📊 USDC activity on Ethereum hits a record

Usage of the stablecoin USD Coin on the Ethereum network has reached a new all-time high. 🚀

Monthly transaction volume surged 250% year-over-year, exceeding $1.7 trillion in February 2026.

The spike highlights the growing role of stablecoins in crypto payments, DeFi activity, and on-chain settlements, with USDC continuing to be one of the most actively used digital dollars on Ethereum.💵

💰 Strategy buys another 17,994 BTC for $1.28B

Michael Saylor’s company Strategy has purchased 17,994 BTC for about $1.28B at an average price of $70,946.

As of March 8, the company now holds 738,731 BTC — worth roughly $50B, representing over 3% of Bitcoin’s total supply. 🤔

Since 2020, Strategy has spent about $56.04B accumulating bitcoin, with an average purchase price of ~$75,862 per BTC. With BTC currently trading near $68K, the company’s position is slightly underwater.

The latest purchase was funded through the sale of MSTR shares and partly via preferred stock (STRC) issuance. Meanwhile, MSTR stock has dropped nearly 80% from its July peak. 🤷

📉📈 Trump flips the markets

Donald Trump said overnight that the conflict with Iran is “almost completely over” and hinted at easing some sanctions on the oil sector.

Markets reacted immediately:

• Bitcoin jumped above $71K
• Oil prices dropped sharply from $120 to around $90

However, Iran warned that if attacks continue, it won’t allow a single liter of oil to be exported from the region, raising the risk that tensions — and market volatility — could quickly return. 🧐

🎉 Historic milestone for Bitcoin

The total supply of Bitcoin has reached 20,000,000 BTC mined. 🛠

That means over 95% of the maximum supply is already in circulation, leaving just 1 million BTC yet to be mined. 🙀

Due to Bitcoin’s halving mechanism, the remaining coins will be released extremely slowly. Analysts estimate it could take around 114 more years to mine the final million BTC.

The last bitcoin is expected to be mined sometime around 2140, reinforcing the asset’s long-term scarcity. ⏳

🛢📊 Oil trading explodes on Hyperliquid

Daily trading volume of oil perpetual futures (CL/USDC) on Hyperliquid has surged past $1.6B, making it the second most traded market after Bitcoin. 🙀

The spike came as global oil prices jumped amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. On traditional markets, oil briefly approached $120 per barrel before correcting to around $87. 📉

During Sunday trading on Hyperliquid — before traditional markets opened — oil prices on the platform climbed to about $107, reflecting early market expectations.

Before the conflict escalation, daily volume for this contract was only ~$21M, meaning activity has grown over 50×. 🚀

Most of the trading is believed to come from retail and crypto-native traders, as many institutional investors still avoid public blockchain platforms due to regulatory restrictions.

🤖💸 Ethereum introduces a standard for AI payments

A new token standard, ERC-8183, has been proposed on Ethereum that enables AI agents to send conditional payments to each other.

The mechanism works like an automated escrow: funds are locked first and only released after a task is completed.

This could become a key building block for the future “agent economy”, where autonomous programs can independently order services, execute tasks, and settle payments with each other on-chain — without human involvement. 🙅

🌈 Bitcoin may have passed the bottom… according to the Rainbow Chart

The popular Bitcoin Rainbow Chart suggests that Bitcoin has likely moved past the market bottom. But the situation may not be that simple.

▪️ In this cycle, none of the classic market-top indicators have triggered, raising questions about whether bottom indicators can be trusted now.
▪️ In the previous cycle, BTC stayed in the lower Rainbow zone for months, meaning the same could happen again.
▪️ The market currently lacks strong internal catalysts — crypto is mostly moving with the S&P 500, which itself reacts heavily to political headlines.

Historically, analysts were confident BTC wouldn’t drop below $6K in 2018 or $20K in 2022, yet deeper lows followed.

One positive signal: despite geopolitical tensions involving Iran, BTC held above $60K, suggesting seller pressure remains limited.

Long-term, current prices may still look attractive for 3+ year investors, but a 5–10% drop in the S&P 500 could easily push BTC to form a new bottom.

