Bithumb was reportedly given a six-month partial suspension by South Koreaâs Financial Intelligence Unit for alleged anti-money laundering failures.
Bithumb, South Koreaâs second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is reportedly seeking to reappoint CEO Lee Jae-won despite recent alleged anti-money laundering failures and other controversies, according to the Korea Times.
The exchange will convene its regular shareholdersâ meeting on March 31, and a proposal to keep Lee in the top job will be put to shareholders, the Korea Times reported on Sunday, citing industry sources.
His current term expires at the end of the month, and a successful renewal would keep Lee as the exchangeâs CEO for another two years. Cointelegraph has contacted Bithumb for comment.
]]>
Bitchat saw a spike in downloads during protests in Madagascar, Nepal, Indonesia and Iran over the last year, and global unrest could see more cases like it.
Decentralized, blockchain-based messaging and social media apps saw a surge of interest over the last year amid civil unrest and communication blackouts in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.Â
Search interest in decentralized social media has grown 145% over the last five years, according to Exploding Topics, while decentralized peer-to-peer messaging service Bitchat saw a spike in downloads during protests in Madagascar, Uganda, Nepal, Indonesia and Iran in recent months.
âI think people are starting to trust open protocols more than they trust closed companies,â Shane Mac, the CEO of XMTP Labs, told Cointelegraph in a recent interview. Â
]]>
Boyaa Interactive International is the 23rd-largest Bitcoin treasury and the third-largest in Asia, behind Japanâs Metaplanet and Chinaâs Next Technology Holding.
Hong Kong-based Web3 gaming firm Boyaa Interactive International said it is seeking shareholder approval to expand its crypto treasury, planning up to $70 million in purchases over the next year.
In a statement on Sunday, the Hong Kong-listed company said it is looking to use its âidle cash reserves during periods of weakness in the cryptocurrency marketâ to increase its existing positions and to support the research and development of Boyaaâs Web3 gaming business.
If approved by shareholders, Boyaa said it would invest in crypto tokens with âgood market liquidity, large market value, wide recognition on the market and relatively long-term holding value.âÂ
]]>
The Meta co-founder is reportedly working on a personal AI agent to bypass management layers as Meta pushes employees to adopt agentic tools.Â
Meta CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly building an AI agent to help handle his work in managing the company amid a company-wide push for employees to adopt agentic tech.
âAccording to a report from The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, citing sources close to the matter, Zuckerbergâs AI agent is still in development but already being used to help the CEO speed up information retrieval.
Instead of going through multiple layers of people or teams to get the required information, the agent has been retrieving the information directly. Â
]]>
Bitcoin and Asian markets dropped on Monday as Iran escalated threats to strike critical infrastructure in the Gulf.
Crypto and the wider markets tumbled on Monday as the US and Iran escalated threats toward one another for the fourth week, sending oil prices seesawing.Â
US President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday that the US would âhit and obliterateâ Iranian power plants, âstarting with the biggest one first,â if the country didnât open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.
Iran responded by saying it will answer any US strikes on its power or water infrastructure with attacks on US and Israeli assets in the Gulf and threatened to completely close the Strait, one of the worldâs vital oil shipping lanes.Â
]]>
âThe internet is civilizationâs town square, and the economic contract is now obsolete,â wrote Sam Ragsdale on an a16z Crypto blog on Sunday.
Autonomous AI agent commerce could mean the end of online advertising as it is currently known today and shift the internetâs economic model, according to a16z Crypto.
Since the dawn of the internet, buying goods or services typically involves navigating to online stores (some through online advertisements). However, Merit Systems co-founder Sam Ragsdale argues this could change if AI agents do the shopping in the future.Â
From 1997 to 2024, the business model for the internet was âdistraction,â said Ragsdale in an a16z blog post on Sunday.
]]>
Michael Saylorâs Bitcoin-holding company Strategy has already purchased more than $2.9 billion worth of the cryptocurrency this month.
Strategy executive chair Michael Saylor has hinted that his company bought more Bitcoin despite a market tumble over the weekend that has now pushed his companyâs Bitcoin bet into a 10% loss.Â
âThe Orange March Continues,â Saylor posted to X on Sunday, alongside a chart showing Strategyâs roughly $52 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) purchases since August 2020.Â
Saylor often posts the chart as a signal that his company has bought, or plans to buy more Bitcoin and it is often seen as a bullish signal for investors.Â
]]>
Part of the approved rule changes allows institutions to trade the crypto ETFs as FLEX options, which offer customizable terms like non-standard strike prices and expiration dates.
Two New York Stock Exchange-affiliated exchanges have removed the 25,000 contract position limit on options tied to 11 crypto exchange-traded funds.
NYSE Arca and NYSE American each filed three rule changes in the Federal Register on March 10 to remove contract position limits and price discovery restrictions for options linked to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs listed on their exchanges.
These were acknowledged by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Sunday, with the SEC waiving the standard 30-day waiting period for both sets of proposed rule changes, meaning they are now in effect.
]]>
UK Finance said that tokenized deposits could play a âvital roleâ in a future multi-money system alongside other digital assets.
Banks are exploring tokenized deposits as they test ways to move commercial bank money onto blockchain-based payment and settlement infrastructure, according to a new report from real-world asset data platform RWA.io
The report, which was authored by RWA.io with contributions from industry participants including UK Finance, Citi, BNY, JPMorganâs Kinexys, Standard Chartered, ABN Amro and Digital Asset, argues that tokenized deposits are emerging alongside stablecoins and central bank digital currencies as part of a broader onchain cash stack.
Tokenized deposits are digital representations of traditional bank deposits on blockchain or other distributed ledger infrastructure. Unlike many stablecoins, they are direct liabilities of the issuing bank and sit within existing banking frameworks, including deposit insurance, capital requirements, and Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer rules.
]]>
Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.
Today in crypto, crypto and stocks fell on escalating threats by the US and Iran, Fidelity told the SEC that it supports trading tokenized securities on alternative trading systems and Resolv Labsâ stablecoin depegged after an attacker minted 80 million tokens
Crypto and the wider markets tumbled on Monday as the US and Iran escalated threats toward each other, as the Iran war entered its fourth week, sending oil prices seesawing.Â
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US would âhit and obliterateâ Iranian power plants if the country didnât open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. Iran responded by saying it will answer any US strikes with similar attacks on US and Israeli infrastructure in the Gulf and threatened to completely close the Strait, a vital oil shipping lane.
]]>
21Sharesâ macro chief says Bitcoin and gold are diverging as central bank demand drives gold, while retail adoption shapes BTCâs market behavior.
The divergence between gold and Bitcoin (BTC) in 2026 can be explained by two distinct segments of buyers, according to Stephen Coltman, head of macro at crypto exchange-traded product (ETP) provider 21Shares.
Goldâs rally over the last three years has been primarily fueled by central bank buying, while Bitcoin is more widely held by individuals than financial institutions, Coltman told Cointelegraph. He said:
However, BTC may offer utility for individuals, particularly when local banking systems are disrupted. In such cases, it can serve as an alternative financial lifeline.
]]>
Proponents of Bitcoin’s four-year cycle theory say the price of BTC typically rises for three of the four years and declines in the final year.
The current Bitcoin (BTC) bear market can be explained by the four-year cycle and long-term BTC holders selling at the $100,000 psychological level, according to Anthony Scaramucci, managing partner of the SkyBridge investment firm.
Bitcoinâs four-year market cycle has been âmutedâ by institutional investors and inflows from BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have cushioned volatility, Scaramucci said, but the altered market dynamics have not fully erased BTCâs traditional cycles. He said:
BTC will continue to see choppy price action for most of the year, until the fourth quarter of 2026, when prices will start to rise again in a new bull market cycle, he said.
