Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has denied many of the claims in a Wall Street Journal report suggesting that he has been actively seeking a federal pardon from US President Donald Trump.

In a March 13 X post following the release of the report, Zhao said he had no discussions regarding a business deal between the Trump family and Binance.US. He further denied claims that he wanted a presidential pardon from Trump, which could potentially allow him to assume an operational or management role at Binance.

“No felon would mind a pardon, especially being the only one in US history who was ever sentenced to prison for a single BSA [Bank Secrecy Act] charge,” said CZ. “Feels like the article is motivated as an attack on the President and crypto, and the residual forces of the ‘war on crypto’ from the last administration are still at work.”

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Solana (SOL) price completed a “death cross” on the one-day chart on March 12, as the altcoin consolidated near its long-term support level at $125.

This could potentially accelerate the SOL price sell-off in the near term for a drop below $100 for the first time since February 2024.

A death cross occurs when a bearish crossover occurs between the 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMAs), with the long-term indicator above the short-term indicator.

Last month, the 50-day and 200-day exponential moving averages (EMAs) triggered a death cross on Solana’s one-day chart, after which prices dropped 17%, from $137 to $122.

While the SMA and EMA death crosses carry similar implications, the EMA triggers the death cross faster since it responds more quickly to price changes. A double death cross from the SMA and EMA will likely increase the possibility of a correction.

Historically, the odds are neutral for Solana. Since its inception, SOL’s price has witnessed a death cross three times (including 2025) when prices have been on a 90-day or higher downtrend.

The first death cross in 2022 triggered a 90% collapse, but the FTX’s fiasco escalated its severity. The second death cross occurred in September 2024, but it reversed within a month, leading to the Trump rally.

Related: 3 reasons why Ethereum can outperform its rivals after crashing to 17-month lows

Yet, the current structure and sentiment mirror the 2022 death cross when we compare market conditions. On both occasions, a new all-time high preceded the downtrend, which led to the death cross.

As Cointelegraph reported, Solana’s revenue dropped 93% since January, dropping from $238 million to $32 million. This indicates a current lack of activity on Solana’s network after the end of the memecoin frenzy.

Can Solana traders defend $125?

Based on its technicals, Solana remains in a tricky spot when comparing previous death cross returns and collective market sentiment.

Solana must hold support between $125 and $110 for a bullish reversal. Since March 2024, SOL prices have rebounded six times after testing the support range, closing above $125 on each weekly retest.

A weekly close below $125 will signal market weakness, potentially increasing the likelihood of a drop below $100. The immediate price target after $110 is around $80 for Solana, which is a significant 30% correction. The downtrend target carries confluence with the weekly 0.5 Fibonacci retracement line.

However, the bulls will pin their hopes on a bullish divergence between the price and relative strength index (RSI) on the 1-day and 4-hour charts.

If Solana manages to avoid another lower low, the divergences will remain valid, which can push prices higher above $125, enabling Solana to avoid a drop below $100 and possibly establish a bottom at $112.

Related: Will Bitcoin price reclaim $95K before the end of March?

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

If the price of Ether (ETH) falls by a further 20%, the price decline could trigger a cascade of up to $336 million in decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidations, according to Kevin Rusher, founder of the real-world asset (RWA) lending platform RAAC.

The executive warned that a decline to $1,857 would trigger $136 million in liquidations, and a price drop to $1,780 could potentially trigger an additional $117 million in loan liquidations — making these the next price levels to watch.

Rusher added that the worst-case scenario would be a 20% drop in ETH’s price to around the $1,500 price level, which could liquidate $336 million in DeFi loans, sending the markets tumbling. In a written statement shared with Cointelegraph, Rusher said:

“The main catalyst of this crisis is a single $130m ETH-backed loan in Sky, formerly Maker, which is on the verge of collapse despite the borrower scrambling to add more collateral. Every cycle, crypto-backed loans suffer from extreme volatility, leading to cascading liquidations that crash the price of assets.”

The executive called for integrating RWAs, such as real estate and gold, which feature much stabler values, into the DeFi ecosystem to offset volatility and prevent cascading liquidations due to overleveraging.

Related: 3 reasons why Ethereum can outperform its rivals after crashing to 17-month lows

ETH price crumbles; more pain coming?

Ether has dropped to multi-year lows against Bitcoin (BTC), signaling another potential 30% drop against the supply-capped asset, and led to some analysts predicting a potential $1,600 price bottom for ETH.