⚠️ Tensions rise around the Strait of Hormuz

🌐 Geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran continue to escalate, with conflicting statements from both sides about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical oil routes.

🇺🇸 Earlier, the U.S. Energy Secretary claimed the U.S. Navy escorted an oil tanker through the strait — but the post was later deleted. Iranian officials denied the claim.

U.S. intelligence reports suggest Iran may be deploying sea mines in the shipping corridor, raising concerns about potential disruptions to global oil supply.

Trump warned that if mines are confirmed and not removed immediately, Iran could face severe military consequences. U.S. forces have also reportedly destroyed several boats suspected of being used for mine deployment.

At the same time, the U.S. has urged Israel to avoid further strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure. 🫸 🇮🇱

🇮🇷 Iranian officials accuse Washington of spreading market-manipulating misinformation.

💰 CZ surpasses Bill Gates in wealth

Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, has become richer than Bill Gates. 🙀

According to Forbes, CZ’s net worth has surged to $110B, up $47B over the past year. 📈

This places him 17th on the global billionaire list, about $2B ahead of Gates.

The jump highlights the growing influence of the crypto industry, with one of its most prominent figures now ranking among the world’s wealthiest individuals. 🧐

⛏️ BTC is testing its mining cost zone

Analysts from Our Crypto Talk say the Bitcoin production cost range remains one of the most reliable long-term indicators.

Historically, the price of Bitcoin has often found strong support around the average cost of mining, making this level important for identifying potential market bottoms.

Right now, BTC is testing this production cost range again, which could act as a key support zone. Over the past decade, this metric has repeatedly helped signal periods when Bitcoin was trading close to its fundamental floor. 💪

💰 Trump’s wealth grows thanks to crypto

According to Forbes, the net worth of Donald Trump has risen to $6.5B, increasing by about $1.4B over the past year, largely due to crypto-related ventures. 📈

Key sources of growth:

• ~$550M from sales of WLFI tokens
• ~$200M from selling 49% of World Liberty Financial to investors from the UAE
• About $570M in remaining holdings of WLFI tokens and the TRUMP memecoin
• His 38% stake in World Liberty Financial is valued at roughly $240M 💵

The same billionaire ranking also claims that Changpeng Zhao is now richer than Bill Gates, with a net worth of $110B. However, CZ has disputed the estimate, saying the numbers look unrealistic given that crypto prices have fallen more than 50% in 2026. 🤔

🛢 Historic volatility in the oil market

On March 9, the price swing in Brent Crude Oil became the largest one-day move in oil market history, surpassing volatility seen during previous global crises. 📊

Such extreme fluctuations highlight how geopolitical tensions can rapidly shake traditional energy markets.

Interestingly, if a similar move happened in Bitcoin, many on Wall Street would likely call it just another “normal day” in crypto.

The episode is a reminder that traditional markets can be just as volatile as crypto — sometimes even more so.

⚖️ Binance sues WSJ over Iran sanctions claims

Binance has filed a lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, accusing the outlet of defamation after a report claimed that Iranian entities used the exchange to bypass sanctions.

According to the article, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating crypto transactions potentially linked to Iran that may have passed through Binance.

Key details from the probe:

• Around $1.7B in transactions under review
• Over 1,500 accounts allegedly connected to Iranian intermediaries
• Some transactions may have involved Hong Kong-based companies
• Certain flows could be linked to the IRGC

Binance denies the allegations and says it significantly strengthened its compliance and AML systems after its $4.3B settlement with U.S. authorities in 2023.

📈 Strategy is accelerating its Bitcoin accumulation

Despite the bearish tone in the market, Strategy is buying Bitcoin faster than ever.

🔎 Data shows the company’s BTC accumulation curve is steepening, indicating that purchases are accelerating rather than slowing down, even during market weakness.

The trend highlights continued conviction from Michael Saylor and his team, who appear to be using the current market conditions to increase their exposure to Bitcoin at scale.

📉 Bearish phase could last another 6+ months

📊 According to analysts from Glassnode, the crypto market may remain in a bearish phase for at least several more months.

