SideShift.ai Weekly Report | 17th - 23rd March 2026

Welcome to the one hundred and ninety-sixth edition of the weekly stats report - your one-stop shop for all things SideShift.ai.

Highlights

• Gross volume came in at $5.66m (−6.8%), with shift count holding resilient at 6,432 (−2.6%).
• BTC settlements hit their highest point in over a month at $1.12m (+72%), dethroning USDT(TRC-20) as the most settled coin for the first time in four weeks.
• Net stablecoin flows flipped positive for the first time in nearly 40 days at +$775k.
• Affiliate volume climbed to $1.84m (+17.7%), with all top three partners posting gains and combined proportion rising to 35.5% of platform volume.
• XAI stakers received 146,236.82 XAI ($13,116.50) at a 5.53% average APY, peaking at 6.87% on March 17th.

General Business News

In what has become a familiar pattern since BTC lost the $90k handle in early February, the week played out as another stop-start. BTC spent most of the week under pressure, pulling back from the mid-$70k range it had held coming in and sliding toward $68k as geopolitical tension and profit-taking weighed on sentiment — the relief came Monday when President Trump announced a temporary pause on Iran strikes, sending prices back above $71k in a matter of hours before mixed signals from Tehran put the brakes on. ETH tracked the same path, spending the bulk of the week in the low-$2,000s before catching the same late bounce.

SideShift recorded $5.66m in gross volume (−6.8%), with user shifting bearing the heavier drop at $4.15m (−9.0%) while liquidity shifting held relatively flat at $1.51m (−0.4%). Volume distribution across the week tracked BTC price almost to the day, with our two quietest sessions landing mid-week as sentiment hit the floor, before Sunday and Monday combined for over $2.25m on the back of the geopolitical relief rally. USDT(BSC)/BTC led the top pairs convincingly at $660k, with the remaining three coming in significantly lower at or below $165k, each a stablecoin-to-stablecoin pair. The volume decline traced back to mid-sized shifting activity, with the $10k band slipping from 55.5% to 51.7% of gross ($2.93m), even as the >$20k bucket held its ground. Affiliate volume was a bright spot, with all top four partners posting gains exceeding +25%.

Shift count came in at 6,432 (−2.6%) for a daily average of 919, a figure that actually holds up well when set against the volume level. In prior weeks where gross volume ran in a similar range, count was frequently lower. Sub-$100 shifts accounted for 61% of total count, consistent with last week, while the affiliate picture offered an interesting contrast — most top partners saw their count dip while volume climbed, pointing to meaningfully larger average shift sizes coming through that channel this week.

BTC reclaimed the top spot at $2.30m (−10.9%), but the composition told a more interesting story than the headline figure. User deposits collapsed to $483k (−63%), their lowest since late January, while settlements climbed to $1.12m (+72%), the highest since the mid-February peak and a clean reversal from last week where users were selling into strength. With BTC spending most of the week sliding toward $68k, users were moving in the opposite direction, and that settlement figure was enough to dethrone USDT(TRC-20) as the most settled coin on the platform for the first time in four weeks. USDT(TRC-20) held second at $1.55m (+4.9%), with deposits and settlements relatively balanced at $448k and $686k respectively, a composed performance compared to the volatility elsewhere in the top five.

USDT(BSC) was the week's standout, jumping to third at $1.49m (+129.6%), driven almost entirely by user deposits surging to $895k (+85.3%) while user settlements continued their steady decline to once again finish below six figures. This is a trend that has now run for five consecutive weeks with integration activity being the primary engine behind the move. ETH returned to the top five at $738k (+8.5%), its second straight week of quiet recovery from the $513k low it posted in early March, with settlements outpacing deposits by nearly two to one. USDT(ERC-20) rounded out the five at $715k (−16.0%), the more resilient of Ethereum's two dominant stablecoins on the period, with USDC(ERC-20) shedding −77.1% to end with just $249k. Importantly, after nearly 40 days of users consistently settling into stable assets, net stablecoin flows (inflows - outflows) flipped $1.13m to the positive side this week and finished at a net +$775k, an encouraging flash of risk appetite returning.

Alt networks collectively climbed to $4.91m (+9.8%) while the Ethereum network slipped to $2.37m (−18.5%). BSC was the primary driver, surging to $1.86m (+74.8%), its highest since late last month, with the USDT(BSC) integration activity covered above behind the move. The Tron network ticked up to $1.75m (+10.3%), a modest recovery in what has otherwise been a four-week declining trend from its $2.93m peak. Solana continued sliding to $753k (−33.9%), its lowest point in months with no clear floor emerging yet. Avalanche gave back last week's strong showing, retreating −56.6% to $107k after the AVAX/BTC activity that drove its prior surge failed to sustain. Base slipped to $137k (−31.5%) from its recent highs, Polygon to $159k (−21.1%), and Arbitrum held relatively steady at $119k (−16.0%).

Affiliate News

Affiliate volume climbed to $1.84m (+17.7%), a strong recovery from last period's pullback, with the top three partners unchanged and all posting solid gains. First place led at $978k (+57.9%), its strongest showing in over a month, though its shift count held virtually flat at 152 (−1.9%), pointing to larger average shift sizes as the driver. Second place reached $317k (+30.2%) with 318 shifts (+4.6%), and third added $115k (+29.3%) with 291 shifts (+6.6%), both steady across volume and count.

Combined, the top affiliates accounted for 35.5% of platform volume, up sharply from 25.7% last period.

XAI Weekly Performance & Staking

XAI stakers received 146,236.82 XAI ($13,116.50) across the week at an average APY of 5.53%, down from the 6.88% average taken 7 days ago. The strongest day came on March 17th, when 25,822.01 XAI was sent directly to the staking vault at an 6.87% APY alongside $846k in daily volume. XAI itself slipped to $0.0857, bringing the market cap to $13.36m (−5.10%).

Additional XAI updates:

Total Value Staked: 141,993,493 XAI (−0.03%)
Total Value Locked: $12,105,509 (−4.98%)

That’s all for now - thanks for reading and happy shifting.