ETH’s price has declined by over 15% in the past seven days and has been trading well below its 200-day exponential moving average (EMA) since February.

The relative strength index (RSI) is currently at 31, which is almost in oversold territory, potentially representing a local bottom and could signal an impending price reversal.

Ether’s disappointing price action prompted calls from some market analysts to shift into higher-performing altcoins to maximize profit potential.

“If still stuck on ETH, it is likely a good time to dump it to buy a higher beta altcoin,” trader Alex Krüger said in a March 12 X post.

Magazine: Pectra hard fork explained — Will it get Ethereum back on track?

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Opinion by: Slava Demchuk, co-founder and CEO of AMLBot

All virtual asset service providers (VASPs) registered in the EU before 2025 must comply with Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) requirements this year. Not all will be able to do so. 

The MiCA regulation is, in essence, a good legal framework for the crypto industry, but it also has some disadvantages, especially for crypto startups and small businesses. 

Looking at the case of Estonia and its implementation of crypto licenses in 2017, it is possible to predict that around 75% of VASPs will need to cease their operations in the EU. 

What happened in Estonia with crypto licenses? 

In 2017, Estonia was one of the first EU member states to introduce a crypto licensing process. Getting a crypto license (a VASP registration) was easy and fast. No physical presence, share capital requirement, or proof of having sound Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) systems in place were required. The result? By 2019, Estonia had issued around 2,000 crypto licenses. 

Starting in 2019, however, Estonia adopted several amendments to the law, incorporating requirements similar to MiCA. As a consequence, the majority of licensed crypto companies were not able to comply with new requirements and lost their licenses. Today, Estonia has only around 45 licensed crypto businesses.

Current situation in the EU with VASP registration

Similar situations will occur in countries with light VASP registration requirements, such as Poland and the Czech Republic. There are around 1,600 VASPs registered in Poland, owing to the easy and fast process of registering in the country before the MiCA implementation. With minimal requirements, one can open a company and receive a VASP registration in these countries within a few weeks. 

These licensing processes completely changed in 2025 when MiCA entered fully into force. All the registered VASPs must comply with new requirements, which will be the same regardless of their country of incorporation; otherwise, they will be required to cease their business. 

Recent: 10 stablecoin issuers approved under EU’s MiCA — Tether is left out

Most of them will not be able to comply, based on previous experience, such as when 1,900 companies lost their VASP registrations in Estonia. Those license losses occurred as a result of several key factors: 

• Their size: Many registered VASPs were one-to-three-person companies that provided essential exchange in p2p platforms or over-the-counter. They will not have enough resources to comply with strict MiCA requirements.

• The cost: Acquiring a MiCA license is expensive. It was previously possible to receive VASP registration in Poland or the Czech Republic for 2,000-4,000 euros. The price for a MiCA license is much more than that, typically around 30,000-80,000 euros, depending on the business model and country of incorporation.

• The requirements: Companies that apply for a MiCA license must prove they have many complex processes in place, including but not limited to AML/KYC, data protection and cyber resilience. Therefore, the company must hire many specialists and build many processes. Based on the number of VASPs registered in Poland, those 1,600 VASPs will need to find 1,600 AML/compliance officers (one per VASP) by July 2025 — when all VASPs in Poland shall comply with MiCA — that have relevant knowledge, expertise and pass the fit-and-proper test. This will be nearly impossible.

In addition, MiCA has high share capital requirements ranging from 50,000 to 150,000 euros, depending on the services a company provides. Many currently registered VASPs are startups or small companies whose revenue will not be able to cover all the costs needed to build the processes mentioned above and satisfy the share capital requirements. 

Where does that leave the small businesses and the startups? They will not be equipped to comply with MiCA.

Opinion by: Slava Demchuk, co-founder and CEO of AMLBot.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Bitcoin (BTC) shrugged off gains at the March 13 Wall Street open as US inflation markers continued to fall.

Good news is bad news? Bitcoin follows stocks lower

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD circling $81,500, down 2.3% on the day.

The February print of the Producer Price Index (PPI) came in below median expectations, copying the Consumer Price Index (CPI) results from the day prior.

“On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand advanced 3.2 percent for the 12 months ended in February,” an accompanying press release from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated.

