PA Daily News | US SEC Chairman proposes safe harbor for crypto regulation; Binance HODLer airdrops Fabric Protocol (ROBO)

Today's top news highlights:

The US SEC and CFTC have released new cryptocurrency guidelines, clarifying that most digital assets are not classified as securities.

The US SEC chairman proposed a safe harbor for crypto regulations, covering three exemption pathways for startups and financing.

Phantom received a no-action letter from the CFTC, granting it access to regulated derivatives and event contracts.

Binance HODLer airdrop launches Fabric Protocol (ROBO), the 62nd project.

Coinbase adds EDGEX (EDGEX) and Katana (KAT) to its listing roadmap

Stablecoin cross-border payment platform TransFi completes $19.2 million funding round

DAO governance platform Tally will shut down operations, citing relaxed regulations that have weakened the demand for decentralization.

Binance will delist spot and futures trading of cryptocurrencies such as A2Z and FORTH on April 1st.

Regulation & Macro

The US SEC and CFTC have released new cryptocurrency guidelines, clarifying that most digital assets are not classified as securities.

According to The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the China Federation of Trade Unions (CFTC) have jointly released a new 68-page guidance clarifying that most cryptocurrencies are not securities. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins stated at the Blockchain Summit in Washington that this move will provide market participants with clear guidance on how federal securities laws apply to crypto assets. The guidance details the classification of stablecoins, digital goods, and “digital instruments,” all of which are considered non-securities. It also explains how “non-securities crypto assets” can be transformed into securities, and how federal securities laws apply to mining, protocol staking, and airdrops. Digital goods are defined as assets that “derive value from and are intrinsically linked to the programmatic operation and supply and demand dynamics of a functional crypto system,” and digital collectibles are also not considered securities.

The US SEC chairman proposed a safe harbor for crypto regulations, covering three exemption pathways for startups and financing.

At the DC Blockchain Summit, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins not only announced new cryptocurrency guidelines but also proposed a regulatory safe harbor for crypto assets, including three exemption pathways: 1. Startup Exemption: Allowing projects up to four years to gain a regulatory buffer before maturity, with a maximum fundraising limit of $5 million within four years, requiring the submission of principle disclosures. 2. Fundraising Exemption: Allowing projects to raise up to $75 million within 12 months, requiring the submission of disclosure documents to the SEC including principle disclosures, financial status, and financial statements. 3. Investment Contract Safe Harbor: Crypto assets may be exempt from the securities definition once the issuer completes or permanently ceases core management efforts under the investment contract. Atkins stated that this framework draws on recent congressional work, particularly the CLARITY Act, and he expects to release proposed rules for public comment in the coming weeks.

A UK parliamentary committee has called for an immediate ban on political parties accepting cryptocurrency donations.

The UK Parliament's Joint National Security Strategy Committee has called for an immediate ban on political parties accepting cryptocurrency donations, arguing that it poses an "unnecessary and unacceptable high risk" to the political finance system. The committee recommended including a binding ban in the People's Representatives Act until stronger safeguards are in place. The report also calls for the establishment of a new political finance enforcement unit within the National Crime Agency and for stricter rules regarding overseas donors.

Reform UK is currently the only major political party accepting crypto donations. Last year, it received £12 million from investors linked to Tether, prompting an investigation. Cybersecurity experts warn that a KYC-based ban could force parties to centrally store personal data, creating "huge honeypots" for adversaries and introducing new cryptographic vulnerabilities. The committee acknowledges that cryptographic tools can conceal the source of funds but believes current regulations are insufficient, leaving too many opportunities for rule circumvention.

Phantom received a no-action letter from the CFTC, granting it access to regulated derivatives and event contracts.

The Market Participant Division of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a "no-action" position letter to Phantom Technologies Inc., a developer of self-custodied cryptocurrency wallet software. The position concerns software features that Phantom intends to offer and promote, allowing its users to trade through registered Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs), Introducing Brokers (IBs), and Designated Contract Markets (DCMs). The CFTC stated that, subject to certain conditions, the Market Participant Division will not recommend enforcement action against Phantom or its affiliates solely for unregistered introducing brokers or their associates.

