Bitcoin and Ethereum have stayed in a tight range for more than 50 days, but derivatives positioning accelerated in the third week of March. On March 16, combined BTC and ETH perpetual-futures open interest rose to about $30 billion, the highest level since late January. The move included BTC open interest at $23 billion and ETH nearing $16 billion, alongside a weekly surge concentrated on Binance.

On Thursday, crypto ETFs stayed under pressure, led by $171.22 million in net outflows from bitcoin ETFs while ether ETFs logged their seventh straight day of redemptions at $92.54 million. Blackrock’s IBIT saw $41.92 million leave, and ETHA recorded a $140.24 million exit even as ETHB brought in $96.81 million. Solana ETFs slipped by $1.04 million, while XRP ETFs showed no trading activity with assets unchanged at $949.15 million.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office announced Thursday that it has sanctioned Xinbi, a Chinese-language crypto marketplace accused of supporting fraud operators across Southeast Asia. Chainalysis estimates nearly $20 billion in illicit funds moved through the platform between 2021 and 2025, and the measures freeze UK-linked assets while barring UK banks, crypto firms, and citizens from dealing with it.

Prediction markets in the US put Sam Bankman-Fried's 2026 pardon odds at 11% on Polymarket and 9% on Kalshi. After a March 21 CNN interview featuring Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, the odds slipped by 2% on Polymarket and 1% on Kalshi as they publicly challenged his fraud conviction.

Japan's Financial Services Agency has listed KuCoin among unregistered businesses that received warning letters, citing online solicitation of OTC derivatives. Separate actions and restrictions in Hong Kong, Austria, and Dubai have added pressure, alongside a reported drop in exchange reserves from 14K BTC (2024) to 2100 BTC (early 2026) and stablecoin holdings from over $1.3B to $543M within a year.

JPMorgan Chase strategists led by Fabio Bassi lowered the bank's 2026 year-end S&P 500 target from 7,500 to 7,200, citing geopolitical risks and tighter oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The team said reduced shipping traffic and higher energy prices could weigh on U.S. profits and growth; at the time of writing the index stood at 6,591 while WTI spot traded at $95.36 per barrel.

On March 27, 2026, Fannie Mae began supporting mortgages that let borrowers post Bitcoin or USDC as collateral through Coinbase and Better Home & Finance. The structure applies a 50–60% volatility haircut and prices loans about 0.5–1.5 percentage points above standard 30-year mortgage rates.

Binance Australia Derivatives was ordered by the Federal Court to pay AUD 10 million ($6.9 million) after admitting it wrongly treated 524 retail clients as wholesale investors over a nine-month period. The misclassification meant customers accessed high-risk crypto derivatives without required protections, with reported losses of AUD 8.66 million ($5.9 million) and fees of AUD 3.9 million ($2.7 million).