Weekly preview | Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” take effect on April 2; Terraform Labs opens a portal for crypto creditors to claim

News preview:

• Binance will list GUNZ (GUN) at 21:00 (ET) on March 31 and open GUN/USDT, GUN/BNB, GUN/FDUSD, and GUN/TRY trading markets.
• Terraform Labs will open a crypto creditor claims portal on March 31;
• The Cayman Islands’ new cryptocurrency regulatory framework introduces new licensing requirements, effective April 1;
• Sui (SUI) will unlock approximately 64.19 million tokens at 8:00 am Beijing time on April 1, accounting for 2.03% of the current circulation, with a value of approximately US$152 million;
• Trump said reciprocal tariffs would begin on April 2;
• The U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee is expected to review the draft stablecoin legislation on April 2;
• Wormhole (W) will unlock approximately 1.39 billion tokens at 7:30 pm Beijing time on April 3, accounting for 47.4% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$117 million;
• The 2025 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival will be held from April 6 to 9, co-organized by Wanxiang Blockchain Lab and HashKey Group and hosted by W3ME

March 31

Policy supervision:

Japan's ruling party proposes lowering the crypto tax cap to 20%, public comment period ends on March 31

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has drafted a crypto tax reform proposal to reduce the cryptocurrency tax rate from a maximum of 55% to 20%, and reclassify it as a financial product, subject to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, similar to the tax model for securities investment. Currently, Japan regards cryptocurrency gains as "miscellaneous income" with a maximum tax rate of 55%. If the proposal is approved, crypto assets may receive independent tax treatment and lay the foundation for spot crypto ETFs. The LDP is soliciting public opinions until March 31, after which it will be submitted to the Financial Services Agency (FSA) for review. The FSA previously announced that it will announce new crypto regulatory directions by June at the latest.

Project dynamics:

mtnDAO will launch an unlimited sale of $MTN tokens on MetaDAO Launchpad on March 31

mtnDAO announced that the $MTN token sale will be launched on MetaDAO's Launchpad on March 31, 2025, using an uncapped sales model. The sale will last for 7 days and the deadline is April 6. The final token price will be determined based on the ratio of the total USDC raised to 10 million $MTN. mtnCapital will serve as a tokenized investment fund governed by futarchy , focusing on the Solana ecosystem, and all decisions will be made through the MetaDAO governance platform. The sale will issue 10 million $MTN, and another 1 million $MTN will be minted into the treasury and paired with 10% of the funds raised to support liquidity. The supply of $MTN will be dynamically adjusted and controlled by the DAO.

Terraform Labs to Open Crypto Creditor Claims Portal on March 31

Terraform Labs, the company behind TerraUSD and LUNA, will open its claims portal for cryptocurrency creditors on March 31 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2024. Eligible creditors must register on the "Claims Portal" by April 30, 2025. Claims submitted after the deadline will not be accepted. In order to file a claim, creditors must provide proof of their cryptocurrency ownership, including wallet addresses for native assets and read-only API keys for cryptocurrencies held on centralized exchanges. Earlier, Reuters reported that Terraform said it could repay $185 million to $442 million to creditors as part of a reorganization plan approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon.

Four.meme will switch to PancakeSwap V2 liquidity solution and destroy new tokens LP on March 31

Four.meme tweeted that it will implement a major update. The platform will switch to the PancakeSwap V2 liquidity solution on March 31 (specific time to be determined), and all newly created and launched token LPs will be destroyed directly after going online.

Token unlocking:

Optimism (OP) will unlock approximately 31.34 million tokens at 8:00 am Beijing time on March 31, accounting for 1.93% of the current circulation, with a value of approximately US$23.8 million.

April 1

Macroeconomics:

The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate unchanged and began to slow down the pace of balance sheet reduction on April 1

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.

Policy supervision:

Cayman Islands’ new cryptocurrency regulatory framework introduces new licensing requirements, effective April 1

The Cayman Islands has updated its cryptocurrency regulatory framework with new licensing regulations that will come into effect on April 1, 2025. Under the Virtual Assets (Service Providers) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, all entities providing virtual asset custodian and trading platform services will need to obtain a license from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA). Existing virtual asset service providers (VASPs) must submit a licensing application within 90 days of the effective date. As part of the application process, crypto asset custodians must disclose the types and quantities of virtual assets they intend to hold for clients, while trading platform operators will need to provide details of expected revenue and the location of their physical hardware.

Project dynamics:

IOST: Snapshotting has been executed, and the airdrop query portal is planned to be launched on April 1

IOST announced that the IOST 3.0 mainnet is now operational. In order to protect the rights of token holders, a snapshot has been executed at 0:00 UTC on March 15 (8:00 Beijing time today) to ensure the upcoming TGE. According to the subsequent plan, the airdrop query portal is scheduled to be launched on April 1, when users can check their token application qualifications. In addition, the equity pledge portal is scheduled to be launched in early April.

