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The three major U.S. stock indices opened higher today. - S&P 500: +0.89% - Nasdaq: +1.06% - Dow Jones: +0.76%

Ironlight Group, a developer of tokenized securities infrastructure, has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round, according to a PR Newswire press release. The round saw participation from senior figures in the Wall Street financial industry, including Greg Braca, former CEO and President of TD Bank, as well as the Sei Development Foundation and Laidlaw Private Equity. The funds will be used to further develop Ironlight Technologies, which provides a tokenized securities platform and payment infrastructure.

Li Chenggang, China's deputy international trade representative and vice minister of commerce, announced that the country has reached a preliminary agreement with the United States to maintain stable tariff levels.

Bitmine (BNMR) announced it purchased an additional 60,999 ETH last week, bringing its total holdings to 4,596,000 ETH.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $74,000. BTC is trading at $74,008.42 on the Binance USDT market.

Binance has announced that it will list CFG perpetual futures today at 1:00 p.m. UTC. The contract will support leverage of up to 50x.

MicroStrategy has purchased an additional 22,337 BTC for $1.57 billion at an average price of approximately $70,194 per coin. The company now holds a total of 760,068 BTC, acquired for $57.61 billion, bringing its average purchase price to $75,700.

Cryptocurrency brokerage platform Abra has signed a merger agreement with Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) New Providence Acquisition to pursue a Nasdaq listing, the company announced on its official X account. Following the completion of the merger, the company will be renamed Abra Financial and will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker ABRX.

An address believed to belong to market maker Jane Street received 205.36 BTC ($15.08 million) from BitMEX and LMAX Digital over the past two hours, Lookonchain reported. Jane Street was previously sued by Terraform Labs in connection with the collapse of TerraUSD (UST) and Luna (LUNA), facing allegations of insider trading. The firm has also recently been at the center of controversy over claims it was driving down BTC's price through algorithmic selling at 10:00 a.m. U.S. time each day.

On-chain analytics firm Glassnode has observed a significant negative gamma phenomenon in the Bitcoin options market around the $75,000 level, signaling a high potential for volatility. According to the firm, market makers are maintaining positions centered on selling call options at this price. As a result, any price movement could increase the demand for hedging, potentially amplifying short-term volatility.

Chinese tech giant Alibaba has launched the Alibaba Token Hub, a new unit dedicated to building a token ecosystem, according to local media outlet Yicai Global. The unit will focus on the issuance, distribution, and utilization of tokens and will be directly overseen by Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu.

Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) is pushing to strengthen penalties and oversight for sellers of unregistered cryptocurrencies, Nikkei reported. The agency plans to enhance investor protection by transferring the regulatory framework for virtual assets from the current Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. Additionally, the FSA is considering significantly increasing criminal penalties, with discussions underway to raise the maximum sentence from the current three years in prison or a 3 million yen fine to 10 years in prison or a 10 million yen fine.

The price of Centrifuge (CFG) has surged following an announcement from Binance that it will begin supporting spot trading for the token at 1:00 p.m. UTC today. According to CoinMarketCap, CFG is currently trading at $0.1881, up 54.81%.

BlackRock has deposited 1,701 BTC, worth $124.88 million, to Coinbase Prime, Onchain Lens reported. Coinbase Prime is a prime brokerage platform that facilitates large-scale trading and custody for institutional investors.

The recent rebound in BTC is due to a strengthening long-term holder base, driven by fund inflows into spot ETFs and sustained corporate buying, according to an analysis from Wall Street asset management firm Bernstein. Cointelegraph reported that Bernstein noted BTC's recent rally occurred despite geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The firm also pointed to three consecutive weeks of net inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. Bernstein explained that as buying from ETFs and corporate treasuries expands, the market structure is gradually stabilizing, with about 60% of Bitcoin's supply now held by long-term investors who have not moved their coins in over a year.

Binance has announced the launch of an EWJ/USDT perpetual contract that tracks the price of a Japanese stock market ETF. The new product is scheduled to go live at 1:30 p.m. UTC on March 19 and will offer up to 10x leverage. The contract is based on the iShares MSCI Japan ETF, which follows large- and mid-cap Japanese stocks.

Binance has announced it will list Centrifuge (CFG) for spot trading at 1:00 p.m. UTC today. The listing will include the Seed Tag, which is applied to tokens that may exhibit higher volatility and risk compared to other listed tokens.

Digital asset investment products saw a total net inflow of $1.06 billion last week, marking the third consecutive week of inflows, CoinShares reported in its weekly fund flow report. CoinShares suggested this indicates that digital assets are being perceived as a relatively safe haven compared to other assets amid the war originating from Iran. Bitcoin investment products attracted $793 million in net inflows, while Ethereum products saw $315 million. However, XRP products experienced a net outflow of $76 million, marking the second straight week of outflows.

A proposal to introduce a staking governance system for World Liberty Financial (WLFI) has passed with 99.12% approval, CoinDesk reported. Among the roughly 1,800 participants in the vote, the top 10 wallets accounted for approximately 76% of the total tokens cast. The proposal centers on a three-tier staking mechanism based on the WLFI governance token: - Base tier: Voting rights are granted after a 180-day lock-up period. - Node tier: Requires staking around 10 million WLFI ($1 million) and provides a one-to-one conversion function between stablecoins and USD1 through licensed market makers. - Super Node tier: Requires staking 50 million WLFI ($5 million) and offers the opportunity for direct communication with the project's management team.

Binance has announced it will list the AAVE/U, TAO/U, UNI/U, and WLFI/U spot trading pairs at 8:00 a.m. UTC on March 17.

Bithumb has announced the temporary suspension of deposits and withdrawals for Nillion (NIL) starting at 2:00 a.m. UTC on March 17 to support the token's network transition.

An anonymous whale address has withdrawn 1,140 BNB ($770,000), 12,883 AAVE ($1.53 million), 545 ETH ($1.23 million), and 62,898 LINK ($600,000) from Binance, Onchain Lens reported. The whale's current holdings include 23,683 AAVE ($2.82 million), 1,005 ETH ($2.26 million), 51,190 HYPE ($2.01 million), 2,090 BNB ($2.01 million), 115,889 LINK ($1.11 million), and 7.85 million ENA ($920,000).

Iran's foreign minister said the country has never asked the U.S. for a ceasefire and that its resistance will continue, Walter Bloomberg reported.

Growing tensions in the Middle East, including the potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the threat of war involving Iran, are highlighting the vulnerability of critical global infrastructure more than ever. If the undersea cables that carry 99% of the world's data traffic were to face a physical attack, could Bitcoin survive? The CoinNess Daily Report selects and analyzes one key crypto industry issue each day. Stay informed with CoinNess.

Japanese listed company Metaplanet, which has been accumulating Bitcoin, has announced a revision to its capital allocation policy. The company stated that the recent decline in BTC prices, which brought its modified Net Asset Value (mNAV) to around 1x, necessitated greater flexibility in its capital policy. Under the revised plan, Metaplanet will seek to maximize its BTC yield by utilizing perpetual preferred stock. It will also implement a strategy of buying back its own shares to increase BTC holdings per share whenever its mNAV drops below 1x. Additionally, the company plans to use Bitcoin-backed credit lines as a supplementary funding source but intends to manage its borrowing conservatively. Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich said the company recently secured approximately 40.8 billion yen ($258 million) through a fundraising round with global institutional investors. He noted that the new share issuance was conducted at a price reflecting a premium of about 2% and that the structure allows for a potential fundraising total of up to 85.3 billion yen ($540 million). The secured funds will be used to expand its Bitcoin treasury strategy, Gerovich added.