Bitcoin long-term holder behavior shift signals 'unique market dynamic' — Research
Bitcoin’s corrective phase set a four-month low at $76,600 on March 11. Despite this decline, long-term holders have continued to hold large amounts of BTC, suggesting a “unique market dynamic moving forward,” new research says. “Long-Term Holder activity remains largely subdued, with a notable decline in their sell-side pressure,” Glassnode said in a March 18 markets report.Long-term holders show signs of bullishnessBitcoin’s recovery comes as selling pressure among Long-Term Holders (LTHs) — wallets that have held Bitcoin for at least 155 days — begins to wane. The Binary Spending Indicator, a metric used to determine when LTHs are spending a significant proportion of their holdings in a sustained manner, shows a slowdown (see chart below) while the LTH supply is also beginning to rebound after several months of decline.“This suggests that there is a greater willingness to hold than to spend coins among this cohort,” Glassnode noted, adding:“This perhaps represents a shift in sentiment, with Long-Term Holder behavior moving away from sell-side distribution.”Bitcoin: LTH spending binary indicator. Source: GlassnodeBull market tops are often marked by intense sell-side pressure and strong profit-taking among LTHs, which signals a complete shift to bearish behavior. However, despite Bitcoin’s drawdown in recent weeks, this investor cohort continues to hold a large portion of their profits, especially for this later stage of the cycle, Glassnode said. This could suggest that long-term holders may still be expecting more BTC price upside later in the year.“This interesting observation may indicate a more unique market dynamic moving forward.”Bitcoin: Cumulative LTH realized profit. Source: GlassnodeNew Bitcoin whale accumulation reshapes marketsNew Bitcoin whales, addresses holding at least 1,000 BTC, where each coin has an average acquisition age of less than six months, are aggressively accumulating, according to CryptoQuant data.This signals strong conviction in Bitcoin’s long-term outlook among the new large investors.These wallets have collectively acquired over 1 million BTC since November 2024, “positioning themselves as one of the most influential market participants,” said CryptoQuant independent analyst Onchained in a March 7 analysis.The chart below shows that their pace has accelerated notably in recent weeks, “accumulating more than 200,000 BTC just this month.”“This sustained inflow highlights a shift in market dynamics, suggesting increased institutional or high-net-worth participation. ”Bitcoin supply held by new whales. Source: CryptoQuantMeanwhile, several crypto executives have told Cointelegraph that Bitcoin’s recent price drop was a “normal correction,” with the market just waiting for a new narrative and a cycle top yet to come.But not everyone agrees. For instance, CryptoQuant founder and CEO Ki Young Ju said that the Bitcoin bull cycle is over. He added: “Expecting 6-12 months of bearish or sideways price action.”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.
Solana rallies 8% as crypto markets recover — Is there room for more SOL upside?
Solana’s native token, SOL (SOL), rose 8% on March 19 as investors turned to riskier assets ahead of US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks. While interest rates are expected to stay unchanged, analysts anticipate a softer inflation outlook for 2025. Meanwhile, key onchain and derivatives metrics for Solana suggest further upside for SOL price.The cryptocurrency market mirrored intraday movements in the US stock market, suggesting SOL’s gains were not driven by industry-specific news, such as reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission may drop its lawsuit against Ripple after clinging to it for four years.Russell 2000 small-cap index futures (left) vs. SOL/USD (right). Source: TradingView / CointelegraphOn March 19, the Russell 2000 index futures, tracking US-listed small-cap companies, surged to their highest level in twelve days. Despite a broader slowdown in decentralized application (DApp) activity, Solana stands out. Solana’s TVL continues to riseSolana’s onchain volumes dropped 47% over two weeks, but similar declines were seen across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Tron, and Avalanche, highlighting industry-wide trends rather than Solana-specific issues. The Solana network’s total value locked (TVL), a measure of deposits, hit its highest level since July 2022, supporting SOL’s bullish momentum.Solana total value locked (TVL), SOL. Source: DefiLlamaOn