E-commerce giant Mercado Libre (MELI) is pulling the plug on its homegrown cryptocurrency, Mercado Coin, nearly four years after introducing it to boost customer engagement across its platform.
The e-commerce giant announced the decision through a notification and email from Mercado Pago, its digital wallet, which will handle the phase-out. Starting April 17, users won’t be able to buy, sell or earn cashback in Mercado Coin, effectively ending its utility inside the ecosystem.
Launched in August 2022 in Brazil before expanding to other markets, Mercado Coin was pitched as a way to reward users for purchases on the platform.
Participating products offered token incentives that could be used for future purchases or cashed out. The token, built on Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, was accessible via the Mercado Pago app and operated in partnership with crypto exchange Ripio.
Now, users holding Mercado Coin have a few options. They can sell their tokens through the app, spend them as purchase credits on Mercado Libre or wait for an automatic conversion into their local fiat currency, which will be deposited into their accounts.
Whilel the company didn’t explain the decision in its customer notice, the exit comes as large tech firms rethink their approach to branded digital assets.
Mercado Libre continues to support crypto features such as stablecoin transfers and token trading via Mercado Pago, and holds more than $38 million worth of bitcoin BTC$66,649.61 on its balance sheet. The company also has its own dollar-backed stablecoin.
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett said he would buy “a whole lot” of Apple shares if the stock became cheap enough, but the current market isn’t offering the right opportunity yet.
“I will buy them if they’re cheap. I’ll buy a whole lot of them if they’re cheap,” Buffett said a morning interview with CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box.’
“It’s not impossible that Apple would get to a price. We would buy a lot of it, but not in this market,” he noted. “This just isn’t going to happen in this market.”
Berkshire entered Apple in Q1 2016 with a $1 billion position of 9.8 million shares. Trimming began in late 2023, accelerated in 2024, and continued through 2025, reducing the stake by nearly 50% by mid-2024.
Buffett admitted he sold Apple “too soon,” but said he didn’t regret the decision.
“I sold it too soon,” the 95-year-old investor said. “But I bought it even sooner. I think we’ve made over $100 billion in that pre-tax.”
Even with these sales, Apple stays Berkshire’s top equity holding.
Buffett values Apple as a business with strong consumer demand, durable competitive advantages, and excellent management.
“It’s a remark. It’s better than any business we own outright. Now, we own a railroad that’s worth more money than our Apple position, for example,” Buffett said.
“But it doesn’t earn the rate remotely on capital that Apple does,” he noted. “Apple is a business that, you know, you’ve got one probably and your kids have got them.”
On the current market drawdown, Buffett called it “nothing” compared to past episodes when Berkshire’s stock fell more than 50%, including the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
He said he would deploy cash when stocks or businesses are attractive, but not based on short-term market timing.
Buffett also said Berkshire, now led by CEO Greg Abel, is sitting on roughly $350 billion in cash and Treasury bills and recently purchased $17 billion in T-bills in a single week.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
The crypto market exhibited signs of volatility on Tuesday, with bitcoin BTC$67,630.27 spiking to $68,300 shortly after midnight UTC before tumbling back to $66,500.
The initial spike was spurred by reports that U.S. President Donald Trump was willing to end the war in Iran without the Strait of Hormuz being opened. The optimism faded after Israeli officials said they were prepared to “keep operating for weeks to come.”
The war, now in its 32nd day, has sent energy prices surging, with Brent crude trading around $107 per barrel, leading to inflation concerns and widespread risk-off sentiment.
Crypto, while being relatively resilient throughout March, is beginning to show signs of weakness after bitcoin failed to rise above $75,000 on two occasions.
U.S. equities diverged from the crypto market on Tuesday, with Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 index futures both adding 0.8%.
Derivatives Positioning
Cumulative industry-wide crypto futures open interest (OI) dropped over 3% to $103.79 billion in 24 hours, continuing the risk-off trends observed throughout the first quarter. The tally has declined by over 18% since the start of the year.
OI has declined across BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP futures, indicating capital outflows from the major cryptocurrencies. Other tokens, such as BCH, AVAX and LTC, have seen double-digit percentage declines in open interest.
Privacy-focused ZEC stands out, with its futures market exhibiting bullishness. The token’s OI rose more than 3% alongside mildly positive funding rates and cumulative volume delta. This combination points to an increasing demand for bullish exposure.
