On March 12, 2026, Binance initiated a defamation lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Dow Jones & Company over a Wall Street Journal article published the prior month. The complaint challenges claims that Binance dismissed compliance staff for flagging $1,000,000,000 in Iran-linked transactions and halted an internal probe, while the exchange insists investigations continue, suspect accounts were removed and reported, and that staff departures were due to confidentiality breaches.

U.S. prosecutors have asked a judge to reject former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's February motion seeking a new trial, arguing he has not brought forward any valid newly discovered evidence. They said potential testimony from former executives Daniel Chapsky and Ryan Salame was known before his 2023 fraud and conspiracy conviction and would not have altered the verdict, while also disputing his claims that FTX was solvent and that the case was politically motivated.

On March 11, 2026, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad publicly rejected allegations that the exchange lobbied against a proposed de minimis tax exemption for Bitcoin to favor USDC. Critics claimed Coinbase wanted the tax break to apply only to regulated dollar-pegged stablecoins, despite the company generating an estimated $1.35 billion in stablecoin revenue in 2025. Armstrong insisted he has actively supported a Bitcoin de minimis exemption and vowed to continue those lobbying efforts.

In February 2026, crypto-related losses dropped to about $49.3 million, an 87% decline from January's $385 million, yet attackers continued to refine their tactics. A report attributed much of the damage to a single Step Finance incident on Solana that drained around 261,854 SOL, while social engineering, phishing approvals, and address poisoning also cost users over $500,000. Additional technical exploits hit platforms such as YieldBlox, CrossCurve, and IoTeX, even as authorities in the United States and South Korea seized and froze millions linked to large-scale scam operations.

White House Crypto Advisor Patrick Witt has renewed his push for the stalled CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill that has seen no recent progress amid banking sector resistance to stablecoin rewards. In social media remarks this week, Witt criticized banks for warning about potential deposit flight, arguing that crypto platforms have offered stablecoin yields for years without such outcomes. He also highlighted ongoing disputes in the Senate over anti-money laundering rules, DeFi risks, and crypto holdings by senior officials, which continue to cloud the bill’s future.

On 11 March 2026, ASIC fintech head Rhys Bollen argued that crypto-assets in Australia should be regulated based on their economic function rather than technology labels, with tokenised securities and stablecoins falling under existing financial and payment rules. The Digital Assets Framework Bill 2025 will impose Australian Financial Services Licence obligations on digital asset and custody platforms by 30 June 2026, with penalties of up to 10% of annual turnover and exemptions for the smallest operators. Industry leaders have raised concerns over broad regulatory powers, even as some acknowledge the framework could improve bank access for compliant crypto firms.

Prediction market Kalshi filed a preemptive lawsuit in an Iowa federal court against Attorney General Brenna Bird and state gaming regulators, alleging a substantial risk of future enforcement over its sports event contracts. The firm argues that federal law and its status under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission shield it from Iowa gambling regulations, while several other U.S. states have brought or faced similar actions concerning whether its contracts constitute unlicensed gambling.

On Wednesday, White House Council of Advisors for Digital Assets executive director Patrick Witt argued that foreign demand for dollar-backed stablecoins represents fresh capital flowing into the US banking system. His comments arrive as banks and crypto firms clash over the US CLARITY and GENIUS Acts and the potential impact of stablecoin yields on traditional bank deposits.