Update: March 24, 2025, 1:11 pm UTC: This article has been updated to include the settlement date of Strategy’s $711 million offering.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy has acquired over $500 million worth of Bitcoin as institutional interest and exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows make a comeback.

Strategy acquired 6,911 Bitcoin (BTC) for over $584 million between March 17 and March 23 at an average price of $84,529 per coin, according to a March 24 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

Strategy’s SEC filing, March 24. Source: US SEC

Following the latest acquisition, the company now holds more than 500,000 Bitcoin, with a total of 506,137 Bitcoin acquired at an aggregate purchase price of roughly $33.7 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $66,608 per Bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses.

The milestone comes a day after Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor hinted at an impending Bitcoin investment after the company announced the pricing of its latest tranche of preferred stock on March 21.

Strategy total Bitcoin holdings, all-time chart. Source: Saylortracker

The preferred stock was sold at $85 per share and featured a 10% coupon. According to Strategy, the offering should bring the company approximately $711 million in revenue scheduled to settle on March 25, 2025.

Related: Michael Saylor’s Strategy to raise up to $21B to purchase more Bitcoin

Saylor’s Strategy buys the dip despite global tariff concerns

Strategy, the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder, continues buying the dips despite widespread investor fears of a premature bear market.

Strategy’s latest investment comes amid global trade war fears, which analysts say could weigh on both traditional and digital asset markets at least through early April.

Related: BlackRock increases stake in Michael Saylor’s Strategy to 5%

Despite a multitude of positive crypto-specific developments, global tariff fears will continue to pressure the markets until at least April 2, according to Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at Nansen.

BTC/USD, 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

“I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with the tariffs from April 2nd onward. Maybe we’ll see some of them dropped, but it depends if all countries can agree. That’s the biggest driver at this moment,” the analyst said during Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction daily X show on March 21.

Risk assets may lack direction until the tariff-related concerns are resolved, which may happen between April 2 and July, presenting a positive market catalyst, he added.

US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff rates are set to take effect on April 2 despite earlier comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicating a possible delay in their implementation.

Magazine: BTC above $150K is ‘speculative fever,’ SAB 121 canceled, and more: Hodlers Digest, Jan. 19 – 25

Bugs Coin (BGSC), created by the renowned Korean trading YouTuber Inbum with 630,000 subscribers, is quickly making its mark in the global cryptocurrency market. Originally launched as an innovative Web3-based cryptocurrency project, BGSC aims to transcend the traditional limitations of meme coins by integrating cultural and artistic elements to build a strong, community-driven ecosystem.

Currently, BGSC is listed on major global exchanges. Built on the BNB Smart Chain (BSC), BGSC provides users with fast transaction speeds and low fees, enhancing overall user experience.

Gate Ventures invests $8.5M in Bugs Coin ecosystem

Gate Ventures, recently announced via its official channels that it has made a strategic investment of $8.5 million in the Bugs Coin ecosystem.

This investment will be used to accelerate the development of the AntTalk trading platform and the BGSC token. Gate Ventures stated, “Our strategic collaboration with BGSC aims to promote cryptocurrency education and trading while increasing global market participation.”

Explosive trading volume growth: BGSC futures skyrocket 1,300% in 24 hours

Recently, BGSC has witnessed a massive surge in futures trading volume, drawing significant attention from global traders.

According to CoinMarketCap, BGSC’s futures trading volume on Bitget skyrocketed by 1,300% within 24 hours, surpassing $30 million. This remarkable growth in trading volume outpaced several major cryptocurrencies and highlighting BGSC’s rapid expansion in the market.

Additionally, CoinGlass data indicates that as of 20:00 PM (UTC) on the 17th, BGSC’s 24-hour liquidation volume reached $1.2 million, reflecting increased volatility alongside the rising trading volume.

Massive token burn: BGSC supply slashed by 50%

Bugs Coin recently completed a token burn of 50 billion BGSC, equivalent to approximately $3.25 billion. The burn was executed at 5:20 AM (UTC) on the 19th, effectively reducing the total BGSC supply from 100 billion to 49.845 billion tokens.

The Bugs Coin team stated, “This strategic burn aims to decrease excess supply, increase BGSC’s scarcity, and enhance its long-term value while alleviating investor concerns regarding rug pulls and scams.” Furthermore, the team announced plans to allocate reserve and marketing funds via smart contracts to further reinforce decentralization.

