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Crypto pundit Xaif has shared an aspect in which Vitalik Buterin admitted that XRP is ahead of Ethereum in. This comes as Ripple looks to dominate the payments industry using XRP, RLUSD, and the XRP Ledger. 

Vitalik Shares What Aspect XRP Leads Ethereum In

In an X post, Xaif shared a 2014 quote from Vitalik Buterin stating that Ripple, not Ethereum, is the Internet of Value. While Ethereum has focused on building a foundation for the decentralized financial system, Ripple has focused on building the Internet of Value using the Ledger, with XRP and RLUSD serving as important tools for this vision. 

Ethereum and Ripple have continued to reiterate their missions even as crypto continues to gain mainstream adoption. Earlier this year, Vitalik Buterin described Ethereum as the Linux of the decentralized world. He stated that they must ensure Ethereum serves as the financial home for individuals and organizations seeking greater autonomy. Buterin added that they must give people access to the power of the network without dependence on intermediaries. 

Meanwhile, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated in January that their two major acquisitions, Ripple Prime and GTreasury, greatly accelerate and expand their ability to deliver on their vision of enabling the Internet of Value. He added that the token has been and will continue to be the heartbeat of that vision. 

More recently, Garlinghouse described the token as Ripple’s “North Star,” which guides their mission and daily operations. Xaif also shared a video in which the Ripple CEO stated that they are 100% committed to making XRP the “most trusted, most useful, and most liquid digital asset on the planet.”

It is worth noting that XRP currently ranks as the fifth largest crypto by market cap, behind Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and BNB. The altcoin regained the third spot this year, just behind Ethereum, after beginning the year as one of the largest gainers, but it has since lost these gains amid the crypto market downtrend. 

The Ledger Behind Ethereum In This Regard

RWA.xyz data shows that the XRP Ledger is currently behind Ethereum in tokenization. The total tokenized value on Ethereum is $15.5 billion, while the Ledger has a total tokenized value of $1.9 billion. However, the Ledger has achieved greater growth over the last 30 days, with tokenized value rising 15%, while that on Ethereum has risen just over 10%. 

The Ledger has notably seen upgrades, such as the Permissioned DEX, which have contributed to tokenization growth on the network. The Permissioned DEX enables institutional investors to trade in a regulated environment. Ripple continues to partner with institutions to tokenize several funds on the network. Last month, the crypto firm partnered with U.K. giant Aviva Investors to develop tokenized versions of traditional funds.

Zcash Open Development Lab, the company formed by the team formerly known as Electric Coin Company, has raised more than $25 million from a roster of heavyweight crypto investors including a16z, Paradigm, Winklevoss Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Cypherpunk Technologies, Maelstrom (family office of Arthur Hayes), Chapter One, David Friedberg, Haseeb Qureshi, Mert, Balaji and others.

What This Means For Zcash

The round lands just months after the ECC team regrouped under a new name, and gives the Zcash-focused builder fresh capital to expand its wallet and protocol work without leaning on the network’s development fund. Josh Swihart, who now leads ZODL after previously serving as CEO of ECC, framed the raise as a bet on product traction rather than a brand reset. “The name is new, but our team has been building Zcash for a decade,” he wrote. “A couple of years ago, my team and I set out to change the trajectory of Zcash with an uncompromising focus on the user experience for shielded ZEC. We released Zodl (then called Zashi) and have never looked back.”

That pitch is backed by a set of numbers the team clearly wants the market to notice. According to ZODL, its wallet has helped drive adoption of the Zcash shielded pool by more than 400% since launch, while facilitating over $600 million in ZEC swaps since October 2025. Swihart said the company first shipped what he called a “normie-friendly wallet,” then layered in integrations with Flexa for retail spending, Keystone for cold storage and, more recently, NEAR-powered intents for ZEC swaps.

The capital raise is also meant to change how that work gets funded. “This funding allows us to bring these ambitions to life, without relying on Zcash dev fund grants to get there,” Swihart wrote. Alongside Zodl, the company said it is building Zallet, a full-node wallet that will serve as the foundation for new desktop software, with the longer-term goal of creating “a private, decentralized financial system as an alternative to legacy institutions.”

ZODL’s own announcement leaned heavily on continuity. The company said the full ECC team, including the engineers responsible for designing and maintaining some of Zcash’s core systems, moved over earlier this year. It added that protocol development remains central to the company’s work, but argued that future upgrades should stay tied to usability and product-market fit rather than protocol design in isolation.

Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox read the raise as something larger than a routine venture financing. “Twenty-five million dollars is a big investment! For a company that makes a wallet!?” he wrote in a thread reacting to the news. “This set of investors is a signal. They are big, sophisticated, long-standing, and reputable.”

He focused on what the deal does not appear to offer. There is no new token for investors to capture, he noted, and no control over the Zcash protocol itself. “There is no new token that the investors can get a cut of! The ZEC supply is locked in, with a 21M total supply cap, like Bitcoin,” Wilcox wrote. “The investors don’t get control of the protocol! Zcash is permissionless, open-source, and has a huge number and variety of stakeholders.”

From there, Wilcox sketched out a theory of the round: investors may see the wallet business as a monetizable entry point, but just as importantly, some may be underwriting broader ZEC adoption itself. He pointed to public disclosures from Cypherpunk Technologies, which he said already holds more than 1% of ZEC’s eventual supply, and argued that its equity stake in ZODL is smaller than its exposure to the coin.

His conclusion was blunt. “These people are betting that Zcash — not crypto, not privacy, not Bitcoin, not zero-knowledge-proofs — Zcash will be critically important for our civilization,” he wrote.

At press time, Zcash traded at $221.95.

Bitcoin crossed back above $70,000 on Monday as traders responded to signals that the US military campaign against Iran might be winding down — pushing the broader crypto market up 3% in 24 hours before a fresh round of war rhetoric from US President Donald Trump complicated the picture.

The gains were tied directly to comments Trump made in a CBS News phone interview, where he suggested Iran had been so thoroughly struck that little remained of its military capability.

Oil prices plunged on the news, dropping from a four-year high of $118 a barrel down to roughly $85 — a 25% slide that eased inflation fears and nudged investors back toward riskier assets like crypto.

Relief Rally Or Just Noise?

Analysts were quick to pump the brakes. Industry observers said the headline comments were hard to take at face value, noting that other members of Trump’s cabinet had described the conflict as still in its opening phase, with US military assets still active in the region.

