Decentral Block Post

The crypto-friendly Custodia Bank has worked with Vantage Bank to complete what the two firms say is “America’s first-ever bank-issued stablecoin” on a permissionless blockchain.

Custodia said on March 25 that it tokenized US dollar demand deposits and facilitated the issuance, transfer and redemption of the stablecoin “Avit” on Ethereum via the ERC-20 token standard.

“A new US dollar payment rail has now been activated inside the US banking system,” Custodia added.

“We broke ground on the legal/regulatory front, proving that US banks can collaborate to tokenize demand deposits on a permissionless blockchain in a regulatorily-compliant manner,” said Custodia CEO Caitlin Long.

Source: Caitlin Long

Bitcoin and Ethereum are poised to suffer their worst first quarter in years unless they can pull off a huge rally in the next few days.

Ether (ETH) has dropped 37.98% so far over the first quarter of 2025, its worst Q1 decline since 2018, when it plunged 46.61%, according to CoinGlass data. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) is down 6.49% so far over the quarter, which is slated to end on March 31 — marking its worst Q1 performance since 2020, when it saw a 10.83% decline. 

Crypto market unlikely to flash green before end quarter

Swyftx lead analyst Pav Hundal told Cointelegraph that a “vertical swing up into the end of the quarter looks unlikely.” 

Ether has posted an average return of 78.23% in the first quarter of every year since 2017. Source: CoinGlass

Hundal said that the crypto market will be “flying a little blind” until the middle of April when the broader market should have better clarity on US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.

Crusoe Energy, a company that captures waste gas from oil to power high-performance compute, is selling its Bitcoin mining business to New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) to focus on artificial intelligence. 

In a March 25 announcement, Crusoe said it plans to sell its Bitcoin (BTC) mining operation,  including its digital flare mitigation business, to NYDIG, subject to regulatory approvals and other consents. 

The deal includes Crusoe’s 270 megawatts of power generation technology from more than 425 modular data centers across the United States and Argentina, along with 135 Crusoe employees who will join NYDIG, as no roles will be eliminated as a result of the transaction. 

Crusoe was founded in 2018 and pioneered technology that captures waste gas created during oil extraction and refinement that would be normally burned off in a process called gas flaring in order to power Bitcoin miners.

Photo of gas flaring in action. Source: Crusoe Energy

Update (March 26, 6:12 am UTC): This article has been updated to add information on Ben Armstrong’s prior arrest and background.

Crypto influencer Ben Armstrong, also known as “BitBoy,” has been arrested in Florida after disclosing on social media just days ago that a warrant was out for his arrest.

Florida’s Volusia County Division of Corrections listed Armstrong as a fugitive from justice who was taken in custody on March 25 at 7:18 pm local time.

Days prior, Armstrong said in a March 21 X post that he could “confirm that the warrants for my arrest” were due to sending emails to Cobb County, Georgia Superior Court Judge Kimberly Childs while acting as his own attorney.

Source: Ben Armstrong

Artificial intelligence startup Infinite Reality has acquired the music-pirating app turned music streaming service Napster in a $207 million deal and plans to add a music-focused metaverse. 

Infinite Reality said in a March 25 statement that Napster would offer “branded 3D virtual spaces” to allow virtual concerts and “social listening parties” along with the ability to offer virtual merchandise.

“Imagine stepping into a virtual venue to watch an exclusive show with friends, chat with your favorite artist in their own virtual hangout as they drop their new single, and be able to directly buy their exclusive digital and physical merch,” said Napster CEO Jon Vlassopulos, who will continue in his role amid the acquisition.

“The internet has evolved from desktop to mobile, from mobile to social, and now we are entering the immersive era,” he added.

"The most legendary collab?! Infinite Reality has acquired iconic online music brand @Napster.

With this acquisition, we're expanding and reimagining Napster, empowering artists with new audience monetization and engagement capabilities, underpinned by iR’s #immersive… pic.twitter.com/L4Fig7QFct

Bitcoin network economist Timothy Peterson maintains his optimistic outlook for BTC (BTC), suggesting that there is a 75% chance that the asset will hit new highs in the next nine months.

