A new industry report cited by ChainCatcher points to a structural inflection point for Bitcoin mining. Average production costs for publicly listed miners have climbed to about $80,000 per Bitcoin, while BTC has traded near $70,000, implying losses of roughly $20,000 per coin and raising questions about the sustainability of the traditional mining business model. In response, miners are accelerating a shift into artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. The report says the sector has already signed more than $70 billion in related contracts. Some companies forecast that by the end of 2026, as much as 70% of revenue could come from AI operations, effectively repositioning miners as data center operators. Funding for the transition is coming largely from increased leverage and the monetization of Bitcoin treasuries. Public mining companies have sold more than 15,000 BTC in total, with Core Scientific, Bitdeer, and Riot Platforms among those continuing to liquidate holdings to support AI buildouts. The report also flags potential implications for network security. As computing resources are reallocated, Bitcoin's total hash rate has fallen from a peak of about 1,160 EH/s to around 920 EH/s, alongside consecutive difficulty adjustments. Equity valuations are increasingly split along the same lines. Miners with AI exposure are trading at roughly 12.3x forward revenue, compared with about 5.9x for pure-play miners, signaling a clear shift in capital toward AI-driven strategies. Industry watchers say Bitcoin's ability to retake the $100,000 level may determine whether the pivot is a temporary response to margin pressure or a lasting transformation.

Washington's focus on crypto firms' entry into the U.S. payments system is sharpening, after Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, questioned how Kraken Financial obtained Federal Reserve account access. In a March 26 letter to Kansas City Fed President and CEO Jeff Schmid, Waters requested an explanation of the terms and review process behind the approval of a limited-purpose account for Payward Financial, which operates as Kraken Financial. She asked how the authorization aligns with existing Federal Reserve frameworks, noting the lack of a clearly defined category for such accounts. The Kansas City Fed granted the account for an initial one-year term and said conditions were set to match the institution's risk profile, though the specifics have not been made public. Waters wrote that she is seeking clarification on "the terms of Kraken's account access approval" and the considerations that informed the decision. Waters' questions target both the scope of services and the safeguards attached to the account. She asked whether Kraken's access includes FedACH, Check Services, FedCash, or Fedwire Securities Services, and whether any of those capabilities differ from what is typically provided to master account holders. The letter also presses for detail on balance-sheet and liquidity limits, including whether Kraken can incur daylight overdrafts, maintain unlimited overnight balances, or earn interest on those balances. Waters further asked whether the Kansas City Fed imposed supervisory standards, reporting requirements, or risk controls beyond Wyoming's Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) regime, and whether any conditions were coordinated with the Federal Reserve Board or other Reserve Banks. In addition, Waters requested internal and external communications related to the approval, including whether any federal or state officials influenced or reviewed the decision-making process. She framed the inquiry as part of broader congressional oversight of financial stability and consumer protection as payment technology evolves. Waters wrote that answers are essential to ensuring Fed account approvals are handled consistently with the law and impartially, while supporting a safe and efficient payment system. She asked Schmid to respond in writing by April 10, 2026. FAQ Why does Kraken's Fed account access matter to investors? It may signal a path for crypto firms to connect more directly to core U.S. payment infrastructure. What risks are regulators focused on? Liquidity constraints, oversight standards, and potential systemic exposure. Could this affect broader crypto regulation? Yes. The outcome may influence how future crypto access to Fed services is governed. What is the key uncertainty for markets? The absence of a clear regulatory framework for crypto-linked Federal Reserve accounts.

