LayerZero joins Canton to connect institutional tokenized assets with public blockchains as Wall Street tokenization efforts gather pace.
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Bitcoin falls below $69K as oil climbs above $100 on conflicting US Iran statements over peace talks, dragging crypto and equities lower.
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DRW founder Don Wilson says public blockchains conflict with how institutions trade and manage risk, limiting adoption.
Bitcoin (BTC) slipped below $69,000 on Thursday, erasing gains seen earlier in the week as MARA Holdings (MARA), the largest crypto mining company in the United States, disclosed a substantial liquidation of its BTC holdings to fund an expansion into artificial intelligence (AI) computing. MARA Shares Climb On Debt-Repurchase Plan In its disclosure covering March 4–25, MARA said it sold 15,133 BTC for roughly $1.1 billion. The sale reduced Marathon’s holdings by roughly 28% from the 53,822 BTC it held at the start of March, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net data. Related Reading: Ethereum (ETH) May Be Reversing Course, Says Top Analyst; Watch These Key Resistances The market reaction to the move was notable on both fronts. Bitcoin’s price retreated to approximately $68,997 at the time of writing — a decline that places the cryptocurrency more than 45% below its record highs near $126,000 set during last year’s rally. Meanwhile, MARA stock rose almost 7% intraday, bringing the stock closer to the $9-per-share level as investors digested the company’s pivot toward AI and high-performance computing. The Bitcoin miner said the proceeds from the sale will be used to repurchase $1 billion in convertible bonds maturing in 2030 and 2031 through privately negotiated buyback agreements expected to close on March 30 and March 31. Management framed the transaction as a strategic refinancing move that both strengthens the balance sheet and increases financial flexibility. MARA CEO Fred Thiel stated: This transaction enhances financial flexibility and increases strategic optionality as we expand beyond pure-play bitcoin mining into digital energy and AI/[high-performance computing] infrastructure. Sale Sees Holdings Fall To 38,689 Bitcoin In a similar vein, MARA Holdings’ CEO emphasized the sale was a deliberate capital-allocation decision intended to position the company for long-term growth. By retiring more than $1 billion of face-value debt at a discount, the company said it captured approximately $88 million in value that otherwise might have been lost, reduced potential shareholder dilution, and used its Bitcoin holdings to de-lever the balance sheet on terms favorable to the company. The sale follows changes MARA disclosed earlier this month in a Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company revised its 2026 policy to permit the sale of Bitcoin held on its balance sheet during liquidity stress or market crises. Related Reading: Crypto Bill Clash: Coinbase Rejects CLARITY Act Changes On Stablecoin Yields The filing warned that prolonged weakness in Bitcoin’s price could materially affect MARA Holdings’ financial health; sustained or further declines in BTC could significantly reduce the value of its holdings and weigh on liquidity and the balance sheet. MARA Holdings’ reduced stash is now valued at roughly $2.66 billion at current prices. BitcoinTreasuries.net shows the company has fallen to the third-largest public holder following the sale, overtaken by Twenty One Capital, which now holds 43,514 coins. The industry leader remains Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), which has maintained an aggressive acquisition strategy on a weekly basis and now holds 762,099 Bitcoin. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin is holding near $70,000 as analysts flag $72,000K as a key breakout zone and note a mix of macro pressures and tight liquidity.
A poisoned release of LiteLLM turned a routine Python install into a crypto-aware secret stealer that searched for wallets, Solana validator material, and cloud credentials every time Python started. On Mar. 24, between 10:39 UTC and 16:00 UTC, an attacker who had gained access to a maintainer account published two malicious versions of LiteLLM to […]
The post Hackers sneak crypto wallet-stealing code into a popular AI tool that runs every time appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Tron is a top chain for stablecoin usage, though it has largely operated outside the U.S. due to regulatory concerns.
