NFT

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is seeking details from Beast Industries after its acquisition of teen-focused fintech app Step, raising questions about whether crypto or NFT investing could return for under-18 users. In a March 23 letter, she asked founder Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) and CEO Jeff Housenbold to explain the company's plans and to respond by April 3, 2026. Warren also highlighted Step's ongoing partnership with Evolve Bank & Trust and broader issues around protections for young users.

On Tuesday, the SEC and CFTC issued joint guidance that reclassifies most digital assets as commodities or "digital tools," narrowing the SEC's enforcement-heavy role. The shift has prompted conflict-of-interest concerns tied to World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project described as being controlled by the Trump family, as the new framework could reduce disclosure and registration burdens.

The US SEC and CFTC released new guidance on Tuesday outlining a five-part taxonomy for digital assets, including digital commodities, NFTs, digital tools, stablecoins and tokenized securities. Galaxy research head Alex Thorn said the shift to an interpretive rule could give the industry clearer expectations for about the next 30 months, while longer-term certainty would require the CLARITY market-structure bill to become law. Politico later reported a tentative White House–lawmaker deal to advance CLARITY, though details remain undisclosed.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the agency's new interpretation of how federal securities laws apply to crypto is meant to provide clarity but is "a beginning, not an end." He added the SEC would move away from "regulation by enforcement" and, if Congress passes a market structure bill, the agency would defer to it while using the interpretation as a bridge in the meantime.

On March 17, 2026, William M. Peaster explored how Ethereum-based infrastructure could support an experimental zine model called Combinatoria. The concept uses a Bread Cooperative-style yield vault and tools like Sablier and Splits to stream onchain income to 5–10 curated writers each epoch. A hypothetical $100,000 in deposits generating $6,000 in annual yield would pay writers more than many traditional literary magazines, without requiring patrons to spend their principal. The piece argues that such onchain assemblages could provide financial sustainability and independence for niche cultural communities beyond just this example.

Nonfungible token marketplace OpenSea has postponed the March 30 launch of its SEA token, saying current crypto conditions are too difficult and the token is not ready. The token, first unveiled in October as part of a shift toward a multi-chain "trade everything" app, was meant to power fee discounts, creator rewards and governance. OpenSea is ending its Waves rewards campaign and offering certain users fee refunds as the broader NFT market cap has dropped from $3.2 billion on Jan. 15 to $1.62 billion.

NFT lending platform Gondi disabled its Sell & Repay smart contract after a hacker stole around $230,000 worth of NFTs, and it has started compensating impacted users. The team says the rest of the protocol remains safe, with lending and NFT trading functions deemed secure after reviews by Blockaid and an independent auditor.

On March 9, the Seoul Central District Court is set to review a petition from Flow Foundation and Dapper Labs aimed at stopping three Korean exchanges from ending FLOW trading on March 16. The move follows a December security incident that led to $3.9 million in duplicated tokens, which were later destroyed, while major global exchanges have since reinstated full FLOW services. Despite ongoing development on the Flow blockchain by brands such as Disney, the NBA, the NFL, and Ticketmaster, the FLOW token has fallen about 75% since late December and sits far below its 2021 peak.

On March 6, 2026, PEI Licensing, parent company of the Original Penguin brand, filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Pudgy Penguins in the Southern District of Florida, seeking a jury trial and profit disgorgement. The complaint alleges unauthorized use and attempted registration of penguin-related marks on apparel and related goods, while the PENGU token price around $0.00721 has largely shrugged off the legal action over the past 24 hours. The case emerges as Pudgy Penguins expands from its 8,888-piece Ethereum NFT collection into physical merchandise, a Solana-based PENGU coin, and major retail and brand partnerships.

On February 28, 2026, XRP Ledger developer and Xaman founder Wietse Wind warned XRP wallet users about scams using fake NFT "passes" and imitation Xaman domains to drain funds. He urged holders to cancel unsolicited offers, avoid interacting with suspicious NFTs and never share wallet secrets or sign unclear transactions.