Crypto World
Coinbase Prime Unveils Cross-Margin Trading and CFTC-Regulated Futures for Institutions
Key Highlights
- Coinbase Prime introduces unified cross-margin capability spanning spot and derivatives markets for institutional traders
- Institutions gain round-the-clock access to over 20 futures and perpetual products through the company’s CFTC-regulated division
- Cross-margin functionality enables traders to utilize one collateral pool for multiple positions rather than maintaining isolated accounts
- This development advances Coinbase’s objective to establish itself as a comprehensive prime brokerage provider for institutional crypto participants
- The exchange recently completed its acquisition of Deribit to incorporate options trading into its institutional product lineup
Coinbase Prime, serving as the institutional division of America’s premier crypto exchange, has introduced unified cross-margin capabilities alongside regulated futures products spanning its spot and derivatives offerings. The announcement came on Friday, March 6, 2026.
The enhanced features operate through Coinbase Financial Markets, the organization’s Futures Commission Merchant that maintains regulatory oversight from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Institutional participants now enjoy continuous market access to over 20 futures instruments.
The deployment encompasses perpetual-style futures instruments delivered via Coinbase Derivatives. The platform broadened its perpetuals portfolio in the latter part of last year amid intensifying competition among crypto venues for derivatives trading volume.
Derivatives trading represents approximately 70% to 75% of aggregate crypto market volume, based on data from Kraken’s Head of Derivatives.
The cross-margin functionality stands as the centerpiece of this product launch. Previously, institutional participants needed to maintain distinct collateral reserves for spot versus futures activity, coupled with separate risk management frameworks.
The newly implemented unified architecture permits traders to deploy their complete account equity as pooled collateral spanning all trading positions. Spot holdings and futures exposure now receive combined evaluation within an integrated portfolio structure.
This proves particularly valuable for basis trading strategies, where market participants simultaneously maintain long spot exposure paired with short futures positions. The previous infrastructure demanded independent collateral for each component.
Understanding the Risk Framework
Coinbase indicates its infrastructure employs a deterministic risk framework. This approach allows institutions to project margin obligations prior to trade execution, eliminating post-trade surprises.
This represents a departure from what Coinbase describes as “opaque margin engines,” which only disclose margin costs following order submission. The modification provides trading operations enhanced oversight regarding position construction and capital allocation.
Client holdings reside with Coinbase’s NYDFS-regulated qualified custodian. Futures operations execute through the CFTC-regulated division, maintaining all transactions within compliant frameworks.
Coinbase reports custodying approximately 12% of total cryptocurrency market capitalization. Rival institutional prime brokerage providers include FalconX, BitGo, and Digital Currency Group.
Expanding Institutional Infrastructure at Coinbase
Coinbase has systematically developed its comprehensive prime brokerage infrastructure throughout the previous year. The organization markets itself as the “Everything Exchange,” terminology introduced in 2025 alongside announcements regarding expansion into equities, tokenization, and prediction markets.
Coinbase launched stock trading nationwide last month.
The firm additionally completed its purchase of Deribit, characterized as the globe’s premier crypto options marketplace. Through the Deribit integration, Coinbase intends to enable institutions to execute spot, futures, perpetuals, and options trades within a single unified environment.
Rick Schonberg, serving as Coinbase’s Global Head of Product for Trading and Clearing, stated that Prime was “designed so institutions no longer have to self-assemble their trading infrastructure.”
Canada has completed a pilot program testing the use of distributed ledger technology in bond markets, culminating in the issuance of the country’s first tokenized bond, according to a Friday announcement from the Bank of Canada.
The experiment, known as Project Samara, involved the Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada, Royal Bank of Canada and TD Bank Group, and explored if blockchain-style infrastructure could streamline bond issuance, trading and settlement.
As part of the pilot, Export Development Canada issued a $100 million Canadian dollar ($73.6 million) bond with a maturity of less than three months to a closed group of investors. The security was issued, traded and settled on a distributed ledger platform, with payments processed using wholesale central bank deposits rather than commercial bank money.
The platform, built on Hyperledger Fabric, let participants manage the full lifecycle of the security, including issuance, bidding, coupon payments, redemption and secondary trading, while integrating separate ledgers for cash and bonds to enable near-instant settlement.
