Crypto Market Recap: Bitcoin to Hold "Special Status" in US Reserve, Pectra Test Launch Hits Snag

Bitcoin and Ethereum price update

Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading at US$90,372.22, reflecting a 4 percent increase over the past 24 hours. The day's trading range has seen a high of US$90,468.07 and a low of US$87,736.82.

Ethereum (ETH) is priced at US$2,231.25, marking an increase of 4.3 percent over the same period. The cryptocurrency reached an intraday high of US$2,232.93 and a low of US$2,168.29.

Altcoin price update

• Solana (SOL) is currently valued at US$145, up 2.7 percent over the past 24 hours. SOL experienced a high of US$145.84 and a low of US$140.61 during Wednesday's trading session.

• XRP is trading at US$2.50, reflecting a 2.1 percent increase over the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency recorded an intraday high of US$2.51 and a low of US$2.43.

• Sui (SUI) is priced at US$2.67, showing a 7.2 percent increase over the past 24 hours. It achieved a daily high of US$2.68 and a low of US$2.46.

• Cardano (ADA) is trading at US$0.9882, reflecting a 9 percent increase over the past 24 hours. Its highest price on Wednesday was US$0.9956, with a low of US$0.937.

Crypto news to know

Bitcoin's "special status" in US crypto reserve

In a Wednesday interview with the Pavlovic Today, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick clarified that Bitcoin will have “special status” in a planned national cryptocurrency reserve.

The reserve will hold a basket of cryptocurrencies, including ETH, SOL, ADA and XRP. Lutnick said the Trump administration will likely reveal more details at the upcoming White House Crypto Summit.

The Trump administration has faced criticism since it announced its intention to create a reserve that includes cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. Industry insiders, including Coinbase and Gemini CEOs Brian Armstrong and Tyler Winklevoss, have argued that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency that meets the criteria of a reserve asset.

Ethereum's Pectra upgrade faces second setback

After initially announcing the successful deployment of Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade on its final testnet, Sepolia, Ethereum blockchain developer Tim Beiko reported a technical issue that caused transaction processing software to malfunction, leading to the creation of blocks without any transactions.

The Wednesday issue marks the second setback in the process of the Pectra upgrade, which is anticipated to improve Ether staking, layer-2 network scalability and overall network capacity.

During a test run of the Pectra upgrade on the Holesky test network on February 24, a mistake in how the computers that validate transactions were set up caused the network to split into two separate, conflicting versions.

The estimated time to resolve the issue and successfully implement the upgrade on the test network is approximately 18 days. More information, including a possible final date of the Pectra mainnet implementation, is expected during Ethereum’s All Core Developers call on Thursday (March 6).

Senate passes IRS resolution

The US Senate voted 70 to 27 to pass a resolution to repeal a Biden-era rule requiring decentralized finance protocols to report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and brokers to disclose gross proceeds from crypto sales.

The issue was brought forward by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on January 21.

The resolution will now move to the House of Representatives. If it passes a vote there, it will be sent to President Donald Trump for his signature. David Sacks, the Trump administration's artificial intelligence and crypto czar, has already said the White House supports the resolution.