March 17, Solana’s TVL climbed to 53.2 million SOL, marking a 10% increase from the previous month. By comparison, BNB Chain’s TVL rose 6% in BNB terms, while Tron’s deposits fell 8% in TRX terms over the same period. Despite weaker activity in decentralized applications (DApps), Solana continued to attract a steady flow of deposits, showcasing its resilience.Solana saw strong momentum, driven by Bybit Staking, which surged 51% in deposits since Feb. 17, and Drift, a perpetual trading platform, with a 36% TVL increase. Restaking app Fragmentic also recorded a 65% rise in SOL deposits over 30 days. In nominal terms, Solana secured its second-place position in TVL at $6.8 billion, ahead of BNB Chain’s $5.4 billion.Despite the market downturn, several Solana DApps remain among the top 10 in fees, outperforming larger competitors like Uniswap and Ethereum’s leading staking solutions.Ranking by 7-day fees, USD. Source: DefiLlamaSolana’s memecoin launchpad Pump.fun, decentralized exchange Jupiter, automated market maker and liquidity provider Meteora, and staking platform Jito are among the leaders in fees. More notably, Solana’s weekly base layer fees have surpassed Ethereum’s, which holds the top position with $53.3 billion in TVL.SOL derivatives hold steady as token unlock fears subsideDespite a 27% decline in SOL’s price over 30 days, demand for leveraged positions remains balanced between longs (buyers) and shorts (sellers), as indicated by the futures funding rate.SOL futures 8-hour funding rate. Source: CoinGlassPeriods of high demand for bearish bets typically push the 8-hour perpetual futures funding rate to -0.02%, which equals 1.8% per month. When the rate turns negative, shorts are the ones paying to maintain their positions. The opposite occurs when traders are optimistic about SOL’s price, causing the funding rate to rise above 0.02%.The recent price weakness was not enough to instill confidence in bears, at least not to the extent of adding leveraged positions. One reason for this can be explained by the reduced growth in SOL supply going forward, similar to inflation. A total of 2.72 million SOL will be unlocked in April, but only 0.79 million are expected for May and June.Ultimately, SOL is well-positioned to reclaim the $170 level last seen on March 3, given the resilience in deposits, the lack of leverage demand from bears, and the reduced supply increase in the coming months.This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Crypto regulation must go through Congress for lasting change — Wiley Nickel
Former Congressman Wiley Nickel believes that for crypto regulations to have a lasting impact, they must be enacted through an act of Congress. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph’s Turner Wright, Nickel stressed the importance of bipartisan collaboration in pushing through comprehensive crypto regulations.
Nickel stated, “If you want lasting change in Washington, you must move legislation through Congress. Otherwise, if you’re talking about executive orders, it will just go back and forth.” He also emphasized the need to avoid the chaos that can result from executive actions, citing President Trump’s executive orders establishing a Working Group on Digital Assets and a Bitcoin strategic reserve as examples.
Nickel’s comments come as both chambers of Congress are rushing to push through meaningful legislation related to crypto. Rep. Tom Emmer recently reintroduced a bill that would ban a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the US, while Senator Cynthia Lummis reintroduced the Bitcoin Act, which would allow the US to purchase more than 1 million BTC. Additionally, Rep. Byron Donalds has announced plans to draft legislation to codify the Bitcoin strategic reserve into law, protecting it from being overturned by future administrations.
In a recent vote, the House of Representatives repealed the IRS broker rule, which required decentralized finance platforms to report information to the Internal Revenue Service. And at this year’s Blockworks Digital Asset Summit, Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna expressed confidence that Congress could pass comprehensive crypto regulation in 2025, including a stablecoin bill and a market structure bill.
The push for comprehensive crypto regulations in Congress highlights the need for lasting and meaningful legislation in the rapidly evolving world of cryptocurrency. As Nickel stated, “If you want to see real change, you have to go through Congress.” With both parties working together, there is hope for a more stable and regulated crypto landscape in the future.