AntTalk Platform Drives Community Growth and Introduces a BGSC Mining Model.

Bugs Coin is actively expanding community engagement through its AntTalk platform, a cryptocurrency information and simulated trading platform. Users can earn Bugs Points by participating in various activities on AntTalk, which can be converted into BGSC tokens.

Key features of AntTalk:

BGSC Mining via Simulated Trading – Users can earn BGSC through AntTalk’s simulated trading system without requiring complex mining equipment.Weekly Swap Feature – Bugs Points can be exchanged for BGSC on a weekly basis.Community-Driven Rewards – Airdrops, events, and community participation incentives reward active users.Fair Reward Distribution – AntTalk regularly allocates points based on trading performance to ensure fair rewards.Global Expansion – Designed to help beginners gain crypto investment experience, expanding its user base worldwide.BugsFunded Prop Trading System set for introduction

To further expand its ecosystem, Bugs Coin is set to introduce the BugsFunded Prop Trading System.

BugsFunded is a decentralized crowdfunding and prop trading system that offers community-driven investment opportunities, allowing professional traders and retail investors to participate in a transparent and fair trading model.

Key features of the BugsFunded Prop Trading System:

Prop Trading Integration – The system utilizes a robust global trading infrastructure to deliver a secure and efficient trading environment.Community-Driven Investment Model – Users can fund traders via prop funding and share profits based on their performance.Decentralized Operations – Funds are managed transparently through smart contracts, eliminating intermediaries.Professional Trader Verification – Traders must undergo a performance-based evaluation before participating in prop trading.Transparent Profit Distribution – Investment returns are automatically recorded on the blockchain and distributed fairly through smart contracts.

The BugsFunded Prop Trading System is expected to enhance BGSC’s liquidity and create a fair and collaborative investment environment for both professional traders and everyday investors.

Future outlook for Bugs Coin

Bugs Coin is evolving beyond just a meme coin, establishing itself as an innovative cryptocurrency project with a robust ecosystem and real-world utility.

Listed on several major global exchanges24-hour futures trading volume surged by 1,300%50 billion BGSC burned – Total supply reduced by 50%AntTalk platform driving simulated trading and BGSC miningBugsFunded Prop Trading System set for introductionCommunity-driven growth and increased decentralizationAs of March 24, BugsCoin has surpassed $0.0105

Bugs Coin is committed to continuous ecosystem expansion and innovation, aiming to provide long-term value in the global cryptocurrency market.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) trading platform dYdX announced its first-ever token buyback program on March 24, aiming to reinvest in its ecosystem to enhance security and governance.

According to the announcement, 25% of the protocol’s net fees will be dedicated to monthly buybacks of its native dYdX (DYDX) token on the open market.

Following the announcement, DYDX surged over 10% and was trading at about $0.731 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko. The token has gained more than 21% over the past two weeks.

DYDX spikes on buyback news. Source: CoinGecko

Related: dYdX explores sale of derivatives trading arm

New dYdX distribution model 

Previously, dYdX distributed 100% of its platform revenue to ecosystem participants. Under the new allocation model, 25% will be used for token buybacks, another 25% will fund its USDC liquidity provision program, MegaVault, 10% will be directed to its treasury, and the remaining 40% will continue as staking rewards.

DYdX noted that the current allocation of 25% to token buybacks may increase, with ongoing community discussions potentially pushing this percentage to as high as 100% over time.

Related: DeFi market stages a comeback as derivatives surge

The platform currently holds a total value locked (TVL) of $279 million, according to DefiLlama. It generated $1.29 million in revenue from fees in February and $1.09 million so far in March.

Token buybacks get 25% of revenue, which has been dropping. Source: DefiLlama

“DeFi festival” waits for summer to end

The DeFi industry commonly references the DeFi summer of 2020 as a benchmark, characterized by rapid user growth driven by yield farming and decentralized applications.

In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, dYdX Foundation CEO Charles d’Haussy predicted that the next significant DeFi boom would occur shortly after summer, potentially beginning as early as September and lasting “months and months.”

DYdX existed in mid-2020 primarily as a DeFi platform for spot trading, lending, borrowing and margin trading. Its popularity popped in 2021 following the launch of its layer-2 perpetual futures exchange and the introduction of its native DYDX token.

