Despite big news, tech advances, and changing rules, crypto is still innovative. It remains a place of economic and regulatory battles. Here's a recap of the top stories from the past week. It covers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance, Solana, and Ripple.
Donald Trump has made Bitcoin an official national asset. The government's 198,109 BTC ($17 billion) will be kept as a reserve. It will no longer be sold. This is a big change in the U.S. approach to crypto. Trump's policy views Bitcoin as a long-term safe asset. There are no plans to buy more to avoid tax issues. The White House might use this for other cryptos later.
On March 7, 2025, Trump met with crypto leaders at the White House. Attendees included Brian Armstrong (Coinbase), Vlad Tenev (Robinhood), and Brad Garlinghouse (Ripple). They talked about a crypto reserve and clear rules. Trump wants this to be free for taxpayers. David Sacks called the reserve overdue. This boosts the U.S. in crypto adoption. Some worry about conflicts due to Trump's crypto investments.
The Holesky testnet has been down since February 24. It tests the Pectra upgrade. To avoid delays, Ethereum used a shadow fork. This is a copy of the network to test the upgrade. It helps secure new features, like EIP-7702 for wallets. Some DeFi apps like Aave and Lido may be affected. This raises concerns about Pectra's compatibility.
Binance is letting users vote to add or remove cryptos. This is called "Vote to List" and "Vote to Delist." You need 0.01 BNB to vote. This might help cryptos with big communities. Binance will also monitor risky cryptos in a "Monitoring Zone." New tokens will get airdrops. This makes things more open but could be manipulated.
Solana validators will vote on two changes. SIMD 0123 would give priority fees to stakers. SIMD 0228 would change SOL inflation based on staking. If approved, validator income could drop by 95%. This could increase control by large groups like Binance or Coinbase. The goal is to improve Solana's economy, but it might centralize the network.