trying to converge on a coherent set of rules that can withstand political scrutiny and market scrutiny alike. The path to a final act will likely hinge on the ability of policymakers to balance consumer protection with innovation, a balance that could determine whether the U.S. remains a leading hub for blockchain-based financial services or if gaps in clarity drive activity to more permissive jurisdictions.
As the process unfolds, key policy questions will define the trajectory of the market. What specific guardrails will govern stablecoin yields, and how will yield distributions be audited and disclosed? How will tokenized equities be treated relative to traditional securities, and what governance protocols will be required for DeFi platforms seeking legitimate access to mainstream markets? And how will ethical standards for asset holdings by officials be codified in a way that is both enforceable and practically enforceable by regulators? These questions will shape the drafting of the final text, the negotiation dynamics between committees, and, ultimately, the degree of certainty that market participants can rely upon in planning product launches, liquidity strategies, and risk management practices. The discussions at the White House mark a notable moment in a longer arc toward regulatory clarity—one that could redefine how digital assets are perceived, regulated, and integrated into the fabric of the U.S. financial system.
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Crypto World
Moody’s Launches Onchain Credit ratings via Canton Network
Moody’s Ratings has debuted a system to deliver its credit analysis onchain, bringing its ratings data into blockchain-based financial infrastructure.
The system, called Token Integration Engine (TIE), connects Moody’s traditional ratings data to blockchain networks, allowing permissioned participants to access credit insights within blockchain-based financial workflows. It is built for institutional use, with issuers controlling participation while Moody’s retains oversight of its ratings process.
The company claims it is the first credit rating agency to deliver its credit analysis onchain. In June 2025, Moody’s teamed up with a fintech startup called Alphaledger to run a pilot program to explore how traditional credit ratings could be integrated into blockchain systems.
The initial deployment runs on the Canton Network, a permissioned blockchain designed for institutional finance. Moody’s is operating its own node on the network as part of the rollout, and said it plans to expand the system to additional blockchains and asset types.
The system is designed to be network-agnostic, with access controlled by issuers under the company’s existing governance and compliance framework.
Moody’s, a US-based credit rating agency founded in 1909 with operations in more than 40 countries, assesses the creditworthiness of governments, companies and financial instruments, with its ratings widely used by investors across global capital markets.
Related: Crypto accounting startup Cryptio lands $45M as institutions move onchain
The rise of the Canton Network
Moody’s deployment adds to the growing use of the Canton Network as infrastructure for institutional blockchain applications, particularly in tokenized assets and collateral markets.
A growing list of asset managers are integrating tokenized funds into the network. Franklin Templeton expanded its Benji platform to Canton in November, allowing its tokenized assets, including a US government money market fund, to be used as collateral and liquidity within the ecosystem.
Other efforts have focused on market infrastructure and settlement. In December, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) said it plans to issue a subset of US Treasury securities on Canton, extending blockchain-based processes into core clearing and settlement systems, with potential expansion to additional asset classes.
Banks and digital asset infrastructure platforms are also building on the network. In January, Digital Asset and Kinexys by JPMorgan said they plan to bring JPMorgan’s dollar deposit token, JPM Coin, to Canton, while Temple Digital Group launched a platform enabling 24/7 trading of digital assets through a central limit order book with non-custodial settlement.
The value of Canton Coin, the network’s native token, has increased about 30% since its launch in November 2025, according to CoinGecko data.

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Crypto World
U.S SEC issues first-ever definitions for what crypto assets are securities
For the first time, the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission has sought to clearly define different types of crypto assets and how the regulator will approach them, issuing those new standards Tuesday alongside its sister agency that’s responsible for commodities.
The SEC’s interpretive guidance, which doesn’t yet carry the weight of a formal new rule, has been promised by its new leader, Chairman Paul Atkins, put in place by President Donald Trump. And it was issued in partnership with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, just days after the two agencies agreed on a formal relationship in which they plan to regulate crypto and other industries as close partners.
“After more than a decade of uncertainty, this interpretation will provide market participants with a clear understanding of how the Commission treats crypto assets under federal securities laws,” Atkins said in a statement.
