Crypto Market Sees Mixed Results, Bitcoin Faces Reserve Rejection

On March 17, the cryptocurrency market experienced notable movements, with Bitcoin (BTC) starting the day with a slight increase, trading at $83,518. Ethereum, the second most capitalized cryptocurrency, also saw a modest rise, trading at $1,902. Among the top 10 most capitalized cryptocurrencies, BNB recorded the best performance for the day and week, with gains of 2.83% and 12.04% respectively. Conversely, Solana and TRON faced significant losses, with Solana dropping 4.97% in 24 hours and TRON declining 9.30% over the week.

In the broader top 100 most capitalized cryptocurrencies, Binary led the gains with a 34.86% increase for the day and a 55.55% rise over the week. Pi, on the other hand, experienced the most significant loss, dropping 8.46% in the last 24 hours, while Ethena recorded the largest weekly loss at 16.70%.

South Korea's central bank addressed the possibility of including Bitcoin in the country's reserve. The Bank of Korea highlighted Bitcoin's high volatility and potential liquidity issues as reasons why it is unsuitable for foreign exchange reserves. The central bank emphasized that reserves should have high liquidity and an investment-grade credit rating, criteria that Bitcoin does not meet. This stance comes despite previous calls from some Democratic Party officials and crypto-lobbyists to consider Bitcoin for government reserves and to create a stablecoin backed by the South Korean won.

A federal court in Arizona ordered the crypto platform Debiex to pay $2.5 million in a fraud case. The decision was made in response to a lawsuit filed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which alleged that Debiex used a fraudulent crypto romance scam to convince victims to invest in cryptocurrency. The court ordered Debiex to recover the stolen amount, totaling approximately $2.3 million, along with $221,500 in fines. Judge Douglas Reyes noted that the defendant had no valid reasons for ignoring the lawsuit.

Angel investor Jason Calacanis, known for his early investments in Uber and Robinhood, expressed his view that Bitcoin, like any technology, will eventually become obsolete. However, representatives from the Bitcoin industry, including Swan Bitcoin co-founders Brady Swenson and Corey Klippsten, argued that successful protocols are not replaced but augmented with new layers. Lightspark CEO David Marcus suggested that Bitcoin's shortcomings can be addressed with second-level solutions, while ShapeShift CEO Eric Voorhees noted that missing features can be implemented in other blockchains.

Some experts, such as Stacks co-founder Muneeb Ali, believe that most existing second-tier Bitcoin solutions will disappear in the next three years. Others, including crypto-enthusiast Wayne Vaughan, argue that the larger the Bitcoin network, the harder it is to replace. Strive Funds CEO Matt Cole emphasized that there is no "better Bitcoin" and that attempting to find an alternative will result in losses.