Crypto would keep tracking other risk assets in the near term, with oil — not any crypto-specific narrative — still calling the shots on macro sentiment.

Market observers said that while the conflict was unlikely to be resolved soon, tradable bounces were possible, and Bitcoin could outperform as a potential store of value during periods of prolonged uncertainty.

Will A Ceasefire Lift Crypto Price?

Others offered a similar read. A genuine ceasefire, they said, could spark a strong rally in digital assets — driven by falling energy prices, reduced inflation pressure, and renewed appetite for risk.

But caution prevailed. Doubts persisted amid mixed signals, with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard publicly dismissing Trump’s remarks as “nonsense” and insisting Tehran, not Washington, would decide when fighting stops.

Trump’s Own Words Muddy The Outlook

The uncertainty deepened when Trump posted on Truth Social hours after the CBS interview, threatening that Iran would be struck “20 times harder” if it moved to block oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

At a Republican fundraising event in Florida the same day, he told supporters: “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough.”

Reports indicate US forces have struck more than 3,000 Iranian targets since operations began. That backdrop — ongoing military activity, contradictory presidential statements, and an adversary refusing to acknowledge defeat — leaves crypto in a holding pattern.

The 3% gain looks more like a reaction to a headline than the start of a sustained move. Until the geopolitical picture clarifies, digital assets appear content to follow oil’s lead rather than forge a path of their own.

Featured image from Mudrex, chart from TradingView

Speaking at the Economic Club of New York on March 9, Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers for Digital Assets, said there is “some bipartisan support” for legislation to codify the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, even if the timing may slip beyond the current Congress.

President Donald Trump signed the executive order creating the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve on March 6, 2025. The order directed the Treasury to set up an office to control the reserve, capitalize it with forfeited bitcoin already held by the government, and keep BTC in the reserve from being sold. It also authorized Treasury and Commerce to develop “budget neutral” strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin without imposing incremental costs on taxpayers.

Bipartisan Support Builds For US Bitcoin Reserve

The order also came with concrete deadlines. Agencies had 30 days, until April 5, 2025, to review whether they could transfer government-held BTC into the reserve and to provide a full accounting of digital assets in their possession. Treasury then had 60 days, until May 5, 2025, to deliver a legal and investment evaluation on how the reserve should be established and managed, including whether further legislation would be needed.

The most substantive official update arrived on July 30, 2025, when the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets said the Treasury had already delivered those considerations to the White House under Section 3(e) of the order and would keep coordinating on “appropriate next steps” to operationalize the reserve. The White House was still publicly describing the reserve as an established policy as recently as January 20, 2026.

One important caveat remains: those deadlines produced internal reporting, not a public accounting of the reserve. In other words, agencies were required to report what they held, and Treasury was required to report back to the White House, but the administration has still not publicly disclosed how many BTC are actually in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. For the public, that leaves a crucial piece of the story unresolved: the reserve exists on paper and as executive policy, but its confirmed size remains unknown.

That leaves the current status fairly clear, even if not fully transparent. The reserve exists as executive branch policy. The deadlines in the order have long since passed. The Treasury has formally reported back. But a fuller statutory framework still appears to be the next step if the administration wants the reserve locked in beyond executive action alone.

Witt’s remarks are notable because they point to exactly that next stage. “There is also a push to advance other legislation to codify the strategic Bitcoin reserve,” he said. “Whether or not we’re able to get to those in this Congress, there is some bipartisan support for those. So, into the next Congress, a lot of those bills can be marked up potentially in advance and then be taken up in a future either individual vote on those or potentially in a must pass like an NDAA for example.”

At press time, Bitcoin traded at $69,894.

Despite its disappointing performance over the last bull run, Ethereum has remained a top choice for investors across the crypto sector. Its position as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap makes it one of the first stops for new and old investors. But with the price still trading well below its previous all-time high, the question remains as to whether this is a good time to actually buy Ethereum, and if there will be great returns by the end of the year.

Can Ethereum Cross $3,000 This Year?

The machine learning algorithm at the CoinCodex website gives a breakdown of where the Ethereum price could be each month of the year, taking certain factors into account. Going by the predictions on the website, it seems that the year 2026 is expected to be a rather bullish one for Ethereum. It also answers the question of whether ETH’s price could break $3,000 again this year.

One interesting thing of note is that the predictions show that each month will finish higher than the current price. Besides the month of March, there is no other month in 2026 where the algorithm predicts that the Ethereum price will fall below $2,000 again. Instead, the predictions show possible double-digit increases for the digital asset.

As for when the price could cross $3,000, it suggests that this could happen sometime in May, which is two months from now. After that, the price is expected to fall below $3,000 again, trending around this level till the end of the month.

Taking into account that the highest level for the year is expected to be around $3,673, it would mean an approximately 90% gain on the price if bought from current levels. If holding through to the end of the year, the highest level in December 2026 is expected to reach $2,477. This would mean a 28% return on investment.

Going by the prediction, March would be the best time to get into Ethereum at the lowest prices in 2026. Then the best time to sell would be in May when the price is expected to hit its peak. From June to the end of the year, the price is expected to then trade in a fairly tight range.

Bitcoin treasury company Strategy has continued its accumulation push with a fresh acquisition involving 17,994 tokens of the cryptocurrency.

Strategy Has Expanded Bitcoin Reserve With New $1.28 Billion Buy

In a new post on X, Strategy chairman Michael Saylor has shared details related to the latest routine Monday Bitcoin acquisition completed by the company. This buy was on the larger side, including a sum of 17,994 BTC. Strategy had to spend an average of $70,946 per token or $1.28 billion in total to assemble this stack.

In 2026 so far, the firm has made only one purchase that has been larger: the 22,305 BTC acquisition from January (worth $2.12 billion at the time). Following this new large addition, Strategy’s holdings have grown to 738,731 BTC, equivalent to nearly 3.7% of all tokens in circulation.

According to the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the purchase was funded using sales of the company’s STRC and MSTR at-the-market (ATM) stock offerings.

Overall, this was the 102nd Bitcoin buy made by Strategy. In total, the treasury company has invested $56.04 billion into the cryptocurrency with these acquisitions.

These massive holdings are currently underwater, however, as the firm’s cost basis sits at $75,862 BTC, putting Strategy’s reserve in about 9% unrealized loss at the current spot price. Despite the underwater status, though, the company has continued to make purchases recently, solidifying its position as the largest public holder of Bitcoin, as the table from BitcoinTreasuries.net shows.

