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GameStop wipes out $3B in market cap as stockholders question Bitcoin plan

GameStop shed nearly $3 billion in market capitalization on March 27 as investors second-guessed the videogame retailer’s plans to stockpile Bitcoin (BTC), according to data from Google Finance.

On March 26, GameStop tipped plans to use proceeds from a $1.3 billion convertible debt offering to buy Bitcoin — an increasingly popular strategy for public companies looking to boost share performance.

GameStop’s announcement came a day after it proposed building a stockpile of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and US dollar-pegged stablecoins.

Investors initially celebrated the news, sending shares up 12% on March 26. Shareholders’ sentiment reversed on March 27, pushing GameStop’s stock, GME, down by nearly 24%, according to Google Finance.

GameStop’s stock reversed gains on March 27. Source: Google Finance

Senator John Kennedy grills SEC nominee Paul Atkins about SBF pardon

US Senator John Kennedy grilled prospective Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Paul Atkins about a potential pardon for Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried during the Senate Banking Committee’s March 27 nomination hearing.

The Louisiana Republican directed a series of questions about the former FTX CEO toward Atkins and probed the prospective SEC chairman about donations Bankman-Fried’s family made to Stanford University.

Senator John Kennedy questions prospective SEC chairman Paul Atkins. Source: Senate Banking Committee

Kennedy then urged the SEC to take action to prevent any potential pardons on behalf of SBF. Kennedy added:

“There should not be two standards of law and punishment for people in America. And every time you come to this committee, I am going to pounce on you like a ninja to find out what the SEC has done because I don’t think the SEC has done a damn thing.”

“I read in the paper that

3 reasons why Bitcoin price can’t take out the $90K resistance level

Since reaching a weekly high of $88,752 on March 24, Bitcoin (BTC) price has formed a series of lower highs and lower lows in the 1-hour time frame chart.

As the end of the week approaches, Bitcoin price has failed to break above the $88,000 resistance, reducing the chance for a $90,000 retest before the end of Q1.

Bitcoin 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

What is keeping Bitcoin under $90K?

One major reason for Bitcoin’s current price struggles is constant sell-side pressure from short-term holders (STHs) or investors holding coins for less than 155 days. Glassnode’s “The Week On-chain” newsletter noted that the current Bitcoin cycle has witnessed a “top heavy” market where investors who purchased BTC at higher prices hold a significant portion of Bitcoin’s supply. As a result, the STH cohort have become the primary group facing the largest price

Senator Cruz introduces companion bill to prohibit the Fed from issuing a CBDC

US Senator Ted Cruz introduced a bill on March 26 to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The “Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act,” would prohibit the Fed from offering certain products or services directly to American individuals, a key component of any CBDC.

The Texas Republican’s bill can be considered a companion bill to Minnesota Republican Representative Tom Emmer’s anti-CBDC legislation, which was reintroduced on March 6. A companion bill is a piece of legislation that is similarly or identically worded to another bill, and introduced in the other chamber of Congress.

Both bills state that the prohibition should not include any dollar-denominated currency that is open, permissionless, and private and “preserves the privacy protections of United States coins and physical currency.”

Sen. Ted Cruz’s anti-CBDC bill. Source: Ted Cruz

Since 2020, the

Bitcoin price rally stalls as gold nears record $3.1K

Bitcoin (BTC) faced mixed forces on March 27 as a combination of fresh US trade tariffs and macroeconomic data weighed on risk assets.

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

Gold leaves Bitcoin in the dust amid tariff woes

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price volatility returning at the Wall Street open.

BTC/USD displayed uncertain trading behavior in line with US stocks as the second revision of US Q4 GDP came in above the median forecast of 2.3%.

At the same time, initial jobless claims fell short of estimates, potentially emboldening more hawkish financial policy from the Federal Reserve in the form of higher interest rates.

However, the main talking point among market commentators was tariffs on non-US-made cars imposed by President Donald Trump. These added to existing concerns over a <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-sights-on-90k-spoofy-resistance-btc-price-boost"

Prospective SEC chair pressed on sale of FTX-tied firm

Lawmakers in the US Senate Banking Committee questioned prospective Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) member Paul Atkins on his ties to the crypto industry and how he might regulate digital assets if confirmed.

