On March 9 the price of the first cryptocurrency briefly dipped to around $65,700. The macro factors, including rising oil prices, were the main cause. Digital gold quickly reversed the drop, rebounding above $70,000. The move came amid falling oil quotes and rising equity indices.
Analysts noted that in a period of instability bitcoin held up markedly better than traditional assets. An attempt to extend the uptrend with a test of $74,000 ended with a pullback to around $71,500. Over the week the coin gained almost 6.5%. Amid the sideways price action, spot BTC-ETFs posted net inflows for five straight trading days for the first time this year.
Some large altcoins outpaced the flagship by performance. Ethereum, up 7.6%, held above $2000. Solana rose 7.1%, Dogecoin 7.7%.
As of March 15 the total market capitalisation of digital assets is $2.5 trillion. Bitcoin dominance stands at 57%, Ethereum at 10%. The crypto fear and greed index remains at an extreme low of 15 points.
On March 9 the amount of unminted coins in the first cryptocurrency hit 1 million. The blockchain continues to run on a fixed issuance schedule; on average miners add 144 blocks per day, and every 2016 blocks are produced in roughly two weeks. The reward for a mined block halves every 210,000 blocks. Halving occurs about once every four years. After such an event in 2024 the reward is 3.125 BTC per block. The network crossed the 20 million mark in just over 17 years; producing the final million coins will take nearly 114 years.
Meanwhile miners continue to diversify into serving the AI market, VanEck noted. Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets, believes miners’ access to increasingly scarce electricity makes their shares among the most attractive assets.
Analysts at Hashrate Index warned of the negative impact of the war in Iran on bitcoin miners’ businesses. In their view, the consequences of the international conflict will hit less through higher electricity prices from a spike in oil prices than through the cryptocurrency’s own volatility. Wintermute said the traditional business model of miners is no longer relevant. To survive, firms will either have to pivot to AI hosting or learn to manage BTC reserves as working capital, the company argued.
The US Treasury sent a report to Congress recognising the legality of using crypto mixers to protect financial privacy. In 2022 and 2023 the department labelled mixers money-laundering hubs and imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash. It now notes that law-abiding users need these platforms to hide data on personal savings, business payments or donations. Criminal use of such services remains a problem. According to the Treasury, from January 2024 to September 2025 hackers linked to North Korea stole $2.8 billion in cryptocurrency. Of that, $1.5 billion came from the hack of the Bybit exchange. Criminals regularly use mixers to obfuscate trails.
The Treasury divided such platforms into custodial and non-custodial. The former must register with FinCEN. They can provide authorities with data on clients and their transactions. For the second category the department did not recommend new restrictions. The regulator continues to seek a balance between illicit-finance risks and citizens’ right to privacy. The Treasury asked Congress to pass several new laws to ensure: the right to freeze. Financial institutions will be able to temporarily block suspicious cryptoassets during investigations; clearer rules for DeFi. Lawmakers should define which decentralised finance participants fall under AML requirements; the “sixth special measure” to the US anti-terrorism law. The authorities want powers to block cryptocurrency transfers outside correspondent banking relationships.
On March 12 trading began on Nasdaq in a yield-bearing Ethereum-ETF from BlackRock. Turnover during the debut session reached $15.5 million. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart called the result “quite respectable for the first day”. The new instrument differs from other BlackRock exchange-traded funds that simply track the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency.
ETHB generates yield via staking, locking 70% to 95% of holdings depending on market conditions. By the end of the first week, assets in the product totalled $154.7 million. The corresponding figure for BlackRock’s flagship ETHA exceeds $6.7 billion. The fund dominates the spot Ethereum-ETF segment, whose combined capitalisation is $12.3 billion.
Cumulative perpetuals trading volume on Hyperliquid has surpassed $4 trillion. Growth has accelerated. The first trillion dollars took 733 days, the second 141 days, the third just 88 days, and the fourth 141 days. Reflexivity Research analysts note the effectiveness of the platform’s cyclical tokenomics: rising trading activity generates more fees, which are used for buybacks and burns.
That steadily reduces the market supply of HYPE. At the start of the week, daily volume in oil perpetuals (CL-USDC) on the exchange jumped from $21 million to $1.2 billion. The instrument displaced Ethereum from second place by popularity on Hyperliquid. Open interest in the asset reached $183 million.
The trading surge came amid sharp price moves and high volatility in commodity markets. As a result, the platform forcibly closed traders’ short positions worth about $75 million in a day. Hyperliquid developers launched the HIP-4 protocol on testnet, whose main innovation is prediction markets. In the first stage, users have access to binary options on HyperCore base prices.
Bitcoin traded in a tight range this week, briefly slipping to around $65,700 on March 9 before rebounding above $70,000 as oil prices fell and equity indices rose. The move underscored the relative strength of digital assets during periods of volatility, with the weekly gain approaching 6.5%. Amid the price action, spot BTC-ETFs posted net inflows for five consecutive trading days, the first such streak this year.
Fewer than 1 million Bitcoins remain to be mined, as the network continues its fixed issuance schedule with halvings roughly every four years; the blockchain crossed the 20 million mark over its history. Miners are diversifying toward AI hosting and other value streams, reflecting shifting economics as electricity constraints and geopolitical risks weigh on mining. Analysts note miners’ access to increasingly scarce electricity makes their shares among the more attractive assets, while industry observers caution about broader geopolitical impacts.
On the regulatory front, the US Treasury recognized mixer users’ right to privacy, signaling a balance between illicit-finance risks and personal privacy. The report distinguishes custodial and non-custodial mixers and urges new laws to enable freezing of assets during investigations and provide clearer DeFi AML rules. Separately, BlackRock launched an Ethereum ETF with staking, and Hyperliquid surpassed $4 trillion in cumulative perpetuals while testing the HIP-4 protocol on testnet, which introduces prediction-market features.
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