Important information from last night and this morning (March 12-March 13)

Bloomberg: CS2 Skin Investment Outperforms Cryptocurrency and S&P 500

According to Bloomberg, the return on investment of CS2 skins has recently surpassed the S&P 500 index and major crypto assets (Bitcoin and Ethereum), becoming one of the best performing asset classes. Data shows that the total value of CS2 in-game items has exceeded US$4.3 billion and is showing a continuous upward trend, while Bitcoin, Ethereum and the S&P 500 index have all fallen during the same period.

FTX/Alameda redeemed 185,000 SOL from pledge today, most of which went to exchanges

According to on-chain analyst Ember, FTX/Alameda redeemed 185,000 SOL (about $22.89 million) from staking 6 hours ago, and then distributed it to 38 addresses, most of which eventually transferred SOL to Coinbase and Binance. Since November 2023, FTX/Alameda staking addresses have redeemed and transferred out 7.845 million SOL (about $1.009 billion) in a similar manner, with an average transfer price of $128. Currently, FTX/Alameda staking addresses still hold 5.502 million SOL (about $694 million) and are still in a staking state.

Nebraska Signs Bitcoin ATM Regulation Bill LB609, Strengthening Anti-Fraud Protection

According to Decrypt, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen officially signed the LB609 bill on March 12, which aims to regulate Bitcoin ATMs and other electronic transaction terminals to prevent fraud and protect user funds. The bill is part of the Controllable Electronic Record Fraud Prevention Act, which requires Bitcoin ATM operators to clearly disclose all transaction terms to users and provide clear anti-fraud warnings. In addition, if a user reports a fraud within 90 days, the operator must refund the user in full.

Coinbase to Suspend FLOKI, TURBO, and GIGA Trading in New York State

According to Coinbase's announcement, it regularly evaluates the compliance and listing standards of trading assets. Based on the latest review, Coinbase will suspend trading of FLOKI (FLOKI), Turbo (TURBO) and Gigachad (GIGA) in New York State at 14:00 EST on April 14 (02:00 BJT on April 15). This adjustment only applies to New York State, and trading in other regions will not be affected. Users can still buy, sell or withdraw assets before trading is suspended.

U.S. stocks closed: Nasdaq rose 1.2%, Tesla rose more than 7%

At the close of US stocks on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially closed down 0.2%, the S&P 500 rose 0.49%, and the Nasdaq rose 1.2%. Nvidia (NVDA.O) rose 6.4%, Tesla (TSLA.O) rose 7.5%, Wal-Mart (WMT.N) fell 2.6%, and Apple (AAPL.O) fell 1.7%. Among blockchain concept stocks, Strategy (MSTR.O) rose 0.75% and Coinbase (COIN.O) rose 0.02%.

Coinbase to List Maple Finance (SYRUP) Trading

According to Coinbase’s announcement, it will support Maple Finance (SYRUP) as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network. SYRUP deposits are now open and are applicable to regions where Coinbase and Coinbase Exchange support trading. If liquidity conditions are met, the SYRUP-USD trading pair is scheduled to be gradually launched at 0:00 am on March 14th, Beijing time (9AM on March 13th, PT time).

Coinbase will list Aethir (ATH) trading, and trading pairs will be available on March 14

According to Coinbase's announcement, it will support Aethir (ATH) as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network. Users should not transfer funds through other networks to avoid losing funds. ATH deposits are now open and are applicable to regions where Coinbase and Coinbase Exchange support transactions. If liquidity conditions are met, the ATH-USD trading pair is scheduled to be gradually launched at 0:00 am on March 14th, Beijing time (9AM on March 13th, PT time).

Google releases Gemma 3, a low-cost, high-performance multimodal large model. A single H100 can run the most powerful open source model

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that Google DeepMind officially released the latest open source multimodal large model Gemma 3, which focuses on low cost and high performance, and supports text, visual reasoning and function calls. Gemma 3 has four parameter scales of 1B, 4B, 12B and 27B. The largest 27B model only needs one H100 GPU to run efficiently, while similar models require at least 10 times the computing power to achieve similar performance. Gemma 3 supports 140 languages and provides a 128K context window, which significantly improves the ability to process long texts. According to the LMSYS ChatbotArena test, its 27B model is second only to DeepSeek R1-671B, and higher than well-known open source models such as o3-mini and Llama3-405B. In addition, Google simultaneously launched ShieldGemma 2, which focuses on image security detection and helps developers filter sensitive content. Gemma 3 is now available for download and can be used through platforms such as Google AI Studio, Hugging Face, and Vertex AI.