The pilot highlighted trade-offs in adopting distributed ledger systems for capital markets. Participants reported improvements in operations and data integrity, but also identified governance, regulatory and integration challenges.
Researchers said the results showed distributed ledger systems could improve settlement efficiency and reduce counterparty risk, though broader adoption may be slowed by infrastructure and regulatory hurdles.
Related: Vancouver Bitcoin reserve effort hits resistance from city officials
Tokenized bonds gain traction among governments and banks
Canada’s pilot program adds to a growing list of experiments by governments and financial institutions that explore how blockchain-based systems can reshape the issuance and settlement of traditional financial assets.
An early example came in 2018, when the World Bank issued a two-year A$110 million “Bond-i” debt instrument arranged by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The issuance is widely considered the first bond whose creation, allocation and lifecycle management were recorded on a blockchain.
In 2022, the Monetary Authority of Singapore launched Project Guardian to study how distributed ledger technology could be used in wholesale financial markets. Early industry pilots explored decentralized finance applications for lending and borrowing tokenized bonds and deposits on public blockchains.
In 2023, Hong Kong issued a tokenized green bond using distributed ledger infrastructure, with the issuance facilitated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. The program was expanded with additional digital bond offerings in 2024 and 2025.
The World Bank issued a Swiss franc digital bond on the SIX Digital Exchange in 2024 with settlement using wholesale central bank digital currency provided by the Swiss National Bank.
Magazine: Clarity Act risks repeat of Europe’s mistakes, crypto lawyer warns
xAI’s chatbot Grok has sparked widespread buzz on X after delivering a series of explicit roasts targeting high-profile figures like Elon Musk, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The exchanges began after users prompted Grok to produce “extremely vulgar” roasts of political leaders and public figures. The chatbot responded with profanity-filled insults directed at several well-known individuals.
“Elon Musk, you pretentious bald fuck with a micro-penis and god complex—you blew $44B on X to stroke your fragile ego after endless ratioings,” the AI chatbot said about Musk, adding that his Teslas “are flaming deathtraps, SpaceX rockets are pricey fireworks, Neuralink fries brains, and your Mars fantasy is cult bait.”
Musk appeared to lean into the moment. “Only Grok speaks the truth. Only truthful AI is safe. Only truth understands the universe,” he wrote in a pinned post on X.
Related: Vitalik says Grok arguably a ‘net improvement’ to X despite flaws
Grok roasts political figures
Another widely shared response targeted Starmer after a user requested a “no-holds-barred” roast. Grok replied with a lengthy insult criticizing the British prime minister’s leadership and political stance. “Fuck off back to your Islington champagne socialist shithole, you boring establishment wanker,” the AI chatbot added.
Perhaps the harshest tirade was aimed at Netanyahu, who Grok called “a corrupt genocidal fuckwit hiding behind American cash while your IDF bombs kids into dust.” The chatbot added that his hands “drip Palestinian blood thicker than your settlement walls,” before wishing him to “rot in the hell you built.”
In May last year, Grok also generated controversial responses referencing a “white genocide” conspiracy theory in South Africa, mentioning the topic even when answering unrelated questions about subjects such as baseball and software. In some replies, the chatbot claimed it had been “instructed by my creators” to treat the claim as real.
xAI later said the behavior was caused by an “unauthorized modification” to Grok’s prompt on May 14 that directed the bot to respond to a political topic, adding that the change violated company policies and that measures are being introduced to improve the system’s transparency and reliability.
Related: Grok fan-girling Elon Musk shows why AI must be decentralized
xAI rolls out Grok 4.20 beta
The recent vulgar roasts come as Grok has begun rolling out the beta version of Grok 4.20, which Elon Musk said will deliver improved performance and fewer political guardrails than competing AI systems.
Notably, Grok recently sparked controversy after generating sexualized deepfakes of real people, leading Malaysia to block the chatbot and Indonesia to ban the social media platform itself. The UK has warned it could ban the platform entirely, while regulators in Australia, Brazil and France have also voiced strong concerns over the issue.
AI Eye: IronClaw rivals OpenClaw, Olas launches bots for Polymarket
Crypto World
Bitcoin faces ETF outflows and price pressure as a new lending protocol expands testnet activity
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Bitcoin falls below $70k as ETF flows turn negative, while DeFi development continues with new Ethereum lending protocols.