In its 2024 ecosystem report, dYdX projected that the decentralized derivatives market would expand to $3.48 trillion by 2025, up from $1.5 trillion in derivatives volume processed by decentralized exchanges (DEXs) in 2024.

Magazine: Memecoins are ded — But Solana ‘100x better’ despite revenue plunge

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Learn-to-earn platform Dohrnii Labs filed a police report in the United Arab Emirates accusing local crypto exchange Blynex of liquidating its tokens without authorization and failing to deliver a promised loan. 

According to a statement shared with Cointelegraph, Dohrnii Labs deposited 12,649.99 Dohrnii (DHN) tokens — valued at more than $500,000 — with Blynex. On March 23, the company said it used 8,650 of those tokens as collateral for a 30-day loan in exchange for 80,000 of Tether’s USDt (USDT).

Dohrnii claims the exchange never delivered the USDT. Furthermore, the team said Blynex liquidated its entire 8,650 DHN position on Uniswap, receiving 149,151 USDT and causing a drop in the token’s market value. 

Attempts to withdraw the remaining 4,000 DHN tokens were unsuccessful, the company said.

Source: Dohrnii Labs

Blynex claims it was automated risk management

Blynex co-founder Mike Baskes told Cointelegraph the incident was part of their “automated risk management system.” Baskes claimed their system detected a high risk that the collateral would drop significantly in the event of liquidation.

The Blynex executive said that when the tokens were sold, it only generated 145,000 USDT instead of its original amount. He noted that DHN token liquidity was limited, estimating just $315,000 available at the time of the transaction.

The executive claimed Blynex took action to prevent financial losses:

“Given this liquidity constraint, the system recognized a high risk of further loss if the collateral wasn’t liquidated immediately, as the tokens would be difficult to sell at a favorable price in the current market.”

Dohrnii Labs has challenged that explanation, calling Blynex’s justification “misleading” and alleging that the exchange liquidated collateral worth nearly double the value of the loan.

Related: Dubai Land Department begins real estate tokenization project

Dohrnii Labs threatens legal action against Blynex

In response, Dohrnii Labs filed the police report in the UAE and has threatened to take legal action against the crypto exchange. 

A Dohrnii Labs representative told Cointelegraph that the police report was only a “first step.” The representative said if Blynex ignored their communications, they would legally escalate the matter:

“Since the project and the individuals responsible are based in the UAE, we are also getting in touch with local regulators, including VARA, ADGM, and other relevant authorities. Furthermore, we’re in contact with other affected projects and are actively exploring the possibility of joint legal action.” 

The team said they want to ensure accountability through the legal system and regulatory oversight. 

Dohrnii told Cointelegraph that Blynex attempted to settle the matter by offering them 80,000 USDT and allowing the withdrawal of 4,000 DHN tokens.

However, the exchange added a condition that the platform would drop all legal action. “That is unacceptable,” Dohrnii Labs said. 

“The 4,000 DHN tokens in question are user deposits — not negotiable assets. The right to withdraw these funds should never be up for discussion,” Dohrnii Labs added. 

Magazine: Ridiculous ‘Chinese Mint’ crypto scam, Japan dives into stablecoins: Asia Express

Dubai-based crypto market maker and investor DWF Labs launched a $250 million Liquid Fund to accelerate the growth of mid- and large-cap blockchain projects and drive real-world adoption of Web3 technologies.

DWF Labs is set to sign two investment deals worth $25 million and $10 million as part of the fund.

The initiative aims to grow the crypto landscape by offering strategic investments ranging from $10 million to $50 million for projects that have the potential to drive real-world adoption, according to a March 24 announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

Source: DWF Labs

The fund will focus on blockchain projects with significant “usability and discoverability,” according to Andrei Grachev, managing partner of DWF Labs.

“We’re focusing our support on mid to large-cap projects — the tokens and platforms that typically serve as entry points for retail users,” Grachev told Cointelegraph, adding:

“However, good technology and utility alone isn’t sufficient. Users first need to discover these projects, comprehend their value and develop trust.”

“We believe that strategic capital, coupled with hands-on ecosystem development, is the key to unlocking the next wave of growth for the industry,” he said.

