Category: Cryptocurrency News

After 15 years of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) is ready for commercialization in the Web3 industry, according to Muriel Médard, an MIT professor and founder of blockchain infrastructure developer Optimum.Optimum emerged from stealth on Feb. 28 as a decentralized memory infrastructure that can be utilized by any blockchain seeking to bring scalability to Web3. It utilizes the RLNC technology that was first formulated by Professor Médard. RLNC is a breakthrough in coding that is already used in the 5G, satellite telecommunications and Internet of Things (IoT) industries. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Professor Médard said RLNC is equivalent to “breaking a puzzle into small pieces, mixing those pieces together into equations, and sending them to your friends.”“Even if a few pieces get lost, your friends can still put the whole puzzle together from the pieces they receive. Rather than look for specific pieces, you look for just enough pieces,” she said.RLNC technology can help blockchains overcome “critical bottlenecks in scalability” by “encoding data into mathematical equations, enabling faster transmission, reduced bandwidth usage, lower barriers to entry for flexnodes and more reliable delivery,” said Médard.Médard founded Optimum with the help of Nancy Lynch, an adviser and co-inventor of the Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus, after “several years of witnessing the rise and maturation of Web3,” she said.“[The] vision is to bring the efficiency of traditional computer memory (RAM) to decentralized networks, laying the foundation for a breakthrough in Web3 infrastructure.”Related: The future of Ethereum scaling lies in hardware, not software“Scale or Fail”RLNC’s potential use case in Web3 has attracted notable backers, several of whom invested in Optimum as angel investors. They include Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Wormhole co-founder Robinson Burkey, Polychain chief technology officer Abhijeet Mahagaonkar, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen and Arthur Cheong, the founder and CEO of DeFiance Capital.Professor Médard told Cointelegraph that scalability breakthroughs in Web3 are needed, especially as blockchain adoption continues to grow for the “purposes of payments, financial instruments and even diversification of national government strategies.”“We believe this trend will continue, and as usage and demand increase, blockchains will need to scale or they will fail,” she said. Scalability remains one of the industry’s biggest bottlenecks, having plagued the development of both Bitcoin and Ethereum at various points over their history. Competing networks have vowed to fix scalability issues stemming from mass consumer adoption, though their track record has been far from perfect. Against this backdrop, the crypto payments landscape has evolved significantly in recent years, shifting from tokens to stablecoins that are much faster and cheaper. Stablecoins have emerged as one of blockchain’s most popular use cases, especially for payments and cross-border remittances. Source: DefiLlamaAn August report by wealth manager Bernstein said Solana is a leading network for stablecoin adoption, but even it struggles to scale with growing payment and remittance demand.Although Solana has piloted stablecoin payments with Visa and Shopify, it’s unclear whether the blockchain can facilitate mainstream adoption without a massive boost in capacity, Bernstein said. Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025

After 15 years of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) is ready for commercialization in the Web3 industry, according to Muriel Médard, an MIT professor and founder of blockchain infrastructure developer Optimum.Optimum emerged from stealth on Feb. 28 as a decentralized memory infrastructure that can be utilized by any blockchain seeking to bring scalability to Web3. It utilizes the RLNC technology that was first formulated by Professor Médard. RLNC is a breakthrough in coding that is already used in the 5G, satellite telecommunications and Internet of Things (IoT) industries. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Professor Médard said RLNC is equivalent to “breaking a puzzle into small pieces, mixing those pieces together into equations, and sending them to your friends.”“Even if a few pieces get lost, your friends can still put the whole puzzle together from the pieces they receive. Rather than look for specific pieces, you look for just enough pieces,” she said.RLNC technology can help blockchains overcome “critical bottlenecks in scalability” by “encoding data into mathematical equations, enabling faster transmission, reduced bandwidth usage, lower barriers to entry for flexnodes and more reliable delivery,” said Médard.Médard co-founded Optimum with Nancy Lynch, an adviser and co-inventor of the Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus, after “several years of witnessing the rise and maturation of Web3,” she said.