BTC Weekly: Week 11 (2026)
Key Events from March 9–15, 2026
Kraken Becomes First Crypto Bank to Access Federal Reserve Payment Rails
Kraken Financial’s Wyoming-chartered bank received approval from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City on March 4, granting direct access to Fedwire and eliminating the intermediary banks that crypto firms have historically depended on for dollar settlement — a structural barrier that had blocked every previous crypto banking application to the Fed. The account is limited-purpose and granted for one year, which Fed Vice Chair Michelle Bowman described as a “pilot” to test how nonbank institutions can participate in the payments system. (Bloomberg, CoinDesk)
Strategy Purchases $1.28B in Bitcoin, STRC Preferred Share Funding Hits New High
The 17,994 BTC acquired between March 2 and March 8 brings total holdings to 738,731 BTC — more than 3.4% of Bitcoin’s fixed 21 million supply. $377 million of the purchase was funded through STRC perpetual preferred shares, the instrument’s strongest issuance week since its July 2025 debut, suggesting Strategy’s alternative financing vehicle is maturing beyond its early dependence on common stock dilution. (Fortune, The Block)
SEC Submits Crypto Interpretive Guidance to White House, Signaling Independent Action if Congress Stalls
Filed March 3, the commission-level guidance clarifies which crypto assets fall under SEC jurisdiction and provides a framework for categorizing digital tokens — carrying stronger enforceability than prior staff-level statements since it does not require a commission vote. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has indicated the agency is prepared to move independently on digital asset regulation if the CLARITY Act continues to stall in the Senate. (Digital Watch Observatory, FinTech Weekly)
Metaplanet Launches Two Subsidiaries, Shifting From Bitcoin Accumulator to Ecosystem Builder
Metaplanet Ventures will deploy approximately ¥4 billion (~$26 million) into Japanese Bitcoin infrastructure companies, while Metaplanet Asset Management, opening in Miami, will focus on cross-border Bitcoin capital markets. Its first investment is ¥400 million into yen stablecoin issuer JPYC — signaling a strategic expansion beyond balance sheet accumulation into active deployment across the Bitcoin ecosystem. (Bitcoin Magazine)
Spot Bitcoin ETFs Record First Five-Day Inflow Streak of 2026, Pulling in $767M
BlackRock’s IBIT led the week with $115.51 million in net inflows on March 11 alone, contributing to the first sustained multi-day institutional buying streak after outflows dominated January and February. Total net assets across all spot Bitcoin ETFs now stand at $91.83 billion, with cumulative net inflows reaching $56.14 billion. (Cointelegraph, FinTech Weekly)
Cambridge Study: Bitcoin Network Can Survive 72–92% of Global Submarine Cable Failures
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance study drew on 11 years of data and 68 real fault events, finding that TOR adoption unexpectedly strengthens physical network redundancy — a counterintuitive result given TOR’s association with privacy rather than infrastructure resilience. The same study identified a meaningful vulnerability on the other end: a coordinated attack on just five major hosting providers could cause serious network disruption. (CoinDesk)
Ark Labs Raises $5.2M to Build Programmable Finance Directly on Bitcoin’s Base Layer
Backed by Tether, Ego Death Capital, and Anchorage Digital, Ark Labs’ Arkade platform enables stablecoin issuance and settlement on Bitcoin without a sidechain — addressing a long-standing limitation given Bitcoin’s historically constrained programmability compared to other blockchains. (The Block)