Из жизни альткоинов

Crypto pundit Cool Breeze has drawn attention to a Bank of International Settlements (BIS) report that praised XRP holders as being more educated than Bitcoiners. The report also highlighted these XRP holders as being wealthier than the average crypto holders. 

XRP Holders Said To Be More Educated Than Bitcoiners

In an X post, Cool Breeze highlighted the BIS report, which claimed that XRP holders were more educated than Bitcoiners. Specifically, the report ranked XRP and Ethereum as the most educated among crypto holders. In contrast, LTC holders were said to be the least educated, with Bitcoin owners ranking in the middle. 

Furthermore, the report noted that crypto holders have higher-than-average household incomes, with Ethereum, Stellar, and XRP holders said to be the wealthiest. It is worth noting that this report was released in 2021, and so, the research findings may be different this time around. The report suggested that long-term crypto ownership played a key role in reaching some of these findings. 

The BIS report estimated that owning a crypto in one year increases the probability, on average, of owning a crypto in the following year by 50%. Notably, XRP holders, famously known as the ‘XRP Army,’ have gained a reputation for their long-term belief in the altcoin. These crypto holders held their tokens even during the SEC’s multi-year lawsuit against Ripple, which negatively impacted the XRP price.  

Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton had notably praised these XRP holders for playing a key role in Ripple’s case against the SEC. These holders, alongside Deaton, had filed an amicus brief in which they provided the court with information in favour of Ripple explaining why XRP wasn’t a security, as the SEC alleged. The court eventually ruled that XRP wasn’t a security. 

XRP Holders Are On The Rise

On-chain analytics platform Santiment revealed that XRP holders are on the rise, with the XRP Ledger (XRPL) now having more than 7.7 million holders for the first time since its launch. This comes as the network’s usage continues to grow, especially with more real-world assets being tokenized.  

The XRP Ledger also reached a 5-week high of 46,767 active addresses earlier this week, as the XRP price spiked 14% and climbed above $1.60. Interestingly, this feat for the XRPL comes just as Chainlink community member Zach Rynes (Chainlink God) described the network as a ‘ghost chain.’ 

Commenting on this, Cool Breeze urged XRP holders not to fall for the ‘hate campaign’ by Link God, claiming that they simply wanted to shake them out. The pundit further highlighted how XRP has performed better against Bitcoin than Chainlink has against the leading crypto. 

At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $.152, down in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Правительство Кыргызстана внесло в парламент законопроект о наследовании средств на электронных кошельках. Центробанк предложил вывести из под действия законопроекта практически все криптоактивы.

Динамика цены биткоина остается доминирующим фактором для курса эфира. Порядка 65% еженедельных колебаний цены второй по капитализации криптовалюты объясняется именно курсом первой криптовалюты, заявили аналитики Bitwise. Эксперты провели анализ цены эфира за 406 недель, с мая 2018 года.

За последние сутки власти Королевства Бутан переместили со своих криптоадресов 973 биткоинов на сумму около $72,3 млн, сообщили аналитики Arkham Intelligence.

Vitalik Buterin says a new “fast confirmation rule” for Ethereum could give users a hard guarantee that a block will not be reverted after a single slot, or roughly 12 seconds, a change that would sharply reduce one of the network’s biggest practical frictions for exchanges, bridges and Layer-2 systems.

The proposal, described publicly by Ethereum Foundation researcher Julian Ma and endorsed by Buterin on X, is designed to narrow the gap between Ethereum’s strong security model and the slower confirmation times that still shape user experience across the ecosystem. In Buterin’s words, the mechanism “lets you get a hard guarantee that Ethereum will not revert after one slot (12 seconds). Security assumptions are (i) supermajority honest, (ii) network latency under ~3s. So one step below economic finality, but very strong for many use cases.”

New Ethereum Rule For Faster Confirmations

That distinction matters. Ethereum finality remains the chain’s strongest settlement guarantee, but it comes with a much longer wait time. Ma said the fast confirmation rule, or FCR, cuts deposit times from Ethereum mainnet to L2s and centralized exchanges to about 13 seconds, which he described as an “80-98% reduction for most L2s and exchanges.”

