Stablecoin market expands, bitcoin rallies as Iran war panic cools

Your day-ahead look for March 10, 2026

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By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

The stablecoin market is expanding again, led by USDC, and bitcoin's BTC$70,816.15 rally is gathering steam.

The panic over the Iran war has cooled in the past 24 hours after President Donald Trump said the conflict could be over soon. The result: Bitcoin, which held resilient through the turmoil, has rallied past $70,000, up over 4%. The CoinDesk 20 Index, ether (ETH), solana (SOL), and XRP (XRP) are up 3% to 5%, and smaller coins like HYPE, ZEC, and RENDER rallying 7% to 11%.

The market capitalization of USDC, the second-largest dollar-pegged cryptocurrency, is fast closing on the record high of $78.6 billion, extending a recovery from the late-January low of $70.9 billion. Stablecoin leader USDT's supply has risen to $184 billion from the late-February low of $183.5 billion.

This upswing in supply of top coins pegged to the U.S. dollar indicates the dry powder sitting on the sidelines is increasing and could be deployed to fund new crypto purchases as the rally extends. ETF inflows are supportive of a continued bullish trend as well.

Some indicators, however, still call for caution. The Coinbase Premium Index, which measures the gap between bitcoin prices on the Nasdaq-listed Coinbase (COIN) exchange and offshore giant Binance, remains negative, a sign that demand from U.S. investors is still lagging. Historically, bull runs have seen sustained Coinbase premiums.

In traditional markets, oil has fallen back below $100, which supports continued stability in all risk assets, including cryptocurrencies. The dollar index and Treasury yields have also pulled back from recent highs. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today's activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today

What to Watch

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

• Crypto
  • March 10: Succint to host an announcement.
• Macro
  • March 10, 9:00 a.m.: U.S. existing home sales for February est. 3.9M (Prev. 3.91M)
• Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
  • Nothing scheduled.

Token Events

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

• Governance votes & calls
  • Aavegotchi DAO is conducting ballot 1and 2 of a multi-sig signer election, asking token holders to choose one signer from various nominees. Voting ends March 10.
  • Ssv.network DAO is voting to cancel DIP-46 and reallocate the originally approved $15 million development budget, splitting it into $14.9 million for DVT and $100,000 as a retroactive research grant. Voting ends March 10.
  • Realtoken Ecosystem Governance DAO is voting to temporarily pause interest rates on the RMM (Real Estate Monetary Fund) to zero for 15 days. Voting ends March 10.
• Unlocks
  • No major unlocks.
• Token Launches
  • No major token launches.

Conferences

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

• Day 2 of 5: Policy Week 2026 (Sydney, Australia)

Market Movements

• BTC is up 2.56% from 4 p.m. ET Monday at $70,734.01 (24hrs: +4.60%)
• ETH is up 1.68% at $2,061.24 (24hrs: +3.38%)
• CoinDesk 20 is up 2.02% at 2,015.27 (24hrs: +4.08%)
• Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is up 17 bps at 2.81%
• BTC funding rate is at 0.0024% (2.6105% annualized) on Binance

• DXY is unchanged at 98.84
• Gold futures are up 2.02% at $5,194.10
• Silver futures are up 6.50% at $89.50
• Nikkei 225 closed up 2.88% at 54,248.39
• Hang Seng closed up 2.17% at 25,959.90
• FTSE 100 is up 1.84% at 10,437.86
• Euro Stoxx 50 is up 2.94% at 5,852.45
• DJIA closed on Monday up 0.50% at 47,740.80
• S&P 500 closed up 0.83% at 6,795.99
• Nasdaq Composite closed up 1.38% at 22,695.95
• S&P/TSX Composite closed up 0.32% at 33,189.30
• S&P 40 Latin America closed up 1.61% at 3.532,70
• U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is unchanged at 4.14%
• E-mini S&P 500 futures are unchanged at 6,823.00
• E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are unchanged at 25,100.25
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are unchanged at 47,948.00

Bitcoin Stats

• BTC Dominance: 59.53% (0.77%)
• Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.02905 (-0.27%)
• Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,008 EH/s
• Hashprice (spot): $31.06
• Total fees: 2.52 BTC / $171,578
• CME Futures Open Interest: 103,205 BTC
• BTC priced in gold: 13.7 oz.
• BTC vs gold market cap: 4.76%

Technical Analysis

• The chart shows SOL's daily price action in candlestick format since August last year.
• The token is again trapped in a back-and-forth trading range, this time between $75 and $90, mimicking the October and December-January pattern.
• The next move depends on the direction in which the range is ultimately resolved. A bullish resolution could bring a quick-fire rally above $100, while a breakdown would suggest continuation of the broader bearish trend.

Crypto Equities

• Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Monday at $199.79 (+1.30%), +3.46% at $206.70 in pre-market
• Circle Internet Group (CRCL): closed at $111.84 (+9.74%), +2.18% at $114.28
• Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $21.50 (+4.57%), +3.09% at $22.16
• MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $8.66 (+8.11%), +2.31% at $8.86
• Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $14.70 (+3.78%), +2.52% at $15.07
• Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $15.16 (+2.02%), +1.45% at $15.38
• CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.61 (+4.34%), +2.29% at $9.83
• Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $10.83 (-0.64%)
• CoinShares Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $37.33 (+3.49%)
• Bullish (BLSH): closed at $36.06 (+3.15%), +1.14% at $36.47

Crypto Treasury Companies

• Strategy (MSTR): closed at $138.95 (+4.06%), +3.25% at $143.46
• Strive Asset Management (ASST): closed at $8.51 (-2.18%), +4.58% at $8.90
• Sharplink (SBET): closed at $7.60 (+3.26%), +1.71% at $7.73
• Upexi (UPXI): closed at $0.97 (+7.78%), +6.19% at $1.03
• Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.20 (+5.26%)

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs

• Daily net flows: $167.1 million
• Cumulative net flows: $55.52 billion
• Total BTC holdings ~ 1.28 million

Spot ETH ETFs

• Daily net flows: -$51.3 million
• Cumulative net flows: $11.61 billion
• Total ETH holdings ~ 5.73 million

Source: Farside Investors

While You Were Sleeping

• Trump sends mixed signals on when the Iran war might end (The New York Times): Facing pressure after a surge in energy prices, President Trump said the war would be over “very soon.” He later said the fighting would go on for at least another week.
• Iraq becomes battleground for U.S. forces once again (The Wall Street Journal): The U.S. is targeting militias that have carried out dozens of drone and rocket attacks in a show of support for Iran.
• AI tokens rally after Nvidia open-source agent plan, outpacing CoinDesk 20 (CoinDesk): Cryptocurrencies linked to artificial intelligence after reports that Nvidia is preparing a new open-source platform for autonomous AI agents. The broader AI token sector rose about 4.8%.
• Western powers rally to defend Gulf state from Iranian attacks (Bloomberg): The move comes after Iran responded to U.S. and Israel strikes by firing missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and other Gulf nations, disrupting oil production.

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