Market Highlights
- President Trump signed an executive order to create a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
- Texas and New Hampshire passed bitcoin reserve bills.
- New details show a compromised laptop caused the US$1.4 billion Bybit hack.
- A crypto caucus has been created in the U.S. House of Representatives.
- The U.S. Senate passed a resolution to overturn the IRS rule that requires brokers to report gross proceeds from digital asset sales.
Markets Overview
Macro Market Updates:
The implementation of President Trump’s tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico and disappointing jobs data saw selling pressure continue in traditional finance markets this week. Tuesday, 4 March, marked the day that blanket 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada took effect. Tariffs on Chinese imports doubled to 20%. China and Canada retaliated with tariffs on U.S. imports, while President Trump later signed executive actions to delay tariffs on products covered under the USMCA free trade treaty until 2 April. The National People’s Congress in China unlocked further fiscal stimulus to reach its 5% economic growth target while pushing its deficit up to 4% of GDP.
On the jobs front, the non-farm employment change for February came in under forecast at 151,000, and the U.S. unemployment rate came in at 4.1%. The week finished with U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaking at a monetary policy forum, saying the central bank is awaiting “greater clarity” on Trump’s trade policies before making its next move on interest rates. By the end of the week, the S&P 500 closed down almost 4.3%, the NASDAQ was down 4.4%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.2%. The new week started with the Dow declining by 900 points on Monday 10 March as President Trump didn’t rule out a recession in the near future.
Crypto Market Sector Performance
All market sectors experienced declines this week. Exchanges were the least affected, while AI, bridge and staking services saw the biggest losses. ai16z saw the biggest losses in AI, declining by 41.5% on the week, presumably due to the wider market sell-off and newer technologies often seeing larger losses with heightened risk and volatility. The blockchain investment firm is currently leading a US$7 million investment round for blockchain developer Seismic. With average sector growth this week at -15.4% and all sectors seeing declines, it shows the market is in a period of contraction and consolidation — a common occurrence in bull markets.
Bitcoin (BTC)
It was another disappointing week for bitcoin, spurred by further economic uncertainty over President Trump’s tariffs, weaker than forecast jobs data and investors’ bearish sentiment over the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Opening the week at US$94,265, bitcoin declined almost 18% to a low of US$77,389. Bitcoin is currently trading at US$79,338.
On Thursday, 6 March, President Trump signed an executive order to create a strategic bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile. White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks said the bitcoin reserve would be cost-neutral and capitalised with bitcoin that the U.S. Government acquired through civil asset forfeiture proceedings. Bitcoin fell 5.1% on the news, indicating that perhaps traders and investors were expecting the U.S. Government to purchase bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on top of its current forfeiture holdings. Federal agencies now need to provide an audit of government-held digital assets within 30 days. The Treasury Department has 60 days to evaluate a legal and investment framework to manage the reserve. A digital asset stockpile holding other cryptocurrencies will be established and held separately.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele publicly refuted the terms that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) laid out in order for the country to secure a US$1.4 billion loan agreement in December 2024. The IMF’s terms mandate that the country liquidate the Fidebitcoin trust fund by July 2025, stop participation in the Chivo wallet system and publish the government’s bitcoin wallet addresses. El Salvador's BTC holdings currently stand at 6,101 bitcoin, worth US$510 million. In November 2024, US$100 million of these holdings were profit.
Texas Senators passed Senate Bill 21 this week — a bill that proposes the creation of a state-managed investment fund that would be held outside the State’s treasury and allow for a more flexible and investment-driven approach. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives for a vote. Similarly, New Hampshire’s bitcoin reserve bill passed the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee with a 16-1 vote. The bill allows the state treasurer to allocate up to 5% of public funds to buying bitcoin.
Metaplanet bought a further 495 bitcoin this week, at a value of US$43 million. This takes the Japanese firm’s holdings to 2,888 BTC at an average purchase price of US$88,448. The company’s stock price gained 20% after it announced its latest BTC acquisition.
Bitcoin asset investment products saw outflows of US$756 million this week as investors exercise caution in this current period of uncertainty.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Ethereum (ETH)
Selling pressure continued for Ethereum this week. Opening the week at US$2,518, the cryptocurrency declined by over 28% to US$1,809 before recovering slightly. The losses are presumably due to economic uncertainty across the wider market and the crypto market’s reaction to President Trump’s executive order to create a digital asset stockpile.
The current sell-off has seen ETH lose 50% of its value since its December high of US$4,109. There’s potential that a supply squeeze could be coming for Ethereum as 330,000 ETH was withdrawn from exchanges throughout the end of the week, which can sometimes indicate easing selling pressure and more accumulation.
Safe, the multi-signature wallet provider whose technology is used by Bybit, said a developer’s compromised laptop caused the US$1.4 billion hack of the crypto exchange. The laptop in question interacted with a malicious docker project or lightweight application on 4 February. The attackers were then able to bypass multi-factor authentication on Safe’s Amazon Web Services account.
