In the fourth week of March 2025, the virtual asset market continued to show a steady state as the market sentiment remained cautious ahead of major policy events in the United States, while some positive news regarding regulation supported investor sentiment. Bitcoin rose 3.58% from the previous week to $87,177, and Ethereum recorded a 1.01% increase to $2,002.
Ahead of the scheduled implementation of the mutual tariff policy at the beginning of April and the release of U.S. employment indicators, market participants are watching whether expectations for interest rate cuts in the second half of the year can be maintained. As a result, cautious trading of risk assets may continue for the time being, and the virtual asset market finds itself in a phase where it is challenging to determine a direction in the short term.
However, issues related to regulation have somewhat alleviated the downward pressure on the market. Twenty-six states in the U.S. are pushing forward preliminary asset legislation that allows for the inclusion of Bitcoin as up to 10% of state assets, and it has been confirmed that the state of Wisconsin has already purchased a Bitcoin ETF valued at $588 million.
◇ White House considers purchasing Bitcoin and mentions IMF 'digital gold'
Recently, Chairman of the President's Advisory Council Bo Hines noted that "the plan to sell gold reserves to acquire Bitcoin is under consideration," raising the possibility that the U.S. could adopt Bitcoin as a national value storage asset. Gold has long been recognized as the "safest asset" utilized by central banks around the world as a foreign exchange reserve.
However, along with this movement from the White House, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has mentioned 'digital assets designed as a store of value' in its new report, further strengthening the perspective of viewing Bitcoin as 'digital gold.'
If the U.S. transitions its asset holdings from gold to Bitcoin as a frontrunner, significant repercussions in the global financial paradigm are anticipated. Already within the virtual asset industry, there is growing expectation that if the White House intensifies its review of integrating Bitcoin instead of gold, other countries will refer to this and accelerate the trend of reducing the gold holdings of central banks while increasing their Bitcoin holdings.
However, the White House's plan is still only in the review stage, and there are also voices cautioning against overly broad interpretations, noting that the IMF report does not directly refer to Bitcoin. Ultimately, whether central banks in various countries will move from traditional safe assets like gold to Bitcoin is expected to be a key point of observation.
◇ 'Effectively' a victory for Ripple... SEC reaches dramatic settlement
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to withdraw its appeal in the lawsuit with Ripple and to refund part of the fines. Of the originally set fine of $125 million, only $50 million will be received by the SEC, while the remaining $75 million will be returned to Ripple. The agreement also includes the lifting of the compliance order and the withdrawal of Ripple's cross-appeal, which is expected to be finalized following SEC commissioners' approval and court procedures.
Through this settlement, the 2023 court ruling that "the XRP program sale is not a security" is effectively acknowledged, which is anticipated to become a strong reference case for similar lawsuits in the future. The industry is evaluating that the prolonged regulatory uncertainty has been resolved, which sends a positive signal across the industry. There are also analyses suggesting that the SEC may adopt a more flexible stance toward the virtual asset industry.
As Ripple concludes its long legal disputes, it will likely accelerate its global payment network expansion, including the use of XRP, and it can be seen that the SEC is entering a phase of seeking a balance between regulation and innovation. There are growing expectations that once the final approval procedures are completed, the regulatory uncertainty across the altcoin market will be significantly alleviated.
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providing essential operational solutions based on on-chain data and trust-based community building services targeting companies and foundations adopting Web3. It operates the crypto data intelligence platform Jangle, and the Jangle research team is creating content to showcase trends in the virtual asset investment industry based on global virtual asset information and data.