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South Korean Layer 1 project Mitosis is facing growing accusations of a rug pull, NewsWay reported. The controversy has reignited concerns about the credibility of domestic crypto projects, as the project's founders have been linked to Terraform Labs. The allegations stem from the founders' disappearance from social media since last September and the failure to distribute promised community rewards. Investors who staked tMITO for six months were guaranteed a 2.5x return in MITO tokens or a separate bonus. However, the rewards, valued at around $1.4 million, were not paid out on the scheduled date of March 10. Over this period, the MITO token has plummeted 87% from its peak of $0.30 to $0.03.

Ethereum (ETH) is attempting to break through the upper boundary of a descending channel after falling approximately 63% during the current cycle, according to an analysis by Markus Thielen, CEO of 10x Research. He noted that while ETF demand has shown some signs of recovery, ETH derivatives positions are acting as the key variable driving short-term price movements. Thielen added that from a fundamentals perspective, there have been no significant changes. However, because the crypto market has recently shown a tendency to move separately from traditional large-cap asset classes, there are limitations to predicting price fluctuations using the conventional risk-on/risk-off analysis framework.

The World Liberty Financial (WLFI) team has deposited 20 million WLFI, worth $21 million, to Gate.io and OKX over the past 19 hours, according to Onchain Lens.

Binance announced it will list AAVE/U, TAO/U, UNI/U, and WLFI/U margin pairs at 10:00 a.m. UTC on March 17.

Cross-chain Layer 1 blockchain project ZetaChain (ZETA) has unveiled ZetaChain 2.0, a universal layer combining AI and Web3, and launched its consumer AI chat service, ANUMA AI. ANUMA is a privacy-focused AI chatbot that allows users to interact with various AI models, including ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, through a single interface without losing context. Users can import their existing AI conversation histories, which are then encrypted using client-side AES-GCM and stored in a personal memory vault accessible only to them. To commemorate the launch, ZetaChain is holding a "Reclaim Your AI Memory" campaign, offering a total of $3,000 in ZETA rewards and premium access benefits to participants. ANUMA AI also plans to release additional text AI features in the future.

An Argentine court has ordered a nationwide block on access to the cryptocurrency-based prediction market platform Polymarket, Wu Blockchain reported. A court in Buenos Aires has directed the national telecommunications regulator, ENACOM, to restrict access to the platform via internet service providers. Additionally, the court has ordered Google and Apple to remove the Polymarket app from their respective app stores for users in Argentina.

The following shows estimated liquidation volumes and position ratios for major crypto perpetual futures over the past 24 hours: - ETH: $236.79 million liquidated (86.97% shorts) - BTC: $224.24 million liquidated (81.52% shorts) - SOL: $25.54 million liquidated (89.29% shorts)

South Korean police have drafted their first-ever guidelines for managing seized darkcoins as part of a broader overhaul of their virtual asset management system, The Asia Business Daily reported. The move follows a series of incidents where government and investigative agencies lost seized crypto assets. According to the report, South Korea's National Police Agency recently completed a draft of new instructions that specify compliance measures for each stage of the virtual asset seizure process. This includes a new software wallet (hot wallet) management plan specifically for handling darkcoins. Meanwhile, the total value of virtual assets seized by the police over the past five years is estimated to be around 54.5 billion won ($39.5 million), based on prices early this morning. This includes approximately 50.7 billion won ($36.7 million) in Bitcoin (BTC) and 1.8 billion won ($1.3 million) in Ethereum (ETH).

Blockchain analytics firm Messari has conducted significant layoffs as it pivots to become an artificial intelligence (AI) company, The Block reported. As part of this transition, CEO Eric Turner has resigned, and former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Diran Li has been appointed the new CEO.

U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net inflow of around $199 million on March 16, marking the sixth consecutive day of net inflows, according to data compiled by Trader T. - BlackRock's IBIT: +$139.05 million - Fidelity's FBTC: +$64.53 million - Bitwise's BITB: +$2.82 million - Ark Invest's ARKB: -$3.07 million - Franklin Templeton's EZBC: +$2.14 million - VanEck's HODL: -$6.28 million

Pump.fun (PUMP) announced via X that it bought back $8.52 million worth of PUMP last week. To date, the project has repurchased a total of $328 million in PUMP, representing 29.52% of the total circulating supply.

Stablecoin payment provider dtcpay has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round, Wu Blockchain reported. The round was led by Vertex Ventures, with the capital earmarked for product development, infrastructure enhancement, and business expansion.

Bitcoin's recent upward trend was triggered by options traders unwinding their put option hedge positions, according to an analysis by 10x Research CEO Markus Thielen. In a report cited by CoinDesk, Thielen explained that the rally appears to be influenced by a structural change in put options within the $55,000 to $60,000 range. He noted that during the sharp decline in February, traders had heavily purchased put options to hedge against downside risk. However, as the market stabilized, the likelihood of these options becoming in-the-money by expiration diminished, prompting traders to close out their hedge positions. This process, Thielen argued, created upward momentum. The unwinding of put options reduces selling pressure from market makers managing their risk, which can consequently lead to increased buying activity in the spot market.

