Coin360 Weekly Dispatch | Crypto Market Updates & Highlights | March 1-7, 2026

Weekly Crypto Market Performance 

Period: March 1-7, 2026

Total crypto market cap: $2.31T

Crypto Fear & Greed Index: 12 (Extreme Fear)

BTC.D: 59.06%

Price action

Bitcoin and Ethereum finished the week higher despite violent macro crosscurrents, with BTC up 6.25% and ETH up 6.24%. BTC’s key breakout came on March 5, when it briefly touched $74,000 after trading near $67,000 at the start of the week, while ETH reached $2,195 before both majors gave back part of the move into the Friday close.

Market structure and crypto-native fundamentals

Attribution was shared rather than dominant. Early-week strength coincided with solid U.S. spot ETF demand, as spot BTC ETFs absorbed about $1.145 billion on March 2–4 before reversing to a combined $576.8 million of outflows on March 5–6, landing the weekly netflow at +$568.45 million. Spot ETH ETFs showed the same shape, ending the week only modestly positive at roughly +$23.5 million. 

Into the late-week fade, profit-taking and leverage mattered: short-term holders reportedly sent about 27,000 BTC to exchanges after the breakout, while liquidations reached roughly $593 million amid escalating Middle Eastern conflicts. Public Bitcoin miners also sold over 15,000 BTC from October 2025 to February 2026, with February alone accounting for approximately 6,100 BTC.

Macro context

Crypto-specific policy headlines likely helped the midweek rally, especially Trump’s public support for the Clarity Act. However, macro remained the primary volatility engine. The widening Iran war drove oil into its strongest weekly surge since 2020, with U.S. crude up 12% on March 6 to $90.75, while the February U.S. payrolls report showed a 92,000-job loss and unemployment rising to 4.4%. 

Those shocks pulled rate expectations in opposite directions: weaker labor data increased expectations for Fed easing, but higher energy prices revived inflation fears and pushed back the broader easing path. 

Cross-asset comparison

BTC and ETH outperformed major U.S. equity indexes over the week, as the S&P 500 fell 1.7%, the Nasdaq lost 0.67%, and the Dow dropped 3.56%. The dollar index rose about 1% on the week following a Friday slump due to weaker-than-expected nonfarm payrolls number, while gold stayed volatile (-3.67%) rather than delivering a clean, straight-line haven bid. So the week’s signal was not full macro decoupling; it was relative resilience, with crypto holding up better than equities even as it still reacted to oil, war, and rate repricing. 

Institutional access, exchange infrastructure and payment rails

Kraken Financial secures Federal Reserve payment system access through Kansas City Fed approval

Kraken Financial received a limited-purpose Federal Reserve master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City on March 4, giving the Wyoming-chartered institution direct access to Fed payment infrastructure and the Fedwire settlement network without relying on intermediary banks. The account comes with restrictions, including no interest on balances and phased deployment beginning with institutional payment services, while banking groups including the Bank Policy Institute, Financial Services Forum and The Clearing House Association argued the decision could create operational and financial-stability risks.

ICE invests in OKX at $25B valuation as partnership targets tokenized NYSE stocks and crypto futures

Intercontinental Exchange made a strategic investment in OKX at an implied $25 billion valuation and secured a board seat as part of a long-term partnership announced March 5. The arrangement targets tokenized NYSE-listed equities, U.S.-regulated crypto futures and broader blockchain trading infrastructure, while OKB rose 45% to above $112 after the announcement. 

Western Union launches USDPT stablecoin on Solana, taps Anchorage and Crossmint for global remittance network

Western Union plans to launch the dollar-pegged USDPT stablecoin on Solana, with Anchorage Digital Bank issuing the token and Crossmint providing wallet and payment API infrastructure. The rollout is tied to a Digital Asset Network designed to connect stablecoins, wallets, exchanges and fintech apps to Western Union’s payout system, including access to more than 360,000 payout locations across over 200 countries and territories.

Iranian crypto outflows jump to $10.3M after airstrikes as exchange withdrawals spike up to 873%

About $10.3 million in crypto assets left Iranian exchanges between Feb. 28 and March 2 after airstrikes linked to escalating regional conflict. Hourly withdrawals rose as much as 873% and peaked at $2.89 million in a single hour, marking a sharp increase in exchange outflows during the period.

Visa and Stripe-owned Bridge expand stablecoin card program to 100 countries as on-chain settlement pilot begins

Visa and Bridge expanded their stablecoin-linked card program to more than 100 countries and began testing blockchain-based settlement inside Visa’s network. The cards let users connect wallets holding stablecoins directly to Visa-enabled cards, while merchants continue receiving local fiat at the point of sale through existing card infrastructure. MetaMask and Phantom are among the wallets named in the rollout.

Morgan Stanley advances Bitcoin ETF filing with Coinbase custody and BNY Mellon administration

Morgan Stanley amended its SEC registration statement for the proposed Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust on March 4, naming Coinbase Custody Trust Company as custodian and BNY Mellon as administrator, transfer agent and cash custodian. The filing describes a physically backed spot Bitcoin ETF structure that would hold Bitcoin directly rather than use derivatives or synthetic exposure. 