While accumulation from other digital asset treasury companies has fallen off after the bearish shift that the cryptocurrency sector has faced since the last quarter of 2025, another company besides Strategy has also continued to make regular purchases: Bitmine.

Bitmine is the largest Ethereum treasury and only second behind Strategy in overall public digital asset holders ranking. The company’s market standing is despite the fact that it only adopted its ETH treasury strategy in mid-2025.

Recently, the firm has been making regular Monday purchase announcements just like Strategy. According to the latest press release, Bitmine acquired 60,976 ETH over the past week, which is higher than 40,000 to 50,000 ETH average that the company has been hovering around lately. “As the adage goes, nobody ‘rings the bell at the bottom’ and therefore Bitmine’s strategy is to now slightly increase its pace of ETH accumulation,” noted Tom Lee, the company’s chairman.

Following the latest accumulation spree, Bitmine’s holdings have grown to 4,534,563 ETH, which represents a network supply share of 3.76%. The company has set a target of 5% of the Ethereum supply, so at this figure, it is already more than 75% of the way through.

BTC Price

Bitcoin dropped under $66,000 on Sunday, but the asset has since bounced back a bit as it’s now floating around $68,600.

US banks may need regulatory clarity more than the crypto industry, a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chief said, arguing they risk falling behind the rest of the world.

Regulatory Uncertainty Could Leave US Banks Behind

On Sunday, Chris Giancarlo, former chairman of the CFTC, discussed the significant policy reversal under the Trump administration that has been driving crypto innovation in the US, including the highly anticipated market structure bill.

In an interview for Scott Melker’s The Wolf Of All Streets podcast, the ex-CFTC chief affirmed that landmark stablecoin legislation enacted last July, the GENIUS Act, was “the appetizer” for crypto regulation, while the market structure bill, also known as the CLARITY Act, represents the main dish but has become the “hard part.”

For context, the CLARITY Act has been stalled for nearly two months after the Senate Banking Committee published its bill draft in mid-January. Multiple policies, including key restrictions for stablecoin issuers, were criticized by crypto leaders, leading to a prolonged fight between banks and the digital assets industry.

Giancarlo affirmed that banks need regulatory clarity more than the crypto industry, arguing that they will be hesitant to invest in new technology without clear rules, and their systems will be superseded.

The banks, however, can’t afford regulatory uncertainty. Their general counselors are telling their boards, you can’t invest billions of dollars in this (…) unless you’ve got regulatory certainty. (…) The banks need this clarity because they need to build this. They need to be in the forefront, not in the rear guard of this innovation.

On the contrary, the crypto industry will continue to build and innovate in other jurisdictions. “They are risk-takers. They’re going to build it here, or they’re going to build it abroad,” the former CFTC chairman asserted.

If the CLARITY Act isn’t passed, Giancarlo believes the leaders of financial regulatory agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and CFTC, will likely establish the necessary rules to oversee the sector.

“They won’t have the support of legislation that makes it work forever or at least into the next presidential cycle, but it’ll make it work for now. Now, does that give the industry the certainty they want? No. And who needs that certainty more than the banks? Crypto doesn’t need it. They were building even under the whip hand of Gary Gensler,” he added.

Are The Odds In Crypto Regulation’s Favor?

Giancarlo emphasized that the digital assets legislation has become a political issue, with Republicans opposing Democrats, and traditional finance (TradFi) opposing decentralized finance (DeFi) and new technologies.

The ex-CFTC chief also noted that the challenges of the regulatory timing, asserting that “If we could not be in a worse time, we’re in an election year.” During this period, politicians’ focus is on the upcoming mid-term elections, he detailed, and “everything that takes place in Washington (…) is all about swaying the voters for the elections.”

Last month, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged lawmakers to pass the stalled bill this spring. He acknowledged the efforts of a bipartisan working group to advance the legislation, emphasizing that Democrats are open to collaborating with Republicans.

He also warned that the chances of reaching a deal could crumble if Democrats gain control of the House of Representatives in November, given the Biden administration’s stringent regulations on the industry.

Despite the delay, Giancarlo believes the odds are 60-40 in favor of passing the legislation, arguing that there’s “a lot of good in the bill for all sides” and its importance is recognized by all parties.

“I think there’s a recognition that this is the new architecture of finance and America, our financial institutions are the world’s dominant financial institutions. We need to modernize that. We need to adopt this technology,” he concluded.

The South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb, is facing significant legal and operational challenges following a major system error in February. This resulted in more than $43 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) being distributed to users, prompting scrutiny from regulatory bodies. 

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has preliminarily notified Bithumb of a six-month partial suspension of its business for alleged violations of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations under the Special Financial Transactions Act. 

Bithumb’s Business Operations Under Fire 

According to local media reports, the FIU, part of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), has expressed concerns regarding Bithumb’s interactions with an undeclared overseas virtual asset operator and the exchange’s failure to fulfill KYC obligations. 

The preliminary sanctions include a six-month business suspension and a reprimand for the company’s CEO, Lee Jae-won. Although new members will be unable to transfer digital assets, existing users will still be able to deposit and withdraw both Korean won and cryptocurrency without issue.

Notably, the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit plans to conduct a sanctions review committee meeting later this month to determine the final level of repercussions for Bithumb. 

In response to the notification, a Bithumb representative clarified that this measure is currently a preliminary step, indicating that adjustments to the sanctions could still be made. He noted that the restrictions will only apply to new users’ virtual asset transfers.

‘Ghost Bitcoin Incident’

This latest development follows pressure from lawmakers in South Korea for regulators to take action following the incident on February 6. 

Reports indicate that financial authorities have created an emergency response team, collaborating with the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA), a self-regulatory organization representing domestic exchanges. 

This team has begun inspecting asset verification and internal control systems at four other major platforms—Upbit, Coinone, Korbit, and GOPAX. Any deficiencies discovered could be integrated into DAXA’s self-regulatory guidelines, potentially influencing future cryptocurrency legislation in South Korea.

For context, the incident that prompted these measures stemmed from a mistake involving a promotional event at Bithumb, where an employee mistakenly distributed 620,000 Bitcoin, valued at over $40 billion, among 249 users. 

Fortunately, 99% of the distributed BTC was recovered. However, the event raised serious questions about the exchange’s internal controls and ledger management practices. 

Previous regulatory filings indicated that Bithumb only held 175 BTC in its own reserves and less than 50,000 Bitcoin when accounting for both its assets and those held by customers. 

