Important news from last night and this morning (March 18-19)

SkyLink has used 20x leverage to short the S&P 500 and has added to its long position in Brentoil.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Sky co-founder Rune Christensen is shorting stocks while going long on commodities. With the launch of S&P 500 trading on HyperliquidX, Rune has used 20x leverage to short the S&P 500, while also increasing the size of his BrentOil (7x) long position. Additionally, TWAP orders are in operation to further increase the position.

Coinbase is pushing for AI agents to use crypto payments and is seeking a stablecoin partnership with Cloudflare.

According to The Information, Coinbase is pushing its AI agent to use cryptocurrency for payments and is seeking a stablecoin partnership with Cloudflare. Given Cloudflare's key role in managing network traffic, a successful agreement would place the stablecoin at the heart of AI agent-driven traffic. Meanwhile, competition is heating up, with Stripe also launching its agent-oriented payment protocol yesterday.

A certain ancient whale sold 1,000 BTC again 7 hours ago, equivalent to approximately $71.57 million.

According to on-chain analyst Ember, the "ancient whale who accumulated 5,000 BTC 13 years ago" sold another 1,000 BTC ($71.57 million) seven hours ago. He accumulated 5,000 BTC at $332 per BTC in November 2013 and began selling them in November 2024. He has already transferred 3,500 BTC ($332 million) to Binance at an average price of approximately $94,786, realizing a profit of $330 million. He currently still holds 1,500 BTC ($106 million).

American Bitcoin's holdings increased to 6,899 Bitcoins, rising to 16th place in the corporate Bitcoin treasury rankings.

According to The Block, American Bitcoin, affiliated with the Trump family, announced on Wednesday that its Bitcoin holdings have increased to approximately 6,899, surpassing Galaxy Digital to rise to 16th place in the corporate Bitcoin treasury rankings. The company held 6,500 Bitcoins approximately two weeks ago, and its current holdings are worth approximately $492 million. Notably, Trump Media Technology Group holds approximately 9,500 Bitcoins, ranking 13th among publicly traded companies.

An entity is suspected of using two wallets to purchase over 50,000 ETH with nearly 112 million USDT.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, two wallets, "0x554" and "0xF2f" (possibly belonging to the same entity), after a year of continuous selling, spent 111.62 million USDT to buy 50,706 ETH at a price of $2,201. Wallet "0x554" spent $61.02 million to buy 27,714 ETH, and wallet "0xF2f" spent $50.6 million to buy 22,991 ETH.

The Federal Reserve maintains its expectation of one rate cut in 2026.

According to Jinshi News, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, projecting rising inflation, stable unemployment, and only one rate cut this year. Officials made these projections while assessing the economic risks posed by the ongoing wars between the US and Israel with Iran. The new projections indicate that the Fed will cut rates by only 0.25 percentage points by the end of the year, without specifying a timeframe. This view aligns with previous forecasts and contradicts Trump's calls for significant rate cuts. The Fed statement said, "The impact of the evolving situation in the Middle East on the US economy remains unclear." The statement also noted that the unemployment rate is currently stable.

The Algorand Foundation announced a 25% reduction in its workforce due to macroeconomic uncertainty and the sluggish crypto market.

According to The Block, the Algorand Foundation announced a 25% reduction in its workforce, citing global macroeconomic uncertainty and the crypto market downturn. The foundation stated on the X platform that this decision was not rash but a response to the uncertain global macroeconomic environment and the broader crypto market downturn. According to LinkedIn, the non-profit organization has fewer than 200 employees. Its latest financial report shows that the foundation holds approximately $38 million in USD-denominated assets and 1.1 million ALGO tokens. The foundation stated that it believes current resources are more sustainably aligned with the protocol's long-term priorities and will continue to focus on its mission of financial empowerment. Recent layoffs in the crypto industry have continued, with several projects shutting down or restructuring.

Visa Crypto Labs launches command-line tool for AI-powered bot payments.

