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Trading halt amid suspicious activity put the decentralization of Hyperliquid in question, SEC withdrew claims against several cryptocurrency companies, user data of crypto exchanges Gemini and Binance got into the network and other events of the passing week.
"Bull trap" and hopes for ATH
For bitcoin, the week started at the $86,000 mark. Amid easing fears of U.S. import duties on March 24, the price reached a local high above $88,500.
Santiment analysts concluded that many community members are confident in the continued growth of the cryptocurrency market.
"Crypto week started confidently: bitcoin rose to $88,500 for the first time in 17 days, and Ethereum crossed the $2100 mark - for the first time in 14 days. Positive sentiment is growing in social networks, with many expecting the rally to continue," experts wrote.
CryptoQuant warned that this market recovery comes with high leverage.
"Open interest (OI) has reached record levels above the $32 billion mark as bitcoin price rises towards $87,500. But here's the catch: high OI + rapid price rise = risk of a liquidation cascade!", the researchers emphasized.
Bloomberg experts warned that the first cryptocurrency's price recovery to a two-week high risks being short-lived - the lack of upward momentum, low trading volumes and macroeconomic tensions are creating conditions for a bull trap.
Investor sentiment is reflected by the funding rate in perpetual bitcoin futures. In a bull market, the metric is positive, but even after the cryptocurrency rebounded above $87,000, the values remain in the negative zone. This means that traders are not willing to pay a premium to open long positions.
Another sign of lack of confidence in the market is the cost of borrowing stablecoins like USDT from Tether and USDC from Circle. On the Aave lending platform, rates have dropped to around 4%.
According to Strahinja Savic, head of data and analytics at FRNT Financial, this reflects a reduced appetite for leverage and other strategies that require credit.
To continue the uptrend, the price of the first cryptocurrency needs to overcome its 20-week exponential moving average (EMA), which currently passes through the $88,682 mark, Cointelegraph analysts noted.
For example, in October 2023, after breaking this EMA, the price rose 170% - from $27,000 to $73,000 by March 2024.
Similarly, in September 2024 quotes added 77% - from $60,000 to $108,000 by December.
Speaking to the publication, an analyst under the nickname Decode noted the significance of the aforementioned EMA, calling it "the most important frontier for bitcoin right now." ;
Meanwhile, Material Indicators co-founder Keith Alan emphasized that the first cryptocurrency needs to overcome the opening level of the year around the $93,300 mark to confirm the move to historical highs.
According to Real Vision chief crypto analyst Jamie Coutts, bitcoin will update the all-time high "faster than many expect."
"The market is probably underestimating how fast bitcoin can grow, potentially reaching new all-time highs before the end of the second quarter," the expert stated.
He noted that his forecast does not depend on the tariff policy of U.S. President Donald Trump and concerns about a possible recession in the world's largest economy. Coutts justified his optimism by the weakening of the dollar and stimulus measures from the People's Bank of China.
In his opinion, in the case of a conservative scenario, the bitcoin rate will reach $102,000 in the next 90 days. If the situation develops favorably, the price will rise to $146,000, and the average estimate is $123,000.
At the time of writing, the first cryptocurrency is trading at $82,950 - about 6.4% below its weekly high. The Fear and Greed Ingex is at 32 - "fear".
Ethereum opened the week at the $2000 mark. During March 24, the price reached a local high near $2090, mirroring bitcoin's momentum.
By March 27, the rate had pulled back to the $2000 level before collapsing to $1900 the next day. On the weekend, the fall continued;
At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $1454 - 26% below its seven-day peak.
During this week, all assets from the list of top-10 assets by capitalization experienced a decline;
The decentralization of Hyperliquid has come into question
On March 26, Hyperliquid trading platform withdrew from trading perpetual futures on the JELLYJELLY token due to "suspicious activity on the market."
An unknown user opened two longs for $2.15 million and $1.9 million. A short position of $4.1 million acted as a hedge.
JELLYJELLY's ~400% price bump caused the short to liquidate, but due to high volume, the order automatically went to Hyperliquidity Provider (HLP) Treasury as part of an automatic mechanism to minimize market impact.
The manipulator continued to seize collateral on the longs with approximately $11 million in unrealized gains.
The balance of his funds on the platform is about $900,000. According to Arkham experts, even if the user manages to withdraw these assets, the loss will amount to about $4000.
