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XRP funding rate flips negative — Will smart traders flip long or short?

On March 19, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced that the company had been cleared by the US Securities and Exchange Commission regarding an alleged $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering. Following the news, XRP (XRP) surged to $2.59, but the gains gradually faded as the cryptocurrency experienced a 22% correction, dropping to $2.02 by March 31.

Investors worry that a deeper price correction is imminent, as XRP is trading 39% below its all-time high of $3.40 from Jan. 16. Additionally, XRP perpetual futures (inverse swaps) indicate strong demand for leveraged bearish bets.

Demand for bearish bets increased amid XRP’s decline

The funding rate turns positive when longs (buyers) seek more leverage and negative when demand for shorts (sellers) dominates. In neutral markets, it typically fluctuates between 0.1% and 0.3% per seven days to offset exchange risks and capital costs. Conversely, negative funding rates are

Trump’s focus on cartels highlights new risks for digital assets

Opinion by: Genny Ngai and Will Roth of Morrison Cohen LLP

Since taking office, the Trump administration has designated several drug and violent cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). US President Donald Trump has also called for the “total elimination” of these cartels and the like. These executive directives are not good developments for the cryptocurrency industry. On their face, these mandates appear focused only on criminal cartels. Make no mistake: These executive actions will cause unforeseen collateral damage to the digital asset community. Crypto actors, including software developers and investors, may very well get caught in the crosshairs of aggressive anti-terrorism prosecutions and follow-on civil lawsuits.

Increased threat of criminal anti-terrorism investigations

The biggest threat stemming from Trump’s executive order on cartels is the Department of Justice (DOJ). Almost immediately after President Trump called for the designation of cartels as terrorists, the DOJ issued a memo

Bitcoin’s ‘digital gold’ claim challenged as traders move into bonds and gold hits new highs

April 2 is shaping up to be a pivotal moment in global trade policy. US President Donald Trump has dubbed it “Liberation Day,” in reference to when new tariffs—exceeding 20%—will hit imports from over 25 countries. According to The Wall Street Journal, the administration is also weighing “broader and higher tariffs” beyond this initial wave, meaning that April 2nd is unlikely to be the end of economic uncertainty.

Markets reacted negatively over the past week, with the S&P 500 dropping 3.5%, while the Nasdaq 100 slid 5%, underscoring investor anxiety. At the same time, gold surged 4%, reaching a record high above $3,150 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.2%, even as recent inflation data showed an uptick in some of the core components.

The markets’ is a classic sign of a risk-off environment—one that often precedes economic contraction.

Throughout the volatility, Bitcoin (<a

‘Contrary to popular belief,’ regulation isn’t slowing tokenization — Prometheum CEO

The market for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) is growing by the day, but contrary to belief, the biggest hurdle to broader adoption isn’t regulation, but a lack of dedicated secondary markets for buying and selling tokenized securities, according to Prometheum founder and co-CEO Aaron Kaplan.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Kaplan drew attention to ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood’s recent appearance at the Digital Asset Summit in New York, where she said that a lack of regulatory clarity is preventing her company from tokenizing its funds.

“Contrary to popular belief, however, the hurdle isn’t ambiguous regulation,” said Kaplan, who noted that the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) special purpose broker-dealer framework and Alternative Trading System (ATS) licensing “already provide a regulated pathway for issuing blockchain-native funds that offer efficiency advantages over traditional issuances.”

“The real bottleneck lies in the limited market infrastructure for delivering tokenized securities trading

Bitcoin trader issues 'overbought' warning as BTC price eyes $84K

Bitcoin (BTC) ticked higher at the March 31 Wall Street open as traders stayed risk-averse on the short-term BTC price outlook.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin RSI teases bearish continuation

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed local highs of $83,914 on Bitstamp, with BTC/USD up 1.5% on the day.

With hours to go until the quarterly candle close, Bitcoin saw some much-needed relief, even as US stocks opened lower.

Market momentum remained tied to upcoming US trade tariffs set to go live on April 2, with gold also slipping after touching fresh all-time highs of $3,128 per ounce.

XAU/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Commenting on BTC price action, many market participants nonetheless favored caution.

“Retesting our 84k area of interest,” popular trader Roman wrote in his latest X analysis of the 4-hour BTC/USD chart.

