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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said artificial intelligence infrastructure remains too expensive for widespread enterprise use, but that’s exactly what Amazon Web Services aims to change by developing its own chips and slashing inference costs. Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box , Jassy pushed back against speculation that recent advances in artificial intelligence model efficiency, such as those introduced by DeepSeek, would reduce the need for infrastructure buildout. “We have very high demand,” he said. “I don’t see us attenuating our building centers right now.” Jassy emphasized that AWS is experiencing no drop-off in AI infrastructure demand, despite macroeconomic uncertainty and the looming threat of tariffs. He explained that while more efficient models are welcome, the challenges of AI infrastructure are deeper and more persistent. “If you’re building frontier models like we are, you’re working on a lot of the same problems,” Jassy said. “The lower that we can make the cost of AI, the more customers are going to use it.” Jassy drew parallels between today’s AI shift and the early days of AWS. Lower costs per unit of compute, he said, often lead to increased customer spending—not less—as companies find new ways to innovate. “It allows them to save money in what they’re building, but they don’t spend less,” he said. “It unleashes them to do more innovation.” According to Jassy, there are two primary levers for reducing AI costs: the chips themselves and the cost of inference, the process of making predictions using trained models. While training dominates spending today, inference will become the cost center at scale. AWS has responded by building its own custom AI chips, which Jassy says deliver 30% to 40% better price performance than current GPU-based instances. He also noted that reducing inference costs involves advances in hardware and software techniques. Jassy framed the mission clearly: “If you sat in the meetings with the AWS team right now, they feel like it is their responsibility and their mission to make the cost of AI meaningfully less than today.” That push to lower AI costs is a potential catalyst for certain segments in the crypto sector. Notably, developers have long explored AI use cases but often hit a wall due to infrastructure and cost constraints. With more affordable technology to come within years, blockchain -native AI applications, from on-chain analytics to decentralized autonomous agents, could become more feasible at scale.

Kentucky has dropped its lawsuit against Coinbase over staking services, becoming the third U.S. state to roll back legal action against the exchange in recent months. On March 31, the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions filed a joint stipulation of dismissal, officially ending its case that accused Coinbase of offering unregistered securities through its staking program. Following the move, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal took to X, calling for federal clarity. “Congress needs to end this litigation-driven, state-by-state approach with a federal market structure law ASAP,” he wrote . Kentucky’s exit follows similar dismissals by Vermont and South Carolina. Vermont backed out on March 14, citing the dismissal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s federal case and the need for clearer nationwide rules. The SEC itself set the tone earlier this year when it voluntarily dropped its lawsuit against Coinbase on Feb. 27. The agency said the move would help support its broader efforts to rethink and reshape how it approaches crypto regulation. South Carolina followed Vermont and dismissed its case just days later, with Grewal noting at the time that local users lost around $2 million in staking rewards due to the ban. Within hours after the suit was dropped, the exchange confirmed that staking was live again in South Carolina across all access points. A group of ten states originally targeted Coinbase in June 2023 after the SEC sued the exchange. At the time, regulators argued that Coinbase’s staking program was essentially an unregistered securities offering since users earned rewards by delegating their tokens through the platform. As of now, seven states, namely California, New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, Alabama, Maryland, and Wisconsin, still have pending actions against Coinbase. Kentucky dropped the Coinbase lawsuit less than a week after Governor Andy Beshear signed the state’s “Bitcoin Rights” bill into law. It secures the right to self-custody, allows residents to run blockchain nodes, and shields mining operations from discriminatory regulations. Lawmakers are also weighing a separate proposal that would let the state allocate up to 10% of its excess reserves into Bitcoin.

