Market Insights: Mar 2025 | Week2
Wavebridge Research/
Trump Administration Signals Pro-Crypto Shift but Lacks Concrete Action Plan
The White House held its first crypto summit to discuss cryptocurrency deregulation, but key figures at the event expressed disappointment. While the Trump administration has signalled its intention to move away from the heavy-handed regulation of the Biden era and towards pro-crypto policies, critics say it lacks concrete action plans. A day before the summit, the Trump administration signed an executive order to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve. Trump used the term reserve in the announcement, rather than stockpile as he did in his January executive order, but disappointed markets after the meeting by announcing plans to sell rather than actively buy. BlackRock bought 432 bitcoin through its iShares Bitcoin ETF. The purchase brings BlackRock's total Bitcoin holdings to 5,726,658 BTC. The number of active Bitcoin addresses hit a three-month high, surpassing 912,300. Whale wallet balances have been expanding over the past two weeks, with whale investors holding between 10,000 BTC and 100,000 BTC snapping up 30,000 BTC.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Confirmed as Core Assets in Trump’s Crypto Reserve Plan
Before the crypto summit, Trump announced on Truesocial that he would ‘pursue a strategic stockpile of cryptocurrencies, including XRP, SOL, and ADA.’ He followed up with a post just over an hour later saying that ‘Bitcoin and Ethereum will also be included as core assets.’ However, there was no specific mention of this at the summit. The Bitwise chief investment officer said that while the crypto reserve plan includes several large altcoins, he expects the majority to be made up of bitcoin. Pectra, billed as one of Ethereum's biggest upgrades, has been delayed due to bugs in testing. Ethereum developers met on the 6th and decided that further testing was needed. According to Bricken's ‘RWA Tokenisation: Key Trends and Market Forecasts to 2025’ report, the tokenised asset market has surpassed $50 billion across all asset classes. Of this, $30 billion came from tokenised real estate. The US Securities and Exchange Commission classified Memecoin as a ‘collectible’ and exempted it from securities regulation. Since February, the market capitalisation of the Memecoin market has fallen by 32% and trading volume has plummeted by 72%. The favourable regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies under the Trump administration has spurred a number of companies to go public. Kraken, Gemini, Bullish Global, Circle, and BitGo are among the companies in the process of going public.
US Regulator Issues Clear Guidance for Banks on Crypto Custody and Blockchain Activities
The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has issued clear guidance for federal banks to conduct cryptocurrency custody, stablecoin-related business, and blockchain validation activities. Previously, financial institutions were required to obtain separate regulatory approval to conduct digital asset-related business, but this decision eliminates that process. The US government vowed to use stablecoins to maintain the dollar's hegemony. White House crypto and AI czar David Sachs spoke out against a proposal to impose a 0.01% tax on each cryptocurrency transaction. The US Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Kraken after nearly a year and four months. With the Trump administration in the US pursuing an aggressive crypto policy, analysts believe that a bill to regulate stablecoins is likely to be introduced in September. SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce officially launched a 15-member crypto task force. The Texas Senate passed a bill (SB-21) to create a Bitcoin and cryptocurrency strategic reserve by a 25-5 vote.
Vietnam to Propose Legal Framework for Digital Assets
FIFA President Infantino has directly addressed the possibility of developing a FIFA token. ‘FIFA is very interested in developing a FIFA coin that targets the 5 billion football fans around the world,’ he announced. El Salvador has purchased an additional 13 BTC since 1 March, despite IMF pressure, bringing its total holdings to over 6,105 BTC. Vietnam's Ministry of Finance will propose legal regulations for digital assets and cryptocurrencies this month. The proposal includes a pilot programme for state-licensed digital asset exchanges. Israel's central bank unveiled the initial design of its central bank digital currency, the digital shekel. Mexican telecoms and retail tycoon Ricardo Salinas revealed that he has allocated 70% of his liquid assets to bitcoin-related investments. Turkic digital bank Bankpositif entered the crypto custard market. The Central Bank of Russia postponed the launch of the digital ruble. The Governor of the Swiss National Bank expressed his negative stance on holding Bitcoin as a reserve asset for the central bank. Circle received approval to offer USDC in Japan.