The previous chairman of the SEC, Democratic appointee Gary Gensler, had declined to commit to tailored policies for the crypto sector, leaving a longstanding gap in its regulator certainty in the world’s most important market.
Atkins said the new “token taxonomy” interpretation on Tuesday takes a stance that Gensler’s agency refused to: “Most crypto assets are not themselves securities.”
He said in remarks at the Digital Chamber’s DC Blockchain Summit that the SEC created four categories of tokens.
“The interpretation then clarifies that only one crypto asset class remains subject to securities laws, namely digital securities, which are traditional securities in new technology,” he said. “This distinction returns the SEC to its core mission and statutory authority of protecting investors involved in securities transactions.”
Additionally, those investment contracts that are securities don’t necessarily keep that status permanently, he said.
“We’re not the securities and everything commission anymore,” he said Tuesday at the Digital Chamber’s DC Blockchain Summit, just minutes after releasing the new standard. The line drew enthusiastic applause from the crypto crowd.
The guidance seeks to define digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins and digital securities. It also clarifies how U.S. securities laws should treat airdrops, protocol mining, protocol staking and the wrapping non-security crypto assets.
“For far too long, American builders, innovators, and entrepreneurs have awaited clear guidance on the status of crypto assets under the federal securities and commodity laws,” said CFTC Chairman Mike Selig.
Atkins said that the legislation being devised in Congress to establish new crypto laws will be the only way to guarantee the permanence of pro-digital assets policy shifts.
In the new guidance, the commission is saying that a digital asset becomes a security when its issuer offers it as an investment in a common enterprise that comes with promises of profits based on the management’s efforts. Such an investment contract ends, though, when “either the issuer has fulfilled its representations or promises or the issuer has failed to satisfy its representations or promises,” at which point it wouldn’t be regulated as a security anymore.
The agency says its reach into digital securities does not include airdrops, protocol staking and protocol mining.
The CFTC’s Selig said his agency was also signing on to the same taxonomy, as part of the two agencies’ push toward “harmonization.”
“I think the signal is clear now that it’s time to build in the United States,” he said.
UPDATE (March 17, 2026, 20:35 UTC): Adds additional detail.
Crypto World
Argentina Orders Nationwide Block on Polymarket Over Unlicensed Gambling
The court ordered Google and Apple to restrict Polymarket after investigators flagged unregulated betting and missing identity checks across Argentina.
Argentina has moved to restrict access to the prediction market platform Polymarket after a Buenos Aires court determined it was operating as an unauthorized betting service.
In a ruling issued by Judge Susana Parada, authorities ordered a country-wide block on the website and instructed Google and Apple to remove or limit access to its application on mobile devices.
No License, No Limits
The measure comes after an investigation by Prosecutor Juan Rozas, who oversees gambling-related cases in the city. As part of the enforcement, the telecom regulator Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones (ENACOM) has been directed to ensure internet service providers prevent access to the platform within the country.
The probe concluded that Polymarket allowed users to trade on the outcomes of real-world events without complying with gambling regulations. Prosecutors said accounts could be created rapidly without identity or age checks, which ended up enabling unrestricted participation, including by minors.
They further stated that the platform facilitated payments via cryptocurrencies and credit cards without applying the controls required for regulated betting operations. The case was triggered by a complaint from the Lotería de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, which alleged that the platform was offering services locally without authorization. Additional verification conducted with the Asociación de Loterías Estatales de Argentina found no record of Polymarket holding a licence in any jurisdiction.
The court’s decision surfaced publicly during a broader controversy linked to Argentina’s inflation data. Shortly before the release of February figures by the national statistics agency INDEC, market probabilities on international prediction platforms moved toward a higher reading.
While analysts had largely estimated inflation between 2.6% and 2.8%, the official figure came in at 2.9%. Activity on Polymarket tied to that data point saw trading volumes rise to roughly $91,000 in the minutes preceding publication, which led some observers to question whether the data had circulated in advance.
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The development adds to a growing trend of regulatory crackdowns on prediction market services, with companies like Polymarket and Kalshi increasingly coming under legal or supervisory pressure in a range of jurisdictions, among them France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Singapore, Portugal, Hungary, Thailand, and the Netherlands.
