Today's news tips:
CryptoQuant CEO: The market may have entered a bear market and will not short BTC
Spot gold stands at $3,010/ounce, setting a new record high
Solana Futures Complete First Day of Trading on CME
Morgan Stanley: Bank of Japan expected to keep interest rates unchanged this week
Bithumb to List BMT Token in Korean Won Market
Regulatory/Macro
According to official news, Japanese listed company Metaplanet announced that it would spend 1.879 billion yen (about 12.54 million US dollars) to increase its holdings of 150 bitcoins, with an average purchase price of 12,526,226 yen (83,583 US dollars) per bitcoin. The company's bitcoin holdings increased to 3,200 bitcoins.
Microsoft discovers StilachiRAT, a malicious Trojan that steals crypto wallets
Microsoft has discovered a new remote access Trojan (RAT) called StilachiRAT, which specifically targets 20 cryptocurrency wallet extensions in Google Chrome, including Coinbase Wallet, Trust Wallet, MetaMask, and OKX Wallet. Microsoft's incident response team revealed that the malware can steal credentials, digital wallet information, and clipboard data stored in the browser, and has detection evasion and anti-forensic capabilities, such as clearing event logs and evading sandbox analysis. Microsoft said that StilachiRAT's WWStartupCtrl64.dll module steals information through a variety of means, and it is currently impossible to determine the mastermind behind it. Microsoft recommends that users install antivirus software and anti-phishing tools to reduce potential risks.
Spot gold stands at $3,010/ounce, setting a new record high
The market shows that spot gold has reached $3,010 per ounce, setting a new record high. It has risen by more than 14% so far this year.
NVIDIA GTC conference is about to be held, focusing on the iteration of AI computing power
According to financial reports, NVIDIA will hold the world's top AI summit, GTC2025, from March 17 to 21, local time in the United States. At that time, Huang Renxun will deliver a keynote speech, focusing on the future development of AI intelligent bodies, robotics and accelerated computing.
Ripple files for trademarks related to custodial services and wallets
According to Cointelegraph, Ripple Labs has filed a trademark application for "Ripple Custody". According to the application documents, the trademark covers financial services, including the storage and management of crypto assets to meet financial management needs.
Solana Futures Complete First Day of Trading on CME
As Cointelegraph reported, Solana futures were traded for the first time on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group's U.S. derivatives exchange on March 17. According to preliminary data on the CME website, on March 17, the first trading day of the contract, SOL futures representing a notional value of nearly 40,000 SOL changed hands on the exchange, close to $5 million at current prices. Early pricing data shows that traders may be bearish on SOL. CME will not release final data on daily trading volume until the next business day. CME data shows that the April futures contract is trading at $127 per SOL - $2 per token lower than the March expiration contract. On March 16, trading companies FalconX and StoneX said they completed the first SOL futures transaction on CME. Earlier in February, CME planned to list two types of SOL futures contracts: a standard contract representing 500 SOL and a retail-friendly "micro" contract representing 25 SOL.
Viewpoint
CryptoQuant CEO: The market may have entered a bear market and will not short BTC
Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, said that although he has been bullish on the market for the past two years, the current data has clearly weakened and the market may have entered a bear market. He pointed out that the indicators based on realized market value show a lack of new liquidity, and the large trading volume around $100,000 has failed to drive prices up. At the same time, ETFs have seen capital outflows for three consecutive weeks. He emphasized that he would not short Bitcoin and would still hold spot. Earlier news, CryptoQuant CEO believed that the Bitcoin bull market cycle has ended.
He Yi: The WeChat account "heyibinance" is not me, don't cry if you get scammed
In response to the screenshot posted by X user @xixi_kawayi showing the WeChat account "heyibinance" inviting people to join the group, Binance co-founder He Yi issued a statement to clarify, "This heyibinance on WeChat is not me, don't cry if you get cheated."
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner of Dragonfly, wrote on the X platform: "I missed Solana's seed round investment at $0.04 in early 2018, which is equivalent to a 3,250-fold return at the current price. Solana was one of the first projects I came into contact with as a junior venture capitalist, and I wrote a memo for every missed deal. Rereading this memo now is simply the embarrassment of junior venture capitalists. At that time, we were obsessed with 'Ethereum killers', consensus protocols, and what would replace EVM/eWASM. So, this is the unedited version (that is, the memo he wrote)-the worst investment mistake ever."
