Indiana Governor Mike Braun signed House Bill 1042, titled Regulation and Investment of Cryptocurrency, authorizing certain state-run retirement plans to add a brokerage window with at least one cryptocurrency investment option. The law defines digital assets as cryptographically secured currencies outside central control, introduces tax protections for legitimate crypto use, and coincides with Bitcoin trading around $71,522 after rising nearly 8% in the past 24 hours. The state legislature also advanced House Bill 1116 to prohibit crypto ATMs, which awaits the governor's signature.

On March 4, 2026, on-chain data indicated that close to 40% of altcoins were trading near their all-time lows, marking the steepest pullback of the current cycle. Analysts note that, unlike the FTX-driven crash, the present downturn is tied to thin liquidity and muted risk appetite as capital concentrates in Bitcoin, Ether and a few other large tokens. Some market watchers see this correction as the possible foundation for a new altcoin rally, which may depend on broader liquidity conditions and whether funds rotate out of BTC into smaller coins.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission plans to introduce a framework for U.S. crypto perpetual futures within the next month, according to Chairman Michael Selig. The move aims to recapture trading activity that has shifted to offshore exchanges and make these leveraged, non-expiring contracts more accessible to domestic, including retail, traders while regulators and lawmakers continue to debate broader digital asset rules.

As of March 4, 2026, U.S. lawmakers remain divided over whether stablecoin issuers and crypto platforms may provide yield-style incentives to users, leaving the CLARITY Act stuck in the Senate after a strong bipartisan vote in the House. Representative French Hill is urging senators to accept the House-approved language, while traders on platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket are still assigning notable odds that the bill will be enacted in 2026.

The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts has filed a civil forfeiture action to seize $327,829 in USDT tied to an alleged online romance investment scam. Tether has reported freezing $4.2 billion in USDT connected to illicit activity over the past three years and was also commended for helping federal agencies seize an additional $61 million in a separate money laundering case.

On March 2, 2026, South Korea's Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Koo Yoon-cheol outlined plans to reform how government bodies store seized cryptocurrencies. The move follows reports that Gangnam District police lost 22 BTC in 2022 due to private key mismanagement and that the national tax service exposed recovery phrases for a multi-million-dollar Bitcoin haul. Authorities will review current custody practices across government and public institutions to strengthen digital asset security.

X now permits paid crypto promotions under an updated labeling policy. On Sunday, the platform also cleared gambling partnerships, while restrictions remain in the UK, Australia and the EU. The shift arrives as X Money moves from a closed beta toward a limited external beta in the next month or two.

Vitalik Buterin said on X that AI helped assemble Ethereum’s 2030 roadmap in two weeks and cautioned that fast-tracked work still needs EIP review. He added on Saturday that account abstraction is planned for the Hegota upgrade within a year. ETH remains about 60% under its 2025 peak, with some analysts warning it could dip below $2,000 this month.

Bitcoin developer Martin Habovštiak embedded a 66KB image into the Bitcoin blockchain as a single transaction to test proposed BIP-110 anti-spam rules. He said the design avoided OP_RETURN, OP_IF and Taproot by using SegWit v0, and later claimed a BIP-110-compliant version would be larger, while critics questioned his definition of contiguity.