Venice airdrop ends, $100 million of unclaimed VVV tokens destroyed

According to The Block, the privacy-preserving AI platform Venice has completed the community airdrop, and about $100 million of unclaimed VVV tokens were permanently destroyed on Wednesday. Since the VVV token was launched on the Ethereum Layer 2 Base network on January 27, more than 40,000 people have claimed a total of 17.4 million VVV tokens, accounting for 35% of the total community allocation. The 32.6 million VVV tokens destroyed this time account for 65% of the total community allocation, equivalent to one-third of the total Genesis supply, significantly reducing the circulating supply in the market. Despite this, 14 million VVV tokens will be added each year, with an initial inflation rate of 14%, which will be gradually reduced based on the "usage rate" of the Venice API. Venice stated that it has not conducted VC financing, pre-sales or over-the-counter transactions, and has repurchased and destroyed 1% of the Genesis supply tokens previously sold in response to community doubts. In the future, Venice plans to launch an image engine, social dynamics, mobile applications and token economic updates.

According to The Block, the terminology involving blockchain in the documents of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reached an all-time high in February, with the EDGAR database recording more than 5,000 related mentions, showing a continuous upward trend since mid-2023. This growth is consistent with the SEC's major shift in its regulatory attitude towards the crypto industry. Since the presidential transition in January, Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda has taken office, and the SEC has terminated multiple investigations into companies such as Uniswap, Coinbase, Yuga Labs, Kraken and Gemini, marking a different adjustment from the "law enforcement and supervision" strategy of the former Chairman Gary Gensler. In addition, the Crypto Task Force established by Uyeda at the end of January, led by Hester Peirce, a pro-cryptocurrency commissioner, plans to hold its first round of roundtable meetings this month to explore a more collaborative regulatory model.

Hemi announced that its mainnet has been officially launched

According to official news, Hemi, a modular blockchain network powered by Bitcoin and Ethereum, announced that its mainnet has been officially launched.

Source: The lawsuit between the US SEC and Ripple is nearing its end and may end soon

Fox Business News reporter Eleanor Terrett posted on the X platform that two reliable sources revealed that the lawsuit between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple is nearing its end and may end soon. It is understood that the reason for the delay in reaching an agreement is that Ripple's legal team is striving for more favorable terms for the August federal court ruling. The ruling fined Ripple $125 million and issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the company from selling XRP to institutional investors. Sources said that Ripple's argument is that if the new leadership of the SEC believes that a clear regulatory framework can solve the root problem and thus "clear" the enforcement record for all previously targeted crypto companies, then why should Ripple still be punished? If Ripple accepts Judge Torres' ruling, it means that it essentially admits to misconduct-but now the SEC does not seem to be sure whether there is any misconduct. Since there is no precedent for such cases, this may explain why this case took longer to resolve than other cases. Please stay tuned for follow-up developments.

North Korean hacker group Lazarus embeds cryptocurrency-stealing malware in new batch of JavaScript packages

According to Decrypt, the Socket research team discovered in a new attack that the North Korean hacker group Lazarus is associated with six new malicious npm packages that attempt to deploy backdoors to steal user credentials. In addition, these malware can extract cryptocurrency data and steal sensitive information from Solana and Exodus crypto wallets. The attack mainly targets files of Google Chrome, Brave and Firefox browsers and keychain data of macOS, specifically tricking developers into accidentally installing these malware packages. The six malware packages discovered this time include: is-buffer-validator, yoojae-validator, event-handle-package, array-empty-validator, react-event-dependency and auth-validator. They trick developers into installing through "typosquatting" (using misspelled names). The APT organization created and maintained GitHub repositories for five of the packages, disguised as legitimate open source projects, increasing the risk of malicious code being used by developers. These packages have been downloaded more than 330 times. At present, the Socket team has requested the removal of these packages and reported the relevant GitHub repositories and user accounts. Lazarus is the notorious North Korean hacking group linked to the recent $1.4 billion Bybit hack, the $41 million Stake hack, the $27 million CoinEx hack, and countless other attacks in the crypto industry.

Bubblemaps: 30% of the leaderboard is bots trying to exploit airdrops, the cluster has been removed

Bubblemaps, an on-chain data visualization platform, published an article on the X platform to disclose Sybil detection in the BMT airdrop: "30% of the rankings are robots trying to exploit airdrops. These robots have been identified and removed through cluster analysis. This cluster of 30 associated addresses has been removed. They ranked high on the leaderboard and should have received a $20,000 BMT reward. However, these addresses are connected to each other through SOL transfers, and their application activities are abnormally frequent, showing non-human behavior characteristics. By filtering all similar clusters, it is ensured that the airdrop activities can be accurately distributed to real Bubblemaps users."

