This week in crypto, several big news are in the pipeline, capable of influencing the portfolios of respective ecosystem participants.

From key deadlines and network developments to crucial summits and launches, traders and investors have the following headlines to watch.

Next Solana ETF Deadline

The next Solana ETF (exchange-traded fund) approval deadline is tomorrow, March 11. This deadline marks the end of a 240-day review period for some of the initial Solana ETF filings, such as those from VanEck and 21Shares, submitted in mid-2024 and acknowledged by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For other filings, like Grayscale’s application, the final deadline might be extended to October 2025. However, posts on X (Twitter) and some analyses suggest March 11 as a critical date for an initial or unified SEC response to multiple applications.

Crypto market participants are cautiously optimistic. Prediction market Polymarket estimates a high likelihood (up to 80%) of approval in 2025.

The optimism draws from expectations of a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment under the Trump administration and the leadership of Paul Atkins at the SEC. However, some experts caution that approval might not occur until 2026 due to ongoing regulatory hurdles.

“The greatest Solana win coming from the new Trump Presidency will be our long-awaited ETF in 2025 or 2026. No surprise, the incredible VanEck team will lead the charge here with support from 21Shares and Canary Capital,” said Dan Jablonski, head of growth at news and research firm Syndica.

The SEC has previously labeled Solana (SOL) an unregistered security in lawsuits against exchanges like Coinbase and Binance. For an ETF to be approved as a commodity-based product, the SEC must shift its stance or resolve these legal challenges. A dismissal or softening of these lawsuits could significantly boost approval odds.

AAVE DAO Proposal

The Aave DAO is exploring a proposal to introduce sGHO, a savings product tied to its native stablecoin GHO. This will enhance GHO’s utility and adoption within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

The network’s sGHO is envisioned as a low-risk, yield-bearing savings product built on Aave’s GHO stablecoin. It is a decentralized, over-collateralized, USD-pegged asset launched in 2023. The proposal highlighted by Aave founder Stani Kulechov positions sGHO as a mechanism to provide GHO holders with passive income opportunities while maintaining stability.

“sGHO will introduce a staple on-chain savings rate for Aave users, great entry-product for new users on-chain,” Kulechov explained recently.

It draws inspiration from models like Sky’s sUSDS (formerly MakerDAO), which offers stablecoin holders a savings rate.

Senator Lummis’ Bitcoin Strategy Summit

Senator Cynthia Lummis, a vocal Bitcoin advocate, will co-host the “Bitcoin for America” summit on March 11 in Washington, D.C., organized by the Bitcoin Policy Institute. This invite-only event, which will be streamed online in some parts, aims to shape the US Bitcoin strategy.

Recently, she proposed selling Federal Reserve gold to fund the Bitcoin reserve. In her opinion, the reserve could help tackle the country’s $36 trillion national debt. Key attendees at the summit include industry leaders like Strategy’s Michael Saylor, policymakers, and financial executives, signaling bipartisan momentum for Lummis’ BITCOIN Act.

This legislation proposes a US strategic Bitcoin reserve, targeting 1 million BTC (5% of the total supply) over five years and held for 20 years to bolster the dollar and reduce national debt.

With Trump’s pro-crypto stance and a Republican-led Congress, approval odds are rising, potentially within his first 100 days. For the crypto market, this could mean heightened institutional adoption, price volatility if the US starts buying BTC, and a precedent for other nations.

“Senator Lummis is stirring the pot, suggesting an arms race over Bitcoin instead of weapons. If the U.S. starts hoarding BTC, we’re talking a seismic shift in global dynamics—military power taking a backseat to digital asset dominance,” one user on X noted.

However, regulatory hurdles and Bitcoin’s volatility remain risks. Participants should watch for summit outcomes, as they could redefine Bitcoin’s role in US finance.

Frax Finance Expands Stablecoin to Solana

Frax Finance, known for its fractional-algorithmic stablecoin FRAX, recently announced plans to expand its stablecoin ecosystem to Solana, a high-performance blockchain. This move, teased in early 2025, aims to leverage Solana’s speed, low costs, and growing DeFi ecosystem to boost FRAX adoption.

Crypto market participants should note that FRAX is currently pegged to the USD with a mix of collateral (like USDC) and algorithmic stabilization. It could enhance Solana’s stablecoin liquidity, challenging dominant players like USDT and USDC.

The expansion aligns with Frax’s multi-chain strategy, which spans Ethereum, Polygon, and Avalanche. Solana’s $1 billion+ in native stablecoin issuance and scalability make it a strategic fit.

Therefore, this expansion could bring yield opportunities via Frax’s lending and liquidity pools, though peg stability risks remain.

Movement Mainnet Launch

Movement, an ecosystem of modular Move-based Layer-2 (L2) blockchains, launches its mainnet today, March 10, at 15:00 UTC. It marks a significant milestone as Ethereum’s first Move Virtual Machine (MoveVM) L2.

Built by Movement Labs, this launch promises up to 160,000 transactions per second (TPS). It leverages Move’s secure, Rust-based programming language originally developed for Meta’s Diem.

