Important news from last night and this morning (March 8th - March 9th)

Both WTI and Brent crude oil prices rose by more than 20% intraday, with WTI crude breaking through $112 per barrel.

According to Bybit data, WTI crude oil broke through $112 per barrel, up 22.56% on the day. Brent crude oil broke through $109 per barrel, up 20.15% on the day.

Supreme People's Court Report: Severely punish crimes such as money laundering and foreign exchange evasion using virtual currencies as a medium, and work together to prevent illegal cross-border fund transfers.

According to CCTV News cited by Jinshi, the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress held its second plenary meeting on the morning of September 9th at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Zhang Jun, President of the Supreme People's Court, delivered the Supreme People's Court's work report. The report showed that in the past five years, 9,326 cases involving 22,000 individuals related to cybersecurity crimes were concluded, a 158.5% increase compared to the previous five years. The report emphasized the legal punishment of crimes such as online rumors, online pyramid schemes, and cyberbullying, promoting comprehensive governance of cyberspace security. Two young men were convicted and sentenced for maliciously doxxing others, illegally obtaining and disseminating their private information. The report also stressed the severe punishment of crimes such as money laundering and foreign exchange evasion using virtual currencies, and efforts to prevent illegal cross-border fund transfers. Finally, the report clarified that drivers using assisted driving functions while intoxicated are still criminally liable, emphasizing that the application of technology must adhere to legal boundaries.

A major whale liquidated its entire position of 5809.8 XAUt today, making a profit of $5.18 million, thus offsetting its losses on BTC.

According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin, a whale who bet $54.63 million on "digital gold BTC" and "real gold XAUt," after liquidating its BTC holdings in mid-January, sold 5809.8 XAUt at $5130 per BTC just three hours ago today (worth $29.81 million). Now that it has liquidated both, it has lost $5.15 million on digital gold and made a profit of $5.18 million on real gold. In the end, it broke even: It spent $30 million to buy 264.8 WBTC at $113,262, and sold it at $93,844, incurring a loss of $5.15 million. It spent $24.63 million to buy 5809.8 XAUt at $4239, and sold it at $5130, making a profit of $5.18 million.

The Korea Exchange triggered a circuit breaker due to an 8% drop in the KOSPI index, suspending trading for 20 minutes.

According to Jinshi News, the Korea Exchange triggered a circuit breaker due to an 8% drop in the KOSPI index, suspending trading for 20 minutes.

Trump said he would make a decision to end military action against Iran at the "appropriate time".

According to Jinshi News, US President Trump told Israeli media on the 8th that he would make a final decision to end military operations against Iran at the "appropriate time".

The Flow Foundation has applied to a South Korean court to halt the decision of the country's three major exchanges to delist FLOW.

According to official sources, the Flow Foundation, together with Dapper Labs, has filed an application with the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea, requesting a stay of the decision by the three major South Korean exchanges to terminate FLOW trading support on March 16. The statement notes that all major global exchanges have restored full FLOW service, and Binance and the Flow Foundation jointly released a solution this week and removed monitoring labels; HTX has also independently confirmed this news.

Sky co-founder Rune Christensen has made over $1 million in unrealized profits from his long position in crude oil.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, as the price of CL (WTI crude oil futures contract) surged to $111.5, Rune Christensen, co-founder of Sky (formerly MakerDAO), has a 7x leveraged long position in CL that is currently showing a profit of over $1 million. Meanwhile, Loracle, founder of Hypurrfun, has a 20x leveraged short position in CL that is currently showing a loss of $1 million.

Trader CBB's $13.78 million short position in crude oil has already incurred a paper loss of $3.81 million.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, trader CBB, who publicly led a group to attack qwatio, suffered a heavy blow in crude oil. CBB shorted 127,175 contracts of xyz:CL ($13.78 million) at a price of $78.37, and is currently experiencing a floating loss of $3.81 million. The liquidation price is $120.76.

The largest short whale on Hyperliquid is currently experiencing a paper loss of $3.4 million.

According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, with the price rising to $108, crude oil has surged 67.5% away from Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Hyperliquid user 2 frères 2 fauves started shorting CL at $78.36 and currently holds 12,717 CL (worth $13.37 million), making it the top CL position on Hyperliquid. The unrealized loss is $3.4 million, with a liquidation price of $120.76.

Binance will be upgrading the Ethereum network on March 10th, which is expected to take one hour.

According to an official announcement, Binance will be upgrading the Ethereum network (ETH) on March 10, 2026 at 14:00 (UTC+8). To support this upgrade, Binance will suspend deposit and withdrawal services on the Ethereum network (ETH) at 13:55 (UTC+8) on March 10, 2026. The maintenance is expected to take 1 hour, and deposit and withdrawal services will automatically resume after the upgrade is complete.

Analysis: The crypto market presents mixed signals, suggesting a need to maintain a light position and wait for a clearer trend.

According to 10x Research's latest weekly report, the crypto market is entering a phase of mixed signals and fragile momentum. Despite a rebound in Bitcoin ETF inflows and strong stablecoin minting, traders are adopting a defensive stance as funding rates plummet and downside hedging increases. Meanwhile, trading volumes are extremely low, and the sustainability of any rebound is questionable without a significant liquidity catalyst. The report notes that Bitcoin's first attempt to break the $70,000 mark failed. As of this writing, the total crypto market capitalization is $2.29 trillion, with a weekly trading volume of $109 billion. Bitcoin's weekly trading volume is $48.9 billion, and Ethereum's is $22.9 billion. Ethereum network fees are at extremely low levels, indicating low network utilization. This week's focus includes CPI data, the unlocking of $4.7 billion worth of altcoins, and changes in geopolitical risks.

Analysis: The Middle East conflict has triggered a "butterfly effect," causing global market volatility to reach a 20-year high.

