Morgan Stanley Set To Undercut Bitcoin ETF Rivals With 0.14% Fee Ahead Of Launch

Morgan Stanley is poised to shake up the spot bitcoin ETF market with a sharply lower fee structure, as new filing details show its upcoming Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) will charge just 0.14% annually — undercutting every existing U.S. competitor.

The fee, disclosed in updated trust documents shared by Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, comes in 11 basis points below BlackRock’s flagship iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which currently charges around 0.25%. 

The aggressive pricing positions MSBT as the cheapest spot bitcoin ETF on the market at launch, signaling a deliberate push to capture both internal advisory flows and external investor capital.

The move carries…

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Bitcoin Flashing Late-Stage Business Cycle But This Metric Trends Lower Since 2021, Says Benjamin Cowen

Bitcoin’s (CRYPTO: BTC) price action is pointing to late-cycle signals as macro conditions tighten and a key metric has trended lower since 2021, according to analyst Benjamin Cowen.

Late Business Cycle

In a March 26 podcast, Cowen says the current setup reflects a late business cycle, where capital rotates away from risk and toward safer and defensive assets like gold. That shift helps explain why altcoins have underperformed Bitcoin and why crypto overall has lagged broader defensive moves like gold.

He notes that while Bitcoin still follows its historical pattern of peaking in post-halving fourth quarters, this cycle stands out. Social interest has been fading, and market breadth has…

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Ripple Expands XRPL With AI Security Push To Support Payments, Tokenization Growth

Ripple is rolling out an AI-driven security upgrade across the XRP Ledger (CRYPTO: XRP) as it prepares the network for the next phase of global payments and tokenization.

AI-Driven Approach

With more than a decade of continuous operation and billions of transactions processed, the network is now focusing on maintaining resilience as it scales for global financial use cases.

A major shift involves adopting an AI-driven approach to security. By integrating artificial intelligence into the development lifecycle, XRPL aims to identify vulnerabilities earlier through automated code reviews, adversarial testing, and simulation of complex edge cases.

The initiative also includes a dedicated…

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Peter Schiff Sounds Alarm On Bitcoin-Backed Mortgages

Economist Peter Schiff is sounding the alarm over a new housing finance initiative. The plan allows borrowers to use digital assets for home purchases. Schiff argues the move creates a “free ride” for crypto holders at the expense of the public.

The Crypto-Collateral StructureSchiff Critiques Downside Risk

Schiff took to X on Friday to criticize the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) involvement.

“Fannie and Freddie guaranteeing mortgages with pledged Bitcoin as the only down payment means HODLers get a free ride. If Bitcoin keeps going up, they keep all the gains. If Bitcoin crashes, they walk away from their mortgages, sticking the GSEs and taxpayers with huge losses.”

The…

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$80K or $60K? Bitwise Analysts Just Made Their Bet

The April 15 Tax Day Catalyst

Hougan expects crypto weakness heading into April 15—the deadline for Americans to file taxes and pay capital gains from 2025. 

Investors who harvested gains last year must now pay taxes, potentially forcing them to sell crypto to cover the bill.

“My experience historically is that crypto is often weak heading into tax day and then starts to rally right around then,” Hougan told Milk Road this week.

The theory carries extra weight this year after the outsized gains many traders booked in late 2024 and early 2025 — especially from the Trump memecoin’s surge in January 2025.

Why $80,000 Beats $60,000

Both Bitwise analysts still expect Bitcoin to reach…

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Bitcoin Fear And Greed Index Hits Extreme Fear At 13

As of March 27, 2026, the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index reads 13, placing sentiment in Extreme Fear. The current price of bitcoin is near $66,000.

The index spans 0 to 100, with lower readings tied to fear-driven market conditions and higher readings tied to greed-driven conditions.

The metric compiles inputs across price volatility, market momentum, trading volume, Bitcoin dominance, social sentiment, and Google Trends activity. The combined dataset forms a sentiment gauge used to track emotional conditions across Bitcoin markets.

Readings in the Extreme Fear range have aligned with prior stress phases in BTC market cycles.

Bitcoin Magazine Pro data highlights these zones as periods…

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Intercontinental Exchange Announces $600 Million Investment In Polymarket

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has completed a $600 million direct cash investment in prediction market platform Polymarket as part of a broader equity fundraising round, according to a company announcement.

The new investment follows ICE’s previously disclosed $1 billion commitment made in October 2025. With the latest infusion, ICE says it has now fulfilled its obligations under the investment agreement, which also includes plans to purchase up to $40 million in additional Polymarket securities from existing holders.

Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction market platform that allows users to trade on…

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Bitcoin Plunges 3% And ETFs Bleed $171M After Ukraine Destroys Russian Oil Ports

Ukraine Blows Up Trump’s Oil Plan

President Donald Trump lifted sanctions on Russian crude to compensate for oil supply disruptions caused by the Iran war and cool energy markets.

Ukraine destroyed that strategy this week with drone strikes on ports and refiners in Russia’s Leningrad region.

The damage represents “the most serious threat” to Russia’s oil exports since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to observers. 

About 40% of Russia’s oil export capacity is now offline, creating what Oilprice.com editor Michael Kern described as “a logistics problem first—and a supply problem second,” CoinDesk reported.

“In conjunction with the war in the…

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Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin Plunge Early Friday Hours As Iran Snubs US Peace Deal

Bitcoin at $66,000 is driven by a macro sell-off after Iran rejected a U.S. peace proposal, pressuring risk assets and pushing sentiment deeper into the fear zone (26); liquidations stand at $447.7 million over the past 24 hours.  

Bitcoin ETFs saw $171.2 million in net outflows on Thursday, while Ethereum ETFs reported $92.5 million in net outflows.  

Trader Commentary:

Trader Lennaert Snyder expects downside continuation, with a bearish target at the prior weekly low of $67,360. However, he remains patient, waiting for a bounce and confirmation before entering safer short positions rather than chasing the move late.

CyrilXBT said Ethereum remains in a strong downtrend and is showing…

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Bitcoin Price Crashes To Two-Week Low Near $66,000

Bitcoin price fell below $66,500 on Friday, hitting its lowest level in more than two weeks as a wave of long liquidations and mounting macroeconomic stress weighed on the crypto market..

Data shows nearly $300 million in long positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data, compared with roughly $50 million in short liquidations, pointing to an unwind of crowded bullish positioning in crypto futures. The imbalance reflects a market that had leaned heavily long and is now adjusting as sentiment shifts.

The bitcoin price selloff coincided with a broader risk-off move across global markets. Nasdaq 100 futures have fallen about 10% from their…

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