70% of EU crypto payments go to retail, food and beverages — Oobit
70% of crypto payments in the European Union go toward retail, food and beverage purchases, according to a report from Oobit, a cryptocurrency payments platform that surveyed its users’ spending habits. The report, which denominated all transactions in US dollars, showed that the average payment size using the Oobit app was $8.36, while the average deposit into the app was around $85. After retail and food and beverage purchases, 26% of payments went to tourism-related activities such as lodging, travel and aviation. 1.5% went to government services and digital payments, while an additional 1.5% went to miscellaneous purchases like healthcare and entertainment.Related: Transak, Uranium.io partnership lets users buy tokenized uranium with cryptoThe report notes that the increased adoption of crypto payments is likely due to the growing acceptance of digital assets in the EU, with increased credibility coming from governments passing crypto legislation. However, 92% of payments came by using the USDt (USDT) stablecoin, which has run afoul of the MiCA regulation which went into full effect on Dec. 30, 2024.Oobit’s report supplements data from Chainalysis, which showed that adoption of cryptocurrency in Central, Northern, and West Europe (CNWE) has grown 44% year-over-year. For transactions under $1 million, the stablecoin market in that region has grown at a rate 2.5 times faster than that in North America.Related: Conflux Foundation commits $500M to fuel PayFi Web3 payments solutionMicropayments, stablecoins growing crypto use casesMicropayments, which sometimes use stablecoins, have been a growing use case for crypto. Advances in technology like the Lightning Network, which has permitted quick micropayments in Bitcoin (BTC), and crypto debit cards which offer spending in crypto with “crypto-back,” have spurred this adoption. As Oobit notes in the title of its report, crypto is moving from memes to a means of exchange.These changes have begun to spur worldwide adoption. In June 2024, Nubank brought the Lightning Network to 100 million Latin American customers. In June 2023, IBEX partnered with Grupo Salinas to allow millions of Mexicans to pay for their internet bills with Bitcoin. On March 13, 2025, Ripple secured a Dubai license to offer crypto payments in the United Arab Emirates.Then there are the stablecoins themselves like USDt and Circle’s USDC (USDC). According to DefiLlama, the stablecoin market cap has grown from $62.8 billion on April 1, 2021, to $229.6 billion on March 18, 2025, a percentage rise of 266%.Stablecoin market cap from April 1, 2021, to March 18, 2025. Source: DefiLlamaThese fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies are frequently used in developing countries where the local currencies are being devalued.As Arthur Azizov, CEO of B2BINPAY, wrote in a February 2025 opinion piece for Cointelegraph, crypto payments may experience an evolution from 2025 onwards. Some key factors to watch out for are the debut of central bank digital currencies, which could push citizens to more decentralized options, and the mesh between crypto payment providers and traditional finance companies.Magazine: Bitcoin payments are being undermined by centralized stablecoins
Trump to speak at Digital Asset Summit: Report
United States President Donald Trump will reportedly speak at Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit in New York on March 20, Blockworks said. His speech will mark the first time a sitting US president has ever spoken at a cryptocurrency conference, Blockworks said in a March 19 announcement.Trump’s presence at the event underscores his embrace of an industry that, under former US president Joe Biden, was the target of more than 100 enforcement actions by federal regulators.“When we started Blockworks we could barely get someone from a bank to attend an event,” Jason Yanowitz, one of Blockworks co-founders, said in a March 19 post on the X platform.“Now we have a sitting US President addressing a 2,500 institutional participants. It is incredible how far this industry has come,” Yanowitz said.Source: Jason Yanowitz Related: SEC will drop its appeal against Ripple, CEO Garlinghouse saysChanging political fortunesDuring his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, where he promised to make America the “world’s crypto capital” and hinted at plans to form a national Bitcoin (BTC) reserve. Since starting his presidential term on Jan. 20, Trump has signed executive orders instructing regulatory bodies to accommodate digital assets, forming a White House crypto advisory team, and creating a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile. He has also nominated pro-industry leadership to key regulatory posts, including at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Treasury Department. Bo Hines, executive director White House’s Presidents Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, spoke at the Digital Asset Summit earlier this week. On March 19, Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple Labs, announced the SEC was dropping its years-long enforcement action against the blockchain developer while at the Summit. Since Trump took office, the agency has also dropped charges against other crypto firms — including Coinbase, Kraken and Uniswap — for allegedly violating securities laws. Blockworks did not specify the topics Trump planned to cover during his speech, which it said would take place Thursday morning. Representatives of the White House and Hines did not immediately reply to Cointelegraph’s request for comment. Crypto industry executives told Cointelegraph in March they are hoping Trump will provide more detailed regulatory clarity on topics such as stablecoin regulation and taxes. Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom
Bitcoin runs toward $86K after Fed maintains course, projecting two rate cuts in 2025
Bitcoin (BTC) price action turned bullish on March. 19 as markets grew anxious for the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes and a press conference from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingViewGenerally, traders keep a close eye on FOMC minutes, along with Powell’s comments, to obtain direct insights into the Fed’s take on US economic health, along with their plans for monetary policy and interest rates. In the presser, Powell confirmed that the Fed intends to leave interest rates unchanged, in its target range between 4.25% to 4.5%, where they have been since December 2024. Although the Fed downgraded its outlook for economic growth and emphasized that tamping inflation remains a sticking point, the Fed’s statements largely aligned with market participants’ expectations. Crypto and equities traders have also been forecasting the reduction of the Fed’s policy of quantitative tightening (QT), and the FOMC minutes confirmed that the central bank will reduce “the monthly redemption cap on Treasury securities from $25 billion to $5 billion.” Changes to FOMC statement (in red). Source: FederalReserve.govRelated: Bitcoin price volatility ramps up around FOMC days — Will this time be different? In response to Fed statements, Bitcoin price added to its daily gains, rallying to an intraday high at $85,950 at the time of writing. The DOW also added 400 points, while the S&P 500 index gained 77. Powell and Fed policymakers’ verbal commitment to two additional rate cuts in 2025 also line up with crypto traders’ expectations and could further buoy the current recovery in Bitcoin price.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.