]]>
Bitcoin fell over the weekend to set up another visit to “unreliable” support, but analysis flagged a new BTC price golden cross.
Bitcoin (BTC) traded below $69,000 on Sunday as the market faced a critical weekly candle close.
Key points:
Bitcoin approaches its 200-week trend line after sinking throughout the weekend.
]]>
Fidelity called for updated reporting rules and clearer guidance on how decentralized platforms and alternative trading systems should operate under US law.
Fidelity Investments told the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday that it should continue to develop the regulatory framework for broker-dealers to offer, custody and trade crypto assets on alternative trading systems (ATS).
The letter from the USâ third-largest asset manager was in reply to a call for comments earlier this month by the regulatorâs Crypto Task Force.
Fidelity said it is âcriticalâ for the SEC to develop a comprehensive regulatory framework and clear rules of the road for tokenized securities trading, including rules for trading tokenized securities issued by third parties.Â
]]>
USR issuer Resolv Labs says its collateral pool remains intact after an exploit on Sunday that minted 80 million unbacked tokens and drove the US dollar stablecoin as low as $0.14.
Update (March 23, 2026, 3:00 am UTC): This article has been updated to include additional comments from Pashov security firm.
Resolv Labs moved Sunday to reassure users after an exploit hit the issuance mechanics of its USR stablecoin, knocking the token off its dollar peg and prompting decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols with exposure to move quickly to contain any fallout.
Cointelegraph reported earlier Sunday that an attacker exploited USRâs minting mechanics, creating tens of millions of unbacked tokens and dumping them through DeFi pools, which broke the stablecoinâs peg and prompted Resolv to pause protocol functions as it assessed the damage.
]]>
Bitcoinâs 20-week rolling correlation with the S&P 500 has turned positive, a signal that has historically preceded major BTC price declines.
Bitcoin (BTC) erased much of its US-Iran war-driven gains this week, moving back in sync with the broader downtrend in risk assets, mainly US equities.
Key takeaways:
Bitcoinâs positive flip in S&P 500 correlation has historically preceded average declines of around 50% since 2018.
]]>
Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX says the fraud complaint is part of a wider impersonation scam, citing more than 1,200 fake sites using its brand.
Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX co-founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal have reportedly been arrested in India following a police complaint alleging their involvement in a crypto investment fraud.
The Economic Times reported Saturday that the pair were arrested by the Thane Police on allegations of criminal breach of trust, citing local officials. Other local media, including Entrackr, reported that the founders had been called for questioning rather than arrested.
The case reportedly centers on a website that allegedly posed as the CoinDCX platform and stemmed from a first information report (FIR) filed by a 42-year-old insurance consultant who claimed to have lost about 71 lakh Indian rupees (roughly $75,000) after being lured to invest via the fake site, according to an earlier report by the Times of India.
]]>
Welch said the fallout from the HAWK memecoin left her wary of crypto, adding she still does not fully understand the sector more than a year later.
Haliey Welch, the social media influencer, popularly known as the âHawk Tuah girl,â said that the implosion of the âHAWKâ memecoin, which she promoted in 2024, and the ensuing social backlash âtraumatizedâ her.
âI got talked into doing something that I didn’t know anything about, really, but you’ve got to be really careful what you put your name on,â Welch told Andrew Callaghan of the Channel 5 YouTube channel on Friday.
Welch said she fully cooperated with a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe in 2025, which cleared her of any wrongdoing, and that she did not possess any of the funds from the memecoin launch, nor did she have the technical expertise to launch the coin.
]]>
An attacker has exploited the Resolv USR stablecoin to mint 80 million tokens and has reportedly been able to cash out at least $25 million.
A stablecoin tied to the crypto project Resolv Labs has lost its peg to the US dollar after an attacker was able to exploit the tokenâs contract to create millions of tokens for themselves.
