The cryptocurrency and digital asset landscape experienced a whirlwind of regulatory, financial, and political developments this week. From changes in top White House technology advisory roles and aggressive new exchange-traded fund fee structures to ongoing courtroom battles and shifting prediction market sentiment regarding high-profile legal cases, the sector remains at the intersection of traditional finance, federal oversight, and cutting-rant technology. Industry participants are closely tracking how shifting macroeconomic tides and legislative scrutiny will impact market behavior as digital assets navigate a period of heightened volatility.
David Sacks’ 130-day term as Trump’s crypto and AI czar has ended
David Sacks, a prominent venture capitalist who assumed the role of a special White House official under United States President Donald Trump late last year, has successfully wrapped up his 130-day tenure as the administration’s dedicated crypto and artificial intelligence czar. However, Sacks will not be stepping away from federal policymaking entirely; rather, he is transitioning into a new capacity to continue shaping the nation’s technological trajectory.
"We’ve now used up that time," Sacks explained in an interview with Bloomberg, noting that he will continue formulating and providing policy recommendations across a broad and diverse range of technology industries. His ongoing contributions will be channeled through his new role as co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
Sacks has maintained an influential position within the inner workings of the White House since President Trump appointed him in December 2024 to serve as his primary adviser on emerging technologies. Industry observers have pointed out that under standard United States government regulations, such special government employees are legally restricted to a maximum of 130 days of active work within any rolling 12-month period, necessitating this shift in his official title while retaining his advisory influence.
Morgan Stanley sets 0.14% Bitcoin ETF fee, lowest in market if approved
In the traditional financial sector, major banking institutions continue to deepen their integration into digital assets. Investment bank Morgan Stanley is actively seeking to launch its own spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund featuring an aggressive fee of just 0.14%. If approved by regulatory authorities, this would establish the product as the cheapest option currently available in the United States market, a move that could potentially compel rival fund issuers to slash their own management fees to remain competitive.
The proposed 0.14% fee was outlined in Morgan Stanley’s latest S-1 registration statement submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. This proposed rate sits one basis point below the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF, which currently holds the title of the cheapest product in the US market, and is 11 basis points lower than the BlackRock-issued iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF.
"Big move here. They are not messing around," remarked Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart on social media, predicting that the forthcoming Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust is likely to make its official market debut in early April.
Interview with SBF’s parents drops chance of pardon on betting markets
Public perception and betting market sentiment surrounding the legal fate of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have taken another downward turn. The likelihood of Bankman-Fried securing a presidential pardon this year was already considered low, but recent downward ticks on major decentralized and regulated prediction markets indicate that his prospects continue to deteriorate.
Both major prediction platforms operating in the United States, Polymarket and Kalshi, currently price the likelihood of a presidential pardon for Bankman-Fried this year at 11% and 9%, respectively.
The probability metrics experienced a measurable decline following a television interview with Bankman-Fried’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried. During the broadcast, both parents articulated their arguments regarding why they are actively challenging their son’s federal fraud conviction and appealing the legal outcome. While the percentage adjustments on the prediction markets were relatively modest—marking a 1% drop on Kalshi and a 2% decrease on Polymarket—the media appearance and ongoing public advocacy have refocused public attention on the active legal appeals and the family’s persistent efforts to overturn the verdict.
Cathie Wood’s ARK taps Kalshi data to help make investment calls
In a sign of the growing maturity and institutional utility of prediction markets, tech-focused asset manager ARK Invest announced that it will begin integrating Kalshi’s prediction market data to enhance its internal investment decision-making processes. This collaboration represents one of the most prominent instances of prediction market data being leveraged for professional financial research rather than purely speculative trading.
According to official statements from Kalshi, ARK Invest will utilize the platform’s data streams to gauge real-time market expectations, thereby guiding its existing economic research frameworks. In addition to monitoring traditional performance indicators such as trading volume, regulatory milestones, and technological developments, ARK plans to incorporate the data into its institutional risk management and hedging strategies.
"Bringing prediction markets into institutional workflows is a natural next step for innovation in financial research," said ARK Invest founder and CEO Cathie Wood. Nick Grous, the firm’s research director, added that prediction markets "offer some of the purest expressions of risk around key economic and company-specific outcomes."
80% of Strategy’s “Stretch” buyers are mom-and-pop investors
Retail investors continue to demonstrate a resilient appetite for digital asset exposure, dominating the market for Strategy’s "Stretch" shares, a financial vehicle that has been utilized to acquire over $1 billion worth of Bitcoin over the course of the year.
Approximately 80% of all STRC holders consist of everyday retail investors, according to company CEO Phong Le. Speaking on the trend, Le noted that these individual investors "prefer low-volatility, high-yield digital credit."
This high concentration of retail participation suggests that individual market participants remain deeply interested in securing exposure to Bitcoin, even as the broader cryptocurrency market trades down significantly from its previous all-time highs. Strategy’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, has actively ramped up the sales and marketing initiatives surrounding the Stretch product following the broader market correction, successfully pitching the shares as a structured mechanism to gain BTC exposure while mitigating traditional spot market volatility.
Most Memorable Quotations
Market analysts and political figures alike have weighed in heavily on the regulatory and economic headwinds facing the digital asset ecosystem this week:
- "The market knee-jerk reaction may not be calibrated." — Bernstein analysts, discussing regulatory developments and stablecoin rules.
- "Despite Step’s careful claims that crypto investing by minors was only with the permission of a parent or guardian, Step published resources encouraging kids to pressure their parents into crypto investments." — Elizabeth Warren, United States Senator for Massachusetts.
- "This persistent outflow suggests genuine accumulation by investors, who continue to buy and withdraw their BTC from exchange platforms." — Darkfost, on-chain analyst.
