Bitcoin’s Safe-Haven Appeal Outperforms Oil, S&P 500 as Iran War Enters 3rd Week ⚡
Bitcoin’s safe-haven appeal reemerged and outperformed all major assets, including gold, oil, and the S&P 500 index, as the war with Iran roared into its third week.
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Bitcoin emerged as the leading safe-haven asset amid the escalating US-Israeli war with Iran, outperforming all major assets, including oil, gold, and the S&P 500 Index, as the conflict roared into the 3rd week ⚡.
Institutional moves continued to fuel demand, as Japanese investment firm Metaplanet issued a unique pair of offerings targeting a total of $772 million in new capital for Bitcoin acquisitions.
Meanwhile, tokenization platform Theo has secured a $100 million credit facility for its gold-backed, yield-generating stablecoins, showing more institutional appetite for safe-haven assets.
Lastly, the Senate delivered a big regulatory win for financial privacy advocates, after voting to add the central bank digital currency (CBDC) ban into the upcoming housing bill 🏛️.
Traders now focus their attention on the incoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on US interest rates, as analysts warn that Bitcoin’s recovery may be part of an emerging bull trap.
In this week’s CoinStats Scoop, you’ll find:
📊 Crypto Market Analysis And The Most Important News In Web3
🚀 Metaplanet raises $255 million, debuts new mNAV-tied stock offering
💰 Theo secures $100M facility for gold-backed yield stablecoin
🏛️ Senate votes to add CBDC ban amendment to housing bill
⚖️ JPMorgan faces lawsuit linked to $328 million crypto Ponzi scheme
🔮 Analysis And Key Events That Will Shape The Crypto Market Next Week
Metaplanet raises $255 million, debuts new mNAV-tied stock offering 🚀
Metaplanet, also known as “Asia’s MicroStrategy,” raised $255 million in new capital and launched a first-of-its-kind offering to fuel its corporate target of acquiring 210,000 Bitcoin 💹.
On March 16, the Japanese investment firm raised $255 million from a private placement of stocks sold at a 2% premium, which may generate another $276 million if investors exercise their rights to additional stocks.
The same day, Metaplanet launched a first-of-its-kind offering to raise another $234 million, with stock warrants only exercisable if the company’s market net asset value (MNAV) trades above 1.01x, announced Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich:
“Metaplanet has issued 100 million Moving Strike Warrants with a first-of-its-kind mNAV clause. Exercise is only permitted when the stock trades above 1.01x mNAV, ensuring every share issued increases shareholder value” ⚡.
If investors fully exercise their rights across the new fundraising instruments, the offering would net the company a total of $772 million in new capital 💰.
The mNAV clause marks a world’s first for a corporate Bitcoin holder. The value-add may bolster institutional confidence in Metaplanet stock, generating more institutional capital to flow into Bitcoin through the world’s fourth-largest corporate holder 🌐.
Metaplanet’s mNAV stood at 1.11x at the time of the announcement. The mNAV ratio tracks a company’s enterprise value to the value of its crypto holdings, with values below 1 making it difficult to raise funds by issuing new shares due to stock dilution risks 📊.
Theo secures $100M facility for gold-backed yield stablecoin 💰
Tokenization platform Theo has secured $100 million in fresh capital for a structured investment facility backing its yield-bearing stablecoin, bringing more yield-generating products to blockchain rails.
Theo will use the $100 million facility to expand its gold-backed, yield-bearing thUSD stablecoin, seeking to meet growing institutional appetite for stable, yield-generating instruments amid growing safe-haven demand caused by geopolitical shocks.
The $100 million was deposited in its Genesis Vault facility to support the launch of the stablecoin. Theo will use the funds to buy tokenized gold while shorting gold futures on the CME to hedge the price as part of its market-neutral strategy 📈.
The strategy seeks to reduce exposure to gold’s price volatility while generating a stable yield derived from futures market spreads and gold financing. The tokenization firm averaged a 8.27% annual return with this strategy in 2025.
Institutional investors have shown significant demand for existing tokenized gold products, particularly since the outbreak of the US-Israeli war against Iran on February 28 🌐.
Tether’s tokenized gold token, XAUT, is up 10% and the Paxos Gold token, PAXG, is up 7.8% during the past 30 days, which pushed tokenized commodities past $5.7 billion, according to RWA data.