The chairman of the MGX board of directors is the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi and the son of the founder of the UAE

According to the official website of MGX, an Abu Dhabi investment institution, Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman of the board of directors of MGX, is the deputy ruler and national security adviser of Abu Dhabi and the son of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the UAE. It is reported that MGX was established in March 2024 by the Abu Dhabi Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Committee (AIATC). The committee was established in January 2024 and is chaired by Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, responsible for formulating and implementing policies and strategies related to artificial intelligence and advanced technologies in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Earlier, Binance announced that MGX, an Abu Dhabi investment institution, invested $2 billion in it.

BTC falls below $81,000, down 0.35% on the day

The OKX market data shows that BTC has just fallen below $81,000 and is currently trading at $80,945.10 per coin, down 0.35% on the day.

Binance Futures to Launch VICUSDT Perpetual Contract with Maximum Leverage of 75x

According to the official announcement, Binance Futures will launch VICUSDT perpetual contracts at 01:00 Beijing time on March 13, with a maximum leverage of 75 times.

Bezos-backed banking startup Stark Bank SA targets Brazilian cryptocurrency business

Stark Bank SA, a Brazilian online-only bank backed by Bezos Expeditions, is positioning itself as the preferred banking service provider for the country's cryptocurrency startups, betting that this field, which has been excluded by traditional lenders, will drive growth, according to Bloomberg. The bank's CEO Rafael Stark said the bank is currently working with 52 companies focused on digital currencies and blockchain technology, including Mercado Bitcoin Servicos Digitais, Transfero Swiss AG and Binance Holdings. He said U.S. President Trump's support for cryptocurrencies is making it an increasingly attractive field. He declined to estimate how much market share the bank currently serves, but said that given that the companies it works with are all large companies, the bank is "a very important player." Founded in 2018, Stark Bank helps its nearly 800 customers process payments, pay bills and manage corporate credit cards, among other services. Its most recent financing was in 2022, with investors including Ribbit Capital and Jeff Bezos' venture capital vehicle, at a valuation of $250 million. Stark said the digital bank still has plenty of cash on hand and is not actively seeking to raise new funds from outside investors to boost its valuation and reach unicorn status, and any plans for an initial public offering (IPO) may be around five years away.

Binance announces $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX

According to the official blog, the crypto exchange Binance announced a $2 billion investment with MGX, an Abu Dhabi-based investment institution. The deal is Binance's first institutional investment to date, the largest single investment in a crypto company, and the largest investment paid in cryptocurrency (stablecoin). The investment is MGX's first entry into the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, and as part of its broad strategy to support the impact of blockchain on social change, MGX will acquire a minority stake in Binance.

Bolivian State Energy Company YBFB to Pay for Energy Imports with Cryptocurrency

Bolivia's state-owned energy company YBFB will use cryptocurrency to pay for energy imports, according to CoinDesk, citing Reuters. YBFB hopes that the use of cryptocurrency will directly address the country's shortage of US dollars and foreign exchange reserves. Reports say that scattered protests have occurred in Bolivia due to a fuel crisis caused by insufficient natural gas exports, and foreign exchange shortages have exacerbated the situation. A YBFB spokesman said: "From now on, these (cryptocurrency) transactions will take place." This is not the first time that a South American state-owned energy company has entered the cryptocurrency field; in 2023, Argentina's YPF announced its entry into cryptocurrency mining, and in April last year, Venezuela's PDVSA revealed that it was using cryptocurrency to deal with oil sanctions imposed by the United States.

CBOE Submits 19b-4 Filing for Franklin Solana ETF

According to SEC filings, Cboe BZX, a subsidiary of the Chicago Board Options Exchange Group, is submitting a proposed rule change (19b-4 filing) to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to list and trade shares of the Franklin Solana ETF.

Nillion has opened NIL token airdrop allocation query

According to official news, the privacy computing network Nillion announced that it has opened NIL token airdrop allocation inquiries.

MEXC Ventures announces $36 million investment in Ethena and its stablecoin USDe

According to CoinDesk, MEXC Ventures, the investment arm of the crypto exchange MEXC, will invest a total of $36 million in Ethena and its USDe stablecoin. The statement said that the company is making a strategic investment of $16 million in Ethena and purchasing $20 million worth of USDe stablecoins to expand the application of synthetic dollars in DeFi and provide an alternative to fiat-backed stablecoins. Tracy Jin, COO of MEXC, said: "As investment demand for Bitcoin and other digital assets continues to rise, stablecoins will attract more investment. MEXC sees Ethena as a key player in the development of diversified stablecoins, which will drive the crypto industry forward, support wider adoption, and provide users with more stable and efficient financial solutions."