Crypto traders are increasingly using Anthropic's AI tool, Claude, to build and deploy automated trading bots for prediction markets like Polymarket, Decrypt reported. The bots are designed to analyze probabilities within these markets by parsing real-time news and to execute arbitrage trades based on price differences between platforms. While AI-powered trading is expected to become more common as prediction markets expand, profitability will depend on factors like data quality and execution speed, the outlet added.

Strategy's Bitcoin holdings have moved into a state of unrealized profit amid the cryptocurrency's price increase, blockchain media outlet Jinse Finance reported. The company is currently showing a profit of $120 million, representing a 0.21% return. This follows Strategy's announcement on March 16 that it had purchased an additional 22,337 BTC for $1.57 billion. The company now holds a total of 760,068 BTC, valued at $57.61 billion, with an average purchase price of $75,700.

The U.S. Federal Reserve may want to remain silent this week but will be forced to signal its future policy direction through its economic projections, according to Nick Timiraos, a Wall Street Journal reporter often described as the Fed whisperer. In a post on X, Timiraos noted that two former Fed chairs would want to avoid offering short-term rate cut forecasts in the current environment. He added that the key question for the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting is whether current officials share that view, suggesting a potential clash between hawkish and dovish members sticking to their respective positions. The U.S. interest rate decision and the FOMC press conference are scheduled for 6:00 p.m. UTC on March 18.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed an amendment to exclude cryptocurrencies from the scope of its rule for broker-dealers on posting over-the-counter (OTC) quotes, Cointelegraph reported via X. The regulation, Rule 15c2-11, requires broker-dealers to review an issuer's publicly available materials, such as financial and basic information, before posting quotes for certain securities in the OTC market.

The Altcoin Season Index from crypto data platform CoinMarketCap is currently at 49, down one point from the previous day. The index is calculated by comparing the price performance of the top 100 coins by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins and wrapped coins, against Bitcoin. An "altcoin season" is declared when 75% of these top 100 coins outperform Bitcoin over the preceding 90 days. If the opposite is true, it is considered a "Bitcoin season." The closer the index is to 100, the stronger the indication of an altcoin season.

South Korean e-payment company KG Inicis has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on a digital asset payment partnership with global cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com to build a payment system, Edaily reported. Through the agreement, the two companies will establish a digital asset payment system for foreign tourists visiting South Korea.

A woman in the United Kingdom is being sued for allegedly stealing 2,323 BTC, worth $172 million, from her estranged husband by filming his hardware wallet's mnemonic phrase with a home CCTV camera, Decrypt reported, citing UK High Court filings. According to the lawsuit, the husband, Ping Fai Yuen, stored over 2,323 BTC in a hardware wallet in 2023. He claims that in August of that year, the funds were transferred to 71 different addresses without his knowledge. After being warned by his daughter that his wife was targeting his Bitcoin, the husband installed a recording device in their home. He reportedly obtained evidence of his wife, Fun Yung Li, using the mnemonic phrase she had captured on camera. The husband was initially arrested for assaulting his wife after discovering the theft but later reported her for the crime. Police arrested the wife and seized 10 cold wallets but released her on bail, citing a lack of evidence. The husband filed a lawsuit in November of last year demanding the return of his Bitcoin. While the trial has not yet begun, the UK court reportedly believes the husband has a high probability of winning the case.

Coinbase announced the addition of PRL to its listing roadmap.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $75,000. BTC is trading at $75,026.75 on the Binance USDT market.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index from data provider Alternative rose five points from yesterday to 28. The move lifts the index out of the "Extreme Fear" category for the first time in 46 days, a stage it first entered on Jan. 30. The index measures market sentiment on a scale from 0 (Extreme Fear) to 100 (Extreme Optimism). The index is calculated based on several factors: volatility (25%), trading volume (25%), social media mentions (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin's market cap dominance (10%), and Google search volume (10%).

YZi Labs, formerly Binance Labs, announced it has led a $52 million funding round for AI robotics company RoboForce. The funds will be used to advance RoboForce's robot foundation model and expand its manufacturing capabilities. RoboForce develops robot software for industrial applications and is a partner of Nvidia.

The merger review for Naver Financial, South Korea's leading simple payment provider, and Dunamu, the operator of the country's largest crypto exchange Upbit, is reportedly entering its final stages, Yonhap News reported. This speculation follows the recent news that South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has requested additional information from both companies. The FTC began its review after receiving the merger notification on Nov. 28 of last year and is expected to reach a decision as early as May, or by the first half of this year at the latest. In November, Naver Financial and Dunamu approved a comprehensive stock swap that would make Dunamu a subsidiary of Naver Financial and a grandchild company of Naver.