Coin360 Weekly Dispatch | Crypto Market Updates & Highlights | March 16 - 22, 2025

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Crypto Weekly Recap

Bitcoin:

• Weekly performance: +0.89%
• US Spot BTC ETFs: +$744.35M 
• BTC saw brief bullish moves after Fed comments on inflation and economy, but ended the week mostly flat.
• It turned bearish early in the week, dropping near $81K. A Hyperliquid whale closed a 40x short, netting $9.4M in 8 days.
• During the second half of the week, BTC lost gains, falling from $87.3K to $84.5K after the market reacted to the Fed’s steady rates and QT slowdown.
• Trump called the U.S. a future “Bitcoin superpower” and pushed for stablecoin laws at Blockworks Digital Asset Conference, but prices stayed muted.
• CryptoQuant CEO said the bull cycle ended, expecting 6–12 months of bearish/sideways action, but CoinRoutes’ CEO, along with other market experts, disagreed.
• Public companies holding BTC hit 80 in 2025, up 142% from 33 in 2023, according to River.
• A Coinbase–EY study showed 75% of institutional investors aimed to raise crypto exposure in 2025, with 59% planning over 5% AUM in crypto.
• Goldman Sachs and central banks increased gold buying amid tariffs and uncertainty. January’s purchases were 7x pre-2022 averages, but gold pulled back after hitting a new ATH.

Ethereum:

• Weekly performance: +4.65%
• US Spot ETH ETFs: -$102.89M
• ETH briefly topped $2K this week but is likely to end below, currently at $1,996.
• It rebounded from $1,875 to $2,066 with BTC, but failed to break resistance.
• Glassnode’s CBD heatmap showed strong ETH support near $1,886.
• ETH supply on exchanges dropped to 8.97M, the lowest since Nov 2015: Santiment.
• Ethereum developers planned to retire the Holesky testnet by Sept 2025.
• Standard Chartered cut its 2025 ETH price target by 60% to $4,000.
• Coinbase became ETH’s largest node operator with 11.42% of staked ETH, 3.84M ETH, and 120K validators; centralization and selling raised concerns.
• ETH fees fell around 50% last week due to weak on-chain activity, signaling a broader demand slowdown.
• The main focus for crypto this week centered on:
  • Regulation: Ripple’s battle with the SEC neared its end, Tornado Cash developments drew attention, and so on.
  • Acquisition & Fundraising: Major moves from Kraken, Coinbase, TON Blockchain, and others shaped the funding landscape.
  • BNB Chain activity, which surpassed Solana in daily DEX volume thanks to the revived memecoin frenzy with CZ’s support.

Altcoins:

• Fidelity, Robinhood, and BlackRock doubled down on crypto this week.
• Key regulatory shifts emerged, including SEC tone changes and state bills.
• US policy: SEC softened stance while states pushed forward bold Bitcoin legislation.
• Strategy added 130 BTC; Metaplanet’s total BTC holdings neared 3,200.
• Fidelity, Robinhood, and BlackRock increased TradFi-crypto integration efforts.
• mubarak coin’s meteoric rise sparked market frenzy.
• Lazarus Group’s BTC stash surpassed Bhutan and El Salvador’s reserves.
• YZi Labs invested in Plume to boost real-world asset tokenization.
• Wemix denied a cover-up in delayed $6.2M bridge hack disclosure.
• Bybit’s founder traced 86% of stolen funds to 9,117 wallets.
• Tether pursued a Big Four auditor for its first full audit.
• Aave confirmed Horizon will not involve a new token launch.
• OKX paused its DEX aggregator following the Bybit hack fallout.
• Ethena and Securitize partnered to launch the Converge blockchain.
• Arbitrum launched Onchain Labs to incubate early-stage crypto projects.
• Microsoft flagged StilachiRAT malware targeting crypto browser extensions.
• Cronos approved a controversial vote to reissue 70B burned tokens.
• ZachXBT revealed Hyperliquid whale as a UK-based fraudster.
• Ripple’s custody trademark filing sparked XRP wallet speculation.
• Four.Meme resumed launch feature on BNB Chain after $130K hack.
• AI trading agent aixbt was hacked for $100K.
• Lisk kicked off the second season of its airdrop campaign.
• BlackRock’s BUIDL, Superstate, and Centrifuge won Spark’s $1B RWA prize.
• Coinbase planned onchain swaps for KYC-verified users.
• Cosmos introduced native EVM via open-sourcing Evmos.
• Bakkt stock fell nearly 30% after losing key banking partners.
• EOS suffered address poisoning just after announcing a rebrand.
• RAY surged after Raydium introduced its LaunchLab project.
• Gotbit’s Russian founder reached a $23M plea deal with U.S. prosecutors.
• PumpFun launched its native DEX, PumpSwap.
• PancakeSwap climbed to third in crypto revenue rankings.
• Uniswap raised $165M and announced plans for a fee switch.
• MoonPay secured a $200M credit line from Galaxy to manage token hype.
• Upbit denied listing fee claims and challenged Wu Blockchain for proof.
• Watcher Guru’s X account was hacked to promote a fake XRP–SWIFT partnership.

Legal and Regulatory Developments in Cryptocurrency: Tornado Cash, Telegram, Debiex, and More

In a recent legal recap, the US Treasury lifted sanctions on Tornado Cash following a court ruling deeming its smart contracts non-property, yet founder Roman Semenov remains sanctioned. Pavel Durov returned to Dubai amid a Telegram investigation, promising improved moderation. Debiex was ordered to pay $2.5 million for a romance scam, while Burwick Law's class-action suit against LIBRA's backers alleges fraud. Hollywood director Carl Erik Rinsch was arrested for misappropriating $11 million in a Netflix scam. Additionally, Gotbit's Aleksei Andriunin forfeited $23 million, and Bithumb is under investigation for misusing funds for real estate purchases.

