On Tuesday, Bitcoin fell about 3% and slid back from the $70,000 mark as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz triggered fears over oil supplies and inflation across global markets. Stocks, oil and gold all saw heightened volatility, with gold retreating toward $5,000 support while BTC failed to turn key trend lines into support. Some traders argued that bears remain in control, while others highlighted Bitcoin's smaller drawdown versus major precious metals and viewed the lower end of its current range as a potential buying zone.

According to a new Ripple press release, the company will significantly upgrade its Ripple Payments platform to create a unified service that links traditional finance with digital assets. The overhaul adds managed custody, virtual accounts for fiat and stablecoins, and automated fund flows using RLUSD and XRP for cross-border settlement. XRP will serve as both a bridge asset and on‑demand liquidity tool, while all new services run atop the XRP Ledger.

A federal court in the Southern District of New York has dismissed a multi-year class action lawsuit accusing Uniswap Labs and founder Hayden Adams of facilitating scam token trading on the Uniswap protocol. Judge Katherine Polk Failla rejected the plaintiffs’ second amended complaint with prejudice, finding they failed to plausibly allege the defendants’ knowledge of, or substantial assistance in, the alleged fraud. The ruling follows earlier dismissals of federal securities claims in August 2023 and a partial affirmance by the Second Circuit in February 2025.

XRP Ledger developer Panos Mekras has highlighted a new RLUSD liquidity pool incentive on the XRP/RLUSD pair, offering a 12.8% APR and drawing around $500,000 in XRP liquidity in less than 24 hours. He noted that a similar proposal his team made in 2025 was not supported by Ripple, and urged the company to use the one billion XRP reserved for community initiatives to back DeFi builders. Despite this progress, XRP Ledger still trails leading DeFi ecosystems in total value locked, fee generation and active addresses.

Solana has been trading in a $70 to $90 band for more than four weeks, with buyers defending support near $70 and sellers capping price around $90. Analysts suggest that a daily close above the $90–$93 resistance area could open the way toward $105–$120, while a loss of support around $80 risks a return to the range lows. On a longer horizon, some chartists point to an ascending channel with major resistance near $240 and ambitious cycle projections toward the mid-upper channel region if broader market liquidity and adoption remain strong.

A large trader identified as 0x007 has opened a 20X leveraged short position on tokenized silver on Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 platform, with a notional value above $12.34M and unrealized gains that recently fluctuated around $2M. The position, which benefits from positive funding fees and has a liquidation level at $107.96 while silver trades near $83.67, highlights how some crypto participants are using silver as a comparatively safer and more liquid shorting instrument than altcoins. Silver remains among the top traded commodities on HIP-3 even after losing its top spot to gold, as traders return to short strategies now that the metal has moved into a perceived safer range.

On March 2, 2026, American Express' Board of Directors approved a 16% increase in its quarterly dividend, lifting the payout from $0.82 to $0.95 per share and setting an annualized dividend of $3.80. As of March 3, 2026, AXP stock trades near $307.43, down about 16.71% year-to-date despite double-digit earnings growth and a payout ratio of roughly 21.6%. The combination of dividend hikes, ongoing buybacks, and recent share-price weakness presents both opportunities and risks for income-oriented investors.

On March 1, 2026, Ripple unlocked 1 billion XRP from escrow and, by March 3, had relocked 700 million XRP as part of its ongoing supply management strategy. XRP's price has reacted only slightly, rising 0.42% over the last day to trade at $1.34 despite weeks of negative performance. The company is expected to repeat this pattern on April 1 with another 1 billion XRP unlock and a planned 700 million XRP relock.