Decentral Block Post

Non-fungible token (NFT) project Gutter Cat Gang (GCG) saw a rocky token launch of its GANG token on Apechain on March 31, attributed to a “technical issue” by a third party, though others pointed to reportedly low interest in the token.

While GCG didn’t confirm these figures, it did state in a March 31 Discord post that no GANG tokens were distributed due to it encountering a “technical issue” by a third party. 

“Bad news,” the chief architect of GCG, “Yugen,” wrote on GCG’s Discord channel. “The contract is stopping us from the 100% liquidity claim day 1,” which Yugen said is preventing participants from cashing in and out.

“We’ve tried to fix it for at least an hour and no success,” said Yugen, who added:

“You will, be getting your $GANG. But not today. I will come back with a new exact date and time.”

Source: GCG/ Discord

The token sale was described as a “fumble” by X user and NFT enthusiast “Easy,” who pointed out that the team locked up 100% of the token supply in the vesting contract — running contrary to the GCG’s tokenomics plan.

Under that plan, 12.5% of GCG NFTs and 15% of Seed Round allocations were meant to unlock instantly, with the rest of the tokens scheduled to vest daily over the next 18 months.

A recent Fidelity Digital Assets report questioned whether Bitcoin’s price had already seen its cyclical “blow off top” or if BTC (BTC) is on the cusp of another “acceleration phase.” 

According to Fidelity analyst Zack Wainwright, Bitcoin’s acceleration phases are characterized by “high volatility and high profit,” similar to the price action seen when BTC pushed above $20,000 in December 2020.  

While Bitcoin’s year-to-date return reflects an 11.4% loss, and the asset is down nearly 25% from its all-time high, Wainwright said the recent post-acceleration phase performance aligns with BTC’s average drawdowns, compared with previous market cycles. 

Bitcoin historical downside after acceleration phases. Source: Fidelity Digital Assets Research

Wainwright suggests that Bitcoin is still in an acceleration phase but is moving closer to the completion of the cycle, as March 3 represented day 232 of the period. Previous peaks lasted slightly longer before a corrective period set in. 

Losses to crypto scams, exploits, and hacks dropped to just $28.8 million in March, far from February’s spike to $1.5 billion in losses after the Bybit hack.

Code vulnerabilities accounted for the most losses, at over $14 million, while wallet compromises were used to steal over $8 million, blockchain security firm CertiK said in an April 1 post to X.

The most significant loss for the month was the $13 million March 25 smart contract exploit of the decentralized lending protocol Abracadabra.money.

After accounting for returned funds, a total of $28.8 million was stolen through exploits, hacks and scams in March. Source: CertiK

In a separate March 27 report, the blockchain security firm said, “The attacker was able to borrow funds, liquidate themselves, then borrow funds again without repaying them.”

Vanuatu has passed laws to regulate digital assets and provide a licensing regime for crypto companies wanting to operate in the Pacific island nation, which a government regulatory consultant has called “very stringent.” 

The local parliament passed the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act on March 26, giving crypto licensing authority to the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) along with powers to enforce the Financial Action Task Force’s Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorism Financing and Travel Rule standards with crypto firms.

The VFSC has sweeping investigation and enforcement powers under the laws, with penalties stipulating fines of up to 250 million vatu ($2 million) and up to 30 years in prison.

“God help any scammer that goes into Vanuatu because you’ll go to jail,” Loretta Joseph, who consulted with the regulator on the laws, told Cointelegraph. “The laws are very stringent.”

“The thing is, we don’t want another FTX debacle,” she added, referring to the once Bahamas-based crypto exchange that collapsed in 2022 due to massive fraud committed by its co-founders, Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, along with other executives.

The hacker behind the $9.6 million exploit of the decentralized money-lending protocol zkLend in February claims they’ve just fallen victim to a phishing website impersonating Tornado Cash, resulting in the loss of a significant portion of the stolen funds.

In a message sent to zkLend through Etherscan on March 31, the hacker claimed to have lost 2,930 Ether (ETH) from the stolen funds to a phishing website posing as a front-end for Tornado Cash. 

In a series of March 31 transfers, the zkLend thief sent 100 Ether at a time to an address named Tornado.Cash: Router, finishing with three deposits of 10 Ether.

“Hello, I tried to move funds to a Tornado, but I used a phishing website, and all the funds have been lost. I am devastated. I am terribly sorry for all the havoc and losses caused,” the hacker said.

The hacker behind the zkLend exploit claims to have lost most of the funds to a phishing website posing as a front-end for Tornado Cash. Source: Etherscan

The founder of the recently hacked decentralized finance protocol SIR.trading has made an emotional plea to the attacker, asking them to return around 70% of the stolen customer funds otherwise, the protocol will not survive.

“Here is my proposal, keep $100k as a fair share for your critical bug find, and return the remaining,” SIR.trading’s pseudonymous founder “Xatarrer” wrote in a March 31 onchain message to the attacker following the $355,000 hack on March 30.

“We’ll call it even. No legal games, no drama,” they added. 

Xatarrer said that SIR.trading was built on the back of four years of late-night coding and $70,000 from friends and believers without any additional venture capital funding.

“We grew to $400k TVL organically without any advertising. If you keep 100% of the funds, there is no chance for us to survive.”

Xatarrer even praised the hacker for the sophisticated hack, stating that it was “almost beautiful if it wasn’t for all the funds people lost.”

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is calling for legislative changes in the US to allow stablecoin holders to earn “onchain interest” on their holdings.

In a March 31 post on X, Armstrong argued that crypto companies should be treated similarly to banks and be “allowed to, and incentivized to, share interest with consumers.” He added that allowing onchain interest would be “consistent with a free market approach.”

Source: Brian Armstrong

There are currently two competing pieces of federal stablecoin legislation working their way through the legislative process in the US: the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act, and the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.

In reference to the stablecoin legislation, Armstrong said the US had an opportunity to “level the playing field and ensure these laws pave a way for all regulated stablecoins to deliver interest directly to consumers, the same way a savings or checking account can.” 

A new semi-permissionless privacy tool, Privacy Pools, has launched on Ethereum, allowing users to transact privately while proving their funds aren’t linked to illicit activities.

The privacy tool, launched by Ethereum builders 0xbow.io on March 31, earned support from the likes of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who not only backed the privacy project but made one of the first deposits on the platform. 

0xbow.io said that it implements “Association Sets” to batch transactions into the anonymous Privacy Pools and that a screening test is conducted to ensure that those transactions aren’t linked to illicit actors, such as hackers, phishers and scammers.

gm Ethereum ☀️

It is our great honor to announce the mainnet launch of Privacy Pools!

ETH users can now achieve on-chain privacy, while still dissociating from illicit funds

It is now up to all of us to Make Privacy Normal Again 🫡

More info in this thread 👇 pic.twitter.com/3nJO0AxoD1

— 0xbow.io (@0xbowio) March 31, 2025

The Association Sets are “dynamic” — meaning that if a transaction is admitted but later found to be illicit, it can be removed from the set without disrupting any other deposits, 0xbow.io said.

North Korean cyberwarfare attacks on the cryptocurrency industry are growing in sophistication and in the number of groups involved in such criminal activity, crypto firm Paradigm warns in report titled “Demystifying the North Korean Threat.”

North Korea-originated cyberattacks range from assaults on exchanges and social engineering attempts to phishing attacks and complex supply chain hijacks, the report says. In some cases, the attacks take a year to play out, with North Korean operatives biding their time.

The United Nations estimates that between 2017 and 2023, North Korean hackers have netted the country $3 billion. The total haul has skyrocketed in 2024 and this year, with successful attacks against crypto exchanges WazirX and Bybit, which together netted attackers around $1.7 billion.

Paradigm writes that the North Korean organizations orchestrating these attacks number at least five: Lazarus Group, Spinout, AppleJeus, Dangerous Password, and TraitorTrader. There is also a coalition of North Korean operatives who pose as IT workers, infiltrating tech companies around the world.

Related: Typosquatting in crypto, explained: How hackers exploit small mistakes

Hyperliquid is one of the current bull market’s standout DeFi success stories. With daily trading volumes having reached $4 billion, the exchange has become the largest decentralized (DEX) derivatives platform, commanding nearly 60% of the market.

Hyperliquid still lags far behind Binance Futures’ $50 billion daily average volume, but the trend suggests that it has started to encroach on centralized exchange (CEX) territory.

What’s behind Hyperliquid’s parabolic rise?

Launched in 2023, Hyperliquid gained popularity in April 2024 after launching spot trading. This, combined with its aggressive listing strategy and easy-to-use onchain user interface, helped to lure in a wave of new users.

The platform’s real explosion, however, came in November 2024, following the launch of its HYPE (HYPE) token. Hyperliquid’s trading volume skyrocketed, and it now boasts over 400,000 users and more than 50 billion trades processed, according to data from Dune.

Hyperliquid cumulative trades and users. Source: Dune

Two Republican candidates supported by at least a combined $1.5 million in media spending from a cryptocurrency-backed political action committee (PAC) are making final pleas to voters turning out for special elections in Florida congressional districts.

On April 1, voters in Florida’s 1st and 6th congressional districts will head to the polls to decide whether to keep Republican representatives or hand over control to Democrats for the first time in roughly 30 years. The Defend American Jobs PAC — an affiliate of Fairshake, which poured more than $131 million in the 2024 US election cycle — has spent a combined $1.5 million on media for Republicans Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine, running against Democrats Gay Valimont and Josh Weil, respectively.

Source: Gay Valimont for Congress

Though the Florida congressional districts have historically favored Republican candidates, Democrats Valimont and Weil both raised significantly more than Patronis and Fine as of March — a reported roughly $6.5 million and $10 million against the Republicans’ $1 million and $1 million, respectively. These amounts do not reflect the media buys from PACs like Defend American Jobs or Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s America PAC, which spent more than $20,000 for texting services in the two congressional elections.

As of March 31, there were four vacant seats in the US House of Representatives following two Democratic lawmakers dying and two Republicans resigning in anticipation of positions with the Trump administration. If Democrats were to keep their existing two seats and flip the two in Florida, Republicans’ majority in the chamber would narrow to 217 to 218 — not changing majority control, but likely influencing how the House would consider legislation and policy.

Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped from $87,241 to $81,331 between March 28 and March 31, erasing gains from the previous 17 days. The 6.8% correction liquidated $230 million in bullish BTC futures positions and largely followed the declining momentum in the US stock market, as the S&P 500 futures fell to their lowest levels since March 14.

Despite struggling to hold above $82,000 on March 31, four key indicators point to strong investor confidence and potential signs of Bitcoin decoupling from traditional markets in the near future.

S&P 500 index futures (left) vs. Bitcoin/USD (right). Source: TradingView / Cointelegraph

Traders fear the global trade war’s impact on economic growth, especially after the March 26 announcement of a 25% US tariff on foreign-made vehicles. According to Yahoo News, Goldman Sachs strategists cut the firm’s year-end S&P 500 target for the second time, lowering it from 6,200 to 5,700. Similarly, Barclays analysts reduced their forecast from 6,600 to 5,900.

Regardless of the reasons behind investors’ heightened risk perception, gold surged to a record high above $3,100 on March 31. The $21 trillion asset is widely considered the ultimate hedge, especially when traders prioritize alternatives over cash. Meanwhile, the US dollar has weakened against a basket of foreign currencies, with the DXY index dropping to 104.10 from 107.60 in February.

Venture capital funding continued to pour into the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry in March, even as market commentators sensationalized the end of the bull market amid Bitcoin’s 30% retracement. 

VC flows are considered a vital sign for the blockchain industry, with higher deal activity indicative of strong investor appetite and growing innovation in the space.

As Cointelegraph reported, blockchain startups raised a combined $1.1 billion in February alone, with projects spanning decentralized finance, decentralized physical infrastructure networks and payments attracting the lion’s share of capital flows. 

Despite fear and trepidation in the crypto market, February was a strong month for blockchain VC. Source: The TIE

Early signs suggest that March was arguably a stronger month for crypto VC deals, as evidenced by the growing size of the investment rounds and the number of investors participating. 

Bitcoin (BTC) price dipped below its ascending channel pattern over the weekend, dropping to $81,222 on March 31. The top cryptocurrency is set to register its worst quarterly return since 2018, but a group of whale entities are mirroring a 2020-era bull run signal.

Bitcoin 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

In a recent quick take post, onchain analyst Mignolet explained that “market-leading” whale addresses holding between 1,000 to 10,000 BTC exhibited a high correlation with Bitcoin price. The analyst said that these entities are resilient to market volatility and show accumulation behavior, mirroring patterns of the 2020 bull cycle.

Bitcoin whale accumulation analysis. Source: CryptoQuant

In the current bull market, this distinct pattern emerged three times and is marked by Bitcoin whales’ rapid BTC accumulation, even as retail investors doubted a positive directional bias.

The top Democrat on the US House Financial Services Committee issued a warning after reports suggested that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s “government efficiency” team would be given access to data and systems at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In a March 31 notice, Representative Maxine Waters reiterated a warning from a letter she sent to acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda in February in response to the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s reported access to sensitive SEC information. DOGE is an advisory body to US President Donald Trump rather than an official department established by Congress. According to the California lawmaker, giving Musk such access would have “dire consequences” for US investors and present conflicts of interest.

“[...] as a result of this takeover, the agency is at greater risk of data breaches and market disruptions, both of which could result in investors, including retirees, losing their hard-earning savings,” said Waters, adding:

“Not only that, Musk, who has been the subject of repeated SEC enforcement actions for breaking securities laws and regulations, can benefit his own businesses and harm his competitors by using his access to confidential business information and his influence over the agency’s operations.”

Waters’ warning followed multiple reports suggesting that Musk’s DOGE team contacted the SEC and would be given access to the commission’s systems and data. Since joining the Trump administration as a “special government employee,” Musk has spearheaded efforts to fire staff at multiple government agencies, including the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the watchdog Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Many of DOGE’s actions face lawsuits in federal court from parties alleging the group’s actions were illegal or unconstitutional.

Related: Can the law keep up with Musk and DOGE?

Bitcoin (BTC) fell 4.29% last week, but the bulls started a recovery by pushing the price back above $83,500 on March 31. However, traders are likely to remain on edge until April 2, when new US trade tariffs are set to kick in. The event could trigger a sharp, knee-jerk reaction on either side of the market.

Traders remain cautious in the near term, but a minor positive is that lower levels are attracting buyers. Cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) witnessed modest inflows of $226 million last week, CoinShares reported on March 31. 

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

Strategy took advantage of the pullback in Bitcoin by adding 22,048 Bitcoin for $1.92 billion at an average price of $86,969. After the latest purchase, the company holds 528,185 Bitcoin bought for roughly $35.63 billion.

Could Bitcoin break above the stiff overhead resistance, pulling select altcoins higher? Let’s analyze the charts to find out.

The US dollar could lose its status as the world’s reserve currency to Bitcoin or other digital assets if the United States does not get its debt under control, according to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.

Fink wrote in his Annual Chairman’s Letter to Investors that “decentralized finance is an extraordinary innovation” that makes “markets faster, cheaper, and more transparent.” But “that same innovation could undermine America’s economic advantage if investors begin seeing Bitcoin as a safer bet than the dollar.”

According to Trading Economics, the US debt equaled 122.3% of the country’s gross domestic product in 2023. That is a considerably higher percentage than the 105% observed in 2018. Moody’s Ratings retains the US’s AAA credit rating but has downgraded its outlook to negative, indicating a possible future rating downgrade.

The US’s Joint Economic Committee wrote that as of March 5, the country’s gross national debt was $36.2 trillion, growing $1.8 trillion, or roughly $4.9 billion per day, over the past year and $12.8 trillion in the past five years. The Bipartisan Policy Center warned this month that the US could default on its debt as early as July 2025.