Polymarket Intelligence Misuse
Earlier this year, Israeli authorities formally charged an IDF reservist and a civilian over alleged misuse of classified military intelligence to gain an advantage on the prediction platform. A joint probe by the Defense Ministry, Shin Bet, and national police found that sensitive operational knowledge may have been leveraged to place high-confidence bets on future military developments.
Prosecutors filed serious charges, including security violations, bribery, and obstruction of justice, while a court-imposed gag order limits further disclosures.
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BTC rally faces key hurdle with Wednesday Fed meeting, inflation data
The crypto rally is took a pause on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision.
After briefly topping $76,000 overnight, bitcoin pulled back to around $74,000 during the U.S. session, modestly higher over the past 24 hours.
Crypto stocks mostly booked modest gains, with stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL), bitcoin miner Bitdeer (BTDR) standing out advancing 5% and 12%, respectively. The Nasdaq closed with a 0.5% gain and the S&P 500 rose 0.25%.
It’s almost universally expected that the Fed will leave benchmark interest rates unchanged at 3.50%-3.75% tomorrow. But given rapidly rising oil prices and their possible effect on inflation thanks to the war in Iran, the focus shifts to Jerome Powell’s messaging and policymakers’ outlook for future rates.
Bitfinex analysts said the key question is whether policymakers still signal rate cuts in 2026 or are moving towards the idea of no further monetary ease. A more hawkish outcome could weigh on risk assets by strengthening the dollar, they said.
Powell’s take on the recent oil advance will also be in focus. Treating it as a temporary shock would support sentiment, while a more stagflationary view could limit the Fed’s flexibility.
Also coming on Wedesday is the February Producer Price Index report. Tyically not having nearly the weight of the Consumer Price Index, the PPI will be a bit more closely followed given its timing ahead of the Fed meeting.
“A hot PPI number followed by a hawkish FOMC would be the most damaging combination for equities and risk assets,” the Bitfinex team continued.
That backdrop is already showing up in market expectations toward a higher-for-longer rate path, according to Vetle Lunde, head of research at K33.
The probability of rates staying unchanged through the July meeting has jumped to over 60% from 22% last month, with potential cuts now pushed further into late 2026, he said in a Tuesday note.
For now, price action will likely remain muted. “We expect the $74,000–$76,000 region to cap price momentarily,” Bitfinex analysts concluded.
Crypto World
Next Pepe Coin: Why Investors Are Choosing Pepeto Over AlphaPepe and Other Presales as Exchange Listings Approach
Pepeto is emerging as the strongest point of interest among presale buyers in 2026 as investors become more selective about where they place capital. In a market still full of empty promises and roadmap heavy launches, Pepeto is gaining traction by offering something most meme coins cannot: three real products close to launch, the PEPE cofounder, and $8.1 million in presale funding according to CoinDesk.
That distinction is becoming increasingly important. Early stage crypto buyers are paying closer attention to whether a project has real infrastructure, verified audits, and a team with a track record. On that basis, Pepeto is starting to stand apart from every other presale in the market, including projects like AlphaPepe according to Cointelegraph.
Why Pepeto is resonating more strongly with investors
1. Pepeto
A major part of Pepeto’s appeal is that it does not ask buyers to trust a team with no track record. The PEPE cofounder who built PEPE Coin is behind this project, which gives participants real confidence in what they are buying. The difference may sound minor at first, but it changes the entire investment case. Instead of putting money into a meme coin with nothing behind it, buyers get three real products approaching launch and a SolidProof audited contract.
That makes Pepeto feel more like a real investment and less like a gamble, even though it still sits firmly in the high upside segment of the market where the next Dogecoin will come from. Investors are also responding to the fact that Pepeto has built 196% APY staking directly into the presale phase, compressing supply every single day.
Rather than limiting the experience to buying and waiting, Pepeto has created an ecosystem where PepetoSwap, Pepeto Bridge, and Pepeto Exchange will keep holders engaged long after listings begin.
That makes the ecosystem easier to believe in and gives the presale more momentum than a typical meme coin launch. One reason Pepeto is drawing more attention than competing presales is that $8.1 million raised and three products close to launch present it as an active ecosystem, not a static fundraise.