Users affected by the attacker's actions will be compensated for their losses from the Hyper Foundation's coffers.
The response of the platform developers provoked a discussion about the degree of decentralization of Hyperliquid.
"The way Hyperliquid handled the incident was immature, unethical and unprofessional, resulted in user losses and raised serious doubts about its commitment to principles. Despite positioning itself as a cutting-edge DEX with an innovative approach, the platform operates more like an offshore CEX without KYC/AML that condones the flow of illicit funds and unscrupulous players," commented Bitget CEO Gracie Chen.
It said the forced closure of positions set a dangerous precedent and Hyperliquid's product design contains critical flaws in the form of mixed storage and lack of limits that expose users to systemic risk.
The price of Hyperliquid token (HYPE) slipped from $16.3 to $13.5 amid the incident. It then dipped to $12.4.
SEC continued to withdraw lawsuits
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped several more legal conflicts with cryptocurrency companies, continuing its drive to build a friendlier environment for the industry.
Specifically, on March 26, the agency closed a case against blockchain game developer Immutable. The firm received a Wells notice in October 2024. The regulator's claims concerned the company itself, its CEO and the IMX ecosystem fund.
The commission also dismissed the claims against cryptocurrency companies Kraken, ConsenSys and Cumberland. The dismissal court documents were filed on March 27.
Kraken became the subject of claims in November 2023. The commission accused the exchange of offering unregistered securities in the form of digital tokens on its platform.
In June 2024, the SEC sued ConsenSys. According to the lawsuit, the firm has been "operating as an unregistered securities broker" since October 2020 and has been selling securities through MetaMask Staking since January 2023.
Trading firm Cumberland DRW came under fire in October 2024 over allegations of unregistered trading in assets the SEC deemed to be securities.
The cases were dismissed due to "prejudice," making them impossible to reopen.
The SEC said the decision is related to a review of the overall approach to regulating the crypto industry. The closing of the cases does not reflect their legality, the statement said.
Terraform Labs and FTX announce compensation plans
The company behind the collapsed Terra ecosystem, Terraform Labs (TFL), will open a portal to accept compensation claims for affected users on March 31.
Claims can be submitted until April 30. The resource is controlled by TFL liquidators from the consulting company Kroll.
The company noted the importance of providing complete and extremely accurate data, as well as proof of identity.
Claims for lost capitalization assets with an aggregate market value of less than $100 will not be accepted. The same applies to tokens issued as part of the Terra 2.0 initiative.
Liquidators of bankrupt exchange FTX will begin paying compensation for bids of $50,000 or more starting May 30.
According to FTX attorney Andrew Dietderich, the funds for the payments will be taken from the $11.4 billion accumulated since the bankruptcy.
The distribution "will take time." The lawyer said the company has received "27 quadrillion" reimbursement requests, many of which require additional verification and "billions" of which are false.
Customers awaiting payouts are getting an additional 9% per annum on their vested deposits. According to Bloomberg, the interest rate on FTX accounts is lower, so the firm is interested in resolving the reimbursement issue as quickly as possible.
In February 2025, the exchange directed $1.2 billion to compensate users with assets up.
Gemini and Binance users' data leaked online
Attackers gained access to personal data of clients of crypto exchanges Gemini and Binance. Some of the information has already been put up for sale on the darknet.
Attackers gained access to personal data of clients of crypto exchanges Gemini and Binance. Some of the information has already been put up for sale on the darknet.On March 27, a darknet user under the nickname AKM69 made the last recorded transaction.
"The database for sale reportedly includes 100,000 records, each containing the full names, email addresses, phone numbers and location data of people from the US, as well as Singapore and the UK," Dark Web Informer noted. "The database is reportedly 100,000 records, each containing the full names, email addresses, phone numbers and location data of people from the US, as well as Singapore and the UK," Dark Web Informer noted.
The attacker categorized his "item" as part of a "broader campaign to sell consumer data for cryptocurrency-related marketing and fraud."
A day earlier, on March 26, Dark Web Informer reported that a user under the nickname kiki8888888 was offering to sell Binance customers' logins and passwords. The compromised data contained 132,744 lines of information.
The specialists specified that the data leak was not related to the vulnerability of trading platforms:
"Some of you really need to stop pushing random buttons."
Binance representatives denied a direct link to the incident. According to them, hackers selling personal information gained access to it through malware on infected customer devices.
