The update adds digital asset accounts and real-time visibility tools for 
corporate finance teams managing liquidity across systems.

Ripple adds digital asset support to treasury management platform

Franklin Templeton has agreed to acquire CoinFund spinoff 250 Digital to 
launch Franklin Crypto, a dedicated crypto arm targeting institutional crypto 
investment management.

Franklin Templeton deepens crypto push with CoinFund spinoff deal

Michael Saylor&#8217;s Strategy has raised funds to purchase at least 1,111 BTC this 
week, increasing the odds of sending prices higher in April.

Strategy set to resume buying Bitcoin via STRC: Will BTC price hit $80K?

XRP weathered a brutal first quarter, closing down 27% from its 2025 year-end 
valuation. Its market capitalization shrank from $112 billion to $83 billion—a 
staggering 55% collapse from its July 2025 all-time high. From Peak to Plunge 
XRP concluded the first quarter of 2026 with a staggering 27% retraction from 
its year-end 2025 valuation, cementing […]

XRP Closes Q1 2026 Down 27%, Market Capitalization Plummets $29 Billion

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged ten senior staff and employees at 
four crypto “market‑making” firms with running fraudulent campaigns designed 
to pump up both the trading volume and the price of certain digital assets. An 
FBI Crypto-Trap The charges, announced by the DOJ on a Monday press release, 
include employees from the firms Gotbit, Vortex, Antier and Contrarian. Three 
of the defendants were taken into custody in Singapore and extradited to the 
United States. They appeared before a federal judge in Oakland for the first 
time on Monday. Two of them were CEO’s at the aforementioned companies. 10 
Foreign National Executives and Employees of Four Different Cryptocurrency 
Financial Services Firms Are Charged by @USAO_NDCA With Orchestrating Fraud 
Schemes to Artificially Inflate the Trading Volume and Price of 
Cryptocurrencies. Three defendants, including 2 CEOs, were… — U.S. Department 
of Justice &#8211; International (@USDOJ_Intl) March 31, 2026 The charges arise from 
an undercover FBI FBI and IRS‑CI operation that began on May 2024, targeting 
“wash-trading”. The FBI created crypto tokens and then watched these firms 
fall on the trap as they orchestrated artificial volume and price spikes. 
Let’s remember that wash trading occurs when the same party effectively trades 
with itself to manufacture fake volume and liquidity, laying the groundwork 
for pump‑and‑dump style price manipulation. In a pump-and-dump, organizers 
hype and artificially drive up a token’s price only to dump their holdings at 
the top. Related Reading: Google Says End For Bitcoin Is Near? Quantum 
Computers Could Attack Crypto This Soon According to the announcement, the 
defendants have been charged in three separate indictments. They are accused 
of not only working together to jack up trading volume and prices, but then 
cashing out by dumping those tokens at inflated levels onto unsuspecting 
investors, turning the schemes into the classic pump‑and‑dump play described 
before. The scheme also harmed buyers beyond the United States. On top of the 
three extradited individuals, two co‑defendants have already pled guilty and 
received sentences from U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martínez‑Olguín. 
Authorities have so far seized more than $1 million worth of cryptocurrency. 
Market Impact And Takeaways For Traders This is not the first time the DOJ 
charges individuals with wash-trading indictments. On October 2024, 18 
individuals and entities were charged in Boston for widespread fraud and 
manipulation in the cryptocurrency markets. In that case, the charges included 
the leaders of four cryptocurrency companies, four “market makers” (ZM Quant, 
CLS Global MyTrade and Gotbit) and employees at those firms. “Fake” volume and 
manufactured liquidity have been structural features of altcoin markets. The 
charges suggest the DOJ will treat these patterns like traditional securities 
fraud and not “quirks” of a new asset class. Related Reading: Bitcoin Range 
Traps Traders At $65K — Are Long‑Term Holders Finally Surrendering? Traders 
should keep in mind that high on‑chain or exchange volume in illiquid tokens 
is now a red flag, especially when tied to thinly documented market‑making 
agreements. This operation may be followed by more enforcement, which 
translates into higher legal risk premia on small‑cap tokens, more scrutiny 
for market makers, and potentially cleaner but thinner liquidity in the short 
term. If the DOJ ends up completely succeeding here, the “high‑beta casino” 
corner of crypto could shrink, while compliant venues and assets benefit from 
a credibility re‑rating over time. At the moment of writing, BTC trades for 
the highs $68k. Source: BTCUSD on Tradingview Cover image from Perplexity, 
BTCUSD chart from Tradingview

Cryptocurrency price in EUR