The broader structure, including PepetoSwap, Pepeto Bridge, Pepeto Exchange, and 196% APY staking, gives buyers the impression that this token is attached to a growing ecosystem instead of a one dimensional meme coin pump.
2. AlphaPepe
AlphaPepe offers instant token delivery and a participation model that keeps buyers engaged after the initial purchase. The project includes features like reward claims and rank progression that give the presale more activity than a typical token sale page.
For investors who want immediate visibility over their position, AlphaPepe delivers on that front. But AlphaPepe does not have the infrastructure depth that Pepeto brings with three announced products, a SolidProof audit, and the PEPE cofounder behind the entire build.
3. Kaspa
Kaspa holds at $0.035 as of March 17 with a loyal community and consistent on chain transaction volumes that reflect real usage. But analysts project a potential dip toward $0.027 by mid April before any meaningful recovery comes through.
The fully diluted valuation already bakes in significant adoption, and the returns from here are measured in modest single or low double digit percentages. For investors looking for the next Shiba Inu level entry, Pepeto at six zeros offers a fundamentally different opportunity category with far more upside potential.
Do not be the person who watches from the sidelines
Pepeto is gaining an edge over every other presale because it offers something no other meme coin has: three real products, the PEPE cofounder, and $8.1 million in proof that investors believe in it. The people who hesitated on DOGE at fractions of a penny and SHIB before it exploded know exactly what it feels like to miss a life changing entry.
That regret is what drives smart investors to act early on projects like Pepeto. They can see the $8.1 million raised, the three products approaching launch, and the SolidProof audit, and they know this is the kind of setup that creates the next wave of crypto millionaires.
Do not be the person who watches Pepeto list on exchanges and realizes they should have bought when it was still at six zeros. Visit the Pepeto official website and enter the presale today.
Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale
FAQs
Why are investors choosing Pepeto over other presales?
Three products close to launch, the PEPE cofounder, SolidProof audit, and $8.1M raised set it apart.
What makes Pepeto the next Pepe coin?
The same cofounder who built PEPE Coin is behind Pepeto, with real infrastructure this time.
Could Pepeto have stronger upside than rival presales?
At $0.000000186 with three products approaching launch, Pepeto has the steepest trajectory in the presale market.
The post Next Pepe Coin: Why Investors Are Choosing Pepeto Over AlphaPepe and Other Presales as Exchange Listings Approach appeared first on Blockonomi.
Crypto World
Arizona AG Files Charges against Kalshi over ‘Illegal Gambling‘
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that her office filed gambling and related criminal charges against the companies behind prediction markets platform Kalshi.
In a Tuesday notice, Mayes said that the charges alleged that Kalshi operated an “illegal gambling business in Arizona without a license” and offered election wagering, in violation of state laws. Arizona authorities alleged that Kalshi’s prediction markets platform allowed state residents to bet on event contracts related to sports and state and federal elections.
“Kalshi may brand itself as a ‘prediction market,’ but what it’s actually doing is running an illegal gambling operation and taking bets on Arizona elections, both of which violate Arizona law,” said Mayes. “No company gets to decide for itself which laws to follow.”

According to the AG’s office, the charges followed Kalshi filing its own lawsuit against Arizona “preemptively in an attempt to avoid accountability under Arizona law.” State authorities have filed similar lawsuits against the companies of prediction market platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi.
Related: Kalshi suffers court loss in Ohio over sports betting lawsuit
“Sadly, a state can file criminal charges on paper-thin arguments,” a Kalshi spokesperson told Cointelegraph. “States like Arizona want to individually regulate a nationwide financial exchange, and are trying every trick in the book to do it. As other courts have recognized and the CFTC affirms, Kalshi is subject to federal jurisdiction. It’s different from what sportsbooks and casinos offer their customers, and it should not be overseen by a patchwork of inconsistent state laws.”
Last week, an Ohio judge denied Kalshi’s request for a preliminary injunction in a similar case against state authorities, saying that the company had failed to show that the sports event contracts available on the platform were subject to the “exclusive jurisdiction” of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). However, in February, a federal judge in Tennessee blocked state authorities from enforcing gambling laws against Kalshi.
