Today's news tips:
Ripple CEO: XRP ETF is expected to be listed by the end of 2025, IPO is not impossible
10x Research: Bitcoin is currently in a small bear market, $90,000 is a key pivot level
Regulatory/Macro
Yu Xian, the founder of SlowMist, released a response guide for computer virus infection and supplemented it in the Chinese version of the hacker manual. He pointed out that hacker groups often use social engineering to induce users to install malware or run malicious code, such as pretending to be investors, reporters or HR to induce conference software, or pretending to be Telegram and Cloudflare to verify and require users to run malicious code. Yu Xian suggested that infected users take the following measures in time: transfer wallet funds, modify important account passwords and check login status of unknown devices, use well-known antivirus software to detect and kill viruses, reset the computer and disinfect the backup files when necessary. He emphasized that these attacks are not only aimed at Windows, but also Mac and some Linux systems.
According to Bloomberg, Bilal bin Saqib, CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council, said in an interview that the country aims to develop a clear regulatory framework to manage digital asset activities to promote the development of the local ecosystem. Saqib said: "Pakistan is no longer sitting on the sidelines. We hope to attract international investment because Pakistan is a low-cost, high-growth market with 60% of the population under the age of 30. We have a local workforce ready to build Web3." Saqib pointed out that he hopes to make Pakistan the cryptocurrency capital of South Asia, competing with Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong, China for leadership in the blockchain field. The legalization plan came after Saqib was appointed as the chief adviser to the Minister of Finance for digital asset management earlier this month. He will also provide advice on exploring the use of artificial intelligence to improve government efficiency, optimize decision-making processes, and promote innovation in public sector operations. "Trump is making cryptocurrency a national priority, and every country, including Pakistan, will have to follow suit," Saqib said. According to Chainalysis data, Pakistan ranks ninth in the world in terms of cryptocurrency adoption. Saqib mentioned in the interview that there are about 15 million to 20 million cryptocurrency users in Pakistan.
Trump warns of possible economic slowdown
According to Jinshi, Trump said on social media: "As US tariffs begin to affect the economy (slowdown!), it would be much better for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. Do the right thing. April 2 is the Liberation Day of the United States."
SlowMist: Crypto users beware of Trojans disguised as cracked versions of TradingView
23pds, Chief Information Security Officer of SlowMist Technology, posted on the X platform that cryptocurrency users should be wary of Trojans disguised as cracked versions of TradingView. Recently, AMOS and Lumma information stealers are being spread through Reddit posts, specifically targeting cryptocurrency users, stealing wallets and personal data, and victims include Mac and Windows users.
Czech Central Bank Official Expresses ‘Scepticism’ About Bitcoin as a Reserve Asset
Jan Kubicek, a member of the board of directors of the Czech Central Bank (CNB), is skeptical about including Bitcoin in the bank's reserve assets, mainly because of its legal uncertainty and high volatility. Earlier this year, Ales Michl, the governor of the Czech Central Bank, proposed to consider including Bitcoin in reserve assets, but Eva Zamrazilova, the deputy governor, believed that Bitcoin was not suitable as a reserve asset. The Czech Central Bank is currently studying the possibility of expanding the reserve asset category, and the relevant research is expected to be completed by October. The content may include the feasibility of holding international corporate bonds, technology stock indexes and real estate investment funds.
Trump to attend New York Digital Asset Summit and deliver a speech on Thursday
According to Blockworks, US President Trump will deliver a speech at the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in New York on Thursday, marking the first time in history that a sitting president has spoken at a cryptocurrency industry conference. Earlier, Bo Hines, executive director of the White House Presidential Digital Asset Advisory Committee, said that the Trump administration plans to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and actively hoard Bitcoin to "accumulate assets for the American people." The conference also attracted a number of political and industry leaders, including Congressmen Ro Khanna and Tom Emmer, as well as MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. Trump's speech will be live broadcast via X and YouTube. In addition, according to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, Trump plans to deliver a speech at the Digital Asset Summit in the form of a recording at 10:40 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday (22:44 Beijing Time on March 20), and Trump is expected to announce his subsequent crypto policy at that time.