Roman referenced

Memecoins 2.0: The market crashed, but the billion-dollar circus rolls on

Opinion by: Igor Zemtsov, chief technology officer at TBCC

Following “Libragate,” memecoin prices crashed, with their market cap falling nearly 60% from 2025’s highs. But meme tokens, dead? They’ve got more lives than a cat on caffeine.

Despite the chaos, memecoins were still holding a $47.9-billion market cap as of March 10. It’s not exactly spare change. Meanwhile, degens are still out here “buying the dip” like it’s a Black Friday sale, convinced that absurdly named tokens like Unicorn Fart Dust, Fartcoin and Buttcoin will print them a 100x profit before year’s end.

Some call it irrational. Others call it degeneracy. But when has that ever stopped anyone in crypto?

Down bad, but not dead yet

Sure, memecoins aren’t exactly outshining Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) or Solana (SOL) right now.

March 2025 in charts: Trump trade war hits Bitcoin, $22M in DeFi hacks

March was a rough month for markets — US President Donald Trump’s uncertain tariff policies created volatility in Bitcoin and crypto markets; meanwhile, decentralized finance (DeFi) struggled with security concerns.

Retaliatory tariffs on US goods in China and the European Union hit markets on March 10 and 12, respectively. Amid the tête-à-tête between the United States and its largest trade partners, Bitcoin managed to recover on March 24 to $88,0000 before slumping down again to around $82,000 at the time of writing.

A number of state legislatures are considering Bitcoin- and crypto-related legislation, from bills that would establish a Bitcoin reserve to crypto tax forces and exploring pension fund investment. Such bills moved forward, either in voting or in committee, in 13 US states this month.

The cool-down in memecoin markets has major revenue implications for Solana. After reaching eye-watering highs of $34 billion in January, Solana volumes on decentralized exchanges fell

BNB Chain catches memecoin wave as Solana wipes out

BNB Chain, the EVM-compatible network tied to cryptocurrency exchange Binance, is experiencing a resurgence in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and memecoin spaces just as some of its rivals face an identity crisis.

For most of 2024 and into early 2025, Solana dominated the retail DeFi narrative. It became the network of choice for memecoins tied to celebrities, influencers and political figures, including US President Donald Trump.

However, the ecosystem took a reputational hit after Argentine President Javier Milei jumped on the memecoin bandwagon. His associated project, “Libra,” was accused of insider trading. The controversy dented trust in Solana’s memecoin sector and opened the door for competitors.

BNB Chain has seized the moment, capturing displaced memecoin volume. The chain has its own memecoin platform, Four.Meme — comparable to Solana’s Pump.fun — and introduced daily competitions to promote new projects and subsidize their liquidity. Some

XRP bulls in ‘denial’ as price trend mirrors previous 75-90% crashes

XRP (XRP) has lost more than 40% since hitting a multi-year high near $3.40 in January, and onchain data suggests the downtrend could deepen in the weeks ahead.

“Denial” preceding past 75-90% XRP crashes is back

XRP’s Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) data from Glassnode suggests the token may be heading for another extended downturn.

The metric, which gauges the aggregate unrealized gains or losses of XRP holders, has historically served as a reliable barometer of potential trend reversals. In past market cycles, NUPL has peaked in the so-called “euphoria” zone just before major price tops.

In 2018, XRP soared above $3.00 as NUPL signaled extreme optimism, only to collapse 90% to below $0.30 as sentiment deteriorated through “denial” and into “capitulation.”

XRP NUPL historical performance chart. Source: Glassnode

A similar pattern played out in 2021 when XRP hit $1.96 before sliding 75%

NFT marketplace X2Y2 shuts down after 3 years, pivots to AI

Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace X2Y2 announced it is shutting down after three years of operation.

According to a March 31 announcement, X2Y2 will shut down on April 30, with the team switching its focus to an artificial intelligence project. The team shared its enthusiasm for the rapidly growing sector:

“It’s a pivot. Over the last 12 months, we’ve been diving deep into AI—hands down the biggest paradigm shift we’ll see in our lifetimes—and how it can transform crypto. We’re building something new.“

Token Terminal data shows that X2Y2 saw $53.6 million worth of trading volume over the last 365 days. While this is a far cry from market leader Blur with its $3 billion worth of trading volume, it still awards the protocol fourth place behind Blur, OpenSea and Immutable.

X2Y2 365-day trading volume chart. Source: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://tokenterminal.com/explorer/projects/x2y2/metrics/trading-volume" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"