Bitcoin (BTC) has been branded as a safe haven for investors who are looking to avoid the perils of fiat currency, including inflation. Some believe that the end of the debt ceiling suspension could lead to a Bitcoin price boom. Others think, as Fink has stated, that the dangers of the national debt could increase Bitcoin adoption.

On March 19, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced that the company had been cleared by the US Securities and Exchange Commission regarding an alleged $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering. Following the news, XRP (XRP) surged to $2.59, but the gains gradually faded as the cryptocurrency experienced a 22% correction, dropping to $2.02 by March 31.

Investors worry that a deeper price correction is imminent, as XRP is trading 39% below its all-time high of $3.40 from Jan. 16. Additionally, XRP perpetual futures (inverse swaps) indicate strong demand for leveraged bearish bets. 

Demand for bearish bets increased amid XRP’s decline

The funding rate turns positive when longs (buyers) seek more leverage and negative when demand for shorts (sellers) dominates. In neutral markets, it typically fluctuates between 0.1% and 0.3% per seven days to offset exchange risks and capital costs. Conversely, negative funding rates are considered strong bearish signals.

XRP futures 8-hour funding rate. Source: Laevitas.ch

Currently, the XRP funding rate stands at -0.14% per eight hours, translating to a 0.3% weekly cost. This indicates that bearish traders are paying for leverage, reflecting weak investor confidence in XRP. However, traders should also assess XRP margin demand to determine whether the bearish sentiment extends beyond futures markets.

Opinion by: Genny Ngai and Will Roth of Morrison Cohen LLP

Since taking office, the Trump administration has designated several drug and violent cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). US President Donald Trump has also called for the “total elimination” of these cartels and the like. These executive directives are not good developments for the cryptocurrency industry. On their face, these mandates appear focused only on criminal cartels. Make no mistake: These executive actions will cause unforeseen collateral damage to the digital asset community. Crypto actors, including software developers and investors, may very well get caught in the crosshairs of aggressive anti-terrorism prosecutions and follow-on civil lawsuits.

Increased threat of criminal anti-terrorism investigations 

The biggest threat stemming from Trump’s executive order on cartels is the Department of Justice (DOJ). Almost immediately after President Trump called for the designation of cartels as terrorists, the DOJ issued a memo directing federal prosecutors to use “the most serious and broad charges,” including anti-terrorism charges, against cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

This is a new and serious development for prosecutors. Now that cartels are designated as terrorist organizations, prosecutors can go beyond the traditional drug and money-laundering statutes and rely on criminal anti-terrorism statutes like 18 U.S.C. § 2339B — the material-support statute — to investigate cartels and anyone who they believe “knowingly provides material support or resources” to the designated cartels. 

Why should the crypto industry be concerned with these developments? Because “material support or resources” is not just limited to providing physical weapons to terrorists. “Material support or resources” is broadly defined as “any property, tangible or intangible, or service.” Anyone who knowingly provides anything of value to a designated cartel could now conceivably violate § 2339B. 

April 2 is shaping up to be a pivotal moment in global trade policy. US President Donald Trump has dubbed it “Liberation Day,” in reference to when new tariffs—exceeding 20%—will hit imports from over 25 countries. According to The Wall Street Journal, the administration is also weighing “broader and higher tariffs” beyond this initial wave, meaning that April 2nd is unlikely to be the end of economic uncertainty.

Markets reacted negatively over the past week, with the S&P 500 dropping 3.5%, while the Nasdaq 100 slid 5%, underscoring investor anxiety. At the same time, gold surged 4%, reaching a record high above $3,150 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.2%, even as recent inflation data showed an uptick in some of the core components. 

The markets’ is a classic sign of a risk-off environment—one that often precedes economic contraction.

Throughout the volatility, Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 6%—relatively modest compared to its historical volatility, but this does not make it a reliable hedge just yet, although its growing role as a reserve asset suggests this could shift over time.

Bonds and gold lead the flight to safety.

In periods of macroeconomic and geopolitical instability, investors typically seek yield-bearing and historically stable assets. Both US government bonds’ decreasing yield and gold prices’ increase signal an increasing demand for these types of assets.

