MarketWhisper

Pi Network completed a mainnet upgrade to Protocol 20 on March 18, providing a smart contract execution environment to support upcoming NFT and escrow functionalities. Smart contracts will be rolled out in phases, with the first phase featuring subscription contracts, followed by escrow contracts and NFT tools in subsequent phases. Each step requires security audits and community verification to ensure safety and stability.

Blockchain data platform Allium has partnered with Walrus to introduce over 65TB of historical data to the Walrus platform for access by institutions and AI agents. The collaboration leverages Walrus's verifiable technology to ensure data authenticity and security during transmission. This is significant for AI agents and institutional decision-making, as it provides a trustworthy and programmable data infrastructure. Both parties stated that this is just the beginning of a long-term partnership, with plans to continuously expand data services in the future.

A TikTok influencer with over 800,000 followers is suspected of manipulating a MEME coin through account renaming tactics, publicly promoting it before dumping at high prices, causing the token to spike sharply and then crash rapidly. This behavior triggered investor losses and prompted multiple user reports. The influencer attempted to delete evidence but faces high legal risks and potential violation of multiple criminal charges.

Vietnam currently has five companies vying for the first batch of compliant cryptocurrency exchange licenses, including major banks and large enterprises. Regulatory authorities plan to ban citizens from using overseas exchanges and are beginning to draft tax schemes that treat crypto trading as formally regulated assets. Vietnam is concerned about capital outflows, and crypto startups that fail to meet standards are excluded, with regulators favoring traditional financial institutions.

Cryptocurrency e-commerce platform Bitrefill was attacked by hackers on March 1st. The attackers gained access to hot wallet credentials by compromising employee laptops and accessed 18,500 purchase records. Bitrefill has implemented security measures to strengthen defenses and stated that services have returned to normal, with no confirmed signs of large-scale data breaches. The incident is related to North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group.

New York-based platform Theo announced the completion of a $100 million funding round and launched thUSD, a yield-bearing stablecoin backed by gold. It creates two independent sources of income through arbitrage between the gold token thGOLD and gold futures, aiming to provide hedging and returns in unstable markets. Unlike Tether Gold and PAX Gold, thUSD not only tracks gold prices but also actively generates additional yield. The platform plans to open in 200 countries worldwide and is compatible with various lending protocols.

Meta announced the removal of Horizon Worlds, shifting focus toward AI infrastructure and wearable devices, with Reality Labs losses approaching $80 billion over five years. The company's strategy is pivoting from immersive VR toward gaming and mixed reality, emphasizing that AI's commercialization potential exceeds that of the metaverse. Horizon Worlds will still run on mobile devices, but this adjustment demonstrates that user adoption of VR social platforms fell short of expectations.

Coin Center sent a letter to the SEC, calling for an end to no-action letter case-by-case processing and urging stronger systemic rulemaking for the crypto market. The letter emphasized that no-action letters favor well-resourced large projects, resulting in regulatory fragmentation and industry inequality, while contradicting the nature of crypto public goods. The U.S. Congress is also advancing the CLARITY Act to provide a clear digital asset jurisdiction framework and promote unified regulation.

Grayscale Research Head Zach Pandl pointed out that XRP's market price does not reflect its actual utility, primarily due to regulatory uncertainty affecting its valuation. Once the CLARITY Act establishes clear cryptocurrency asset regulations, XRP is expected to be repriced. Additionally, growing market demand for the GXRP Trust product shows that institutional investors are positioning early, anticipating market opportunities following regulatory clarity.

Trump will host a luncheon on April 25th at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, inviting top TRUMP token holders, causing the token's price to surge. The hype pattern before the event indicates that the token may decline after the event, with historical data supporting this view. Additionally, Congress is reviewing three bills to restrict politicians from profiting through meme coins, but they have not yet entered the voting stage.