Author: Jae, PANews As Bitcoin wavered around the $70,000 mark, Wall Street saw a rapid-fire sequence of tokenization moves. Within 48 hours, Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange and CME Group each unveiled upgrades aimed at modernizing how collateral, securities and cash move through markets. Nasdaq is building a tokenized collateral management capability, the NYSE is teaming up with Securitize to develop a tokenized securities platform, and CME is rolling out an institutional tokenized-cash settlement service. Together, the three exchanges are pushing blockchain deeper into market plumbing and reshaping how liquidity can circulate. Nasdaq targets $35 billion in idle collateral, moving from T+1 to near-instant mobilization Nasdaq estimates roughly $35 billion in high-quality collateral sits unused across the global financial system, constrained by settlement delays, time-zone frictions and traditional banking cutoffs. Liquid assets such as equities and U.S. Treasury ETFs often remain locked in custody accounts, limiting their effective deployment. On March 23, Nasdaq announced a strategic partnership with digital asset trading infrastructure provider Talos. The plan is to integrate Nasdaq's Calypso risk and collateral management platform with Talos's digital-asset front-end architecture, enabling collateral to be tokenized and transferred in real time. In periods of sharp volatility, institutions would be able to move tokenized assets within seconds to satisfy clearinghouse margin requirements, bypassing banking operating windows. For derivatives markets, Nasdaq frames this as a shift away from T+1-style frictions toward atomic settlement, improving capital efficiency. Tokenization also turns collateral into a flexible liquidity tool: the same asset could be posted as margin for U.S. equities during the day and redeployed for Asian exposures at night. Nasdaq said it is also extending its Trade Surveillance capabilities to Talos's client base, aiming to detect false trades, wash trading and cross-market manipulation, adding a compliance layer for digital-asset activity. The initiative follows Nasdaq's tokenized stock trading pilot, which received SEC approval on March 18. Early tokenized assets will be limited to Russell 1000 constituents and major ETFs tracking the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, chosen for depth and liquidity. Nasdaq plans a dual-track model where tokenized securities and traditional shares share the same CUSIP and trading identifier, making them equivalent and interchangeable while giving regulators a clearer basis to compare settlement impacts. NYSE and Securitize pursue 'native' tokenized securities While Nasdaq focuses on optimizing institutional workflows, the NYSE's partnership with Securitize points to a broader redesign of the securities issuance and transfer model. On March 24, the two sides signed an MOU to develop a tokenized securities platform supporting instant settlement and stablecoin payments. Securitize is a major real-world-asset tokenization firm and previously supported BlackRock's issuance of BUIDL, the largest tokenized Treasury fund so far. Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said the NYSE is targeting "native tokenization" rather than crypto-exchange-style wrappers. Under the proposed structure, Securitize would act as the NYSE's first designated digital transfer agent, with ownership records maintained directly on-chain. Tokens would represent direct legal ownership of the underlying security, including dividend rights, governance voting and liquidation priority. That differs from models where a third party holds the shares and issues tokenized receipts, which function as an economic mapping rather than an on-chain native security. The article also notes operational and pricing risks: errors by custodians or faulty oracle pricing outside U.S. market hours could cause token values to diverge from the underlying shares and potentially trigger on-chain liquidation cascades. CME introduces tokenized cash to reduce margin-call stress CME Group, the world's largest derivatives exchange, is approaching tokenization through cash settlement. On March 24, CME said it partnered with Bank of Montreal and Google Cloud to launch a tokenized-cash solution aimed at one of the hardest problems in tokenized markets: synchronizing cash movement. The system runs on Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), a programmable distributed ledger designed for traditional financial institutions. CME positions GCUL as a permissioned network that retains real-time settlement features while providing transaction privacy and meeting regulatory KYC/AML expectations. Bank of Montreal, the first bank integrating the system, will enable institutional clients to convert U.S. dollar deposits into tokenized cash. The immediate use case is margin collateral for CME Clearing. CME argues the structure addresses a long-standing derivatives-market vulnerability: margin calls that arrive when banking rails are closed. As markets evolve toward near-24/7 trading, clearinghouses may issue more frequent intraday margin calls during volatility spikes. In the traditional model, if funds cannot be moved quickly, firms risk forced liquidation. CME Group CCO Suzanne Sprague said tokenized cash would allow margin to be posted in real time, freeing capital previously immobilized by bank holidays and reducing liquidity costs, while strengthening clearing resilience and lowering the risk of systemic liquidation cascades. The article cautions that integrating distributed ledger infrastructure with CME's clearing systems is complex. Network partition failures or smart-contract vulnerabilities could create severe risks in a 24/7 settlement environment. Taken together, the Nasdaq, NYSE and CME initiatives signal a more assertive push by incumbent market operators to adopt tokenization. From Nasdaq's effort to unlock $35 billion in dormant collateral, to the NYSE's exploration of native on-chain securities, and CME's tokenized-cash rail for settlement, Wall Street is laying out a blueprint for always-on value transfer across blockchain-based infrastructure.

Publicly traded bitcoin mining firms are losing roughly $19,000 for every bitcoin they mine, accelerating a pivot toward AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, CoinDesk reported. CoinShares estimates the public mining sector has announced more than $70 billion in AI and HPC-related contracts. The expanded CoreWeave–Core Scientific partnership alone totals $10.2 billion over 12 years. TeraWulf's HPC contracts are expected to generate $12.8 billion in revenue, while Hut 8 has signed a 15-year, $7 billion lease to support AI infrastructure at its River Bend campus. Cipher Digital has also struck a multibillion-dollar agreement with Google-backed Fluidstack. By end-2026, AI could contribute up to 70% of revenue for publicly listed mining companies, rising from about 30% today. Core Scientific already derives 39% of revenue from AI hosting, compared with 27% for TeraWulf and 9% for IREN.

March 28 — Publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies are estimated to be losing about $19,000 for every Bitcoin mined, accelerating a pivot toward AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, CoinDesk reported. CoinShares said listed miners have collectively announced more than $70 billion in AI and HPC-related contracts. CoreWeave's expanded partnership with Core Scientific alone is valued at $10.2 billion over 12 years. TeraWulf's HPC contracts are expected to generate $12.8 billion in revenue. Hut 8 has signed a 15-year lease agreement worth $7 billion to support AI infrastructure at its River Bend campus. Cipher Digital has also reached a multibillion-dollar agreement with Fluidstack, backed by Google. By the end of 2026, AI could contribute as much as 70% of revenue for publicly listed mining companies, up from roughly 30% today. Core Scientific's AI hosting revenue already accounts for 39% of total revenue, while TeraWulf stands at 27% and IREN at 9%.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart wrote on X that Bitcoin ETFs saw roughly $9 billion of heavy redemptions from October 2025 through the end of February 2026. About $3 billion of that has since flowed back in. Net outflows since the "1011 crash" still exceed $6 billion, but year-to-date 2026 inflows and outflows are now close to balanced, pointing to a mild improvement in market sentiment.

ChainCatcher reported, citing market sources, that crypto exchange-traded product issuer 21Shares will distribute staking rewards to investors in its Ethereum exchange-traded fund, TETH, and its Solana exchange-traded fund, TSOL. TETH shareholders are set to receive a dividend of $0.01253 per share, while TSOL shareholders will receive $0.016962 per share.

21Shares, an issuer of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products, said it will distribute staking rewards to investors in its Ethereum exchange-traded fund TETH and Solana exchange-traded fund TSOL on March 31, Globenewswire reported. The payout will be $0.012530 per share for TETH and $0.016962 per share for TSOL.

ChainCatcher reports that Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said on X that Bitcoin ETFs previously saw roughly $9 billion in outflows, and have since recovered about $3 billion. Net outflows are still above $6 billion, but year-to-date inflows and outflows are now close to balancing, pointing to a partial improvement in market sentiment.