At the other end is DOGE, which has the most negative 24-hour cumulative volume delta among major tokens.
Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, has ticked up to 58% from 54% late last week, topping its 50-day average to suggest more gains ahead. This means potential for increased price turbulence.
Ether’s volatility index remains dead flat between 70% and 80% for the seventh straight day.
On Deribit, bitcoin risk reversals out to the June end expiry show a strong bias for put options. These downside hedges trade at an 8 to 10 volatility-point premium to calls. Meanwhile, bearishness is relatively measured in ether.
The $60,000 bitcoin put remains the most popular play with a total open interest of $1.50 billion.
Token talk
The altcoin market suffered more than bitcoin on Tuesday, with tokens like NEO, HBAR and PUMP losing between 2.6% and 3.3% since midnight UTC.
A select few tokens are bucking that trend, including BCH and AI-related coins, which are in the black.
CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator is currently printing 51/100, reflecting relative strength over the past few weeks in spite of Tuesday’s selloff.
However, the next major move will still be determined by bitcoin and whether it can either break above $75,000 or below $62,000. Altcoins typically perform well when bitcoin consolidates, but lose ground during big swings.
In a strategic move designed to equip small businesses and their accounting advisors with real-time, actionable financial intelligence, Xero and Anthropic have officially unveiled a new multi-year partnership.
The landmark deal represents the first time Xero customers will be able to work with their financial data directly inside a major AI platform. By bridging the two ecosystems, the companies aim to drastically reduce the time users spend manually chasing invoices or piecing together cash flow across multiple, disjointed reports.
Moving into agentic workflows
Diya Jolly, chief product & technology officer at Xero,
Diya Jolly, chief product & technology officer at Xero, noted that small business owners constantly face pressing questions about tight cash flow, overdue invoices, and hiring budgets.
“To run their business efficiently, small business owners and their accountants and bookkeepers need to be able to answer these questions and act on them in real time whether using Xero or Claude,” Jolly stated. “Integrating Claude moves Xero into agentic workflows, where Xero’s AI superagent, JAX (Just Ask Xero), does the heavy lifting, from predicting cash flow gaps to executing complex financial tasks.”
The integration, which is expected to be available in the coming months, will introduce two primary operational shifts for users:
Claude-powered automation in Xero: Customers will be able to orchestrate financial tasks from start to finish across accounting, payroll, and payments. Powered by Claude’s advanced reasoning, JAX will proactively analyze revenue and profit performance, track real-time cash flow, and identify unpaid invoices to suggest immediate actions.
Xero insights and actions in Claude.ai: Customers can safely port their Xero financial data into Claude.ai for highly detailed analysis and business planning. By combining real-time revenue and unpaid invoice data with external market trends, users can seamlessly assess different business scenarios. Over time, Xero in Claude.ai will suggest and complete end-to-end actions triggered with a single click.
Data privacy and internal adoption
Chris Ciauri, managing director of international at Anthropic
Addressing the critical issue of data privacy, Xero confirmed that data responsibility remains foundational to the new partnership. Any financial data shared between the platforms is utilized solely for the user’s specific session, and proprietary business data is never used to train Anthropic’s AI models.
Chris Ciauri, managing director of international at Anthropic, highlighted the transformative nature of adding AI reasoning to established financial infrastructure.
“Xero has spent 20 years building the financial platform that millions of small businesses depend on. Claude brings a reasoning layer to that foundation,” Ciauri explained. “Now, instead of spending hours trying to make sense of their financials on top of everything else it takes to run a business, customers get clear answers and recommended actions in real time. This provides small businesses and their advisors with the kind of financial intelligence that used to require a dedicated analyst or CFO.”
Beyond the customer-facing integrations, the partnership will also transform Xero’s backend operations. As part of the deal, Xero’s own engineering teams will adopt Claude Code and Cowork to accelerate their internal product development.
Bitcoin BTC$67,615.00 is on track to match a joint record of six consecutive monthly losses, set only once between August 2018 and January 2019, according to Coinglass data.
Currently at $66,600, BTC would need to rally a bit more than 1% over the next 15 hours to close above the $67,300 level at which it started the month.
According to Coinglass data, bitcoin fell 4% in October, 18% in November, and 3% in December. The downtrend continued into 2026, with a 10% drop in January, 15% in February, and March currently down about 1%.
