The fresh wave of crypto has not yet hit the market in terms of price, as major altcoins are still trading in the red. However, last week, the industry was surrounded by crucial developments and moves that helped it witness some eventful stories related to regulatory achievements, hacking incidents, crypto whale purchases, and more.Â
As we step into a new week, here is a recap of last week’s top crypto news stories.
Broker-dealers can now imply 2% haircut for stablecoins
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) updated its guidance, allowing broker-dealers to implement a 2% stablecoin capital haircut. Earlier, several firms considered that these payment stablecoins had 100% haircut. Haircut is a financial term where regulators lower the value of an asset when calculating the capital earned by a firm.
The new haircut will make on-chain settlement more enticing and economically feasible.
IoTeX suffers from a private key hack
Hackers compromised the private key of the layer-1 blockchain platform IoTeX, draining multiple assets, including USDT, USDC, PAYG, BUSD, and WBTC. The attackers exploited two specific contracts on the platform — TokenSafe and MinterPool — and swapped the withdrawn assets to Ether on decentralized exchanges (DEX). The total assets drained are estimated to be more than $2 million.
XRP Binance reserves dip as millions of tokens move off exchange
Nearly 200 million XRP have been withdrawn from Binance’s XRP balances over the last ten days. As token holders moved XRP into custody or private wallets, the exchange’s supply ratio dropped from 0.027 to 0.025 out of the total circulating XRP.Â
Animoca Brands secures Dubai license
Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based blockchain and Web3 investment company, received the Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). The new license will allow the investment platform to provide regulated digital asset services for qualified institutional investors in the UAE.
Bitmine makes a new Ethereum purchase
Tom Lee-linked Bitmine Immersion Rechnologies has bought another $123 million worth of Ethereum this week, amid its growing accumulation strategy. The Ethereum treasury company has already accumulated nearly 4.3 million Ethereum. This move has created a slight bullish pattern for Ethereum at the time of purchase.
Brian Armstrong registers bullish outlook for nations embracing crypto
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong expressed optimism about countries adopting cryptocurrency. According to the executive, countries that embrace crypto are poised to experience high economic growth over the next ten years. He also emphasized that clear and comprehensive regulatory frameworks in cryptocurrency adoption will help nations build their economy.
Tether to stop support for offshore yuan stablecoin
Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, has announced ceasing support for CNHâ‚®, the stablecoin pegged to the Chinese yuan. This implies that Tether will not mint or issue any new CNHâ‚® stablecoins.
The stablecoin issuer has pointed out a few reasons for discontinuing support for the stablecoin, including reduced usage of the asset and low consumer interest.
As days move on, crypto enthusiasts are eagerly watching for upcoming developments in the industry. One of the key matters to look forward to is the stablecoin rules negotiations in the crypto market structure bill.
Stablecoin-related topics in the bill have gone through multiple rounds of negotiations between crypto firms and banking groups, although nothing fruitful has come of it. The White House encouraged both parties to come to a conclusion on this particular matter by March 1, 2026.Â
