- Binance to de-list Tether, other stablecoin pairs in Europe: Following?guidance?from the European Securities and Markets Authority — by which ESMA noted that all crypto-asset service providers had until the end of Q1 to stop support of all non-MiCA-compliant stablecoins — Binance will de-list USDT, DAI, and PAXG, among others, as spot trading pairs starting March 31. The restrictions will only apply to users in the European Economic Area, and Binance says it will continue to provide custody, withdrawals and conversions of Tether and the other affected coins after the deadline. Of note: USDC, the second most valuable stablecoin by market cap, is MiCA compliant and won’t be affected by the changes.
- Trump issues executive order to establish bitcoin reserve: On Thursday, the Administration issued the long-expected order. The President has directed the Treasury Department to establish a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” and a “Digital Asset Stockpile”, which will be capitalized only by Bitcoin and all other digital assets, respectively, that the Treasury has received through forfeitures. The order also generally requires the Treasury to hold all government digital assets, Bitcoin or not. But here is where the order delivers a bit of nuance: The Commerce and Treasury Departments must develop strategies for acquiring more Bitcoin but cannot acquire more Stockpile Assets — i.e., everything that isn’t Bitcoin — except through forfeiture. In other words, the government isn’t going to be out buying ETH, but they may enter the Bitcoin market as long as, in the order’s words, the strategy is “budget neutral.” Even with the caveat at the end, that’s a boost to Bitcoin over other assets.
- Tim Scott goes after de-banking with proposed bill: The South Carolina Republican’s “Financial Integrity and Regulation Management Act” would strip “reputational risk” as a factor in determining a depository institution’s safety and soundness. Republicans, including Scott in announcing the bill, have complained that factor has been “abused” to compel banks into closing crypto firms’ accounts, or not issuing them in the first place. The draft bill would also prohibit any new rules referencing reputational risk.
- Broker Rule repeal passes in the Senate: The rule is one step closer to its long-awaited demise after the Ted Cruz-sponsored bill to repeal it passed the Senate, 70-27. The White House has already?issued a statement?that it will sign legislation to overturn the rule, so consider the Broker Rule as walking the green mile as we away a very likely repeal vote in the House.
- Ethereum’s ‘Pectra’ update delayed after bugs hit tests: After hitting snags on the ‘Sepolia’ testnet, developers deployed the update on the Ethereum’s other main testnet, ‘Holesky’, where it also experienced bugs. The upgrades look to improve the protocol’s speed and lower fees, while giving wallets capabilities similar to smart contracts and raising the staking ceiling from 32 to 2,048 ETH. Reports say the test configurations, not Pectra itself, were the source of the bugs.
- Emirates NBD starts crypto trades: Dubai’s largest bank will partner with Aquanow, the UAE-licensed crypto-services, to offer crypto trading through Liv, Emirates NBD’s digital assets group. In the UAE, digital asset adoption is highest in Dubai, and Emirates says it’s looking to “capitalize on [the] trend.” We’re past the days when digital assets were kryptonite to legacy financial institutions.
- Crypto czar says U.S. lost more than $16.5 billion in Bitcoin potential gains: David Sacks claimed on X that, during the last ten years, “the federal government sold approximately 195,000 Bitcoin for proceeds of $366 million.” If the government had held, Sacks said, those coins would be worth more than $17 billion — the cost “not to have a long-term strategy.” I don’t believe we have an official ranking on this, but if Sacks is correct, it would mean the U.S. is up there with the all-time paper handers. We’ve all been there, just not for billions in potential gains.
- SEC drops its suit against Kraken: As we predicted last week, the Commission has given Kraken an invite to the Free-of-an-SEC-Enforcement-Inquiry-or-Lawsuit party. What’s remarkable about this, and the slate of other dismissals lately, is that the SEC has dismissed is suit against Kraken without requiring that the exchange make any payment or changes to its activities. So Kraken, in effect, gets to say that it beat — not merely settled — the lawsuit.
- And its investigation of Yuga Labs: The creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and the CryptoPunks said in a short statement on X that the SEC had “officially closed its investigation” three years after it began. Yuga has long asserted that NFTs are not securities — a position the SEC could not longer credibly challenge after its?guidance?last week that meme coins are not subject to the Commission’s jurisdiction inasmuch as they have the characteristics of collectables — i.e., the NFTs Yuga creates.
