PA Daily | Six members of Trump’s cabinet hold BTC or related investments; Ripple obtains Dubai license

Today's news tips:

Six of Trump's 22 cabinet members hold Bitcoin or related investment products

Ripple receives Dubai license to provide crypto payment services in the UAE

Trump will have practicality as fake news due to account hacked

China Banknote Printing and Minting Group: Never sold virtual currency through any channel

Venice airdrop ends, $100 million of unclaimed VVV tokens destroyed

Crypto analyst Eugene: BTC may test the 66k key level, and the probability of a short-term reversal is low

DeFiance Capital founder: The crypto market may have entered the end stage of the "Fat Protocol Theory"

Coinbase to List Maple Finance (SYRUP) Trading

Regulatory/Macro

Six of Trump's 22 cabinet members hold Bitcoin or related investment products

According to a survey by Fortune magazine, many members of Trump's cabinet hold Bitcoin directly or indirectly. According to financial disclosure documents, 6 of the 22 cabinet members hold Bitcoin or related investment products. For example, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. holds a Bitcoin account worth $1 million to $5 million; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth holds Bitcoin worth $15,000 to $50,000; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent disclosed holdings of Bitcoin-related ETFs worth $250,000 to $500,000. In addition, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy holds Bitcoin and other crypto investments worth $250,000 to $500,000, and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have also disclosed different amounts of Bitcoin assets. Some officials said they would divest assets in accordance with ethical agreements.

Ripple receives Dubai license to provide crypto payment services in the UAE

According to Ripple's official announcement, Ripple has obtained the regulatory license of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), becoming the first blockchain payment provider in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), and officially launched compliant cross-border encrypted payment services in the UAE.

Trump will have practicality as fake news due to account hacked

According to @tier10k's latest statement, the previous reports about Trump Meme Coin were false news, and his account was suspected to have been hacked. Investors are advised to carefully identify information and avoid being misled.

China Banknote Printing and Minting Group: Never sold virtual currency through any channel

China Banknote Printing and Minting Group issued a statement today: Recently, our company has received reports from the public that some criminals have impersonated our company to sell virtual currency on the website and App. Our company hereby solemnly declares that our company has never sold virtual currency through any channel. Please be careful not to be deceived and avoid losing your own economic interests. China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation is directly under the People's Bank of China. It is a large state-owned enterprise that integrates RMB design, research and development, printing and services for the full life cycle management of cash, and is committed to the development of currency culture industry and digital currency research.

Bloomberg: CS2 Skin Investment Outperforms Cryptocurrency and S&P 500

According to Bloomberg, the return on investment of CS2 skins has recently surpassed the S&P 500 index and major crypto assets (Bitcoin and Ethereum), becoming one of the best performing asset classes. Data shows that the total value of CS2 in-game items has exceeded US$4.3 billion and is showing a continuous upward trend, while Bitcoin, Ethereum and the S&P 500 index have all fallen during the same period.

Bloomberg: CS2 Skin Investment Outperforms Cryptocurrency and S&P 500

According to Bloomberg, the return on investment of CS2 skins has recently surpassed the S&P 500 index and major crypto assets (Bitcoin and Ethereum), becoming one of the best performing asset classes. Data shows that the total value of CS2 in-game items has exceeded US$4.3 billion and is showing a continuous upward trend, while Bitcoin, Ethereum and the S&P 500 index have all fallen during the same period.

Nebraska Signs Bitcoin ATM Regulation Bill LB609, Strengthening Anti-Fraud Protection

According to Decrypt, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen officially signed the LB609 bill on March 12, which aims to regulate Bitcoin ATMs and other electronic transaction terminals to prevent fraud and protect user funds. The bill is part of the Controllable Electronic Record Fraud Prevention Act, which requires Bitcoin ATM operators to clearly disclose all transaction terms to users and provide clear anti-fraud warnings. In addition, if a user reports a fraud within 90 days, the operator must refund the user in full.