“In February, a 0.3-percent increase in prices for final demand goods offset a 0.2-percent decline in the index for final demand services.”

Already a double tailwind for crypto and risk assets, cooling inflation also stunted a rebound in US dollar strength, as viewed through the US Dollar Index (DXY).

Despite this, both stocks and crypto remained unmoved, leading trading resource The Kobeissi Letter to tie in the ongoing US trade war.

“As we have seen, the market has had a very MUTED reaction to inflation data that would've previously sent the S&P 500 SHARPLY higher,” it wrote in part of its latest analysis on X 

“Why is this the case? This data provides President Trump a reason to keep doing what he is currently doing.”

Kobeissi explained that trader war efforts may now intensify given slowing inflation.

“This is exactly why markets are not recovering losses following some of the best inflation data in months,” it continued, suggesting traders should “buckle up for more volatility.”

A week before the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate decision, market expectations for financial easing remained similarly lackluster, with the chance of a cut at just 1%, per data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool. Odds for the Fed’s May meeting were at 28%.

“The Fed has already decided: steady course, no cuts this FOMC. Powell made that clear last week,” popular crypto trader Josh Rager told X followers earlier in the week, referencing a recent speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell. 

“Rate cuts? More likely in May/June, not March.”

BTC price inertia leaves key resistance intact

Bitcoin price action thus sat between bands of buy and sell liquidity on exchange order books, with the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) in place as resistance.

Related: Bitcoin whales hint at $80K ‘market rebound’ as Binance inflows cool

For Keith Alan, co-founder of trading resource Material Indicators, this trendline, which typically functions as support during Bitcoin bull markets, was the nearest important level to reclaim.

“Bitcoin faces strong resistance at the 200-Day MA for the 4th consecutive day,” he summarized on X.

Referring to Material Indicators’ proprietary trading tools, Alan concluded that such a reclaim was unlikely on the day, notwithstanding surprise catalysts in the form of announcements from the US government.

Meanwhile, data from monitoring resource CoinGlass showed key upside resistance clustered immediately below $85,000.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Web3 marketing firm Addressable has launched cost per wallet (CPW), a new metric aimed at improving user acquisition tracking for decentralized applications (DApps) and blockchain businesses.

Announced on March 13, CPW is designed to provide more precise insights for Web3 marketers by tracking onchain wallet activity rather than traditional Web2 advertising metrics like cost per acquisition (CPA) and cost per click (CPC).

A lower CPA means customer acquisition is more efficient, while a lower CPC indicates that businesses are implementing more cost-effective ad campaigns. 

Addressable claims that CPW would allow businesses to determine which users are “high-value” and are more likely to get converted into their marketing funnels, helping them optimize their marketing efforts and avoid “bots.” 

Users with wallets more likely to convert to crypto products

Addressable chief operating officer and co-founder Asaf Nadler told Cointelegraph that their analysis data showed that users with a wallet are more likely to convert to crypto products:

“Our analysis reveals a striking insight: users with a crypto wallet installed are 18 times more likely to sign up and seven times more likely to convert to crypto products.”

Nadler argued this makes CPW a “more effective” metric than traditional metrics. The executive said metrics like CPC or cost per impression (CPM) often fail to determine who are high-intent users and which ones are simply “low-quality traffic,” users who may not be interested in their products. 

“For the first time, crypto companies can accurately measure which campaigns drive engaged, high-value users, rather than wasting resources on bots or ‘normies’ who are unlikely to convert,” Nadler told Cointelegraph. 

In a press release, Addressable said the new Web3-native acquisition metric could help crypto projects track how many users become active participants in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, wallets or exchanges. 

Related: UAE saw 41% increase in crypto app downloads in 2024 — AppsFlyer

Marketing for institutional adoption

While CPW primarily targets retail user acquisition, the broader crypto industry is also shifting focus toward institutional adoption.

On Jan. 22, Etherealize, a marketing firm backed by the Ethereum Foundation, launched to educate institutions on blockchain and Ether (ETH).

Etherealize co-founder Grant Hummer said the company wants to bring “all of Wall Street onto Ethereum rails.” 

Additional reporting by Ezra Reguerra. 

Magazine: Crypto fans are obsessed with longevity and biohacking: Here’s why

Bitcoin miners are adapting their business strategies as the continued trade war between the US and Canada makes energy prices and policies all the more uncertain.

