On 18 March, the Federal Reserve kept the federal funds rate target range unchanged at 3.5%–3.75% while indicating that inflation remains too high for near-term cuts. Fresh projections point to PCE inflation at 2.7%, GDP growth of 2.4%, unemployment at 4.4%, and a federal funds rate near 3.4% in 2026, suggesting a slow and measured path to policy easing that will keep markets focused on incoming data.

On 17 March 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission unveiled a new interpretive framework for digital assets, concluding that most crypto assets are not securities. The guidance, developed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, introduces a five-part asset taxonomy and clarifies how securities laws apply to activities such as staking, airdrops, mining, and wrapping. The move is intended to give issuers, builders, and investors clearer rules while Congress works on broader crypto legislation.

On 1 March 2026, Bitrefill reported a cyber incident in which attackers drained funds from its hot wallets and accessed parts of its infrastructure. The breach involved misuse of its gift card supply system and exposed around 18,500 purchase records, including email and crypto payment addresses. Bitrefill said it has restored most services, will cover the losses from operational capital, and has tightened security controls after the attack.

On 17 March 2026, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission granted no-action relief to Phantom Technologies Inc. for activities related to its self-custodial wallet software. The position allows Phantom to offer wallet interfaces that connect users to trading services from registered futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, and designated contract markets without registering as a broker, as long as specific conditions are satisfied.

Hashdex has permanently lowered the sponsor fee on its Hashdex Nasdaq CME Crypto Index ETF (NCIQ) from 0.50% to 0.25% per year, effective immediately as of a 16 March 2026 filing. The U.S.-listed multi-asset spot crypto ETF, launched in February 2025, tracks the Nasdaq CME Crypto Index and holds seven major digital assets, positioning itself as a diversified alternative to single-asset products.

Bitcoin is trading near $73,600 as quarterly options expiring on 27 March now represent over 40% of total open interest, with a large cluster of call positions at the $75,000 strike. This concentration, described as a "gamma wall", is raising expectations that market makers' hedging could fuel sharp volatility if BTC either breaks above or fails at this key resistance zone.

South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit imposed a 36.8 billion won ($25 million) fine and ordered a six-month partial business suspension against Bithumb after finding about 6.65 million compliance breaches. The violations mainly involved failures to properly verify customer identities and restrict certain transactions, while KRW trading pairs continue to dominate activity with roughly $724 million in 24-hour volume.

On-chain data from Bitfinex indicates a large crypto whale shifted roughly $22.7 million from tokenized gold XAUT into 10,242 ETH, worth about $21.9 million. During this period, Ethereum traded close to $2,100 and showed improving technical momentum, while XAUT eased from highs above $5,500 to around $5,015.

A crypto and business conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, set for 25 April 2026, will allocate 297 seats based on a time-weighted ranking of TRUMP token balances. During a qualification window from 12 March to 10 April 2026, only the largest holders of the Solana-based TRUMP memecoin will be eligible for standard and VIP access, including a reception with Donald Trump.