This discrepancy suggests that the exchange’s systems failed to prevent the erroneous transaction, causing irregular distributions that distorted market prices.

As Kim Jiho, a spokesperson for the ruling Democratic Party, remarked, the “ghost Bitcoin incident” exposed not just a simple input error but deeper structural weaknesses within cryptocurrency exchanges’ internal control frameworks. 

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com 

Flow Foundation is asking a Seoul court to halt the delisting of FLOW on South Korea’s biggest crypto exchanges.

FLOW Fights Back

In an announcement made on March 8, Flow Foundation and Dapper Labs (a venture‑backed Web3 company best known for creating CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot and other major NFT products) have revealed that they filed a motion with the Seoul Central District Court to suspend the planned termination of FLOW trading on Upbit, Bithumb and Coinone.

Crypto Security Fears

On Dec. 27, Flow suffered a protocol‑level exploit that allowed an attacker to mint roughly 3.9 million duplicate tokens, triggering an emergency halt. Initial recovery proposals included a full chain rollback, which drew pushback from partners over double balances and bridge losses; the team pivoted to an “isolated recovery” that targeted and destroyed only the counterfeit tokens.

Despite no user funds on exchanges were ultimately lost, Korean platforms kept FLOW under heightened scrutiny. Upbit, Bithumb and Coinone announced on Feb. 12 that they would end trading support for FLOW on March 16, citing the December protocol-level exploit.

Security Concerns Are Now Resolved

However, every major global venue, including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken and HTX, have now independently reviewed the incident and fully restored FLOW trading, with Binance even removing its monitoring tag after a joint resolution on March 6. This confirms, according to Flow Foundation and Binance itself, that “all issues related to the security incident have been resolved”.

“A Commitment To Korea”

In Korea, Korbit (one of South Korea’s oldest regulated cryptocurrency exchanges, focused on KRW spot trading for major coins and retail users) conducted its own review, Korbit removed a trading-caution label on Feb. 27, and continues to support unrestricted FLOW trading. Flow Foundation expressed its special gratitude towards his Korean community continued support:

The Foundation recognizes the uncertainty the Korean community has faced since February, and is grateful for the patience and support of Korean holders through this process

The filing of the motion with the Seoul Central District Court is a step that “reflects the responsibility of the Foundation to advocate for the Korean community using every available pathway”, Flow Foundation claims. The Foundation has also assured that it “remains open to constructive conversation with all parties involved”.

Alongside this, The Foundation is pursuing new listings and expands self-custody options for local users while pushing ahead with its consumer DeFi roadmap, including on-chain automation, EVM‑equivalent infrastructure and an enshrined lending protocol, betting that long‑term adoption will outlast short‑term regulatory frictions in one market.

The Growth Of The Flow Ecosystem

While Korea wrestles over FLOW’s listing status, the underlying network is quietly behaving like a top‑tier consumer chain. Disney, the NBA, the NFL and Ticketmaster all continue to build on Flow, together distributing over 100 million NFTs to more than 13 million fans and generating billions in primary and secondary sales.

As Flow’s ecosystem momentum continues to build, the real question for investors watching the Korean injunction drama is whether a localized delisting can truly derail it.

Cover image from ChatGPT, FLOWUSD chart from Tradingview

Three deals last February ate up nearly half of all the money raised in crypto that month. Just three. That single fact tells you more about where crypto funding stands right now than the headline numbers do.

A Shrinking Pool Of Big Bets

According to data from research firm Messari, total crypto fundraising climbed almost 50% in the 12 months ending March 2026 compared to the year before.

But the number of individual deals fell 46% over the same period. Fewer rounds. Bigger checks. The average deal size hit $34 million — a 272% jump from a year earlier. The number of active investors dropped by about a third, down to 3,225.

Those three February standouts were Tether’s $200 million investment into online marketplace Whop, a $75 million Series B for sports prediction platform Novig led by Pantera Capital, and a $70 million Series B for ARQ, a Latin American fintech app built around stablecoins, backed by Sequoia Capital. Together, they accounted for 44% of the close to $800 million raised across the entire month.

It’s been an incredibly tough year for crypto fundraising. Most of the capital has flowed into larger strategic rounds

Outside of @dragonfly_xyz we haven’t seen many big VCs close new rounds (a16z and Paradigm active but not closed)

The industry needs some fresh capital pic.twitter.com/N8N58p6yvt

— Eric Turner (@eric_turner) March 8, 2026

Messari describes the pattern as capital concentration driven by late-stage and strategic mega-rounds. A handful of well-positioned companies are pulling in enormous sums while smaller players scramble for scraps.

Early-stage fundraising, reports say, remains active but scattered. Messari pointed to Interstate’s $1.5 million round, which pulled in more than 15 backers — a mix of firms like Bloccelerate VC and individual angel investors. That kind of fragmented, small-dollar activity is happening in volume. But it exists in a different world from the mega-rounds grabbing the headlines.

The VC Drought No One Is Talking About

Here is the part the headline buries. Messari CEO Eric Turner flagged a problem that goes beyond deal counts: outside of Dragonfly Capital, no major crypto venture firm has recently closed a new fund. Dragonfly closed a $650 million fund with a focus on real-world assets, but it stands largely alone. Turner put it bluntly — the industry needs fresh capital.

Crypto Investors Stay Active As New Funds Decline

That matters because venture funds have a shelf life. Firms raise a fund, deploy it over several years, then raise again. When new fund closes dry up, the money flowing into deals eventually does too.

The 50% year-over-year gain may look strong on paper, but it is being powered by existing pools that are not being replenished at the same rate.

Coinbase Ventures, QUBIC Labs, and Somnia ranked as the three most active crypto investors over the past three months, based on Messari data.

Featured image from KuCoin, chart from TradingView

Kraken parent Payward has partnered with Nasdaq to build what the companies describe as an “equities transformation gateway,” a new infrastructure layer designed to connect regulated tokenized equity markets with permissionless blockchain networks. For crypto markets, the significance is clear: one of the largest traditional market operators is now working directly with a crypto-native tokenization framework to move equities between institutional rails and DeFi environments.

The partnership centers on xStocks, Kraken’s tokenized equities product, which Payward said has surpassed $25 billion in total transaction volume less than a year after launch. More than $4 billion of that volume has been settled on-chain, and the framework now counts over 85,000 unique holders across supported networks, giving Kraken a sizable footprint as tokenized stocks move from concept toward market structure.

