In 2026, the US Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a second straight meeting, and Bitcoin's price reacted with sharp volatility. The cryptocurrency briefly fell by $5,000 ahead of the FOMC decision but then recovered to around $72,000 once the announcement was released.

Pi Network's Core Team completed the migration to protocol version 20.2 several days ago and formally announced it on March 12, positioning the upgrade as a key step toward future smart contract functionality. Despite earlier gains of more than 100% from its all-time low and a price boost tied to a March 13 listing on Kraken, PI has since fallen by almost 50% from its recent local peak to below $0.175.

Mastercard has signed a definitive agreement to buy stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK for $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent consideration. The acquisition is aimed at enhancing cross-border remittances, B2B payments, and global payouts through stablecoin-based solutions.

XRP briefly rallied above $1.60 before pulling back to around $1.50, after trading for weeks in a narrow $1.33–$1.47 range. Analysts now point to $1.85 as a potential next upside target, citing technical patterns and a strongly bullish close versus BTC, even as spot XRP ETFs face continued net outflows.

PI has fallen more than 10% in the last 24 hours to below $0.18, extending a drop of about 40% since Pi Day on March 14. The token briefly hit nearly $0.30 around its first anniversary as a freely traded asset and a new Kraken listing before plunging, while the Pi Network team has now begun rolling out second migrations to move additional tokens to Mainnet.

In the past 12 hours, Ripple's XRP token has climbed about 5% to nearly $1.50, approaching a key resistance level at $1.43 that some analysts say could trigger a stronger recovery. Other market watchers remain skeptical, noting prior rallies that quickly faded, even as futures open interest has risen 16.5% to above $1.6 billion and short positions appear minimal.

On Monday morning, Bitcoin climbed to a six‑week high slightly above $74,000 while Ethereum advanced to nearly $2,300. The broader crypto market cap expanded to about $2.6 trillion and roughly $350 million in positions were liquidated, with nearly $300 million coming from shorts. These sharp moves followed recent US military action involving Iran’s Kharg Island and related comments from Donald Trump on possible further escalation.

An XRP price projection of $48 was recently shared by analyst Ali Martinez, who based the ambitious target on a multi-year triangle pattern and framed it as a potential top for the next bull run. When asked to review this scenario, ChatGPT highlighted that such a move from XRP’s current $1.43 level would imply a roughly 3,300% rally and a market cap comparable to Apple, calling it a multi-cycle long shot. The AI instead laid out more conservative ranges between $3 and $25 under varying bull market conditions, all of which remain far below the $48 mark.

Bitcoin climbed toward $72,000 after rebounding from a brief drop to $65,600, while its market capitalization approached $1.440 trillion and dominance rose to 57%. TAO led the larger-cap altcoins with a double-digit daily gain to near $270, as ETH moved above $2,100 and the total crypto market value increased by about $40 billion to above $2.5 trillion.