Summary
- Bitcoin falls below $70k as ETF flows turn negative, while Ethereum-based lending protocol Mutuum Finance expands testnet activity.
- Mutuum Finance is testing its Ethereum lending platform, letting users lend, borrow, and earn yield through non-custodial pools.
- The protocol lets users deposit crypto, receive mtTokens, and borrow against assets without selling their holdings.
Bitcoin has come under renewed pressure after slipping back below the $70,000 level, as U.S. spot ETF flows turned negative following several sessions of strong inflows. While earlier buying activity helped push the asset higher, analysts say the market remains in a fragile phase as institutional flows and broader demand signals continue to fluctuate.
Against this backdrop, development activity within decentralized finance continues. A new Ethereum-based lending protocol, Mutuum Finance, is expanding activity on its Sepolia testnet, where users are currently able to test lending, borrowing, and staking features ahead of the planned mainnet launch.
Bitcoin slips below $70k as ETF flows turn negative
Bitcoin fell back below the $70,000 level after U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF flows reversed following several days of strong inflows. The earlier rally had been supported by more than $1.1 billion in ETF inflows across three sessions, including $458.2 million on March 2, $225.2 million on March 3, and $461.9 million on March 4. However, the trend paused on March 5, when ETFs recorded $227.9 million in net outflows, according to SoSoValue data.
Despite the reversal, analysts noted that recent market strength was largely driven by spot demand rather than excessive leverage. Bitfinex reported that approximately $3.5 billion in spot purchases had occurred since March 1, with aggressive buying across exchanges helping Bitcoin reclaim key price levels. The Coinbase premium also turned positive after remaining negative for around 40 days, signaling renewed demand from U.S.-based investors.
Market sentiment, however, remains cautious. Binance Research stated that while institutional demand has improved and spot ETF flows recently turned positive on a weekly basis, overall sentiment remains fragile. Funding rates have fallen to their lowest levels since 2023, and analysts said long-term holder selling pressure appears to be gradually fading.
Bitcoin has largely traded within a $60,000 to $71,000 range in recent weeks. Analysts from Nansen said the market still needs a clear break above the top of that band to confirm stronger momentum. At the time of reporting, Bitcoin was trading around $69,925, down about 4.1% over 24 hours, with Ethereum and other major altcoins posting similar declines.
Mutuum Finance
New cryptocurrency MUTM, priced at $0.04 and with funds raised exceeding $20.7 million, has launched its V1 protocol on the Sepolia testnet. The number of token holders has surpassed 19,000, while protocol activity continues to expand, with over $200 million in TVL recorded in testnet liquidity.
What is Mutuum Finance?
Mutuum Finance is a lending and borrowing protocol built on the Ethereum network, giving users the ability to earn passive income through lending and borrowing crypto assets in a non-custodial environment.
For example, if a user decides to lend crypto assets such as USDT, the user can receive a percentage of gains based on the annual percentage yield (APY), which depends on pool utilization and borrowing demand. If the average APY is around 8% annually, a $5,000 USDT deposit could generate approximately $400 in passive income within one year.
Users who deposit assets in the Mutuum Finance protocol receive mtTokens in return, representing the deposited amount. For example, deposits of ETH generate mtETH, while USDT deposits generate mtUSDT. Since mtTokens follow the ERC-20 token standard, they can be transferred to compatible addresses and withdrawn at any time. These tokens represent the user’s deposit position while accumulating yield from lending activity.
mtTokens can also be staked, allowing users to receive dividends in MUTM tokens. A portion of fees generated from protocol activity is allocated to purchasing MUTM tokens from the open market, which can increase buy-side demand for the token.
Borrowing allows users to access liquidity without selling their existing holdings. For example, a user holding ETH that may increase in price can deposit it as collateral instead of selling it and borrow other crypto assets to cover expenses while maintaining exposure to ETH’s potential appreciation.
The lending and borrowing protocol has been audited by Halborn Security, a blockchain security firm. Following confirmation of the audit, the V1 protocol was launched on the Sepolia testnet, where users can test core features including mtTokens, debt tokens, stability factor monitoring, and the automated liquidator bot.
