Stocks

The CBOE Volatility Index ended Friday at 31.05, rising 13.16% on the session to its highest close since late 2025. Gold hovered near $4,491 per ounce and silver rebounded to $69.82 as investors sought havens amid Middle East-related supply concerns around the Strait of Hormuz. Brent and WTI were recently trading in a $99 to $115 per barrel range, keeping inflation and 2026 Fed-rate expectations in focus.

Johns Hopkins economist Steve Hanke said in a recent interview that the U.S. is losing leverage in the Iran conflict and is "functionally insolvent." He pointed to a sharp drop in Strait of Hormuz throughput, claimed the Iranian rial has risen 6% since the war began, and cited federal figures showing about $6 trillion in assets versus roughly $48 trillion in on-balance-sheet liabilities and around $136 trillion including Social Security and Medicare.

BNP Paribas said it will start offering six exchange-traded notes linked to Bitcoin and Ethereum on March 30. The ETNs are issued by firms including BlackRock, Invesco, WisdomTree, and VanEck, and the bank says the lineup is fully MiFID II compliant while being offered in response to client demand.

On March 27, 2026, Kraken's tokenized equities platform xStocks and Fundrise said they will tokenize the newly launched Fundrise Innovation Fund (NYSE: VCX) into a single onchain asset, VCXx. The product is designed to give eligible investors outside the U.S. access to a portfolio that includes exposure to late-stage private companies such as SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic and Databricks. VCXx is set to list on xStocks in the coming days, with geo-restrictions and eligibility rules applying.

On March 28, 2026, crypto-exposed equities sank as a broader risk-asset sell-off intensified, with Coinbase (COIN) and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) down nearly 7% and Gemini (GEMI) off almost 9%. Bitcoin traded below $66,000 during the drop, while the report also cited about $17 trillion in market value erased from peak levels and warned quarter-end flows could add volatility through March 31.

U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $171.2 million in net withdrawals on Thursday, marking their biggest daily outflow in three weeks. Bitcoin fell below $67,000 on Friday for the first time since March 9 and was last quoted at $66,271 after sliding 6.3% over the past week.

Morgan Stanley has filed to launch a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, proposing the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust with a 0.14% annual fee. The trust would hold bitcoin directly, avoid leverage and derivatives, and list on NYSE Arca with custody shared by Bank of New York Mellon and Coinbase Custody. The filing comes as lawmakers weigh stablecoin and market-structure bills that could shape how crypto products compete with traditional banking.

GameStop said in a Tuesday 10-K filing that it still holds 4,710 BTC worth roughly $368 million, following two months of market speculation. The filing states 4,709 BTC are pledged as collateral via Coinbase Prime/Coinbase Credit and 1 BTC remains held directly, with no Bitcoin sale reported. It also details a covered-call strategy using short-dated call options with $105,000–$110,000 strike prices expiring March 27.

Morgan Stanley has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a spot Bitcoin ETF that would charge a 0.14% expense ratio. The proposed 14-basis-point fee is below Grayscale's 0.15% Bitcoin Mini Trust and BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust at 0.25%. The move highlights intensifying cost competition as issuers look to attract both institutional and retail flows.

A weekly roundup highlighted heightened cross-market volatility and fresh signs of traditional finance embracing digital assets, including Goldman Sachs pointing to a potential cyclical bottom for crypto. Separately, Fannie Mae said it will support crypto-backed mortgages in a product built with Better Home and Finance and Coinbase, allowing borrowers to use assets such as bitcoin or USDC held on Coinbase as part of a home purchase.