14
Mar, 2025
Bitcoin Drags Its Feet as Gold Hits All-Time High
Altcoin News, Bitcoin News, Crypto Industries & Currency Updates
The dominant cryptocurrency traded above $83,000, while gold soared past $3,000 for the first time, as tariff-wary investors chose it as a safe haven asset. Gold Soars Past $3K While Bitcoin Chugs Along Above $83K Bitcoin (BTC) saw modest gains over the past 24 hours, rising 0.76% to $83,486.74, though it remains down 6.14% over […] …
14
Mar, 2025
Congress repealed the IRS broker rule, but can it regulate DeFi?
Altcoin News, Bitcoin News, Crypto Analytics, Crypto Industries & Currency Updates
The decentralized finance (DeFi) industry is breathing a sigh of relief as Congress relaxes reporting obligations, but questions remain about how lawmakers will regulate DeFi.
On March 12, the House of Representatives voted to nullify a rule that required DeFi protocols to report gross proceeds from crypto sales, as well as info on taxpayers involved, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The rule, which the IRS issued in December 2024 and wasn’t set to take effect until 2027, was regarded by major industry lobby groups as burdensome and beyond the agency’s authority.
The White House has already signaled its support for the bill. President Donald Trump is ready to sign when it reaches his desk. But DeFi observers note that the industry has yet to strike a balance between privacy and regulation.
Bipartisan vote on repealing the rule. Source: DeFi Education Fund
Privacy concerns over IRS DeFi rule
The crypto industry was quick to laud the vote in the House. Marta Belcher, president of the Filecoin Foundation, said that blocking the rule was particularly important for user privacy.
She told Cointelegraph it is “critical to protect people’s ability to transact directly with each other via open-source code (like smart contracts and decentralized exchanges) while remaining anonymous, in the same way that people can transact directly with each other using cash.”
Privacy concerns were central to the crypto industry’s objections to the rule, with industry observers claiming that it was not fit for purpose and infringed on user privacy.
Bill Hughes, senior counsel and director of global regulatory matters for Consensys Software wrote in December 2024, “Trading front ends would have to track and report on user activity — both US persons and non-US persons […] And it applies to the sale of every single digital asset — including NFTs and even stablecoins.”
The Blockchain Association, a major crypto industry lobby group, stated that the rule was “an infringement on the privacy rights of individuals using decentralized technology” that would push DeFi offshore.
While the rule has been stopped for now, there still aren’t fixed privacy guidelines in place — something Etherealize CEO Vivek Raman said the industry needs to move forward.
“There needs to be clear frameworks for blockchain-based privacy while maintaining [Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering] requirements,” he told Cointelegraph.
Raman stated that some transactions and customer data will need to remain private, “and we need guidance on what privacy can look like.”
How do you regulate DeFi?
The crypto space has long juggled user privacy demands and regulators’ Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer concerns.
One problem lies in the technology itself — if a network is created by many and controlled by no single entity, who can the government contact?
Per Raman, “It’s hard for a decentralized protocol that is controlled by nobody to issue 1099s or fulfill broker-dealer responsibilities! Companies can certainly be [broker-dealers], but software has not been designed for [broker-dealer] rules.”
DeFi developers can and have been proactive in working with regulators, Chainalysis suggested, as was the case with certain protocols freezing funds after the disastrous $285 million KuCoin hack.
Related: Timeline: How Bybit’s lost Ethereum went through North Korea’s washing machine
Cinneamhain Ventures partner and consultant Adam Cochran claimed that every protocol has certain pressure points regulators could press on if a protocol were used to commit a crime:
Source: Adam Cochran
However, these specific instances do not make a comprehensive regulatory framework that both the industry and investor protection agencies can point to.
In that regard, crypto analytics firm Chainalysis stated in 2020 that regulators may need to craft regulations for the DeFi space with decentralized reporting limitations in mind.
Raman suggested that one possible solution could be zero-knowledge proofs, which allow users to confirm certain data without revealing it.
He is optimistic about regulators’ ability to find a way to regulate the space while still maintaining user privacy: “I think we’ll see a positive sum environment where DeFi and compliance will coexist.”