Volatility Shares to Launch Two Solana Futures ETFs on March 20
According to Cointelegraph, Volatility Shares will launch two futures ETFs based on Solana (SOL) on March 20, namely Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT). According to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the management fee of Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) is 0.95% until June 30, 2026, after which the management fee will be increased to 1.15%. Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF will provide investors with 2x leverage and a management fee of 1.85%. This application is the first Solana-based ETF in the United States, after the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group launched the SOL futures contract.
The Fed slashed its 2025 growth forecast while raising its inflation forecast
According to Tonghuashun Finance, the Federal Reserve FOMC economic forecast shows that the median forecasts for GDP growth from 2025 to the end of 2027 are 1.7%, 1.8%, and 1.8%, respectively, and the forecasts in December are 2.1%, 2.0%, and 1.9%, respectively. The median forecasts for the federal funds rate from 2025 to 2027 are 3.9%, 3.4%, and 3.1%, respectively, and the forecasts in December are 3.9%, 3.4%, and 3.1%, respectively. The median forecasts for the unemployment rate from 2025 to the end of 2027 are 4.4%, 4.3%, and 4.3%, respectively, and the forecasts in December are 4.3%, 4.3%, and 4.3%, respectively. The median forecasts for core PCE inflation from 2025 to the end of 2027 are 2.8%, 2.2%, and 2.0%, respectively, and the forecasts in December are 2.5%, 2.2%, and 2.0%, respectively.
According to Wall Street Journal, the Fed remained on hold - maintaining the target range of the federal funds rate at 4.25%-4.50%, in line with market expectations. On April 1, the pace of balance sheet reduction began to slow down, lowering the upper limit of monthly reduction of U.S. Treasury bonds to $5 billion and maintaining the scale of monthly reduction of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) at $35 billion. The resolution statement said: The uncertainty facing the economy has increased, and the growth forecast for 2025 has been lowered, while the inflation forecast has been raised. The wording about the roughly balanced risks faced by the Fed's two goals (maintaining price stability + achieving full employment) was omitted. Fed Governor Waller supported the FOMC interest rate decision this time, but disagreed with the balance sheet decision.
Viewpoint
Bybit co-founder Ben Zhou released the latest summary of the stolen funds. It is reported that of the total stolen funds of US$1.4 billion (about 500,000 ETH), 88.87% can still be tracked, 7.59% have lost their traces, and 3.54% have been frozen. The report shows that 86.29% of the stolen funds (about 440,000 ETH, worth US$1.23 billion) have been converted into 12,836 BTC, distributed in 9,117 wallets, with an average of 1.41 BTC per wallet. Hackers began to use BTC mixers such as Wasabi, CryptoMixer, Railgun and TornadoCash to transfer funds, of which 193 BTC mainly flowed to Wasabi mixers and were then dispersed to multiple P2P traders. Ben Zhou said that decoding mixer transactions has become the biggest challenge currently faced, and called on more bounty hunters to participate in tracking and decoding. In the past 30 days, the platform received 5,012 bounty reports, of which 63 were valid reports. According to previous news, Bybit CEO: 77% of the stolen funds can still be traced, 20% can no longer be traced, and 3% have been frozen.
Ripple CEO: XRP ETF is expected to be listed by the end of 2025, IPO is not impossible
According to CoinDesk, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in an interview with Bloomberg that it is expected to launch an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) by the end of 2025 after Ripple resolves its legal dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Brad said: "I am confident in the ETF, and at the same time, an IPO of Ripple Labs is not impossible."
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, wrote on the X platform: "Powell has fulfilled his promise, and quantitative tightening (QT) basically ended on April 1. Next, if we want to really push the market into a bull market, we must either restore the supplementary leverage ratio (SLR) exemption policy or restart quantitative easing (QE). Bitcoin may be at $77,000, which is possible. However, the stock market may have to go through some more shocks before Jay (Powell) completely turns to the Trump team. So, everyone should be flexible and have cash on hand."