Astar zkEVM plans to shut down in the near future. Users are advised to withdraw their assets before April 1st.

Astar Network announced on the X platform that the shutdown date of the Astar zkEVM network is approaching, and it is recommended that users withdraw all assets before April 1.

Metaplanet Announces 10:1 Stock Split on April 1

Japanese Bitcoin company Metaplanet announced that it will conduct a 10:1 stock split on April 1, 2025. The decision was made against the backdrop of a 3,900% increase in the company's stock price, with the aim of reducing the minimum investment cost and improving market liquidity. Metaplanet began buying Bitcoin in April 2024 and has accumulated 2,031 Bitcoins with a market value of nearly $200 million. These Bitcoin purchases were a major factor in the company becoming the best performing Japanese stock in the past 12 months. The company said the stock split will help reduce the financial burden of investors, expand the investor base and strengthen ties with a wider range of shareholders.

Jupiter: The appeal for addresses mislabeled as Sybils or Bots in the Jupuary airdrop will close on April 1

Jupiter tweeted that the appeals for users marked as witches/bots in the Jupuary airdrop will close at 7:59 (UTC+8) on April 1, and the team will review and process valid appeals before the end of May.

Token unlocking:

Sui (SUI) will unlock approximately 64.19 million tokens at 8:00 am Beijing time on April 1, accounting for 2.03% of the current circulation, with a value of approximately US$152 million.

ZetaChain (ZETA) will unlock approximately 44.26 million tokens at 8:00 am Beijing time on April 1, accounting for 6.05% of the current circulation and worth approximately $13.2 million.

DYDX (DYDX) will unlock approximately 8.33 million tokens at 8:00 am Beijing time on April 1, accounting for 1.09% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$5.4 million.

April 2

Macroeconomics:

Trump: Reciprocal tariffs will take effect on April 2

U.S. President Donald Trump said reciprocal tariffs would begin on April 2. Tariffs on Canada and Mexico are set to go into effect on Tuesday.

April 2 may be a watershed for global assets : before the reciprocal tariff announcement date, investors are more cautious because it is unclear what specific tariffs Trump will impose. Bank of America foreign exchange analysts Athanasios Vamvakidis and Claudio Piron said in a report that risks are balanced before next week's deadline. Imposing tariffs on specific products is already expected by the market. Comprehensive tariffs would be a negative surprise and the dollar is not expected to continue to strengthen in this case.

Policy supervision:

Bloomberg: U.S. House Financial Services Committee expected to review stablecoin legislation on April 2

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee is expected to review draft stablecoin legislation on April 2. Arkansas Chairman French Hill said last week that a well-regulated stablecoin market would "strengthen the dominance of the dollar, modernize our payment infrastructure, and promote the spread of financial services without excessive government intervention." But critics such as Maxine Waters, the Democratic leader of the House committee, and Elizabeth Warren of the Senate Banking Committee believe that the bill does not go far enough to protect consumers and advocate a ban on technology companies issuing stablecoins and other reforms. Critics also worry that if stablecoins fail, there will be a lack of insurance backing like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC); while bankers warn that stablecoins could siphon off deposits and reduce credit channels.

According to Crypto in America, the White House is actively pushing the GENIUS Act to enter the Senate for deliberation as soon as possible, and strives to be signed into law by President Trump within two months . The bill passed the Senate Banking Committee by 18 to 6 on March 13, and intends to establish a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins pegged to the US dollar. The House version of the STABLE Act will begin deliberation on April 2, and the White House hopes that the Senate version will gain enough support to push the House of Representatives to pass it directly and avoid the legislative negotiation process.

Token unlocking:

Ethena (ENA) will unlock approximately 40.63 million tokens at 3:00 pm Beijing time on April 2, accounting for 0.77% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$15 million.

April 3

Token unlocking:

Wormhole (W) will unlock approximately 1.39 billion tokens at 7:30 pm Beijing time on April 3, accounting for 47.4% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$117 million.

Big Time (BIGTIME) will unlock approximately 333 million tokens at 8:00 a.m. Beijing time on April 3, accounting for 18.44% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$16.7 million.

April 4

Macroeconomics:

U.S. unemployment rate in March, U.S. seasonally adjusted non-farm payrolls in March, U.S. average hourly wage annual rate/monthly rate in March (released at 20:30)

At 23:25 Beijing time, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell delivered a speech

Project dynamics:

UniSat Wallet: Will Stop Supporting Atomicals Protocol Starting April 4

UniSat Wallet tweeted that starting from 14:00 (UTC+8) on April 4, the extended wallet will no longer support the Atomicals protocol after updating to version 1.6.0. Users need to transfer their Atomicals assets to a compatible wallet before updating, and they will not be able to view Atomicals assets in UniSat Wallet after April 4. Officials said that this decision was made to simplify the product and effectively manage development resources.

April 5

April 6

"2025 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival" opens at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

The event is co-organized by Wanxiang Blockchain Lab and HashKey Group and hosted by W3ME. It will last until the 9th.