Nasdaq And Kraken Join Forces

Under the proposed setup, xStocks will power the permissionless infrastructure layer for Nasdaq’s upcoming issuer-sponsored equity token design. That design, which Nasdaq expects to become operational starting in the first half of 2027, is meant to preserve issuer control, existing regulatory frameworks, and the rights attached to the underlying shares while still allowing those assets to interact with blockchain-based financial systems.

In practical terms, the gateway is supposed to let eligible users swap tokenized equities between a regulated, permissioned market environment and open on-chain ecosystems. Payward said this would allow assets to move “fluidly” between institutional trading infrastructure and decentralized financial networks, while Payward Services handles KYC and AML onboarding for participants accessing the bridge through Kraken.

Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, framed the effort as a structural change to how equities can be used once they are placed on programmable rails. “Tokenization upgrades market infrastructure at the asset layer by allowing equities to exist as programmable financial instruments that can operate across both regulated capital markets and open blockchain networks,” he said. “Today most equities sit inside brokerage systems where their utility is largely limited to directional exposure and, in some cases, broker-specific margin arrangements.”

He argued that the current model leaves capital trapped inside siloed venues. “That structure fragments liquidity across venues and leaves a meaningful amount of capital static relative to its potential utility,” Sethi said. “With xStocks, our goal is to make equities natively interoperable across trading venues, financial applications and blockchain networks while preserving issuer rights, regulatory protections and price integrity.”

Sethi went further, tying tokenized equities to a broader capital-efficiency thesis that will be familiar to crypto derivatives traders. “Bringing equities onto programmable infrastructure expands how they can function within a portfolio,” he said. “Instead of simply representing exposure to a company, tokenized equities can operate as collateral within unified trading systems that support spot markets, cross-margin trading, derivatives, perpetual futures, and financing environments.”

That point sits at the heart of the announcement. Payward is not pitching tokenized stocks merely as wrappers for traditional shares, but as collateral that can move across trading, lending and hedging systems under a unified margin framework. In jurisdictions where xStocks are already available, Payward will also serve for an initial period as the primary settlement layer for transactions tied to Nasdaq’s equity token design.

At press time, the total crypto market cap stood at $2.32 trillion.

Bitcoin continues to struggle to reclaim the $70,000 level as volatility persists across the cryptocurrency market. After several attempts to recover from recent declines, price action remains fragile, reflecting a market environment where investors are still adjusting to shifting macro conditions and weakening momentum. As Bitcoin trades near the mid-$60,000 range, on-chain indicators suggest that selling pressure from short-term participants remains a key factor influencing the market structure.

According to analysis shared by on-chain analyst Axel Adler, recent data shows that short-term holders are continuing to realize losses at a sustained pace. The Bitcoin Short-Term Holder Spent Output Profit Ratio (STH SOPR) has remained below the neutral threshold of 1.0 for seven out of the last eight days. This metric compares the selling price of recently moved coins to their original purchase price, meaning readings below 1.0 indicate that investors are selling at a loss.

Between March 2 and March 9, STH SOPR crossed above 1.0 only once, briefly on March 4 when Bitcoin touched around $70,800. For the rest of the period, the indicator remained in loss-selling territory, with the weekly low recorded at 0.979 on March 6. As of March 9, the intraday average stands near 0.987, confirming persistent selling pressure among recent market entrants.

Short-Term Holder Supply Continues To Contract

The report also highlights important developments in the behavior of Bitcoin’s short-term holders, particularly through changes in the Short-Term Holder (STH) Supply metric. This indicator measures the total amount of BTC held by investors whose coins are younger than 155 days, offering insight into the activity of more reactive market participants.

Over the past two weeks, STH Supply has declined noticeably, falling from approximately 6.06 million BTC to around 5.92 million BTC. This represents a reduction of roughly 140,000 BTC within the cohort, signaling that a significant number of coins have either been sold or transitioned into longer holding periods. At the same time, the realized price of this group remains near $89,028, while Bitcoin’s market price is trading closer to $67,175.

This roughly 24% gap highlights the magnitude of unrealized losses currently affecting short-term holders. Such conditions often create psychological pressure, as investors who entered the market at higher prices face extended periods of negative returns.

The decline in STH Supply can reflect two parallel processes. In some cases, it represents capitulation as investors sell at a loss. In others, it reflects the natural maturation of coins into long-term holding categories. However, the large difference between realized price and market price suggests a potential supply overhang, as some holders may sell during future rallies to exit positions without losses.

Bitcoin Holds $67K After Sharp Correction From Cycle Highs

The 3-day chart shows Bitcoin trading near the $67,800 region after a sharp correction from the late-2025 highs above $120,000. The market structure shifted decisively at the start of 2026 when BTC lost momentum near the $110,000–$115,000 range and began forming a series of lower highs. This transition signaled a weakening trend and triggered an accelerated decline once price broke below the 50-period moving average (blue).

Selling pressure intensified during the first quarter of 2026, pushing Bitcoin quickly through the 100-period moving average (green). The breakdown confirmed a broader shift toward a corrective phase and eventually drove BTC toward the $62,000–$65,000 support area before buyers stepped in to stabilize price action.

Currently, Bitcoin is attempting to consolidate between $65,000 and $70,000, a range that now represents a critical short-term equilibrium zone. The 200-period moving average (red), positioned around the $88,000 region, remains far above the current price and acts as a major resistance level that bulls would need to reclaim to restore stronger long-term momentum.

Volume activity increased during the recent decline, suggesting that the correction involved significant distribution. For Bitcoin to reestablish a bullish structure, price would likely need to recover the $70,000–$75,000 range and reclaim the shorter moving averages.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

Data shows the Bitcoin price decline has left the majority of treasury companies in a state of loss, with 65% sitting more than 20% below cost basis.

Over 77% Of Bitcoin Treasury Firms Are Underwater On Their Buys

As pointed out by Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards in a new post on X, a high amount of Bitcoin treasury companies are sitting on losses at the moment. Treasury companies refer to firms that keep BTC on their balance sheet as a reserve asset. Companies of this type that are publicly traded do so to allow their investors indirect exposure to the digital asset via their stock.

The approach was popularized by Michael Saylor’s Strategy (previously MicroStrategy), which has amassed a humongous Bitcoin stack after its consistent accumulation over the years. During the past few months, BTC has observed a bearish shift, so these firms have naturally been impacted. Below is the chart shared by Edwards that shows the trend in the percentage of such companies that are underwater on their BTC buys.