10x Research: Bitcoin is currently in a small bear market, $90,000 is a key pivot level
10x Research said in a post on the X platform: "According to multiple indicators, Bitcoin is currently in a small bear market, and as we have previously emphasized, $90,000 is a key pivot level. The recent trend is a short-term counter-trend rebound, providing an opportunity to profit in this broader consolidation phase. As we expected, the FOMC meeting was slightly dovish."
According to Jinshi, Fed Chairman Powell said that the Fed does not need to rush to adjust its policy stance and needs to wait and see based on the data. It can relax or maintain a restrictive stance as needed. It is already at a stage where it can cut interest rates or maintain the current clearly tight policy stance. Inflation remains slightly high. Further progress in inflation this year may be delayed. The baseline forecast is that inflation will be temporary. The US economy is strong, and surveys show increased economic uncertainty. Recent signs indicate that consumer spending has slowed. We will pay close attention to signs of weakness in hard data. Forecasters have raised the probability of a recession to some extent, but it is still not high. Labor market conditions are solid, and the overall labor market remains balanced. Both hiring and layoff rates are low, and a significant increase in layoffs could quickly translate into unemployment. Layoffs are important to the people involved, but not significant at the national level. Slowing down the balance sheet is a technical adjustment. Slowing down the balance sheet means a slower pace but longer duration. There is currently no plan to slow down the pace of MBS reduction, and it is inclined to remove MBS from the table. There is uncertainty about the impact of tariffs, and attention is paid to the net impact of policies, and short-term inflation expectations are moving higher. If recent commodity inflation data continues to be strong, it will definitely be related to tariffs. Staff simulations predict that the United States will be retaliated by tariffs across the board.
Project News
Binance Futures announced that it will launch multiple USDT perpetual contracts, which support up to 25x leverage. The specific launch times are as follows: March 20, 2025 17:00: TUTUSDT perpetual contract March 20, 2025 17:15: BIDUSDT perpetual contract March 21, 2025 17:00: BROCCOLI714USDT perpetual contract March 21, 2025 17:15: BROCCOLIF3BUSDT perpetual contract March 22, 2025 17:00: SIRENUSDT perpetual contract March 22, 2025 17:15: BANANAS31USDT perpetual contract.
Ord.io, the Bitcoin Ordinals browser, said on the X platform that Ordinals and Runes protocol founder Casey announced an upgrade to the Runes protocol, called "agents", which will allow Runes AMM (automated market maker) to run on Bitcoin L1. Agents utilize the "interactive transaction construction" function to enable market makers to add liquidity to Runes AMM in a trustless manner. Runes AMM agents will solve the "batch splitting" and memory pool sniping user experience issues associated with trading Runes on Bitcoin L1. The upgrade date of Agents has not yet been announced.
According to the official announcement, Binance now invites users to vote for the first batch of voting listing projects through the official post on Binance Square. The first voting pool only includes BNB Smart Chain tokens in Binance Alpha. Future voting rounds will be expanded to all tokens in Binance Alpha. A variety of factors will be considered to determine the voting pool, including project fundamentals and performance indicators, token economics, secondary market performance, technical risk assessment, team background, and compliance review. This round of voting listing will be open to the following projects: BANANAS31 (Banana For Scale), BID (CreatorBid), Broccoli (Broccoli), Broccoli (CZ'S Dog), KOMA (Koma Inu), SIREN (SIREN), mubarak (mubarak), TUT (Tutorial), WHY (why). Binance will select two tokens to be listed on Binance after completing official due diligence and procedures. The voting period is from 17:00 (UTC) on March 19, 2025 to 16:59 (UTC) on March 26, 2025. Voting method: ① Each user can vote for up to 5 projects and can choose to vote for fewer projects; each verified account can only be assigned one vote for one project. ② Users must log in to their verified Binance account and hold at least 0.01 BNB in their main account throughout the voting period for their vote to be valid.