South Carolina has taken a significant step toward potentially allowing Bitcoin into its state financial strategy. State Representative Jordan Pace introduced the “Strategic Digital Assets Reserve Act” (House Bill 4256) on March 27. The proposed legislation would permit the state treasurer to allocate up to 10% of certain state funds into cryptocurrencies, with a specific emphasis on Bitcoin. If enacted, South Carolina would join a growing number of US states exploring Bitcoin as a potential strategic reserve asset. HB 4256 specifically enables the current South Carolina treasurer, Curtis Loftis, to establish and manage a state Bitcoin reserve. The text references a potential holding ceiling of up to 1 million BTC, language that mirrors ambitions discussed related to federal plans under the Trump administration. If adopted, these state Bitcoin holdings could potentially be allocated across various state accounts, including the General Fund and the Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund (often called a “rainy day” fund). Related: Does Strong GDP Matter if Fed Policy is King? Hayes’ Macro Take Revisited According to tracking data from Bitcoin Law, approximately 42 similar Bitcoin reserve-related bills have been introduced across 24 states to date, with around 36 reportedly still active legislative items. This state-level proposal comes as related activity occurs nationally. Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at creating a federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, intended to comprise assets seized via forfeiture cases rather than new purchases. Separately, Arizona has advanced two bills (SB 1373 and SB 1025) concerning state holding of digital assets obtained through various means. Kentucky also recently took a pro-crypto stance ; Governor Andy Beshear signed House Bill 701 to ensure protections for Bitcoin self-custody and node operation, while preventing discriminatory zoning against Bitcoin miners. While policymakers deliberate Bitcoin’s role in state and federal strategies, market analysts currently offer differing short-term views on its price trajectory. Analyst “Mister Crypto,” for instance, suggests Bitcoin is nearing a potential breakout from a triangular consolidation pattern observed on its chart. Such technical patterns often precede a bullish rally if resistance is overcome. His analysis indicates that a successful breach of upcoming resistance could position Bitcoin to target significantly higher price levels in the months ahead. In contrast, analyst “CryptoGoos” predicts Bitcoin dominance —BTC’s share of the total crypto market capitalization—is likely to fall soon. Related: Crypto Q2 Outlook: Inflation Risks vs Recovery Hopes as BTC Tests $90k CryptoGoos suggests BTC dominance is approaching a long-term resistance level on its chart and could face a sharp decline. If this analysis proves correct, such a pattern has historically signaled the potential start of an “altcoin season,” a period where alternative cryptocurrencies may generate larger percentage gains relative to Bitcoin. Disclaimer: The information presented in this article is for informational and educational purposes only. The article does not constitute financial advice or advice of any kind. Coin Edition is not responsible for any losses incurred as a result of the utilization of content, products, or services mentioned. Readers are advised to exercise caution before taking any action related to the company.

#Bitcoin mining isn’t just about rewards anymore—it’s reshaping global energy infrastructure. 🌍⚡ Andy Fajar Handika explains how miners fuel economic growth, monetize hashrate, and turn excess energy into opportunity. ⬇️

Ethereum (ETH) continued to trade subdued for most of Thursday, extending its two-week-long price range amid market indecision. Notably, since experiencing a sharp drop on February 3 and subsequently recovering, the second-largest cryptocurrency has been confined within a tight channel, with price oscillating between the $2,800 resistance level and the $2,500 support zone. However, despite this weakness, something is brewing under the hood, an underlying shift that could trigger a major breakout for ETH. One of the most notable developments in the Ethereum market is the sharp decline in the amount of ETH held on exchanges. According to crypto analytics firm Santiment, currently, only 6.38% of the total ETH supply remains on centralized trading platforms, marking the lowest level since the cryptocurrency’s inception. “From a long-term perspective, ETH continues to move off of exchanges and into cold wallets at a shocking pace…Meanwhile, the community has been showing some renewed interest in crypto’s 2 market cap asset here in February.” The firm tweeted Tuesday. Notably, approximately 4.36 million ETH has been withdrawn since early 2024, reducing selling pressure and setting the stage for a potential rally if demand increases. Another bullish factor is the decline in Ethereum transaction fees. On Wednesday, Santiment highlighted that the average ETH transaction fee now sits at $0.41, significantly lower than the $15.21 high seen in the past two years. Lower fees indicate reduced network congestion, making Ethereum more accessible to new investors and developers and, in turn, strengthening ETH’s value. Beyond exchange balances and fees, optimism surrounding Ethereum’s upcoming Pectra hard fork on April 8 is also surging. On Tuesday, analysts at QCP Capital noted that Ethereum upgrades often follow a “buy the rumor, sell the news” pattern. They highlighted how ETH’s price doubled before the 2022 Merger and surged 30% after Shanghai in 2023, suggesting that if history repeats, a similar upswing could unfold post-Pectra. Some analysts argue that Solana (SOL), once a top Ethereum competitor, is losing credibility due to a series of meme coin scandals, including LIBRA, which could drive capital back to ETH. “Solana’s narrative as the best chain for retail adoption has shifted to one of fraud and insider trading, The hate on Ethereum for UX, lack of interop, and social layer dichotomies has been progressing steadily in a stronger way than ever. Tides are shifting. Watch SOLETH as a barometer.” Rollup Ventures co-founder Andy said on Tuesday. Ethereum was trading at $2,730.37 at press time, up 0.39% in the past 24 hours.