Visa Crypto Labs, the crypto division of ISA, has launched a command-line interface tool that allows AI agents to make secure, programmatic payments directly from the terminal.

FTX will distribute an additional $2.2 billion to creditors starting March 31.

According to official sources, FTX announced that it will launch its fourth distribution, amounting to approximately $2.2 billion, on March 31, to facilitated and non-facilitated claim holders who have fulfilled the relevant requirements. Eligible creditors will receive funds from their chosen distribution servicer within one to three business days of the distribution's initiation. FTX also set April 30 as the recording date for preferred stock holders, with corresponding payments to be made on May 29. FTX reminds customers to be wary of phishing emails and fraudulent websites impersonating official portals.

Foreign media reports: Trump is reportedly considering increasing troop numbers in the Middle East while also assessing ground action options.

According to a Reuters report cited by Jinshi, a U.S. official and three sources familiar with the matter said the Trump administration is considering deploying thousands of U.S. troops to bolster its military operations in the Middle East. These deployments could provide Trump with more options when weighing the expansion of operations. Sources indicated that securing the Strait of Hormuz could mean deploying U.S. ground troops off the coast of Iran. The Trump administration has also discussed deploying ground troops to Iran's Kharg Island and the possibility of sending U.S. troops to secure Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpile. A White House official stated, "No decision has been made on deploying ground troops. The president is focused on achieving all the established objectives of Operation Epic Fury." Sources said the discussions regarding troop increases are not limited to an amphibious ready group and its attached Marine Expeditionary Force (approximately 2,000 Marines) scheduled to arrive in the Middle East next week.

Coinbase adds Impossible Cloud Network (ICNT) to its listing roadmap

According to an official announcement, Coinbase has added Impossible Cloud Network (ICNT) to its listing roadmap. The listing of this asset still depends on whether market-making support and technical infrastructure are in place. The specific listing time will be announced separately once the relevant conditions are met.

The US SEC has approved Nasdaq's pilot program for tokenized stock trading.

According to The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved a rule change for Nasdaq to allow it to support tokenized stock trading. According to the approval documents, eligible participants can settle trades in tokenized form through a pilot program operated by a depository trust company. Tokenized stocks will share the same order book and execution priority as traditional stocks and must provide shareholders with the same rights and privileges as conventionally traded stocks. This move is the latest example of the convergence of traditional finance and cryptocurrency, marking a significant step towards putting market infrastructure on-chain. Previously, most tokenized stocks were only available to non-U.S. users. The SEC chairman stated that public comments will be solicited in the coming weeks on rule development, including a proposed innovation exemption. The pilot period has not yet been announced.

Xiaomi releases large-scale MiMo-V2-Pro model

According to CLS News Agency, Xiaomi has released the Xiaomi MiMo-V2-Pro, a large-scale agent model. The Xiaomi MiMo-V2-Pro is specifically designed for high-intensity agent workloads in the real world. It boasts over 1TB of total parameters (42B of activation parameters), employs an innovative hybrid attention architecture, and supports ultra-long context lengths of up to 1MB. The MiMo-V2-Pro model is now officially available via API, supporting 1MB context lengths and offering tiered pricing based on usage: Up to 256KB context: $1 input/million tokens, $3 output/million tokens; Up to 1MB context: $2 input/million tokens, $6 output/million tokens. The MiMo-V2-Pro is now available on multiple platforms.

US media: US Department of Defense seeks $200 billion in funding for the war against Iraq.

According to a report by The Washington Post cited by Jinshi, senior U.S. government officials stated that the Pentagon has requested the White House to approve a congressional budget request exceeding $200 billion to fund the war with Iran. This request, far exceeding the cost of the current large-scale government airstrikes, is almost certain to face resistance from lawmakers opposed to the conflict. The request aims to urgently boost the production capacity of key weapons, which have been heavily depleted in the past three weeks. Some White House officials believe the Pentagon's request is unlikely to be approved by Congress. Sources familiar with the matter said that the Pentagon has submitted several funding proposals of varying sizes in the past two weeks. This work is being led by Deputy Secretary of Defense Steven Feinberg, whose team has developed a series of funding plans intended to quickly alleviate the Pentagon's ammunition shortage.

