Decentral Block Post

Since US President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, Bitcoin (BTC) has swung from a record high of $109,000 to below $78,000 as major tariff announcements from the US and retaliatory moves from trade partners shaved off chunks of cryptocurrency market value and rattled global markets.

“The back-and-forth on tariffs, with Trump sometimes tough and sometimes accommodating, has left markets in a limbo state, where few people are willing to be decidedly bullish but just as few are willing to part with their assets, fearing to be left on the side-lines at the next rally,” Justin d’Anethan, head of sales at Liquify, told Cointelegraph.

By mid-March, investors began regaining confidence as White House messaging pointed to a more measured approach. But mixed signals remain, and with a second wave of “reciprocal tariffs” looming on April 2 — dubbed Liberation Day — market jitters haven’t fully subsided.

Trump’s trade war saga has rattled global markets but evolved to a softer stance by late March.

Colombian tariff standoff and DeepSeek disruption shakes Bitcoin

Bitcoin hovered above $100,000 until Jan. 26, when Trump threatened 25% tariffs on all Colombian imports after Colombian President Gustavo Petro refused to accept US military aircraft carrying deported migrants. Petro accused Trump of mistreating immigrants and retaliated with tariffs of his own.

US derivatives exchange operator CME Group is piloting solutions for tokenized assets using Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), a new distributed ledger that was designed for traditional financial institutions.

CME has begun integrating GCUL to improve capital market efficiency and wholesale payments, the company announced on March 25.

CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy said GCUL could “deliver significant efficiencies for collateral, margin, settlement and fee payments as the world moves toward 24/7 trading.”

The announcement did not provide details about which assets would be tokenized. CME Group and Google Cloud will begin testing the technology with market participants in 2026.

Source: CME Group

About $13 million worth of cryptocurrency has been drained from decentralized lending protocol Abracadabra.Money following an exploit targeting pools using GMX tokens.

In a March 25 X post, crypto cybersecurity firm PeckShield reported that contracts related to GMX and Abracadabra.Money had been compromised, resulting in the loss of about 6,260 Ether (ETH), worth around $13 million.

The news follows Abracadabra.Money losing $6.49 million after its smart contracts were compromised in late January 2024. At the time, this also led to the protocol’s Magic Internet Money (MIM) stablecoin losing its peg to the US dollar.

Related: Pump.fun’s new DEX reaches $1B volume a week after launch

GMX denies contract vulnerability

Despite initial reports, a pseudonymous GMX communications contributor claimed on X that “GMX contracts are not affected.” According to the user, GMX is involved because MIM’s pools are based on GMX v2 pools.

US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China and efforts to ramp up on-shore Bitcoin mining will be a boon for US mining rig manufacturers, which currently only hold a small sliver of market share compared to their major Chinese counterparts. 

The United States accounts for over 40% of the Bitcoin network’s global hashrate but still leans heavily on China-made mining rigs. China-based Bitmain reportedly holds as much as a 90% market share in the Bitcoin mining manufacturing market. 

“Trump’s continued focus to support the US BTC mining industry highlights the urgent need to address US reliance on foreign technology,” Auradine’s chief strategy officer, Sanjay Gupta, told Cointelegraph in a recent interview. 

US Bitcoin firms hit a major supply problem last year, with thousands of Bitcoin (BTC) miners held at ports of entry by the US Customs and Border Protection. 

One of the firms affected believed it was due to a mistaken belief that the chips were illegally imported Chinese radio frequency devices. It took months before they started being released. 

BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund has expanded to the Solana blockchain as its market capitalization approaches the $2 billion mark.

On March 25, Carlos Domingo, the founder and CEO of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform Securitize, welcomed the Solana network to the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL). This marked the tokenized money market fund’s expansion to another blockchain network. 

BlackRock launched BUIDL in March 2024 in partnership with Securitize. In a Fortune report, Securitize chief operating officer Michael Sonnenshein said the fund aims to make offchain assets “unboring.” 

The executive said they are advancing some of the deficiencies of money markets in their traditional formats. 

