Crypto Market Daily Update | The cryptocurrency market experienced downward volatility, with Bitcoin falling below $69,000. The New York Stock Exchange completed a rule change to remove trading limits on crypto ETF options. Cathie Wood reduced holdings in

On March 23, reports indicated that the cryptocurrency market experienced volatile declines, with Bitcoin falling below $69,000. As of the time of writing,$Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$it dropped by 0.31%, trading at $68,634.68; $Ethereum (ETH.CC)$ Ethereum fell by 1.19%, trading at $2,058.38.

Key Focus

According to a report by The Block, NYSE Arca and NYSE American, subsidiaries of the New York Stock Exchange, have submitted a rule change to the SEC to remove the 25,000-contract position and exercise limit on spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF options. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) waived the standard 30-day waiting period for these two filings, allowing the changes to take effect immediately. This marks the completion of this adjustment by all major U.S. options exchanges. The rule change covers 11 crypto ETF products, including$iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT.US)$、 $Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC.US)$、$ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB.US)$, Grayscale Bitcoin and Ethereum Trusts, and Bitwise Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. These products can now determine position limits under the standard framework of each exchange, with large liquid ETFs eligible for a limit of 250,000 contracts or higher.

ResolvLabs provided an update on the security incident, stating that a malicious attacker illegally accessed Resolv’s infrastructure yesterday using stolen private keys, minting approximately $80 million worth of uncollateralized USR tokens. The relevant smart contracts were promptly suspended, and about 9 million USR held by the attacker were burned to mitigate potential impacts. Currently, the protocol holds approximately $141 million in assets, with confirmed actual losses limited to around $500,000 in redemptions processed before suspension. The current USR supply consists of 102 million tokens prior to the incident and approximately 71 million newly minted illegal tokens. As the first step in recovery, Resolv plans to allow whitelisted users to redeem pre-incident USR starting from March 23, 2026. Affected users should coordinate directly with RDAL through official channels.

According to a report by Cointelegraph, Fidelity Investments sent a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 22, urging the agency to continue refining the regulatory framework for broker-dealers providing, custodizing, and trading crypto assets on Alternative Trading Systems (ATS). The third-largest asset management firm in the United States stated that it is crucial to formulate comprehensive rules for tokenized securities trading, including trading rules for third-party issued tokenized securities. Fidelity noted in its letter that tokenized instruments differ in issuance structure, legal attributes, and valuation models; for instance, tokenized real-world assets encompass various asset classes such as stocks, real estate, and bonds.

$Strategy (MSTR.US)$Founder Michael Saylor once again released information related to the Bitcoin Tracker and wrote: “The Orange March Continues.” Based on previous patterns, Strategy always discloses Bitcoin purchase information the day after related announcements.

$BOYAA (00434.HK)$An announcement was made that the board of directors proposed seeking shareholder approval to grant purchase authorization, allowing the use of idle cash reserves generated from company operations over the next 12 months for potential cryptocurrency purchases, with a total amount not exceeding $70 million. This move aims to leverage opportunities during the downturn in the cryptocurrency market, appropriately expand cryptocurrency allocation, and further support the development of the company’s Web3 business. As of the announcement date, the company holds a total of 4,092 Bitcoins, with an average unit price of approximately $68,200; 302 Ethereum tokens, with an average unit price of approximately $1,661; and approximately 7,000,700 Tether tokens purchased. The board plans to execute these cryptocurrency purchases on regulated trading platforms, ensuring market liquidity and security.

On March 23, according to a report by The Block, official sources confirmed that Grayscale has submitted an S-1 application to the U.S. SEC, planning to launch the Grayscale HYPE ETF (ticker: GHYP). This fund aims to track the spot price of the Hyperliquid (HYPE) token and is proposed to be listed on Nasdaq, with custody provided by Coinbase Custody. The current filing explicitly states that HYPE staking functionality will not be available, but provisions have been reserved for enabling staking in the future under specific conditions.

• The cost of Bitcoin mining has reached $88,000, with miners incurring a loss of approximately $19,000 per BTC.

On March 22, according to a report by CoinDesk, Bitcoin miners are currently facing severe cost pressures. Checkonchain’s difficulty regression model shows that as of March 13, the average production cost of Bitcoin was approximately $88,000, while the current Bitcoin price was around $69,200, resulting in a gap of nearly $19,000. This means that the average miner incurs a loss of about 21% for every Bitcoin mined. Cost pressures have accumulated since Bitcoin dropped from $126,000 to below $70,000 in October last year, and the Iran war further exacerbated the situation. Oil prices breaking through $100 per barrel directly increased miners’ electricity costs, especially impacting about 8% to 10% of global hash power dependent on energy supplies sensitive to Middle Eastern markets. Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum on Saturday, threatening to attack Iranian power plants, adding another layer of risk for miners.

Bitcoin mining difficulty decreased by 7.76% to 133.79T on Saturday, marking the second-largest decline in 2026. It is currently about 10% lower than at the start of the year, far below the historical high of approximately 155T in November 2025. The network’s total hash rate has retreated to about 920 EH/s, and the average block time for the previous cycle extended to 12 minutes and 36 seconds. The current hash price is approximately $33.30 per PH/s/day, close to the breakeven point for most mining machines, not far from the historical low of $28 set on February 23. When miners cannot cover their costs, they are forced to sell Bitcoin to maintain operations, further increasing market selling pressure amid a backdrop where 43% of Bitcoin supply is currently at a loss. Listed mining companies such as Marathon Digital and Cipher Mining are addressing the challenges by diversifying into AI and high-performance computing. The next difficulty adjustment is expected in early April, with CoinWarz data indicating a continued decline.

On March 21, Coinbase’s asset management division launched tokenized shares of a Bitcoin yield fund, deploying them on its Ethereum Layer 2 network Base, in collaboration with Apex Group, which manages $3.5 trillion in assets. The product is open to non-U.S. investors and utilizes the ERC-3643 standard, embedding compliance checks into the tokens to enable automated access and transfer controls. This move reflects that institutions, including BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton, are accelerating efforts to bring assets such as funds and bonds on-chain to enhance settlement efficiency, reduce costs, and expand distribution channels.

According to a CoinDesk report on March 23, the stablecoin balances of South Korea’s top five cryptocurrency exchanges have dropped by approximately 55% since July 2025, from $575 million to about $188 million by mid-March. The outflow of funds accelerated significantly after the Korean won’s exchange rate against the US dollar fell below the 1500 mark in mid-March. Bradley Park, founder of DNTV Research, stated that the weakening of the Korean won has amplified investors’ motivation to exit dollar-denominated assets. Traders have been converting stablecoins into Korean won and reallocating the proceeds into domestic assets.

This trend aligns with the broader shift of South Korean retail capital from cryptocurrencies to the stock market. Encouraged by policies such as the government’s introduction of ‘repatriation’ accounts, investors who sell overseas assets and reinvest locally can enjoy up to 100% exemption from capital gains tax. The benchmark KOSPI index rose by 75% in 2025 and has gained an additional 37% this year. Analysts believe that the decline in liquidity in South Korea’s cryptocurrency market reflects a rotation of domestic capital rather than a regional retreat, and whether funds will return may largely depend on the sustainability of the stock market rally.

Cathie Wood Sells Cryptocurrency Exchange Shares$Bullish (BLSH.US)$103,400 shares, as well as stablecoin issuer$Circle (CRCL.US)$46,000 shares. Amid recent heightened volatility in the cryptocurrency market, ARK chose to take profits and reduce positions in digital asset infrastructure, specifically exchanges and stablecoin issuers, to reallocate resources toward AI software with higher certainty.

Editor/Vincent