The last time bitcoin recorded six consecutive down months was between August 2018 and January 2019. That period was followed by five consecutive months of gains, offering bitcoin bulls a modest historical precedent for a potential recovery.
Downside risks remain
Unlike that 2019 experience, however, the technicals and the macro situation suggest the pressure could continue.
Bitcoin remains above key long-term support levels, including its 200-week moving average at $59,268 and its realized price — the average on-chain cost basis — at $54,177, according to Glassnode data. In previous bear markets, bitcoin has typically fallen below both levels and remained there for a sustained period.
200WMA + realized Price (Glassnode)
Macro conditions also remain a headwind. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has kept oil prices above $100 per barrel for over a month, complicating central bank policy decisions around rate cuts or further tightening. At the same time, renewed concerns around quantum computing risks have added another layer of uncertainty.
One potential bright spot is that bitcoin has edged slightly higher since the onset of the Middle East conflict, suggesting some resilience despite the broader risk-off environment.
Leading blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis is adding artificial intelligence agents to its platform, lowering the technical know-how needed for launching plain-language investigations into crypto financial relationships.
“This is a really important moment for reducing the barrier to entry to blockchain intelligence,” Chainalysis co-founder and CEO Jonathan Levin told CoinDesk in an interview. Not only law enforcement officers, but also more people from traditional finance increasingly need to understand the movement of digital assets over blockchain transactions.
“We’re at this moment where you need to be able to access that intelligence without all of the history of working in crypto for a long time,” Levin said. The new tool to assemble custom AI agents will be embedded in his company’s platform and allow non-technical requests to build tailored investigations backed by the depth and breadth of approach needed for serious investigation, including audit trails and standards of evidence.
The agents, said to be rolling out over the summer, can help users identify what analysis they’ll need and which transactions may be relevant, Levin said, and the work will be informed by some 10 million investigations conducted within the Chainalysis Reactor software. This is not just a chatbot, he emphasized.
The Chainalysis announcement comes quickly on the heels of competitor TRM Labs’ similar announcement that its users now have agentic support, suggesting that a new AI era is starting for blockchain analytics. The criminal operations they analyze have already begun using AI themselves.
Chainalysis is the top analytics partner for law enforcement agencies that increasingly need to figure out how criminals are moving assets across blockchains and across borders.
“People can actually build their own agents to be able to produce bespoke workflow for whatever they’re doing,” Levin said. “Every enterprise is different. Every law enforcement agency may have some different pieces of work that they have to do, and so we are building a platform for them to build those agents.”
Base, the layer-2 network from Coinbase (COIN), is doubling down on its push to build what it calls a “global onchain economy,” outlining a 2026 strategy centered on markets, payments and developers.
Base is one of the most widely used layer-2 networks in the Ethereum ecosystem, having opened to public use in August 2023. It was initially built using Optimism’s OP Stack as part of the broader “Superchain” ecosystem, though the project has since signaled plans to differentiate its infrastructure as it scales. In February, the Coinbase team said the chain will increasingly rely on its own, in-house code.
Layer-2 blockchains are built on top of Ethereum and aim to increase speed and lower costs by processing transactions themselves, while still relying on Ethereum for security. The model has become a key part of Ethereum’s scaling strategy, enabling cheaper and faster transactions without moving activity entirely off the network. More recently, however, some Ethereum leaders, including co-founder Vitalik Buterin, have signaled a shift in focus toward scaling the base layer itself, leaving open questions about how layer-2 networks will fit into Ethereum’s evolving roadmap.
For 2026, Base said it will focus on three areas: expanding onchain markets, scaling stablecoin-based payments and growing its developer ecosystem — a push that comes as onchain trading venues and stablecoins see rising adoption among institutional players.
On markets, the network plans to build infrastructure to support tokenized versions of assets such as equities and commodities, alongside existing crypto-native markets like perpetuals and predictions. It also aims to improve settlement speeds and reduce costs, while positioning its Base App as a venue for trading a wide range of assets.
On payments, Base is prioritizing stablecoins, with planned upgrades including privacy features, stablecoin-based transaction fees and additional tooling for payments. The company also said it intends to expand liquidity for stablecoins tied to different currencies and integrate more financial features into its app, such as savings and borrowing.