BlackRock’s BUIDL at $1.7 billion market cap

RWA data platform rwa.xyz shows that BlackRock and Securitize’s BUIDL leads the Tokenized United States Treasurys in market capitalization. The platform’s data shows that the fund has a market capitalization of $1.7 billion and a nearly 34% market share. 

Cryptocurrency-friendly trading platform eToro has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States following several previous attempts.

The company said in a March 24 announcement that it had submitted a registration statement on Form F-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission related to the IPO of its Class A common shares.

EToro has applied to list its Class A common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “ETOR,” according to the announcement, which stated:

“A registration statement on Form F-1 relating to these securities has been filed with the SEC but has not yet become effective.”

eToro public IPO announcement. Source: eToro

The public filing comes over two months after eToro made confidential filings to the SEC in a move toward a potential IPO in New York, the Financial Times reported on Jan. 16.

Ether’s (ETH) price printed a bear flag on the daily chart, a technical chart formation associated with strong downward momentum. Could this bearish setup and decreasing transaction fees signal the start of the second leg of ETH’s drop toward $1,200?

Ethereum’s network activity slumps

The market drawdown, fueled by US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, saw Ether’s price drop by nearly 50% from a high of $3,432 on Jan. 31 to a 16-month low of $1,750 on March 11.

While ETH has rebounded 18% since, it failed to produce a decisive break above $2,000 for a second time in less than 10 days.

This weakness is reflected in onchain activity, with Ethereum’s daily transaction count dropping to levels last seen in October 2024, before Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.

Ethereum daily transaction count. Source: CryptoQuant

Traditional and cryptocurrency investors eagerly await Friday’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) release in the US, which may provide some relief to inflation-related concerns and increase investor appetite for risk assets including Bitcoin.

The US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will release on March 28 the next PCE report, which measures the inflation of prices US consumers are paying for goods and services.

The PCE inflation print may become the “next key catalyst” for Bitcoin (BTC) and other risk assets, according to QCP Group, a Singapore-based digital asset firm.

QCP wrote on Telegram:

“As we approach Friday’s quarterly expiry, with the highest open interest in topside strikes above $100K, we don’t expect major volatility driven by options positioning alone. But attention will turn to the PCE inflation print, which could become the next key catalyst.”

Risk assets staged a significant recovery after “Trump signaled twice on Monday that trading partners might secure exemptions or reductions, offering a reprieve that helped soothe market jitters,” QCP added.

Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform DigitShares is bringing tokenized real estate trading to Polygon with the launch of RealEstate.Exchange, also known as REX.

According to a March 25 announcement, REX is designed to offer retail investors a compliant venue for fractional property investments in a secondary market, potentially addressing the industry’s existing liquidity constraints. As Cointelegraph explained, secondary RWA trading platforms provide liquid off-ramps for investors looking to cash out of their holdings. 

The REX platform will launch with two luxury property listings in Miami, Florida, including The Legacy Hotel & Residences, a 529-unit tower managed by real estate investment platform FraXion, and a 38-unit residential complex managed by Trade Estate.

A street view of The Legacy Hotel & Residences in Miami, Florida. Source: Google Maps

DigiShares CEO Claus Skaaning told Cointelegraph that REX intends to support “various property types, including residential, commercial and luxury real estate.” In addition to the two Miami properties, REX has “5-6 additional properties in the pipeline,” said Skaaning.

Memecoin launchpad Pump.fun’s new decentralized exchange (DEX), PumpSwap, surpassed a cumulative trading volume of $1 billion a week after its launch, according to blockchain analytics platform Dune.

On March 19, Pump.fun launched its Solana DEX to create a “frictionless environment” for memecoin trading. Previously, memecoins launched on Pump.fun needed to migrate into the Solana DEX Raydium after bootstrapping liquidity, despite which the trading platform became the most popular DEX in Solana. 

Still, the Pump.fun team said these migrations slowed token momentum and introduced “needless complexity” for new users. With the new DEX, the project said migrations happen instantly and are free. 

A Dune Analytics dashboard by onchain analyst Adam_Tehc showed that PumpSwap had an all-time trading volume of $1.1 billion in its first seven days. 

