💰 Tether was the 7th largest buyer of US treasuries in 2024; Crypto.com secured its Virtual Asset Service Provider registration in Argentina

Tether was the 7th largest buyer of US treasuries in 2024; Crypto.com secured its VASP registration from Argentina; US SEC clarified that PoW mining does not involve offer and sale of securities

Quick Take

• Tether was the seventh largest buyer of US treasuries in 2024; Crypto.com secured its Virtual Asset Service Provider registration in Argentina; US SEC clarified that Proof of Work mining does not involve the offer and sale of securities
• US spot bitcoin ETFs had a net inflow of US$744 billion last week, after five consecutive weeks of net outflows. Spot ether ETFs saw a net outflow of $103 million last week, 46% less than the week before. 
• On the macro side, the US Fed kept interest rates unchanged at 4.25% to 4.50%, inline with expectations, and still sees two rate cuts in 2025. It currently sees the US economy increasing 1.7% in 2025 (down 0.4% compared to previous estimate in December), while core inflation is expected to grow 2.8% annually (up 0.3% from previous estimate). The latest CME FedWatch Tool showed a 87% probability of a May rate cut in the US. Bank of England and Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged at 4.5% and 0.5%, respectively. Swiss National Bank (SNB) reduced interest rates by 0.25% to 0.25%. 
• Notable updates: Cronos completed its v5 upgrade on 18 March, EOS will transition to Vaulta to focus on Web3 banking; the Crypto.com App listed Bubblemaps (BMT)
• Notable events in the coming week: US S&P Global Manufacturing & Services PMI and Core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index

Weekly Market Index

Price and volatility indices were up last week by +2.84% and +3.33%, respectively. Volume index was down by -41.34%, led by LINK (-49.08%) and ONDO (-47.75%). 

Chart of the Week

Tether was the seventh largest buyer of US treasuries in 2024 at $33.1 billion, exceeding Canada. The acquisition is to provide backing for the issuance of its USDT stablecoin, which has a market cap of $144 billion as of 23 March, 2025. This also coincided with an increase in stablecoin adoption in 2024, with USDT’s market cap increasing 50% ($46 billion) in the year. 

Weekly Performance

BTC and ETH increased by +2.3% and +5.9%, respectively, in the past seven days. 

Most of the selected top-cap tokens increased in price, which coincided with the US Fed maintaining its forecast of two more rate cuts in 2025. Price increase was led by APT (+10.8%) and NEAR (+8.7%). 

Most key categories increased in market capitalisation in the past seven days, led by DeFi category. Meme and layer-2 categories saw a drop. 

Notable Updates

Newly Listed Tokens in Crypto.com App

News Highlights

Crypto.com / Cronos News

• Crypto.com secured its Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registration from the National Securities Commission (CNV) of Argentina, which allows the company to offer a fully regulated suite of products and services in Argentina. Crypto.com will continue to work with the CNV to attain its full operating license under the new regulations.

Adoption

• A Senator from the US state of Minnesota introduced the Minnesota Bitcoin Act, which proposes to allow the Minnesota State Board of Investment to invest state assets in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. 
• Japan-based Metaplanet appointed Eric Trump, son of US President Donald Trump, to its strategic board of advisors. This move aims to drive the company’s mission to build one of the world’s leading bitcoin treasury companies. 

Regulation

• The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a statement clarifying its stance that Proof of Work mining does not involve the offer and sale of securities. This implies that mining operators will not have to register their transactions with the regulator.
• The Australian government proposed a new crypto framework to extend existing financial services law to key digital asset platforms, thus imposing similar compliance requirements as other local financial services. It will also have a framework for payment stablecoins, and a review of an Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox.
• German financial authority BaFin identified “serious deficiencies” in Ethena’s USDe token, and forbids the issuer from offering it to the public. In particular, Market in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations were found to be violated, including those related to asset reserves and capital requirements. 
• Pakistan is planning to legalise crypto trading and is working on establishing a clear regulatory framework for digital assets. This aims to boost the local Web3 ecosystem and position the country as the first South Asian nation to legalise crypto. In addition, Pakistan’s Crypto Council proposes to use the country’s excess energy for bitcoin mining.
• Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse mentioned on X that the US SEC is expected to drop its appeal against Ripple. The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple in 2020 for selling XRP without registering it with the agency. 

Investment Vehicles

• Canary Capital filed S-1 with the US SEC to list the Canary SUI ETF and a new ETF that will primarily invest in PENGU and Pudgy Penguins NFTs. The latter represents the first ETF to incorporate crypto and NFTs. 
• Hashdex amended the S-1 filing for its Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF to include seven altcoins in addition to bitcoin and ether. The proposed altcoins include Solana, XRP, Cardano, Chainlink, Avalanche, Litecoin, and Uniswap. 
• Fidelity filed to register for Onchain, which tracks transactions of the Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX) that consist of almost entirely US treasury bills. The US treasury bills will not be directly tokenised. 
• NYSE Arca filed for a proposed rule change to permit Bitwise’s ether ETF to stake ether and earn yield. This follows similar proposals from Grayscale, 21Shares and Fidelity.
• Volatility Shares launched the first two ETFs to track Solana futures. Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) tracks Solana futures and Volatility Shares 2x Solana ETF (SOLT) offers leveraged exposure.

Recent Research Reports

• Wall Street On-Chain: Will Bitcoin Be Another Asset?: Based on bitcoin’s recent developments and adoption in institutions, this report explores if BTC could become a new asset beyond crypto.
• Research Roundup Newsletter [February 2025]: We present to you our latest issue of Research Roundup, featuring our deep dives into ‘Will Bitcoin Be Another Asset’ and ‘Institutional Crypto Market: From Liquidity to Global Adoption’.
• Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [February 2025]: Asset performance was mixed. Crypto and Equities led the drop, while Real Assets and Fixed Income increased. Eurozone, Australia, and New Zealand cut interest rates; China kept rates unchanged.

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