Its Ethereum compatibility enables seamless settlement and a multi-asset liquidity program to kickstart DeFi adoption.

The MOVE token powers gas fees, staking, and governance. It was launched in December 2024 with a 10% airdrop via MoveDrop. Investors should brace for price volatility around MOVE, trading for $0.46 as of this writing.

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The Bitcoin (BTC) market is showing an extended sideways movement with no significant price action over the past day. Notably, the premier cryptocurrency has lost all market gains from its sudden 11% price surge from last week returning to previous consolidation levels around $86,000. According to popular crypto analyst Burak Kesmeci, Bitcoin is now set between two important price levels wielding sufficient potential for a substantial price swing.

Bitcoin Faces Make-Or-Break At $84k And $87k Liquidation Zones

Using a liquidation heatmap, Burak Kesmeci has highlighted two critical price levels that could be influential on Bitcoin’s next move. Generally, a liquidation heatmap visually represents the levels where leveraged positions, both long and short, are at risk of liquidation. The presence of dense clusters indicates that much liquidity is concentrated at a price, meaning many stop losses and liquidation orders are stacked there.

Regions with these massive liquidity often attract price movements as market makers and institutional traders tend to target these liquidity pockets to trigger liquidations thereby allowing them to buy at a discount or sell at a premium. According to Burak Kesmeci, the BTC 24-hour liquidation heatmap from CoinGlass suggests the flagship crypto asset is now between $84,849 and $87,043 representing two key price points crucial to its move.

Based on the analysis presented, $87,043 is serving as resistance suggesting that a price break above this level could trigger a short squeeze as short traders are forced to buy back their positions at higher prices contributing to the demand for a price rally. In this bullish case, BTC could rise to around $90,000 but will require strong buying pressure to push to higher price targets at $94,000 and $99,000.

Meanwhile, the $84,849 price region presents a crucial support zone that a price fall below which would cause the liquidation of a significant amount of long positions thus inducing a substantial selling pressure. If this projection occurs, BTC could find immediate support around $84,000 However, a potential dip to lower levels such as $83,000 or $80,000 may be feasible.

Bitcoin Price Overview

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $86,389 reflecting a minor 0.11% gain in the past day and a 0.76% gain in the last seven days. However, the premier cryptocurrency is down by 10.84% in the last month leaving most new market entrants in a deep loss.

Meanwhile, the BTC market trading market volume has crashed by 72.39% in the past day indicating a fall in market participation. While the liquidation heatmap analysis presented by Burak Kesmeci shows two likely pathways, investors should also note Bitcoin could remain range-bound between both liquidation zones barring the introduction of a significant market catalyst.

Featured image from Investopedia, chart from Tradingview

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The Bitcoin price started the week on a strong footing, jumping back above $90,000 following the announcement of a strategic crypto reserve by US President Donald Trump. However, the flagship cryptocurrency barely sustained this momentum, dropping back beneath the $90,000 level before midweek.

The recent market uncertainty is mirrored in the Bitcoin action, as the price has moved mostly sideways (after the initial pump) within the $82,000 – $92,000 range. The question now is — who is behind the constant price retracement and consolidation? 

Short-Term Sell-Offs Meet Long-Term Confidence: Analyst

In a Quicktake post on the CryptoQuant platform, an analyst with the pseudonym ShayanBTC discussed the divergence in investor behavior while using on-chain data to evaluate current market sentiment. The relevant on-chain indicator here is the Spent Output Age Bands (SOAB) metric, which sorts spent coins into categories depending on their age and as a proportion of total coins moved.

ShayanBTC specifically analyzed the bags of investors between the 1-week and 6-month cohorts (short-term holders) using the Spent Output Age Bands. Data from CryptoQuant shows that the selling activity of short-term investors drove the recent Bitcoin downturn. 

These investors, known for their rapid reactions to market fluctuations, have been actively depositing BTC onto exchanges — which can be associated with selling pressure. Considering the sensitive nature of short-term holders to market sentiment and technical resistance levels, their selling behavior aligns with Bitcoin’s recent struggle to sustain any bullish momentum.

Source: CryptoQuant

On the other hand, long-term investors (those holding BTC for more than 6 months) have shown no signs of capitulation. While some level of profit-taking can be seen among this group of Bitcoin holders, it seems to be rather gradual and consistent with the behavior seen in healthy bull markets rather than mass liquidations.

The activity of long-term Bitcoin investors suggests that they anticipate future price appreciation before offloading larger portions of their holdings, thereby reducing the BTC supply in the open market. ShayanBTC added that “if sufficient demand enters the market, this supply shrinkage could fuel further price appreciation.”

Interestingly, the latest on-chain data shows that Bitcoin’s long-term investors are not the only market participants refraining from offloading their assets. Crypto pundit Ali Martinez revealed in a post on X that the BTC miners have recorded zero selling activity since February 28.

Bitcoin Price At A Glance

As of this writing, the premier cryptocurrency is valued at around $86,200, reflecting a mere 0.5% price decline in the past 24 hours.

The price of BTC on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView

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