Resolv Labs posted to X on Sunday that it had experienced an exploit that allowed an attacker to mint 50 million unbacked Resolv USR (USR). âThe team has currently paused all the protocol functions to prevent further malicious actions and is actively working on recovery,â it added.
The X account âyieldsandmoreâ had posted to the platform earlier on Sunday that USR had crashed after on-chain data showed an attacker was able to mint 50 million USR by depositing $100,000 worth of the stablecoin USDC (USDC).
]]>
A Nevada state judge has sided with local authorities to ban Kalshiâs sports, election and entertainment event contracts in the state for 14 days.
A Nevada judge has temporarily blocked Kalshi from operating in the state, finding that state authorities are reasonably likely to prevail in a legal fight over whether the companyâs event contracts violate Nevada gambling laws.
Carson City District Court Judge Jason Woodbury issued a temporary restraining order on Friday, siding with a Nevada Gaming Control Board motion to block Kalshi from operating in the state for 14 days.
“Prediction markets, to âthe extent they facilitate unlicensed gambling, are illegal in Nevada, and we have a statutory duty to protect the public,” Nevada Gaming Control Board Chair Mike Dreitzer said in a statement to Reuters.
]]>
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission staff has provided answers to frequently asked questions about the agencyâs expectations around a crypto collateral pilot.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has given more details on its expectations for the use of crypto as collateral amid a pilot program that the agency launched last year.
In a notice on Friday, the CFTCâs Market Participants Division and Division of Clearing and Risk responded to frequently asked questions that emerged from two staff letters issued in December that established a pilot allowing crypto to be used as collateral in derivatives markets.
The notice reminded futures commission merchants wanting to take part in the pilot that they must file a notice with the Market Participants Division âwhich includes the date on which it will commence accepting crypto assets from customers as margin collateral.â
]]>
Brazil is delaying plans to review crypto taxes until after the October 2026 election, as officials avoid pushing divisive reforms during the campaign period.
Brazilâs Finance Minister, Dario Durigan, is delaying crypto tax policy discussions until after the countryâs October 2026 presidential election to avoid pushing for âdivisiveâ tax changes during an election year.
Regulators and government officials originally slated a public consultation on crypto tax policy for later this year, which may be delayed until 2027, but still âremains on the radar,â sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Brazil ended its no tax policy on gains from smaller cryptocurrency sales or transfers in June 2025, shifting to a 17.5% flat tax on crypto capital gains, including those made from offshore and self-custodial holdings.
]]>
The SECâs digital asset taxonomy introduces new classifications for tokens, signaling a shift in regulatory approach and offering greater clarity for the crypto industry.
New guidance from the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission outlining a digital asset taxonomy marks a break from prior policy, according to Galaxyâs Alex Thorn.
The SEC guidance, published on Tuesday, established a taxonomy for digital assets, dividing them into five categories, including digital commodities, digital collectibles like non-fungible tokens (NFTs), digital tools, stablecoins, and tokenized securities.Â
Under the old SEC policy framework, the regulations governing which cryptocurrencies met the legal criteria of âinvestment contractsâ were legislative rules, as opposed to the new 2026 guidance that was filed as an interpretive rule, Thorn said. He explained the significance:
]]>
Bitcoin ETF outflows are too small to signal a bearish pivot from traders, but worsening US macroeconomic conditions and high oil prices keep BTC traders on the hedge.
Key takeaways:
Bitcoin traders are turning cautious as high oil prices and Middle East tensions fuel inflation and stall US interest rate cuts.
The $254 million in spot Bitcoin ETF outflows is too small to confirm a bearish flip, yet options markets show heavy hedging.
]]>
ETH could approach $2,750 by June and $3,200 by September if a historical whale-profit signal repeats, though past cycles show mixed outcomes.
Ethereumâs native token, Ether (ETH), may rise by around 25% in the coming months as its richest whale group becomes profitable for the first time since early February.
Key takeaways:
ETH gained 25% in three months and 50% in six months on average after top whales returned to profit in past cycles.