Similar incentives may bring more capital for developing blockchain projects and lead to more sophisticated blockchain use cases. The fund comes over a month after the 0G Foundation launched an $88 million ecosystem fund to accelerate projects creating AI-powered decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and autonomous agents, also known as DeFAI agents.

Related: Crypto debanking is not over until Jan 2026: Caitlin Long

New blockchain users need reliable infrastructure: DWF Labs

New users need robust, functional infrastructure when interacting with their first blockchain-based application.

“This approach ensures that when new users enter the space, they’re met with reliable infrastructure, strong communities, and meaningful use cases—not friction,” Grachev said, adding:

“It’s about creating the conditions for real, sustained adoption and helping the next wave of users not just arrive onchain — but stay.”

To ensure projects launch with solid infrastructure, each investment will offer ecosystem growth strategies, including developing lending markets, amplifying brand presence and supporting the project’s stablecoin growth and DeFi activities to “deepen liquidity.”

Related: ETH may reclaim $2.2K ‘macro range’ amid growing whale accumulation

Other industry leaders have blamed the friction in blockchain applications for a lack of mainstream adopters.

The current user onboarding process is complicated and riddled with friction points, which is the main issue for mass crypto adoption, according to Chintan Turakhia, senior director of engineering at Coinbase.

Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph at EthCC, Turakhia said:

“If our goal is to bring in the next billion users — and let’s start with just 100 million — we have to take all those friction points out.”

Some of the most pressing friction points include setting up a wallet with a complicated seed phase, paying transaction fees and buying blockchain-native tokens to transact on a network.

Magazine: Ripple says SEC lawsuit ‘over,’ Trump at DAS, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 16 – 22

An idea to tokenize or track US gold reserves to make their movements transparent on a blockchain won’t work in the same trustless way as Bitcoin does, but doing so could help the cryptocurrency, says a research analyst.

Greg Cipolaro, global head of research at New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), said in a March 21 note that Trump administration officials, including Elon Musk, have floated using a blockchain to track US gold and government spending — an idea supported by crypto executives.

“Here’s the thing about blockchains. They’re not very smart,” Cipolaro said. “They’re limited in the information they convey. For example, Bitcoin has no idea what the price of Bitcoin is or even the current time.”

He said the tokenization or tracking of gold reserves on a blockchain could help with audits and transparency but would still “rely on trust and coordination with central entities” compared to Bitcoin, which “was designed to explicitly remove centralized entities.”

Cipolaro added that tokenization and blockchain-tracking ideas aren’t competitive with the crypto market and might help to increase awareness of it, which “could ultimately benefit Bitcoin.”

It comes amid calls from some for an independent audit of the United States’ gold reserves.

Republican Senator Rand Paul last month seemingly called on Musk’s federal cost-cutting project to investigate the US government’s gold stash at the Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, which the US Mint says holds around half of the country’s gold. 

The Treasury audits and publishes reports on gold holdings at Fort Knox and other locations across the US every month, but President Donald Trump and Musk have both parrotted decades-old conspiracy theories about the gold and questioned whether it’s all still there.

Source: Elon Musk 

Related: Who’s running in Trump’s race to make US a ‘Bitcoin superpower?’ 

They have both pushed for an independent audit of Fort Knox. The vaults were last opened in 2017 for Trump’s then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to view the gold and before that, in 1974 to a congressional delegation and a group of journalists.

The Mint’s website says that no gold has gone in or out of Fort Knox “for many years,” except for “very small quantities” used to test the gold’s purity during audits. 

Trump’s Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said last month that Fort Knox is audited every year and “all the gold is present and accounted for.”

Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle 

TRUMP token rallies after President Trump says it’s “SO COOL”

The Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin linked to US President Donald Trump soared over 12% to $12.25 in 40 minutes on March 23, after the president called it “The greatest of them all” on social media.

“I LOVE $TRUMP — SO COOL!!! The Greatest of them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Trump said on Truth Social on March 23 at 2:33 am UTC.

Source: Donald Trump

Nearly $250 million was added to the TRUMP token’s $2.5 billion market cap by 3:11 am before the memecoin fell back down to $11.38 about 90 minutes later, CoinGecko data shows and is now trading at $11.82.

Despite being the 53rd largest coin by market cap, Trump’s post contributed to it being the eighth most-traded token over the last 24 hours with $1.4 billion in trading volume.

