Web3 had plenty to say about stablecoins, legislation, crypto and their intersection this week. Read below to find out more.
Bitcoin
“This is indeed notable. In prior geopolitical shocks, BTC could register 5-10% drawdowns, so this time is at the high end of the price action. It shows probable fatigue and limited interest from traders in crypto (which is usually a good contrarian positioning signal). Gas, oil, oil derivatives, aluminium, and European/Asian equities have reacted the most to the conflict, which is a rational move given the region’s importance and the Hormuz Strait, now closed, for these exports. Qatar exports 20% of the global gas, notably.
“I think that crypto has priced a lot of bad news: a stuck regulatory agenda, a not-so-dovish Fed, and will react to crypto-specific narratives, hopefully more bullish ones.”
– Aurelie Barthere, principal research analyst at Nansen
“Bitcoin’s jarring $110B wipeout this week exposes a fundamental truth: despite landmark institutional adoption milestones, crypto remains vulnerable to macro risk-off flows when geopolitical shocks hit global markets.
“The week delivered a stark contradiction. On one hand, we witnessed transformative TradFi integration wins: BNY Mellon launched ETF custody services, Kraken secured Federal Reserve payment system access, and ICE invested a massive $25B in OKX. These developments should have been catalytic for Bitcoin, which started the week at $74,000 highs.
“Instead, Iran conflict spillovers triggered the worst Asian market performance since March 2020, sending Bitcoin crashing alongside traditional risk assets. The dollar posted its strongest week since November 2024, oil surged to 2022-peak levels, and institutional crypto fled to cash just like every other risk asset class.
“The regulatory picture compounds this institutional uncertainty. The American Bankers Association formally rejected White House CLARITY Act compromises this week, effectively killing crypto market structure legislation despite its July 2025 House passage. This policy stalemate comes precisely as crypto-TradFi infrastructure convergence accelerates through venues like Bybit’s expanding stock CFD offerings and exchanges bridging 24/5 trading across asset classes.
“Key events to watch: Next week’s FOMC meeting (March 17-18) is the critical catalyst. Markets are pricing minimal cut probability but watching for dovish signals that could unleash institutional liquidity flows back into risk assets, including crypto.
“The takeaway: Bitcoin’s institutional infrastructure buildout is impressive, but it hasn’t yet insulated crypto from macro volatility. Until that changes, geopolitical shocks will continue overriding even the most bullish adoption narratives.”
– Jimmy Xue, COO and co-founder of Axis
2022 redux on the horizon?
“The cracks we’re beginning to see in private credit are eerily reminiscent of the beginnings of the 2022 crypto collapse. Retail investors get liquid access to inherently illiquid investments, redemptions rise, funds are gated, and contagion spreads. It’s obviously a more sophisticated, regulated market, but the mechanism and dynamics are actually very similar, and that’s the scary part.
“In the digital asset market, when redemptions were halted, this caused widespread panic, and investors rushed to sell anything they could still sell. There’s a real risk we could be seeing similar contagion emanating from the private credit space, due to the simple fact that retail investors behave very differently from the institutions and high-net-worth individuals that have dominated this sector until very recently.
“Retail investors tend to react more emotionally. They often have unexpected financial needs that hit at the exact same time as stress begins to show up in less liquid markets. Right now, we’re seeing a rise in unemployment among white-collar workers, growing worries about AI, and a war in the Middle East that is giving investors whiplash as stocks, bonds and oil yo-yo wildly. In this environment, the need for liquidity can be amplified, and that’s when retail investor expectations collide with reality.
“But the AI financing loop is the part that turns this from a small pocket of instability into something more dangerous. AI businesses are simultaneously increasingly turning to private credit for funding, while disrupting the other companies in these portfolios that are supposed to be financing this debt. That’s especially concerning because the full scale of the potential contagion is still unclear, and may only be quantified when it’s already too late to stop it.”
– Nic Puckrin, co-founder of Coin Bureau
Stripe/PayPal and payments
“If Stripe were to acquire PayPal, it would represent a major consolidation in digital payments, combining two of the most influential online financial infrastructure platforms. Such a deal could accelerate product innovation and broaden global reach, but it would also raise important regulatory and antitrust questions given their combined market power.
“For the decentralized crowdfunding space, the impact could be mixed. On one hand, stronger centralized payment rails might streamline fiat on- and off-ramps for creators and communities. On the other hand, a combined Stripe/PayPal entity could sharpen the contrast between centralized payment dominance and decentralized alternatives.
“Greater scale often brings tighter compliance controls, standardized risk models, and more automated account monitoring. While that may improve fraud prevention, it can also increase the likelihood of sudden account freezes or de-platforming, particularly for creators operating in gray or emerging categories.
“In that environment, decentralized crowdfunding platforms built on blockchain rails may appear more attractive. The case for platforms that are censorship resistant, enable transparent fund flows, and direct peer-to-peer settlement, becomes clearer when traditional intermediaries consolidate power.”
– Joshua Kim, founder and CEO of DonaFi
Clarity Act bottleneck
“Digital dollars will evolve incentive structures one way or another. Whether through direct yield, platform rewards, or usage-based mechanisms, digital assets allow incentives to be built directly into how transactions and liquidity function.
“What matters now is ensuring the reporting, controls, and transparency infrastructure keeps pace. Incentivized digital assets without institutional-grade financial systems underneath them simply won’t scale in regulated markets.”
– Antoine Scalia, founder and CEO of Cryptio
Trump, banks and stablecoins
“President Trump’s comments refer to the GENIUS and Clarity Acts and in particular to bank’s opposition to the stablecoin parts thereof. Traditional financial institutions advocate for a near-total ban on any financial or non-financial benefits tied to holding, using, or owning payment stablecoins. They have a strong point as a lax stablecoin regulation could have serious macro-economic impacts.
“First, allowing stablecoin yield would create unfair competition with insured deposits and therefore distort the market. They would put banks at a systematic disadvantage against crypto companies.
“There is also a broader economic argument to be made. Even allowing limited yields risks massive deposit flight, thereby eroding Main Street lending capacity and potentially chocking off economic growth.
“It is actually the same problem that CBDCs have (one of the arguments that led to Congress prohibiting the Fed from introducing CBDCs). A possible middle ground would be to follow the approach set out by the EU’s MiCA regulation, which bans issuer-linked yields but allows external DeFi yield.
“The fears of the crypto-industry leaving the US are overblown, especially because no other large economic bloc has a more permissive regulation.
“Yields for stablecoin issuers are banned in the EU and UK., and in China stablecoins are banned altogether. Stablecoin and digital‑asset firms also value regulatory clarity and access to U.S. banking and capital markets.
“Plus, I don’t see any scenario in which non-USD denominated stablecoins grow significantly.”
– Igor Pejic, author, Tech Money