- "At a time when Trump’s Washington is riddled with ethical failures and insider profiteering, California is drawing a bright line: If you serve the public as a political appointee, you serve the public — period. We’re not going to tolerate this kind of corruption in California." — Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, addressing government insider trading concerns tied to prediction markets.
- "There’s an appeal on the case, but we don’t think it’s fraud." — Joseph Bankman, father of Sam Bankman-Fried.
- "Related to crypto, there’s no cop on the beat. The SEC has dropped most of the cases that they’ve had against firms that had been charged with misconduct." — Stephen Lynch, Massachusetts Representative.
Winners and Losers
At the close of the trading week, major digital assets experienced mixed price action across the board. Bitcoin (BTC) is hovering around $66,466, Ether (ETH) is trading at $2,002, and XRP stands at $1.33. According to data aggregators such as CoinMarketCap, the total capitalization of the global cryptocurrency market rests at approximately $2.30 trillion.
Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, the strongest altcoin performers of the week include siren (SIREN), which surged by 79.55%, MemeCore (M) with a 35.48% gain, and DeXe (DEXE), which climbed 18.52%. Conversely, the most significant downward movements were observed in ether.fi (ETHFI), dropping 21.35%, Kite (KITE), falling 19.28%, and Morpho (MORPHO), down 15.56%.
Top Prediction of The Week: Potential Bitcoin crash below $60K may delay recovery to 2027
Bitcoin has officially shed all of its previous gains accrued earlier in the month, currently registering a 1.40% decline on its monthly chart and a 24.6% correction for the first quarter of the year. This longer-term price action aligns with a broader, deep drawdown cycle for BTC that many market analysts warn could extend through the remainder of the year, with several projections factoring in an additional 40% price contraction.
Such a macroeconomic scenario would effectively push Bitcoin’s full market recovery deep into the second quarter of 2027, given that historical data shows deeper price corrections inherently require significantly longer consolidation and recovery periods.
Data compiled by Ecoinometrics illustrates a direct correlation between the depth of historical drawdowns and the duration required for the asset to reclaim previous all-time highs. Historically, each additional 10% decline in price has added roughly 80 days to the recovery timeline. With the market currently experiencing a 48% drawdown from its previous peak of $126,000, quantitative analysts estimate that a comprehensive recovery cycle could stretch close to 300 days.
Top FUD of The Week
Detroit set to enter Michigan’s battle against Coinbase prediction markets
Legal representation for the city of Detroit is preparing to file an amicus brief in an ongoing legal dispute between cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and the state of Michigan. The lawsuit centers on the question of whether federal regulatory bodies should hold exclusive authority over the oversight of prediction markets, or if individual states retain the right to enforce local restrictions.
In a recent filing within the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, District Judge Shalina Kumar approved an order permitting Detroit to submit a brief explicitly supporting state authorities in their legal challenge against Coinbase. The court has given Detroit’s legal team until April 3 to finalize and submit the brief as the litigation proceeds.
US lawmaker presses Kansas Fed over Kraken master account approval
In Washington, legislative scrutiny over banking access for cryptocurrency firms continues to intensify. Representative Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, has formally demanded comprehensive explanations from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City regarding its decision to approve a limited-purpose master account for Kraken Financial.
In an official letter addressed to Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid, Waters requested a detailed response outlining the practical implications of Kraken’s approval, the specific Federal Reserve services the institution is permitted to access, any operational conditions or restrictions attached to the account, and the rigorous anti-money laundering and consumer protection measures that were evaluated during the review process.
The granting of a limited-purpose master account to Kraken’s banking unit earlier in the month was widely interpreted by industry advocates as a historic milestone, as numerous crypto-affiliated enterprises in the United States have pursued direct access to Federal Reserve master accounts for years without success.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs break 4-week inflow streak as capital avoids “directional risk”
Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds experienced a notable reversal, snapping a robust four-week streak of net capital inflows by posting $296.18 million in net outflows for the week ending Friday.
This sudden shift breaks a sustained period of institutional accumulation that had previously driven more than $2.2 billion in net inflows across four consecutive weeks, which included weekly tallies of $787.31 million, $568.45 million, and $767.33 million earlier in the month. Momentum had already begun to slow during the prior week with $95.18 million in inflows before giving way to sustained capital flight.
The weekly outflow was accelerated by back-to-back daily withdrawals on Thursday and Friday totaling more than $396 million. Friday alone accounted for $225.48 million in net redemptions, marking the largest single day of capital outflows for the products since early March.
Top Magazine Stories of The Week
Nobody knows if quantum secure cryptography will even work
As quantum computing technology advances, developers across the Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems are actively working to build robust defenses against potential quantum decryption attacks. However, industry engineers acknowledge a fundamental uncertainty: no one is entirely certain whether post-quantum cryptographic signatures will perform effectively at scale under real-world network conditions.
XRP yet to “price in” 3 bullish catalysts, Bitcoin to $80K? Trade Secrets
While Bitcoin continues to trade within a localized range—with prediction markets anticipating continued consolidation—analysts point to various altcoins exhibiting unique market dynamics. Market commentary suggests that XRP may currently be underpriced relative to potential macroeconomic catalysts, while broader debates persist regarding whether Bitcoin can mount a renewed push toward the $80,000 threshold.
Agent wastes 14 hours of scammers’ time, LLMs “poisoned” by Iran: AI Eye
The intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity brought notable developments this week, highlighted by AI agents successfully engaging with and wasting hours of fraudulent actors’ time—a practice researchers describe as a valuable public service. Meanwhile, technical reports outlined how large language models have faced ongoing data poisoning challenges, alongside ongoing discussions regarding the practical limitations and quirks of current AI implementations.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
