Crypto buyers rejoiced this week after the US Securities and Exchange Commission 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 important regulatory improvement, Solana-based futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have debuted within the US, a transfer which will sign the approval of spot Solana (SOL) ETFs because the “next logical step” for lawmakers.
SEC’s XRP reversal a “victory for the industry”: 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 industry,” 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 feels like a victory for the industry and the beginning of a 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. Source: 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 improvement which will pave the way in which for the primary spot SOL ETF because the “next logical step” for crypto-based buying and selling merchandise, based on 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. Source: SEC
The debut of the primary SOL futures ETF could carry important new institutional adoption for the SOL token, based on Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research.
The analyst instructed Cointelegraph:
“The launch of the first Solana ETFs in the US could significantly boost Solana’s market position by increasing demand and liquidity for SOL, potentially narrowing the gap with Ethereum’s market cap.”
The Solana ETF will develop institutional adoption by “offering a regulated investment vehicle, attracting billions in capital and reinforcing Solana’s competitiveness against Ethereum,” mentioned Lee, including that “Ethereum’s entrenched ecosystem remains a formidable barrier.”
Pump.enjoyable launches personal DEX, drops Raydium
Pump.enjoyable has launched its personal decentralized trade (DEX) known as PumpSwap, probably displacing Raydium as the first buying and selling venue for Solana-based memecoins.
Starting on March 20, memecoins that efficiently bootstrap liquidity, or “bond,” on Pump.enjoyable will migrate on to PumpSwap, Pump.enjoyable said in an X put up.
Previously, bonded Pump.enjoyable tokens migrated to Raydium, which emerged as Solana’s hottest DEX, largely because of memecoin buying and selling exercise.
According to Pump.enjoyable, PumpSwap “functions similarly to Raydium V4 and Uniswap V2” and is designed “to create the most frictionless environment for trading coins.”
“Migrations were a major point of friction – they slow a coin’s momentum and introduce needless complexity for new users,” Pump.enjoyable mentioned.
“Now, migrations happen instantly and for free.”
Raydium’s buying and selling volumes surged in 2024, largely because of memecoins. Source: 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 largest hack in history on Feb. 21 when Bybit lost over $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether (stETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH) and different digital property.
Blockchain safety companies, together with Arkham Intelligence, have recognized North Korea’s Lazarus Group because the doubtless offender behind the Bybit exploit because the attackers proceed swapping the funds in an effort to make them untraceable.
Despite the Lazarus Group’s efforts, over 88% of the stolen $1.4 billion stays traceable, based on Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of crypto trade Bybit.
The CEO wrote in a March 20 X post:
“Total hacked funds of USD 1.4bn around 500k ETH. 88.87% remain traceable, 7.59% have gone dark, 3.54% have been frozen.”
“86.29% (440,091 ETH, ~$1.23B) have been converted into 12,836 BTC across 9,117 wallets (Average 1.41 BTC each),” mentioned the CEO, including that the funds had been primarily funneled by means of Bitcoin (BTC) mixers, together with Wasbi, CryptoMixer, Railgun and Tornado Cash.
Source: Ben Zhou
The CEO’s replace comes practically a month after the trade was hacked. It took the Lazarus Group 10 days to move 100% of the stolen funds by means of the decentralized crosschain protocol THORChain, Cointelegraph reported on March 4.
Libra, Melania creator’s “Wolf of Wall Street” memecoin crashes 99%
The creator of the Libra token has launched one other memecoin with among the identical regarding onchain patterns that pointed to important 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 Street, launching his personal token.
The token reached a peak $42 million market cap. However, 82% of WOLF’s provide was bundled below the identical entity, based on a March 15 X put up by Bubblemaps, which wrote:
“The bubble map revealed something strange — $WOLF had the same pattern as $HOOD, a token launched by Hayden Davis. Was he behind this one too?”
Source: Bubblemaps
The blockchain analytics platform revealed transfers throughout 17 completely different addresses, stemming again to the tackle “OxcEAe,” owned by Davis.
“He funded these wallets months before $LIBRA and $WOLF launched, moving money through 17 addresses and 2 chains,” Bubblemaps added.
Source: 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
According to Cointelegraph Markets Pro 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 Four (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.
Total worth locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlama
Thanks for studying our abstract of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us subsequent Friday for extra tales, insights and schooling concerning this dynamically advancing area.
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