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  • XRP Treasury Firm Evernorth Inches Closer to Public Listing With $685 Million Stash

    XRP Treasury Firm Evernorth Inches Closer to Public Listing With $685 Million Stash

    In brief

    • Evernorth Holdings filed a new S-4 registration statement with the SEC about its intentions to go public.
    • The firm aims to become the biggest XRP treasury firm, and is expected to launch with $685 million in XRP tokens.
    • It originally raised more than $1 billion to build its XRP treasury.

    Evernorth Holdings, a firm with intentions of becoming the largest publicly traded XRP treasury, expects to launch with at least 473 million XRP valued around $685 million, according to its S-4 registration statement filed with the SEC on Wednesday. 

    The firm, which got a sizable XRP contribution from Ripple—the payments firm that’s built around the crypto asset—raised more than $1 billion to accumulate the token. 

    “We believe global finance is entering a new era with digital assets playing a larger role in how capital is held, managed, and deployed,” said Evernorth founder and CEO Asheesh Birla, in a statement. Our focus is on combining public-market discipline with XRP blockchain-based financial infrastructure to help shape a more transparent, efficient, and connected global financial system.” 

    Initially announced in October, the firm’s planned public listing will come via a business combination between Evernorth and Armada Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that is sponsored by Arrington Capital and trades on the Nasdaq as XRPN. 

    Its XRP holdings, worth around $324 million less than the $1 billion it raised, were acquired via a variety of agreements, the S-4 filing notes.

    The biggest chunk, around 211 million XRP, is being contributed by the sponsor, Arrington Capital, pursuant to an advanced funding subscription agreement. Nearly 127 million XRP is expected to be contributed by Ripple upon the completion of the business combination, while around 84 million further XRP tokens were purchased at an average price of $2.53 using $214 million in advanced funding. 

    The value from its purchased lot has now almost been cut in half, and is valued around $122 million as XRP recently changed hands at $1.45. 

    Nevertheless, the firm notes that it believes the public company will provide “an attractive entry valuation” to investors seeking exposure to XRP. 

    “The SPAC Board believes that [Evernorth] provides an attractive entry valuation (calculated as a multiple to NAV) to XRP,” the filing reads.

    While its filing is still subject to SEC review, and the business completion subject to shareholder approval, the firm intends to actively manage its eventual XRP treasury. 

    Its four key business pillars include accumulating XRP, actively managing the asset, earning yield by using it in decentralized finance (DeFi), and exploring international expansion opportunities with a beginning focus on Japan and South Korea.

    “Our core strategy begins with our efforts to acquire, hold, and actively manage a treasury focused on XRP,” it wrote in the S-4. 

    XRP is down around 0.4% in the last 24 hours, recently sitting 60% off its July all-time high of $3.65. Earlier this week, the token leapfrogged BNB to become the fourth most valuable crypto asset by market cap. 

    A representative for Evernorth did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

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  • Ancient Bitcoin Whales Spring to Life, Flood Market with BTC After Years of Silence

    Ancient Bitcoin Whales Spring to Life, Flood Market with BTC After Years of Silence

    TL;DR

    • A 2013-era holder sold 1,000 $BTC worth about $71.6 million, while Owen Gunden sold another 650 $BTC worth roughly $46.3 million to market.
    • The 2013 wallet has now sold 3,500 of 5,000 $BTC for about $337 million, suggesting a measured unwind instead of a sudden full exit over time.
    • The report casts the moves as generational profit-taking that may pressure upside, while also showing Bitcoin can absorb repeated OG distribution.

    Dormant Bitcoin supply is moving again, and the timing is stirring anxiety across the market. What is resurfacing now is not ordinary selling pressure, but aged supply from Bitcoin’s earliest era. According to the report, a 2013-era holder who accumulated 5,000 $BTC at an average cost near $332 sold another 1,000 $BTC worth about $71.6 million, while Owen Gunden sold an additional 650 $BTC worth around $46.3 million. Together, the transactions suggest that some of the market’s oldest wallets are converting paper wealth into realized profits rather than holding through this stage of the cycle.

