Crypto Sell-Offs, Instagram Scam, Break-up over Bitcoin: CoinMarketCap Newsletter, March 25

Hello — and welcome to the CoinMarketCap newsletter for March 25! (In a slightly different place than normal.)

Total market cap: $1.62 billion

24-hour volume: $166.6 billion

BTC dominance: 59.7%

Bitcoin price: $51,977.45

Notable movers: Aragon (+41.95%)

Crypto markets have been dominated by a sea of red on Thursday, with Bitcoin losing 10% of its value over the past 24 hours. The sell-offs have taken Bitcoin perilously close to losing $50,000 — a crucial psychological milestone. It came despite Fidelity announcing it had filed paperwork to launch a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Tech stocks have also been hammered recently as concerns over rising interest rates return. And to cap things off, a billionaire hedge fund founder thinks BTC has a good chance of being outlawed.

Microsoft's president has said that private companies shouldn't launch their own digital currencies. Speaking at an online conference, Brad Smith said such projects should be left to banks and central governments. In criticism that could be interpreted as a swipe against Facebook, which is continuing to work on its Diem cryptocurrency, Brad Smith said he is “not a big fan” of tech giants like Microsoft being encouraged to get involved in issuing currency. Read more here — including the debate that's raging about central bank digital currencies in Europe.

An Instagram influencer is facing charges of wire fraud amid accusations that he swindled his followers out of Bitcoin worth $2.5 million. Jay Mazini had attracted one million followers by posting videos that showed himself handing out large amounts of cash as gifts. Detectives in the U.S. claim he would encourage victims to sell Bitcoin to him at attractive but inflated prices — but wouldn't send over the money they were owed. "A quick search of the Interwebs today will reveal an entirely different image of this multimillion-dollar scammer," the FBI added. Read more here.

One of the world's biggest exchanges says it is planning to open an office in India — despite the country pursuing plans to ban consumers from owning cryptocurrencies. The new branch is set to house "IT services including engineering, software development and customer support." Although Coinbase is eyeing up a site in Hyderabad, the platform says newly hired Indian employees will be given the freedom to work anywhere they like nationwide. Read more here.

And we finish with a cautionary tale from Reddit, where a user has claimed that his wife has walked out on him over Bitcoin. The poster, u/Parking_Meater, claimed that he had refused to sell his BTC stash when prices hit $60,000 — and recent developments made matters worse. He wrote: "Today she caught me buying the dip and was so pissed she almost hit me! Now she packed bags and went to her sisters to stay." Check out the sorry tale here.