Crypto Market Update: Bitcoin Rises, Abra in Talks to Go Public

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$73,918.60, up by 3.3 percent over the last 24 hours.

The market is experiencing a relief rally after tankers designated as “non-enemy ships” moved through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday (March 15) for the first time since the conflict began.

Alt and meme coins outpaced Bitcoin, with Ether showing double-digit weekly gains.

Lacie Zhang, research analyst at Bitget Wallet, wrote to the Investing News Network (INN), highlighting on-chain metrics like realized price and MVRV as indicators of a late bear cycle stage suited for accumulation, though she noted that geopolitical risks and tight liquidity may delay the bottom. She called out short-term price ranges between US$68,000 and US$84,000 for Bitcoin, and US$1,800 and US$2,500 for Ether.

Linh Tran, senior market analyst at XS.com, told INN that Bitcoin's seven straight days of gains, and US$767 million in spot exchange-traded fund inflows signal returning institutional demand, potentially marking it as a “digital safe-haven." However, short-term profit taking, modest flows and hawkish US Federal Reserve risks could cap upside.

Ether (ETH) was priced at US$2,328.85, up by 10.3 percent over the last 24 hours.

Altcoin price update

• XRP (XRP) was priced at US$1.59, up by eight percent over 24 hours.

• Solana (SOL) was trading at US$94.97, up by 7.8 percent over 24 hours.

Today's crypto news to know

Abra Announces plan to go public via SPAC

Abra Financial Holdings, a digital asset wealth management platform offering custody, yield strategies, crypto loans and real-word asset (RWA) tokenization, has announced plans to go public through a business combination with New Providence Acquisition Corp. III (NASDAQ:NPACU) at a US$750 million pre-money valuation.

The combined company will trade as ABRX on the Nasdaq.

Abra’s current shareholders, including Adams Street, Blockchain Capital, Pantera Capital, RRE Ventures and SBI, will keep all their shares in the new public company. The deal could provide up to US$300 million in cash from New Providence’s trust, after any shareholder redemptions and expenses, to support Abra’s growth.

“Bitcoin, stablecoins, and RWAs are becoming the backbone of the future financial system. We're delivering institutional-grade on-chain wealth management globally within a regulated framework," said CEO Bill Barhydt in a press release shared with INN. The transaction awaits shareholder approval and standard closing conditions.

BUZZ to expand Canadian AI data center capacity, phase out Swedish Bitcoin mining

BUZZ High Performance Computing, a subsidiary of HIVE Digital Technologies (TSXV:HIVE,NASDAQ:HIVE), announced a fourfold expansion of its liquid-cooled artificial intelligence (AI) data center capacity with Bell Canada AI Fabric, increasing its critical IT load from 4 megawatts in Manitoba to 16.6 megawatts across two Canadian provinces. This includes an immediate 5 megawatt colocation facility in BC, with an option for an additional 7.6 megawatts in 2027.

This expansion provides the infrastructure to accelerate the deployment of over 4,000 next-generation AI-optimized GPUs in Canada in the near term, with a growth path to over 6,000 total GPUs. The company is targeting US$200 million in contracted annualized run-rate revenue by March 31, 2027.

Also included in the announcement, the company said that, due to ongoing operational uncertainty caused by Swedish tax authorities, HIVE is strategically phasing out its ASIC-based Bitcoin-mining hashrate production in the country, focusing instead on high-performance computing and AI, beginning with the upgrade of its 7 megawatt facility in Boden to a tier three data center to support NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) GB300 GPU architecture clusters.

Crypto leaders rebut Ponzi comments

A fresh debate over Bitcoin’s legitimacy erupted after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the cryptocurrency as a “Ponzi scheme” in a newspaper column. Johnson said he had long suspected Bitcoin operates as a speculative bubble and warned readers against investing in digital assets. His comments were sparked by an anecdote about a churchgoer who allegedly suffered financial losses after buying Bitcoin.

The remarks drew immediate responses from prominent figures in the crypto industry.

Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) co-founder Michael Saylor pushed back on the characterization, arguing that Bitcoin lacks the defining structure of a Ponzi scheme. “A Ponzi requires a central operator promising returns and paying early investors with funds from later ones,” Saylor wrote on X. “Bitcoin is not a Ponzi scheme.”

Other industry voices echoed the criticism. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino and Blockstream co-founder and CEO Adam Back both highlighted that Bitcoin operates as a decentralized network governed by code rather than by a central promoter.

Law enforcement collaborates to combat crypto scams

Law enforcement agencies in Canada, the US and Britain are collaborating this week on Operation Atlantic, an initiative aimed at helping victims of what are known as “approval phishing” scams recover their stolen funds.

In an approval phishing scam, the transactions are irreversible, which makes the stolen money difficult to retrieve.

Law enforcement personnel and representatives from cryptocurrency exchanges will work out of a command center in Washington, DC.

Australian Senate panel backs framework to regulate crypto platforms

Australia is moving closer to a comprehensive regulatory regime for digital assets after a Senate committee endorsed legislation aimed at bringing crypto businesses under existing financial services rules.

In a report released on Monday, the Senate Economics Legislation Committee supported the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025, describing it as a step toward modernizing oversight while maintaining consumer protections similar to traditional financial markets.

The proposed framework would introduce licensing and compliance requirements for companies that manage or hold digital assets on behalf of customers. Rather than attempting to regulate blockchain technology itself, the bill focuses on intermediaries such as exchanges, custodians and digital token managers.

The changes would amend both the Corporations Act 2001 and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 to bring these firms under the country’s existing financial services framework.

Under the proposal, companies operating without an Australian Financial Services Licence would have six months to obtain authorization once the law takes effect. Crypto exchanges already must register with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center as digital currency providers before offering trading services in the country.

Mastercard expands stablecoin push with new crypto partner

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) is strengthening its digital asset strategy by adding stablecoin infrastructure firm Borderless.xyz to its Crypto Partner Program. Borderless.xyz operates a network that connects digital wallets to more than a dozen licensed stablecoin issuers through a single API. According to the company, its infrastructure spans 94 countries and supports transactions across 63 fiat currencies.

The partnership places Borderless.xyz among more than 85 crypto-native firms, financial institutions and payments providers collaborating with Mastercard on blockchain-based payment solutions.

MEXC launches zero-fee prediction market

Cryptocurrency exchange MEXC has launched its own prediction market.

According to a Monday statement, the platform operates with a zero-fee, low-latency trading experience, offering trade execution speeds 30x faster than comparable products.

The platform uses MEXC's exchange-level security to protect assets from blockchain risks. Users can transfer funds between the prediction markets and their regular crypto trading on the same platform.