Here’s a quick recap of the crypto landscape for Wednesday (March 11) as of 9:00 p.m. UTC.
Get the latest insights on Bitcoin, Ether and altcoins, along with a round-up of key cryptocurrency market news.
Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$70,624.29, up by 0.6 percent over the last 24 hours.
Bitcoin price performance, March 11, 2026.
Chart via TradingView.
Bitcoin volatility remains elevated amid macro and oil price shocks. Amberdata’s recent analysis pins Bitcoin’s prolonged correction, which began after its October 2025 peak, partly on carry trade unwind, which has caused the 30 day basis to compress from over 15 percent in January 2025 to just over 5 percent on Wednesday.
Rania Gule, senior market analyst at XS.com, reads the current US$70,000 stall as a bottoming and rebalancing, not an endless correction, with short squeeze and scarcity setting up the next leg up.
Ether (ETH) was priced at US$2,075.44, up by 1.7 percent over the last 24 hours.
Altcoin price update
- XRP (XRP) was priced at US$1.39, up by 0.4 percent over 24 hours.
- Solana (SOL) was trading at US$87.19, up by 1.3 percent over 24 hours.
Today’s crypto news to know
Oil trading surges on crypto derivatives platform
Volatility in global energy markets is spilling into crypto trading platforms, where oil derivatives are now among the most active markets. On decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, an oil-linked perpetual futures contract tracking West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude has generated about US$1.32 billion in trading volume over the past 24 hours.
The surge made oil the second most traded contract on the platform after Bitcoin.
It followed the escalation of the US-Israel conflict with Iran, which sent oil prices briefly soaring above US$118 per barrel before retreating. Prior to the conflict, the contract typically saw about US$21 million in daily trading.
Data from Hyperliquid shows Bitcoin still dominates trading activity with roughly US$3.64 billion in daily volume, but the WTI contract has now leapfrogged assets such as Ether, silver and gold.
Strategy adds nearly 18,000 Bitcoin in US$1.28 billion purchase
Michael Saylor’s Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) continued its aggressive accumulation strategy last week, revealing that it purchased 17,994 BTC for about US$1.28 billion between March 2 and 8.
According to a regulatory filing, the company paid an average price of roughly US$70,946 per coin. The latest purchase lifts Strategy’s total holdings to 738,731 Bitcoin, acquired at a combined cost of about US$56.04 billion.
Circle launches nanopayments on testnet for AI agent commerce
Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) launched nanopayments on a testnet on Tuesday (March 10), enabling artificial intelligence (AI) agents and machines to handle instant, gas-free payments of fractions of a cent using USDC. This financial rail allows machine-to-machine commerce, or “agentic economic activity,” by bundling many tiny off-chain transactions for free and settling them periodically on EVM chains like Arbitrum or Base.
Agents sign an off-chain authorization for immediate service. Following the x402 standard, it requires no accounts, just programmable USDC flows. This enables use cases like robots paying to recharge or AI paying per data crawl.
It is currently available for developers on testnet only.
Foundry Digital to launch Zcash mining pool
Foundry Digital, a company that builds infrastructure for digital asset mining, said it is planning to launch a specialized mining pool for Zcash in April of this year, expanding beyond their Bitcoin focus.
A spokesperson for Foundry told Cointelegraph that the company decided to build the new mining pool because “Zcash addresses something we believe is genuinely important: the idea that financial privacy is foundational to economic freedom, and that privacy and compliance can coexist.”
In addition, “When institutional and public miners can mine Zcash through infrastructure built to their standards, it brings new hashrate to the network and strengthens its security.”
Strive allocates US$50 million to Strategy
Strive Asset Management announced a US$50 million allocation of its corporate treasury to Strategy variable-rate perpetual preferred stock on Wednesday, with Chief Risk Officer Jeff Walton saying the company sees the stock as “a high-quality credit, offering material yield, higher liquidity, and attractive risk profile over traditional credit instruments for moderate duration capital.” The firm projects over US$3.9 million in returns per year compared to T-bills.
China’s top court warns of tougher penalties for crypto crime
China’s Supreme People’s Court has signaled a harder line against cryptocurrency-related financial crime, pledging stricter penalties for individuals using digital assets to launder money or move funds overseas.
Chief Justice Zhang Jun issued the warning in the court’s annual report to the National People’s Congress, highlighting the growing role of crypto in cross-border financial offenses.
Authorities say the crackdown is part of a broader campaign against technology-enabled crime, which increasingly includes AI-driven fraud and coordinated online harassment campaigns known as “human flesh search.”
Despite the ban, enforcement agencies say criminals have continued to exploit digital assets to bypass China’s strict capital controls, which limit individuals to transferring US$50,000 abroad each year.
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.