The XRP Ledger has been running without interruption since 2012. It has processed over 100 million ledgers, completed more than 3 billion transactions, and secured billions of dollars in value. By any measure, that is an impressive track record. But Ripple is not resting on it. In a detailed post published on March 26, Ripple …
A gold-backed crypto token jumped from 453rd place to fifth among the most actively traded perpetual pairs on Binance — all within a matter of weeks. Related Reading: Iran Rejects Peace Talk Claims, Leaving Bitcoin Stuck At $70K XAUT: From Obscurity To The Top 5 Tether’s tokenized gold token, XAUT, recorded a daily perpetual futures trading volume of $6.40 billion on March 23, according to data highlighted by CryptoQuant analyst JA Maartunn. That figure dwarfs where it stood in December 2025, when daily volume barely crossed $1.50 million. The climb was fast and unrelenting. By January 2026, daily volume had moved into the tens of millions. By month’s end, it was brushing $300 million. XAUT just hit a new all-time high in perp volume on Binance “XAUT recorded $6.40B in daily perpetual trading volume, which is the highest since its listing. This brings XAUT-perpetual futures as the #5 most traded perp pair on Binance.” – By @JA_Maartun pic.twitter.com/YCRossyaCF — CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) March 25, 2026 February brought the first billion-dollar days, with volume peaking at $4.17 billion before pulling back sharply. March erased that earlier high entirely. Maartunn said the surge goes beyond ordinary price-driven trading. Traders, he argued, appear to be broadening their focus beyond traditional crypto assets. XAUT’s rise, he said, reflects that shift. Volume Climbs As Gold Prices Fall What makes the numbers harder to dismiss is the timing. Gold had a wild ride over the same stretch. Physical gold climbed from roughly $4,200 per ounce to a record $5,602 in late January 2026. That rally likely drew early attention to the token. But gold later fell back below $5,000, weighed down partly by the ongoing Iran conflict. XAUT’s trading volume kept climbing anyway. Binance does not list XAUT for spot trading. Access to the token itself is available through the Binance Web3 Wallet or decentralized exchanges. The exchange limits its direct offering to perpetual futures, meaning all of that $6.40 billion in daily volume is derivatives activity — not direct purchases of the token. XAUT currently carries a market cap of $2.54 billion and a fully diluted valuation of $3.21 billion. Each token is backed one-to-one by a troy ounce of physical gold meeting LBMA Good Delivery standards. The gold is held in vaults in Switzerland and issued by Tether on the Ethereum and Tron networks. Related Reading: Bernstein Sets $150,000 Bitcoin Target As ETF Inflows Surpass $1.6B In March Binance Expands Its Real-World Asset Offerings The record volume arrives as Binance moves to add more real-world asset products. Reports indicate the exchange is set to launch perpetual pairs for METAUSDT, NVDAUSDT, and GOOGLUSDT on March 26, each offering up to 10x leverage. The expansion signals growing platform interest in bridging traditional financial assets with crypto derivatives markets. Whether XAUT’s volume holds at these levels remains to be seen. The token went from a footnote in Binance’s rankings to one of its most traded products in a single quarter — a move few would have predicted at the start of the year. Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView
Crypto prices and risk assets remain at the mercy of macro headlines for now, one analyst said.
The inclusion of crypto in 401(k) plans could reshape retirement investment strategies, raising questions about risk management and fiduciary duties.
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Nexo expands private wealth services as high net worth investors increase crypto exposure and demand credit and trading tools.
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One of the largest single-day options expiries of the year is hitting markets on Friday, and the clock is already ticking. A combined $16.4 billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum options contracts are set to expire at 8am UTC. What Is Actually Happening When options expire at this scale, markets experience what traders call “max pain,” …
The bank said institutional unwinding and weakening liquidity have hit precious metals, while bitcoin shows steadier flows and improving momentum amid geopolitical stress.
Tether launches XAUt on BNB Chain as gold cools from January highs, expanding tokenized bullion access amid rising crypto market demand.
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The CLARITY Act, America’s biggest attempt at crypto regulation, is inching toward the finish line. But as Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo on Thursday, there is still one critical piece missing: full industry buy-in. Republicans and Democrats Are Actually Agreeing In a rare show of bipartisan unity, Scott confirmed …
BlackRock's BUIDL is the largest tokenized fund with about $1.7 billion worth of Treasuries, overnight repos, and cash under management.
Six months ago, getting into the top 10% of XRP holders would have cost you around $6,000. Today, that same spot costs closer to $3,000. The entry price has been cut in half, and the reason is not good news for existing holders. A Market in Freefall XRP has fallen roughly 50% since the final …
The exchange's chief of product development, Jon Herrick, said blockchain technology will be layered into current systems rather than replace them.