Not everyone who bought TRUMP walked away a winner on March 23.

One whale who previously banked around $108 million on TRUMP lost $207,000 from a recent trade; blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain pointed out.

The TRUMP token has traded mostly downward and sideways ever since it reached a peak market cap of $14.6 billion on Jan. 19.

Change in TRUMP’s price since Jan. 18. Source: CoinGecko

Tornado Cash goes live on MegaETH testnet

A largely unknown crypto developer who goes by the name “GUNBOATs” on X has launched crypto privacy mixer Tornado Cash on MegaETH testnet — a new Ethereum layer 2 blockchain looking to resolve Ethereum’s scalability issues. 

The crypto developer showed a command-line interface (terminal window) of the Tornado Cash smart contract “0x0cB…65142” deployed on the MegaETH testnet at block 1,397,845 — which was timestamped on March 21 at 5:41 pm UTC, according to the MegaETH explorer.

Source: GUNBOATs

The integration occurred shortly after the US Treasury Department removed Tornado Cash from its sanctions list on March 21 and two months after a US appeals court said the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control couldn’t sanction Tornado Cash smart contracts because they are not the property of a foreign national.

MegaETH also launched its testnet on the same day the Tornado Cash sanction was lifted.

While it isn’t clear if and when a full launch will occur, the company behind the MegaETH public testnet claims it offers “unparalleled performance” with 10 millisecond block times while processing around 20,000 transactions per second.

Solo Bitcoin miner wins BTC block, banking $266K

A solo Bitcoin miner believed to have been using a miner with less than one terahash per second (TS/s) has solved one of the blockchain’s blocks and earned a $266,552 reward.

“Another solo miner found a block!! This time on a self hosted Public Pool. We can’t be sure but the guess is it was a miner with less than 1 TH/s,” Nerdminer Store said in a March 23 X post.

The Bitcoin miner snared a total of 3.15 BTC for solving block 888,989, which was timestamped on March 23 at 1:30 am UTC, mempool.space data shows.

That bounty included the current 3.125 Bitcoin subsidy and another 0.027 Bitcoin ($2,254) from transaction fees.

If Nerdminer is correct in believing a miner with less than 1 TH/s was used to mine the block, the machine likely would have been a hand or pocket-sized rig that possesses a fraction of the hashrate that industrial-scale application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) have.

Example of a pocket-sized Bitcoin mining rig that may have solved Bitcoin block 888,989. Source: ASIC Miner Value

For context, the Bitcoin mining marketplace estimates that the odds of the 1.2TH/s rig mining a solo block on any day is one in 4.6 million chance.

It comes after a 0.48 TH/s mining machine solved Bitcoin block 887,212 on March 10, banking $263,000 in total rewards.

No, the IMF did not say Bitcoin is “digital gold”

Bitcoin was mentioned several times in the International Monetary Fund’s seventh edition of its “Integrated Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual,” which was published on March 20 — but none of which referred to it as “digital gold,” contrary to some reports. 

The IMF provided classifications on “crypto assets” such as Bitcoin as a “medium of exchange” while stating that many new digital assets are designed to also act as a “store of value.”

The IMF’s comment on digital assets was misinterpreted by members of the crypto industry. Source: IMF

“This is a massive stretch to jump to: ‘IMF says bitcoin is digital gold,’” Satoshi Action Fund CEO Dennis Porter said in a March 23 X post.

“[It’s] a good sign that the IMF is recognizing this but definitely not an endorsement of Bitcoin as ‘digital gold.’”

The IMF also distinguished fungible tokens from non-fungible tokens and classified the latter as either a token designed to act as a medium of exchange or as a security.

Related: Who’s running in Trump’s race to make US a ‘Bitcoin superpower?’

Bitcoin and “crypto assets” were among nine “major changes” to the seventh edition, which comprised 1,076 pages.

The IMF’s seventh edition was released as it continues to negotiate with El Salvador over narrowing the scope of the country’s Bitcoin activities.

Other news: 

Stablecoin issuer Tether is reportedly engaging with a Big Four accounting firm to audit its assets reserve and verify that its Tether (USDT) stablecoin is backed at a 1:1 ratio. The auditing of Tether’s $143.5 billion worth of assets is expected to be more straightforward under US President Donald Trump, Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino reportedly said.

