Crypto buyers rejoiced this week after the US Securities and Alternate Fee dismissed one of many crypto business’s most controversial lawsuits — one which resulted in an over four-year authorized battle with Ripple Labs.
In one other vital regulatory growth, Solana-based futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have debuted within the US, a transfer that will sign the approval of spot Solana (SOL) ETFs because the “subsequent logical step” for lawmakers.
SEC’s XRP reversal a “victory for the business”: Ripple CEO
The SEC’s dismissal of its years-long lawsuit in opposition to Ripple Labs, the developer of the XRP Ledger blockchain community, is a “victory for the business,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse mentioned at Blockworks’ 2025 Digital Asset Summit in New York.
On March 19, Garlinghouse revealed that the SEC would dismiss its authorized motion in opposition to Ripple, ending 4 years of litigation in opposition to the blockchain developer for an alleged $1.3-billion unregistered securities providing in 2020.
“It appears like a victory for the business and the start of a brand new chapter,” Garlinghouse mentioned on March 19 on the Summit, which Cointelegraph attended.
Ripple’s CEO mentioned the SEC is dropping its case in opposition to the blockchain developer. Supply: Brad Garlinghouse
Solana futures ETF to develop institutional adoption, regardless of restricted inflows
The crypto business is ready to debut the primary SOL futures ETF, a major growth that will pave the way in which for the primary spot SOL ETF because the “subsequent logical step” for crypto-based buying and selling merchandise, in keeping with business watchers.
Volatility Shares is launching two SOL futures ETFs, the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT), on March 20.
Volatility Shares Solana ETF SEC submitting. Supply: SEC
The debut of the primary SOL futures ETF could convey vital new institutional adoption for the SOL token, in keeping with Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Analysis.
The analyst advised Cointelegraph:
“The launch of the primary Solana ETFs within the US might considerably enhance Solana’s market place by rising demand and liquidity for SOL, probably narrowing the hole with Ethereum’s market cap.”
The Solana ETF will develop institutional adoption by “providing a regulated funding car, attracting billions in capital and reinforcing Solana’s competitiveness in opposition to Ethereum,” mentioned Lee, including that “Ethereum’s entrenched ecosystem stays a formidable barrier.”
Pump.enjoyable launches personal DEX, drops Raydium
Pump.enjoyable has launched its personal decentralized change (DEX) known as PumpSwap, probably displacing Raydium as the first buying and selling venue for Solana-based memecoins.
Beginning on March 20, memecoins that efficiently bootstrap liquidity, or “bond,” on Pump.enjoyable will migrate on to PumpSwap, Pump.enjoyable mentioned in an X publish.
Beforehand, bonded Pump.enjoyable tokens migrated to Raydium, which emerged as Solana’s hottest DEX, largely because of memecoin buying and selling exercise.
In accordance with Pump.enjoyable, PumpSwap “features equally to Raydium V4 and Uniswap V2” and is designed “to create essentially the most frictionless surroundings for buying and selling cash.”
“Migrations have been a significant level of friction – they sluggish a coin’s momentum and introduce pointless complexity for brand spanking new customers,” Pump.enjoyable mentioned.
“Now, migrations occur immediately and without cost.”
Raydium’s buying and selling volumes surged in 2024, largely on account of memecoins. Supply: DefiLlama
Bybit: 89% of stolen $1.4B crypto nonetheless traceable post-hack
The lion’s share of the hacked Bybit funds remains to be traceable after the historic cybertheft, with blockchain investigators persevering with their efforts to freeze and get better the funds.
The crypto business was rocked by the biggest hack in historical past on Feb. 21 when Bybit misplaced over $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether (stETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH) and different digital property.
Blockchain safety corporations, together with Arkham Intelligence, have recognized North Korea’s Lazarus Group because the probably perpetrator behind the Bybit exploit because the attackers proceed swapping the funds in an effort to make them untraceable.
Regardless of the Lazarus Group’s efforts, over 88% of the stolen $1.4 billion stays traceable, in keeping with Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of crypto change Bybit.
The CEO wrote in a March 20 X publish:
“Whole hacked funds of USD 1.4bn round 500k ETH. 88.87% stay traceable, 7.59% have gone darkish, 3.54% have been frozen.”
“86.29% (440,091 ETH, ~$1.23B) have been transformed into 12,836 BTC throughout 9,117 wallets (Common 1.41 BTC every),” mentioned the CEO, including that the funds have been primarily funneled by way of Bitcoin (BTC) mixers, together with Wasbi, CryptoMixer, Railgun and Twister Money.
Supply: Ben Zhou
The CEO’s replace comes practically a month after the change was hacked. It took the Lazarus Group 10 days to maneuver 100% of the stolen funds by way of the decentralized crosschain protocol THORChain, Cointelegraph reported on March 4.
Libra, Melania creator’s “Wolf of Wall Avenue” memecoin crashes 99%
The creator of the Libra token has launched one other memecoin with among the similar regarding onchain patterns that pointed to vital insider buying and selling exercise forward of the coin’s 99% collapse.
Hayden Davis, co-creator of the Official Melania Meme (MELANIA) and Libra tokens, has launched a brand new Solana-based memecoin with an over 80% insider provide.
Davis launched the Wolf (WOLF) memecoin on March 8, banking on rumors of Jordan Belfort, often known as the Wolf of Wall Avenue, launching his personal token.
The token reached a peak $42 million market cap. Nonetheless, 82% of WOLF’s provide was bundled underneath the identical entity, in keeping with a March 15 X publish by Bubblemaps, which wrote:
“The bubble map revealed one thing unusual — $WOLF had the identical sample as $HOOD, a token launched by Hayden Davis. Was he behind this one too?”
Supply: Bubblemaps
The blockchain analytics platform revealed transfers throughout 17 totally different addresses, stemming again to the deal with “OxcEAe,” owned by Davis.
“He funded these wallets months earlier than $LIBRA and $WOLF launched, transferring cash by way of 17 addresses and a couple of chains,” Bubblemaps added.
Supply: Bubblemaps
The Wolf memecoin misplaced over 99% of its worth inside two days, from the height $42.9 million market capitalization on March 8 to only $570,000 by March 16, Dexscreener information reveals.
DeFi market overview
In accordance with Cointelegraph Markets Professional and TradingView information, many of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week within the inexperienced.
Of the highest 100, the BNB Chain-native 4 (FORM) token rose over 110% because the week’s largest gainer, adopted by PancakeSwap’s CAKE (CAKE) token, up over 48% on the weekly chart.
Whole worth locked in DeFi. Supply: DefiLlama
Thanks for studying our abstract of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Be a part of us subsequent Friday for extra tales, insights and schooling relating to this dynamically advancing area.