    A #BitcoinOG with 5K $BTC($356M) sold another 1,000 $BTC($71.57M) 8 hours ago.

    This OG received 5K $BTC(cost $1.66M) at $332 12 years ago, and started selling $BTC on Nov 26, 2024, selling a total of 3,500 $BTC($337M) at ~$96,262.

    Total profit: $442M — a 266x return.… pic.twitter.com/oErv0KccjN

    — Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 19, 2026

    Why the Market Watches These Old Wallets So Closely

    The first wallet tells a revealing story. This is not a sudden capitulation, but a disciplined unwind from one of Bitcoin’s cheapest positions. The source says the holder began selling on Nov. 26, 2024 and has now transferred 3,500 $BTC for about $337 million at an average sale price near $96,262. Even after the latest move, the wallet still reportedly holds 1,500 $BTC worth $106.8 million. That matters because steady legacy distribution can weigh on upside over time, even without the shock effect that would normally come from a single forced liquidation event for traders.

    Gunden’s sale adds another layer of unease because the market had treated his earlier exit as finished. The fresh 650 $BTC move suggests that high-profile whale distribution stories may end less cleanly than traders assume. Lookonchain reportedly tied the sale to roughly $46.3 million in value, after previously summarizing a much larger 11,000 $BTC liquidation worth about $1.12 billion. The report notes that Gunden’s transactions carry symbolic weight because he is seen as an important Bitcoin figure whose wallet activity is read as a signal about how some of crypto’s earliest capital is being repositioned.

    The broader takeaway is more nuanced than a bearish headline. These transfers look like generational profit-taking, but they also show how modern liquidity is absorbing old supply. The report argues that coins accumulated before institutional ETFs, treasury strategies and current exchange infrastructure are now being redistributed into a very different market structure. That does not make the selling irrelevant. On the contrary, the reactivation of dormant, low-cost $BTC remains one of the clearest windows into cycle behavior. But it also suggests Bitcoin is operating with enough depth to take repeated OG distribution without structural breakdown.

  • Arthur Hayes Loads Up on ETHFI Hours Before Upbit Listing—Signal or Coincidence?

    Arthur Hayes Loads Up on ETHFI Hours Before Upbit Listing—Signal or Coincidence?

    TL;DR

    • Arthur Hayes acquired around 132,730 $ETHFI, worth close to $72,800, roughly 5 hours before Upbit confirmed the listing.
    • The timing has triggered debate over possible insider awareness vs strategic positioning.
    • South Korea remains a dominant altcoin market, with sustained KRW-based demand since 2023, which may provide stronger liquidity and price support for $ETHFI after its debut.

    EthereumFi ($ETHFI) has returned to the spotlight after a well-timed purchase by Arthur Hayes aligned with its listing on South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit. The overlap between capital inflow and exchange exposure quickly caught market attention, as such combinations often influence short-term price action.

    Arthur Hayes $ETHFI Trade Raises Questions

    On-chain data indicates that Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and CIO of Maelstrom, received 132,730 $ETHFI from Anchorage Digital about 5 hours before Upbit enabled trading. The transaction was valued near $72,800, with the token priced around $0.55 at the time.

    The close timing between the acquisition and the listing announcement fueled speculation about potential informational advantages. Still, there is no direct evidence of wrongdoing. Hayes has remained active in decentralized finance throughout 2026, allocating more than $3.4 million across multiple protocols.

    Earlier activity also shows that roughly one month prior, wallets linked to Hayes moved about 2.15 million $ETHFI at lower price levels, pointing to a broader accumulation strategy rather than a single trade.

    As part of its standard listing procedures, Upbit introduced temporary restrictions, including a brief pause on buy orders and limit-only trading during the initial phase. These measures aim to reduce volatility and stabilize price discovery.

    Korean Market Liquidity Strengthens $ETHFI Outlook

    An Upbit listing carries weight due to South Korea’s strong participation in altcoins. KRW-denominated trading remains elevated, even when excluding major assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, BNB, and Solana.