In a March 25 X post, Peterson highlighted BTC’s current position near the lower bound of its historical range. The analyst emphasized that Bitcoin’s current path aligns with the bottom 25% threshold, giving it majority odds for a positive rally.

Bitcoin 10-year seasonality chart. Source: X.com

Peterson said, 

Peterson’s statements follow an earlier study that found that most of Bitcoin’s annual bullish performance occurred in April and October, which have averaged 12.98% and 21.98%, respectively, over the past decade.

The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an independent agency of the federal government, is reportedly moving to stop using the “reputational risk” category as a way to supervise banks.

According to a letter sent by the agency’s acting chairman, Travis Hill, to Rep. Dan Meuser on March 24, banking regulators should not use “reputational risk” to scrutinize firms.

“While a bank’s reputation is critically important, most activities that could threaten a bank’s reputation do so through traditional risk channels (e.g., credit risk, market risk, etc.) that supervisors already focus on,” notes the letter, first reported by Politico.

According to the document, the FDIC has completed a “review of all mentions of reputational risk” in its regulations and policy documents and has “plans to eradicate this concept from our regulatory approach.”

Reputational risk and debanking

The Federal Reserve defines reputational risk as “the potential that negative publicity regarding an institution’s business practices, whether true or not, will cause a decline in the customer base, costly litigation, or revenue reductions.”

GameStop Corporation (GME), the video game retailer turned memecoin stock, is reportedly moving to invest in Bitcoin after its board unanimously approved a plan to acquire digital assets. 

According to a March 25 CNBC report, the company announced that it would use a portion of its corporate cash or future debt issuances to invest in Bitcoin (BTC) and US-dollar-pegged stablecoins. 

The plan was further corroborated by the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report, which was released on March 25 and showed intent to acquire Bitcoin and stablecoins. 

“[T]he Company’s investment policy permits investments in certain cryptocurrency assets, including Bitcoin and US dollar-denominated stable coins,” the financial statement reads.

GameStop’s cash reserves stood at more than $4.77 billion as of Feb. 1, compared with $921.7 million a year earlier. 

Many Bitcoin (BTC) traders became bullish this week as prices rallied deep into the $88,000 level, but failure to overcome this level in the short term could be a take-profit signal.

Alphractal, a crypto analytics platform, noted that Bitcoin whales have entered short positions at the $88,000 level. 

In a recent X post, the platform highlighted that the “Whale Position Sentiment” metric exhibited a sharp reversal in the chart, indicating that major players with a bearish bias have stepped. The metric defines the relationship between the aggregated open interest and trades larger than $1 million across multiple exchanges.

Bitcoin: Whale position sentiment. Source: X

As illustrated in the chart, the two circled regions are synonymous with Bitcoin price falling to the $88,000 level. Alphractal said, 

Update (March 25, 10:09 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a response from the SEC and an X post from Robbie Ferguson.

Web3 gaming platform Immutable says the US Securities and Exchange Commission has closed its investigation into the company, clearing it of any further action. 

Immutable — the firm behind the Ethereum layer-2 Immutable X — said in a March 25 statement that the SEC shut its inquiry into the firm without finding wrongdoing and “closes the loop on the Wells notice issued by the SEC last year.”

In November, Immutable said it received a Wells notice from the regulator — a letter informing that the SEC is considering an enforcement action, typically sent after it concludes there is evidence of possible securities law violations.

“We are pleased the SEC has concluded its inquiry. This marks a significant milestone for the crypto industry and gaming as we advance towards a future with regulatory clarity,” Immutable president and co-founder Robbie Ferguson said in a statement.

Cardano (ADA) gained 8% between March 23 and March 25, once again testing the $0.76 resistance level, which has held for over two weeks. Although still far from its March 3 high of $1.18, traders remain optimistic about further gains. Their confidence is driven by the ongoing efforts of founder and CEO Charles Hoskinson to highlight the network’s advantages and ADA’s potential to industry leaders, particularly within traditional finance markets.

