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The token tied to the crypto gaming giant Immutable surged 15% in the hours after it announced that the US Securities and Exchange Commission closed its investigation into the firm and would take no further action.

The Immutable (IMX) token rose around 15% on March 25 to reach just under $0.74 shortly after the firm announced that the SEC shut its inquiry without any breach of violations, which Immutable said closed “the loop on the Wells notice issued by the SEC last year.” 

IMX matched crypto market downtrend

It is the highest price that IMX has reached since March 3, before a broader market decline — driven by prolonged uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and US interest rates — pushed it down to $0.46 on March 11.

At the time of publication, IMX had retraced back to $0.67, according to CoinMarketCap. A move back toward $0.70 would wipe approximately $449,500 in short positions, according to CoinGlass data.

While the token price surged on the positive news, it barely moved when Immutable announced in November it had been issued a Wells notice. However, the broader market was already gaining momentum as Trump’s odds to win the election looked strong in the days before his eventual win on Nov. 5.

Immutable co-founder Robbie Ferguson said in a March 25 X post that the SEC’s dropped investigation was “an enormous win for Web3 gaming.”

“After a year of fighting, this threat to digital ownership rights has finally been put to rest,” Ferguson said.

Related: Crypto influencer Ben ‘Bitboy’ Armstrong arrested in Florida

Among the top gaming crypto tokens by market cap, several have seen an upswing over the past 24 hours. Gala (GALA) is up 2.78%, The Sandbox (SAND) is up 3.78%, FLOKI (FLOKI) is up 1.91%, and Axie Infinity (AXS) is up 1.50%.

IMX hit its all-time high of $9.32 in November 2021 during a major rally in gaming tokens. There’s been speculation about when gaming tokens will experience another significant uptrend, as they’ve historically surged after the broader crypto market moves first.

However, over the past 30 days, the total market cap of gaming tokens has dropped 3.65% to $13.13 billion, while trading volume has taken a bigger hit, falling 33.45% to $1.75 billion.

Magazine: What are native rollups? Full guide to Ethereum’s latest innovation

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

North Carolina lawmakers have introduced bills in the House and Senate that could see the state’s treasurer allocate up to 5% of various state retirement funds into cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

The Investment Modernization Act (House Bill 506), introduced by Representative Brenden Jones on March 24, would create an independent investment authority under the state’s Treasury to determine which digital assets could be suitable for inclusion into the state retirement funds.

An identical bill, the State Investment Modernization Act (Senate Bill 709), was introduced into the state’s Senate on March 25.

The bills define a digital asset as a cryptocurrency, stablecoin, non-fungible token (NFT), or any other asset that is electronic in nature that confers economic, proprietary or access rights.

The North Carolina bills don’t set market cap criteria for digital assets, unlike other crypto bills that are working their way into law at the state level.

The newly created agency, dubbed the North Carolina Investment Authority, would, however, need to carefully weigh the risk and reward profile of each digital asset and ensure the funds are maintained in a secure custody solution.

Bitcoin legislation tracker Bitcoin Laws noted on X that House Bill 506 wasn’t drafted as a Bitcoin reserve bill as it does not mandate the investment authority to hold Bitcoin (BTC) — or any digital asset — over the long term.

North Carolina wants in on Bitcoin bill race

On March 18, North Carolina senators introduced the Bitcoin Reserve and Investment Act (Senate Bill 327), which calls for the treasurer to allocate up to 10% of public funds specifically into Bitcoin.

The bill — introduced by Republicans Todd Johnson, Brad Overcash and Timothy Moffitt — aims to leverage Bitcoin investment as a “financial innovation strategy” to strengthen North Carolina’s economic standing.

Related: GameStop hints at future Bitcoin purchases following board approval

The treasurer would need to ensure that the Bitcoin is stored in a multi-signature cold storage wallet, and the BTC could only be liquidated during a “severe financial crisis,” with approval from two-thirds of North Carolina’s General Assembly.

The bill would also create a Bitcoin Economic Advisory Board to oversee the reserve’s management.

According to Bitcoin Law, 41 Bitcoin reserve bills have been introduced at the state level in 23 states, and 35 of those 41 bills remain live.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, both of which will initially use cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.

Magazine: What are native rollups? Full guide to Ethereum’s latest innovation

The US Securities and Exchange Commission will host four more crypto roundtables — focusing on crypto trading, custody, tokenization and decentralized finance (DeFi) — after hosting its first crypto roundtable on March 21.

The series of roundtables, organized by the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, will kick off with a discussion on tailoring regulation for crypto trading on April 11, the SEC said in a March 25 statement.

A roundtable on crypto custody will follow on April 25, with another to discuss tokenization and moving assets onchain on May 12. The fourth roundtable in the series will discuss DeFi on June 6.

“The Crypto Task Force roundtables are an opportunity for us to hear a lively discussion among experts about what the regulatory issues are and what the Commission can do to solve them,” said SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, the task force lead.

The specific agenda and speakers for each roundtable have yet to be disclosed, but all are open for the public to watch online or to attend at the SEC's headquarters in Washington, DC.

SEC softens on crypto with new leadership

The agency’s Crypto Task Force was launched on Jan. 21 by acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda. It’s tasked with establishing a workable crypto framework for the agency to use. 

The task force held its first roundtable on March 21 with a discussion titled “How We Got Here and How We Get Out — Defining Security Status.”

The SEC will also be hosting a roundtable about AI's role in the financial industry on March 27, according to a March 25 release. 

Join us on March 27 for a roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence in the financial industry. Topics include the risks, benefits, and governance of AI.

More details: https://t.co/ekX2RWp2KQ pic.twitter.com/7fH3j1tlwj

— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) March 25, 2025

The roundtable will discuss the risks, benefits, and governance of AI in the financial industry, with Uyeda, Peirce and fellow SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw slated to speak.

Under the Trump administration, the SEC has slowly been walking back its hardline stance toward crypto forged under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

The regulator has dismissed a growing number of enforcement actions against crypto firms it launched under Gensler.

Related: Bitnomial drops SEC lawsuit ahead of XRP futures launch in the US

Uyeda, who took the reins after Gensler resigned on Jan. 20, flagged plans on March 17 to scrap a rule proposed under the Biden administration that would tighten crypto custody standards for investment advisers.

Uyeda also said in a March 10 speech that he had asked SEC staff for options to abandon part of proposed changes that would expand regulation of alternative trading systems to include crypto firms, requiring them to register as exchanges. 

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered 

The crypto-friendly Custodia Bank has worked with Vantage Bank to complete what the two firms say is “America’s first-ever bank-issued stablecoin” on a permissionless blockchain.

Custodia said on March 25 that it tokenized US dollar demand deposits and facilitated the issuance, transfer and redemption of the stablecoin “Avit” on Ethereum via the ERC-20 token standard.

“A new US dollar payment rail has now been activated inside the US banking system,” Custodia added.

“We broke ground on the legal/regulatory front, proving that US banks can collaborate to tokenize demand deposits on a permissionless blockchain in a regulatorily-compliant manner,” said Custodia CEO Caitlin Long.

Vantage Bank CEO and President Jeff Sinnott said the event was a “pivotal moment in reshaping the financial landscape, demonstrating how blockchain and stablecoins can revolutionize payments.”

In a series of posts on X, Long explained that the Avit stablecoin was a “real dollar” and not a “synthetic” dollar, as Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller called stablecoins in a Feb. 12 speech.

“Real” US dollars, Long explained, can only be issued by the Federal Reserve and a few legally authorized entities, including Custodia Bank. She added that Avit is a “real dollar” as it tokenizes a bank’s demand deposit — funds that customers can withdraw on-demand, such as money in a checking account.

Ethereum backers cheer Custodia’s chain choice

Custodia has historically championed Bitcoin, and Ethereum advocates were quick to note that the bank chose Ethereum for the stablecoin.

“ETH fixed this. Bitcoin couldn’t,” wrote Ethereum advocate Evan Van Ness. Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano also posted to make clear the “permissionless blockchain” Custodia referred to in its announcement.

“Just in case it wasn’t obvious, this is built on Ethereum.”

Related: Ethereum poised for record highs in Q1 2025, analysts predict

Ethereum secures over $125.8 billion worth of stablecoins on its network, nearly doubling the second-place Tron blockchain at $64.8 billion, DefiLlama data shows.

Ethereum also tokenizes over $3.6 billion worth of US Treasury bills — seven times more than its next competitor, Stellar, at $465.7 million, according to RWA.xyz data.

Magazine: Comeback 2025: Is Ethereum poised to catch up with Bitcoin and Solana?

Bitcoin and Ethereum are poised to suffer their worst first quarter in years unless they can pull off a huge rally in the next few days.

Ether (ETH) has dropped 37.98% so far over the first quarter of 2025, its worst Q1 decline since 2018, when it plunged 46.61%, according to CoinGlass data. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) is down 6.49% so far over the quarter, which is slated to end on March 31 — marking its worst Q1 performance since 2020, when it saw a 10.83% decline. 

Crypto market unlikely to flash green before end quarter

Swyftx lead analyst Pav Hundal told Cointelegraph that a “vertical swing up into the end of the quarter looks unlikely.” 

Hundal said that the crypto market will be “flying a little blind” until the middle of April when the broader market should have better clarity on US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.

“The economic data shows a global economy in decent shape,” he said. 

Some analysts say it may only be a matter of weeks after that before Bitcoin sees its next significant rally.

Crypto commentator Colin Talks Crypto said in a March 19 X post that Bitcoin may begin its “next major blast-off” around April 30. Meanwhile, Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten said earlier this month that there’s more than a 50% chance Bitcoin will hit all-time highs before the end of June.

The first quarter has historically been Ether’s strongest and Bitcoin’s second-best. Since 2017, Ether has averaged a 78.23% gain in Q1, while Bitcoin has seen an average return of 51.62% since 2013.

At the time of publication, Bitcoin is trading at $87,558, while Ether is trading at $2,059, up 5.08% and 5.88% over the past 24 hours, respectively.

Meanwhile, the ETH/BTC ratio — showing Ether’s relative strength to Bitcoin — is at its lowest point since May 2020, sitting at 0.2348, according to TradingView data.

The rest of the crypto market has followed the downtrend of the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, with the entire crypto market capitalization declining 11.65% since Jan. 1, sitting at $2.88 trillion at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Related: Bitcoin price has 75% chance of hitting new highs in 2025 — Analyst

While many in the crypto industry were highly optimistic going into Q1 2025 following a strong end to 2024 after Bitcoin tapped $100,000 for the first time after Trump’s November election win, unexpected macroeconomic conditions were largely to blame for the crypto market’s downturn at the beginning of February.

After Bitcoin retraced below $100,000 in February, amid Trump’s imposed tariffs and uncertainty around the future of the US federal interest rate, the broader market sentiment turned fearful. The sentiment-tracking Crypto Fear & Greed Index was reading a “Neutral” score of 47 as of March 26.

Magazine: What are native rollups? Full guide to Ethereum’s latest innovation

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Crusoe Energy, a company that captures waste gas from oil to power high-performance compute, is selling its Bitcoin mining business to New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) to focus on artificial intelligence. 

In a March 25 announcement, Crusoe said it plans to sell its Bitcoin (BTC) mining operation,  including its digital flare mitigation business, to NYDIG, subject to regulatory approvals and other consents. 

The deal includes Crusoe’s 270 megawatts of power generation technology from more than 425 modular data centers across the United States and Argentina, along with 135 Crusoe employees who will join NYDIG, as no roles will be eliminated as a result of the transaction. 

Crusoe was founded in 2018 and pioneered technology that captures waste gas created during oil extraction and refinement that would be normally burned off in a process called gas flaring in order to power Bitcoin miners.

It converts the gas or “stranded energy” into electricity used to power the high-performance compute required for Bitcoin mining and AI data centers. Some reports suggest that Crusoe’s Bitcoin mining operation accounts for 1% of the world’s Bitcoin mining. 

Crusoe’s AI expansion plans

However, Crusoe says it now wants to focus its tech on building out AI infrastructure. 

“The AI business — it’s become the majority of our revenue,” Cully Cavness, the co-founder, president and chief operating officer of Crusoe, told CNBC. 

The company recently expanded its AI data center in Abilene, Texas, to 1.2 gigawatts around the same time it announced a joint venture with investment firm Engine No. 1 to develop large-scale data center campuses across the US to build out AI capabilities.

