Quick Take

• BTC outperformed major assets since the Middle East conflict began; Broadridge and Crypto.com partnered to enable crypto order routing; U.S. SEC and CFTC signed a MoU to coordinate oversight of the crypto industry.
• U.S. spot BTC ETFs had a net inflow of US$763 million last week, up from $569 million the week prior, marking 2026’s first five-day streak of net inflows. Spot ETH ETFs saw a net inflow of $161 million in the same period, up from $24 million the week prior.
• On the macro side, February’s U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.4% annually, in line with the Dow Jones consensus forecast. January’s Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (CPE) price index rose 3.1% year-over-year. The latest CME FedWatch Tool shows a 1% probability of a March rate cut, down from 4% the week prior. Oil prices remain high despite the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s agreement to release 400 million barrels from reserves to mitigate the supply shock.
• Notable updates: The Ethereum Foundation published the "EF Mandate"; Donald Trump invited the top 297 TRUMP token holders to a luncheon at Mar-a-Lago; Ethena proposed replacing its 7-day sUSDe unstaking period with a "dynamic cooldown"; Optimism developer OP Labs laid off 20 employees.
• Notable events in the coming week: U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) ex Food & Energy, interest rate decisions from Australia, Canada, European Union, Japan, Switzerland, UK, and U.S.

Research Dashboard

According to our research dashboard, the price index increased by +6.69% while volume and volatility indices decreased by -9.21%, and -52.88%, respectively, last week. Bitcoin’s network reached 20 million mined coins last week.

Token prices in the index mostly increased, led by TAO (+58.9%) and HYPE (+22.0%). BTC and ETH increased by +10.1% and +12.2%, respectively, showing resilience despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. TAO’s increase followed an increase in its subnet demand and a rebound in artificial intelligence tokens. HYPE’s increase coincided with increased real-world asset (RWA) trading on the platform, surpassing $1.3 billion in open interest.

The volatility decrease was led by BTC (-53.8%) and ETH (-52.7%).

Chart of the Week

Since the Middle East conflict began, Bitcoin increased 5% between February 27 to March 13, outperforming other major assets including Gold, the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and the MSCI World Index. Among selected major assets, only Brent crude oil (+42%) performed better,  driven by a global supply shock. Bitcoin’s resilience amid escalating geopolitical tensions potentially reinforces its status as a “safe haven” asset. 

Weekly Performance

Top-cap tokens mostly increased last week. Besides BTC and ETH, SUI and SOL also grew. SUI’s increase followed a jump in total value locked (TVL) on the protocol and in average order value across spot and futures markets, signaling heightened whale interest. Additionally, Sui launched its native stablecoin, Sui Dollar (USDsui) on March 5, featuring a mechanism that redirects treasury yields back into the network to incentivize liquidity and drive ecosystem growth.

All key categories saw an increase in market capitalization in the last seven days, led by Artificial Intelligence and Meme.

News Highlights

Crypto.com / Cronos News

• Broadridge Financial Solutions and Crypto.com partnered to enable crypto order routing for brokers globally via the NYFIX network, marking NYFIX’s first cryptocurrency integration in Asia. This collaboration enables crypto orders to flow through the same trusted FIX-based infrastructure used across global financial markets.
• Mastercard launched a new Crypto Partner Program that brings together 85 crypto-native companies, payments providers, and financial institutions — including Crypto.com — to collaborate on the future of on-chain payment products alongside Mastercard’s teams.

Regulation

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to coordinate digital asset oversight. The agreement is designed to harmonize frameworks and coordinate supervision and enforcement.
• The U.S. Senate voted to pass an amendment banning the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) through December 31, 2030.
• The White House unveiled the “Cybersecurity Strategy for America,” a framework that officially supports the security of crypto and blockchain. This is part of an effort to build secure technologies that protect user privacy.
• The Bank of England (BoE) signaled a potential openness to revise limits for pound-denominated stablecoins after pushback from the crypto industry.

Adoption 

• HSBC and Standard Chartered are expected to be among Hong Kong’s first authorized stablecoin issuers, as authorities are reportedly prioritizing established banknote-issuing companies in Hong Kong.
• Wells Fargo filed a trademark for "WFUSD," offering services such as crypto payments processing, trades, and tokenization software. This signals the company’s push into crypto services.
• The European Central Bank (ECB) unveiled its roadmap for a tokenized wholesale financial system to strengthen the role of the euro. The initiative features “Pontes,” a distributed ledger technology layer (DLT), and “Appia” to design a tokenised financial ecosystem.
• Ghana’s SEC launched a crypto sandbox for 11 firms under its Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) Act. The regulatory sandbox allows the testing of digital asset services in a controlled environment.

Investment Vehicles 

• BlackRock launched its iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB) on Nasdaq, offering a regulated product that provides exposure to ETH price movements and staking rewards.
• Grayscale debuted its Grayscale Avalanche Staking ETF (GAVA) on Nasdaq, providing investors with a regulated vehicle for AVAX exposure and staking yield.

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