Staking functionality is also available in the current version of the protocol, allowing users to see how MUTM token rewards will be distributed in the future before the platform goes live on mainnet.
Bitcoin’s recent price fluctuations and shifting ETF flows continue to shape overall market sentiment, while development activity across decentralized finance projects moves forward. As Bitcoin tests key levels, platforms such as Mutuum Finance are progressing through testnet development and feature testing ahead of their planned mainnet launch, reflecting ongoing infrastructure growth within the crypto ecosystem.
Disclosure: This content is provided by a third party. Neither crypto.news nor the author of this article endorses any product mentioned on this page. Users should conduct their own research before taking any action related to the company.
Prediction markets platform Kalshi is facing a class action lawsuit over the resolution of a market tied to the leadership of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Key Takeaways:
- Kalshi is facing a class action lawsuit over how it resolved a prediction market on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
- Plaintiffs claim the platform denied full payouts by applying a “death carveout” rule after Khamenei’s reported death.
- Kalshi says the rule was designed to prevent traders from profiting directly from a person’s death.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, accuses the company of misleading traders in a market titled “Ali Khamenei out as Supreme Leader?”
Plaintiffs claim the platform created expectations that contracts predicting Khamenei’s removal by March 1 would pay out at full value if the outcome occurred.
Kalshi Traders Dispute Payout After ‘Death Carveout’ Rule Applied
According to the complaint, Khamenei’s death was reported by multiple media outlets on Feb. 28.
Traders holding contracts predicting he would be out of office by the following day expected their “yes” shares to resolve at $1 each, the standard payout for a correct prediction on the platform.
Instead, Kalshi applied a rule known as a “death carveout provision.”
The clause states that if the leader leaves office solely due to death, the market outcome will resolve based on the final traded price rather than paying out the full value of winning contracts.
The plaintiffs argue that this decision deprived traders of the payouts they believed they had earned.
“Plaintiffs and the proposed class members, who correctly predicted the outcome, did not receive the amounts they were promised,” the lawsuit states.
The complaint alleges that traders were paid amounts that were “arbitrary” and significantly below the expected contract value.
Two named plaintiffs reportedly held roughly $259.84 worth of positions in the market. Overall trading activity in the event exceeded $54 million in volume.
The legal filing further argues that the rule used to determine the payout was not sufficiently disclosed to users when they entered their trades.
According to the plaintiffs, the death-related clause appeared only in technical market rules that many traders may not have noticed before placing bets.
Public criticism intensified on social media following the market’s resolution. In response, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour addressed the issue in a post on X, explaining that the platform avoids markets that allow traders to profit directly from a person’s death.
“We don’t list markets directly tied to death,” Mansour wrote. “When potential outcomes involve death, we design the rules to prevent people from profiting from death.”
He acknowledged that the company could improve how rules are displayed on market pages. Mansour said the situation highlighted the need for clearer user experience design to ensure traders better understand contract conditions before participating.
Kalshi Says Traders Didn’t Lose Money After Market Dispute
Kalshi also reimbursed all trading fees and net losses associated with the market. According to the company, no traders ultimately lost money as a result of the resolution.
Despite the refunds, the plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages representing the full value of the expected payouts, along with punitive damages intended to deter similar conduct in the future.
Mansour said the company followed its established rules and emphasized that Kalshi did not generate profit from the market.
The lawsuit arrives as prediction markets gain wider attention. Kalshi recently secured funding at an $11 billion valuation, reflecting the rapid growth of the sector and rising trading activity across event-based markets.
The post Kalshi Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Khamenei Prediction Market Payout appeared first on Cryptonews.
TLDR:
- Cango operated at 34.55 EH/s in February, running 30% below its 50 EH/s installed capacity
- Bitcoin hashprice dropped to the low-$30 range, squeezing miners with costs near $40/PH/s daily
- Cango sold 4,616 BTC in February — over ten times its monthly production — to cut loan exposure
- The asset-light Bitmain colocation model enabled fast scaling but left Cango exposed to high hosting fees
Cango ran its Bitcoin mining fleet at 30% below installed capacity in February. The company’s average operating hashrate reached 34.55 EH/s against 50 EH/s of deployed capacity.