The ADA price surge on March 3 was triggered by US President Donald Trump, who explicitly mentioned Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), and Cardano on his official social media accounts as leading candidates for the US Digital Asset reserves. However, the Digital Asset Stockpile executive order signed by Trump on March 7 did not include plans to purchase any altcoins, despite his earlier claims.

Trump Jr. and Charles Hoskinson will attend DC Blockchain Summit 2025

A fresh wave of bullish speculation for ADA emerged after Donald Trump Jr. was announced as a speaker at the DC Blockchain Summit 2025, a panel moderated by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson.

The two-day event in Washington, D.C., will feature several prominent speakers, including Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Cynthia Lummis, and Bo Hines, Executive Director of the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets.

DC Blockchain Summit 2025 agenda. Source: dcblockchainsummit

Bitcoin (BTC) mining revenues hit $3.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, a 42% increase from the prior quarter, and are approaching similar levels of around $3.6 billion in Q1 2025, according to data from Coin Metrics. 

The revenue uptick suggests miners’ incomes are stabilizing after the Bitcoin network’s “halving” in April 2024 reduced mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block. Halvings occur every four years and cut the number of BTC mined per block in half.

“With almost one year elapsed since Bitcoin’s 4th halving, miners have endured a period of stabilization, adapting to reduced block rewards, tighter margins, and shifting operational dynamics,” Coin Metrics said in its Q1 2025 Data Special report.

This recovery could be cut short if ongoing trade wars disrupt miners’ business models, Ben Yorke, VP of Ecosystem at WOO X, a Web3 startup, told Cointelegraph.

“Should semiconductor tariffs return, Bitcoin mining could face higher costs, consolidating power among major players and forcing smaller operations to power down,” Yorke said.

Nubank, a Latin American financial bank backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has expanded its crypto offerings by adding four altcoins to its portfolio.

The bank is adding Cardano (ADA), Near Protocol (NEAR), Cosmos (ATOM), and Algorand (ALGO) to its 100 million clients in Brazil, according to a March 25 announcement. The four coins had a combined market capitalization of $34.6 billion at time of writing.

Nubank’s revenue grew to nearly $3 billion at the end of 2024 from $245 million in the first quarter of 2021, Statista data show.

The four additional coins will bring Nubank Cripto’s total coin offerings to 20. Currently, the platform’s customers can buy, sell and swap Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), USDC (USDC), and XRP (XRP).

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has invested in Nubank multiple times. In 2021, Berkshire Hathaway invested $500 million in Nubank’s Series G funding round, an amount later followed by an additional $1 billion. From 2022 to 2024, Buffett’s company increased its ownership stake in Nubank to 0.4% from 0.1%.

Nubank’s crypto push faces competition

Nubank has been diving into digital assets since 2022, when it announced the allocation of 1% of net assets to BTC and started offering crypto services. In October 2022, the company revealed plans to launch its loyalty tokens on the Polygon blockchain. It discontinued the servicein 2024.

Blockchain firm Ripple Labs’ case with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may be officially wrapped up after more than four years, subject to court approval.

In a March 25 X post, Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty wrote, in ”what should be my last update on SEC v. Ripple ever,” that Ripple will drop its cross-appeal against the SEC in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. An August 2024 judgment from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York finding Ripple liable for $125 million will essentially stand, but the SEC will keep only $50 million of the amount in escrow. The remaining balance will be returned to Ripple.

“The agency will also ask the Court to lift the standard injunction that was imposed earlier at the SEC’s request,” wrote Alderoty. “All subject to Commission vote, drafting of final documents and usual court processes.”

Ripple chief legal officer statement on latest development with SEC case. Source: Stuart Alderoty

Alderoty’s announcement came less than a week after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the SEC would drop its appeal over the August 2024 judgment. At the time of publication, neither the SEC nor Ripple appeared to have made any filing in the Second Circuit since Jan. 31 or in SDNY since October.

Few things in crypto are as elusive and misunderstood as the concept of an “altcoin season.” Traditionally, this term referred to a brief window — usually 2–3 months — following a Bitcoin (BTC) price rally, where altcoins outperform BTC in cumulative returns. That pattern held in the 2015–2018 and 2019–2022 cycles, but the verdict is not yet in on whether the current bull market has had its altcoin season. 