Strategy buys $204.1M in Bitcoin as corporate crypto treasuries expand across Strategy, BitMine, ProCap and American Bitcoin

Strategy bought 3,015 BTC for $204.1 million on March 2 at an average price of about $67,700 per coin, raising its holdings to 720,737 BTC acquired for roughly $54.8 billion in total. BitMine Immersion Technologies expanded its Ether treasury by 50,928 ETH, bringing total holdings to 4,473,587 ETH with an estimated value near $9 billion at prevailing prices. ProCap Financial added 450 BTC to lift reserves to about 5,457 BTC, while also repurchasing 782,408 shares. American Bitcoin increased its treasury to roughly 6,500 BTC after accumulating more than 500 BTC over 21 days.

Kazakhstan Central Bank prepares $350 million crypto-linked investment strategy using national reserves

Kazakhstan’s central bank is preparing to allocate $350 million from national reserves into crypto-linked investments, including cryptocurrencies, digital-asset-linked technology companies and crypto index funds. Governor Timur Suleimanov presented the strategy at a March 6 briefing as part of the country’s reserve-management approach. 

Governance, regulation and enforcement

Aave governance rift deepens as Aave Chan Initiative announces exit from $26.51B DeFi protocol

The Aave Chan Initiative will shut down and leave the Aave DAO after a governance dispute tied to a major funding proposal for Aave Labs. Marc Zeller said on March 3 that the governance service provider would not renew its DAO contract and would wind down operations.

Dubai orders KuCoin entities to cease unlicensed crypto services as regulator issues investor alert

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority issued a cease-and-desist alert against KuCoin-linked entities after identifying companies operating under the KuCoin brand that may have been providing services to Dubai residents without approval. VARA named Phoenixfin Pte Ltd, MEK Global Limited, Peken Global Limited and KuCoin Exchange EU GmbH, said KuCoin has no license to operate in or from Dubai, and ordered an immediate halt to service, marketing and promotional activity directed at residents.

Binance rejects Senate claims of Iran-linked crypto transfers as lawmakers probe alleged $1.7B flows through exchange

Senator Richard Blumenthal opened a congressional inquiry into roughly $1.7 billion in alleged Iran-linked crypto transfers connected to accounts on Binance, including activity tied to intermediaries known as Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust. Binance rejected the claims as false and defamatory, said no accounts on the platform transacted directly with Iran-based entities, and stated that Hexa Whale was removed in August 2025 while Blessed Trust was offboarded in January 2026 following internal reviews. 

Florida Senate passes first state-level stablecoin regulation bill in unanimous 37–0 vote, sending SB 314 to Gov. Ron DeSantis

Florida’s Senate approved Senate Bill 314 on March 6 by a 37–0 vote after the state House had already passed a companion measure, sending the legislation to Governor Ron DeSantis. The bill would create a regulatory framework for qualified payment stablecoin issuers under Florida’s money services business regime and extend AML and reporting obligations through amendments to the state’s Money Services Business Anti-Money Laundering Act.

FBI arrests contractor’s son in alleged $46 million cryptocurrency theft from U.S. Marshals wallets

Federal authorities arrested John Daghita in Saint Martin in connection with the alleged theft of more than $46 million in cryptocurrency from wallets tied to the U.S. Marshals Service. The arrest involved U.S. investigators and French authorities and centered on unauthorized access to government-linked wallets holding seized digital assets. 

Justin Sun reaches $10 million settlement with SEC, ending 2023 lawsuit over TRX and BTT sales

Justin Sun and Tron-linked entities reached a $10 million settlement with the SEC in a case involving the sale and promotion of TRX and BTT. The agreement, announced March 5, would end the civil case once approved by the court. The settlement provides for payment by a Sun-associated company rather than Sun personally, and the SEC agreed to dismiss claims against Sun, the Tron Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation and Rainberry.

Venture, products and market expansion

Andreessen Horowitz targets $2 billion fifth crypto fund amid venture capital slowdown

Andreessen Horowitz is raising a fifth dedicated crypto fund with a target of about $2 billion and an expected close in the first half of 2026. The fundraising continues the firm’s strategy of backing blockchain infrastructure and application startups amid a slower venture-capital environment for digital assets. 

Sui launches USDsui stablecoin on mainnet with treasury yield routed back to ecosystem

Sui launched the dollar-pegged USDsui stablecoin on mainnet as a native settlement asset for applications on the network. USDsui is issued through Bridge, Stripe’s subsidiary, using an Open Issuance framework intended to support regulated issuance and redemption while directing Treasury-yield economics back into the ecosystem.

Nasdaq seeks SEC approval for binary outcome options as prediction market volumes post first monthly decline since August 2025

Nasdaq filed with the SEC on March 2 to list Outcome-Related Options tied to the Nasdaq-100 Index and Nasdaq-100 Micro Index. The contracts would trade between $0.01 and $1.00 and settle at $1 if the specified event occurs or expire worthless if it does not. The filing positions them as SEC-regulated securities options, while the broader market backdrop in the source shows the first month-on-month decline in prediction-market volume since August 2025, even as Kalshi posted $9.8 billion in February volume.

European bank consortium plans H2 2026 euro stablecoin launch, targets exchange liquidity and MiCA compliance

A consortium of 12 European banks plans to launch a regulated euro-pegged stablecoin through a joint venture called Qivalis in the second half of 2026. The token is intended to be fully backed 1:1 by the euro under the EU’s MiCA framework, with reserves split between bank deposits and short-term euro-area sovereign bonds.