The long-awaited crypto regulatory framework
Trump has already made a number of pro-crypto measures through executive orders and appointing pro-crypto individuals to head parts of his administration — the most recent being the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Related: US Rep. Byron Donalds to introduce bill codifying Trump’s Bitcoin reserve
The pro-crypto tenure of important financial regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has dropped a number of high-profile enforcement cases against crypto firms.
While notable, the big fish that the crypto industry is waiting for is the crypto regulatory framework and stablecoin bills circulating in Congress, which would give the industry the guardrails it claims it needs to thrive.
On March 13, the Senate Banking Committee approved the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin bill, putting it one step closer to a vote on the Senate floor.
The crypto framework bill, FIT 21, was first introduced in the 2024 legislative session, ultimately failing in the Senate. However, in February, House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill said that he anticipated the bill could pass in this session with “modest changes.”
But even if FIT 21 were passed soon, regulations for DeFi could be far off. The bill would exclude DeFi from SEC and CFTC oversight, but it would also establish a working group to research 12 key areas related to DeFi.
This study will seek to understand the risks and benefits of DeFi and will ultimately make regulatory recommendations.
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Learn MoreCongress repealed the IRS broker rule, but can it regulate DeFi?
14
Mar, 2025
Pump.fun memecoins are dying at record rates, less than 1% survive
Altcoin News, Bitcoin News, Crypto Analytics, Crypto Industries & Currency Updates
The memecoin frenzy on Pump.fun is hitting a wall, with the platform’s “graduation rate” sinking below 1% for a fourth straight week.
“Graduation rate” is the memecoin launchpad’s term for tokens that make it through the incubation phase and become fully tradable on a Solana decentralized exchange (DEX). To graduate, a token must meet specific liquidity and trading requirements.
Over the past four weeks, starting Feb. 17, Pump.fun’s graduation rate has remained below 1% for the first time, Dune Analytics data shows.
Pump.fun’s tanking token success rate. Source: Dune Analytics
Pump.fun’s graduation rate has never been particularly high. The platform’s best-performing week was in November 2024 when 1.67% of memecoins moved on to the open market. However, the sheer volume of tokens launched on the platform at the time made this percentage more significant than it is now. During the week starting Nov. 11, 323,000 tokens were created on Pump.fun, meaning the 1.67% graduation rate translated to roughly 5,400 tokens entering Solana’s DeFi economy in a single week.
Related: Pump.fun’s memecoin freak show may result in criminal charges: Expert
With token creation volume declining on both Pump.fun and Solana, weekly token graduations have plummeted to a four-week average of around 1,500 tokens at the time of writing, according to Dune.
Memecoins are dying, and they’re not responding to positive market signals
Pump.fun’s dropping graduation rate reflects waning investor appetite for memecoins, which have developed a reputation as degenerate lottery tickets or quick cash grabs for their creators.
Several political figures have launched their own memecoins as well, including US President Donald Trump. His token is down 84% from its all-time high set on Jan. 19, according to CoinGecko.
Related: Argentine lawyer requests Interpol red notice for LIBRA creator: Report
Memecoins’ struggles persist despite improving liquidity, according to Matrixport. In February, Matrixport analysts noted that a strengthening US dollar had pressured Bitcoin prices by tightening dollar-denominated liquidity.
Since then, the US dollar has weakened. Over the past month, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the dollar against a basket of major currencies, peaked at 107.61 on Feb. 28 before dropping to 103.95 on March 14.
DXY performance in the past month shows the US dollar weakening. Source: TradingView
“The US dollar has recently weakened, leading to a rebound in liquidity indicators and some marginal improvements in inflation data. Despite these positive shifts, memecoins — previously one of the strongest narratives during this bull market — continue to struggle significantly, with no apparent recovery,” Matrixport said in its report.
Bitcoin caught in memecoin aftershocks
The struggling memecoin market has contributed to a $1 trillion wipeout in crypto market capitalization, according to Matrixport.
“This redistribution of wealth may lead investors to remain cautious about deploying further capital, causing rebounds — even those triggered by better-than-expected inflation data — to be limited,” the report noted.
Matrixport analysts warn that this could lead to further Bitcoin declines, with a potential retracement to as low as $73,000 — a level they believe would provide “strong support.”
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Learn MorePump.fun memecoins are dying at record rates, less than 1% survive