Crypto investors celebrated this week as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) put an end to one of the most contentious lawsuits in the crypto sector—an extensive legal battle with Ripple Labs that lasted over four years. In a parallel noteworthy development, futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on Solana have launched in the United States, which could hint at the forthcoming approval of spot Solana (SOL) ETFs as the logical next step for regulatory authorities.
Ripple CEO Calls SEC’s XRP Decision a “Win for the Industry”
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse characterized the SEC’s withdrawal of its lengthy lawsuit against Ripple Labs, the entity behind the XRP Ledger blockchain, as a significant triumph for the crypto sector. Speaking at Blockworks’ 2025 Digital Asset Summit in New York, Garlinghouse disclosed on March 19 that the SEC had decided to drop its legal action against Ripple, concluding four years of litigation concerning an alleged unregistered securities offering of $1.3 billion in 2020. “This feels like a win for the industry and marks the dawn of a new era,” Garlinghouse remarked at the event attended by Cointelegraph.
Institutional Adoption Boosted by Solana Futures ETF Launch
The cryptocurrency landscape is on the brink of a new chapter with the introduction of the first SOL futures ETF, a critical move that may lead to the approval of a spot SOL ETF as the logical next step for crypto trading products, according to industry experts. Volatility Shares has unveiled two SOL futures ETFs—the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT), both launching on March 20. Ryan Lee, a chief analyst at Bitget Research, indicated that this debut could significantly enhance Solana’s market position by driving demand and liquidity for SOL, potentially reducing the gap with Ethereum’s market capitalization. Lee emphasized that the introduction of these ETFs will provide a regulated investment vehicle, attracting substantial capital and reinforcing Solana’s competitiveness, despite Ethereum’s established ecosystem posing a significant challenge.
Pump.fun Introduces New DEX, Challenges Raydium
Pump.fun has rolled out its own decentralized exchange (DEX) named PumpSwap, potentially overtaking Raydium as the go-to trading platform for Solana-based memecoins. From March 20 onward, memecoins that successfully establish liquidity on Pump.fun will transition directly to PumpSwap, as stated by the platform in a post on X. Previously, tokens that bonded on Pump.fun migrated to Raydium, which had become Solana’s leading DEX, largely due to its focus on memecoin trading. Pump.fun noted that PumpSwap is designed to emulate features of Raydium V4 and Uniswap V2, aiming to create a seamless trading experience for users. The platform added that prior migration processes slowed down coin momentum and complicated the experience for newcomers, whereas the new system allows for instant and free migrations.
Bybit Reports 89% of Stolen $1.4B Crypto Still Traceable Post-Hack
In the aftermath of a historic cyber heist, a significant portion of the stolen funds from Bybit remains traceable, as blockchain analysts continue their work to recover the assets. On February 21, the crypto community was shaken when Bybit reported a loss of over $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether (stETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH), and other digital currencies. Investigators have pointed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group as the probable perpetrators behind this exploit, as the attackers attempt to obscure the funds. Despite their efforts, Bybit’s co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou revealed that over 88% of the hacked $1.4 billion is still traceable. In a post on X on March 20, Zhou detailed that while a portion of the stolen assets has gone dark, a majority remains accessible, with many funds funneled through Bitcoin mixers to mask their origin.
Creator of Libra and Melania’s “Wolf of Wall Street” Memecoin Plummets 99%
Hayden Davis, co-creator of the Libra token, has introduced a new memecoin that has displayed similar troubling on-chain patterns indicative of substantial insider trading prior to its 99% crash. Davis launched the Wolf (WOLF) memecoin on March 8, riding on the coattails of rumors that Jordan Belfort, famously known as the Wolf of Wall Street, was set to launch his own token. Initially, WOLF achieved a market cap of $42 million, but data from Bubblemaps revealed that 82% of its supply was controlled by a single entity, raising suspicions about potential insider trading. The token’s value plummeted from its peak on March 8 to just $570,000 by March 16, according to Dexscreener.
DeFi Market Overview
Recent data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicates that most of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization saw positive gains this week. Among these, the Four (FORM) token, native to the BNB Chain, emerged as the week’s biggest gainer, surging over 110%, followed closely by PancakeSwap’s CAKE token, which rose by more than 48%. The total value locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) continues to reflect the dynamic nature of this rapidly evolving sector. Thank you for following our roundup of the week’s most significant developments in DeFi. Join us next week for more updates, insights, and educational content in this rapidly changing arena.