Video-sharing platform Rumble spends $17.1 million to buy 188 BTC

According to CoinDesk, Nasdaq-listed video sharing platform Rumble has invested $17.1 million in Bitcoin, adding 188 BTC to its corporate funds. The average purchase price of each Bitcoin is $91,000. The move is part of Rumble's previously disclosed plan to adopt a Bitcoin funding strategy and allocate up to $20 million in cash reserves to Bitcoin. Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski said the decision is part of its further involvement in the crypto industry. The company added that future purchases will depend on factors such as market conditions, Bitcoin prices and Rumble's cash flow needs.

The Russian Central Bank plans to establish a special experimental legal system for three years to allow a limited group of people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies

According to the official announcement, the Central Bank of Russia, in accordance with the instructions of the Russian President, submitted a proposal on regulating cryptocurrency investment to the government for discussion. The proposal proposes to allow a limited group of Russian investors to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. To this end, a special experimental legal regime is planned to be established for a period of three years. Only "particularly qualified" investors can trade cryptocurrencies within this regime. This is a new identity, and citizens who are expected to be able to obtain this identity must meet the conditions that their securities and deposit investments exceed 100 million rubles, or their income exceeded 50 million rubles last year. In addition, the proposal also proposes to allow companies that meet the status of qualified investors under the current law to participate in the experiment. For financial institutions that wish to invest in cryptocurrencies, the Central Bank of Russia will formulate regulatory requirements based on the risk level and nature of such assets. The introduction of the above-mentioned system is aimed at increasing the transparency of the cryptocurrency market, forming service standards, and expanding investment opportunities for experienced investors who are willing to take higher risks. The Central Bank of Russia has repeatedly pointed out that private cryptocurrencies are not issued or guaranteed by any jurisdiction, are based on mathematical algorithms and have high volatility. Therefore, when deciding to invest in cryptocurrencies, investors should be aware of the risk of losing money. The Central Bank of Russia still does not regard cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, so it proposes to simultaneously prohibit residents from using cryptocurrencies for settlement transactions outside the system and hold them accountable for violations of the ban. Outside the experimental regime, it is planned to allow all qualified investors to invest in settled financial derivatives, securities and digital financial assets that do not involve the delivery of cryptocurrency to investors, but whose returns are linked to the value of cryptocurrency.

BlockTower's venture capital arm is spun off as Strobe Ventures, with plans to raise $100 million for its second fund

According to The Block, BlockTower Capital's venture capital arm has been spun off into Strobe Ventures, which had $235 million in assets under management at the time of its founding and plans to raise $100 million for its second fund. Strobe Ventures will double down on investing in early-stage cryptocurrencies with a "high conviction" strategy. The split follows BlockTower's announcement of a merger with Arca in November 2024, which outlined plans to unify its liquidity trading and credit underwriting divisions under one brand. However, BlockTower's venture capital arm chose to remain independent and is now renamed Strobe Ventures, while retaining the capital, limited partners (LPs), portfolios and teams of BlockTower's venture capital arm.

Traders still expect the Fed to resume rate cuts in June

According to Jinshi, US short-term interest rate futures narrowed their earlier losses after the CPI report, and traders still expect the Federal Reserve to resume interest rate cuts in June.

U.S. CPI data for February fell short of expectations

According to Jinshi, the annual rate of the unadjusted CPI in the United States in February was 2.8%, the lowest since November last year; the monthly rate of the seasonally adjusted CPI in the United States in February was 0.2%, the lowest since October last year. The annual rate of the unadjusted core CPI in the United States in February was 3.1%, the lowest since April 2021; the monthly rate of the seasonally adjusted core CPI in the United States in February was 0.2%, the lowest since December last year.

The annual rate of the US core CPI in February was 3.1%, and the monthly rate of the core CPI after seasonal adjustment was 0.2%

According to Jinshi.com, the annual rate of the unadjusted core CPI in February was 3.1%, expected to be 3.20%, and the previous value was 3.30%. The monthly rate of the seasonally adjusted core CPI in February was 0.2%, expected to be 0.30%, and the previous value was 0.40%. The annual rate of the unadjusted CPI in February was 2.8%, expected to be 2.90%, and the previous value was 3.00%. The monthly rate of the seasonally adjusted CPI in February was 0.2%, expected to be 0.30%, and the previous value was 0.50%.