Volatility Shares launching Solana futures ETFs March 20
Volatility Shares is launching two Solana (SOL) futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT), on March 20.According to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, SOLZ will feature a management fee of 0.95% until June 30, 2026, when the management fee will increase to 1.15%.Volatility Shares’ 2X Solana ETF gives investors twice the leverage and will feature a 1.85% management fee.Volatility Shares Solana ETF SEC filing. Source: SECThe filings represent the first Solana-based ETFs in the US and follow the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group’s debut of SOL futures contracts.Following a leadership change at the SEC and the reelection of Donald Trump as president of the United States, asset managers and ETF firms have submitted a torrent of ETF applications to the SEC for approval.Related: Solana’s 5th birthday: From pandemic origins to US crypto stockpileCME Group debuts SOL futuresSOL futures went live on March 17 with a trading volume of approximately $12.1 million on the first day.For context, Bitcoin (BTC) futures debuted at over $102 million in volume on the first day of trading, and Ether (ETH) futures garnered over $30 million the day they launched.Despite the relatively low volume, SOL futures contracts could help boost demand for the cryptocurrency from institutional investors and encourage price discovery.SOL futures volume and open interest. Source: Chicago Mercantile ExchangeThe launch of SOL futures signaled the approval of SOL ETFs in the United States as financial regulators embrace digital assets amid a policy pivot.According to Chris Chung, founder of Titan — a Solana-based swap platform — the CME’s futures indicate that SOL is now a mature asset capable of attracting institutional interest.Chung added that the launch of SOL futures and ETFs position Solana as a blockchain network poised for real-world use cases such as payments, not just a memecoin casino.ETFs could also allow investor capital to flow into SOL, creating a sustained rally in the altcoin that competitors lacking an ETF might miss out on.The launch of Bitcoin ETFs in 2024 is widely believed to have siloed institutional capital away from the rest of the crypto market, preventing capital rotation from BTC into altcoins and upending altseason.Magazine: Memecoins are ded — But Solana ‘100x better’ despite revenue plunge
Congress on track for stablecoin, market structure bills by August: Blockchain Association
United States lawmakers are on track to pass legislation setting rules for stablecoins and cryptocurrency market structure by as soon as August, Kristin Smith, CEO of industry advocacy group the Blockchain Association, said during Blockworks’ 2025 Digital Asset Summit in New York.Smith’s timeline echoes a similar forecast by Bo Hines, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, who said on March 18 that he expects to see comprehensive stablecoin legislation in the coming months. “I think we’re close to being able to get those done for August […] they’re doing a lot of work on that behind the scenes right now,” Smith said on March 19 at the Summit, which was attended by Cointelegraph. “I’m optimistic when you have the chairs of the relevant committees in the House and the Senate and the White House that want to do something and you’ve got bipartisan votes in Congress to get it there,” she added.US President Donald Trump sits beside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the March 7 White House Crypto Summit. Source: The Associated PressBipartisan supportAt the Digital Assets Summit on March 18, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna said he believes Congress “should be able to get” both the stablecoin and crypto market structure bills passed in 2025. According to Khanna, approximately 70 to 80 Democrats see stablecoin legislation as important for promoting US influence by expanding access to dollars globally.“For the first time those are actually like something we’re able to get done, but to do that you need to have at least 7 Democratic votes in the Senate,” Smith said, adding that “we already have 5 votes at the committee level.”Last week, the Senate Banking Committee approved the GENIUS Act, which is an acronym for Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins. The proposed bill sets collateralization guidelines for stablecoin issuers and mandates compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws.In 2024, the House of Representatives passed the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, also known as FIT21, which sets ground rules for crypto market structure. The bill still needs to pass in the Senate to become law. Executives in crypto have said that the industry will benefit more from US regulatory clarity than even the strategic Bitcoin reserve.On March 6, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile, fulfilling a campaign promise he made in 2024.“Markets expect a roadmap for innovation and clear guidelines on stablecoins, institutional adoption and taxation,” Max Giammario, CEO of Web3 artificial intelligence startup Kindred, told Cointelegraph in March.Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom