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Senator Questions SEC Over Treatment of Trump-Linked Crypto Businesses

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Senator Questions SEC Over Treatment of Trump-Linked Crypto Businesses

In brief

  • Senator Richard Blumenthal asked the SEC whether allies of President Donald Trump in crypto received favorable treatment.
  • His inquiry focuses on the SEC’s dismissal of fraud charges against Tron founder Justin Sun.
  • The letter comes as the SEC has closed or dropped multiple crypto cases and Trump has issued pardons to industry figures.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is pressing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for answers about whether individuals and companies tied to President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures received preferential treatment from regulators.

In a letter to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins on Monday, Blumenthal requested records and communications related to enforcement decisions involving cryptocurrency firms, including companies linked to Tron founder Justin Sun, after the agency dismissed fraud charges against Sun and several of his companies earlier this month in a settlement that included a $10 million civil penalty.

Bluenthal’s letter also questioned the departure of Margaret Ryan, who had served only six months as director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement before leaving the agency.

“Ms. Ryan’s abrupt departure from the agency raises questions in light of her short tenure and reports that senior leadership intervened to prohibit the Division of Enforcement from pursuing cases against certain cryptocurrency companies,” Blumenthal wrote. “Indeed, on March 5, 2026, approximately 11 days before Ms. Ryan stepped down from her position, the SEC dismissed fraud charges against Mr. Sun and several of his companies after he agreed to pay a $10 million fine.”

In March 2023, the SEC charged Sun and his companies with securities violations. Charges were also filed against several influencers, Jake Paul, Lindsay Lohan, Aliaune “Akon” Thiam, and adult film star Michelle “Kendra Lust” Mason, for not disclosing they were paid to promote Tron-related cryptocurrency tokens.

“Facing federal prosecution, Mr. Sun began to buy into President Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures, first by purchasing millions of dollars worth of the President’s memecoin, $TRUMP, which made Sun its largest holder and entitled him to a private dinner with the President,” Blumenthal wrote. “Mr. Sun and his firms then went on to become an early investor in the Trump family’s larger cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), providing tens of millions in support to WLFI’s governance token and its stablecoin, USD1.”

Blumenthal’s letter comes after the SEC ended multiple high-profile cases originally brought during the Joe Biden administration. The agency closed its lawsuit against Coinbase in February 2025, moved to dismiss its case against Binance and founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao in May 2025, and ended appeals in its long-running dispute with Ripple over XRP in August 2025. At the same time, Trump has granted clemency to several prominent figures in the cryptocurrency industry, including CZ and BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes.

Blumenthal asked the SEC to provide the requested records to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations by April 13, and to include any documents related to Zhao’s case as well. The senator is also seeking records of contacts between the chairman’s office and members of the Trump or Witkoff families regarding cryptocurrency businesses.

Blumenthal’s request adds further criticism from Democratic lawmakers over the SEC’s approach to crypto enforcement since Trump returned to office.

In January, House Democrats, including Representatives Maxine Waters, Brad Sherman, and Sean Casten, warned that the agency’s retreat from enforcement actions raised concerns about political influence over regulatory decisions. This was followed in February, when Democratic lawmakers criticized Atkins for easing enforcement against Binance and Justin Sun, accusing the SEC of enabling reputational damage and undermining market integrity.

“People are losing trust,” Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) told Atkins during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. “This is not good for crypto, it’s certainly not good for consumers. The reputational damage the SEC is suffering right now.”

The office of Senator Blumenthal did not immediately respond to Decrypt‘s request for comment.

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Metals.io Brings Tokenized Gold, Uranium, and Rare Earth Metals to Tezos

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Metals.io Brings Tokenized Gold, Uranium, and Rare Earth Metals to Tezos

Built by Tezos R&D hub Trilitech, the new web app brings tokenized rare earth metals on-chain alongside gold and uranium as AI-driven industrial demand intensifies.

Metals.io, a new commodity tokenization platform built in the Tezos ecosystem, went live on Monday, giving users access to tokenized gold, uranium, and a basket of rare-earth metals through a single web application.

Developed by Trilitech, a London-based Tezos R&D hub, the platform launches with three assets: xU3O8 tokenized uranium, VNX Gold (VNXAU) — a gold-backed token representing allocated bullion held in Liechtenstein vaults — and the RARE token from Noemon Tech, which offers exposure to a diversified basket of five strategic metals, including hafnium, rhenium, indium, neodymium oxide, and praseodymium oxide.

The platform leverages Tezos’ smart-rollup technology, which the team says delivers sub-50ms latency for near-instant transaction confirmations.

Metals.io extends the same underlying technology as uranium.io, a tokenized uranium trading platform that launched on Etherlink — the EVM-compatible Layer 2 powered by Tezos — in December 2024.

“Commodity markets are global and indispensable, yet access to them remains fragmented and layered with intermediaries,” said Arthur Breitman, co-founder of Tezos. “As the AI revolution accelerates, energy and critical materials are becoming core economic constraints. Tokenization streamlines ownership and transfer of these assets at a global scale.”

Tokenized RWA Boom

The launch comes as tokenized gold has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments in the broader real-world asset (RWA) sector. The tokenized commodities market stands at approximately $7 billion, according to RWAxyz, with gold-backed tokens still dominating the category.

Tether Gold (XAUT) and Paxos Gold (PAXG) remain the dominant players, controlling more than 95% of the tokenized gold market. Tether recently expanded XAUT to BNB Chain as it pushes its gold-backed token across multiple ecosystems.

Where Metals.io looks to carve out a niche is in its rare earth and industrial metals offering — a category that has seen less tokenization activity than gold despite surging demand.

In February, President Trump signed an executive order creating a $12 billion critical mineral stockpile — dubbed “Project Vault” — backed by a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank and $2 billion in private sector financing.

The RARE token from Noemon Tech provides exposure to this space. “The current rapid pace of innovation in the AI sector and several other related fields is having a knock-on effect on demand for metals and materials that are critical to these endeavors,” said Dimitrios Kavvathas, founder of Noemon Tech. The token provides exposure to elements like hafnium and rhenium, which are essential in semiconductor manufacturing, jet engines, and other high-tech applications.

Meanwhile, the broader tokenized RWA sector continues to grow rapidly. Tokenized RWAs crossed $20 billion in on-chain value in early 2025, and the figure has continued climbing since then. Ethereum alone now hosts over $15 billion in tokenized real-world assets. However, the sector still faces structural challenges — a December report from RWAio estimated that blockchain fragmentation is costing the tokenized asset market between $600 million and $1.3 billion annually due to cross-chain price discrepancies and transaction friction.

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.

Strategy (MSTR) Breaks 13-Week Bitcoin Buying Streak

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Strategy (MSTR) Breaks 13-Week Bitcoin Buying Streak

Michael Saylor’s Strategy has halted its weekly bitcoin purchases for the first time in over a year, maintaining total holdings at 762,099 BTC.

The company didn’t disclose an SEC filing this week. That means it made no bitcoin acquisitions between March 23 and March 29, snapping a 13-week buying streak that added more than 90,000 BTC.

Strategy’s stack — acquired at an average price of $75,694 — represents over 3.6% of Bitcoin’s fixed 21 million supply, with unrealized losses of roughly $6 billion at current prices.

The pause comes as the firm refrains from issuing new equity through its at-the-market programs, which have historically funded its aggressive bitcoin accumulation strategy.

Last week, Strategy purchased 1,031 bitcoin for $76.6 million at an average price of $74,326, marking a slowdown after deploying over $1 billion in the prior two weeks.

Strategy’s capital raise

Also last week, Strategy moved to significantly expand its capital-raising capacity, adding new Wall Street sales agents and authorizing up to $42.1 billion in additional at-the-market equity and preferred offerings.

The company established new programs to issue up to $21 billion in common stock, $21 billion in STRC preferred shares, and $2.1 billion in STRK preferred, while continuing to utilize existing shelf registrations.

It also restructured its preferred stock mix by sharply increasing authorization for its floating-rate STRC series and reducing STRK shares, signaling a strategic tilt toward more flexible, rate-linked financing.

Strategy is best understood as a bitcoin treasury company — a public firm that raises capital to acquire and hold Bitcoin, effectively turning its stock into a leveraged proxy for the asset.

Led by Saylor, the company has pivoted from enterprise software over the last few years to aggressively accumulating bitcoin through equity, debt, and preferred stock, framing the approach as a long-term bet on BTC as “digital capital.”

The price of bitcoin has declined over the past five days, starting near the $71,000–72,000 range before sliding steadily lower over the weekend. 

Last Friday, a sharp dip pushed the bitcoin price down toward the mid-66,000s. After that, the market moved sideways with small fluctuations, showing limited momentum.

At the time of writing, Strategy shares are around $130 a share.

Editorial Disclaimer: We leverage AI as part of our editorial workflow, including to support research, image generation, and quality assurance processes. All content is directed, reviewed, and approved by our editorial team, who are accountable for accuracy and integrity. AI-generated images use only tools trained on properly license material. In Bitcoin, as in media: Don’t trust. Verify.

Bitcoin, Altcoins Turn Down As Traders Cut Positions, Evade Risk

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Bitcoin, Altcoins Turn Down As Traders Cut Positions, Evade Risk

Key points:

  • Bitcoin’s recovery is expected to face selling near $69,000, but if the bulls prevail, a rally to $74,508 is possible.

  • Most major altcoins remain below their resistance levels, indicating that the bears continue to exert pressure.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $68,000, but the bulls are struggling to sustain the higher levels. Sellers are expected to exert pressure to achieve a negative monthly close in March. That will result in six consecutive months of losses for the first time since the 2018 bear market. 

Analysts remain increasingly bearish on BTC’s prospects in the short term. Analyst Willy Woo said in a post on X that BTC may bottom between $46,000 and $54,000 according to various on-chain models.

Crypto market data daily view. Source: TradingView

The deeper the fall from the all-time high, the longer it is likely for BTC to take to record a new all-time high. According to an Ecoinometrics’ model, if BTC holds the $60,000 low, a full recovery is expected to happen in roughly 300 days from the October 2025 peak of $126,000. About 175 days have passed since BTC’s all-time high, leaving around 125 days for the full recovery to happen. If BTC falls to the $40,000 to $45,000 range, the recovery may stretch further into Q2 2027, as every 10% drawdown adds 80 days to the recovery duration. 

Will buyers be able overcome the resistance levels in BTC and the major altcoins? Let’s analyze the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out. 

S&P 500 Index price prediction

The S&P 500 Index (SPX) turned down from the 20-day exponential moving average (6,620) on Wednesday, indicating that bears remain in command.

SPX daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Sellers will attempt to sink the price to the 6,147 level, which is likely to attract solid buying by the bulls. A bounce off the 6,147 level may face selling at the 20-day EMA. If the price turns down sharply from the 20-day EMA, the bears will again attempt to sink the index below the 6,147 level. If they succeed, the next stop may be the 5,943 level.

On the other hand, a break and close above the 20-day EMA suggests that the bears are losing their grip. The index may then rally to the 50-day simple moving average (6,803).

US Dollar Index price prediction

The US Dollar Index (DXY) bounced off the 20-day EMA (99.40) on Wednesday, signaling a positive sentiment.

DXY daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Buyers will attempt to strengthen their position by maintaining the price above the 100.54 overhead resistance. If they manage to do that, the index may start a new up move to the 102 level and later to the 103.54 level.

Time is running out for the bears. They will have to defend the 100.54 level and swiftly pull the price below the 20-day EMA to weaken the bullish momentum. The price may then slump to the 50-day SMA (98.25).

Bitcoin price prediction

BTC closed below the support line of the ascending triangle pattern on Sunday, but the bears could not sustain the lower levels.

BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The bulls have pushed the BTC price back above the support line and are attempting to pierce the moving averages. If they succeed, it suggests that the break below the support line may have been a bear trap. The BTC/USDT pair may rally to the $74,508 to $76,000 resistance zone.