The CEO of Pakistan’s Crypto Council, Bilal Bin Saqib, has proposed using the country’s runoff energy to fuel Bitcoin mining at the Crypto Council’s inaugural meeting on March 21. It is reportedly exploring comprehensive regulatory frameworks to attract more foreign crypto investment into the country and potentially become a crypto hub.

Magazine: What are native rollups? Full guide to Ethereum’s latest innovation

The US Treasury Department says there is no need for a final court judgment in a lawsuit over its sanctioning of Tornado Cash after dropping the crypto mixer from the sanctions list.

In August 2022, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash after alleging the protocol helped launder crypto stolen by North Korean hacking crew the Lazarus Group, leading to a number of Tornado Cash users filing a lawsuit against the regulator. 

After a court ruling in favor of Tornado Cash, the US Treasury dropped the mixer from its sanctions list on March 21, along with several dozen Tornado-affiliated smart contract addresses from the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, and has now argued “this matter is now moot.”

Because Tornado Cash has been dropped from the sanctions list, the US Treasury Department argues there is no need for a final court judgment in the lawsuit. Source: Paul Grewal

“Because this court, like all federal courts, has a continuing obligation to satisfy itself that it possesses Article III jurisdiction over the case, briefing on mootness is warranted,” the US Treasury said. 

However, Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal said the Treasury’s hope to have the case declared moot before an official judgment can be made isn’t the correct legal process.

“After grudgingly delisting TC, they now claim they’ve mooted any need for a final court judgment. But that’s not the law, and they know it,” he said.

“Under the voluntary cessation exception, a defendant’s decision to end a challenged practice moots a case only if the defendant can show that the practice cannot ‘reasonably be expected to recur.’”

Grewal pointed to a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that found a legal complaint from Yonas Fikre, a US citizen who was put on the No Fly List, is not moot by taking him off the list because the ban could be reinstated again at a later date.

Source: Paul Grewal

“Here, Treasury has likewise removed the Tornado Cash entities from the SDN, but has provided no assurance that it will not re-list Tornado Cash again. That’s not good enough, and will make this clear to the district court,” Grewal said.

Six Tornado Cash users led by Ethereum core developer Preston Van Loon, with the support of Coinbase, sued the Treasury in September 2022 to reverse the sanctions under the argument that they were unlawful.

Crypto policy advocacy group Coin Center followed through with a similar suit in October 2022.

In August 2023, a Texas federal court judge sided with the US Treasury, ruling that Tornado Cash was an entity that may be designated per OFAC regulations. On appeal, a three-judge panel ruled in November that Treasury’s sanctions against the crypto mixer’s immutable smart contracts were unlawful.

US Treasury had a 60-day window to challenge the decision, which it did; however, the US court sided with Tornado Cash, overturning the sanctions on Jan. 21 and forcing the government agency to remove the sanctions by March.

Related: US Treasury under Trump could take a different approach to Tornado Cash

Its founders are still facing legal strife, however. The US charged Roman Storm and fellow co-founder Roman Semenov in August 2023, accusing them of helping launder over $1 billion in crypto through Tornado Cash. 

Semenov is still at large and on the FBI’s most wanted list. Storm is free on a $2 million bond and expected to face trial in April. 

Meanwhile, Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was released from prison after a Dutch court suspended his “pretrial detention” as he prepared to appeal his money laundering conviction.

Magazine: Ripple says SEC lawsuit ‘over,’ Trump at DAS, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 16 – 22

Bitcoin may have bottomed and could rebound toward $90,000 after US President Donald Trump signaled a willingness to ease tariffs and the Federal Reserve resisted short-term pressure last week, according to a crypto analyst.

“Bitcoin is attempting to form a bottom, supported by Trump’s recent shift toward ‘flexibility’ on the upcoming April 2 reciprocal tariffs, softening his earlier rhetoric,” 10x Research’s founder Markus Thielen said in a March 23 report.

The Federal Reserve signaled in its March 18-19 meeting that it would also “look past short-term inflationary pressures, laying the groundwork for potential future easing,” Thielen added.

“Powell’s mildly dovish tone suggests that the Fed’s put remains intact, providing further support for a recovery in stock prices.”

10x Research’s Bitcoin reversal indicators have turned bullish as a result, with Bitcoin’s (BTC) 21-day moving average now at $85,200, Thielen noted.