As is visible in the graph, the total percentage of Bitcoin treasury firms in loss has gone up recently, with its value today sitting at 77.4%. Thus, it would appear that a strong majority of the companies have their holdings below their cost basis. This includes Strategy, which has an average acquisition level of $75,985, more than 12% above the current spot price.

A large percentage of the firms are in even worse losses than Strategy. In the same chart, data for the treasuries with holdings sitting more than 20% below their cost basis is also displayed. It would appear that this metric has a value of 65.6%, implying that less than 12% of the underwater companies are in losses smaller than 20%.

From the graph, it’s also apparent that the recent trend in the treasury firms resembles that of May 2022, when the bear market of that year was in full swing. Back then, the percentage figure eventually went on to touch even higher highs.

Like how public treasury companies provide for an indirect route into Bitcoin, there is also another such indirect means in the market available today: the spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These funds buy and hold the asset on behalf of their users, allowing them to get exposure to BTC’s price movements without having to deal with blockchain elements.

The bearish market shift also caused the US spot ETFs to face net outflows, as data from SoSoValue shows. During the last couple of weeks, however, inflows have poured into these funds, implying that demand for Bitcoin may be starting to return.

BTC Price

Bitcoin has retraced its recovery during the past few days as its price is back at the $67,600 mark.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) whale activity has intensified as major token holders shift their assets away from centralized exchanges (CEXs). Exchange reserves have plummeted to record lows, while the SHIB burn rate has accelerated dramatically, suggesting these investors may be preparing for significant market movements. These developments raise the question of whether the whales are positioning ahead of a potential market rebound or simply taking advantage of price declines to accumulate. 

Shiba Inu Whales Execute Massive Exchange Withdrawals

Shiba Inu has experienced a dramatic shift in whale behavior, as billions of SHIB tokens have recently moved away from crypto exchanges. This shift comes at a time when the broader cryptocurrency and meme coin market faces major headwinds, with Shiba Inu continuing to trade without clear directional momentum even as its price weakens. 

On March 8, on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant detected a sharp decline in exchange net flow, with a total outflow of 166.16 billion SHIB tokens across major exchanges, nearly double the previous day’s 88 billion tokens. Even earlier, on March 6, exchanges recorded a negative net flow of 170.53 billion tokens, indicating sustained large-scale withdrawals by whales.

Reports from WhaleScan on X have revealed that these whales have been active for a while now,  securing their positions ahead of any major market movement. Usually, when whales move tokens from exchanges, it means those tokens are being removed from circulation. This reduces the supply of tokens available for trading on markets, which can create upward price pressure if demand continues to rise. 

The recent whale movement also signals conviction in Shiba Inu despite its weakened fundamentals and recent sideways trading. Notably, WhaleScan has reported that due to the massive token exodus from exchanges, reserves on these crypto platforms have hit a record low of 80.9 trillion SHIB. This suggests that while weak hands are watching short-term price action, whales are accumulating, contributing to the decreasing supply. 

SHIB Deflationary Pressures Build As Burn Rate Spikes

In addition to declining reserves, Shiba Inu’s burn rate has accelerated dramatically, increasing by 27.4% just last week. Most notably, on March 6, the burn rate skyrocketed by over 53,950% in just 24 hours, reflecting a staggering increase in tokens being removed from circulation.

Combined with the billions of tokens that recently flowed out of exchanges, Whale Scan has noted that Shiba Inu’s supply crunch is becoming increasingly clear and difficult to ignore. Recent burn statistics paint the picture of token holders seeking deflation amid weakening price action.

Approximately 337 billion SHIB tokens were burned on March 3, last week, as the Shibarium ecosystem prepared for the anticipated FHE privacy upgrade for Q2 2026. These developments indicate that Shiba Inu’s deflationary pressure is building as supply continues to decrease on exchanges. 

Ripple, a crypto payments company has found itself at the center of fresh speculation once again after a large XRP transfer surfaced on-chain, catching the attention of market watchers and community members. The scale of the transfer and the fact that it was made outside Ripple’s established monthly escrow schedule have prompted questions across the crypto space, with analysts flagging the movement as “suspicious.” 

Ripple’s $260 Million XRP Transfer Raises Suspicions

A significant transfer by Ripple drew the attention of crypto analysts and market watchers last week after blockchain records from XRPScan captured the movement of 200 million XRP from a wallet owned by the crypto company. The transaction, valued at $280 million at the time, took place on Thursday, March 5, days after Ripple’s scheduled monthly escrow release. 

Notably, screenshots of the transaction began circulating on X, with many speculating about its nature and the possible reasons behind it. One market analyst, Xaif Crypto, was among the first to flag the movement publicly. 

Xaif Crypto shared a screenshot showing that $280.8 million was transferred in a single transaction, with validators confirming the transfer in the XRP Ledger (XRPL) under ledger number “102673499.” The analyst noted that the movement was worth watching, warning that the timing of the transfer felt too suspicious to dismiss without explanation.

He raised several possibilities for the transfer, questioning whether the transaction was for settlement purposes, a partnership, or another of Ripple’s many acquisitions. The analyst offered no concrete evidence for any of the scenarios he assumed; however, his post sparked significant debate within the XRP community. 

Community Debates Ripple’s Massive Transfer

Several members of the crypto community speculated that Ripple might be planning to sell the massive $280.8 million XRP transferred last week. If that were the case, it could have a significant impact on XRP’s already weakened price, particularly because Ripple remains the largest holder of the token. 

However, there is currently no evidence to support the claims that a sell-off may be imminent. Moreover, this is not the first time Ripple has been accused of possibly selling its holdings, especially during periods of broader market weakness and volatility. 

Other community members examined the transaction more closely, questioning the identity behind the designation tag that received the large transfer. However, on-chain data from XRPScan clarified that the funds were moved from a wallet identified as Ripple 1 to another labeled as Ripple 50, both of which are controlled by the company. 

This confirmed that no external party had received the XRP and the transfer was purely internal, with no actual outflow from Ripple’s holdings. As a result, some community members have reasoned that the quiet transfer was most likely related to internal supply rebalancing or an over-the-counter (OTC) settlement. 

The XRP price has shifted deeply into a bearish state following the weekend sideways performance, and its market dynamics are starting to experience a similar change. Amid persistent downside action, significant liquidity is evident around key levels and across the market.