    Data from recent cycles shows a consistent buy-side presence from 2023 through 2026, with larger participants absorbing sell pressure. This dynamic contributes to deeper liquidity and stronger support levels across altcoin pairs.

    For $ETHFI, entering this environment means immediate exposure to one of the most active trading regions globally. Listings in Korea have historically driven higher volumes and faster price discovery, especially for DeFi tokens.

    EthereumFi is part of a growing segment focused on restaking and on-chain yield strategies built on Ethereum. As demand for these mechanisms expands, $ETHFI continues gaining traction among both retail and institutional traders.

    In conclusion, while the timing of Hayes’ purchase continues to draw attention, market structure and liquidity trends provide a broader explanation. With strong Korean demand and rising interest in DeFi infrastructure, $ETHFI may extend beyond its initial listing momentum and integrate into longer-term capital flows.

  • Kalshi doubles valuation to $22 billion with new $1 billion raise

    Kalshi doubles valuation to $22 billion with new $1 billion raise

    Kalshi has raised more than $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation in a new financing round led by Coatue Management, the Wall Street Journal reported.

    The deal roughly doubles the company’s valuation from its $11 billion December raise and shows investors are still willing to pay up for exposure to the prediction market boom.

    The timing matters because prediction markets are no longer a niche side bet in crypto and fintech. Data cited by Artemis shows the sector processed roughly $27 billion in January 2026 and $23.4 billion in February. FalconX, citing Artemis data, said prediction market volume climbed nearly fourfold to about $64 billion in 2025, with activity accelerating sharply into early 2026.

    Kalshi is emerging as one of the biggest winners in that trade. The Wall Street Journal reported in December that the company’s trading volumes had already moved above $1 billion a week around the time of its $11 billion round.

    The fundraising also lands as competitors and adjacent platforms race to capture the same category. Crypto exchange MEXC launched a zero-fee prediction market this week, pitching event contracts as a new trading vertical for its users. That follows a broader shift in crypto, where exchanges increasingly want prediction products alongside spot, futures, and options rather than leaving the category to standalone platforms.

    Polymarket remains the other major name in the space. Earlier reporting from October said the company was exploring a funding round at a valuation of $12 billion to $15 billion, after ICE, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, agreed to invest up to $2 billion at an implied valuation of about $8 billion.

    More recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Polymarket, like Kalshi, was exploring fundraising at roughly a $20 billion valuation. That means Kalshi’s new $22 billion valuation would still put it modestly ahead of Polymarket’s latest reported target, at least on paper.

    Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

  • Crypto Clarity Act inches toward Senate hearing as lawmakers weigh legislative trades

    The negotiation to get a crypto market structure bill through its next stages in the Senate have hovered over an almost-there status for weeks, and Republican lawmakers met on Thursday to figure out how to bridge the final gaps.

    The White House was expected to get some updated legislative language on Thursday, reflecting the ongoing work on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, according to people familiar with the situation. But the talks are still going, and even if the previously uncertain senators (such as Republican Thom Tillis) become satisfied with the bill’s stablecoin yield treatment, other distinct compromises (such as the approach to decentralized finance) also need to be secured before the Senate would be able to send the crypto industry’s top policy priority to President Donald Trump for a signature.

    The longstanding debate that had focused on stablecoin yield — on which bankers and crypto businesses have been divided over the structure of stablecoin rewards programs — is close to a finish, the people said, though lawmakers have been discussing what else the community bankers might be offered to get their support while resolving some of their other priorities. That could include some unrelated provisions tied to Congress’ recent housing legislation, according to reporting from Politico.

    Officials from Trump’s administration were said to be involved with the meeting of Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee, which is the second panel that needs to advance the bill before it would be repackaged into a final version that can get a vote of the overall Senate. Even if the effort advances from the committee by the end of April, as Senator Cynthia Lummis predicted this week, a couple of further hurdles may be out of lawmakers’ hands.