CFTC chair backs “exclusive authority” over prediction markets
Now the sole commissioner on the CFTC since acting chair Caroline Pham stepped down in December, Chair Michael Selig has publicly said that the federal regulator would defend prediction market platforms from state-level lawsuits.
Last week, Selig opened a proposed rule up to public comment on how the Commodity Exchange Act would apply to prediction markets, potentially changing how the agency approaches regulation and enforcement in the future.
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Tether Unveils AI System to Run Large Models on Smartphones
Tether, issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap, USDT, has released a new AI training framework that it says allows large language models to be fine-tuned on consumer hardware, including smartphones and non-Nvidia GPUs.
According to Tuesday’s announcement, the system, part of its QVAC platform, uses Microsoft’s BitNet architecture and LoRA techniques to reduce memory and compute requirements, potentially lowering the cost and hardware barriers to developing AI models.
The framework supports cross-platform training and inference across a range of chips, including AMD, Intel and Apple Silicon, as well as mobile GPUs from Qualcomm and Apple.
Tether said its engineers were able to fine-tune models with up to 1 billion parameters on smartphones in under two hours, and smaller models in minutes, with support extending to models as large as 13 billion parameters on mobile devices.
Built on BitNet, a 1-bit model architecture, the framework can cut VRAM requirements by up to 77.8% compared with similar 16-bit models, according to the company, allowing larger models to run on limited hardware. It also enables LoRA fine-tuning on non-Nvidia hardware for 1-bit models, expanding support beyond the GPUs typically used for AI training.
The company said the performance gains extend to inference, with mobile GPUs running BitNet models several times faster than CPUs. It also pointed to use cases such as on-device training and federated learning, where models can be updated across distributed devices without sending data to centralized servers, potentially reducing reliance on cloud infrastructure.
Related: Messari’s new CEO is doubling down on AI as firm cuts staff
Crypto companies expand into AI, from mining infrastructure to autonomous agents
Tether’s move into AI infrastructure comes as crypto companies have been expanding into compute and machine learning, with activity accelerating across Bitcoin mining and the rise of AI agents.
In September, Google took a 5.4% stake in Cipher Mining as part of a $3 billion, 10-year deal tied to AI data center capacity. In December, Bitcoin miner IREN said it planned to raise about $3.6 billion to fund AI infrastructure.
The trend has continued into 2026. In February, HIVE Digital Technologies reported record revenue of $93.1 million, fueled by growth in its AI and high-performance computing (HPC) operations, while Core Scientific secured a $500 million loan facility from Morgan Stanley in March, with the option to expand it to $1 billion.
The mining sector’s pivot to AI and HPC comes as AI agents, autonomous programs that can transact, interact with services and execute tasks, are gaining momentum across the crypto sector.
In October, Coinbase introduced wallet infrastructure enabling AI agents to conduct onchain transactions. Last month, Alchemy launched a system allowing agents to access blockchain data services using USDC on Base. Also in February, Pantera and Franklin Templeton joined Arena, a platform from Sentient for testing enterprise AI agents.
On Tuesday, World, the identity network co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, launched AgentKit, a toolkit that allows AI agents to verify they are linked to a unique human using World ID capabilities while making payments via the x402 micropayments protocol.
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Crypto World
GSR spends $57M to build one-stop capital markets platform for crypto projects
GSR is buying its way into the underwriting layer of crypto, spending 57 million dollars to turn itself from a market maker into a full‑stack capital markets and treasury platform for token issuers.
Summary
- GSR is acquiring Autonomous and Architech for a combined 57 million dollars, aiming to control the full lifecycle of digital asset projects from token design and launch to governance, liquidity and secondary‑market trading under one coordinated umbrella.
- Autonomous will keep operating independently to help teams launch and run tokenized organizations, while Architech is being folded into GSR’s advisory arm to anchor its institutional consulting, filling long‑standing gaps between issuance, governance models, listings and treasury design.
- A core focus of the new platform is treasury management, with GSR pitching liquidity planning, risk management and derivatives‑based hedging so projects behave more like mid‑market corporates or funds and less like 2021‑era DAOs that hoarded volatile treasuries and blew up in drawdowns.