CryptoQuant CEO believes Bitcoin bull cycle is over
Ki Young Ju, founder and CEO of CryptoQuant, wrote on the X platform that the Bitcoin bull cycle has ended and prices are expected to show a bearish or sideways trend for 6-12 months; every on-chain indicator foreshadows the arrival of a bear market; as new liquidity dries up, new whales are selling Bitcoin at lower prices.
Derive: Bitcoin volatility is close to the monthly low and may rise to 60%-70% in the future
According to the analysis of Derive, a decentralized on-chain options platform, the current calm in the Bitcoin (BTC) market may be only a temporary phenomenon, and significant price fluctuations may occur in the future. Nick Forster, founder of Derive, said that Bitcoin's key volatility indicators are close to the monthly low, and the current intra-week at-the-money volatility has dropped to 49%, compared with 91% at the beginning of the month. Nevertheless, volatility has the characteristics of mean reversion and may rise to the 60%-70% level in February in the future. In addition, potential volatility triggers include changes in the situation in Ukraine or adjustments to crypto regulatory policies under the Trump administration. The Federal Reserve's upcoming interest rate decision may also have an impact on the market. Although the market expects 2 to 3 interest rate cuts this year, BlackRock believes that the room for interest rate cuts may be limited, and continued inflationary pressures may limit the extent of interest rate cuts.
Matrixport: As stablecoin inflows steadily increase, Bitcoin demand may grow accordingly
Matrixport said that the continued inflow of stablecoin funds laid the foundation for the growth of Bitcoin demand. Although the surge in stablecoins slowed down in the fourth quarter of 2024, the overall growth momentum continued, indicating that funds continued to flow into the crypto market. It is worth noting that despite the impact of the European MiCA regulatory framework on USDT, there has been no large-scale outflow of funds from the market. As the inflow of stablecoin funds steadily increases, the demand for Bitcoin may grow accordingly, further driving up prices.
Morgan Stanley: Bank of Japan expected to keep interest rates unchanged this week
Morgan Stanley expects the Bank of Japan to keep interest rates unchanged at this week's meeting and will not immediately adjust its policy stance. Analysts pointed out that the Bank of Japan and Governor Kazuo Ueda are likely to emphasize the uncertainty of global economic growth and inflation trends, showing patience before further policy adjustments, while strengthening their consistent cautious stance.
GSR Lianchuang: BTC intrinsic value is still $100,000, and the bull market is still
GSR co-founder and Yellow founder said that the intrinsic value of Bitcoin is still $100,000, which is currently discounted by 20% due to market risks and uncertainties. He believes that it is only a matter of time before Bitcoin returns to a stable range, and it will appreciate further after eliminating uncertainties, and emphasized that the current market is still in a bull market. Although former US President Trump recently turned to support the crypto industry, his government's aggressive tariff policy has led to increased risk aversion among investors. Sirkia pointed out that in the eyes of institutional investors, Bitcoin has not yet become a long-term asset like gold.
David Duong, head of research at Coinbase Institutional, said the market generally expects the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged at this week's FOMC meeting, but investors need to pay attention to potential changes in the quantitative tightening (QT) program. He believes that the Fed may suspend or end the QT program because bank reserves are close to 10-11% of GDP, a level that is considered sufficient to maintain financial stability. He pointed out that the recent sell-off in the crypto market was mainly affected by macroeconomic concerns and deteriorating liquidity, but these factors may improve in the next quarter, thereby supporting asset prices. He predicts that cryptocurrency prices may bottom out in the next few weeks and rebound to new highs later this year.
Project News
According to monitoring by X user @supremeleadoor, aixbt was suspected of being phished by the account @0xhungusman, losing 55.5 ETH. The relevant transaction records show that the funds have been transferred. The relevant conversations have been deleted, and only the on-chain transaction records are available.
MANTRA: More than 120,000 wallets out of 217,000 have been disqualified from GenDrop
MANTRA, a Layer1 blockchain focusing on RWA assets, said in an official blog that the sybil survey results showed that 123,195 wallets out of 217,351 wallets have been disqualified; 80,000 wallets are still unallocated due to failure to bridge and associate their mainnet wallet addresses; as a reward for the discovery of 1,066,480 OMs associated with robot activities, 29 community members were allocated 106,648 OMs for providing high-quality and effective witch reports; to ensure that legitimate participants receive their GenDrop quotas, self-reports whose accuracy cannot be reliably verified have been invalidated; therefore, according to the proposal, 26,942,144 OMs will be reserved for destruction. Next, a governance proposal will be shared, and the community can vote on the future of these OMs. Earlier in December last year, MANTRA's new proposal proposed to update the OM token economics, including reducing the on-chain inflation rate to 3%.