Last December, it closed $600 million in a Series D round at a $2.8 billion valuation to power AI. 

“We see a huge opportunity in front of us, and we have a big advantage and a big head start with what we’ve already announced — and more coming soon,” added Cavness. 

Related: Tokenized US gold could ultimately benefit Bitcoin: NYDIG

NYDIG said that the acquisition of Crusoe’s Bitcoin mining business will help expand its role in supporting Bitcoin’s proof-of-work security. 

NYDIG founder and executive chairman Ross Stevens said that “it is critically important to keep the Bitcoin network secure, and at the lowest possible cost,” claiming that fiat currencies are “collapsing against Bitcoin around the world.” 

Magazine: Ex-Alameda hire on ‘pressure’ to not blow up Backpack exchange: Armani Ferrante, X Hall of Flame

Update (March 26, 6:12 am UTC): This article has been updated to add information on Ben Armstrong’s prior arrest and background.

Crypto influencer Ben Armstrong, also known as “BitBoy,” has been arrested in Florida after disclosing on social media just days ago that a warrant was out for his arrest.

Florida’s Volusia County Division of Corrections listed Armstrong as a fugitive from justice who was taken in custody on March 25 at 7:18 pm local time.

Days prior, Armstrong said in a March 21 X post that he could “confirm that the warrants for my arrest” were due to sending emails to Cobb County, Georgia Superior Court Judge Kimberly Childs while acting as his own attorney.

He also claimed that Judge Childs had deleted her social media accounts due to the emails.

Information on Armstrong’s lawyers was not immediately available. Armstrong could not immediately be contacted for comment.

Bitboy’s previous arrest

Armstrong was previously arrested in September 2023 while livestreaming outside the house of a former business associate whom he alleged had possession of his Lamborghini.

Armstrong has faced other legal woes as well. He was named in a class-action lawsuit launched in March 2023 claiming he promoted Binance, which the suit also claimed had sold unregistered securities. 

The case was later settled in August 2024, with Armstrong and his co-defendant, NBA star Jimmy Butler, agreeing to pay a combined $340,000 with no admission of wrongdoing. 

Related: ZachXBT rug pull drama reveals extent of unpaid detective work 

In early 2024, Armstrong fought pseudonymous memecoin developer “More Light” at a fight night hosted by combat sports company Karate Combat in Mexico on Feb. 24. 

Armstrong managed to come out on top in the encounter and was declared the victor by unanimous decision after three two-minute rounds. More Light said that after the fight, there was no bad blood between them in real life and that Armstrong was a “good guy” in person.

Meanwhile, the parent of Hit Network, which controls the BitBoy Crypto brand, cut ties with Armstrong in August 2023, citing alleged substance abuse and unprofessional behavior toward employees. Armstrong denied the allegations, claiming the move was an attempted coup. 

Magazine: Crypto fans are obsessed with longevity and biohacking: Here’s why

Artificial intelligence startup Infinite Reality has acquired the music-pirating app turned music streaming service Napster in a $207 million deal and plans to add a music-focused metaverse. 

Infinite Reality said in a March 25 statement that Napster would offer “branded 3D virtual spaces” to allow virtual concerts and “social listening parties” along with the ability to offer virtual merchandise.

“Imagine stepping into a virtual venue to watch an exclusive show with friends, chat with your favorite artist in their own virtual hangout as they drop their new single, and be able to directly buy their exclusive digital and physical merch,” said Napster CEO Jon Vlassopulos, who will continue in his role amid the acquisition.

“The internet has evolved from desktop to mobile, from mobile to social, and now we are entering the immersive era,” he added.

"The most legendary collab?! Infinite Reality has acquired iconic online music brand @Napster.

With this acquisition, we're expanding and reimagining Napster, empowering artists with new audience monetization and engagement capabilities, underpinned by iR’s #immersive… pic.twitter.com/L4Fig7QFct

— Infinite Reality (@Infinite_iR) March 25, 2025

Infinite Reality added that it also plans for Napster to allow musicians to use AI customer and community management agents and analytics dashboards to track fan behavior and cross-promotion with its other entertainment properties, such as Esports teams.