Senate votes to add CBDC ban amendment to housing bill 🏛️
The United States Senate approved a vote to include the central bank digital currency (CBDC) prohibition in the bipartisan housing bill, marking a big win for the future of financial privacy.
On March 12, the US Senate voted to include an amendment in the 21st Century Road to Housing Act that would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC, passing it by 89-10.
This prohibits the US central bank from issuing a CBDC until Dec. 31, 2030, wrote the amendment 📜:
✍️ “The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or a Federal Reserve Bank may not issue or create a central bank digital currency or any digital asset that is substantially similar to a central bank digital currency, directly or indirectly through a financial institution or other intermediary.”
The amendment signals a vote of confidence for US dollar-based stablecoin adoption, which is federally regulated under the GENIUS Act and publicly-traceable on the blockchain ledger.
In contrast, multiple CBDC pilots worldwide have created financial privacy concerns due to concerning in-built features enabling central banks to create an expiry date on personal savings, or place freezes on accounts.
Earlier in March, 30 US lawmakers signed a joint letter urging the Senate to pass a permanent CBDC ban, citing the technology’s potential to “threaten basic economic freedom”.
JPMorgan faces lawsuit linked to $328 million crypto Ponzi scheme ⚖️
Investment banking giant JPMorgan was named in a lawsuit related to a $328 million crypto Ponzi scheme that affected at least 2,000 investors.
JPMorgan was accused of ignoring suspicious transactions and enabling now bankrupt Goliath Ventures to orchestrate a $328 million Ponzi scheme, according to a class action lawsuit filed on March 11.
The lawsuit claimed JPMorgan gave Goliath Ventures the necessary financial infrastructure for the investment scam while allowing fraudulent wire transfers ⚠️.
“This action arises from Chase’s role in enabling, aiding, and abetting the cryptocurrency investment Ponzi scheme operated through its bank customer, Goliath”.
The lawsuit cited $235 million of funds deposited into the JPMorgan account “0305” between 2023 and 2025, of which $123 million was subsequently transferred to Goliath wallets on the Coinbase exchange.
The filing came as a shocking development in light of JPMorgan’s vocal stance against cryptocurrency investment products from the previous years.
Market Overview: Bitcoin Outperforms Global Assets Amid The Iran War ⚡
Bitcoin emerged as the leading safe-haven asset since the breakout of the US-Israel war with Iran, in a robust institutional testament for the world’s first non-sovereign digital currency.
Bitcoin outperformed all the leading assets since Israel launched the first missile strikes on Iranian targets at the end of last month.
Since February 28, Bitcoin rose 9.4%, outperforming the 5.8% increase in oil price and the negative returns of gold, silver, and the S&P 500, TradingView data shows 📊.
Ethereum also outperformed the major S&P 500 index since the start of the conflict, as chart patterns pointed to a bottom formation between March 7 and 14, wrote Bitmine, the world’s leading Ethereum treasury.
Ethereum’s price surged 23% relative to the S&P 500 since the beginning of the conflict on February 28.
With both sides of the conflict signaling more escalations, traders now look at the war’s effect on macroeconomic decisions in the United States, where the central bank is approaching its next interest rate decision later on Wednesday 📈.
Bitcoin traders turned bullish ahead of the key Federal Reserve meeting, wrote analytics firm CryptoQuant :
“Shorts were cleared as BTC reclaimed $70K, with fresh longs building above $73K. Positioning has flipped. Long positions are now dominating the perpetual futures market.”
Still, Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo warns that the current move towards $75,000 was largely driven by futures markets dominated by short-term buyers, risking a sharp correction.
“Beware, this will be a bull trap; the bottom structure has not formed yet. From the liquidity picture I’m looking at, we are around 1/3 of the way through the bear market.”
Tweets & Memes
RWAs, prediction markets, and perp DEXs are still booming amid the crypto bear market 🚀.
Beware of exposing your seed phrase to home security systems 🛡️.
SEC is finally delivering more crypto regulatory clarity for market participants 📜.
March 17 will go down as a historic regulatory milestone for the crypto industry 🏛️.
But beware of wallet drainers while you continue trading for generational wealth 💰.
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