To retain the advantage, sellers will have to successfully defend the moving averages and swiftly pull the price below the $65,000 level. That clears the path for a drop to the $62,500 to $60,000 support zone.

Ether price prediction

Ether (ETH) closed below the 50-day SMA ($2,040) on Friday, but the bears could not sink the price below the $1,916 support.

ETH/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The bulls are attempting to push the ETH price above the moving averages and get back into the game. If they can pull it off, the possibility of a rally to $2,400 increases. Sellers will attempt to halt the up move at $2,400, but if the buyers bulldoze their way through, the next stop may be $2,600.

This positive view will be negated in the near term if the ETH/USDT pair turns down and breaks below the $1,916 level. That opens the doors for a drop to the $1,750 support.

BNB price prediction

BNB (BNB) has been trading below the moving averages, but the bears could not pull the price to the $570 support.

BNB/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The bulls are attempting to start a recovery, which is expected to face resistance at the moving averages. If the BNB price turns down from the moving averages, the risk of a drop to $570 increases.

Contrarily, a close above the moving averages suggests that the BNB/USDT pair may remain inside the $570 to $687 range for some more time. Buyers will be back in the driver’s seat on a close above the $687 resistance.

XRP price prediction

XRP (XRP) remains below the moving averages, indicating that the bears continue to exert pressure.

XRP/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The gradually downsloping moving averages and the RSI in the negative territory indicate that the bears have the upper hand. Buyers will attempt to defend the $1.27 level, but if the support cracks, the XRP/USDT pair may descend to $1.11.

Contrary to this assumption, if the XRP price turns up sharply and breaks above the moving averages, it suggests that selling dries up at lower levels. The pair may then march toward the $1.61 level.

Solana price prediction

Solana (SOL) remains stuck inside the $76 to $95 range, indicating a balance between supply and demand.

SOL/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The flattish moving averages and the RSI just below the midpoint do not give a clear edge either to the bulls or the bears. Buyers will have to shove the SOL price above the $95 resistance to start a rally to the $117 level.

On the contrary, a break and close below the $76 level tilts the advantage in favor of the bears. The SOL/USDT pair may then retest the Feb. 6 low of $67.

Related: Bitcoin analysis says $65K ‘entry zone’ with oil back above $100

Dogecoin price prediction

Buyers have managed to maintain Dogecoin (DOGE) above the $0.09 support but are struggling to start a strong rebound.

DOGE/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

That suggests the bears are selling on every minor relief rally to the moving averages. If the DOGE price again turns down from the moving averages, it increases the risk of a break below the $0.09 support. The DOGE/USDT pair may then plunge to the $0.08 level.

Instead, if the price continues higher and breaks above the moving averages, it signals that the bulls remain buyers near the $0.09 level. The pair may then rally to $0.11 and subsequently to $0.12.

Cardano price prediction

Cardano (ADA) closed below the $0.25 support on Friday, indicating that the bears are in control.

ADA/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Buyers are trying to push the ADA price back above the $0.25 level, but the bears have held their ground. That suggests the sellers are attempting to flip the $0.25 level into resistance. If they manage to do that, the ADA/USDT pair may plummet to the Feb. 6 low of $0.22.

The bulls will have to swiftly thrust the price above the moving averages to trap the aggressive bears. That may drive the pair to the downtrend line. Sellers are expected to vigorously defend the downtrend line, as a close above it signals a potential short-term trend change.

Hyperliquid price prediction

Buyers are attempting to sustain the Hyperliquid (HYPE) price above the 20-day EMA ($37.86), but the recovery lacks strength. 

HYPE/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

If the HYPE price dips below the 20-day EMA and the $36.77 level, it suggests that the bulls have given up. That may pull the HYPE/USDT pair to the 50-day SMA ($33.73), which is likely to act as strong support.

Alternatively, if the price turns up from the current level, it is expected to face resistance at $41.59 and then at $44. Buyers will have to scale the $44 level to signal the resumption of the up move toward $50.