Questioning Atkins at his nomination hearing on March 27, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said the former SEC commissioner had had “staggeringly bad judgment” in his role leading up to the 2008 financial crisis — Atkins served at the agency from 2002 to 2008. Sen. Warren also asked Atkins to disclose the buyers of his consulting firm Patomak Global Partners — which advised crypto exchange FTX before its collapse in 2022 — for transparency about potential conflicts of interest with the digital asset industry.

“Your clients pay you north of $1,200 an hour for advice on how to influence regulators like the SEC, and if you’re confirmed, you will be in a prime spot to

USDT0 deployed on OP Superchain

Crosschain US-dollar stablecoin USDT0 has been deployed to Optimism’s Superchain, increasing access to the world’s most widely used stable asset across Ethereum’s layer-2 ecosystem.

On March 27, Optimism announced that the dollar-pegged USDT0 is now live on the OP mainnet. The crosschain stablecoin’s first deployment was on Ink, Kraken’s DeFi-focused layer-2.

USDT0 is essentially a bridged version of Tether’s USDt (USDT), designed to extend the stablecoin’s adoption across various blockchains.

Tether launched USDT0 in January in collaboration with the interoperability protocol LayerZero. A month later, Tether selected Arbitrum as the main infrastructure provider for USDT0.

Superchain is a network of layer-2 chains designed to scale Ethereum through Optimism’s OP Stack. The collective currently accounts for 52% of Ethereum layer-2 transactions, according to data tracked by Superchain.

Since September, Superchain’s L2 dominance has grown from 36.6% of all transactions to 51.9%. Source: Superchain Health Dashboard

In February,

Circle, Intercontinental Exchange to explore stablecoin integration

Stablecoin issuer Circle and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the company that operates the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) among others and provides clearinghouse services, are collaborating to explore stablecoin integration in ICE’s operations.

The companies will explore the potential integration of Circle’s US dollar stablecoin (USDC) and its US Yield Coin (USYC) into ICE’s derivatives exchanges, clearinghouses, data services and other systems, under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) announced March 27.

Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange, issued this statement alongside news of the collaborative partnership:

“We believe Circle’s stablecoins and tokenized digital currencies can play a larger role in capital markets as digital currencies become more trusted by market participants as an acceptable equivalent to the US Dollar. We are excited to explore the potential use cases for USDC and USYC across ICE’s markets.”

The potential integration of stablecoins and real-world tokenized products into exchange

Ex-FTX CEO moved to transit facility after interview

Officials with the Federal Bureau of Prisons have moved former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried to a transit facility days after right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson interviewed him.

As of March 27, the Federal Bureau of Prisons website showed Bankman-Fried was being housed at the Federal Transfer Center (FTC) in Oklahoma City, suggesting that he may be moved from the facility where he largely spent the majority of his time awaiting trial and moving forward with an appeal of his conviction.

Carlson remotely interviewed SBF from the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn on March 5 — a reportedly unsanctioned event that resulted in the former FTX CEO being sent to solitary confinement.

Former FTX CEO’s status as of March 27. Source: US Bureau of Prisons

The reason for the move to the Oklahoma transit facility was unclear. After Bankman-Fried’s 2023 conviction on

MahaKumbh signaled India’s readiness for the metaverse

Opinion by: Shubham Kukrety, co-founder and CEO at QuoteIt

Strange sights were seen as India recently concluded MahaKumbh, a Hindu congregation that occurs once every 144 years.

Every day, a man took dips at Sangam — the triple confluence of rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasvati — with several passport-sized photographs offering “Digital Snan,” symbolizing digital nectar baths. A nine-acre camp offered people a glimpse of the Hindu religion since the beginning of time. Several families received a 360-degree live virtual MahaKumbh tour with a VR box and packaged pure Sangam water at their homes.

These are some of the sights that were seen for the first time in MahaKumbh’s known history. But all of it brings us to a fascinating question: Does the fusion of tech and tradition help us peek into India’s future of the metaverse? Indeed.

Adopting technology religiously

India’s approach to technology has always been unique. The