Goldman tops ripple funds as bitcoin slips below $70K

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) dipped below $70,000 ahead of today’s February CPI print, pressured by the IEA’s historic release of strategic oil reserves and persistent miner selling, while spot ETF inflows continue to build with $1.56B net in March so far. Goldman Sachs surfaced as the dominant holder of XRP (XRP-USD) ETFs, institutional buyers absorbed over $540M in solana (SOL-USD) ETFs last quarter, and a stablecoin treasury SPAC cleared its shareholder vote to list on Nasdaq, all signs that traditional finance is deepening its crypto plumbing even as price action stays choppy. On-chain, Mara Holdings (MARA) routed nearly $21M in bitcoin to a trading desk, and a prolific whale is pressing a $90M short against both bitcoin and ether.

GOLDMAN SACHS LEADS XRP ETF HOLDERS AS SPOT BITCOIN FUNDS EXTEND MARCH INFLOW STREAK: Spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $251M in net inflows on Tuesday, building on Monday’s $167M and pushing cumulative March inflows to $1.56B against $576.6M in outflows, with BlackRock’s according to Cointelegraph. In a notable development for altcoin funds, Goldman Sachs has emerged as the largest XRP ETF holder with roughly $154M in exposure, approximately 15% of total XRP ETF assets of $971M, followed by Millennium Management at $23M and Citadel at $5.2M. XRP ETFs have posted only nine days of net outflows since launching in November 2025, accumulating over $1.4B in cumulative inflows. Separately, institutional investors accumulated over $540M in U.S. spot solana ETFs during Q4, per 13F filings compiled by Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, with Electric Capital holding $137.8M and Goldman Sachs $107.4M, half of solana ETF AUM is now held by 13F-filing institutions despite SOL dropping more than 30% since year-end.​

CRYPTO INFRASTRUCTURE CONSOLIDATES: On the infrastructure side, Sphere 3D filed an 8-K today disclosing a definitive agreement to acquire Cathedra Bitcoin in an all-stock deal combining 53 MW of managed power capacity and 1.2 EH/s of proprietary hash rate. Hyperscale Data issued revenue guidance today of $180M–$200M for FY26, roughly double preliminary 2025 revenue, targeting profitability by Q4.

STABLECOINX SPAC CLEARS 97% VOTE FOR NASDAQ LISTING UNDER TICKER USDE: TLGY Acquisition (TLGY) filed an 8-K today disclosing that approximately 97% of shareholder votes were cast in favor of its business combination with StablecoinX Assets Inc. The combined company will list on Nasdaq under the ticker ‘USDE” and hold more than 3B ENA tokens, the native token of the Ethena stablecoin protocol, backed by a $360M PIPE financing from Dragonfly, Ribbit Capital, and Blockchain.com, with the Ethena Foundation initiating a $310M token buyback. For equity investors, this creates the first Nasdaq-listed vehicle for direct exposure to DeFi yield infrastructure. Separately, BitGo Holdings announced today an investment in Ubyx and the appointment of BitGo Bank & Trust as a settlement agent within Ubyx’s shared clearing network for regulated digital assets.

STRIVE ADDS 179 BTC AND $50M OF STRATEGY PREFERRED TO LAYERED TREASURY: Strive disclosed in a press release that it purchased 179 additional bitcoin, bringing its treasury to approximately 13,311 BTC, while simultaneously buying $50M of Strategy’s JPM“>(JPM) filed two 424B2 prospectus supplements today for structured notes referencing cryptocurrency assets, including leveraged products tied to BlackRock’s (BLK) IBIT, reversing the bank’s historical disdain for the high-velocity asset class by pushing to package bitcoin exposure for wealth management clients.

WALL STREET AND CRYPTO CLASH OVER STABLECOIN DEPOSITS AS BERNSTEIN BACKS CIRCLE: 

The battle between traditional banks and crypto firms over the future of money came into sharp focus today as the Financial Times published a major feature examining the fight over stablecoin interest payments permitted under the Genius Act, which passed the U.S. House in July. Banks are lobbying hard to close what they call the “interest loophole,” arguing that paying yield on stablecoins will trigger massive deposit flight, moving trillions out of traditional institutions and into crypto wallets, and severely limit their capacity to lend to small businesses and issue mortgages. JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum warned in the FT that “the creation of a parallel banking system” with deposit-like features but without prudential safeguards is “an obviously dangerous and undesirable thing.” Circle  PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at $70,150.40, while ether was trading at $2,042.25, according to price data from TipRanks.

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