As for developers, Base said it will continue investing in programs like Base Batches and new tooling, including support for AI-driven applications interacting with onchain markets. The company said it plans to introduce new standards and incentive systems aimed at increasing user activity and transaction volume.
Read more: Optimism’s OP token falls after Base moves away from the network’s ‘OP stack’ in major tech shift
Russia’s government has approved a package of draft bills that would channel domestic crypto trading through licensed intermediaries and sharply limit retail access.
The Finance Ministry said Monday that the government had approved a package of draft bills on the legalization of the circulation of digital currencies and digital rights in Russia.
“Under the new regulatory framework, transactions involving digital currency without regulated intermediaries are prohibited,” the ministry said. The package would tighten state oversight of digital assets while preserving limited access for non-qualified investors and broader access for qualified investors.
The framework introduces significant limits for retail investors, allowing purchases of the “most liquid digital currencies” to be defined by the Bank of Russia. Under the rules, retail investors must pass a test and are limited to purchases of up to 300,000 rubles ($3,700) per year through a single intermediary.
The proposal would still allow residents to buy crypto abroad using foreign accounts, provided those transactions are reported to tax authorities, signaling that Moscow is trying to domesticate crypto trading rather than ban it outright.
Crypto operators face licensing requirements
The approved package includes bills on digital currencies and digital rights, amendments to certain Russian legislative acts, as well as changes to the country’s administrative offenses code.
The framework establishes a licensing regime for entities involved in crypto operations, including digital exchanges and custodial services, while allowing banks and brokers to participate under specific regulatory requirements.
Source: Ministry of Finance of Russia (Minfin), translated by Telegram
“As for banks and brokers, they will be able to carry out such activities provided they comply with specific prudential requirements,” the announcement notes.
Related: Telegram CEO faces Russia probe over allegations of terrorism facilitation
The package also provides for administrative liability for violations by organizations engaged in exchange activity, part of a broader push to police unlicensed crypto intermediation.
Critics say rules could backfire on oversight goals
While the government aims to formalize the sector, critics say the rules could have the opposite effect, pushing activity into unregulated channels.
“At a time when the rest of the world is moving toward liberalizing access to equity markets through tokenization, we are, for some reason, doing the opposite by pushing crypto into a framework of securities market regulation,” Exved founder Sergey Mendeleev told Cointelegraph.
“In the end, it will be like with casinos — people won’t play less, but everything will move out of state control into online and underground venues,” he said.
Related: ECB paper questions if DeFi DAOs are decentralized enough to sit outside MiCA
Nikita Zubarev, chief analyst at BestChange, emphasized that the legislation does not aim to ban crypto ownership, but rather to “dismantle the accessible, transparent infrastructure for converting crypto to fiat,” thereby isolating the domestic financial system from the global market.
He added that the status of major global exchanges such as Binance and Bybit remains uncertain, while decentralized finance faces heightened legal and operational risks.
“According to the draft law, activities such as issuing crypto loans without a licensed intermediary will be prohibited,” Zubarev said, adding that interacting with decentralized exchanges would carry significant risks due to their lack of a centralized entity:
“That effectively pushes active traders into a legal ‘grey zone’ or forces them to operate under foreign jurisdictions, making it impossible to legally declare income derived from such trading activities.”
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
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OpenFX, a fintech startup aiming to modernize foreign-exchange markets, raised $94 million in fresh funding as it looks to expand the use of stablecoins in global payments.
The round was led by Accel, Lightspeed Faction, M13, Northzone and Pantera, and values the company at around $500 million, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the process.
Founded in 2024 by Prabhakar Reddy, OpenFX helps move large amounts of money across borders using stablecoins. The company acts as a bridge between traditional banking rails and digital assets, enabling faster and cheaper FX conversions.
Reddy was inspired to start OpenFX after witnessing long queues at Western Union outlets in Dubai, the report notes. While small transfers have improved, he noticed major inefficiencies when businesses tried to move sums in the range of $1 million to $10 million.
OpenFX says it now handles more than $45 billion in annualized payment volume, up from $4 billion a year ago. Clients include neobanks, payroll platforms and remittance providers.
With the new funding, the company plans to expand into Southeast Asia and Latin America, two regions where stablecoin use is growing quickly. OpenFX currently operates in the U.S., U.K., UAE and India.