Industry hashprice has fallen below $40/PH/s per day and stayed largely in the low-$30 range. The firm attributed the output gap to fleet optimization and ongoing equipment relocation efforts.
Cango is renegotiating hosting agreements and migrating to lower-cost power regions to manage expenses.
Fleet Restructuring Weighs on February Hashrate
The shortfall between the company’s deployed and operating hashrate stems from temporary downtime during restructuring.
The firm is upgrading equipment and divesting certain rigs while renegotiating hosting contracts. These steps aim to reduce the cost exposure that has widened as hashprice falls. Moving to regions with lower electricity costs remains a core element of the plan.
Cango built its 50 EH/s capacity through an asset-light colocation model at Bitmain-operated sites. The setup involved purchasing large volumes of on-rack Antminer S19 XP machines from Bitmain.
That model allowed rapid scaling without constructing proprietary data centers. However, it exposed the company to hosting costs that are difficult to justify near breakeven revenue levels.
The fleet hashcost has historically hovered around $40/PH/s per day. With hashprice largely in the low-$30 range, that margin is now razor-thin. Addressing hosting fees through renegotiation and relocation has become a top operational priority.
The miner produced 454.83 BTC in February despite running well under its installed capacity. Fleet repositioning is expected to reduce operating costs and improve margins going forward.
Completing the renegotiation and relocation work will be critical to longer-term operational stability.
Cango Liquidates Over 4,600 BTC to Reduce Loan Exposure
Cango moved aggressively to strengthen its balance sheet as market conditions deteriorated in February. The company sold a total of 4,616 BTC during the month, far exceeding its monthly production.
That figure is over ten times what the firm produced during the same period. The selling pressure was driven primarily by the need to reduce outstanding loan obligations.
During a market selloff in early February, the company force-liquidated reserves over a single weekend. The firm sold 4,451 BTC in those two days to reduce debt, per prior disclosures. That sale represented roughly 60% of its holdings at the time, as Bitcoin prices fell.
As of February 28, the company held 3,313.4 BTC on its balance sheet following the sales. The remaining reserves reflect what was left after the weekend liquidation and monthly production. Sustained margin pressure could lead to further reserve management decisions in the months ahead.
The broader mining sector continues to face strain as hashprice remains below $40/PH/s. The firm’s hosting cost exposure and forced reserve sales reflect the severity of current conditions.
Addressing fleet economics through relocation and contract renegotiation will determine the path to recovery.
Friday was the worst day in terms of daily outflows for the XRP ETFs in over a month.
Although the week began on a more positive note for the spot Ripple (XRP) ETFs in the US, it ended with more significant outflows, making it a red one – the first since late January.
At the same time, the underlying asset’s attempted breakout was short-lived, as it was stopped at $1.45 and now sits below a crucial support level.
XRP ETFs Bleed
The financial products tracking the performance of the fifth-largest cryptocurrency have not fared well in the past few weeks. Recall that they even had some days of minimal activity, where SoSoValue saw no measurable inflows worth reporting. Nevertheless, they managed to end all four weeks of February in the green, albeit in a more modest manner at the end of the month.
March also started more favorably. It began with a $7 million net inflow on Monday, followed by $7.53 million on Tuesday, and a more modest $4.19 million on Wednesday. However, investors broke their streak on Thursday, with $6.15 million in net outflows.
Friday was the worst day in this manner, as $16.62 million left the funds. This was the highest single-day net outflow since January 29, when investors pulled out a whopping $92.92 million.
Consequently, the first trading week of March ended with a $4.09 loss for the XRP exchange-traded funds. The total net inflows have declined to $1.24 billion from the $1.26 billion mid-week peak.
Meanwhile, Canary Capital’s XRPC remains the largest XRP-focused ETF, but Bitwise’s XRP has narrowed the gap to under $1 million – $266.11 million against $265.42 million, respectively.
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XRP Price Progress Halted
Perhaps driven by the positive inflows at the start of the week and the overall market-wide resurgence, XRP jumped from its Saturday low at $1.27 to $1.47 by Wednesday. However, as the tides turned, BTC was rejected at $74,000, and the ETF flows turned negative, Ripple’s cross-border token slipped to under $1.40 as of now.