Binance launches Binance Alpha 2.0 test version in selected countries
According to an article update from the Binance Support Center today, Binance Alpha 2.0 expands the functionality of Binance Alpha by integrating it directly into the Binance exchange, while it can still be used in the Binance wallet. This innovative solution bridges the gap between CEX and DEX trading, improving user liquidity, capital efficiency, and accessibility. With Binance Alpha 2.0, users can explore and purchase on-chain tokens directly on the Binance exchange without withdrawing assets to an external wallet or creating an on-chain wallet. The product enables Binance exchange users to seamlessly use funds from their spot accounts, funding accounts, and other accounts supported by Binance Pay to purchase Alpha tokens. By leveraging CEX funds for DEX transactions, Binance Alpha 2.0 eliminates unnecessary steps, reduces transaction costs, and simplifies the trading experience. The main difference between Binance Alpha and Binance Alpha 2.0 is the platforms on which they are available: Binance Alpha is available in the Binance wallet, allowing users to explore and purchase selected tokens directly from the Binance wallet. Binance Alpha 2.0 is integrated into the Binance exchange, allowing users to trade Alpha tokens using their spot and funding accounts without the need for an external Binance wallet. Binance Alpha 2.0 is currently in beta and is only available to users in a few specific countries.
According to the official page, Binance Alpha has added TUT (Tutorial).
Four.Meme posted a message on the X platform confirming that it is currently under attack and said that it has suspended the Launch function for an emergency investigation. Four.Meme said it will compensate affected users and provide a loss submission form to collect relevant information. The details of the attack, the scope of impact, and the specific compensation plan have not yet been disclosed.
Ethereum L2 network Lisk opens up airdrop eligibility query
According to official news, Ethereum Layer2 network Lisk announced that it has opened airdrop qualification inquiries. Users can check whether they are eligible to receive the first quarter's LSK rewards by entering their wallet address.
Bithumb to List BMT Token in Korean Won Market
South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb will list BMT tokens in the Korean won market, according to an official announcement.
According to the official blog, Trump's crypto project WLFI announced the completion of a total of $550 million in token sales, with more than 85,000 participants completing KYC certification. WLFI's "macro strategy" also allocates a variety of digital assets in its strategic reserve plan, including BTC, ETH, TRX, LINK, SUI and ONDO tokens. The "macro strategy" may be used in part to support WLFI in funding innovative projects, promoting ecosystem growth, and "creating new opportunities" in the rapidly developing DeFi field.
According to The Block, tokenization company Ethena Labs plans to migrate its $6 billion DeFi ecosystem to Converge, a new Ethereum-compatible blockchain built in partnership with Securitize. According to Monday's announcement, Converge is built on the Ethereum Virtual Machine and aims to make DeFi more accessible to institutions by providing compliant settlement and custody services. The public network will integrate native KYC (know your customer) functions and provide access to Ethena and Securitize whitelisted investment products. The two companies have selected Copper, Fireblocks, Komainu and Zodia to provide custody services, and invited major DeFi protocols Aave, Ethereal, Maple Finance, Morpho and Pendle as launch partners. The protocol can be accessed without permission and will run in parallel with Converge's "permissioned application set" products. Converge is expected to launch sometime in the second quarter of 2025. The network will be protected by validators who stake Ethena's ENA tokens.
Important data
A trader bought $40,000 of mubarak and $42,000 of TUT and made a profit of more than $1.58 million
According to Lookonchain data, a trader made a total profit of more than $1.58 million by trading $mubarak and $TUT. He bought 8.7 million $mubarak at $40,000, sold 2.7 million for a profit of $248,000, and the remaining 6 million were worth about $1.08 million; at the same time, he bought 11.1 million $TUT at $42,000, sold 1.9 million for a profit of $32,000, and the remaining 9.2 million were worth about $312,000.
Vitalik minted about 315,000 DAI and sold multiple Meme coins for a total of 71.69 ETH
According to OnchainLens, Vitalik minted 315,382 DAI. He also sold multiple Meme coins for a total of 71.69 ETH (worth $136,684), including 146.18 billion FML for 2.51 ETH, 180.88 billion SHIB for 0.987 ETH, 7.17 billion VB for 1.57 ETH, and 366.47 million AWESOME for 1.44 ETH. Previously, he sold 5,000 DHN for 65.19 ETH.