U.S. stocks closed: Nasdaq rose 1.2%, Tesla rose more than 7%

At the close of US stocks on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially closed down 0.2%, the S&P 500 rose 0.49%, and the Nasdaq rose 1.2%. Nvidia (NVDA.O) rose 6.4%, Tesla (TSLA.O) rose 7.5%, Wal-Mart (WMT.N) fell 2.6%, and Apple (AAPL.O) fell 1.7%. Among blockchain concept stocks, Strategy (MSTR.O) rose 0.75% and Coinbase (COIN.O) rose 0.02%.

Viewpoint

Crypto analyst Eugene: BTC may test the 66k key level, and the probability of a short-term reversal is low

Crypto analyst Eugene said that the overall trend is still biased downward, although there is a possibility that BTC has bottomed out at 76k or a double bottom in the 74-76k range, but this probability is decreasing over time. He pointed out that structurally, there has not been enough selling in the market to clear the excess sentiment in this cycle. He expects BTC to drop to the 66k psychological mark set by Michael Saylor and pays attention to the performance of the market below this price. It is also mentioned that the upward trend or range of BTC has been broken in all time frames, and 75k is currently the last key support level. In addition, he mentioned that BTC has a high correlation with stocks and is not expected to see a short-term reversal due to the policies of Trump, Bessent or Powell. He said that if the PPI data performs well tonight and BTC reaches the high 80k range, he may consider shorting.

DeFiance Capital founder: The crypto market may have entered the end stage of the "Fat Protocol Theory"

Arthur, founder and chief investment officer of DeFiance Capital, said on social media that the crypto market may have entered the end stage of the "fat protocol theory", which has caused long-term damage to the investment value of crypto assets other than Bitcoin. He pointed out that successful application projects are usually valued at 5 to 15 times their revenue, while infrastructure projects that have hardly grown in the past two years are still valued at 150 to 1,000 times their revenue. He believes that the speculative premium bubble of crypto infrastructure has officially burst.

Project News

OKX will delist multiple spot trading pairs including XR, GOAL, KP3R, LBR, LAMB, BZZ, GPT, etc.

According to the OKX announcement, the platform will remove multiple trading pairs including XR, GOAL, KP3R, LBR, LAMB, BZZ and GPT from the shelves from 16:00-17:00 (Beijing time) on March 20, 2025, and has suspended recharges at 11:00 (Beijing time) on March 13. Users are advised to manage their assets as soon as possible. After the removal, uncancelled orders will be automatically revoked, and it is expected to be completed in 1-3 working days. From 16:00 (Beijing time) on June 20, 2025, the withdrawal function of the relevant currencies will be closed, and users must complete the asset transfer before then.

Coinbase to List Maple Finance (SYRUP) Trading

According to Coinbase’s announcement, it will support Maple Finance (SYRUP) as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network. SYRUP deposits are now open and are applicable to regions where Coinbase and Coinbase Exchange support trading. If liquidity conditions are met, the SYRUP-USD trading pair is scheduled to be gradually launched at 0:00 am on March 14th, Beijing time (9AM on March 13th, PT time).

Coinbase will list Aethir (ATH) trading, and trading pairs will be available on March 14

According to Coinbase's announcement, it will support Aethir (ATH) as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network. Users should not transfer funds through other networks to avoid losing funds. ATH deposits are now open and are applicable to regions where Coinbase and Coinbase Exchange support transactions. If liquidity conditions are met, the ATH-USD trading pair is scheduled to be gradually launched at 0:00 am on March 14th, Beijing time (9AM on March 13th, PT time).

Venice airdrop ends, $100 million of unclaimed VVV tokens destroyed

According to The Block, the privacy-preserving AI platform Venice has completed the community airdrop, and about $100 million of unclaimed VVV tokens were permanently destroyed on Wednesday. Since the VVV token was launched on the Ethereum Layer 2 Base network on January 27, more than 40,000 people have claimed a total of 17.4 million VVV tokens, accounting for 35% of the total community allocation. The 32.6 million VVV tokens destroyed this time account for 65% of the total community allocation, equivalent to one-third of the total Genesis supply, significantly reducing the circulating supply in the market. Despite this, 14 million VVV tokens will be added each year, with an initial inflation rate of 14%, which will be gradually reduced based on the "usage rate" of the Venice API. Venice stated that it has not conducted VC financing, pre-sales or over-the-counter transactions, and has repurchased and destroyed 1% of the Genesis supply tokens previously sold in response to community doubts. In the future, Venice plans to launch an image engine, social dynamics, mobile applications and token economic updates.