]]>
A 66-year-old Hong Kong retiree lost $840,000 in three related scams over six months, as fraudsters posed as crypto experts promising profits and fund recovery.
A 66-year-old Hong Kong retiree lost 6.6 million Hong Kong dollars (roughly $840,000) in a string of three related crypto investment scams after repeatedly trusting self-proclaimed âvirtual currency expertsâ who reached out via WhatsApp, according to Hong Kong policeâs CyberDefender unit.
In a March 20 Facebook post, police said the victim was first approached in September 2025 by a scammer who contacted him unsolicited via WhatsApp, claiming to be a âvirtual currency investment expertâ and promising steady gains if he followed his advice.
The victim transferred $180,000 and deposited crypto into a wallet controlled by the scammer, who then disappeared, prompting a police report.
]]>
Bitcoinâs mining difficulty just logged its second sizeable cut of 2026, easing conditions for remaining miners as competition from artificial intelligence data centers rises.
Bitcoinâs mining difficulty fell by around 7.7% at the latest adjustment on March 20 to 133.79 trillion at block 941,472, the sharpest drop since February, according to CoinWarz data.
The latest move takes difficulty down from around 145 trillion in mid-March and roughly 148 trillion at the start of the year. A lower difficulty means it takes less computational work to earn the same block reward, slightly improving revenue per unit of hashrate for firms that stay online.
The adjustment followed slower-than-target block production over the prior 2,016 blocks. CloverPool data showed average block times at about 12 minutes 36 seconds, well above Bitcoinâs 10-minute target, forcing the network to recalibrate lower.
]]>
Ethereum whale thomasg.eth has accumulated $19.5 million in ETH this week, as Bitmineâs Tom Lee argues the market may be nearing the end of âcrypto winter.â
An Ethereum whale known as thomasg.eth has accumulated roughly $19.5 million in Ether over the past week, signaling renewed accumulation as prices remain well below all-time highs.
Arkham data shows the wallet accumulated the position across spot Ether (ETH), wrapped Ether (WETH) and Aave-deposited ETH, including a $3 million purchase on March 20.
Arkham said the wallet held around $537 million in crypto assets at the 2021 market peak, and has started accumulating again as ETH trades around 56% below its all-time high of $4,946 on Aug. 24, 2025, according to CoinGecko.
]]>
Bitcoin price remains rocky, and BTC and equities ETF outflows soar as the US and Israel-Iran war enters a fourth week.
After a strong start to the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is down nearly 5%, alongside the S&P 500, DOW, Nasdaq, and Gold. Crude oil, on the other hand, has risen 7.30% and is up 53% since the US and IsraelâIran war began on Feb. 28.
The collective market weakness highlights a coordinated shift in capital flows as the war continues in the Middle East, with an uptick in outflows from the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 exchange-traded funds (ETFs)Â further highlighting tradersâ decision to cut risk.
The Kobeissi Letter reported a combined $64 billion outflow from the S&P 500 (SPX) ETF and Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) over the past three months, the largest on record.
]]>
Gold is also being impacted by rising anticipation that the US Federal Reserve wonât cut interest rates this year, while Fed chair Jerome Powell said inflation would rise.
Gold tumbled another 3.5% to $4,488 per ounce on Friday, marking an 11% fall for the week and the largest weekly loss the precious metal has seen since 1983 as geopolitical instability and uncertainty in the Middle East continue to weigh on the markets.
Gold has fallen more than 15% since Feb. 28, when the US and Israel first attacked Iran, erasing part of the rally that pushed prices toward $5,500 in late January and raising questions about its near-term safe-haven role.
TradingView confirmed that March 16-20 was goldâs worst-performing week since 1983. The 11% weekly fall was slightly larger than the last week of January, when gold shot up to about $5,320 before diving to $4,650, a drop that saw more than $2 trillion shaved off the precious metalâs market cap in days.
]]>