US Democratic lawmakers have proposed banning officials from using insider information to participate in market prediction.

According to CoinDesk, U.S. Senators Chris Murphy and Greg Casar have introduced a new bill called the BETS OFF Act, which aims to prohibit government officials from participating in prediction market betting when they have insider information. The bill focuses on suspected insider trading related to U.S. operations in Venezuela, Iran, and other locations, and aims to restrict officials from profiting from sensitive policy and military information.

Project Updates

Binance HODLer airdrop launches Fabric Protocol (ROBO), the 62nd project.

According to the official announcement, Binance HODLer airdrop has now launched its 62nd project – Fabric Protocol (ROBO), a decentralized infrastructure for coordinating bot and AI workloads between devices, services, and humans.

From 08:00 on March 4, 2026 to 07:59 on March 7, 2026 (UTC+8), users who subscribe to BNB-protected earning products (fixed-term and/or flexible) or on-chain earning products will receive an airdrop allocation. The airdrop is expected to be distributed to users' spot accounts within 5 hours of the announcement.

Coinbase adds EDGEX (EDGEX) and Katana (KAT) to its listing roadmap

According to an official announcement, Coinbase has added EDGEX (EDGEX) and Katana (KAT) to its listing roadmap. The listing of these assets still depends on the availability of market-making support and technical infrastructure. The specific listing time will be announced separately once the relevant conditions are met.

DAO governance platform Tally will shut down operations, citing relaxed regulations that have weakened the demand for decentralization.

According to CoinDesk, the DAO governance platform Tally has announced its closure after six years of operation. Tally provided governance infrastructure such as on-chain voting and delegation for over 500 DAOs, including Uniswap, Arbitrum, and ENS. CEO Dennison Bertram stated that regulatory pressure from the SEC under Gensler's leadership forced projects to decentralize through DAOs to reduce the risk of tokens being classified as securities. He added that the current US government's more lenient approach to crypto has shifted decentralization from a necessity to an option, weakening the demand for governance tools. He also acknowledged that the "Ethereum Infinite Garden" assumption has failed, with only a few leading protocols emerging in the industry. Furthermore, the rise of AI and its ability to attract top talent make it difficult for governance tools to form a sustainable venture capital business model.

Binance will delist spot and futures trading of cryptocurrencies such as A2Z and FORTH on April 1st.

Binance will delist all spot trading pairs for A2Z, FORTH, HOOK, IDEX, LRC, NTRN, RDNT, and SXP starting at 11:00 AM (UTC+8) on April 1st, and will also discontinue related Trading Bots services. Contracts for the aforementioned tokens will be automatically settled and delisted at 9:00 AM (UTC) on March 24th. Margin, Simple Earn, Dual Investment, Mining Pool, Loan, Convert, Buy & Sell, Gift Card, and Binance Pay services will be phased out according to their respective schedules. Deposits of these tokens will cease after 3:00 AM (UTC) on April 2nd, and withdrawals will be supported until 3:00 AM (UTC) on June 1st. After that, the tokens may be converted to stablecoins, but this is not guaranteed.

Starknet's mainnet will undergo a scheduled upgrade at 17:10 today, with an estimated downtime of approximately 12 minutes.

The Starknet mainnet will undergo a planned upgrade starting at 17:10 (UTC+8) today, with an estimated downtime of approximately 12 minutes. Starknet stated that this upgrade is part of its move towards further decentralization, transferring the block hash calculation for Starknet blocks to decentralized Apollo nodes.

Binance will remove the BONK/BRL and ME/FDUSD spot trading pairs.

Binance will remove and cease trading of the BONK/BRL and ME/FDUSD spot trading pairs on March 20, 2026 at 11:00 AM (UTC+8).

