Stocks

Bitcoin fell nearly 5% after a strong start to the week, moving lower alongside major US equity indexes and gold as the US and Israel–Iran war entered a fourth week. Over the past three months, outflows from S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ETFs hit $64 billion, while spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $253 million leave over the past two days. Analysts cited weaker liquidity and geopolitical uncertainty as factors weighing on demand, with some flagging downside levels such as $55,000–$60,000.

Bitcoin ETFs recently shifted from seven days of inflows to roughly $250 million in outflows over the past two days, and BTC fell about 5.5% to around $70k in the same window. The move was framed as macro-driven, following an inflation report that reduced expectations for a near-term rate cut, while Morgan Stanley's latest spot Bitcoin ETF filing with the SEC adds another potential catalyst amid risk-off conditions.

Coinbase has launched stock perpetual futures for eligible users outside the U.S., offering 24/7 synthetic, leveraged exposure to selected U.S.-listed equities and some ETF products. The initial lineup includes Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta and Tesla, with certain ETF-linked perps also available depending on jurisdiction. Contracts are settled in USDC and can be traded via Coinbase Advanced and Coinbase International Exchange.

Gemini is facing a New York class-action that claims the company misled investors about its business strategy in documents tied to its September 2025 IPO and later disclosures. The complaint seeks damages for investors who bought shares from the IPO through mid-February 2026, as the stock fell from a $32 first-day close to $6.01 on Thursday. The case follows Gemini's "Gemini 2.0" pivot toward a prediction market product and workforce cuts disclosed in early February.

Forward Industries said Thursday it will repurchase 6,164,324 common shares from an unnamed institutional investor for about $27.4 million, cutting shares outstanding to 76,977,809. The buyback is financed by a $40 million loan from Galaxy Digital LLC at 3.4% interest, secured by 7,013,536 SOL worth roughly $613 million at current market prices.

On March 18, Bitwise research head André Dragosch said institutions accumulated over 81,200 BTC over the past month, versus just over 13,300 BTC of newly issued supply. The total included more than 34,400 BTC via Bitcoin ETPs and over 46,800 BTC by treasury companies, with Strategy accounting for 46,400+ BTC. Bitcoin last traded at $69,216.06, down 3.1% on the day and 1% on the week, while up 3.5% over the past month.

RedotPay, a Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm, is planning to raise $150 million in a pre-IPO round at a targeted $4 billion valuation ahead of a potential US stock market listing this year. The company reports more than $10 billion in annualized payment volume and over $150 million in annualized revenue, but is moving forward despite recent senior executive departures and the absence of a sitting CFO. Major banks are reportedly lined up as underwriters, making the deal a key test of investor demand for crypto payments infrastructure.

S&P Dow Jones Indices has licensed the S&P 500 Index to Trade[XYZ] for a perpetual futures product on Hyperliquid that offers continuous leveraged exposure for eligible non-US traders. The contract, announced on Wednesday, uses official S&P index data, has no expiry date and runs outside traditional exchange hours, while Trade[XYZ] reports over $100 billion in onchain volume since October 2025.

On March 18, 2026, Nvidia shares traded higher in premarket after regulators in China cleared the sale of its H200 artificial intelligence chips, enabling the company to restart production and resume shipments to the region. The company is also developing a Groq AI chip variant for Chinese customers, while its stock recently closed at $181.93 with a consensus Strong Buy rating and an average target price of $274.46 from Wall Street analysts.

Mastercard plans to acquire London-based stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK in a transaction valued at up to about $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent payments. The deal, reported on a Tuesday by Bloomberg, deepens Mastercard's push into 24/7 crypto settlement rails, tokenized bank deposits, and stablecoin-based payments after an earlier $2 billion transaction between BVNK and Coinbase fell through. Mastercard's broader strategy and its March 11 industry initiative highlight how major payment networks are positioning stablecoins as core infrastructure for global value transfer.