    Democrats involved in the talks have said they still want senior government officials and lawmakers from profiting off of personal crypto interests — most pointedly aimed at Trump. And they want Democrats appointed to the party’s vacant seats at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission before the agency adopts new crypto rules. Those are both points that could require concessions from the White House, and crypto insiders are expecting those controversial points to be the last matters settled once the lawmakers are working on a final bill.

    On the yield issue, Lummis has said that stablecoin rewards programs that steer clear of bank-line language on savings and interest may survive the compromise, insisting they’re more akin to credit-card rewards than interest from bank-account deposits.

    Lummis said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, whose opposition to a previous draft bill helped derail an earlier effort to get to a Senate hearing, has been more flexible in recent talks. The company didn’t immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment on its position.

    As Congress works, the Securities and Exchange Commission spent much of the week issuing and discussing new crypto policy points, including a first-ever taxonomy that sets out regulatory definitions for U.S. crypto assets. In a CoinDesk op-ed on Thursday, Chairman Paul Atkins and the two Republican commissioners suggested they’re eager to have a new law back up the policy they’re working on.

    “Only Congress can rewrite the law, and we stand ready to work with [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] Chairman Michael Selig to implement the CLARITY Act,” they wrote. “In the meantime, we are providing the responsible regulatory approach that markets demand.”

  • BlackRock Staked Ethereum Fund Tops $250 Million in Its First Week

    BlackRock Staked Ethereum Fund Tops $250 Million in Its First Week

    In brief

    • BlackRock’s ETHB has reached $254 million in AUM, with $146 million flowing in since its March 12 debut.
    • The fund stakes 70–95% of its ETH and passes 82% of staking rewards to investors through monthly payments.
    • ETHB enters a market where Grayscale and REX-Osprey already offer staked Ethereum products.

    BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust has reached $254 million worth of assets under management after launching a week ago. That means investors have bought $146 million worth of shares since the fund debuted, on top of more than $100 million seeded in the fund.

    BlackRock launched the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) on Nasdaq on March 12, with the seed capital coming from BlackRock Financial Management, an affiliate of iShares. The new fund stakes between 70–95% of its ETH holdings and passes 82% of resulting rewards to investors through monthly payments, with the remaining 18% split among the trust, custodians, and staking service providers.

    The fund’s validators include Figment, Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure, and Attestant. ETHB charges a 0.25% sponsor fee, discounted to 0.12% for its first year on up to $2.5 billion in assets. It entered a market where Grayscale and REX-Osprey had already launched competing staked Ethereum products.

    Ethereum did have a bullish rally above $2,300 earlier this week, but but has since fallen alongside Bitcoin and the rest of the market. At the time of writing, ETH was changing hands for $2,126 after having dropped 4% in the past day.

    The Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF added staking in October 2025 and renamed the fund to reflect its new staking activity in January. The fund saw mixed results its first week as a staking ETF, seeing a net outflow of $32.5 million. But Grayscale had the misfortune of adding staking to its ETF the same week that a Bitcoin flash crash triggered a $19 billion leverage wipeout last October, dragging down the rest of the crypto market.

    Meanwhile, the Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF was formed in April 2024, although it didn’t initially launch with staking. That wasn’t added until October 6, 2025, the same week the ETHE fund added staking.

    The BlackRock offering is different from both the Grayscale ETH funds because it was conceived and launched with staking, rather than adding the feature later.

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  • ETF Giant Challenges Tether and Paxos With Framework for Tokenized Gold

    ETF Giant Challenges Tether and Paxos With Framework for Tokenized Gold

    In brief

    • The World Gold Council, which helped establish the first gold-backed ETF in the U.S., is working on a service to standardize tokenized gold.
    • The nonprofit association views the process of managing gold reserves as a barrier to entry for issuers interested in establishing gold-backed tokens.
    • So far, the market for tokenized gold has coalesced around crypto-native firms that have established their own custody arrangements and issuance pipelines.

    Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin offer individuals complete control over their funds, but the same can’t be said for assets locked in vaults, according to the World Gold Council.

    On Thursday, the trade association formed and funded by the world’s leading gold mining companies proposed a framework for addressing complexities tied to tokenized gold, with the aim of establishing standards for digital assets backed by the precious metal.

    In a white paper co-authored by Boston Consulting Group, the nonprofit established the concept of “Gold as a Service,” a platform designed to allow companies creating gold-backed tokens to tap into a shared network for managing physical reserves.

    The service seeks to bolster confidence in tokenized gold through features like continuous audits, while establishing a level of fungibility across products. As of now, companies like Paxos and Tether, which have dominated the market for gold-backed tokens for years, have established their own custody arrangements and issuance pipelines from the ground up.

    In an interview with Decrypt, the World Gold Council’s Global Head of Market Structure and Innovation, Mike Oswin, compared the council’s latest initiative to Intel’s iconic stickers. Commonly found on Windows-based laptops, they enable consumers to see that the chipmaker’s processors were embedded in a product at a glance, he noted.

    “If you see that little symbol, you know that it’s Intel inside,” he said. “You’re getting the best processor, so you know you’re walking out with what you need.”

    For the World Gold Council, tokenization also represents an ability to extend its influence into an emerging market after establishing SPDR Gold Shares in 2004. The first U.S.-listed exchange-traded fund to be backed by physical gold currently has a market cap of $126 billion.

    Meanwhile, Tether Gold and PAX Gold have grown to a combined market cap of $4.9 billion since they both debuted five years ago, according to CoinGecko. 

    Paxos parks reserves for its gold-backed token in London, using vaults that are managed by security services provider Brink’s. Similarly, Tether houses tons of gold for its token in a Swiss-based vault, which once operated as a Cold War-era nuclear bunker.

    Research conducted by the World Gold Council has indicated that investors who self-custody their digital assets often prefer holding onto the precious metal themselves, Oswin added. That’s partly because of the bespoke custody arrangements that need to be created.

    “At the end of the day, [gold] is a physical asset that comes in different sizes, shapes, forms, locations,” he said. “It’s always been an inhibitor to these kinds of initiatives.” 

    Unlike stablecoins, which are often backed by cash and U.S. Treasuries, gold doesn’t generate income when it’s tucked away behind closed doors. Rather, there are costs associated with safeguarding the precious metal that don’t exist for other types of real-world assets.

    Oswin said the council’s service could address that barrier to entry for other firms, which is in line with the World Gold Council’s goal of promoting the precious metal broadly.

    “Instead of a handful of successful products, this will potentially lead to hundreds of products that can now come to market,” he said. “The business case stands up much better because of the way they can access the physical gold in a simplified, more cost-effective way.”

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  • While Bitcoin (BTC) was falling, these altcoins outperformed the market! They became the stars of the day! Here’s the list!

    While Bitcoin (BTC) was falling, these altcoins outperformed the market! They became the stars of the day! Here’s the list!

    Although the Fed kept interest rates unchanged last night as expected, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s hawkish remarks caused sharp declines in Bitcoin ($BTC) and altcoins.

    Bitcoin fell below $70,000, while Ethereum also dropped to around $2,100.

    While other altcoins experienced significant losses, some altcoins, despite the correction, outperformed the market, leaving those expecting a decline wrong-footed.

    Among the altcoins that outperformed $BTC and most other altcoins were Dexe ($DEXE), Quant ($QNT), River ($RIVER), Kaspa ($KAS), and JUST ($JST).

    According to CoinMarketCap data, $DEXE (13.05%), $QNT (9.8%), $RIVER (4.1%), $KAS (3.9%), and $JST (2.9%) were among the top-performing altcoins, outperforming the market.

    According to Coinmarketcap data, the biggest losers in the last 24 hours are as follows: 1st place Mantle (MNT) with a 10.5% loss, 2nd place Worldcoin (WLD) with a 9.9% loss, 3rd place Bittensor (TAO) with an 8.9% loss, 4th place Zcash (ZEC) with a 7.5% loss, and 5th place RENDER with a 6.7% loss.

