On March 17, Ripple Labs announced a major expansion into Brazil with a full-stack institutional platform that combines custody, prime brokerage, stablecoin settlements and treasury tools for regulated entities. Over the past 24 hours, Shiba Inu futures open interest has climbed more than 26% to about 12.24 trillion SHIB, while XRP is attempting a recovery near $1.53 and defending support around $1.43.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved a Nasdaq rule change that permits a pilot program for trading and settling tokenized shares through the Depository Trust Company. Participants in the pilot can choose tokenized settlement while retaining the same rights, order book and execution priority as traditional stockholders, as regulators continue to test blockchain-based market infrastructure.

On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee held the federal funds rate at 3.5–3.75% while assessing the economic fallout from the war in the Middle East and its effect on energy prices. Chair Jerome Powell said growth and consumer spending remain solid but highlighted soft housing, a cooling labor market and inflation still above the 2% goal, creating tension in the Fed's dual mandate. Derivatives data show most traders expect no change at the April 2026 meeting, while market commentators debate how prolonged liquidity support could influence broader risk assets such as cryptocurrencies.

The FTX Recovery Trust plans to distribute $2.2 billion to eligible creditors and former customers on March 31, 2026, marking its fourth reimbursement round since February 2025. The plan includes specific payout percentages for different claim types and will lift the cumulative amount returned to about $10 billion, while some creditors continue to argue the recoveries are insufficient. The payments are based on 2022 petition-date crypto valuations and come as former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried pursues an appeal and potential prison transfer.

On Wednesday, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index held at 26 after touching 28 the previous day, ending a 48-day spell in the extreme fear zone and hinting at improving risk appetite. Over March, total crypto market capitalization has risen 7.65%, adding about $174 billion and marking the first positive month since September 2025. At the same time, Binance saw a $2.2 billion USDT inflow on March 18 and exchange stablecoin reserves climbed to $68.5 billion, suggesting traders are preparing to re-enter the market.

On 18 March, the Federal Reserve kept the federal funds rate target range unchanged at 3.5%–3.75% while indicating that inflation remains too high for near-term cuts. Fresh projections point to PCE inflation at 2.7%, GDP growth of 2.4%, unemployment at 4.4%, and a federal funds rate near 3.4% in 2026, suggesting a slow and measured path to policy easing that will keep markets focused on incoming data.

On March 17 in Washington, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced it has joined an interpretation issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission on the treatment of crypto assets under federal securities laws. The agencies outlined how certain non-security crypto assets may be classified as commodities and provided guidance on areas such as airdrops, protocol mining, staking, and wrapped assets. The interpretation will appear on CFTC.gov and in the Federal Register and is intended to give market participants clearer regulatory expectations.

S&P Dow Jones Indices has licensed the S&P 500 Index to Trade[XYZ] for a perpetual futures product on Hyperliquid that offers continuous leveraged exposure for eligible non-US traders. The contract, announced on Wednesday, uses official S&P index data, has no expiry date and runs outside traditional exchange hours, while Trade[XYZ] reports over $100 billion in onchain volume since October 2025.