The market for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) is growing by the day, but contrary to belief, the biggest hurdle to broader adoption isn’t regulation, but a lack of dedicated secondary markets for buying and selling tokenized securities, according to Prometheum founder and co-CEO Aaron Kaplan. 

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Kaplan drew attention to ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood’s recent appearance at the Digital Asset Summit in New York, where she said that a lack of regulatory clarity is preventing her company from tokenizing its funds.

“Contrary to popular belief, however, the hurdle isn’t ambiguous regulation,” said Kaplan, who noted that the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) special purpose broker-dealer framework and Alternative Trading System (ATS) licensing “already provide a regulated pathway for issuing blockchain-native funds that offer efficiency advantages over traditional issuances.”

“The real bottleneck lies in the limited market infrastructure for delivering tokenized securities trading to a broad investor base,” he said.

Excluding stablecoins, the value of tokenized RWAs has increased by nearly 8% to $19.5 billion over the past 30 days, according to industry data. Private credit and US Treasury debt remain the two largest use cases. 

Bitcoin (BTC) ticked higher at the March 31 Wall Street open as traders stayed risk-averse on the short-term BTC price outlook.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin RSI teases bearish continuation

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed local highs of $83,914 on Bitstamp, with BTC/USD up 1.5% on the day.

With hours to go until the quarterly candle close, Bitcoin saw some much-needed relief, even as US stocks opened lower.

Market momentum remained tied to upcoming US trade tariffs set to go live on April 2, with gold also slipping after touching fresh all-time highs of $3,128 per ounce.

Opinion by: Igor Zemtsov, chief technology officer at TBCC

Following “Libragate,” memecoin prices crashed, with their market cap falling nearly 60% from 2025’s highs. But meme tokens, dead? They’ve got more lives than a cat on caffeine.

Despite the chaos, memecoins were still holding a $47.9-billion market cap as of March 10. It’s not exactly spare change. Meanwhile, degens are still out here “buying the dip” like it’s a Black Friday sale, convinced that absurdly named tokens like Unicorn Fart Dust, Fartcoin and Buttcoin will print them a 100x profit before year’s end.

Some call it irrational. Others call it degeneracy. But when has that ever stopped anyone in crypto?

Down bad, but not dead yet

Sure, memecoins aren’t exactly outshining Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) or Solana (SOL) right now. They’ve been getting absolutely obliterated. Prices have tanked, liquidity has dried up, and traders who thought they’d be sipping cocktails on a yacht by now are busy coping in Telegram groups.

March was a rough month for markets — US President Donald Trump’s uncertain tariff policies created volatility in Bitcoin and crypto markets; meanwhile, decentralized finance (DeFi) struggled with security concerns.

Retaliatory tariffs on US goods in China and the European Union hit markets on March 10 and 12, respectively. Amid the tête-à-tête between the United States and its largest trade partners, Bitcoin managed to recover on March 24 to $88,0000 before slumping down again to around $82,000 at the time of writing.

A number of state legislatures are considering Bitcoin- and crypto-related legislation, from bills that would establish a Bitcoin reserve to crypto tax forces and exploring pension fund investment. Such bills moved forward, either in voting or in committee, in 13 US states this month.

The cool-down in memecoin markets has major revenue implications for Solana. After reaching eye-watering highs of $34 billion in January, Solana volumes on decentralized exchanges fell drastically. In March, volumes rarely exceeded $1 billion. 

Here’s March in numbers.

BNB Chain, the EVM-compatible network tied to cryptocurrency exchange Binance, is experiencing a resurgence in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and memecoin spaces just as some of its rivals face an identity crisis.

For most of 2024 and into early 2025, Solana dominated the retail DeFi narrative. It became the network of choice for memecoins tied to celebrities, influencers and political figures, including US President Donald Trump.

However, the ecosystem took a reputational hit after Argentine President Javier Milei jumped on the memecoin bandwagon. His associated project, “Libra,” was accused of insider trading. The controversy dented trust in Solana’s memecoin sector and opened the door for competitors.