Napster’s latest repurposing

Napster was a pioneer in piracy, launching in 1999 as a peer-to-peer (P2P) filing-sharing service mostly for music. It shuttered in 2001, buried by a court order after a wave of copyright infringement lawsuits.

The now-bankrupt company sold its brand, which was relaunched as a music-streaming service before bouncing between owners for the next 20 years. The blockchain firm Algorand and crypto investment firm Hivemind most recently bought it in 2022.

Related: Here’s what musicians actually think of tokenizing content in Web3

Napster had made several moves in the Web3 space, announcing plans in June 2022 to launch its own Napster token on the Algorand blockchain that could be used to buy music subscriptions and other content. The brand also bought Web3 music startup Mint Songs in February 2023.

John Acunto, co-founder and CEO of Infinite Reality, said the team hopes to lead an “internet industry shift from a flat 2D clickable web to a 3D conversational one.” 

Infinite Reality says the acquisition of Napster is slated to close in a few weeks. According to the firm, it hopes to evolve the Napster brand to become the leading immersive music platform for artists, fans and curators through audience monetization and engagement capabilities.

Magazine: Memecoins are ded — But Solana ‘100x better’ despite revenue plunge

The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an independent agency of the federal government, is reportedly moving to stop using the “reputational risk” category as a way to supervise banks.

According to a March 24 letter sent by the agency’s acting chairman, Travis Hill, to Rep. Dan Meuser, banking regulators should not use “reputational risk” to scrutinize firms.

“While a bank’s reputation is critically important, most activities that could threaten a bank’s reputation do so through traditional risk channels (e.g., credit risk, market risk, etc.) that supervisors already focus on,” notes the letter, first reported by Politico.

According to the document, the FDIC has completed a “review of all mentions of reputational risk” in its regulations and policy documents and has “plans to eradicate this concept from our regulatory approach.”

Reputational risk and debanking

The Federal Reserve defines reputational risk as “the potential that negative publicity regarding an institution’s business practices, whether true or not, will cause a decline in the customer base, costly litigation, or revenue reductions.”

The FIDC letter specifically mentioned digital assets, with Hill noting that the agency has generally been “closed for business” for institutions interested in blockchain or distributed ledger technology. Now, as per the document, the FDIC is working on a new direction for digital asset policy aiming at providing banks a way to engage with digital assets.

The letter was sent in response to a February communication from Meuser and other lawmakers with recommendations for digital asset rules and ways to prevent debanking.

Industries deemed as “risky” to banks often face significant challenges in establishing or maintaining banking relationships. The crypto industry faced such challenges during what became known as Operation Chokepoint 2.0.

The unofficial operation led to more than 30 technology and cryptocurrency companies being denied banking services in the US after the collapse of crypto-friendly banks earlier in 2023.

Related: FDIC resists transparency on Operation Chokepoint 2.0 — Coinbase CLO

Bitcoin network economist Timothy Peterson maintains his optimistic outlook for BTC (BTC), suggesting that there is a 75% chance that the asset will hit new highs in the next nine months.

In a March 25 X post, Peterson highlighted BTC’s current position near the lower bound of its historical range. The analyst emphasized that Bitcoin’s current path aligns with the bottom 25% threshold, giving it majority odds for a positive rally.

Peterson said: 

“Here is a 50% chance it will gain 50%+ in the short term.”

Peterson’s statements follow an earlier study that found that most of Bitcoin’s annual bullish performance occurred in April and October, which have averaged 12.98% and 21.98%, respectively, over the past decade.

Related: Bitcoin flips ‘macro bullish’ amid first Hash Ribbon buy signal in 8 months

Bitcoin onchain cost basis zone key investors’ levels

In a recent quicktake post on CryptoQuant, anonymous analyst Crazzyblockk said that the realized price for short-term whales is $91,000, whereas most highly active addresses hold a cost basis between $84,000 and $85,000.

A dip below the cost basis could trigger selling, making the $84,000 to $85,000 range a critical liquidity zone.

The analyst added:

“These onchain cost basis levels represent decision zones where market psychology shifts. Traders and investors should closely monitor price reactions in these areas to gauge trend strength and potential reversals.”

Related: BlackRock launches Bitcoin ETP in Europe

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.