Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has gained access to the Federal Reserve's core payments system, becoming the first crypto-focused firm to do so, according to a report by CoinDesk. The access places Kraken on the same payment infrastructure used by thousands of U.S. banks and credit unions, CoinDesk reported, citing the firm’s connection to the central bank’s system.

Donald Trump held a private meeting with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shortly before posting on Truth Social that banks are trying to undermine the pro-crypto GENIUS Act and must "reach a good agreement with the crypto industry," CoinDesk reported citing Politico and two people familiar with the discussion. Trump called for swift completion of U.S. market structure rules and warned that without progress on the CLARITY Act, America's "strong crypto agenda" and related business could shift to China, while criticizing major banks for booking historic profits as Americans should "earn more from their own money." The Crypto Market Structure Act remains stalled after the Senate Banking Committee's planned markup, with banks arguing interest-bearing stablecoins could weaken deposits and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon calling to regulate issuers like banks, rebutted by Patrick Witt of the President's Advisory Committee on Digital Assets who said the GENIUS Act reasonably lets users earn rewards on stablecoin balances. COIN shares rallied above $200 on Wednesday to their highest level since late January amid a broader crypto-related stock surge, while the White House and Coinbase did not comment on the meeting whose exact content remains unclear.

On March 5, Elon Musk reposted a message suggesting a leaked screenshot of X Money's internal testing is genuine, indicating the platform may offer up to 6% annualized deposit yields and support a debit card with cashback rewards, ChainThink reports. Eric Trump, second son of Donald Trump, criticized major U.S. banks including JPMorgan and Wells Fargo in a post the same day, alleging the banking sector's political lobbying aims to block Americans from accessing higher returns and curb stablecoins to defend their monopolies. ChainThink noted a fresh dispute has emerged around stablecoin yields amid the ongoing legislative process for the Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act, also referred to as the CLARITY Act.

Sillytuna (@sillytuna) lost 23.6M aEthUSDC, worth $23.6M, in an attack. The attacker converted most of the stolen funds into 20.34M DAI. A smaller portion is being bridged to Arbitrum and deposited into Hyperliquid to buy XMR.

Trader Maji Huang Licheng increased his ETH long position to $14.4 million, raising his average entry from $2,023 to $2,066 and bringing unrealized profit to about $350,000 with a 60% return, Coinbob Hot Address Monitoring data show on March 5. The address shows a liquidation price of $2,035 and a take-profit setup between $2,130 and $2,202 to partially close 10% of the position. Within two days, the twentieth ETH long grew a $250,000 principal to $860,000 and moved the liquidation threshold from $1,949 to $2,066. ChainThink reports the trader previously gained in blue-chip NFT trading, but his account balance has fallen sharply from over $100 million amid significant drawdowns since becoming more active from October last year.

Bitcoin is trading above $70,000 and the 100-hour simple moving average after breaking through $68,800 and $70,000 resistance, reaching a recent high of $74,062. The pair holds support from a bullish trendline near $68,000 and faces immediate resistance at $72,800 and a key barrier at $73,500, with further upside targets at $74,000, $75,000, $76,800 and $77,200. Support levels stand at $72,200 and $72,000, followed by the $70,000 zone near the 50% Fibonacci retracement of the $66,164 to $74,062 move, while a break lower could test $68,800 and the main $68,000 support.

Elon Musk reposted a message on March 5 confirming that circulating screenshots from X Money's internal testing are authentic, showing the product may offer up to 6% annualized deposit yield and a debit card with cashback rewards, BlockBeats reports. Eric Trump posted the same day criticizing U.S. banks including JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, claiming their political lobbying aims to block Americans from higher returns and suppress stablecoins to preserve their monopoly. The dispute emerged amid ongoing legislative debates over the Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act, also known as the CLARITY Act, particularly around how stablecoin yields should be treated.

Kraken has secured a master account at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, a move the crypto exchange says will let it access the same payment infrastructure used by thousands of banks and credit unions, DL News reports. Banking lobbying groups, including the Bank Policy Institute, voiced deep concern over what they called a "limited-purpose" or "streamlined" approval, arguing the Kansas City Fed bypassed required public consultation and lacked transparency in the process. Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the account will help the firm more efficiently handle transactions for large institutional clients and marks the integration of crypto infrastructure with the U.S. financial system, though the company will not receive the full suite of central bank services such as interest on reserves. The decision comes as the crypto sector, backed by pro-crypto actions from President Donald Trump and legislation like the GENIUS Act, clashes with the $23 trillion U.S. banking industry over issues including a stablecoin interest "loophole" and ongoing negotiations around the CLARITY Act regulatory framework, according to the report.

Bitcoin briefly climbed above $74,000 at 1:00 on March 5, triggering successive liquidations of several large short positions on Hyperliquid, Hyperinsight data show. Whale address 0xebe, which had rolled over its BTC short the previous day, suffered two liquidations totaling 214 BTC in shorts worth about $15.7 million, with the largest single event wiping out roughly 171 BTC valued at around $12.6 million—the biggest individual liquidation on the platform. Another whale address starting with 0xe42 saw nine BTC short positions liquidated over the past 11 hours for approximately $9.92 million, while address 0x1fd incurred liquidations of about $2.71 million. All three addresses are currently rebuilding high-leverage BTC short positions following the liquidations.