“[The] vision is to bring the efficiency of traditional computer memory (RAM) to decentralized networks, laying the foundation for a breakthrough in Web3 infrastructure.”Related: The future of Ethereum scaling lies in hardware, not software“Scale or Fail”RLNC’s potential use case in Web3 has attracted notable backers, several of whom invested in Optimum as angel investors. They include Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Wormhole co-founder Robinson Burkey, Polychain chief technology officer Abhijeet Mahagaonkar, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen and Arthur Cheong, the founder and CEO of DeFiance Capital.Professor Médard told Cointelegraph that scalability breakthroughs in Web3 are needed, especially as blockchain adoption continues to grow for the “purposes of payments, financial instruments and even diversification of national government strategies.”“We believe this trend will continue, and as usage and demand increase, blockchains will need to scale or they will fail,” she said. Scalability remains one of the industry’s biggest bottlenecks, having plagued the development of both Bitcoin and Ethereum at various points over their history. Competing networks have vowed to fix scalability issues stemming from mass consumer adoption, though their track record has been far from perfect. Against this backdrop, the crypto payments landscape has evolved significantly in recent years, shifting from tokens to stablecoins that are much faster and cheaper. Stablecoins have emerged as one of blockchain’s most popular use cases, especially for payments and cross-border remittances. Source: DefiLlamaAn August report by wealth manager Bernstein said Solana is a leading network for stablecoin adoption, but even it struggles to scale with growing payment and remittance demand.Although Solana has piloted stablecoin payments with Visa and Shopify, it’s unclear whether the blockchain can facilitate mainstream adoption without a massive boost in capacity, Bernstein said. Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025

After 15 years of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) is ready for commercialization in the Web3 industry, according to Muriel Médard, an MIT professor and founder of blockchain infrastructure developer Optimum.Optimum emerged from stealth on Feb. 28 as a decentralized memory infrastructure that can be utilized by any blockchain seeking to bring scalability to Web3. It utilizes the RLNC technology that was first formulated by Professor Médard. RLNC is a breakthrough in coding that is already used in the 5G, satellite telecommunications and Internet of Things (IoT) industries. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Professor Médard said RLNC is equivalent to “breaking a puzzle into small pieces, mixing those pieces together into equations, and sending them to your friends.”“Even if a few pieces get lost, your friends can still put the whole puzzle together from the pieces they receive. Rather than look for specific pieces, you look for just enough pieces,” she said.RLNC technology can help blockchains overcome “critical bottlenecks in scalability” by “encoding data into mathematical equations, enabling faster transmission, reduced bandwidth usage, lower barriers to entry for flexnodes and more reliable delivery,” said Médard.Médard co-founded Optimum with Nancy Lynch, an adviser and co-inventor of the Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus, after “several years of witnessing the rise and maturation of Web3,” she said.“[The] vision is to bring the efficiency of traditional computer memory (RAM) to decentralized networks, laying the foundation for a breakthrough in Web3 infrastructure.”Related: The future of Ethereum scaling lies in hardware, not software“Scale or Fail”RLNC’s potential use case in Web3 has attracted notable backers, several of whom invested in Optimum as angel investors. They include Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Wormhole co-founder Robinson Burkey, Polychain chief technology officer Abhijeet Mahagaonkar, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen and Arthur Cheong, the founder and CEO of DeFiance Capital.Professor Médard told Cointelegraph that scalability breakthroughs in Web3 are needed, especially as blockchain adoption continues to grow for the “purposes of payments, financial instruments and even diversification of national government strategies.”“We believe this trend will continue, and as usage and demand increase, blockchains will need to scale or they will fail,” she said. Scalability remains one of the industry’s biggest bottlenecks, having plagued the development of both Bitcoin and Ethereum at various points over their history. Competing networks have vowed to fix scalability issues stemming from mass consumer adoption, though their track record has been far from perfect. Against this backdrop, the crypto payments landscape has evolved significantly in recent years, shifting from tokens to stablecoins that are much faster and cheaper. Stablecoins have emerged as one of blockchain’s most popular use cases, especially for payments and cross-border remittances. Source: DefiLlamaAn August report by wealth manager Bernstein said Solana is a leading network for stablecoin adoption, but even it struggles to scale with growing payment and remittance demand.Although Solana has piloted stablecoin payments with Visa and Shopify, it’s unclear whether the blockchain can facilitate mainstream adoption without a massive boost in capacity, Bernstein said. Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025