Bitcoin’s bottoming formations over the last two years. Source: 10x Research

He said these weekly reversal indicators have pulled back to levels where past bull markets have resumed, such as in September 2023 — spurred on by the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund narrative — and August 2024 as the US election neared.

“In short, the technical backdrop has now reset to a point where a renewed uptrend could plausibly unfold.”

Thielen also noted that several altcoins are already breaking out of their downtrend channels and trading at more “attractive levels.”

Bitcoin is currently trading at $85,720, up 2.1% over the last 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows.

Meanwhile, Ether (ETH), Tron (TRX), and Avalanche (AVAX) have rebounded 4.3%, 6.4% and 8.9%, respectively, over the last week. 

The crypto research analyst, however, expects to see “significant resistance” at the $90,000 mark for Bitcoin, should it reach that level.

Despite the more positive outlook, “no clear catalyst exists for an immediate parabolic rally” is in sight, Thielen said.

Related: Bitcoin ‘in position’ for first key RSI breakout in 6 months at $85K

He initially said Bitcoin wouldn’t drop below $73,000 — thereby avoiding a “deep bear market” — because the largest sum bracket of Bitcoin holders (wallets with 100-1000 Bitcoin) are likely family offices and wealth managers who are invested in Bitcoin for the long term.

He also noted that the US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs returned inflows for the first time last week since the last week of January. 

“We expect Bitcoin ETF selling from arbitrage-focused investors to wind down, as the arbitrage opportunities have primarily been closed for weeks,” Thielen added.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

The UK should begin taxing crypto purchases in a bid to sway Britons to invest in local stocks, which could boost the country’s economy, says the chair of investment bank Cavendish, Lisa Gordon.

“It should terrify all of us that over half of under-45s own crypto and no equities,” Gordon told The Times in a March 23 report. “I would love to see stamp duty cut on equities and applied to crypto.”

Currently, the UK lumps a 0.5% tax on shares listed on the London Stock Exchange, the country’s largest securities market, which brings in around 3 billion British pounds ($3.9 billion) a year in tax revenue.

Gordon added that a cut could sway people to put their savings into shares of local companies, which could then spark other firms to go public in the UK and help the economy.

In comparison, she called crypto “a non-productive asset” that “doesn’t feed back into the economy.”

“Equities provide growth capital to companies that employ people, innovate and pay corporation tax. That is a social contract. We shouldn’t be afraid of advocating for that.”

The country’s Financial Conduct Authority said in November that crypto ownership rose to 12% of adults, equivalent to around 7 million people. A majority of crypto owners, 36%, were under the age of 55 years old.

Gordon said that many had “shifted to saving rather than investing,” which she claimed “is not going to fund a viable retirement.”

A 2022 FCA survey found that 70% of adults had a savings account, while 38% either directly held shares or held them through an account, allowing nearly 20,000 British pounds ($26,000) of tax-free savings a year — around three in four 18-24 years olds held no investments.

A quarter of 18-25 year olds and a third of 25-44 year olds held any investment in 2022. Source: FCA

But in a follow-up survey, the regulator reported that in the 12 months to January 2024, the cost of living crisis had seen 44% of all adults either stop or reduce saving or investing, while nearly a quarter used savings or sold their investments to cover day-to-day costs.

Gordon is a member of the Capital Markets Industry Taskforce, a group of industry executives aiming to revive the local market, which Cavendish would benefit from as it advises companies on how to navigate possible public offerings.

Related: Will new US SEC rules bring crypto companies onshore?

Consulting giant EY reported in January that the London stock market had one of its “quietest years on record,” with just 18 companies listing last year, down from 23 in 2023.

At the same time, EY said 88 companies delisted or transferred from the exchange, with many saying they moved due to “declining liquidity and lower valuations compared to other markets” such as the US.

However, Gordon claimed the UK is a “safe haven” compared to markets such as the US, which has lost trillions of dollars in its stock markets due to President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and fears of a recession.

Crypto markets have also slumped alongside US equities, with Bitcoin (BTC) trading down 11% over the past 30 days and struggling to maintain support above $85,000 since early March.

In the past 24 hours, at least, Bitcoin is up 2%, trading around $85,640.

Magazine: Memecoins are ded — But Solana ‘100x better’ despite revenue plunge