Investment and financing news

Stablecoin cross-border payment platform TransFi completes $19.2 million funding round

Stablecoin cross-border payment platform TransFi has raised $19.2 million in funding, including $14.2 million in Series A equity and $5 million in committed liquidity. The round was led by Turing Financial Group, a strategic investor in digital payments and financial infrastructure.

TransFi reportedly utilizes stablecoins as a settlement mechanism to provide emerging markets with an alternative to traditional correspondent banking and the SWIFT system. It supports over 40 fiat currencies and over 100 digital assets, integrates over 250 local payment methods, operates in over 70 countries, and serves over 100 clients and 2 million end-users globally. The new funds will be used to expand into Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, deepen its regulatory licensing efforts, and expand its liquidity network.

The Linux Foundation has been awarded $12.5 million to address low-quality security reports generated by AI.

The Linux Foundation's Alpha-Omega project and OpenSSF have launched a new initiative, receiving a combined $12.5 million in funding from Anthropic, AWS, GitHub, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. This initiative aims to help open-source project maintainers cope with the surge in AI-generated security vulnerability reports. The Linux Foundation stated that AI tools have significantly increased the speed of vulnerability discovery, leading to unprecedented pressure on maintainers to automate security feedback, while lacking sufficient tools for identification and remediation. This initiative will work directly with the maintainer community to provide security capabilities and sustainable strategies that can be integrated into existing workflows, but specific measures and timelines have not yet been announced.

Opinions & Analysis

Changpeng Zhao: I will be attending the DCBlockchain Summit online tonight to share my views on the development of the US crypto industry.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao posted on the X platform: "I will be participating in the DCBlockchain Summit online on March 18 at 9:25 AM Eastern Time (9:25 PM Beijing Time today). At that time, I will share my views on the development of the US crypto industry, the future direction of the industry, and some personal stories from behind the scenes of its development."

Important data

Ethereum spot ETFs saw a total net inflow of $138 million yesterday, marking the sixth consecutive day of net inflows.

The Ethereum spot ETF with the largest single-day net inflow yesterday was BlackRock ETF ETHA, with a net inflow of $81.6989 million. ETHA's historical total net inflow has reached $12.047 billion. The second largest was BlackRock Stapled ETH ETF ETHB, with a single-day net inflow of $67.1722 million. ETHB's historical total net inflow has reached $145 million.

The Ethereum spot ETF with the largest single-day net outflow yesterday was the Fidelity ETF FETH, with a single-day net outflow of $35.4574 million. The current total historical net inflow of FETH is $2.376 billion.

Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a total net inflow of $199 million yesterday, marking the seventh consecutive day of net inflows.

The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest single-day net inflow yesterday was BlackRock ETF IBIT, with a net inflow of $169 million. IBIT's total historical net inflow has now reached $63.375 billion.

The second largest inflow was into the Fidelity ETF FBTC, with a net inflow of $24.39 million in a single day. The total historical net inflow of FBTC has reached $11.079 billion.

Sharplink: Last week's staking reward was 493 ETH, bringing the cumulative staking reward to 15,464 ETH.

Sharplink announced that since launching its Ethereum Vault, it has accumulated 15,464 ETH in staking rewards, equivalent to approximately $36 million at current prices. Sharplink stated that it earned over 493 ETH last week through staking, yielding approximately $1.1 million, and indicated that its ETH holdings will continue to generate more ETH through staking.

The Bhutanese government transferred 596 BTC to two wallets, worth approximately US$44.44 million.

According to Onchain Lens, the Bhutanese government transferred 596 BTC ($44.44 million) to two wallets. In the past 19 hours, they have transferred a total of 973 BTC ($72.32 million), including 205.53 BTC ($15.14 million) sent to QCP Capital.

A wallet suspected to belong to Cumberland withdrew 543.5 BTC, worth approximately $40.58 million, from a CEX six hours ago.

Six hours ago, a wallet (possibly belonging to Cumberland) withdrew 543.5 BTC (approximately $40.58 million) from Binance and Bybit.