    A popular analytics company that attempts to measure the emotional reflexes of cryptocurrency investors calculated a “fear and greed index” today with a score of 23 out of 100, indicating extreme fear. This index is calculated based on market volatility, market volume momentum, social media interest, Bitcoin dominance graph, and trends in online research related to cryptocurrencies.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • OpenClaw developers targeted in GitHub phishing scam offering fake token airdrops

    OpenClaw developers on GitHub, a platform for collaboration and version control, are being targeted in a phishing campaign using fake token giveaways to lure victims into connecting crypto wallets that can then be drained.

    The attackers created bogus GitHub accounts and tagged developers in issue threads, claiming they had been selected to receive roughly $5,000 worth of CLAW tokens, Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity company OX Security said in a blog post on Wednesday.

    The attackers’ posts link to a near-identical clone of the OpenClaw website, but with a key addition: a prompt to connect a crypto wallet. Once a wallet is connected, malicious code can trigger transactions or approvals that allow attackers to siphon funds. The phishing page supports major wallets including MetaMask, WalletConnect and Trust Wallet, widening the potential impact, OX said.

    The campaign highlights an increasingly common attack vector in crypto: social engineering paired with wallet connection requests, often disguised as airdrops or developer rewards. By targeting GitHub users who interacted with OpenClaw-related repositories, the attackers made the outreach appear more credible.

    OpenClaw is an open-source AI agent framework and developer tool that has recently attracted attention, and controversy, over crypto-related scams exploiting its name.

    Peter Steinberger, the founder of OpenClaw, said last month he was about to delete the entire codebase because of crypto. “I didn’t know that they’re not just good at harassment, they are also really good at using scripts and tools.”

    His statement followed a blanket ban he imposed on any mention of crypto, including bitcoin BTC$70,426.40, in the project’s Discord after scammers in January hijacked OpenClaw’s old accounts. The hackers promoted a fake CLAWD token that briefly hit a $16 million market cap before collapsing after Steinberger When Steinberger publicly denied any involvement.

  • Bitcoin $20,000 put option is third most popular strike ahead of quarterly expiry

    Bitcoin $20,000 put option is third most popular strike ahead of quarterly expiry

    Nearly $600 million worth of $20,000 bitcoin put options has emerged as the third most popular strike ahead of Deribit’s quarterly expiry, showing how traders are positioning for extreme downside scenarios due to the Middle East conflict.

    A put option gives the holder the right, but not the obligation, to sell bitcoin at a predetermined price. With bitcoin trading below $70,000, the $20,000 strike is considered deep out of the money, meaning it would only gain value in the event of a sharp market collapse, or a 70% drawdown from current prices.

    Roughly $596 million in notional value, the total dollar value of underlying contracts, is concentrated at the $20,000 strike, making it one of the three most dominant positions. The others sit at $75,000, with $687 million, and $125,000, with $740 million, highlighting a wide spread of expectations across both downside and upside scenarios.

    Looking at it from face value, large positioning in a $20,000 put option could suggest fears of a meltdown. However, the structure of the market is more nuanced.
    Much of this activity is likely driven by traders selling these far out of the money puts to collect premium, reflecting the low probability of bitcoin falling to $20,000 rather than a direct hedge against a crash. In other words, it is often a strategy tied to income generation or volatility positioning, rather than outright bearish conviction.

    The total notional value of bitcoin options expiring on Deribit is $13.5 billion. While, even though the market is in extreme fear, the options market still leans slightly bullish, with a put call ratio of 0.63, indicating more call options than puts, typically used to express bullish views. Total open interest stands at 195,719 $BTC, with 120,236 $BTC in calls and 75,482 $BTC in puts.

    Meanwhile, the max pain level, the price at which the largest number of options expire worthless, is $75,000, which could potentially act as a magnet into expiry. As options market makers often hedge around this level, pulling price toward where the greatest number of contracts expire worthless.