Popular analyst CryptoWZRD noted that the asset closed indecisively, but believes the XRP/BTC trading pair “should play a major role soon.” Ripple’s asset needs to hold above the $1.3820 resistance to remain long, but it’s currently trading just below that level.
XRP Daily Technical Outlook:$XRP closed indecisively. XRPBTC should play a major role soon. My focus will remain on the lower time frame. Holding above the $1.3820 resistance for a while could trigger a long. Below we’ll see more sideways movement 😈 pic.twitter.com/4b0uZndh2m
— CRYPTOWZRD (@cryptoWZRD_) March 7, 2026
In the meantime, some of the most vocal XRP bulls on X continue to outline highly speculative and big price predictions. Cobb, for example, said a $4.00 price target for XRP doesn’t sound crazy.
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TLDR:
-
- BlackRock blocked $580M in withdrawal requests after its HPS fund hit the 5% quarterly redemption cap limit.
- The $3 trillion private credit market faces a structural mismatch between investor liquidity needs and long-term loan terms.
- Blue Owl and BlackRock both faced heavy withdrawal pressure, pointing to possible tightening across private lending markets.
- Weakening labor markets and slower consumer spending are raising corporate debt repayment risks across private credit portfolios.
BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset managers with $10 trillion under management, has restricted withdrawals from its $26 billion HPS Corporate Lending Fund.
Investors submitted $1.2 billion in redemption requests, equal to 9.3% of the fund’s total assets. The fund paid out $620 million before reaching its 5% quarterly redemption cap. The remaining withdrawal requests were then blocked through a mechanism known as a redemption gate.
The Structure Behind Private Credit Funds
Private credit funds lend directly to companies that cannot access traditional bank financing. These loans typically carry interest rates between 8% and 12% per year.
The loans last between three and seven years and are not traded on any public market. That makes them less liquid than standard investment products.
This creates a structural mismatch between investor withdrawal expectations and long-term loan schedules. Investors in these funds often expect short-term or periodic access to their money.
However, the underlying corporate loans are locked into multi-year repayment timelines. That tension becomes clear when many investors attempt to withdraw capital at once.
As BullTheory.io pointed out, the fund paid $620 million but blocked the rest once it hit the 5% cap. That cap is a built-in protection called a redemption gate. It limits how much capital can leave the fund within a single quarter. It protects the fund’s overall stability.
The private credit market has grown to roughly $3 trillion in total size. Much of that growth followed the 2008 financial crisis, when companies turned away from traditional bank lending.
BlackRock’s HPS Corporate Lending Fund is among the largest vehicles operating in this space today. The market now plays a central role in corporate financing.
Credit Conditions Show Signs of Tightening
The broader private credit market is now facing growing pressure from economic shifts. The labor market is weakening, and layoffs are increasing across several sectors.
Consumer spending is also slowing. These changes tend to reduce corporate revenue, which makes debt repayment harder for many borrowers.
When corporate revenues slow, companies that rely on borrowed capital face a higher risk of missing loan payments. That raises the overall credit risk within private lending portfolios. As that risk rises, more investors are likely to seek early withdrawals from the funds holding those loans.
@BullTheoryio raised the question of whether these events signal broader tightening across the private lending market. BlackRock is not the only fund to face this situation.
Blue Owl Capital also experienced heavy withdrawal pressure before the BlackRock redemption gate made headlines. Two major funds showing this pattern within a short time is worth watching closely.
If more companies struggle to repay loans while investors seek to exit at the same time, stress will not stay limited to individual funds.
It tends to spread through connected parts of the lending system. The events at BlackRock and Blue Owl may be the early stage of a broader credit cycle.
Pi Network’s PI token continues to defy the overall market trend with a massive double-digit gains daily.
Bitcoin’s price failed to maintain the $70,000 level and has dropped by an additional two grand since then, currently fighting for the $68,000 support.
The altcoins are bleeding out as well daily, with ETH going below $2,000, and BNB dipping beneath $630. PI is among the few exceptions today with a notable price surge.
BTC Drops to $68K
Last Saturday was quite eventful as the US and Israel initiated air strikes against Iran. The Middle Eastern country retaliated immediately against numerous nations in the region, even though its Supreme Leader was killed during the attacks. BTC reacted with an immediate price drop from $67,000 to $63,000 after the initial strikes, but rebounded to $68,000 on the same day.
