Binance is in discussions with Nigerian authorities about resolving its tax case through an out-of-court settlement, and the Abuja High Court has adjourned the matter until May 12 for an update. Nigeria sued the exchange in February 2025, alleging $2 billion in unpaid taxes and seeking nearly $79.5 billion for alleged economic losses tied to operating without a license.

Firelight, an onchain DeFi protection protocol built on the Flare Network, said it has surpassed 50 million XRP staked after multiple whale-sized deposits of more than 1 million XRP each. The project also raised its vault deposit cap from 25 million FXRP to 65 million FXRP after the initial ceiling was filled within six hours, with the updated limit reported to be more than halfway taken.

Bitcoin fell 3.6%, sliding from an intraday high of $71,405 to $68,123 around 2:15 p.m. EST, as U.S.–Iran tensions weighed on broader risk sentiment. The move cut bitcoin's market capitalization from $1.43 trillion to about $1.36 trillion and pushed the wider crypto economy's value down to $2.43 trillion.

Mezo, a Bitcoin-based decentralized lending protocol, has partnered with Aerodrome Finance to make Aerodrome the primary liquidity venue for the MEZO token and the bitcoin-backed stablecoin MUSD. As part of the deal, Mezo will distribute 2.25% of total MEZO supply to veAERO voters over 30 days to incentivize liquidity. Mezo also cited metrics including about $23 million migrated to its mainnet, $76.3 million TVL, more than 2,000 loans at a fixed 1% APR, and over 43,500 mainnet users.

On March 25, the Reserve Bank of Australia said the country is moving past experimentation toward real-world deployment of tokenized assets and wholesale digital currencies. It also presented Project Acacia research estimating tokenized money and assets could save about $16.7 billion (AU$24 billion) a year by reducing manual work, settlement delays, and capital costs. The RBA also announced a long-term DFMI sandbox for banks and fintechs to test tokenized products under supervision while highlighting risks such as liquidity fragmentation and platform incompatibility.

Bitcoin moved above $72,000 on March 25 as broader markets turned higher amid optimism tied to reports of the Trump administration's proposed 15-point peace plan involving Iran. The price reached an intraday high of $72,026 by 7:30 a.m. EST before easing to trade around $71,000. The move coincided with gains in major equity indices and a brief dip in WTI crude below $90 per barrel.

Everything co-founder Jean Rausis says DeFi can narrow the efficiency gap with traditional finance by improving protocol design rather than lowering collateral ratios. He points to unified, multi-use liquidity pools and TWAP-based on-chain pricing as ways to boost capital efficiency and reduce oracle-driven liquidation cascades. He also says Everything chose a public dynamic funding round so the community can participate in swapping, lending, and margin trading from day one.

Digital asset industry representatives met with the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on March 23 to review a White House-backed compromise led by Sens. Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks focused on stablecoin rewards. The proposal would likely ban yield earned from merely holding idle stablecoin balances while allowing rewards tied to uses like payments, transfers, or active platform engagement. Senators also signaled a tight timeline, with an April markup target and warnings that missing a May Senate-floor window could stall the bill.

Bitcoin turned lower on Tuesday after touching an intraday high of $71,382, briefly slipping below $69,000 amid conflicting signals around U.S.–Iran talks. The move deepened to $68,893 by 1:30 p.m. EST before a rebound toward $69,500, leaving BTC down nearly 2.5% over 24 hours and pushing market cap back under $1.4 trillion.