Plus: The SEC lets Kraken walk free

GM. The market is a messy citrus press - sour, sticky, and confusing. Don’t worry tho', we’ve strained out the good stuff so you can sip. Stress-free.

⚖️ SEC updates.

🍋 News drops: Binance removing stablecoins, scammers pretending to be the law + more

🍍 Market flavor today

Find out more about the Fear & Greed Index here.

Crypto Market Cap: $2.78T -8.91% (24H)
Name		Price	24H	7D
	Bitcoin BTC	$82,558.73	-8.83%	-4.88%
	Ethereum ETH	$2,071.85	-9.81%	-13.46%
	XRP XRP	$2.39	-8.81%	8.00%
	BNB BNB	$568.31	-4.30%	-6.75%
	Solana SOL	$137.61	-13.58%	-0.39%

That tiny bit of hope we were given yesterday? Yeah, it’s gone 🤡

We’re back to extreme fear, everything’s drowning in red, and over $110B got wiped out from the crypto market in the past 24 hours.

Source: @wallstreetbets

What happened? Blame it on the Trump effect.

Over the weekend, he teased the idea of a strategic crypto reserve, which sent investors into hopium mode and pumped the market.

But then, reality hit: getting something like this approved would take ages, and even then, it’s unclear if the plan would involve actually buying crypto. And so, it all went downhill again.

On top of that, Trump’s tariffs went live today:

Source: @KobeissiLetter

China’s already fired back with 15% tariffs on certain US imports starting March 10. More retaliatory tariff announcements could be coming, but honestly? It doesn’t even matter - crypto already hates this.

Economic uncertainty kills risk appetite, so investors shift their money into safer assets and stay away from things like Bitcoin.

TL;DR: tariffs = markets freak out = crypto gets dumped.

Source: @0xgaut

That said, CryptoQuant’s CEO Ki Young Ju says the bull cycle isn’t over yet - fundamentals still look strong, mining rigs are still coming online, and there's no major on-chain activity signaling a breakdown.

But unless the overall sentiment in the US changes, Bitcoin will likely continue going sideways.

Trader Magus is keeping an eye on whether Bitcoin can reclaim its multi-month value range:

• Value Area High (VAH): $103K

• Value Area Low (VAL): $91K

In simple terms, this is the range where most of the trading activity has happened since November 2024. And if the bulls fail to push back into this zone, things could get ugly.

No pressure.

🥝 Memecoin harvest

Pumps that make less sense than my sleep schedule ⏰

	Name		24H Change
	pwease PWEASE		▲ 415%
	WhiteRock WHITE		▲ 76%
	GOUT GOUT		▲ 51%
	Black Devil ANGLERFISH		▲ 17%

Data as of 06:55 AM EST.

Check out these memecoins and plenty more here.

🙅 No more bullying

Imagine you’re back in school. Or, if you’re still in school, uh… just keep yourself there.

There’s this one guy - Kyle. Damn Kyle, with his stupid patchy mustache, always up in your business, stealing your lunch money, blaming you for things you didn’t do. Just an a**hole (pardon my French).

Then, one day, Kyle walks past you and smiles… but not in his usual "I’m about to ruin your day and life" kind of way. It’s friendly.

And after that, he just keeps being nice. No catch. No tricks. You accept it, obviously, but it feels so weird.

That’s lowkey how I feel about the SEC. For years, these guys have been the ultimate crypto bully - but ever since the US administration changed, they’ve been working to actually be crypto-friendly.

It still feels kinda strange. But also… so nice.

We talked about it Friday, and we’re talking about it again today, because the good updates just won’t stop.

1/ Backing off

Another day, another crypto company they’ve decided to leave alone.

The SEC closed their investigation into Yuga Labs, the NFT company that brought us the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

A huge W for the (what's left of) the NFT community.

Source: @yugalabs

Aaand that’s not all. They also dropped their lawsuit against Kraken - no fines, no penalties, nothing.

For context, the SEC sued Kraken in 2023 for supposedly being a broker, dealer, exchange, and clearinghouse for “crypto asset securities.”

Which… yeah, wtf even is that. Judging by the fact that the case was dropped, the new SEC doesn’t really know either.

And that isn't just good news for Kraken - it’s a sign of less uncertainty (🤞) and clearer regulations ahead (🤞).

Source: @krakenfx

2/ Crypto regulation talks

Speaking of clearer regulations...

The SEC’s new Crypto Task Force, led by Hester Peirce (aka Crypto Mom), is gonna be hosting a series of roundtable discussions called “Spring Sprint Toward Crypto Clarity.”

The first one happens on March 21, and it’ll focus on the billion-dollar question: how should digital assets actually be classified?

So yeah, after years of being the Kyle of financial regulators, the SEC is finally playing nice.

NO to bullying. YES to the regulatory clarity we’ve been waiting for… for way too damn long.

🍋 News drops

⛔️ Binance is removing nine stablecoins in the EEA to comply with MiCA rules. But no worries - you can still swap them using Binance Convert.

🇸🇻 El Salvador is trying to lock in a $1.4B deal with the IMF, but there’s a catch - the government has to pause its BTC accumulation.

👮 Scammers in Kent, England, stole $1.2M in crypto by pretending to be the law. They faked official reports from Action Fraud (the UK’s fraud reporting center) and tricked victims into handing over their crypto wallets.

🧺 Bybit CEO Ben Zhou confirmed that $280M of the $1.4B stolen has already been laundered. The good news? There’s still a lot left on the radar.

🤔 Crypto detective ZachXBT says if you want to judge a blockchain’s legitimacy, follow the stablecoins. Cuz if big dogs like Circle, Tether, and Paxos see real value in a network, they’ll make sure their stablecoins are there.

🧃 Sip of BREAKING NEWS

Reports confirm a mysterious source (BitDegree) is giving away $30K 🚨

Experts say that BYDFi added an extra $1K to the prize pool, shocking the markets.

🗣 ‘I couldn’t believe it was true. But it is.’ - A very real person.

🗣 ‘The biggest regret of my life? Ignoring this airdrop.’ - Someone, somewhere, definitely.

But time is running out - sources familiar with the matter reveal the BYDFi stage ends in just six days.

How to get in? Complete Missions (like the one launched today about Cryptomus), convince your friends to join → get Bits → climb the leaderboard → secure the bag.

More updates as the story develops.

🍌 Juicy memes

Source: @naiivememe

Source: @CryptoTea_

Source: @Decu0x