Weekly Update: 14th of March
What happened between the 7th and 14th of March?
Last week, the crypto market was dominated by news from the United States:
- The digital assets summit at the White House brings no surprises, leaving speculative investors disappointed. Read more
- Spanish banking giant BBVA opens trading in Bitcoin and Ethereum for its customers. Read more
- The SEC has postponed the applications for XRP, Solana, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Ethereum staking ETFs. Read more
- Uncertainty in the market remains despite lower than expected CPI and PPI, indicating a cooldown of inflation. Read more
Digital Assets Summit brings no surprises
Last Friday, a digital assets summit took place at the White House, featuring various prominent figures from the industry. The meeting was organized to discuss how the U.S. could become the "digital assets capital of the world”. Many investors were eagerly anticipating the outcome, but they were left disappointed.
This was partly due to the prior announcement of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the Digital Assets Stockpile, which would consist solely of confiscated assets. Despite constructive discussions on structuring digital asset reserves and regulations, the lack of positive news led to a further market correction.
Spanish Bank BBVA opens Bitcoin and Ethereum Trading
The banking giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) will soon enable its customers in Spain to trade Bitcoin and Ether. This means that users will soon be able to purchase their first digital assets directly through their trusted banking app. The Spanish bank has received regulatory approval for this, aligning with the introduction of MiCA legislation.
BBVA is no newcomer to the digital assets market; it has previously been involved in various industry conferences and has been experimenting with blockchain implementation for some time. Offering trading via a familiar banking app will provide many customers with a greater sense of security compared to digital asset exchanges, potentially lowering the barrier for newcomers. It will be interesting to see which banks follow in the coming period.
SEC postpones decisions on new altcoin ETFs
This week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has postponed its decision on multiple new digital asset ETFs. This includes ETFs for Solana, XRP, Litecoin, and Dogecoin, as well as the addition of a staking component to the Ether ETFs. The delay does not come as a surprise, as such decisions are likely to be made only after the appointment of a new SEC chair.
Paul Atkins is expected to replace former chairman Gary Gensler. However, Donald Trump has not yet scheduled a formal hearing for the appointment of the pro-digital assets councillor. According to Bloomberg analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas, the delay was expected, as this is often standard procedure for new types of applications. Nevertheless, they still see a strong likelihood of approval.
Caution despite favorable economic figures
On Wednesday and Thursday, there was positive news regarding key financial figures from the U.S. On Wednesday, the U.S. inflation rate (CPI) came in lower than expected by approximately 0.1%. This was followed on Thursday by the Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures the price of sold goods excluding food and energy, and came in about 0.4% lower than expected.
While these are further indications that inflation is slowing down, they have not yet brought much relief to the market. There is still significant concern over the recently introduced import tariffs and their potential impact on inflation figures in the coming period. Some of these measures have yet to take effect, and there is often a delay before their full impact becomes visible.
In other digital assets news
- Binance received a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX.
- Deutsche Boerse will offer Bitcoin and Ether trading and custody services to its 2,500 institutional clients.
- Michael Saylor’s Strategy plans to raise an additional $21 billion, possibly for further Bitcoin investments.
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