Trade tensions intensified as Trump reiterated plans on Monday to implement 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada beginning March 4. This pledge came after he signed a memorandum on Friday telling a government committee to "curb the exploitation of its capital, technology, and knowledge by foreign adversaries such as China to ensure that only those investments that serve American interests are allowed". Both actions are risking an escalation of a potential global trade war, pressuring global market sentiment. Yesterday, US indices showed mixed performance with the S&P 500 rising 0.1%, Nasdaq 100 falling 0.4%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.4%.
Crypto liquidations came in at $1.35bn in the past 24 hours, with $1.25bn or about 93% of them long positions. The largest single liquidation order was BTCUSD valued at $20.80m.
In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin dropped as much as 7.55% to $88,355, extending losses from yesterday without a clear catalyst, likely due to multiple factors. It has slightly rebounded and currently trades at $89,700, 6% lower than a day prior. The decline began Friday after news of a $1.4 billion theft from ByBit, attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Bitcoin started falling from around $98,000 despite ByBit recovering nearly all stolen funds over the weekend. Meanwhile, over the past 24 hours, ETH dropped 10.67% to $2,400.
Overall, the global crypto market cap is now below $3tn at $2.9tn, a 7.18% decrease over the last day, while the total crypto market 24h volume is $169.66bn, which makes a 103.37% increase.
Last week, digital asset investment products saw net outflows of $508m according to CoinShares, as investors continued to exercise caution due to uncertainty around trade tariffs, inflation and monetary policy. This week ETF flows seems to follow the trend of the previous week, with the first trading session recording net outflows of $516m for BTC and $78m for ETH.
source: DefiLlama
Crypto market maker Wintermute has pulled over $38.2 million worth of Solana (SOL) from Binance, raising concerns about potential selling pressure ahead of Solana’s largest-ever token unlock. Arkham Intelligence data reveals that the withdrawal occurred within the last 24 hours, just days before the 11.2 million SOL tokens—valued at roughly $2 billion—are set to be unlocked by FTX on March 1.
According to Bloomberg, Citadel Securities is planning to enter crypto market-making, aiming to become a liquidity provider on major exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Crypto.com. Previously, the firm avoided retail-focused crypto venues due to regulatory uncertainty in the US. Instead, it partnered with Schwab and Fidelity to launch EDX Markets in 2023, an institution-only crypto exchange designed to follow traditional financial market structures.
DekaBank, a German investment bank managing €377 billion in assets, has launched cryptocurrency trading and custody services for institutional clients after nearly two years of development. The bank received a crypto custody license from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and operates under ECB supervision, according to Bloomberg.
On Monday, Robinhood announced that the US SEC’s Enforcement Division had concluded its nine-month investigation into the company's crypto division without pursuing any enforcement action. In May 2024, the SEC staff had issued a Wells Notice to Robinhood, over alleged securities law violations by its US crypto arm. This follows similar SEC pullbacks as the SEC closed its investigation into OpenSea and dropped its lawsuit against Coinbase.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele posted on X that the country bought another 8 BTC yesterday, after having paused buying for about a week. El Salvador currently holds 6088.18 BTC.
OKX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, announced on Monday that it has reached a settlement with US authorities for operating without a required money transmitter license. According to a press release, its affiliate, Aux Cayes FinTech Co. Ltd., settled with the US Department of Justice by agreeing to pay over $500 million in penalties and forfeited fees.
Metaplanet, the Tokyo based investment firm has purchased an additional 135 BTC for $12.9 million as part of its ongoing Bitcoin accumulation strategy, increasing total holdings to 2,235.
Strategy (previously MicroStrategy), purchased 20,356 BTC worth roughly $2 billion, for its treasury.