Crypto market maker GSR is moving aggressively up the value chain, spending $57 million to acquire Autonomous and Architech in a bid to become a full‑lifecycle capital markets and fund management platform for digital assets. The deal is designed to give GSR direct exposure to everything from token design and launch to liquidity, governance, financing and secondary‑market trading under a single, coordinated umbrella.
According to the announcement cited by ChainCatcher, Autonomous will continue to operate independently, focused on helping teams launch and operate tokenized organizations. Architech, by contrast, will be folded into GSR’s digital asset advisory arm and positioned as a core component of its institutional consulting business. Together, the two acquisitions are meant to plug long‑standing gaps in crypto’s deal infrastructure, where token issuance, governance models, listing strategy and treasury design are often handled by different providers with misaligned incentives.
GSR’s pitch is blunt: crypto projects have grown in size and complexity, but the service stack around them is still fragmented and reactive. By pulling issuance support, advisory, market making, derivatives and asset management into a single framework, the firm wants to offer what it calls a “one‑stop capital market service” for digital assets. That includes help on structuring tokenomics, planning exchange liquidity, sequencing listings, and building governance that institutional allocators can live with over a full cycle.
A key focus of the combined platform will be treasury management for crypto projects. GSR says it intends to offer tools for liquidity planning, cash‑flow forecasting, risk management and asset allocation, pushing projects away from passive token hoarding and toward more diversified, yield‑aware portfolios. In practice, that means using GSR’s existing trading and derivatives capabilities to hedge volatility, manage stablecoin buckets, and smooth runway across market regimes.
Strategically, the move is a bet that the next wave of serious crypto issuers will look and behave more like mid‑market corporates or funds than like 2021‑era degen DAOs. Those issuers want integrated counterparties that can handle launch, liquidity and ongoing risk management without forcing them to stitch together five different vendors. If GSR can execute, it will not just be making markets for tokens; it will be designing, launching and effectively underwriting them across their entire lifecycle. For a space still plagued by ad‑hoc token launches and treasury blow‑ups, that kind of vertical integration is both an obvious opportunity—and a concentration of power that regulators and rival service providers will watch closely.
Crypto World
The Fed issues its latest interest rate decision Wednesday. Here’s what to expect

The Federal Reserve has little choice but to stay on the sidelines this week as it navigates a mix of complicated and conflicting forces playing out in the U.S. economy.
Markets are pricing in a near-zero chance that the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee will be cutting at this meeting — or any other in the near future. In fact, futures pricing suggests policymakers won’t consider easing until at least September, more likely October, and even then just a single cut this year.
For Wednesday’s decision, Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues have to wrestle with the Iran war, fears of an inflation spike and mixed signals from the labor market. The combination of factors all but assures the Fed will stand pat, keeping its key interest rate targeted between 3.5%-3.75%. Updates to economic and rate projections also aren’t expected to show major changes.
“The decision itself is almost guaranteed – a rate hold at the March meeting. But any hints Chair Powell might drop about the path of future interest rates will be key,” said BeiChen Lin, senior investment strategist at Russell Investments. “Broadly speaking, the U.S. economy is still on solid footing. This means however that the bar for further rate cuts in the U.S. may be quite elevated.”
Even before the war, traders weren’t expecting a cut at this week’s meeting. Instead, they expected the FOMC would wait until June, then cut at least once more before the end of the year, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch pricing.
However, the attacks — and their impact on oil and inflation — have changed the market’s calculus, even though Fed officials generally look through the types of oil shocks that have accompanied the fighting.
As such, all eyes will be on Powell’s messaging. If things go as planned, this will be Powell’s next-to-last meeting as chair, so even then markets might be wary of reading too much into the chair’s statements.
Forging the future
“With an April cut almost entirely priced out, Powell’s ability to guide markets depends on the extent to which they perceive his comments as representing the committee’s consensus rather than his own views,” Bank of America Fed-watchers said in a note. “Even setting this constraint aside, Powell will have his work cut out for him.”