For users, the immediate consequence is speed. For infrastructure providers, the bigger story is efficiency. Ma argued that slow mainnet confirmation has forced exchanges, bridges and rollups to operate around delay and uncertainty, especially when handling deposits or syncing market activity across chains. “Bridging funds from Ethereum to L2s and centralized exchanges is slow. Users wait minutes when using the canonical bridges,” he wrote. “The new Fast Confirmation Rule (FCR) solves that. It reduces deposit time from Ethereum L1 to L2s or exchanges to about 13 seconds.”

He added that the rule is expected to become “the new industry standard for L2s and exchanges,” and said it can begin rolling out in the coming months without a hard fork. That is a notable design choice. Rather than introducing a consensus change that requires network-wide coordination, FCR can be activated as clients implement it, with nodes able to run the rule automatically once support is live.

Ma’s explanation frames FCR as a middle ground between today’s heuristics and Ethereum’s formal finality. Most exchanges, L2s and solvers do not wait for finality now. Instead, they rely on a block-depth rule, or “k-deep,” essentially waiting for a transaction to be buried under enough subsequent blocks. FCR takes a different route: it counts attestations rather than blocks. According to Ma, that makes it structurally faster while also giving it a provable security model that k-deep lacks.

The trade-off is explicit. A fast-confirmed block is not finalized, and the guarantee depends on stricter assumptions than finality does. FCR assumes a synchronous network, which in practice means attestations arrive within about eight seconds, and it assumes no adversary controls more than 25% of staked ETH. Finality, by contrast, is designed to hold under asynchrony and up to a 33% adversarial threshold.

Even so, Ma argued the system degrades gracefully when conditions worsen. “If the network is slow, FCR has a built-in fallback mode. Instead of fast-confirming a block within 13 seconds, it may take slightly longer,” he wrote. “As soon as sufficiently many attestations are delivered, the block is fast-confirmed. In the worst-case, FCR falls back to finality.”

That fallback is central to the pitch. The mechanism does not pretend reorg risk disappears; it claims to reduce waiting time dramatically while retaining deterministic guarantees when its assumptions hold. Ma also stressed that if those assumptions do hold, a fast-confirmed block “will be finalized with certainty.”

At press time, ETH traded at $2,319.

Соучредитель проекта Bitcoin Vector Вилли Ву (Willy Woo) заявил, что у биткоина впереди еще две трети медвежьего цикла, и призвал инвесторов сохранять осторожность.

Комиссар по банковскому делу штата Коннектикут запретил работу одного из крупнейших американских операторов криптоматов, компании Bitcoin Depot. Компания лишилась лицензии на денежные переводы в штате, и ее устройства больше не смогут функционировать.

March 31, 2026, has become a key date for XRP holders, as SBI ARUHI, Japan’s largest mortgage lender under the SBI Group, introduces a new shareholder perk. According to reports, shareholders will be eligible to receive rewards, with XRP as the form of payment. The company has provided details on the amount of XRP awarded, the eligibility criteria for shareholders, and the procedures for claiming the benefits.

SBI ARUHI Adds XRP To Shareholder Benefits

SBI ARUHI is rolling out a new initiative for XRP holders that will officially take effect on Tuesday, March 31. Prominent market analysts Xaif Crypto and ChartNerd highlighted developments on X, emphasizing that XRP’s real-world dominance is surging in Japan and questioning whether the cryptocurrency’s mainstream adoption could be imminent in the country. 

The announcement was made following a board of directors meeting on March 12, where the company resolved to implement shareholder benefits aimed at rewarding investors while strengthening long-term relationships. The move builds on SBI ARUHI’s existing tradition of returning profits to investors through year-end and interim dividends, now extending it to cryptocurrency by offering XRP as a benefit. 

By introducing XRP into its shareholder return strategy, the company aims to express appreciation for ongoing support, raise awareness of both SBI ARUHI and the SBI Group, and deepen investors’ understanding of blockchain technology and digital assets. The decision also highlights SBI Group’s close ties with XRP, dating back to the formation of SBI Ripple Asia and the financial company’s position as a major external shareholder in Ripple Labs. 

Notably, March 31 is an important date for XRP investors in Japan, as only SBI ARUHI shareholders listed in the company’s registry by that date will be eligible for XRP benefits. The initiative represents a significant integration of Japan’s finance sector with cryptocurrencies such as XRP. 