After 15 years of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) is ready for commercialization in the Web3 industry, according to Muriel Médard, an MIT professor and founder of blockchain infrastructure developer Optimum.Optimum emerged from stealth on Feb. 28 as a decentralized memory infrastructure that can be utilized by any blockchain seeking to bring scalability to Web3. It utilizes the RLNC technology that was first formulated by Professor Médard. RLNC is a breakthrough in coding that is already used in the 5G, satellite telecommunications and Internet of Things (IoT) industries. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Professor Médard said RLNC is equivalent to “breaking a puzzle into small pieces, mixing those pieces together into equations, and sending them to your friends.”“Even if a few pieces get lost, your friends can still put the whole puzzle together from the pieces they receive. Rather than look for specific pieces, you look for just enough pieces,” she said.RLNC technology can help blockchains overcome “critical bottlenecks in scalability” by “encoding data into mathematical equations, enabling faster transmission, reduced bandwidth usage, lower barriers to entry for flexnodes and more reliable delivery,” said Médard.Médard founded Optimum with the help of Nancy Lynch, an adviser and co-inventor of the Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus, after “several years of witnessing the rise and maturation of Web3,” she said.“[The] vision is to bring the efficiency of traditional computer memory (RAM) to decentralized networks, laying the foundation for a breakthrough in Web3 infrastructure.”Related: The future of Ethereum scaling lies in hardware, not software“Scale or Fail”RLNC’s potential use case in Web3 has attracted notable backers, several of whom invested in Optimum as angel investors. They include Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Wormhole co-founder Robinson Burkey, Polychain chief technology officer Abhijeet Mahagaonkar, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen and Arthur Cheong, the founder and CEO of DeFiance Capital.Professor Médard told Cointelegraph that scalability breakthroughs in Web3 are needed, especially as blockchain adoption continues to grow for the “purposes of payments, financial instruments and even diversification of national government strategies.”“We believe this trend will continue, and as usage and demand increase, blockchains will need to scale or they will fail,” she said. Scalability remains one of the industry’s biggest bottlenecks, having plagued the development of both Bitcoin and Ethereum at various points over their history. Competing networks have vowed to fix scalability issues stemming from mass consumer adoption, though their track record has been far from perfect. Against this backdrop, the crypto payments landscape has evolved significantly in recent years, shifting from tokens to stablecoins that are much faster and cheaper. Stablecoins have emerged as one of blockchain’s most popular use cases, especially for payments and cross-border remittances. Source: DefiLlamaAn August report by wealth manager Bernstein said Solana is a leading network for stablecoin adoption, but even it struggles to scale with growing payment and remittance demand.Although Solana has piloted stablecoin payments with Visa and Shopify, it’s unclear whether the blockchain can facilitate mainstream adoption without a massive boost in capacity, Bernstein said. Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025

After 15 years of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) is ready for commercialization in the Web3 industry, according to Muriel Médard, an MIT professor and founder of blockchain infrastructure developer Optimum.Optimum emerged from stealth on Feb. 28 as a decentralized memory infrastructure that can be utilized by any blockchain seeking to bring scalability to Web3. It utilizes the RLNC technology that was first formulated by Professor Médard. RLNC is a breakthrough in coding that is already used in the 5G, satellite telecommunications and Internet of Things (IoT) industries. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Professor Médard said RLNC is equivalent to “breaking a puzzle into small pieces, mixing those pieces together into equations, and sending them to your friends.”“Even if a few pieces get lost, your friends can still put the whole puzzle together from the pieces they receive. Rather than look for specific pieces, you look for just enough pieces,” she said.RLNC technology can help blockchains overcome “critical bottlenecks in scalability” by “encoding data into mathematical equations, enabling faster transmission, reduced bandwidth usage, lower barriers to entry for flexnodes and more reliable delivery,” said Médard.Médard founded Optimum with the help of Nancy Lynch, an adviser and co-inventor of the Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus, after “several years of witnessing the rise and maturation of Web3,” she said.