BNB Chain has seized the moment, capturing displaced memecoin volume. The chain has its own memecoin platform, Four.Meme — comparable to Solana’s Pump.fun — and introduced daily competitions to promote new projects and subsidize their liquidity. Some of these memecoins have even gone on to secure listings on Binance itself.

This momentum is clearly reflected in the trading volume of the network’s top decentralized exchange (DEX), PancakeSwap. In a two-week stretch from March 15, PancakeSwap led all EVM chains’ DEX volume on nine separate days, according to Dune Analytics data.

XRP (XRP) has lost more than 40% since hitting a multi-year high near $3.40 in January, and onchain data suggests the downtrend could deepen in the weeks ahead.

“Denial” preceding past 75-90% XRP crashes is back

XRP’s Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) data from Glassnode suggests the token may be heading for another extended downturn.

The metric, which gauges the aggregate unrealized gains or losses of XRP holders, has historically served as a reliable barometer of potential trend reversals. In past market cycles, NUPL has peaked in the so-called “euphoria” zone just before major price tops.

In 2018, XRP soared above $3.00 as NUPL signaled extreme optimism, only to collapse 90% to below $0.30 as sentiment deteriorated through “denial” and into “capitulation.”

XRP NUPL historical performance chart. Source: Glassnode

Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace X2Y2 announced it is shutting down after three years of operation.

According to a March 31 announcement, X2Y2 will shut down on April 30, with the team switching its focus to an artificial intelligence project. The team shared its enthusiasm for the rapidly growing sector:

“It’s a pivot. Over the last 12 months, we’ve been diving deep into AI—hands down the biggest paradigm shift we’ll see in our lifetimes—and how it can transform crypto. We’re building something new.“

Token Terminal data shows that X2Y2 saw $53.6 million worth of trading volume over the last 365 days. While this is a far cry from market leader Blur with its $3 billion worth of trading volume, it still awards the protocol fourth place behind Blur, OpenSea and Immutable.

X2Y2 365-day trading volume chart. Source: Token Terminal

Charu Sethi, president at NFT-focused Polkadot and Kusama chain Unique Network, said the decision is not a sign of decline in the NFT market. She told Cointelegraph:

Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH) has lost almost half its value two months after Eric Trump, son of US President Donald Trump, told his 5.7 million followers that it was a “great time” to add the biggest altcoin to their portfolios.

Source: X/Eric Trump

President Trump spoils son’s bullish ETH outlook

As of March 31, Ether was trading for as low as $1,820, down approximately 40% since Eric Trump’s bullish tweet.

ETH/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Meanwhile, Ether’s crypto market share has plunged from 10.28% at the time of Eric Trump’s X post to 8.39% as of March 31, the lowest since 2020.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy bought nearly $2 billion of Bitcoin, taking advantage of a recent price dip despite growing market concerns tied to US President Donald Trump’s upcoming tariff announcement.

Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, acquired 22,048 Bitcoin (BTC) for $1.92 billion at an average price of $86,969 per Bitcoin.

The company now holds over 528,000 Bitcoin acquired for $35.63 billion at an average price of $67,458 per BTC, announced Saylor, the co-founder of Strategy, in a March 31 X post.

Source: Michael Saylor

Strategy is the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder and surpassed the 500,000 Bitcoin holdings milestone on March 24, days after Saylor hinted at an upcoming Bitcoin buy as the company announced the pricing of its latest tranche of preferred stock on March 21.

Metaplanet — a Japanese firm following in Strategy’s footsteps by focusing on accumulating Bitcoin — issued 2 billion Japanese yen ($13.3 million) of bonds to buy more BTC.

According to a March 31 filing, Metaplanet issued the zero-interest bonds by allocating them via its Evo Fund to fuel its Bitcoin purchases. Investors will be allowed to redeem the newly-issued securities at full face value by Sept. 30.

The firm’s CEO, Simon Gerovich, wrote in an X post that the company was taking advantage of the recent downturn in Bitcoin prices. The announcement comes as Bitcoin changed hands for about $82,000 at the time of writing, down 25% from its all-time high of over $109,000.

Related: Metaplanet share price rises 4,800% as company stacks BTC

Source: Simon Gerovich