Standard Chartered said stablecoin velocity has doubled over the past two years, allowing higher transaction volumes without requiring supply to expand at the same pace. In a Tuesday report, the bank said it still expects the stablecoin market to reach $2 trillion by late 2028 despite faster turnover. The report added that USDC has driven much of the velocity increase, while USDT remains more associated with lower-velocity savings use.

On March 31, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor unveiled a proposed regulation that could broaden what 401(k) retirement plans are allowed to offer, including potential access to cryptocurrency and other alternative assets. The rule sets a process-focused standard for fiduciaries to assess options by criteria such as performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, and complexity, while adding a “safe harbor” approach aimed at lowering litigation risk.

Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority has published an Exchange Services Rulebook that sets governance, disclosure, and risk-control requirements for licensed VASPs offering margin trading and crypto derivatives. The framework includes 24-hour settlement expectations, suitability checks before opening margin accounts, and VARA powers to suspend trading or change margin requirements. It also introduces conduct and surveillance obligations, plus board independence and compensation-reporting requirements.

Bitcoin ETFs posted $69.4 million of net inflows on March 30, led by ARK Invest's ARKB at $33 million and Fidelity's FBTC at $28.9 million, while Ethereum ETFs added $5 million. On the same day, Solana ETFs saw $6.2 million in net outflows and XRP ETFs lost about $2.31 million. The session marked a small reversal after several days of net redemptions across major crypto ETF categories.

On Monday, Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani said crypto-adjacent stocks that are down about 60% from all-time highs offer a rare opportunity to buy at a "big" discount, despite an Extreme Fear backdrop. The team kept Outperform ratings on Coinbase, Robinhood, and Figure Technology Solutions, while cutting price targets and bracing for weak first-quarter results in upcoming earnings.

WTI Crude Oil (USOIL) tests $105 on March 31, 2026, as Trump’s tribute tankers clash with a fresh Iranian attack in Dubai. Discover if the 8 million bpd supply plunge will propel oil toward $119 or if diplomacy will force a correction to $90.

Google published research on Monday revising the quantum resources it believes are needed to break 256-bit elliptic-curve cryptography used by Bitcoin and Ethereum. The paper estimates that fewer than 500,000 physical qubits could be sufficient under its current hardware assumptions, and it models an “on-spend” Bitcoin key-recovery window of about 9–12 minutes. It also warns Ethereum’s account model exposes public keys in a way that could enable “at-rest” attacks, estimating the 1,000 richest exposed accounts holding about 20.5 million ETH could be compromised in under nine days.

Micron Technology (MU) shares plummeted on March 30, 2026, dropping 9.88% to close at $321.80. The sell-off marks a brutal continuation of a post-earnings slide that has seen the stock crater 30% since its blowout report on March 18. Despite reporting record-breaking revenues, Micron is now the victim of a massive shift in investor sentiment as the market transitions from fearing AI chip scarcity to fearing AI memory efficiency.