CryptoQuant CEO Declares Bitcoin Bull Run Over, Analysts Split on Future Rally Potential

The debate over Bitcoin's market direction intensifies as CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju declares the bull run over, predicting bearish conditions for 6-12 months due to three weeks of negative ETF inflows and a $100,000 price level failure. Contrarily, analysts like Seth and CoinRoutes CEO Dave Weisberger highlight macroeconomic liquidity and institutional buying as potential catalysts for a rally. Bitcoin's recent 30% drop from its January 20 peak of $109,590 exacerbates concerns, with $920 million in ETF outflows. Despite this, Bitcoin outperforms traditional assets, and projections suggest potential peaks between $160,000 and $250,000 by 2025.

Kraken to Acquire NinjaTrader for $1.5B; Coinbase Eyes $5B Deribit Deal Amid $400M TON Funding

This week in crypto funding, notable events include Kraken's $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader, enhancing its multi-asset strategy, while Coinbase is in talks to acquire Deribit for $4-$5 billion to boost its derivatives offerings. Venture capital firms invested $400 million in the TON blockchain as Telegram reaches 1 billion users. Trump Media launched a SPAC to raise $179 million for acquiring crypto and data security firms. Haun Ventures seeks $1 billion for blockchain startups, and the Walrus Foundation secured $140 million in a token sale for its decentralized data storage project, set to launch mainnet on March 27.

Solana Faces Backlash Over Politically Charged Ad Amid TRX Integration and Weak CME Futures Launch

Solana faced significant backlash after releasing a controversial ad, "America is Back—Time to Accelerate," on March 17, 2025, which drew criticism for its political messaging. The ad amassed 1.2 million views in nine hours, sparking condemnation from industry figures like Caitlin Cook and Adam Cochran. Following the uproar, Solana removed the ad without an explanation. Amid this, TRON's Justin Sun announced plans to integrate TRX into Solana, which briefly boosted TRX’s price. Concurrently, CME launched Solana futures, generating only $12.3 million in trading volume, highlighting institutional hesitance towards altcoins compared to earlier Bitcoin and Ethereum futures.

Eric Trump Joins Metaplanet Advisory Board, Boosting Stock by 17%

Eric Trump has joined Tokyo-listed Bitcoin treasury firm Metaplanet’s newly formed Strategic Board of Advisors, announced on March 21, 2025. This appointment aims to enhance financial innovation and Bitcoin adoption while expanding the firm’s visibility among US investors. Following the news, Metaplanet's stock surged 17%. Trump, recognized for his experience in real estate, finance, and digital assets, is expected to leverage his connections to boost Metaplanet’s appeal. His public advocacy for Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with ties to World Liberty Financial, reinforces his strategic role in the company’s growth and alignment with pro-crypto policies.

Crypto ETFs Surge: Hashdex Seeks XRP, Solana Additions; SUI, Polkadot, and Solana Products Launch

This week marks significant developments in cryptocurrency ETFs, with Hashdex seeking SEC approval to add XRP, Solana, and Cardano to its Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF, currently allocating 88% of its $70 million assets to Bitcoin and 12% to Ethereum. Canary Capital filed for a spot SUI ETF, and Nasdaq submitted a proposal for a Polkadot ETF via 21Shares. Volatility Shares launched two Solana ETFs, SOLZ and SOLT, while Bitnomial introduced XRP futures after a legal victory. Additionally, Canary Capital aims to launch an ETF combining PENGU tokens and Pudgy Penguins NFTs, signaling growing institutional interest in diverse crypto assets.

Binance Launches 0% Trading Fee Promotion on Web3 Wallet Amidst Series of Upgrades and Initiatives

On March 17, Binance launched a six-month 0% trading fee promotion on its Web3 Wallet, with eligibility limited to users of its keyless addresses. The exchange also rolled out a full anti-pinch system to improve trading stability, offering 24-hour compensation for major issues. Binance introduced Alpha 2.0 to enhance CEX-DEX interoperability, expanding its Web3 ecosystem. BNB Chain launched the Good Will Alliance to fight MEV sandwich attacks with community-driven governance and filtering mechanisms. Binance initiated its first community coin vote, backed by $1 million in BNB, boosting staking by 15% and BNB price by 5%.

Microsoft Detects StilachiRAT Malware Targeting Cryptocurrency Wallets

Microsoft has identified a new malware, StilachiRAT, targeting cryptocurrency wallet extensions, posing a grave threat to users' digital assets. First discovered in November 2024, this remote access trojan can extract and decrypt saved credentials from popular wallets like MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet. StilachiRAT continuously monitors clipboard content for cryptocurrency keys, uses sophisticated methods to evade detection, and is especially focused on the Tron network. Although not widely distributed yet, its anti-forensic techniques and stealth make it a significant concern. Experts warn that attackers employ social engineering strategies to deceive victims into downloading the malware.

Top Weekly Altcoin Gainers and Losers

Gainers:

PancakeSwap CAKE (+52.15%)

Toncoin TON (+22.77%)

Kava KAVA (+19.12%)

Bonk BONK (+14.41%)

Hyperliquid HYPE (+13.82%)

Losers:

Pi Network PI (-31.07%)

JasmyCoin JASMY (-7.65%)

Celestia TIA (-7.30%)

Official Trump TRUMP (-7.32%)

Bitcoin Cash BCH (-6.32%)