According to SoSoValue data, yesterday (March 17, Eastern Time), the total net inflow of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $275 million. The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest net inflow in a single day yesterday was Fidelity's ETF FBTC, with a single-day net inflow of $127 million. Currently, FBTC's total net inflow has reached $11.373 billion. The second largest was Ark Invest and 21Shares' ETF ARKB, with a single-day net inflow of $88.5301 million. Currently, ARKB's total net inflow has reached $2.683 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $94.481 billion, and the ETF net asset ratio (market value to total Bitcoin market value) reached 5.67%, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $35.579 billion.
Blur unlocked 21.69 million BLUR 4 hours ago.
According to the monitoring of the on-chain analyst Ember, Blur, which is unlocked once a month, unlocked 21.69 million BLUR (about 2.32 million US dollars) 4 hours ago, and it should be transferred to Coinbase Prime as before. Since entering the unlocking cycle on June 15, 2023, Blur has unlocked 35% of the total BLUR (1.044 billion) and transferred it to Coinbase Prime for market circulation. Calculated at the price at the time of transfer, it is worth 337 million US dollars. The average transfer price is 0.32 US dollars.
Vitalik sells 5,000 DHN for 65.19 ETH
According to OnchainLens, Vitalik sold 5,000 DHN in exchange for 65.19 ETH (worth $124,672). The sale caused the price of DHN tokens to plummet by about 57% from $38 to $16 (currently $22.5). He currently still holds 5,000 DHN (worth $113,000).
Trump and partners net $390 million from WLFI token sale
According to Decrypt, the Trump family DeFi project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) announced on Monday that it had completed the sale of $550 million in WLFI governance tokens. According to World Liberty's gold documents, after deducting operating costs, Trump and his business partners will receive 75% of the project's net income, including the WLFI token sale. Of the funds raised from the WLFI sale, $30 million has been designated to pay company expenses, compensation and obligations. According to the project's gold documents, Trump and his partners in DT Marks DEFI LLC will receive 75% of the remaining amount - a total of $390 million - as compensation for Trump's promotion of the project "from time to time" and allowing it to use his name and image. It is not clear who else will receive funds from the LLC besides the president himself. According to SEC documents, DT Marks DEFI is located in Jupiter, Florida, at the location of the Trump Organization's executive office.
Financing
Decentralized prediction market developer Opinion Labs announced that it had completed a $5 million seed round of financing earlier, led by Yzi Labs. Other investors include angel investment community Echo, Animoca Ventures, Manifold Trading, Amber Group, etc.
Lending agreement Exactly Protocol completes new round of financing of US$2 million
Exactly Protocol, a decentralized lending protocol based on the Ethereum mainnet, announced the completion of a new round of financing of US$2 million, bringing its total financing to US$5 million. The latest round of financing was participated by Bodhi Ventures, Newtopia, NXTP Ventures and Kaszek Ventures, as well as Synthetix founder Kain Warwick and Decentraland co-founder Esteban Ordano. It is reported that the Exactly Protocol team has developed an open source, non-custodial DeFi protocol that provides borrowers with floating and fixed interest rates. It plans to launch it on the Ethereum second-layer network Optimism in the next few months.
The decentralized business network Domin Network announced that it has received strategic investment from Animoca Brands, KuCoin Labs, Web3Labs.club, IBC Group Official, DWF Ventures, Presto, Outlier Ventures, KnightFury, ThreeDAO, Awakening Ventures and AB DAO. According to reports, Domin Network is a decentralized business network that uses NFT and DePIN Rollup technology to connect software, hardware and consumer behavior data to the chain. It enables users to earn crypto rewards by sharing their consumption data.
Solana Ecosystem Gold Tokenization Project ORO Completes $1.5 Million Pre-Seed Round of Financing
Solana Ecosystem Gold Tokenization Project ORO announced the completion of a $1.5 million Pre-Seed round of financing, led by 468 Capital, with participation from investors such as Fasset, Dead King Ventures, and several angel investors. It is reported that ORO aims to expand the real-world assets that generate income on Solana through gold tokenization.
Slingshot DAO Completes $16 Million Funding, SLING Tokens to Be Launched Soon
According to official news from Slingshot DAO, the project has successfully completed $16 million in financing, with investors including Dragonfly Capital, Animoca Brands, Digital Currency Group (DCG), Sfermion, Standard Crypto, Sanctor Capital, Collab+Currency, Alphabit and other well-known Web3 institutions. In addition, Slingshot DAO revealed that the SLING token will be launched soon and hinted that trading will start soon.
Kamigotchi, a blockchain game, completes $1.3 million seed round of financing
Kamigotchi, an on-chain game built on Initia’s Interwoven Stack, announced the completion of a $1.3 million seed round of financing from angel investors including Seed Club VC, TempleDAO, and DCF God.