Powell did not rule out the possibility of a rate hike, but the likelihood of one is currently low.

According to Jinshi News, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated on Wednesday that interest rate hikes are not the expected direction of monetary policy. Powell said officials discussed the possibility that "the next step could be a rate hike," but "the vast majority of participants did not consider this to be their base case scenario," though he added, "We are not ruling out any possibilities."

Powell: He will not leave the Federal Reserve or serve as interim chairman until the Justice Department concludes its investigation.

According to Jinshi News, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated on Wednesday that he will continue to serve as Fed Chairman if his successor is not confirmed by May, when his current term as chairman will end. Powell said, "If my successor is not confirmed before the end of my term as chairman, then I will temporarily serve as interim chairman until a successor is identified. This is required by law. We have done this many times, and I have been involved in it. In such cases, we will continue to take this action." Regarding his term on the Board of Governors, Powell stated that he has no intention of leaving the Board until the investigation is "completely concluded." At the same time, he indicated that he has not yet made a decision on whether to remain on the Board after the Justice Department's investigation concludes. He stated that he will do the best for the Federal Reserve and the people it serves.

The Federal Reserve announced that it would keep interest rates unchanged, in line with market expectations.

According to CCTV News, the Federal Reserve announced on the 18th that it would maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.5% to 3.75%. This decision was in line with market expectations. The Fed stated that the impact of developments in the Middle East on the US economy remains uncertain. The Fed said that in deciding whether and when to adjust interest rates in the future, the committee will comprehensively assess the latest economic data, changes in the economic outlook, and the balance of risks.

Kraken's parent company halts multi-billion dollar IPO plans.

According to CoinDesk, Kraken's parent company, Payward, secretly filed for an IPO with the U.S. SEC last November. However, due to the recent weakening of the crypto market since Bitcoin reached its all-time high, valuations have been under pressure, and trading volume has declined. The company has suspended its listing process, awaiting improved market conditions before resuming. Payward previously completed an $800 million funding round at a valuation of approximately $20 billion, including $200 million from Citadel Securities, to promote blockchain technology in traditional financial markets. In contrast, at least 11 crypto companies, including Circle, Bullish, and Gemini, are projected to raise approximately $14.6 billion through IPOs in 2025. However, so far in 2026, only the custodian BitGo has successfully listed, and its share price has fallen by approximately 44%.

Polymarket acquires DeFi infrastructure startup Brahma

According to Fortune, prediction market platform Polymarket announced its acquisition of Brahma, a startup providing crypto and DeFi infrastructure. The transaction amount was not disclosed. Polymarket plans to leverage Brahma's capabilities in multi-chain infrastructure and DeFi liquidity to strengthen underlying processes such as wallet creation, fund deposits, position conversions, and settlements, further hiding on-chain complexity in the background. The report mentions that Polymarket's valuation has reached approximately $20 billion. Brahma will cease providing services to other institutions and individuals, focusing instead on providing infrastructure support to Polymarket. Previously, Polymarket had acquired developer tools startup Dome and executive search firm Lunch.

The Bank of Korea and nine banks launch the second phase of testing for the digital won.

According to CoinDesk, the Bank of Korea, in conjunction with nine commercial banks, has launched the second phase of its digital won pilot program. This phase tests bank-issued deposit tokens pegged to the won on a wholesale CBDC infrastructure for nationwide payments and government subsidy disbursements. Kyonnam Bank and iM Bank have joined this phase, focusing on verifying the fee reduction effect in large-scale transaction scenarios and alleviating the burden of credit card transaction fees for large enterprises and small merchants. Previously difficult-to-implement peer-to-peer transfers will be enabled in this phase. The government plans to distribute some subsidies in digital currency in the first half of this year, prioritizing applications such as electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and exploring the feasibility of using digital currency as a payment method for AI agents.