Shareholder Perk Details And Eligibility Criteria

In a press release on its official site, SBI ARUHI shared the full details of the perks and stated that shareholders must hold at least 100 shares to qualify for the XRP benefits. The amount of XRP to be received depends on the number of shares an investor owns and the holding period. 

Notably, investors holding between 100 and 999 shares are entitled to 500 yen in XRP, regardless of how long they have owned the shares. Those holding 1,000 shares or more can receive 500 yen worth of XRP if they have held for less than one year, or 1,000 yen if their holding period exceeds a year. 

According to the report, continuous holding for large shareholders is tracked using the registry dates of March 31, 2025, September 30, 2025, and March 31, 2026. Furthermore, any changes in the shareholder number can affect eligibility.

SBI ARUHI has informed recipients to open a personal trading account with SBI VC Trade to claim XRP rewards. The company will also send a detailed Shareholder Benefit Guide by mid-June outlining the full application process. 

UK National Security Panel has deemed donations made with crypto assets as an “unnecessary and unacceptably high risk” and it is asking the government for an immediate ban.

Too High Of A Crypto-Risk

The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy has called today for a moratorium on crypto political donations (an official temporary ban), alongside new donor‑verification rules, to tackle illicit finance and foreign interference in UK politics. The latest report of the Joint Committee warns that crypto donations to UK political parties are a high‑risk channel for illicit and foreign money. Crypto donations pose an “unnecessary and unacceptably high risk to the integrity of the political finance system”, the report reads.

The Government must immediately ban political donations made through cryptocurrency until firm rules can be developed, in order to keep UK politics safe from illicit finance, a cross-party Committee has found.

This decision follows a letter issued on February 24 by Committee Chair of the House of Commons Matt Western to Housing Secretary Steve Reed, urging the government to act before the next general election, warning that hostile states may exploit opaque crypto flows, as reported by Bitcoinist.

Inside The Warning Report

The main concerns expressed by the parliamentary include pseudonymous wallets, mixers and foreign‑based payment processors make it hard to verify who is really bankrolling UK parties, creating a “gaping hole” in national‑security defenses. In order to tackle this, the committee is asking for stricter donor‑identity checks and wealth‑source verification, plus a clear single‑agency lead over political finance enforcement to avoid the current fragmentation across multiple bodies.

Responsibility for policing risks of foreign influence in political finance is dispersed across several services, including the Electoral Commission, Metropolitan Police, Counter Terrorism Policing, MI5, the National Crime Agency and other police services. The Committee argues that accountability and governance are “inadequate”, and notes that a clearer set up with a single national lead would help address low public trust in enforcement of the rules.

What Happens Next?

Under the specific conditions proposed for any future digital assets donations after the moratorium, parties would only be allowed to accept coins that move through fully FCA‑registered platforms, closing off the offshore exchanges and bespoke portals currently used to route funds into Westminster. Any crypto that has passed through mixers or tumblers would be flat‑out prohibited and, on top of that, parties would have to convert donated tokens into pounds within roughly 48 hours, sharply limiting the time funds remain on‑chain and making it easier for regulators and watchdogs to audit who is really paying for UK politics.

The UK is trying to position itself as a “global hub” for digital assets in trading and custody, even as its national‑security apparatus moves aggressively to regulate crypto assets. 

The committee frames this as a national‑security and anti‑corruption issue, not a blanket attack on crypto markets, but the political narrative still feeds into a broader crackdown theme investors cannot ignore. While spot crypto trading in the UK remains unaffected in the short term, headlines about “illicit money” and “foreign interference” can sap risk appetite, weigh on politically exposed tokens, and add another layer of regulatory overhang for any UK‑facing exchanges or payment rails.

Cover image from Perplexity, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview

Московский суд вынес приговор криптоинвестору Григорию Мулузяну: его признали виновным в мошенничестве в особо крупном размере и приговорили к шести годам лишения свободы в колонии общего режима. Среди пострадавших назван актер Павел Деревянко.

Главный инвестиционный директор компании по управлению криптоактивами Arca Джефф Дорман (Jeff Dorman) заявил, что доминирование биткоина, эфира, Solana и XRP сдерживает развитие крипторынка.