PumpSwap DEX lifetime trading volume reaches. Source: Dune Analytics

XRP (XRP) price has recovered by almost 7% in the last 10 days, led by a crypto market rebound and the end of Ripple’s long-running legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

However, several key support levels are at risk of being tested as onchain data suggests lackluster buying activity.

XRP/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

XRP futures markets lean bearish

XRP price is currently trading 30% below its multi-year high of $3.40. When prices were at a similar level in November 2024, high spot market bids quickly pushed the price past the $3 mark.

However, XRP‘s spot and perpetual markets were subdued over the past two weeks. 

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, launched a Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) on multiple European stock exchanges.

The iShares Bitcoin ETP began trading on March 25 on Xetra, Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Paris, according to BlackRock’s product page. The launch follows the success of its iShares Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund (ETF), which dominates the US market with $50.7 billion of assets under management, accounting for about 2.73% of the total Bitcoin (BTC) supply.

Stephen Wundke, director of strategy and revenue at crypto investment firm Algoz, told Cointelegraph that “the availability of the iShares Bitcoin ETP may not have the same reaction across Europe” as it saw in the US:

“Quality investment products through regulated asset managers have been more available throughout Europe than in the US, and secondly, Bitcoin is also more easily purchased. […] However, the ability for traditional family offices across Europe to hold a small percentage of their asset base in ‘digital gold’ is no doubt a good thing. […] Just don’t expect $60 billion of purchases in the first quarter.”

Product details and fee structure

The new ETP trades under the IB1T ticker on Xetra and Euronext Paris, while on Euronext Amsterdam it uses BTCN. Bloomberg previously reported that the company was preparing to launch the new product, which followed the firm’s launch of a Bitcoin ETF on CBOE Canada.

BlackRock iShares Bitcoin ETP specifics. Source: BlackRock

The organization behind the Movement Network said it will use $38 million recovered from a market maker to buy back MOVE tokens over the next three months.

On March 24, the Movement Network Foundation said it recovered about $38 million in assets from a market maker tasked with providing liquidity on buy and sell orders for the Movement (MOVE) token on Binance. 

Binance offboarded the market maker due to “market irregularities.” The exchange sanctioned the market maker, freezing its proceeds and forbidding it from further market-making activities.  

Market makers provide liquidity to crypto tokens to attract traders and stabilize their prices. These entities are tasked with providing liquidity on both buy and sell orders to ensure the smooth operation of crypto exchanges. 

Movement Network commits $38 million to token buyback

According to Binance, the market maker sold 66 million MOVE tokens after the token was listed, while placing “little” in buy orders. These trades netted the market maker $38 million in Tether (USDT) from their trades. 

Bitcoin (BTC) traders are celebrating as one of the best-known BTC price metrics finally flipped bullish again.

The popular Hash Ribbon tool, created by quantitative Bitcoin and digital asset fund Capriole Investments, printed a first buy signal in a “macro bullish” event.

Hash Ribbon sparks $100,000 Q2 BTC price target

Bitcoin miners look set to make a comeback as the Hash Ribbon metric marks the end of their latest “capitulation” phase.

The Hash Ribbon tracks potential long-term buy opportunities using hashrate; when miner profitability is at risk and network participants retire, this forms the capitulation which in turn leads to long-term price reversals.

These are monitored using two moving averages of hashrate: the 30-day and 60-day. Capitulations correspond to the former crossing below the latter, while the reverse is true for buy signals.

Security concerns remain the biggest obstacle to the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency payments, as hacks and phishing scams continue to damage the industry’s legitimacy.

More than 37% of investors identified security risks as the main barrier to using cryptocurrency for payments, according to a survey of 4,599 users conducted by Bitget Wallet as part of its latest Onchain Report shared with Cointelegraph.

Still, 46% of users said they preferred crypto payments over fiat for their speed and efficiency.

Source: Bitget Wallet Onchain Report

Bitget Wallet has implemented multi-layered protection mechanisms to make security a “top priority” and inspire more confidence in crypto payments, according to Alvin Kan, chief operating officer of Bitget Wallet:

Members of Arbitrum’s decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) are discussing a potential clawback of funds allocated to build a gaming ecosystem on the network, citing a lack of progress and transparency. 