US President Donald Trump threatened to double his tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25% to 50%, leading the government of the province of Ontario to walk back its own plan to increase the cost of power exports to the US.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford had promised to further increase the surcharge or even “shut off the electricity completely,” given further provocation. However, he appears to have softened his stance, at least for now. 

The trade war may have reached a lull, but some crypto firms are looking ahead at possible policy changes in order to protect their growth. 

Bitcoin miners expect changes in energy markets

Ben Ganon, the CEO of Canadian Bitcoin mining firm Bitfarms, told Bloomberg on March 11 that the recent energy price hikes, had they gone through, were unlikely to affect his firm’s business. 

Bitfarms’ operations are mostly in Quebec and British Columbia, both of which boast significant hydroelectric capacity in relation to the total provincial energy mix. Ontario, by comparison, is “not as robust of an energy market. And over the last several years, they’ve really taken a big push on cutting back on baseload capacity.”

But even though Bitfarms’ energy situation may look solid for the time being, Ganon said that the tariffs “have implications for what policy and regulatory frameworks are going to look like in the future.”

He said that his firm wants to see “greater access to electricity markets” as well as fewer regulations on setting up a new business or new power applications. 

Energy policy has been a contentious area of debate in Canadian politics, with critics accusing the Liberal government — now led by Prime Minister Mark Carney — of harming the Canadian economy with their strategies to lower emissions. 

Related: What Canada’s new Liberal PM Mark Carney means for crypto

Ganon said: “The opportunities that are present in the United States are also present in Canada. And I think that this will all resolve itself and end up in a much more deregulated and smooth and efficient market because for years it’s been tied up in regulatory red tape.”

How would a Bitcoin miner benefit from tariffs?

Tariffs on goods such as steel, aluminum, and other industrial products — intended to encourage domestic production in the US— also impact Bitcoin miners, with some effects being unexpectedly beneficial.

While Ganon noted that miners can’t control the Bitcoin price, they can control their electricity costs. “One of the ways that we can do that is we can look for pockets of energy that are underutilized, that used to power heavy industry, which has been outsourced to other countries over the last 20 or 30 years.”

According to Ganon, Bitfarms has operations in Pennsylvania — a “Rust Belt” state heavily affected by the outsourcing of American steel and metals industries. His firm’s assets could soon be in high demand if the US manufacturing industry were to come back from the dead.

Ganon said that Bitcoin miners have been investing heavily in energy infrastructure that “used to power aluminum smelters and steel refineries and all the stuff which was outsourced.”

“Now Bitcoin miners have these assets. And as the pendulum swings back to America, those assets are now in high demand.”

China tariffs squeeze Bitcoin mining hardware

Canadian miners like Bitfarms may be unconcerned for now, but Trump’s tariffs on China have already begun to squeeze American crypto miners, who import hardware from China-based firms like Bitmain.

According to Bloomberg, shipments of Bitcoin mining hardware from China to the US were experiencing significant delays as of February 2025. The delays reportedly were the result of the US blacklisting Bitmain’s AI affiliate Xiamen Sophgo Technologies. 

Heavy customs fees for inspections of Bitmain-affiliated hardware have cost US miners up to $500,000, according to Vishnu Mackenchery, director of global logistics and services at Compass Mining Inc. New tariffs could make new imports of next-gen miners to the US “completely cost-prohibitive,” according to Synteq Digital CEO Taras Kulyk.

China-based mining hardware producers like Bitmain could set up operations in other countries to avoid US sanctions. During Trump’s first term, when he imposed a 25% tax duty on a number of consumer electronic goods from China, many mining hardware producers moved to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand to avoid tariffs.

Bitmain even announced it would launch a US production line in December 2024 to “provide faster response times and more efficient services to the North American customers.” Bloomberg noted that the firm did not provide the exact location of its US line. 

Related: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says US should bring BTC onshore

Trump’s economic policies continue to be a mixed bag for the crypto industry. Wild fluctuations in trade policy and last-minute reversals have made the market difficult to predict. Elsewhere, the European Union has promised to impose counter-tariffs on the US, further threatening asset valuations. 

Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder and chief operating officer of blockchain oracle solution firm RedStone, told Cointelegraph this could see Bitcoin sink to $75,000, a level not seen since November 2024. 

Magazine: Mystery celeb memecoin scam factory, HK firm dumps Bitcoin: Asia Express