The Blockchain Center defines an altcoin season as a period when 75% of the top 50 altcoins outperform Bitcoin over a rolling 90-day timeframe. Its Altseason Index registered upticks in March 2024 and again in January 2025 — but neither lasted long enough to qualify as a full-fledged altseason.

Altcoin season index. Source: Blockchain Center

Some analysts argue that memecoins drained liquidity from the broader altcoin market. Others blame the oversaturation of crypto investment products — particularly ETFs — which cater to institutions and spotlight only the largest altcoins. A third explanation calls for a deeper rethink of what altcoins actually are. Within this view, altcoins are perceived as a unified asset class but are a diverse collection of crypto assets with different functions, value structures, and growth potential.

Memecoins stole the spotlight

For the crypto analyst Miles Deutscher, the launch of Pump.fun is directly correlated to the destruction of the altcoin market vs BTC.

Paul Atkins, US President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), disclosed combined employment assets of at least $327 million with his wife ahead of a scheduled confirmation hearing with the US Senate Banking Committee.

Atkins and his wife, Sarah Humphreys, held up to a combined $327 million in assets, in part through their respective stakes in Atkins’ consulting firm Patomak Global Partners and Tamko Building Products, according to a financial disclosure report made public by the US Office of Government Ethics on March 25.

Humphreys and her family members reportedly control a 75% stake in Tamco, the roofing business founded by her grandfather.

Atkins personally disclosed up to $78.8 million in total employment assets of: up to $15,000 each; between $25,000,001 and $50 million in membership interest at Patomak; between $250,001 and $500,000 in call options at Securitize, a real-world asset tokenization platform; and between $50,001 and $100,000 at financial technology company Pontoro.

If confirmed, Atkins he would resign as CEO of Patomak and divest his membership interest, as well as divest his stock options at Securitize. Atkins served as a commissioner at the agency from 2002 to 2008.

Cboe BZX Exchange, a US securities exchange, has requested permission to list a proposed Fidelity exchange-traded fund (ETF) holding Solana (SOL), according to March 25 filings. 

The request now sits with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which must approve the filing before trading of the Fidelity Solana Fund can commence on the exchange.

This is the latest in a spate of filings with the federal agency by exchanges and fund sponsors seeking to launch ETFs holding SOL and other cryptocurrencies. 

On March 12, Cboe filed to list another spot SOL ETF sponsored by asset manager Franklin Templeton.

Source: James Seyfart/Bloomberg Intelligence

Brazil’s data protection agency has upheld its decision to restrict cryptocurrency compensation tied to the World ID project, citing user privacy concerns. 

The National Data Protection Authority (ANDP) rejected a petition by World ID developer Tools For Humanity to review its ban on offering financial compensation to users who provide biometric data through iris scans, the agency said in a March 25 announcement.  

ANDP will “maintain the suspension of the granting of financial compensation, in the form of cryptocurrency (Worldcoin - WLD) or in any other format, for any World ID created by collecting iris scans of personal data subjects in Brazil,” a translated version of the announcement reads. 

The company faces a daily fine of 50,000 Brazilian reais ($8,800) if it resumes data collection activities. 

Cointelegraph reached out to Tools for Humanity but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Bitcoin (BTC) price opened the week with strength, rallying to a daily high at $88,804, which was met by praise from analysts who have identified the $90,000 to $92,000 zone as the key price level to hit in the short term. 

The market found strength on March 24 after US President Donald Trump suggested that his April 2 “tariff number” announcement could be softer than expected after cars and microchips were removed from the list. 

According to Ben Yorke, the vice president of ecosystem at WOO, “The White House’s decision to walk back the threat of broad tariffs and to deploy a more targeted approach suggests Trump is wary of an economic backlash.”

Proof of the market’s positive response to the tariff news can be seen in the increase in Bitcoin futures open interest, where the general assumption is that traders used leverage to open new margin-long positions. 

BTC/USDT 1-hour chart. Source: MacroCRG / X