Important data

A new wallet withdrew more than 200,000 SOL from Binance 2 hours ago, equivalent to about 25 million US dollars

According to Lookonchain monitoring, a newly created wallet withdrew 201,755 SOL from Binance 2 hours ago, worth approximately US$25 million.

FTX/Alameda redeemed 185,000 SOL from pledge today, most of which went to exchanges

According to on-chain analyst Ember, FTX/Alameda redeemed 185,000 SOL (about $22.89 million) from staking 6 hours ago, and then distributed it to 38 addresses, most of which eventually transferred SOL to Coinbase and Binance. Since November 2023, FTX/Alameda staking addresses have redeemed and transferred out 7.845 million SOL (about $1.009 billion) in a similar manner, with an average transfer price of $128. Currently, FTX/Alameda staking addresses still hold 5.502 million SOL (about $694 million) and are still in a staking state.

Financing

nunu.ai Completes $6 Million Seed Round, Led by TIRTA Ventures and a16z Speedrun

According to official news from nunu.ai, the company has completed a $6 million seed round of financing, led by TIRTA Ventures and a16z speedrun, with other investors including Factorial Funds, Y Combinator, Earthling, Hartmann Capital, FOV Ventures and New Renaissance Ventures. nunu.ai focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence, gaming and robotics, and is committed to building the first AI agent that can test and play games, and promoting the intelligent development of the gaming industry.

Offline Protocol Completes $1.1 Million Pre-Seed Financing, Led by Portal Ventures

According to the official announcement of Offline Protocol, the project has completed a $1.1 million Pre-Seed round of financing, led by Portal Ventures, with participation from Seed Club Ventures, and supported by angel investors such as Paul Taylor, Rushi Manche, and Rahim Noorani. Offline Protocol is committed to building a decentralized, private, and censorship-resistant offline network that allows users to directly control communications, personal finance, and information access. Currently, its core product OfflineID has covered 15,000 users in the private beta stage, with a total of 70,000 sessions and 240,000 devices.

Indian Web3 startups raise $564 million, developer community expands rapidly

In 2024, the total financing of Indian Web3 startups reached US$564 million, more than double the US$270 million in 2023, of which investment in infrastructure increased by more than 200%, becoming the biggest beneficiary. However, this financing scale is still lower than the peak of US$1.4 billion in 2022. Indian Web3 infrastructure investment is mainly concentrated in AI, middleware and data tools. Representative projects include EigenLayer, Sentient and Avail. In addition, DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure network) and BaaS (blockchain as a service) also received financial support. Financing in the Web3 financial sector increased by 50% to US$86 million in 2024, reversing the downward trend since 2021. Funds mainly flowed to liquidity re-pledge (LRT), real world asset (RWA) tokenization and multi-chain financial instruments. In terms of developer ecology, India has become the fastest growing Web3 developer community in the world, with open source developers increasing by 28% year-on-year to 4.5 million, exceeding the total of the top four countries. The report predicts that India is expected to surpass the United States in 2028 and become the world's largest developer community.

Web3 game developer M10 completes $3 million seed round of financing, with Sui Foundation and others participating

Web3 game developer and publisher M10 has completed a $3 million seed round of financing, with participation from Sui Foundation, GSR, Big Brain Holdings, Monoceros, Blockchain Founders Fund and Presto Labs. According to reports, M10 was founded by a group of game industry veterans who hope to go beyond the F2P model. Team members include CEO Maitham Mohamed (Forbes 30 Under 30, semi-professional FIFA player), President Lars Buttler (Trion Worlds co-founder) and Chief Creative Officer Martin Capel (Ubisoft Assassin's Creed game director).