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Despite the recent volatility in crypto markets, the long-term potential of digital assets remains strong. Brett Reeves, Head of Go Network and European Sales at BitGo, who manages institutional digital asset infrastructure at the company, expressed this sentiment in a note to crypto.news. He reflected on the current market downturn while highlighting ongoing advancements in technology and regulation. “Market volatility in recent weeks has revived the voices of crypto doubters who feel vindicated by recent declines in asset prices,” said Reeves. “But for those innovators and believers in the technology and asset class, there’s much more to just falling prices.” Reeves pointed out that market fluctuations are not new to the crypto industry and that the sector has experienced similar declines before without stalling its progress. He also touched on significant advancements in product development and, more crucially, regulatory developments on a global scale. According to Reeves, the White House Crypto Summit was a major step forward, marking a significant shift in the U.S. government’s approach to digital assets. The summit strongly showed a move toward regulatory clarity and institutional adoption, signaling a growing commitment from the current administration to engage with the crypto industry. “The recent downturn in crypto markets aligns with broader financial market trends,” Reeves added. “Major indices have experienced notable declines, with technology stocks, often referred to as the ‘Magnificent Seven,’ suffering double-digit losses.” Factors contributing to this include global uncertainties such as trade tariffs, the Ukraine conflict , and concerns surrounding China’s real estate sector. Reeves also noted that the U.S. faces the challenge of refinancing approximately 25% of its national debt in 2025, which could impact markets. However, the likelihood of rate cuts to ease refinancing could also benefit risk assets, including crypto. Despite these challenges, Reeves highlighted several key developments in the crypto industry, such as the creation of a U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve, the recognition of stablecoins and Real-World Assets , and the implementation of EU MiCA regulations. He also pointed to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s decision to authorize banks to engage with crypto assets. “These advancements, which seemed aspirational just a year ago, reflect a rapidly evolving landscape where digital assets are becoming increasingly integrated into the global financial system,” Reeves concluded. “So, while prices may be crashing for now, we must remember how far we’ve come and the immense potential that lies ahead for the crypto space.”

Indian police have arrested Aleksej Besciokov, co-founder of Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange sanctioned by the U.S. and the European Union for facilitating money laundering. Besciokov, a Lithuanian national, was detained in Varkala, Kerala, under India’s extradition law, according to state police officials, TechCrunch and Brian Krebs reported . The arrest occurred at 4 p.m. local time on Tuesday following an arrest warrant issued by the Patiala House Court in New Delhi. Besciokov is expected to be transferred to the court on March 14. Indian authorities have not disclosed whether the arrest was directly linked to his indictment in the U.S., but his extradition status suggests he is not facing charges within India. Garantex shut down its services on March 6 shortly after Tether froze nearly 2.5 billion USDT in Russian rubles. Besciokov’s arrest comes days after the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging him and Garantex’s other alleged co-founder, Aleksandr Mira Serda, with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Besciokov faces additional charges for violating U.S. sanctions and operating an unlicensed money transmission business. Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, with an additional five years for the unlicensed business violation. Garantex, launched in 2019, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2022 for processing illicit funds linked to hacking, ransomware, terrorism, and drug trafficking. Despite sanctions , the exchange reportedly facilitated over $60 billion in transactions. Besciokov, known by the hacker alias “proforg,” allegedly oversaw Garantex’s technical infrastructure and approved transactions linked to North Korean cybercriminals and Russian elites evading sanctions. U.S. authorities claim he and Serda knowingly laundered illicit funds and took steps to conceal Garantex’s activities , including moving operational cryptocurrency wallets daily to bypass detection. As part of a coordinated international operation, U.S., German, and Finnish authorities seized servers hosting Garantex’s operations, while the U.S. Secret Service froze over $26 million associated with the exchange. Law enforcement also obtained copies of Garantex’s customer and accounting databases, potentially exposing further illicit activities. Besciokov was detained while vacationing with his family in India, according to sources close to the investigation. He appeared before a local court after his arrest and is set to be transferred to Delhi. The U.S. government is expected to pursue his extradition to face charges in the Eastern District of Virginia, where the indictment was filed. Mira Serda, a Russian national residing in the United Arab Emirates, remains at large. The DOJ alleges he acted as Garantex’s chief commercial officer, managing the exchange’s business operations while assisting in laundering illicit funds.

