Bitcoin price today once again exceeded $71,500, and buyers continue to remain strong at lower levels. Net inflows in the ETF channel also continued over the past 24 hours. The motivation of professional investors remains high with the Bitcoin block reward halving just days away. So, what important developments occurred today?
Current State of Cryptocurrencies
The cumulative value of cryptocurrencies stands at $2.66 trillion, with a trading volume of $103 billion in the last 24 hours. While volume has fallen by 10%, BTC‘s market dominance is at 52.3%. BTC has risen by 8% over the last week, while CORE, DOGE, and FLOKI have surged by 15%.
SBF Sentenced to Prison
In November 2022, most investors did not believe that FTX fraudster SBF would end up in prison. Today, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. According to Judge Lewis Kaplan, SBF deserved his conviction for seven serious offenses. The judge stated:
“The punishment must fit the severity of the crime. And this was seriously a crime; when not lying, [Bankman-Fried] gave evasive answers, pulled his hair out, and tried to get prosecutors to rephrase their questions. I’ve been doing this job for nearly 30 years. I have never seen such a performance. I reject the defense’s argument about the damage both legally and factually. The claim that full payment will be made to customers and creditors is misleading; the defendants equate the damage in the bankruptcy case with the volume in dollars.”
Other Significant Developments
- Bitwise filed an S-1 application for an Ethereum ETF.
- The US and UK have initiated an investigation into $20 billion worth of cryptocurrency transferred to the Russia-based exchange Garantex.
- The US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data was released (Actual: 3.4%, Expectation: 3.2%).
- An investigation has been launched into the assets of QuadrigaCX co-founder Michael Patryn.
- BlackRock (IBIT) saw a daily inflow of $326.2 million.
- Bitcoin rose to $71,552.
Tomorrow, significant macroeconomic data will be announced, and ETF channel inflows will be clarified within 5-6 hours. As the weekend and the final hours of March approach, an increase in market volatility is likely.