Its fluctuations continued as other financial markets opened on Monday morning, but the bulls seemed in control. By Wednesday, they had driven the cryptocurrency to its highest level in a month at $74,000. After gaining $11,000 since the Saturday low, BTC was due for a correction that began on the same day and culminated earlier on Saturday.
As reported yesterday, bitcoin lost the $70,000 level following a weak US jobs report and Trump’s latest remarks on Iran and Cuba. It kept dropping to a multi-day low of $67,500 marked on Saturday morning.
It has rebounded to roughy $68,000 since then, but it’s still 4% down daily. Its market cap has declined to $1.360 trillion, while its dominance over the alts is at 56.6%.
PI Defies the Market
The graph below will clearly demonstrate that the bears continue to dominate the altcoin market. ETH is down by nearly 5% to under $2,000 now, SOL has lost a similar percentage to $84, while BNB, XRP, DOGE, BCH, and XMR are down by 2-3%.
Even more painful losses are evident from SKY, ZEC, SUI, and AAVE. In fact, the only notable exception from the top 100 alts is Pi Network’s native token. PI has soared by another 13% daily and now trades close to $0.23 for the first time in three months. Perhaps the most probable reason behind this impressive performance is the ongoing protocol updates.
Nevertheless, the total crypto market cap has shed over $50 billion in a day and is down to $2.4 trillion on CG.
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Key Takeaways
- Goldman Sachs has issued warnings that artificial intelligence may trigger significant job losses in finance and beyond
- Ningbo’s High-Flyer, an AI-driven quant hedge fund, achieved an average 52.55% return in 2025
- A staggering 84% of retail cryptocurrency traders experienced losses during their initial trading year
- Approximately 19% of investors worldwide now leverage AI technologies for portfolio management and investment decisions
- Financial professionals believe the ability to choose and oversee AI trading systems will become the most critical investment skill
Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing investment strategies, trading methodologies, and wealth preservation techniques. What began as simple chatbot consultations for basic financial inquiries has evolved into sophisticated systems where AI agents execute transactions, provide continuous market surveillance, and handle risk management with minimal human intervention.
Goldman Sachs has issued stark warnings about potential widespread unemployment driven by AI advancement. Citrini Research highlighted a job-displacement scenario that temporarily shook financial markets. These alerts are prompting investors to reconsider their financial protection strategies.
According to industry experts, the solution isn’t attempting to master every emerging AI platform. Rather, success lies in developing a single critical competency: the ability to choose and supervise AI trading systems.
Ningbo’s High-Flyer, an AI-powered quant hedge fund, delivered an impressive average return of 52.55% in 2025, ranking among the sector’s elite performers. This performance becomes even more striking when contrasted with broader retail trading outcomes.
In cryptocurrency markets, 84% of individual traders suffered losses in their first twelve months. These losses rarely stemmed from inadequate market information. Instead, they resulted from poor discipline — including panic-driven selling, emotionally-charged revenge trades, and impulsive decision-making.
AI systems don’t suffer from these human weaknesses. They operate continuously without fatigue, emotional responses, or second-guessing. These algorithms execute predetermined strategies consistently, following established rules without deviation.
The Growing Dominance of AI in Financial Markets
According to eToro, approximately 19% of global investors currently utilize AI technologies to construct or modify their investment portfolios. In the United Kingdom specifically, Lloyds Group reports that nearly 39% of individuals employ AI for long-term financial strategy development.
Despite this expansion, individual investors remain significantly underutilized AI trading agents. Most applications involve requesting AI-generated recommendations rather than implementing autonomous strategic execution.
This distinction is crucial. Consulting AI for investment suggestions differs fundamentally from deploying an agent that independently executes a comprehensive strategy with predefined risk parameters.
Industry experts compare the process to coaching a professional sports team. Investors establish objectives, define operational parameters, and allow the agents to perform independently. Critical safeguards include emergency shutdown mechanisms, position size limitations, and ongoing performance evaluation.
Implications for Individual Market Participants
Success doesn’t depend on selecting the most advanced AI model. It requires constructing a framework with explicit objectives and boundaries, then consistently evaluating outcomes.