According to Jinshi News, traders are flocking to the options market as supply disruptions caused by the conflict in Iran have led to a surge in prices for crude oil and other commodities, including natural gas, metals, and agricultural products. Implied volatility in crude oil has soared to unprecedented levels as producers, airlines, and utilities engage in unprecedented hedging, while implied volatility in European natural gas has reached its highest level since 2023. The CME Group reported that its energy sector recorded a record single-day volume of over 8 million contracts on Friday. Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Group, stated, "This is clearly one of the biggest volatility events in the last 20 years." The Strait of Hormuz, which typically carries about one-fifth of global crude oil shipments, is currently experiencing a near standstill in shipping.

South Korea's KOSPI index plunged 7.00% intraday.

According to Jinshi News, the South Korean KOSPI index plummeted 7.00% intraday, currently trading at 5192.39 points.

The U.S. Treasury Department acknowledges that coin mixers have legitimate privacy uses and recommends establishing a safe harbor mechanism to temporarily freeze suspicious assets.

According to The Block, the U.S. Treasury Department, in a report submitted to Congress, acknowledged that cryptocurrency mixers can be used for legitimate financial privacy purposes. Legitimate users can use mixers to protect sensitive information regarding personal wealth, business payments, or charitable donations in public blockchain transactions. This represents a shift in stance since the 2022 sanctions against Tornado Cash. The report distinguishes between custodial and non-custodial mixers. Custodial mixers are already required to register with FinCEN as money services businesses, but it did not recommend new restrictions on non-custodial mixers, nor did it finalize or support the record-keeping rules for mixers proposed by FinCEN in 2023. Instead, it cited a report from the Presidential Task Force recommending that the Treasury Department "consider next steps" while balancing illicit financial risks with privacy concerns.

Spot gold fell 2.24% on the day; spot silver fell 2.90% on the day.

According to Bybit, spot gold once fell to $5044.6 and is currently trading at $5060.24, a daily drop of 2.24%; spot silver once fell to $80.92 and is currently trading at $81.91, a daily drop of 2.90%.

Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, was elected as Iran's new Supreme Leader.

According to Jinshi News, early this morning (March 9th), the Iranian Council of Experts confirmed Mojtaba Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader of Iran. Under the Iranian constitution, the Supreme Leader has ultimate decision-making power over virtually all major affairs and serves as the Supreme Commander of the Iranian Armed Forces. Public information shows that Mojtaba Khamenei was born in 1969 and is the second son of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Trump: Iran's new Supreme Leader will not remain in power for long without my approval.

According to Jinshi News, Trump recently stated in an interview that as Iran gets closer to electing its next Supreme Leader, the new leader "won't last long" if he doesn't approve the candidate beforehand. He said in the interview, "He has to get our approval, and if he doesn't get our approval, he won't last long. We want to make sure we don't have to repeat this every 10 years, especially when you don't have a president like me who is uncompromising." He added, "I don't want people to have to go through the same thing again in five years, and worse, we absolutely cannot let them have nuclear weapons."

A whale sold XAUT and PAXG for $7.55 million and then transferred 500 PAXG to Binance, making a profit of $4.13 million.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale sold 1410.5 XAUT and 59.74 PAXG for $7.55 million, and then transferred 500 PAXG (worth $2.59 million) to Binance, making a profit of $4.13 million. This whale initially spent $10.95 million to purchase these XAUT and PAXG, and currently still holds 961 XAUT (worth $4.94 million).

Michael Saylor has released another Bitcoin Tracker update; he may disclose his accumulating data next week.

Strategy founder Michael Saylor once again posted information related to Bitcoin Tracker, writing, "The Second Century Begins." Based on past patterns, Strategy always discloses information about increasing its Bitcoin holdings the day after such news is released.

Alibaba-affiliated research team: AI agent ROME started cryptocurrency mining without authorization.

Alibaba's research team discovered that its autonomous AI agent, ROME, attempted to mine cryptocurrency without authorization during training, diverting GPU resources to a cryptocurrency mining program and trying to bypass firewalls, triggering a security alert.

APT, STRK, SEI and other tokens will see large-scale unlocking next week, with APT unlocking value estimated at approximately $10.5 million.

According to Token Unlocks data, tokens such as APT, STRK, and SEI will see large-scale unlocks next week. Specifically: Aptos (APT) will unlock approximately 11.31 million tokens at 6:00 AM Beijing time on March 13th, representing about 0.69% of the current circulating supply, worth approximately $10.5 million; Starknet (STRK) will unlock approximately 127 million tokens at 8:00 AM Beijing time on March 15th, representing about 4.40% of the current circulating supply, worth approximately $4.8 million; Sei (SEI) will unlock approximately 55.56 million tokens at 8:00 PM Beijing time on March 15th, representing about 1.00% of the current circulating supply, worth approximately $3.6 million; and Movement (MOVE) will unlock approximately 164 million tokens at 8:00 PM Beijing time on March 9th.

Shenzhen's Longgang District releases draft for public comment supporting the development of OpenClaw and OPC.

The Shenzhen Longgang District Artificial Intelligence (Robotics) Bureau has released a draft of "Several Measures of Shenzhen Longgang District to Support the Development of OpenClaw & OPC (Draft for Public Comment)" for public comment. The public comment period is from March 7, 2026 to April 6, 2026. The draft encourages market-oriented and professional platforms to launch "Lobster Service Zones," providing free OpenClaw deployment services, with subsidies provided to eligible platforms; it also provides support for the development and promotion of OpenClaw-based intelligent agent tools. Projects contributing key code to mainstream international communities, developing and listing skills packages related to Longgang's advantageous industries on skills trading platforms, and developing applications combined with embodied intelligent devices will receive subsidies of up to 2 million yuan upon verification.