Former Fed Vice Chair Roger Ferguson told CNBC he expects the committee to be “circumspect” in its post-meeting statement as it characterizes inflation, unemployment, economic growth and the expected path of policy.

“The question in front of everyone’s minds is, what do they say, if anything, about the future and how they think about changing the balance of risks,” he said.
In weighing the labor market against inflation, Ferguson said he’d prefer the Fed focus on prices.
“I’m more worried about higher inflation. You know, the Fed has a 2% target. They’ve been away from that target for multiple years now, actually,” he said. “At some point, it’s going to start to come into question whether or not the 2% target is really what the Fed’s aiming at, and so I am much more worried about that.”
Watching the dot plot
Investors will get a deeper look into the committee’s thinking when it releases updates to the Summary of Economic Projections. Within that release is the Fed’s closely watched “dot plot” grid of individual officials’ expectations for interest rates.
However, most observers expect few changes in the SEP or the dot plot: The Fed could nudge up economic growth and inflation a bit from the last update in December, but the rate outlook is expected to remain largely intact. Officials in December that they see just one cut this year, and the consensus is figured to hold even with the dissents that have accompanied recent Fed decisions.
“Looking at their communications, they will likely emphasize that the conflict in the Middle East has added further uncertainty to the outlook for both inflation and employment. However, their forecasts could look remarkably similar to three months ago,” wrote David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Wealth Management.
On top of everything else, there’s also a lingering political air over the Fed.
President Donald Trump for years has been pressing the central bank, and Powell in particular, to cut rates. In an appearance before media members Monday, Trump again lashed out at the chair, saying that Powell should have called a special meeting.
“What’s a better time to cut interest rates than now? A third-grade student would know that,” Trump said.
However, Trump’s own Justice Department is holding up replacing Powell.
His nomination of Kevin Warsh to succeed Powell in May is being held up by a case the U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro is pursuing against Powell over the Fed’s headquarters renovation. Until that is resolved, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has said he will block the Warsh nomination in the Senate Banking Committee.
Crypto World
Classic Rug Pull or Buying Opportunity?
This is a “scam coin” that “rugged people,” one analyst claimed.
The meme coin PIPPIN, which was among crypto’s rock stars not long ago due to its staggering price increase, has crashed by approximately 50% over the past day alone.
The big question now is whether a rebound is on the horizon or if this was a textbook rug pull, signaling that things may only get worse from here.
The Scam Revealed Its Real Face?
While the broader crypto market struggled throughout February, the lesser-known meme coin PIPPIN defied the negative conditions, registering a triple-digit price explosion. At one point, the valuation surged to $0.76, whereas towards the end of last month it climbed to an all-time high of almost $0.90.
PIPPIN’s market capitalization briefly reached nearly $900 million, thus entering the elite club of the 100 biggest cryptocurrencies, but that success was short-lived. The beginning of March saw a substantial correction, which intensified after a 52% decline over the last 24 hours. In a matter of a single day, nearly $200 million of the asset’s market cap was vaporized, and it now ranks as the 188th-largest digital asset.
The most evident reason for the crash appears to be the selling spree initiated by certain investors. Some X users reported that the same wallets that accumulated PIPPIN last week recently dumped their holdings en masse.
The meme coin has been the subject of criticism from many market observers, even during its bull run. Last month, X user Dippy.eth described it as “the largest scam of the past year,” while others think the whole project is “a cabal play,” in which a coordinated group of insiders is believed to manipulate the price through their actions. Most recently, Crypto Analyst joined the club of critics, classifying PIPPIN as a “scam coin” that “rugged people.”
How About a Revival?
Despite the overwhelming opinion among industry participants that PIPPIN is a red flag for traders and investors, some remain bullish on the asset. X user Nehal, for instance, envisioned heightened volatility ahead and eventual price increase to a new ATH of $1.
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The asset’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) supports the rebound theory. The indicator measures the speed and magnitude of recent price movements, helping traders identify potential reversal points. It runs from 0 to 100, and ratios below 30 are considered bullish territory that could precede a resurgence. On the contrary, readings beyond 70 signal that a pullback might be on the way. Currently, PIPPIN’s RSI stands at around 24.
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