Crypto Market Update: Wall Street Deepens Crypto Stake with US$25 Billion OKX Deal

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$68,104.55 down by 4.4 percent over the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin price performance, March 6, 2026.

Chart via TradingView.

Ether (ETH) was priced at US$1,979.93, down by 5.4 percent over the last 24 hours.

Altcoin price update

• XRP (XRP) was priced at US$1.36, down by 4.2 percent over 24 hours.

• Solana (SOL) was trading at US$85.04, down by 4.8 percent over 24 hours.

Today’s crypto news to know

NYSE parent backs crypto exchange in US$25 billion deal

Wall Street’s push deeper into digital assets gathered pace after Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) agreed to acquire a stake in crypto exchange OKX in a deal valuing the platform at about US$25 billion. ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, will also take a seat on OKX’s board, according to a company statement.

The agreement comes roughly a year after OKX pled guilty to a felony and paid about US$504 million in penalties over allegations it processed more than US$1 trillion in US customer transactions without a license.

Despite that history, executives say the new partnership signals a shift toward regulatory alignment. ICE executive Michael Blaugrund said on-chain systems will increasingly play a role in clearing, settlement and capital formation.

SEC drops personal charges against Tron founder Sun

The settlement of the long-running US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case against Justin Sun was finalized on Thursday (March 5). The SEC moved to dismiss all claims against Sun, along with the Tron Foundation and BitTorrent Foundation, with prejudice in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The SEC also voluntarily dismissed pending claims against DeAndre Cortez Way (Soulja Boy) as part of the resolution.

However, a TRON Foundation subsidiary, Rainberry (formerly BitTorrent), was ordered to pay a US$10 million civil penalty and is subject to a permanent injunction against future violations.

The charges were related to a 2023 lawsuit that accused Sun of orchestrating over 600,000 wash trades of the TRX token to create a false appearance of high trading volume.

He was also accused of offering and selling TRX and BTT tokens without proper registration, and of paying celebrities to promote his tokens without disclosing that they were being compensated.

Sun and his companies did not admit to or deny any of the allegations.

Pudgy Penguins faces trademark challenge from apparel brand

The crypto-native brand behind the popular Pudgy Penguins non-fungible token (NFT) collection is facing a trademark lawsuit from the company that owns the Original Penguin clothing label.

PEI Licensing, which has used penguin imagery in apparel since the 1950s, alleges the NFT brand’s logos and trademarks could confuse consumers and infringe on its long-standing intellectual property rights.

Filed in federal court in Florida, the complaint claims Pudgy Penguins’ use of similar penguin imagery and trademark applications for phrases tied to its brand violate fair-competition laws. The plaintiff says the similarities between apparel and merchandise sold by both companies could lead buyers to believe the two brands are affiliated.

PEI is seeking financial damages, the rejection of certain trademark filings and the destruction of products bearing allegedly infringing designs.

Pudgy Penguins has expanded beyond NFTs into a broader consumer brand, launching a Solana-based token and distributing physical toys through major retailers including Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Target (NYSE:TGT).

The toy line alone reportedly generated more than US$10 million in sales within its first year.

Bitcoin ETF outflows persist

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded US$227.9 million in net outflows on Thursday, marking the largest single-day withdrawal in roughly three weeks. The redemptions coincided with Bitcoin slipping back below US$70,000 after briefly climbing near $US73,000 earlier in the week.

Despite this, analysts say the broader trend may be stabilizing as institutional investors quietly reposition. Data tracked by Glassnode shows the 14 day ETF net flow trend turning positive, while the 30 day change in ETF positions has stabilized near 23,943 after plunging into deeply negative territory earlier this year.