Rising Liquidity Levels Put XRP In Focus

With the highly bearish and uncertain market landscape, XRP’s price is struggling below the $1.4 level. Despite waning price action, the leading altcoin is experiencing a major buildup in daily liquidity, which hints at a notable change in its market dynamics and investor activity.

Trading activity and order book depth have expanded across major cryptocurrency exchanges, an indication of the growing daily liquidity. Bird, a developer and market expert, points to a massive cluster of contracts stacked all the way up toward $4+, as indicated by heavy red liquidation lines on the chart.

According to the expert, those lines on the chart represent short positions from traders who are betting that XRP will continue to drop. Many of these investors are currently opening their short positions using leverage. At this point, two scenarios are highlighted by Bird to likely play out if the price begins to rise.

The trend could lead to some traders closing their short positions manually to take a small loss. When these traders close their shorts, they are required to buy back XRP, which might bolster the price higher. Meanwhile, the second scenario is where others experience robust liquidations.

If the price reaches their liquidation level, the crypto exchange closes its positions. Thus, these investors will buy XRP at a much higher price, forcing them to wipe out their positions. However, when this kicks off, the possibility of it creating a chain reaction becomes high.

Here, liquidations will trigger more buying, allowing the price to move higher and liquidate more shorts, which in the end forces even more buying. “That’s how you get those violent, fast XRP moves where the price suddenly explodes upward,” Bird added.

Currently, the chart shows that liquidity above appears large, implying it could create a massive squeeze toward new highs. However, this is likely if momentum starts and those levels start to get taken out. Furthermore, the market appears to be just waiting for the catalyst to turn things around, and when that happens, these moves tend to happen very fast.

Activity Rising Across The Network

Within this period, activity on the XRP Ledger seems to have picked up pace, recording significant transactions. Diana’s report shows that transaction activity on the ledger is rising again, with daily volume now sitting at around 2.5 million, suggesting that real network usage is coming in again. 

The recent figure represents a sharp increase from recent baselines on the monthly timeframe. As seen on the chart, this marks a more than 40% rise from early February, over 25% from early January, and more than double the 2025 slowdown lows.

An interesting part of this development is the statement from Flare Network, saying the platform might have something to do with the heightened XRP Ledger activity.

X Money, a payments platform developed by SpaceX CEO and Dogecoin (DOGE) enthusiast, Elon Musk, has officially launched its beta version with impressive financial perks. However, despite years of speculation and expectations that the tech billionaire would finally integrate Dogecoin into a mainstream financial product, the popular dog-themed meme coin remains absent from X Money. The omission raises questions about Musk’s genuine crypto integration strategy for the new payment platform.

Musk Launches X Money In Beta With Perks

Musk’s newly launched X Money platform has launched in beta with financial features that seem almost too good to be true. However, there’s no Dogecoin in sight. 

Bankless host and producer Josh Kale recently broke down key specifics of what’s being offered on X Money, and according to him, the numbers are staggering. In an X post, Kale noted that the deposits on X Money are earning up to 6% annual percentage yield (APY), which translates to approximately $15,000 per year in interest and $1,250 per month for those who max out the $250,000 insurance limit. 

He explained that the metal card linked to the payment service offers 3% cashback on all purchases, mirroring the benefits typically found in premium financial apps like Robinhood Gold. Another attractive feature of the new X Money platform is its integrated direct deposit feature. 

Kale emphasized that direct deposit support allows users to funnel their traditional paychecks into their accounts, while earnings from X can be deposited directly into the system. According to him, everything settles into one unified account where the money immediately begins earning the 6% APY and another 3% through cashback rewards when spending occurs. 

Dogecoin Absent From X Money Despite Years Of Speculation

Amid all the excitement surrounding X Money’s incentives and lucrative features, one major player has been conspicuously absent from the platform. Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency that Musk has long championed and incorporated into various ventures, appears to have no role in X Money’s initial design, as of writing. 

Despite years of speculation that Musk would eventually integrate DOGE into his financial products, the beta launch of X Money has revealed no connection with the popular dog-themed meme coin. This absence speaks volumes, given Musk’s well-documented history as a vocal Dogecoin advocate. 

Countless rumors and industry speculation initially suggested that X Money would be the platform that Musk would finally legitimize DOGE through mainstream adoption. There have even been talks that Musk’s endorsement of DOGE on X Money could trigger another bull run, similar to the surge witnessed in 2021 when the SpaceX CEO’s public support sparked unprecedented price momentum. Yet, the payment platform has primarily focused on fiat currency, with only limited cryptocurrency services currently available. 

Despite the clear absence of Dogecoin from X Money, supporters of the meme coin still harbor hope of future integration. Mason Versluis, a prominent crypto investor with over 250,000 followers on X, stated he would continue holding DOGE long-term, betting that Musk is strategically teasing X Money and that a major Dogecoin mention could be in the works.

Bitcoin continues to trade below the $70,000 level as global markets face renewed stress stemming from escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The cryptocurrency briefly attempted to stabilize after recent volatility, but uncertainty surrounding the ongoing conflict has kept risk sentiment fragile across financial markets. Investors are closely monitoring developments in the region as the situation around the Strait of Hormuz intensifies, raising concerns about disruptions to global energy supply and broader macroeconomic instability.

According to analysis shared by CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, the geopolitical shock has already had a visible impact on energy markets. Since the beginning of the year, oil prices have surged by more than 60%, a sharp move that reflects growing fears of supply disruptions as the conflict unfolds. The scale of the increase highlights how sensitive global markets remain to developments in one of the most strategically important energy corridors in the world.

The Strait of Hormuz plays a critical role in global energy logistics. Roughly 20% of the world’s daily oil exports pass through this narrow maritime route, while nearly 35% of all seaborne oil shipments depend on its uninterrupted operation. As tensions continue to rise, markets are beginning to price in the risk of prolonged instability, increasing volatility across both traditional and digital assets.

Rising Oil Prices Add Pressure To Bitcoin’s Macro Environment

Darkfost notes that any incident capable of blocking the Strait of Hormuz or disrupting maritime transit can immediately influence global oil prices. Because such a large share of global energy supply moves through this corridor, even the perception of risk tends to trigger rapid price adjustments in energy markets. The recent surge in oil prices, therefore, reflects not only current tensions but also the market’s attempt to price in potential supply disruptions.