Nasdaq-listed tech firm BioNexus Gene Labs Corporation approved an Ethereum-focused treasury strategy this week. In the whitepaper explaining the company’s rationale, it said they chose Ethereum as it has wider utility than bitcoin, the ability to generate yield through staking and institutional credibility.
Ethereum asset investment products saw outflows of US$89 million this week.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Altcoins
Binance Monitoring Tag additions
- VIDT DAO (VIDT) declined by 52.9%, taking its market cap to US$7.8 million. The decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) that develops blockchain technology to timestamp and authenticate documents sold off this week, presumably due to Binance adding a Monitoring Tag to VIDT. A monitoring tag is used to flag more volatile cryptocurrencies. If these currencies fail to meet Binance’s criteria, they may be delisted.
- NULS (NULS) lost 48.7%, which takes its market cap to US$14.5 million. A Monitoring Tag was added to NULS this week, along with other DeFi and cryptocurrencies that are experiencing “notably higher volatility and risks”.
- Badger (BADGER) lost 40.1%. This takes its market cap to US$45.9 million. The network, which aims to bring bitcoin to DeFi, also had a Monitoring Tag added by Binance this week.
- AirSwap (AST) lost 36.4%, taking its market cap to US$9.3 million as a Monitoring Tag was added to AST by Binance this week. AST declined by almost 25% on the news.
CHEX mate
- CHEX Token (CHEX) declined by 39.7%. This takes its market cap to US$213.6 million. Like many other altcoins, the compliance-focused layer-1 blockchain for real-world assets has steadily declined since its December highs. The team launched an airdrop on Saturday, 8 March, which saw price seesaw over 30% throughout the day.
DeFi decline
- Jupiter (JUP) declined by 36.6%, which takes its market cap to US$1.3 billion. The crypto exchange has seen pronounced declines since its X account was hacked in February to promote fake crypto tokens. The network has also launched a repurchase program from 17 February, where 50% of its fees will be used to repurchase and lock JUP tokens for three years. The aim is to shift from token burns to long-term stability.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
In Other News
It was another week of outflows for digital asset investment products with US$867 million leaving funds amid continued economic uncertainty and the current sell-off across risk assets. This week’s outflows bring cumulative outflows for this period of heightened risk and volatility to almost US$4.8 billion. Total assets under management for digital asset investment products now stands at US$39 billion, the lowest since November 2024.
Other crypto news
- Grayscale has filed for approval of a spot Hedera (HBAR) exchange-traded fund (ETF). If approved, this will mark the firm’s sixth altcoin-focused ETF. Once the filing is acknowledged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and published on the Federal Register, the formal approval process begins.
- Crypto exchange Kraken’s parent company Paywayd Inc. is planning an initial public offering (IPO) for 2026, following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreeing to drop the lawsuit against the company. If the company has a successful IPO, it’ll be the second crypto exchange to be publicly traded in the U.S. after Coinbase was listed in April 2021.
- Proposal SIMD-0228, which suggests changing the rate at which new Solana (SOL) tokens are created has had a mixed reaction in the community. SIMD-0228 seeks to move from fixed-rate token emissions to a programmatic “marked-based emission”. This means Solana’s inflation would no longer be decreased on a time-based schedule but based on network activity. Voting will start on Friday, 14 March, and it will need a two-thirds majority to pass.
Regulatory
- House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) created the first congressional crypto caucus this week. It will allow pro-crypto policymakers to vote as a unified bloc on relevant legislation. The caucus is bipartisan, led by Emmer and Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who is also a crypto advocate. No further details about the size of the caucus have been revealed, but it’s another positive step toward more accommodative crypto regulation in the U.S.
- At the first-ever White House crypto summit on Friday, President Trump announced his plans to rescind and amend Internal Revenue Service (IRS) crypto tax rules and put a U.S. stablecoin bill into effect by August. Earlier in the week, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution to overturn the IRS rule that requires brokers to report gross proceeds from digital asset sales with a 70-27 vote. The rule was expanded in December 2024 to broaden the definition of “broker” to DeFi protocols. The bill will now need to pass a House vote before it progresses to President Trump for signing.
- Mission Gate Founder and venture capitalist George Bachiashvili fled the country of Georgia this week. Bachiasvili is currently on trial for embezzling investment profits from former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili. He’s accused of stealing 8,253.13 BTC from 2015 to 2017 by investing a US$5 million loan that was secured using Ivanishvili’s personal funds into bitcoin mining operations using Bitfury. If found guilty, he faces up to 12 years in prison.
Disclaimer: This assessment does not consider your personal circumstances, and should not be construed as financial, legal or investment advice. These thoughts are ours only and should only be taken as educational by the reader. Under no circumstances do we make recommendation or assurance towards the views expressed in the blog-post. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The Company disclaims all duties and liabilities, including liability for negligence, for any loss or damage which is suffered or incurred by any person acting on any information provided.
from Caleb & Brown Cryptocurrency Brokerage.
