No, XRP Is Not Financial Instrument in Japan Yet, $25 Million Stolen via 200,000 USDC Trade in Resolv Labs Hack, 120 Billion Shiba Inu (SHIB) Exits Exchanges: Are Whales Back? — Morning Crypto Report

TL;DR

• Japan to reclassify XRP: The Financial Services Agency plans to move XRP, BTC and 104 coins to the “financial instruments” status by 2027, enforcing stricter insider trading and disclosure rules.
• Resolv Labs $25 million hack: A critical vulnerability in the USR stablecoin minting process allowed a hacker to turn 200,000 USDC into $25 million, causing USR to depeg by 80%.
• Shiba Inu (SHIB) whale activity: Over 120 billion SHIB exited exchanges to cold wallets; large-holder transactions ($100K+) spiked by 111%, signaling long-term accumulation.
• ETF deadline alert: The SEC faces a March 27 deadline for 91 spot crypto ETF applications, a move expected to dictate market momentum and institutional inflows for Q2.

Japan to reclassify XRP as financial instrument: What investors need to know by 2027

Japanese outlet Nikkei reported a large-scale reform of financial legislation. The main reason is that cryptocurrency in Japan has become too big to ignore. With 13 million accounts, every 10th resident of the country is involved in crypto. At the same time, however, it has turned into a “wild field” for scammers.

The essence of the reform from the Financial Services Agency can be packed into four main points.

• The first is a change of status. The Japanese government plans to move crypto assets such as XRP, BTC and another 104 coins from the category of simple assets into the category of financial instruments, effectively equating them with stocks.
• Second, digital assets will now fall under the same rules as securities trading, meaning the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.
• The third point is the fight against manipulation. Strict disclosure requirements are being introduced, along with a system of severe fines and punishments for insider trading and market manipulation.
• Finally, the goal is to reduce the number of complaints from citizens and push dishonest players out of the market.

In light of these events, a popular XRP community influencer known as Crypto Eri delivered a cold shower for those who began prematurely celebrating the legalization of XRP in Japan. She stressed that many crypto bloggers are misinterpreting the news and that XRP is still not a financial instrument there.

These are only proposed changes. Even if the bill is approved in the second quarter of 2026, it will only come into force in 2027. The change does not make everyday or business use of crypto easier. On the contrary, it adds bureaucracy, reporting requirements and control.

Resolv Labs protocol exploited for $25 million: USR stablecoin plunges 80%

The next major story of the morning was a crushing attack on the Resolv Labs protocol reported by PeckShieldAlert. An unknown hacker managed to turn a modest 200 thousand USDC into a gigantic $25 million almost out of thin air.

To understand the scale of the damage, it is necessary to know the victims:

• Resolv Labs — a DeFi platform positioning itself as a modern yield vault using complex delta-neutral financial strategies to generate returns for depositors.
• USR — the protocol’s main product, a stablecoin pegged to the dollar at a 1:1 rate that is supposed to be fully backed by real assets in the system.

What happened is that the hacker found a critical vulnerability at the very heart of the system, in the minting mechanism of the USR token. With only 200,000 USDC in hand, the attacker carried out a series of manipulations and tricked the protocol’s printing mechanism into issuing an incredible 80 million USR that had no real backing.

Selling such a volume of empty tokens at once was impossible because the market would have instantly collapsed. Therefore, the attacker sent the obtained stablecoins into staking, received a wrapped version of USR called wstUSR and through this wrapped asset began quietly swapping the stolen funds into liquid stablecoins and eventually into Ethereum.

Experts from PeckShieldAlert confirm the following figures. On the main wallet of the attacker there are already 11,400 ETH worth $24 million. Another 20 million wstUSR remains stuck and its price is collapsing.

The price of USR, which was supposed to stay stable at $1, has fallen by 80% and continues to drop.

Shiba Inu whale alert: Why 120 billion SHIB just left centralized exchanges

Finally, the closing story of the report was the outflow of about 120 billion SHIB from the largest crypto exchanges. According to data from Arkham, this attracted attention because when such large volumes of tokens move to cold wallets it is rarely accidental.

It usually signals that large players have finished accumulating and are switching to a long-term holding mode. Among the key facts, activity recorded among balances above $100,000 SHIB jumped by 111%.

Exchange inflows have almost dried up compared with outflows, as seen on Arkham charts. Reserves on Binance and Upbit are also declining, which in theory creates the conditions for a price shock in Shiba Inu if demand suddenly rises.

Right now SHIB is trading around $0.00000576, with market capitalization holding at $3.39 billion and current trading volume at $110 million signaling more of a waiting phase.

Some may say the SHIB market now resembles the calm before a storm. Large holders have packed their bags and exited short positions, moving their tokens into their own wallets.

Crypto market outlook: Decisive week for 91 ETFs, XRP and SHIB too

The cryptocurrency market is entering a zone of high volatility. The focus is on U.S. regulatory verdicts and geopolitical shifts.

• March 23-25: The echo of the Federal Reserve. The market is digesting the outcome of the March meeting. The key trigger is officials’ rhetoric about the pace of rate cuts. A hawkish tone could keep Bitcoin in the $68,000-$72,000 range.
• March 27: SEC deadline and a critical date for spot crypto ETFs. The regulator’s decision on a package of 91 applications will determine institutional capital inflows for the coming quarter. Approval could trigger momentum toward new highs.
• Regulatory backdrop: The fate of the Clarity Act, including the status of ETH, is being decided in the U.S. Senate.

The week will define the trend for all of April. Bitcoin is testing the $70,000 level while waiting for an impulse from the SEC.

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