Analyst Anndy Lian has questioned whether wrapping real-world assets into tokens delivers true crypto benefits or simply introduces extra intermediaries and expenses. Despite these concerns, the tokenized RWA market has reached $26 billion with 657K asset holders, supported by firms such as BlackRock and platforms including Robinhood and Hyperliquid. The sector's resilience during broader crypto weakness suggests continued demand even as critics warn of higher operational friction.

On 3 March 2026, Chainlink added support for Coinbase’s wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC), allowing users on Monad to move the asset to Ethereum Layer-2 network Base via CCIP. cbBTC has a circulating value above $5 billion and could deepen liquidity for Monad’s expanding DeFi ecosystem, while CCIP’s cumulative transfer volume has approached $15 billion across 77 chains. Despite growing protocol fees and a token accrual program that has locked 2.3 million LINK, the token’s price remains range-bound between $8 and $9.5 amid subdued institutional inflows in 2026.

On 2 March, Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York dismissed with prejudice a case that sought to hold Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams and Uniswap Labs liable for scam tokens traded on the platform. The ruling found that open-source smart contract developers cannot be held responsible for alleged rug pulls and pump-and-dump schemes executed by unidentified third-party token issuers, and Uniswap's UNI token rose about 5% following the decision.

According to aggregated 13F regulatory filings, institutional investors reduced their U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF exposure from 532K BTC in Q3 2025 to 513K BTC in Q4 2025, a decline of about 3.5%. This modest cutback came as BTC fell 23% and slipped below the reported $84.1K average ETF entry price, leaving the average ETF holder roughly 20% in loss at a BTC price of $68K.

Bitcoin has been trading in a consolidation range above $65K for more than a week after a 46% decline from $126K to $60K over the last three months, with realized losses exceeding $22 billion. VanEck analysts said 1–2 year holders, who largely bought near $72K, have sharply cut their selling as many are now underwater, while Bitcoin’s hash rate has fallen 14% over 90 days, a pattern that previously preceded stronger near-term returns.

Google Trends data showed that searches for "Bitcoin going to zero" hit an all-time high in January and February 2026, as BTC traded around $60k. Historical episodes in 2021, 2022 and 2025 suggest such spikes have coincided with local or cycle bottoms and were followed by major rebounds. The Bitcoin Rainbow chart currently places price in the "Bitcoin is dead" band, which has previously aligned with market low zones, though upcoming macro events could still influence whether a durable bottom forms.

An analyst said Aster had only six daily active addresses, 51 weekly, and 346 monthly, prompting scrutiny of the perpetual DEX. Aster disputed the figure, citing a mislinked contract, while metrics show fees rising from a $5 million weekly average in January to over $8 million in early February and 91k new users in the past seven days.

David Bailey, Chairman and CEO of Bitcoin treasury firm Nakamoto (Nasdaq: NAKA), has rejected scam accusations after the company’s stock plunged 99% from its May peak. Following a merger with KindlyMD and subsequent acquisitions of BTC Inc. and UTXO Management, critics have raised concerns over preferential share pricing, opaque transactions, and overcollateralized loans tied to 5,765 BTC, while broader Bitcoin treasury demand has also weakened after a brief January recovery.

Wintermute said it has enabled OTC trading for tokenized gold products Tether Gold and Paxos Gold for institutional clients. The firm reported $126 billion in tokenized gold volume in Q4 2025 and, per CEO Evgeny Gaevoy, projects the market could reach $15 billion in 2026, amid debate over what this means for Bitcoin.