Ripple’s chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty says the SEC’s latest crypto guidance does more than clarify policy. In his reading, it effectively cements what Ripple has argued for years: XRP is not a security, but a digital commodity.

The comment came after the US Securities and Exchange Commission said it had issued “an interpretation that clarifies the application of federal securities laws to crypto assets,” calling the move “a major step” toward giving markets, investors and innovators more clarity.

Ripple’s Top Lawyer Reacts

Alderoty quickly tied that announcement to Ripple’s long-running legal fight with the agency, writing via X: “We always knew XRP wasn’t a security – and now the SEC has made clear what it is: a digital commodity. Grateful to the Crypto Task Force for working to deliver the clarity that markets, investors, and innovators have long deserved.”

We always knew XRP wasn’t a security – and now the @SECGov has made clear what it is: a digital commodity. Grateful to the Crypto Task Force for working to deliver the clarity that markets, investors, and innovators have long deserved. https://t.co/jJ7QTUiJbJ

— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) March 18, 2026

That framing matters because it pushes the conversation beyond the narrower question of whether XRP sales can fall within securities laws in certain contexts. Alderoty’s post suggests Ripple sees the SEC’s latest interpretation as broader validation of the company’s core position: that XRP itself should be treated as a commodity-style crypto asset rather than a security instrument.

Notably, the Commission’s new guidance defines how federal securities laws apply to crypto assets. Even so, the market reaction around XRP was immediate, with several legal commentators and crypto experts reading the move as a meaningful shift in the regulatory ground beneath the asset.

Among the strongest reactions was from pro-XRP lawyer Bill Morgan, who linked the development directly to the Ripple case and Judge Analisa Torres’ reasoning. “So Judge Torres’ reasoning in SEC v. Ripple about XRP was 100% correct and is now accepted by the SEC in relation to most cryptos,” Morgan wrote.

Chad Steingraber wrote, “We have the official list of Digital Commodities from the SEC,” then named a group of tokens which are included as examples inside the SEC document: APT, AVAX, BTC, BCH, ADA, LINK, DOGE, ETH, HBAR, LTC, DOT, SHIB, SOL, XLM, XTZ and XRP.

Luke Martin pushed the bullish interpretation further, arguing that “If XRP isn’t a security, nothing is a security. Unfathomably bullish.”

For XRP holders and Ripple supporters, the significance lies not only in the SEC’s updated crypto guidance, but in the fact that Ripple’s legal win appears to have gained another regulatory seal of approval, cementing XRP’s standing as a digital commodity.

At press time, XRP traded at $1.52.

Основатель аналитического сервиса Checkonchain Джеймс Чек (James Check) заявил в подкасте Coin Stories, что биткоин перешел из «пресноводного бассейна» в «соленый океан» — на уровень традиционных финансовых рынков.

Криптоплатформа Bitrefill, позволяющая оплачивать товары и подарочные карты с помощью криптовалют, сообщила, что 1 марта стала жертвой хакерской атаки. Компания не раскрыла сумму ущерба, однако заявила, что покроет потери за счет собственного капитала.

This week has been quite bullish for the Bitcoin price as it has seen a momentous break above $70,000. Although this is bullish, there are still some reservations as to the performance of the digital asset and what it could mean for its future. To this end, Bitget research analyst Lacie Zhang shares views on what the BTC price is doing, outlining the major factors that are currently influencing its price and the broader crypto market.

Bitcoin Price At A Major Structural Level

In a statement shared with Bitcoinist, Bitget Research Analyst Lacie Zhang said there has been a convergence of the Bitcoin realized price and the MVRV. Taking into account the performance of past cycles, the analyst points out that this could mean that Bitcoin could be nearing the end of its bear market.

The convergence of these indicators in the past has previously happened toward the tail end of a bear market, and this time could be no different. Not only this, but it is also associated with long-term accumulation, a trend that has usually preceded the bottom of a bear market.

As Zhang further explains, this could mean that investors are now moving from speculative selling to patient capital deployment. This speaks to the long-term accumulation trend, usually as large investors begin to shift their stance. Other factors are the fact that Bitcoin ETF inflows continue to rise, showing confidence from institutional players.