On March 24, DAO member Nathan van der Heyden submitted a proposal calling for the recovery of unused funds allocated to the Arbitrum Gaming Catalyst Program (GCP). The program, launched in 2024, aimed to position Arbitrum as a leading platform for onchain gaming development.

Van der Hayden said that the GCP was approved when projections were “exceptionally optimistic.” He added that this had “proved unsustainable.”  

“We must wind down GCP activities and secure all possible funds in order to safeguard the DAO’s funds and restore investor confidence in the ability of this DAO to allocate capital,” van der Heyden wrote in the governance forum post.

The community member also said the GCP had been reluctant to document its activities and that the program was not delivering on its promises. 

Crypto.com is facing criticism from the crypto community after reissuing 70 billion Cronos tokens burned in 2021. Critics said the move undermines the principles of decentralization and transparency in the cryptocurrency space.

The controversy erupted on March 25 after onchain investigator ZachXBT posted on X, accusing Crypto.com of reissuing Cronos (CRO) tokens that had been declared permanently removed from circulation. “CRO is no different from a scam,” ZachXBT said, claiming the reissued amount represented 70% of the total supply and contradicted the community’s expectations.

“Your team just reissued 70B CRO a week ago that was previously burned ‘forever’ in 2021 (70% total supply) and went against the community wishes as you control majority of the supply,” he added.

The reissuance followed news that Trump Media had signed a non-binding agreement with Crypto.com to launch US crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) through Crypto.com’s broker-dealer, Foris Capital US.

Source: ZachXBT

Kentucky governor Andy Beshear has signed a measure known as the “Bitcoin Rights” bill, into law, enshrining protections for crypto users, as two other US states’ Bitcoin reserve legislation advanced.

Crypto advocacy group the Satoshi Action Fund said in a March 24 statement to X that House Bill 701 protects the “right to self-custody, run a node, and use of digital assets” without “fear of discrimination.” 

First introduced to the Kentucky House by Rep Adam Bowling on Feb. 19, HB701’s description says it safeguards the right to use digital assets and self-custody wallets and bans local zoning changes that discriminate against crypto mining. 

Source: Satoshi Action Fund

At the same time, the legislation provides guidelines for running a crypto node, excludes crypto mining from money transmitter license requirements, and specifies that mining and staking are not considered offering or selling a security.

Crypto exchange Binance has suspended a member of its Binance Wallet team, adding it could take further legal action after launching an internal investigation over allegations of insider trading.

The exchange’s crypto wallet business, Binance Wallet, launched an investigation on March 23 after it “received a complaint alleging that one of our staff members engaged in front-running trades using insider information to gain improper profits,” it said in a March 25 X post.

It claimed a preliminary investigation found a Binance Wallet staffer who joined the team last month was suspected of using information from a former position in a business development role at BNB Chain to “front-run” trades of a project token. 

“The employee was aware the project was planning a Token Generation Event (TGE) and anticipated it would generate significant community interest,” Binance Wallet wrote.

It claimed the staffer “used multiple linked wallet addresses to purchase a large volume of the project’s tokens” before it publicly announced the token launch and then, after the announcement, “quickly sold part of his holdings to realize significant profits.”

A massive Bitcoin whale wallet holding has just added $200 million worth of Bitcoin to its position after selling over 11,400 Bitcoin over the last few months — coinciding with a recent rebound for the original cryptocurrency. 

The Bitcoin (BTC) whale added 2,400 Bitcoin — worth over $200 million — to their stash on March 24, blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence said in an X post.

Data shared by the firm shows that despite some sales in February, after the latest purchase, the whale holds over 15,000 Bitcoin in its wallet, worth over $1.3 billion, at current prices.

“A $1 billion Bitcoin Whale just withdrew $200 million of Bitcoin this morning from Binance,” Arkham said.

The whale started acquiring Bitcoin five days ago after selling off its stash when Bitcoin’s price was between $100,000 and $86,000 in February. CoinGeck data shows on Feb. 1, Bitcoin was worth over $104,000, but it steadily declined to hit a low of $78,940 on Feb. 28.