The Uniswap community has voted to approve two governance proposals aimed at advancing the development of Unichain Layer 2 and the Uniswap v4 protocol. The proposals include attracting new users and supporting ecosystem growth through liquidity incentives, which were designed by the Uniswap Foundation in collaboration with Gauntlet. The Foundation requested an investment of $95.4 million in its funding budget and an additional $25.1 million for operating funds over the next two years. In addition, a budget of $45 million was proposed to support liquidity incentives. Gauntlet has deployed an Aera vault on the mainnet, injecting more than 7.5 million UNI tokens, worth approximately $52 million. Regarding the fee switch, the proposal states that the Uniswap Foundation will take the necessary legal steps to distribute protocol fee income to governance members.
Important data
The data on the chain showed that the WLFI token was suspected of testing the transfer function. Five hours ago, the address marked as "WLFI" on the chain transferred 199,999,953 WLFI to a certain address.
According to the monitoring of on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, the band address that opened a position of 13,306 ETH at an average price of $2,471 on February 26 has added another 2,467 ETH, bringing the cost down to $2,401, with a current floating loss of $5.88 million. The opening address pledged ETH into Aave 16 hours ago and borrowed 8 million USDT, of which 5 million was deposited into Binance and then the corresponding value of ETH was withdrawn, and another 3 million was deposited into OKX, or it intends to further increase its position.
A new wallet withdrew 2 million OM from Binance, equivalent to about 17.07 million US dollars
According to monitoring by The Data Nerd, four or five hours ago, another new wallet (starting with 0xE2f9) withdrew 2 million OM (approximately US$17.07 million) from Binance.
According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, the balance of the SHELL market maker's public repurchase address has grown to 19.95 million tokens, which is estimated to be worth US$5.92 million based on the proposed price. This means that 74% of the repurchase progress has been completed (the most recent proposal was made 11 hours ago), but the SHELL coin price has not shown a significant increase, and the current price is US$0.3029.
According to the monitoring of on-chain analyst Yu Jin, the "Hyperliquid 50x Whale" made frantic operations in the three hours from 12:00 to 3:00 in the early morning around the Federal Reserve's interest rate announcement, and made both long and short moves on BTC, turning 690,000 USDC into 1.826 million USDC, with a profit of 164%. The specific operations are as follows: ① At 2 a.m., the Federal Reserve was about to announce the interest rate decision. He opened a short position of 326 BTC (US$27.6 million) at $84,566 at 12 a.m., and then closed the short position at $83,927 just before the interest rate decision was announced (1:48), making a profit of US$215,000. ② As soon as the interest rate was announced at 2 a.m., he immediately opened a short position of 256 BTC (US$21.6 million) at $84,404 at 2:01, and quickly closed the position at $83,906 6 minutes later, making a profit of US$250,000. ③ After closing the short position, he immediately turned to long, opened a long position of 518 BTC (US$43.8 million) at $84,500 at 2:10, and then closed the position at $85,700 at 2:59, making a profit of US$620,000. ④ After closing the long position, he immediately went short again: he opened a short position of 384 BTC (US$32.9 million) at $85,666 at 3:00, and closed the position at $85,146 2 minutes later, making a profit of US$106,000.
120,000 ETH transferred from Bybit to an unknown wallet in 4 transactions, about $241 million
According to Whale Alert, Bybit exchange has four consecutive large ETH transfers in a short period of time, with a total of 120,000 ETH (about 241 million US dollars) transferred to unknown wallets, and each transaction amount is 30,000 ETH. Earlier news, 30,000 ETH was transferred from Bybit to an unknown wallet, worth about 60.48 million US dollars.
