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Bitcoin drops below $70K. SEC says most crypto is not securities
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Another week, another batch of signals to unpack. Markets shifted, regulators moved, and a few storylines got a lot more interesting. Here’s what you need to know from the past seven days:
quick weekly news
Bitcoin dips under $70K as bets on Fed rate cuts keep shrinking
Bitcoin slipped below $70,000 on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell flagged rising oil prices from the war in Iran as a new inflation risk.Source:goodcryptoX
The Fed held interest rates steady as expected. During his press conference after the meeting, Powell acknowledged that the recent surge in energy prices is already feeding into the central bank’s outlook. “The oil shock for sure shows up” in higher inflation projections, he said, while cautioning that “nobody knows” yet how persistent the impact will be.
Policymakers raised their 2026 inflation forecast to 2.7% from 2.4%, signaling concerns that price pressures could stay elevated longer than expected.
Powell dismissed comparisons to 1970s style stagflation, even as the central bank faces growing tension between slowing growth and sticky inflation. “That’s not the case right now,” he said, noting that unemployment remains near long-run norms while inflation sits only modestly above target. “I would reserve the term stagflation for a much more serious set of circumstances.”
“What we have is some tension between the goals, and we’re trying to manage our way through it,” he added.
Markets were already under pressure before the Fed news, weighed down by poor February inflation data and no sign the war in Iran is letting up. They fell further late in the session. Bitcoin pulled back to $70,900 by late Wednesday afternoon, down almost 5% over the past 24 hours. Ether dropped 6.5%.Source:goodcryptoX
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at the day’s lows, down 1.4% and 1.5% respectively. Gold extended its decline below $4,850 an ounce, now 3.1% lower on the day at its weakest price in more than a month.
TradeXYZ brings 24/7 S&P 500 trading, no stock exchange required
S&P Dow Jones Indices announced Wednesday that it is bringing the S&P 500 to the blockchain via the Hyperliquid platform, giving investors a way to trade the most widely tracked equity index 24 hours a day.
The company licensed its flagship stock index to Trade[XYZ], which is launching the first officially approved S&P 500 perpetual contract on the Hyperliquid blockchain. Eligible investors outside the U.S. can now trade the S&P 500 on-chain, around the clock, without using traditional stock exchanges.
This marks the first time the S&P 500 has become a perpetual product with official S&P backing. It also uses the firm’s real time index data, bringing a traditional finance standard into crypto trading. That guarantees accuracy even when traditional markets are closed. S&P says its goal is to expand where and how its indexes get used. “This collaboration expands access” to its benchmarks in digital markets, said S&P Chief Product Officer Cameron Drinkwater.
The move opens the door for investors outside the U.S. to get leveraged exposure to the S&P 500 through a blockchain platform.
If big macro news hits on a weekend, when the market is closed, traders traditionally speculate on how the S&P 500 will move on Monday. With these perpetual contracts, traders can place bets immediately when news breaks. Crypto traders recently traded oil futures on Hyperliquid on a weekend, when the first missile hit Iran, while traditional oil markets stayed closed.Source:goodcryptoX
The news appears to have lifted HYPE, the native token of the Hyperliquid platform. The token is up 2.2% over the past 24 hours, 14.2% over the past seven days, and 35.5% over the past month. Hyperliquid has become a favorite platform for traders who want access to markets outside traditional finance.Source:goodcryptoX
Trade[XYZ] said the S&P 500 is just the starting point as it looks to bring more traditional assets onchain. “The S&P 500 is a natural starting point. It represents the most widely tracked equity index on earth and has been the defining benchmark for global equities for decades,” said Collins Belton, chief operating officer and general counsel of Trade[XYZ]’s parent company.
The announcement builds on S&P DJI’s prior decentralized finance initiatives, including its recent launch of the S&P Digital Markets 50 index.
And with goodcryptoX’s recent HIP-3 markets integration, you’ll be able to trade the S&P 500 directly on goodcryptoX as well!
SEC says most crypto assets aren’t securities, including staking, airdrops, and Bitcoin mining
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued broad guidance to the crypto industry on Tuesday. SEC Chair Paul Atkins declared that “most crypto assets” would not be considered securities.Source:X
The guidance draws distinctions between which asset types fall outside the definition of securities and what would push an asset into that category as an investment contract.
Protocol mining (as on Bitcoin), staking, and crypto airdrops or tokens sent to a protocol’s users and contributors do not meet that definition, according to the guidance.
“After more than a decade of uncertainty, this interpretation will provide market participants with a clear understanding of how the Commission treats crypto assets under federal securities laws. This is what regulatory agencies are supposed to do: draw clear lines in clear terms,” Atkins said.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission responded shortly after with its own statement, saying it would “administer the Commodity Exchange Act consistent with the SEC’s interpretation.” The CFTC called it “a major step in the agencies’ efforts to provide greater clarity regarding the treatment of crypto assets” and said it complements Congressional efforts to codify a market structure framework into law.
The SEC’s taxonomy divides digital assets into five groups. Those are digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities.
The SEC’s guidance notes that “non-security crypto assets” may qualify as investment contracts under certain circumstances, depending on what representations issuers make. Still, the existence of an investment contract does not make the digital asset a security in secondary market transactions on an exchange.
Atkins also previewed a potential safe harbor exemption for certain crypto projects. He said such exemptions could apply to startups worth up to $5M seeking to experiment with crypto assets in their first four years, to entrepreneurs raising up to $75M via investment contracts involving certain crypto assets, and to certain crypto assets once their creators cease all essential managerial efforts.
Atkins said he expects the SEC to release proposed rules for public comment in “the coming weeks.”
Kraken quietly shelves its IPO plans as markets stay ugly
Crypto exchange Kraken has put its IPO plans on hold, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The company announced four months ago that it planned to go public.
Kraken is still considering a listing but probably not until market conditions improve, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is private. A Kraken spokesperson gave a brief response. “As we announced in November, we filed confidentially with the SEC, and that is all we can really share.”
The crypto market downturn since October, when Bitcoin touched a record high, has made companies more cautious about going public or raising capital. Declining asset prices and weaker trading volumes weigh on valuations and investor sentiment.
Kraken’s parent company Payward filed a draft S-1 registration statement with the SEC on Nov. 19 in connection with a planned IPO of common stock.
That filing came a day after Kraken said it raised$800M in new funding at a $20B valuation, including a $200M investment from Citadel Securities, to support its push to bring traditional financial markets onto blockchain infrastructure.
Crypto IPOs in 2026 are shaping up as a major test for the sector, with more infrastructure companies planning to list. So far, crypto custodian BitGo is the only digital asset company to have listed this year, and its stock has slumped 44%, partly due to difficult market conditions.Source:TradingView
Kraken also dismissed its chief financial officer, Stephanie Lemmerman, earlier this year, according to two people familiar with the matter.
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