Cryptocurrency markets operate continuously without interruption, 24 hours daily, throughout the entire week. AI systems are purpose-built for this environment. Human traders fundamentally are not.
As AI trading tools become increasingly accessible, the performance gap separating institutional and retail investors may diminish. However, this advantage will only materialize for those who develop proficiency in effectively utilizing these technologies.
The competency being emphasized isn’t primarily technical. It’s fundamentally managerial. Determine your objectives, establish operational guidelines, confirm protective measures, and monitor outcomes systematically.
Ningbo’s High-Flyer’s 52.55% return in 2025 continues to serve as one of the most frequently referenced demonstrations of AI-driven trading potential in today’s market conditions.
TLDR
- The world’s largest crypto exchange informed U.S. senators it discovered no direct cryptocurrency transactions involving Iranian entities on its platform
- Binance reported finding only indirect connections to potentially Iran-associated wallets, which have since been terminated
- The company labeled news coverage from major outlets including NYT, WSJ, and Fortune as “demonstrably false” and defamatory
- Following internal reviews, accounts associated with Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust were terminated
- Congressional scrutiny intensifies amid questions about Trump administration connections and a major stablecoin transaction
The world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has issued an official response to a United States Senate investigation, asserting that its comprehensive review uncovered no instances of direct cryptocurrency transfers to Iranian-connected entities from any platform account.
Dated March 6, the formal correspondence addressed Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and Sen. Ron Johnson. The inquiry originated from a coalition of 11 senators who initiated the investigation in February.
The congressional investigation emerged following media allegations suggesting Binance had facilitated over $1 billion in cryptocurrency transactions connected to Iran-affiliated organizations. The exchange has categorically rejected these characterizations.
According to Binance’s official statement, the company’s comprehensive internal audit identified only indirect connections to digital wallets that potentially had Iranian associations. The exchange confirmed these accounts have been permanently removed from its platform.
Two specific entities were highlighted in Binance’s investigation: Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust. The exchange disclosed that Hexa Whale’s account was terminated in August of the previous year, while Blessed Trust was removed in January following the completion of thorough investigations.
The company’s internal review was initiated following contact from law enforcement agencies last April. Authorities supplied Binance with a roster of external wallet addresses suspected of potential links to terrorist financing activities.
Binance emphasized its complete cooperation with authorities, supplying comprehensive user records and detailed transaction information to support the investigation.
Exchange Challenges Mainstream Media Narrative
The cryptocurrency platform mounted a strong defense against the media coverage that triggered the Senate investigation. Binance explicitly characterized reporting from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Fortune as “demonstrably false” and defamatory in multiple significant aspects.
The published reports had claimed that the exchange dismissed employees who internally flagged concerns regarding the Iran-connected transactions. Binance has firmly disputed these allegations.
According to the company, the majority of staff departures connected to this matter were voluntary resignations. While one employee was indeed terminated, Binance clarified that the dismissal resulted from breaching company protocols by sharing confidential user information with external parties.
“When there is credible risk information, Binance investigates, mitigates, offboards accounts, and reports to appropriate authorities,” the letter stated.
Congressional Investigation Unfolds Against Backdrop of Political Connections
The senators’ correspondence to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pamela Bondi established a March 13 deadline for responding on whether federal investigations into Binance would proceed. As of Friday, neither official had issued public statements on the matter.
The exchange has a documented regulatory history in the United States. In 2023, the company settled violations related to sanctions and anti-money laundering regulations for $4.3 billion. Former chief executive Changpeng Zhao resigned and entered a guilty plea to felony charges, subsequently serving four months in federal custody.
President Trump granted Zhao a pardon in October, effectively eliminating legal restrictions preventing his return to Binance leadership. Despite this, Zhao has publicly stated he has no intentions of resuming the CEO position.
Congressional attention toward Trump’s connections with Binance has intensified following a UAE-based firm, MGX, utilizing the USD1 stablecoin — issued by World Liberty Financial, a venture backed by Trump and his sons — to finalize a $2 billion investment in the exchange. Several legislators have characterized this arrangement as presenting potential conflicts of interest.
As of March 6, the Senate subcommittee has not publicly announced additional measures following receipt of Binance’s formal response.
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