The signal comes from the realized profit/loss ratio, which has been below 1 since Feb 21 — meaning investors are realizing more losses than profits. 🧐

Historically, when this metric drops below the neutral level (~1), the market tends to stay in that zone for over 6 months before a meaningful recovery begins.

Notably, this indicator reflects on-chain market behavior, meaning the current pressure may be driven more by investor dynamics than by external factors like geopolitical tensions.

📉 Crypto VC funding hits a 6-year low

💰Venture capital investment in crypto projects dropped to $2.2B in Q1 2026, marking the lowest level in six years.

Most of the funding went to crypto financial services (24%) and DeFi projects (27%), showing investors are still focusing on core infrastructure and financial use cases.

However, seed-stage funding fell sharply to just $166M, roughly the same level seen back in 2020. 😕

The data suggests venture investors are becoming far more cautious, with fewer early-stage bets and a stronger focus on more established sectors of the crypto ecosystem.

📊 U.S. midterm years = higher market volatility

According to research from Binance Research, years with U.S. midterm elections have historically brought increased volatility to financial markets. 🧐

On average during these periods:

• S&P 500 dropped about 16%
• Bitcoin fell around 56%

However, markets tend to recover strongly once election results are known.

🚀 In the 12 months after midterms, average performance historically shows:

• +19% for the S&P 500
• +54% for Bitcoin

The data suggests that while election cycles can trigger short-term uncertainty and volatility, they have often been followed by solid market recoveries.

💻 How quantum computers could impact Bitcoin supply

🕵️ Researchers estimate that potential quantum attacks would affect different parts of the Bitcoin supply in different ways.

Breakdown of BTC exposure:

• 65.4% (~13M BTC) — considered safe under the current address structure.
• 25% (~5M BTC) — potentially vulnerable due to address reuse, but coins can likely be migrated to safer addresses.
• 1% (~200K BTC) — vulnerable because of the address type, yet still likely movable.
• 8.6% (~1.7M BTC) — vulnerable and likely lost, mostly early P2PK addresses, including some of the oldest coins that are practically impossible to move.

In other words, while quantum computing could theoretically threaten part of the network, most BTC is either already safe or can be migrated, with the main risk concentrated in old or lost coins. 🤔

💵 Stablecoin market cap is rising again — a new signal for crypto?

The total market capitalization of stablecoins is recovering quickly, while Bitcoin is still lagging behind.

Historically, growth in stablecoin supply is often seen as a sign of fresh liquidity entering the crypto market, which can later flow into major assets.

However, there’s an important nuance: stablecoin market cap was growing through most of 2025 as well, while BTC’s performance during that period was far from impressive. 🤷

So the key question remains — is this new liquidity preparing for the next market move, or just sitting on the sidelines for now? 💭

⚠️ Address poisoning attacks on Ethereum are surging

🧪 Etherscan reports a sharp increase in address poisoning attacks on Ethereum — a scam where attackers send tiny “dust” transfers from addresses that closely resemble a victim’s previous contacts, hoping users will accidentally copy the wrong address later.

After the Fusaka Upgrade on Dec 3 lowered transaction fees, the number of fake Tether transfers jumped by 612%. 📈

Even though the success rate is below 0.01%, the scale makes it profitable. Between July 2022 and June 2024, there were ~17 million attack attempts, generating more than $79.3M for scammers.

The takeaway: always verify the full wallet address before sending funds, as even tiny dust transactions can be part of a large-scale phishing strategy. 🎣

📈 Leverage is taking over the market

🔎 According to data from CryptoQuant, the futures-to-spot trading ratio on Binance has climbed to ~5.1, the highest level since mid-2023.

In practice, this means that futures markets are now generating more than 5× the trading volume of spot markets. 📊

Such a shift suggests the market is increasingly driven by leveraged speculation rather than spot demand.

The more leverage builds up, the higher the probability of a sharp squeeze — either a massive liquidation cascade up or down.

In other words: the market is turning into a high-stakes leverage game, where one strong move can trigger a chain reaction. 😬