The Canton Network was designed specifically for regulated institutions with major firms like Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and DTCC.
Coinbase and Better Home & Finance launched a structure that lets borrowers pledge Bitcoin or USDC to fund the cash down payment on a conforming mortgage tied to Fannie Mae-backed loans.
The crypto industry has framed its quantum reckoning as a single catastrophic “Q-Day” moment when a sufficiently powerful machine arrives, old cryptographic keys shatter, and blockchain history unravels. This week, that moment may have been brought forward into this decade. The Ethereum Foundation's Mar. 24 post-quantum (PQ) roadmap shows that the realistic quantum threat to […]
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Bitcoin may be moving closer to the kind of long-term support zone that has characterized major bottoms in past cycles, but one technical analyst believes the market has not reached that moment just yet. An interesting technical analysis points to Bitcoin’s weekly moving averages as the clearest guide for where this decline could finally exhaust itself. That setup shows that the current price action may be narrowing to form a bottom, even though one more leg lower below $60,000 could still come first. Bitcoin Has Already Entered A Late-Stage Correction Bitcoin has been in an extended downtrend since October 2025, down by almost 50% from its all-time high above $126,000. As it stands, the Bitcoin price now hovering around $70,000, and a growing body of technical evidence shows the price action is trading at an accumulation zone, but the bottom may not yet be in. Related Reading: Analyst Who Predicted Bitcoin $125,000 Top Reveals What To Expect Next According to a weekly chart analysis shared by @thescalpingpro on X, Bitcoin is converging on two long-term moving averages that have defined every major cycle bottom since 2018, and the final leg down could still take price below $60,000 before a floor is established. Technical analysis shows that the 200-week moving average and the 300-week moving averages are the structural backbone of Bitcoin’s macro price history. Back in the 2018 bear market, Bitcoin found its floor precisely at the 200 WMA, which was the end of an 84% drawdown from the prior cycle peak. The March 2020 COVID crash, brief as it was, sent the Bitcoin price straight through the 200 WMA and into the 300 WMA before reversing sharply. Then in 2022, during the FTX crash and the collapse of the crypto credit market, Bitcoin again bottomed in the vicinity of the 300 WMA. This completed a pattern that has now repeated across three different market cycles during three entirely different macroeconomic conditions. Bitcoin Price Chart. Source: @thescalpingpro On X Where Does Bitcoin Need To Go? At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $69,820, down by 1.8% in the past 24 hours. However, Bitcoin is still trading above both moving averages but has not meaningfully tested either. The 200 WMA is currently sitting at $59,268, while the 300 WMA is positioned at $51,805. These two levels now define the high-probability accumulation range that could be identified as the bottom zone for the current correction. Related Reading: Bitcoin Distribution Mechanism Has Not Changed, All Roads Point To Crash Below $50,000 The red support box drawn on the right side of the chart above shows exactly that possibility. The price may still dip into the upper end of the support band around the 200-week moving average or, in a more intense selloff, slide toward the 300-week moving average around $51,800. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
From niche trading instrument to global financial infrastructure: How stablecoins are extending the US dollar’s reach and what advisors need to know.
The term "Active Treasury" misleads everyone. Digital asset treasuries chasing yield via staking and tokens become operators, not holders, demanding fund-grade governance or regulatory reclassification.
Brazil's new law could significantly deter organized crime by reallocating seized crypto assets to bolster public security funding.
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Tether’s gold-backed XAUT token, with a $2.5 billion market cap, is now available on BNB Chain following the precious metal’s recent surge.
A year ago, US banks thought they had won. The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, banned stablecoin issuers from paying yield on their tokens. Banks had lobbied hard for that provision. With it in place, they believed the competitive threat from digital dollars was addressed. The law said nothing about exchanges. How the Gap …
Euro stablecoins now make up more than 80% of non-dollar supply, with EURC leading volumes as MiCA and payment-rail integrations support adoption.
Goldman Sachs revealed a $152 million exposure to spot XRP ETFs, while volatility contracted to levels seen ahead of strong price moves.