Financing
According to a registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, three top leaders of Trump Media & Technology Group have formed a new blank check company (SPAC) to acquire businesses in the cryptocurrency or related industries - at the same time that the Trump administration is trying to shape the landscape of this industry, Forbes reported. Renatus Tactical Acquisition Corp I, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) registered in the Cayman Islands, plans to raise at least $179 million through an initial public offering (IPO) and private placement, and the funds will be used to acquire another business. The company's leadership has close ties with U.S. President Trump's media company: Renatus Tactical CEO Eric Swider is a member of the board of directors of Trump Media and led the company that merged with Trump Media; Trump Media CEO, President and Chairman Devin Nunes also serves as Chairman of the Board of Renatus Tactical; Renatus Tactical COO Alexander Cano was the president and secretary of the company that merged with Trump Media. According to Renatus Tactical’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm is targeting acquisitions in the cryptocurrency and blockchain, data security and dual-use technology sectors, all of which have significant government involvement as regulators or major customers.
Decentralized trading protocol Hibachi completes $5 million seed round of financing
According to official news, the decentralized trading protocol Hibachi announced the completion of a $5 million seed round of financing, with Dragonfly, Electric Capital and echo participating. According to reports, Hibachi is a decentralized trading protocol designed for professional traders, emphasizing provable security through zero-knowledge (zk) mathematics.
Sources: Kraken considering acquiring trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion
Kraken is considering acquiring foreign exchange and futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal citing sources. The announcement is expected to be made as early as Thursday. The deal will allow Kraken to use NinjaTrader's Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) license to offer cryptocurrency futures and derivatives in the United States.
Crypto wallet infrastructure company Privy raises $15 million, led by Ribbit Capital
According to Fortune, blockchain infrastructure company Privy has raised $15 million in a new round of financing, led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Paradigm and Coinbase. This financing brings Privy's total financing to more than $40 million. Privy provides companies with tools to connect crypto wallets with applications or websites, aiming to simplify the use of crypto wallets so that mainstream users can more easily enter the blockchain world. Privy plans to use the funds to double the size of its team in the next 18 months, currently serving about 50 million accounts and working with more than 1,000 companies.
Pluralis Research Completes $7.6 Million Seed Round Led by CoinFund and Union Square Ventures
According to Fortune, Pluralis Research has raised $7.6 million in seed funding, led by CoinFund and Union Square Ventures, with other investors including Topology, Variant, Eden Block, Bodhi Ventures and well-known crypto investor Balaji Srinivasan. Pluralis aims to challenge the dominance of large companies in the field of AI by providing computing power through a decentralized blockchain network. The company plans to use this funding to conduct research to see if AI models can be trained through distributed networks to avoid centralized computing resources. Founder Alexander Long worked as an AI engineer at Amazon, and he and his team are working to enable small companies to participate in the AI competition.
Digital asset wallet provider Utila completes $18 million Series A financing, led by Nyca Partners
According to CoinDesk, digital asset platform Utila raised $18 million in Series A funding, which will be used to expand its multi-party computing (MPC) wallet service to meet the growing demand for institutional digital asset management. Nyca Partners led the round, with other investors including Wing VC, NFX, Haymaker Ventures, Gaingels and Cerca Partners. The latest round of financing brings the startup's total venture capital to about $30 million since it emerged last year. Utila CEO Bentzi Rabi said payment providers, fintech companies and emerging banks are increasingly using digital assets including stablecoins and tokenized assets. The Utila platform has processed $8 billion in digital asset transactions per month, a significant increase from $3 billion at the beginning of 2024. The financing will help Utila expand its global market and enhance product features, including advanced Gas management, API integration and smart contract support. Last year, institutional crypto platform Utila completed a $11.5 million seed round of financing, led by Framework Ventures and others.
Stablecoin company Stable Sea completes $3.5 million financing, led by Kindred Ventures
Stablecoin-fiat solution provider Stable Sea announced the completion of a $3.5 million financing round led by Kindred Ventures, with participation from Ludlow Ventures, DFS Lab, The Venture Dept. and The Fintech Fund. The funds will be used to further Stable Sea's mission of providing efficient, economical and compliant stablecoin withdrawal solutions.
