Ripple announced plans to secure an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) by acquiring BC Payments Australia Pty Ltd. This move, subject to completion (targeted around April), aims to enable fully regulated end-to-end payments in Australia.
It expands Ripple’s regulated footprint in the Asia-Pacific region, where its payments volume nearly doubled in 2025, adding to over 75 global licenses for compliant cross-border solutions.
Strive (NASDAQ:ASST) purchased $50 million of Strategy’s (NASDAQ:MSTR) STRC preferred stock after Michael Saylor claimed STRC achieved a Sharpe ratio above 3, outperforming Nvidia, Tesla and gold on risk-adjusted returns.
The Saylor Sharpe Ratio Claim
Saylor posted on X on Wednesday that STRC achieved a Sharpe ratio of 3.08, comparing it to gold at 2.88, Alphabet at 2.65, Nvidia at 1.66, and Tesla at 1.32.
The Sharpe ratio measures returns relative to risk taken, with higher numbers indicating better risk-adjusted performance.
“Digital Credit is engineered for superior risk-adjusted returns,” Saylor said. STRC currently yields 11.5% with monthly cash distributions.
The dividend rate…
Read more on Benzinga
Data from STRC.live and market trackers indicate that Michael Saylor’s bitcoin‑focused firm, Strategy, has purchased an estimated 1,200 BTC so far today via its preferred equity issuance.
Yesterday, on March 10, Strategy’s Variable Rate Series A Preferred Stock (STRC) posted a record $409 million in daily trading volume, accompanied by 3% 30-day volatility and a one-month VWAP near $99.78, the highest sustained average since issuance.
According to on‑chain indicators and STRC.live X posts, over 2000 bitcoin were accumulated that day, marking one of the largest one‑day buying events since the instrument’s launch and surpassing prior highs.
Strategy, the…
Read more on BitcoinMagazine
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee says the crypto market has moved past its winter phase, with reduced speculation and leverage creating a healthier foundation for future gains.
Markets Could Move Higher Through March
Markets, including crypto and major tech stocks, appear to have emerged from a recent bear phase, Lee said in a CNBC interview on Tuesday.
He expects markets to move higher in the near term, particularly through March, although he warned that a broader bear market could develop later in the year.
A roughly 20% decline could occur once markets stop reacting positively to good news, a signal Lee views as a typical indicator that a larger downturn may be forming.
For now, much of the…
Read more on Benzinga
The 85+ Partner Program
The initiative brings together crypto exchanges, blockchain developers, fintech firms, and banks to explore how blockchain-based systems can connect with traditional payment rails used by banks, merchants, and consumers.
Participants will work with Mastercard teams to shape products combining on-chain tools with established payment rails.
The program focuses on practical use cases where digital assets are gaining traction, including cross-border transfers, business-to-business payments, and global payouts.
Companies will collaborate on future product development targeting enterprise applications like remittances, B2B transfers, and settlement.
Mastercard’s…
Read more on Benzinga
Just when many traders were starting to believe the market had gone quiet, veteran crypto bull Tom Lee stepped in with another massive bet on Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).
Through his firm Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Lee purchased 60,976 ETH worth roughly $120 million. The purchase pushed the company’s total holdings to more than 4.5 million ETH, valued at close to $9 billion at current prices.
This is a bold move as traditional investors’ sentiment around Ethereum remains weak. On the other hand, some traders think this could be an early sign for the next leg of a massive crypto bull run.
Ethereum’s Quiet Rebound Is Turning Heads Across Crypto Markets
Ethereum recently climbed back toward…
Read more on Benzinga
The IBD Process
Synchronizing a new node to the network tip involves several distinct stages:
Peer discovery and chain selection where the node connects to random peers and determines the most-work chain. Header download when block headers are fetched and connected to form the full header chain. Block download when the node requests blocks belonging to that chain from multiple peers simultaneously. Block and transaction validation where each block’s transactions are verified before the next one is processed.
While block validation itself is inherently sequential, each block depends on the state produced by the previous one, much of the surrounding work runs in parallel. Header…
Read more on BitcoinMagazine
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is trading sideways, with investors’ weakening conviction conviction pointing to a psychologically difficult phase of the market cycle.
Why Investors Are Getting Jittery
Data from CryptoQuant suggests the market is currently in a highly uncertain phase marked more by hesitation than conviction.
Several on-chain indicators point to weakening investor confidence:
Apparent demand briefly improved following the latest sell-off but quickly turned negative again, indicating buyers remain cautious.
The CryptoQuant Bull Market Cycle Indicator currently signals a bear-market consolidation phase, typically associated with sideways price action and frustrating… Read more on Benzinga
Mastercard has unveiled a new global initiative aimed at bringing crypto into the mainstream of financial services.
The Crypto Partner Program, announced Wednesday, gathers more than 85 companies across the blockchain, fintech, and traditional banking sectors, including Binance, Circle, Gemini, PayPal, Paxos, Ripple, BitGo, and Crypto.com.
The program is designed to explore practical applications for on-chain technology within existing payment infrastructure, focusing on areas such as cross-border transfers, business-to-business payments, and global payouts.
Executives at Mastercard, including Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of Digital Asset Blockchain Products…
Read more on BitcoinMagazine
Strive, Inc. said Wednesday it raised the dividend rate on its preferred equity product while adding more bitcoin and a new credit instrument to its balance sheet, moves the firm said are designed to stabilize its digital credit strategy.
The Dallas-based company increased the dividend rate on its SATA preferred stock by 25 basis points to 12.75% and declared a dividend of $1.0625 per share payable April 15 to shareholders of record on April 1.
At the same time, Strive narrowed its targeted trading range for SATA to $99–$101 from the previous $95–$105 and updated guidance to avoid issuing new shares below $100 through at-the-market or follow-on offerings.
The firm also disclosed…
Read more on BitcoinMagazine