With these factors all aligning at almost the same time for BTC, it could mean that a trend reversal is coming. However, there is still the possibility that the price continues to decline, especially given that the broader macro dynamics have not been clear.

For one, there are still geopolitical tensions, with the US-Iran war shaking the market earlier this month. Zhang also points to the relationship between the US dollar Index and oil prices, which are tightening liquidity conditions. In such a case, risk assets tend to suffer the most, as evidenced by the decline that Bitcoin has suffered.

Predicting where the Bitcoin price could be headed, Zhang explained that “In the short term, Bitcoin is likely to fluctuate between $68,000 and $84,000 as markets search for equilibrium, while Ethereum may trade in a $1,800 to $2,500 range, supported by continued ecosystem development and growing adoption across decentralized finance and tokenized asset infrastructure.”

В Красноярском крае сотрудник компании «Водоотведение» почти два года незаконно использовал служебные электросети для майнинга криптовалюты, нанеся предприятию ущерб более 1 млн рублей, сообщили в региональной прокуратуре.

Инфраструктурная компания Maestro запустила платформу Mezzamine — рынок кредитования в биткоинах. Проект ориентирован на крупных инвесторов и призван расширить возможности финансирования для майнинговых компаний.

Комиссия по торговле товарными фьючерсами США (CFTC) решила не применять санкции к компании Phantom Technologies, оператору криптокошелька Phantom, несмотря на отсутствие регистрации в качестве брокера.

PayPal has expanded access to its stablecoin PayPal USD (PYUSD) to 70 markets, allowing users worldwide to send, hold, and receive the token while enabling faster, lower-cost global transactions.

PayPal Expands PYUSD Across 70 Markets

On Tuesday, payments giant PayPal announced that its USD-pegged stablecoin, PYUSD, will be available to users in 70 markets worldwide following its expansion into 68 new countries this month.

The fintech launched the stablecoin in August 2023 after initially pausing development due to scrutiny of PayPal’s issuance partner, Paxos. That same year, PayPal received a subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) related to its stablecoin.

As crypto regulation gained momentum and financial watchdogs loosened their grip under the Trump Administration, the Commission concluded its 16-month investigation into PYUSD without enforcement action in February 2025. Since then, PYUSD’s total market capitalization has reached $4.1 billion, a fivefold increase over the past year.

Previously, only customers in the US and the UK had access to the PYUSD. However, the latest expansion has made PYUSD available to users across multiple global regions, including Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

This includes Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Meanwhile, users in the remaining markets will have access to PYUSD in the coming weeks.

Users in the newly supported regions will be able to hold, send, and receive the stablecoin directly on their PayPal accounts, enabling faster settlement and lower cost than traditional payment methods.

Users will also be eligible to earn rewards on their stablecoin holdings, but rewards won’t be available to users in Singapore or the United Kingdom, the official announcement noted. Existing holders in the United States receive an annual 4% reward.

PayPal Eyes ‘More Inclusive, Global Commerce Ecosystem’

The payments giant affirmed that this geographical expansion marks a critical step in its stablecoin push to build “the liquidity, utility, and ubiquity of PYUSD necessary to create a more inclusive, global commerce ecosystem.”

While consumers and businesses worldwide are seeking faster, more seamless global transactions, the current system still incurs excessive charges and adheres to outdated timelines, May Zabaneh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto at PayPal, noted, adding that the company is working to change that.

“Enabling PYUSD in users’ accounts across 70 markets gives people faster access to their funds, lower-cost ways to send money across borders, and a more direct path to participating in the global economy, and that is what drives commerce forward for everyone,” she affirmed in the official announcement.

“Now you’re really opening up not only access—especially in places where they need it most— but also cross-border transfers and volume, where the pain is felt so high,” Zabaneh also told Fortune.

The stablecoin was initially launched on Ethereum and later expanded to other networks, including Tron, Avalanche, Aptos, and Sei, through LayerZero in September. In addition, YouTube added a new payout option last December that allows US creators to receive earnings in PYUSD.

На мероприятии, организованном при участии Dash, обсудят как фундаментальные, так и прикладные аспекты privacy-tech и децентрализации: от разработки до анализа транзакций и внедрения криптографии в финтех.