The implications extend well beyond the energy sector. A sustained increase in oil prices tends to feed directly into inflation through higher transportation, production, and logistics costs. Financial markets are particularly sensitive to these supply shocks because they can alter expectations for monetary policy and interest rates, tightening financial conditions across the global economy.

For highly volatile assets such as Bitcoin, this type of macro environment has historically been unfavorable. Periods when oil prices regain strong upward momentum have often coincided with late-cycle phases in Bitcoin’s market structure, when risk appetite begins to fade, and investors rotate capital toward more defensive assets.

These dynamics also reflect rising geopolitical tensions, which rarely support aggressive risk-taking in speculative markets. In this context, Darkfost argues that policymakers, including President Donald Trump, have strong incentives to contain the energy shock quickly, as prolonged oil price acceleration could amplify financial instability across global markets.

Bitcoin Consolidates Near $67K After Sharp Correction

The weekly chart shows Bitcoin stabilizing near the $67,000 region after a sharp correction from the cycle highs above $110,000 reached in late 2025. The recent decline accelerated during the first months of 2026, pushing price below the 50-week moving average (blue) and confirming a shift toward a more defensive market structure. Momentum weakened significantly once BTC lost the $90,000–$95,000 region, which had previously acted as a key support zone during the later stages of the rally.

The current price action suggests Bitcoin is attempting to establish a temporary consolidation range around $65,000–$70,000. This zone now acts as an important short-term equilibrium area where buyers and sellers appear to be reassessing market direction after the rapid sell-off.

From a structural perspective, the 100-week moving average (green) remains slightly above the current price and is beginning to flatten, indicating that the broader uptrend is losing momentum. Meanwhile, the 200-week moving average (red), currently positioned near the mid-$50,000 region, continues to slope upward and may represent a critical long-term support if selling pressure intensifies.

Volume activity has increased during the recent decline, suggesting that the correction involved significant distribution. For Bitcoin to regain stronger bullish momentum, price would likely need to reclaim the $70,000–$75,000 region and stabilize above the shorter-term moving averages.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

Over the weekend, the cryptocurrency market saw heightened bearishness, with Bitcoin’s price pulling back sharply and dropping below $70,000. With the BTC price shifting toward a downward trend, the percentage of supply held at a loss has surged, reaching a crucial level.

Growing Share Of Bitcoin Holders Face Losses

After the sudden weekend pullback, Bitcoin market dynamics are experiencing a shift that might shape its direction in the coming days or weeks. As its current decline intensifies, BTC is still under pressure to decline, driving an increasing percentage of its circulating supply into the loss area.

Darkfost, a market expert and verified author at CryptoQuant, recently reported on the X platform that roughly one of two investors is currently sitting at a loss. More specifically, this is the amount of Bitcoin that is kept in each Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO).

This suggests that more Bitcoin is now held at prices lower than their purchase price, indicating how short-term market participants are experiencing increased stress. Rising supply in losses has frequently emerged close to times of market stabilization and is thought to be a crucial sign of market sentiment.

On-chain data currently shows that about 43% of the supply kept in UTXO is in loss, demonstrating the extent to which unrealized losses have propagated throughout the network. In the past, the histogram illustrates that about 75% of the Bitcoin supply has been profitable. The expert highlighted that this level often serves as a rough boundary between a bull trend and a market correction. 

Typically, when bull trends are confirmed, they accelerate once the market moves above that level. However, corrections usually start to take shape when a larger portion of the supply starts to lose money. With 57% of supply in profit, the market is currently at levels more similar to those observed during deep bear market stages.

Bitcoin is starting to show signs of stabilization here, which aligns with the ongoing consolidation. Meanwhile, the market may still decline in order to further shake out long-term holders. At the same time, the share of supply in loss could be pushed toward around 45%, marking a level that has been reached in previous bear markets.

BTC Recovering On The ETF Front

Even in the volatile landscape, fresh data from CryptoRus shows that Bitcoin is still witnessing a post-ATH supply reset. During this period, BTC reserves on cryptocurrency exchanges have been declining since late 2024, which means fewer coins are left in these trading platforms. In addition, this trend signals reduced selling as investors choose self-custody wallets, underscoring long-term holdings. 

CryptoRus noted that Spot BTC ETF holdings plummeted after Bitcoin reached a new all-time high, a situation that probably contributed to the recent price correction as demand from institutional investors fades. However, these ETF outflows are beginning to stabilize, signaling a crucial shift in demand.

If the ETF starts to record positive flows again while crypto exchanges’ reserves continue to drop, the balance of supply and demand for BTC might quickly tighten.

The traditional banking sector in the United States is reportedly intensifying its opposition to crypto firms and considering a potential lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) over federal licenses granted to these companies. 

According to a Monday report by The Guardian, the Bank Policy Institute (BPI) is evaluating its legal options after the OCC did not respond favorably to repeated warnings from influential banking groups and state regulators concerning its reinterpretation of federal licensing rules.

Banks Demand Action Against OCC’s Crypto Licenses

Since President Donald Trump took office, the OCC has streamlined the process for crypto firms and fintech startups to acquire and operate under a national bank trust charter, which allows them to serve customers in all 50 states. 

This resulted in conditional bank charters being approved for five major crypto firms, including Ripple, Circle (CRCL), BitGo, Paxos, and Fidelity, back in December of last year. 

However, traditional banks express concern that this approval effectively releases these firms into the broader financial system without the stringent oversight and controls that fully-fledged banks undergo. 

In October, the Bank Policy Institute publicly urged the regulator to reject license applications from notable crypto and blockchain companies, including Circle, Ripple, and the London-based payment firm Wise. 

The BPI, which counts banking leaders such as Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan, Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs among its board members, cautioned that granting lighter regulatory frameworks to firms offering bank-like services could blur the lines defining what constitutes a “bank.” 

This, they argued, could exacerbate systemic risk and undermine the integrity of the national banking charter. Currently, the BPI is contemplating whether to initiate legal action against the OCC.

Smaller Banks And State Regulators Also Push Back

The Guardian also reported that the OCC’s approach to crypto has also faced resistance from smaller banking groups and state regulators.

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors, which represents regulators from all 50 states, sent a letter to the OCC last month arguing that granting regulatory approval to crypto and payment firms would compromise competition, consumer protection, and financial stability.

Similar concerns were echoed by the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), an organization representing approximately 5,000 smaller banks. 

The ICBA warned that the current proposals to issue licenses to crypto companies would create a “loophole” in core banking regulations and raise serious public policy concerns about consumer safety and the overall stability of the financial services sector.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com