OpenAI launched GPT-5.4 Mini and GPT-5.4 Nano on March 18, designed for high-capacity AI workloads. The Mini model is twice as fast as its predecessor, while Nano reduces costs and optimizes real-time conversations. Mini has approached flagship performance on benchmarks and exceeded human baselines, with Nano positioned as a developer tool at more competitive pricing. Mini is available to users, while Nano is offered through API access only, suitable for large-scale applications.

On March 18, the SEC Chair announced that XRP was classified as a "digital commodity," ending regulatory uncertainty. On the same day, Coinbase displayed an XRP spot order book reaching a 9:1 buy-to-sell ratio, the strongest buyer signal. This development reduced compliance risks for holders, boosted institutional confidence, and paved the way for future financial product applications.

Pi Network has launched the "Security Circle Activation Protocol," aimed at enhancing network resilience and trustworthiness, and promoting integration toward DeFi and Web3. The new protocol introduces a decentralized governance layer, strengthens transaction validation and participant identity verification, and provides a framework for institutional participation. The community is optimistic about rumors of well-known institutions joining, but caution should be exercised pending official confirmation. This technical upgrade is viewed as an important step in driving Pi Coin toward a mature financial ecosystem.

Taiwan cryptocurrency exchange BITGIN involved in money laundering case. Among 10 defendants, the core suspects are the Zhang siblings, allegedly using the exchange to cover for a fraud ring laundering 150 million Taiwan dollars. Defendants include a lawyer and the actual operator. The case involves multiple money flows and offshore accounts that hindered investigations. Zhang Yuting previously guided police in tracing cryptocurrency but ultimately became an accomplice to fraud. The case remains under trial.

Nvidia unveiled DLSS 5 at GTC 2026, featuring full neural rendering technology and claiming to deliver Hollywood-level realism. However, it faced criticism from gamers who felt the visuals were overly stylized and exaggerated, leading to a wave of meme culture. Although technology media praised it highly, gamers expressed concerns that AI processing of character faces might affect artistic style and questioned whether control over visual creation was shifting. DLSS 5 requires high-end hardware and currently only supports dual RTX 5090 graphics cards.

Iran conflict leads to Strait of Hormuz blockade, impacting global fertilizer supply chains and other markets. Urea prices have surged to $601, affecting agricultural production costs. Meanwhile, WTI crude oil approaches $90, and Bitcoin has also risen due to safe-haven demand, demonstrating market interconnectedness. The urea price increase is primarily driven by its production dependence on natural gas, with the blockade directly affecting transportation routes.

Five major U.S. regional banks have announced the launch of Cari Network, a blockchain payment platform leveraging ZKsync technology to enable real-time settlement while maintaining FDIC insurance protection. Unlike stablecoins, this platform records tokenized deposits directly on bank balance sheets in compliance with regulatory requirements. Facing competitive and regulatory pressures, banks chose to take action before 2026 to capture first-mover advantage. The core strengths lie in legal structure and safeguard mechanisms, but the platform also faces challenges in interoperability and market competition.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and Representative Greg Casar introduced the BETS OFF Act, aimed at prohibiting prediction market betting on wars, terrorism, and government decisions to prevent profiting from classified government information. The bill points out suspicious betting activity that may be related to the Trump family, emphasizing the necessity of regulating prediction markets.

Gate has recently launched the new Gate Card, offering up to 5% cashback and a dual-tier upgrade system, supporting over 100 countries and 130 million merchants. Users can select their preferred cashback currency and enjoy a monthly spending limit of 1.3 million USD, making it suitable for high-net-worth individuals. The card's 1% processing fee can be offset by cashback earned by premium users, enabling positive returns, and encouraging users to accumulate rewards through spending and VIP upgrades.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a new fast finality rule that guarantees Ethereum transactions become irreversible within 12 seconds, aiming to improve the current mechanism that requires 6.4 minutes for final confirmation. This proposal relies on the majority of validator nodes being honest and network latency being below 3 seconds. If these conditions hold, it could effectively enhance user experience.