Etherlink has deployed its third protocol upgrade, Calypso, on mainnet to bring a massive performance boost to the Tezos layer 2 network. The Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible layer 2 solution built on Tezos ( XTZ ) announced the Calypso upgrade was live on the mainnet on March 12, coming a few weeks after the EVM-compatible L2 deployed on testnet. The road to mainnet included a governance vote by Tezos bakers, key ecosystem components that work alongside Tezos nodes. Following approval for the mainnet launch, Calypso has successfully deployed to bring improvements such as enhanced network speed, resilience, and efficiency to developers of decentralized applications. Deployment also means faster XTZ withdrawals from Etherlink to Tezos. Etherlink’s non-custodial platform, powered by the Tezos smart rollup technology, allows for frictionless integration of dApps and supports Ethereum ecosystem tools such as wallets and indexers. With its latest upgrade going live on mainnet, its performance could see up to a 30x boost — significant numbers in the world of decentralized finance and exchanges. Calypso also means improved smart contract storage and governance updates. It lays the foundation for improvements to non-custodial and trustless token bridging. As it stands, users can bridge the native Tezos token tez from the layer 1 chain to Etherlink and back. Bridging XTZ from Etherlink to Tezos L1 is called withdrawing, while bridging XTZ from the layer 1 chain to the Etherlink network is called depositing. In both cases, XTZ is the native token on both chains. “Moving tez from Etherlink to Tezos L1 currently can feel like waiting in traffic. Calypso introduces a new precompiled contract entrypoint, which lays the groundwork for much faster withdrawals,” Tezos said in February ahead of this mainnet rollout. Etherlink introduced its alpha testnet in 2023 and beta in early 2024, with key roadmap milestones including the integration of oracle price feeds, the LayerZero bridge, and a decentralized sequencer. Meanwhile, Tezos recently deployed its 17th upgrade with the activation of Quebec , which introduced faster transactions, rolled out improved staking mechanics and bolstered token issuance.

Inflation cooled more than expected in February, offering hope that the Federal Reserve may be closer to cutting interest rates. However, the crypto market remained largely unresponsive despite the positive economic signal. Wednesday’s Consumer Price Index report showed that inflation eased to 2.8% over the past 12 months, down from 3% in January and slightly beating the 2.9% forecasted by economists. Perhaps surprisingly, crypto prices were unresponsive. Bitcoin ( BTC ) was trading at $82,770.45 late Wednesday afternoon, roughly flat over the past 24 hours. The total crypto market was valued at $2.68 trillion, down 0.25% over the past day. Dr. Youwei Yang, Chief Economist at NYSE-listed BIT Mining, said in a statement obtained by crypto.news that the market’s muted reaction reflects deeper fears about policy risks, particularly from President Trump’s new trade tariffs. “Today’s lower-than-expected CPI should be bullish, signaling faster rate cuts, but crypto hasn’t reacted strongly,” Yang said. “Weeks of market fear require more than a single good print to regain confidence.” Yang pointed to Trump’s aggressive tariffs on steel and aluminum, which took effect on Wednesday, as a potential headwind for inflation and market stability. The tariffs have already triggered retaliatory measures from Europe on $28 billion worth of U.S. goods, set to begin in April. “The real issue is Trump’s aggressive tariffs, which risk making inflation stickier while also crashing markets and triggering layoffs, particularly by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE),” Yang explained. This creates a tough position for the Federal Reserve. “High inflation from tariffs makes rate cuts harder,” Yang said. “But market crashes and job losses pressure the Fed to cut rates sooner. Cutting too early could reignite inflation, making future policy tougher.” Yang noted that crypto markets are holding back due to uncertainty over future policy direction. “Investors want stronger support from the White House or Fed, especially after last week’s crypto summit failed to reassure markets,” he said. The recent crypto White House summit, which brought together industry heavyweights and government officials, was expected to usher in more favorable guidance on crypto regulations. However, the lack of concrete outcomes left markets unsure about the administration’s position on crypto. “Until clearer signals emerge, fear and uncertainty will weigh on crypto market sentiment,” Yang concluded.