Market News: Russian Central Bank allows investors to purchase cryptocurrencies on a limited basis

According to Tree News, citing Bloomberg, the Russian Central Bank allows investors to purchase cryptocurrencies on a limited basis.

Binance Alpha launches new audit mechanism and removes multiple tokens that do not meet the standards

According to Binance's official announcement, Binance Alpha has implemented a comprehensive token review framework to review selected tokens regularly. Given the inherent volatility and rapid development of the cryptocurrency industry, the review process promotes dynamic adjustments to ensure that all projects on Binance Alpha continue to meet market-driven evaluation standards. All tokens in the Binance Alpha section are evaluated within this framework: Quantitative indicators: trading volume stability, liquidity depth, on-chain transaction frequency, token holder distribution, and other relevant indicators. Qualitative standards: project team credibility, regulatory compliance, ecosystem synergy, community visibility, and other relevant factors. Tokens that do not meet these standards will be removed from Binance Alpha. Based on a recent comprehensive review, the following tokens do not meet the standards of the Binance wallet and will be removed from Binance Alpha: FAI, METAV, MLG, MONKY, PSTAKE, WHALES, GEL, VISTA, EVAN, MIRA, COCO, TAOCAT, FLOCK, OPUS, FREYA, AIXCB, VERTAI, STRDY, SEKOIA, VADER, ELIZA.

Analysis: Bitcoin forms bullish RSI divergence just ahead of US CPI release

A technical analysis pattern hinting at a bullish reversal has emerged on Bitcoin’s daily chart as market participants look to Wednesday’s U.S. inflation data to provide support for risk assets. Bitcoin has been hammered recently, falling from $100,000 last month to below $80,000 this week, due to a number of factors, including risk aversion on Wall Street, concerns about Trump’s tariffs, and fears of a U.S. recession. In addition, the lack of new Bitcoin purchases under Trump’s strategic reserve program has also been disappointing, exacerbating the downward momentum. However, when prices fell to multi-month lows below $80,000 on Tuesday, the relative strength index (RSI) did not confirm the drop. The indicator formed higher lows, contradicting the lower lows on the price chart, confirming what is known as a bullish RSI divergence. This shows that while prices are falling, the momentum of selling pressure is waning, which could signal an imminent bullish reversal. This pattern appears at a very interesting time, as the U.S. February CPI, released tonight, is expected to show progress; BTC’s RSI bullish divergence means that the market is ready to react positively to potentially mild data.

Hyperliquid: No protocol vulnerabilities or hacks, the maximum leverage of BTC and ETH will be updated to 40x and 25x respectively

Hyperliquid posted on the X platform: "Regarding the comments and questions about the Ethereum long position of user 0xf3f4, we would like to clarify that there was no protocol vulnerability exploitation or hacking. The user had unrealized profit and loss (PNL), and then withdrew cash, which caused his margin to drop and the position was eventually forced to close. His final profit and loss was about $1.8 million. In the past 24 hours, HLP lost about $4 million. The historical total profit and loss of HLP remains at about $60 million. It should be reminded that HLP is not a risk-free strategy. We will update the maximum leverage of Bitcoin and Ethereum to 40x and 25x respectively to increase the maintenance margin requirements for large positions. This will provide a better buffer for the backup forced liquidation of large positions."

South Korea plans to issue new guidelines in the third quarter to lift the ban on institutional cryptocurrency investments

South Korea's financial regulator announced on Wednesday that it plans to release comprehensive guidelines for institutional cryptocurrency investments in the third quarter, The Block reported. The Financial Services Commission made the announcement in a meeting with local crypto industry experts. While investment guidelines for listed companies and professional investors are expected to be introduced in the third quarter, the Financial Services Commission said it aims to launch investment guidelines for non-profit organizations and cryptocurrency exchanges in April in advance. The Financial Services Commission first announced in January that it would gradually lift the de facto ban on institutional investors investing in cryptocurrencies. Last month, the regulator revealed that it intends to first allow charities and universities to sell their cryptocurrency assets in the second quarter. The upcoming detailed guidelines further consolidate South Korea's shift in its stance on cryptocurrencies, no longer strictly opposing crypto assets from entering traditional financial markets. At the same time, the Financial Services Commission has also begun to develop the second set of rules for the two-part cryptocurrency regulatory framework, the first of which went live last year. The second part of the cryptocurrency law will focus on stablecoins and regulating cryptocurrency business owners.

Hemi (HEMI) will be listed on Binance Alpha and Binance Futures

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