CoinShares partners with Kiln to launch an on-chain asset management strategy based on Railnet.

CoinShares announced a partnership with Kiln, an institutional-grade on-chain yield infrastructure provider, to launch its first on-chain asset management strategy using Kiln's Railnet protocol. This strategy integrates DeFi protocol yields with tokenized real-world assets (RWA) yields into a single compliant product. The strategy is managed by CoinShares' asset management entity, regulated by AIFMD, MiFID, and MiCA. It covers DeFi lending, institutional collateralized lending, tokenized bond funds and bond ETF yields, as well as neutral basis strategies. Railnet enables cross-market, cross-scenario allocation and an auditable risk control framework. Railnet also provides standardized infrastructure for B-end distributors such as custodians, exchanges, and wallets to offer institutional-grade yield products to their clients.

Tempo launches mainnet and releases machine payment protocol

Tempo, a stablecoin backed by Stripe and Paradigm, announced its mainnet launch and introduced the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), an open standard jointly developed with Stripe, to support machine payment scenarios using various payment methods such as stablecoins and debit cards. Tempo is designed for high-frequency, small-amount, programmable payments, emphasizing predictable low fees, high throughput, and instant settlement. MPP introduces a "sessions" mechanism, enabling continuous streaming fees within a limited amount after a single authorization, supporting the aggregation of numerous small interactions into a single settlement transaction.

S&P launches its first officially licensed S&P 500 perpetual contract on Hyperliquid.

According to PR Newswire, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that it has licensed the S&P 500 index to [TradeXYZ], launching the first and only officially licensed S&P 500 perpetual contract on the decentralized public chain Hyperliquid. This product targets qualified non-US investors, supports 24/7 on-chain leveraged long/short trading, and directly uses institutional-grade S&P DJI index data. S&P stated that this move extends the S&P 500 liquidity ecosystem onto the blockchain, supplementing existing on-exchange and off-exchange products such as futures, options, and ETFs. Trade[XYZ] is the largest real-world asset perpetual market on Hyperliquid, with a trading volume exceeding $100 billion since October 2025 and an annualized trading volume exceeding $600 billion.

Kenya seeks public comment on draft regulations governing cryptocurrency licenses.

Kenya's Ministry of Finance has released the "Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulation (Draft) 2026," soliciting public comments until April 10th on the regulatory framework and entry requirements for crypto and digital asset businesses. National hearings have been held since March 30th. This regulation is based on the previously enacted "Virtual Asset Service Providers Act," with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) responsible for regulating stablecoins and payment-related institutions, and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) responsible for exchanges, brokers, and tokenization platforms. Previously, Kenya had changed its 3% digital asset tax on crypto transactions to a 10% consumption tax on service fees. On-chain data indicates that between July 2024 and June 2025, Kenya saw approximately $19 billion in crypto inflows, with over 6 million users.

Netflix will launch the FTX series "The Altruists".

According to Solid Intel, Netflix plans to release a series called "The Altruists" based on the FTX crash, with an expected release date between late 2026 and early 2027. Further production and release details are currently unavailable, but the series will revolve around events related to the FTX crash.

Binance saw a single-day inflow of $2.2 billion in USDT, the highest since November 2025.

According to CryptoQuant data, Binance recorded a net inflow of approximately $2.2 billion in USDT in a single day, marking the largest single-day injection of stablecoins since November 2025 and ending months of low liquidity. This inflow primarily entered the exchange in USDT form, while the net change in USDC remained relatively stable.

RunSybil raises $40 million to automate penetration testing of enterprise software security using AI.

According to Fortune, AI cybersecurity startup RunSybil has raised $40 million in funding, led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from S32, Anthropic's Anthology Fund, Menlo Ventures, Conviction, Elad Gil, and angel investors from companies such as OpenAI, Palo Alto Networks, Stripe, and Google. RunSybil uses its AI agent, "Sybil," to perform automated penetration testing on enterprise online applications without human intervention, discovering, exploiting, and recording security vulnerabilities in real-world environments.