Cryptocurrency prices went deep into the red after U.S. President Donald Trump ruled out a trade agreement with China, further rattling financial markets and deepening the ongoing sell-off.

Bitcoin could face its most dramatic protocol change yet if a proposal by developer Agustin Cruz moves forward. The draft Bitcoin Improvement Proposal, dubbed the Quantum-Resistant Address Migration Protocol (QRAMP), recommends a hard fork that would require all BTC holders to shift funds from older wallets to ones protected by post-quantum cryptography.

Stablecoin issuers received additional clarity from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which said Friday that most dollar-pegged tokens won’t need to be registered as securities.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Crypto Prices Fall Sharply After Trump Nixes Deal With China
• Senate Committee Clears Trump Picks to Lead SEC and OCC
• SEC Says Dollar-Backed Stablecoins Don’t Require Registration as Securities

Crypto Prices Fall Sharply After Trump Nixes Deal With China

Cryptocurrency prices went deep into the red after U.S. President Donald Trump ruled out a trade agreement with China, further rattling financial markets and deepening the ongoing sell-off.

Bitcoin is at the time of writing trading at little over $75,000, down 9.5% for the day, while Ether is down some 18% in the same period. The broader crypto market, tracked through the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index, is down 15% in the last 24-hour period.

The downturn followed Trump’s Sunday remarks aboard Air Force One, where he said, “unless we solve that [trade deficit] problem, I'm not going to make a deal.” He defended his aggressive tariff policy as a necessary corrective, even as markets declined. “Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said.

The shift in tone has prompted traders to reassess risk. Open interest in CME’s bitcoin futures—essentially a measure of market participation—has dropped to 140,500 BTC, its lowest point since August 2024, down from a December peak of 281,570 BTC, according to Coinglass.

The rising open interest alongside falling prices points to a build-up in bearish bets—a signal that more pain could lie ahead.

Bitcoin Developer Proposes Hard Fork to Protect BTC From Quantum Computing Threats

Bitcoin could face its most dramatic protocol change yet if a proposal by developer Agustin Cruz moves forward. The draft Bitcoin Improvement Proposal, dubbed the Quantum-Resistant Address Migration Protocol (QRAMP), recommends a hard fork that would require all BTC holders to shift funds from older wallets to ones protected by post-quantum cryptography.

The core concern is ECDSA, the digital signature system Bitcoin uses, which may be broken by future quantum computers. Cruz’s plan would enforce a cutoff: after a specific block height, nodes running the new software would reject any transaction from addresses still using legacy cryptography. 

Users would be given a migration window to move funds, after which those who haven’t upgraded could be locked out. The BIP is preemptive rather than reactive. No quantum computer today can crack ECDSA. 

SEC Says Dollar-Backed Stablecoins Don’t Require Registration as Securities

Stablecoin issuers received additional clarity from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which said Friday that most dollar-pegged tokens won’t need to be registered as securities.

In a statement, SEC staff said stablecoins backed 1-for-1 by high quality liquid assets — such as U.S. dollars, gold or pools of other redeemable assets — don’t qualify as securities under federal law. The move removes a major regulatory overhang for stablecoin issuers. 

Still, the SEC left room for interpretation. In a footnote, the agency said the classification of any digital asset will still be decided case by case.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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