“[The] vision is to bring the efficiency of traditional computer memory (RAM) to decentralized networks, laying the foundation for a breakthrough in Web3 infrastructure.”Related: The future of Ethereum scaling lies in hardware, not software“Scale or Fail”RLNC’s potential use case in Web3 has attracted notable backers, several of whom invested in Optimum as angel investors. They include Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Wormhole co-founder Robinson Burkey, Polychain chief technology officer Abhijeet Mahagaonkar, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen and Arthur Cheong, the founder and CEO of DeFiance Capital.Professor Médard told Cointelegraph that scalability breakthroughs in Web3 are needed, especially as blockchain adoption continues to grow for the “purposes of payments, financial instruments and even diversification of national government strategies.”“We believe this trend will continue, and as usage and demand increase, blockchains will need to scale or they will fail,” she said. Scalability remains one of the industry’s biggest bottlenecks, having plagued the development of both Bitcoin and Ethereum at various points over their history. Competing networks have vowed to fix scalability issues stemming from mass consumer adoption, though their track record has been far from perfect. Against this backdrop, the crypto payments landscape has evolved significantly in recent years, shifting from tokens to stablecoins that are much faster and cheaper. Stablecoins have emerged as one of blockchain’s most popular use cases, especially for payments and cross-border remittances. Source: DefiLlamaAn August report by wealth manager Bernstein said Solana is a leading network for stablecoin adoption, but even it struggles to scale with growing payment and remittance demand.Although Solana has piloted stablecoin payments with Visa and Shopify, it’s unclear whether the blockchain can facilitate mainstream adoption without a massive boost in capacity, Bernstein said. Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025

In a significant regulatory development for the crypto industry, the United States House of Representatives voted to nullify a bill that threatened the privacy-preserving properties of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.In the wider crypto space, one of the Solana network’s most significant governance proposals was rejected; it sought to implement a mechanism to reduce Solana’s inflation rate by about 80%.US House follows Senate in passing resolution to kill IRS DeFi broker ruleThe US House of Representatives voted to nullify a rule requiring decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to report to the Internal Revenue Service.On March 11, the House of Representatives voted 292 for and 132 against a motion to repeal the so-called IRS DeFi broker rule that aimed to expand existing IRS reporting requirements to crypto.All 132 votes to keep the rule were Democrats. However, 76 Democrats joined with the Republicans to repeal it. This followed the Senate’s March 4 vote on the motion, which saw it pass 70 to 27.The rule would have forced DeFi platforms, such as decentralized exchanges, to disclose gross proceeds from crypto sales, including information regarding taxpayers involved in the transactions.After the vote, Republican Representative Mike Carey, who submitted the repeal motion, said, “The DeFi broker rule invades the privacy of tens of millions of Americans, hinders the development of an important new industry in the United States and would overwhelm the IRS.”Congressman Mike Carey speaking after the vote. Source: Mike CareyContinue readingSolana proposal to cut inflation rate by up to 80% failsA proposal to dramatically change Solana’s inflation system was rejected by stakeholders but is being hailed as a victory for the network’s governance process.“Even though our proposal was technically defeated by the vote, this was a major victory for the Solana ecosystem and its governance process,” commented Multicoin Capital co-founder Tushar Jain on March 14.Around 74% of the staked supply voted on proposal SIMD-228 across 910 validators, but just 43.6% voted in favor of it, with 27.4% voting against it and 3.3% abstaining, according to Dune Analytics. It needed 66.67% approval from participating votes to pass and only received 61.4%.Jain added that this was the biggest crypto governance vote ever, by the number of participants and the participating market cap, of any ecosystem, chain or network.“This was a meaningful scaling stress test — a social, rather than technical, stress test — and the network passed despite a wide stratification of diverging opinions and interests.”Continue readingBitcoin $70,000 retracement part of “macro correction” in bull market — AnalystsBitcoin’s potential retracement to $70,000 may be an organic part of the current bull market, despite crypto investor fears of an early arrival of a bear market cycle.Bitcoin (BTC) fell more than 14% during the past week to close at around $80,708 after investors were disappointed with the lack of direct federal Bitcoin investments in President Donald Trump’s March 7 executive order. It outlined a plan to create a Bitcoin reserve using cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.Despite the drop in investor sentiment, cryptocurrencies and global markets remain in a “macro correction” as part of the bull market, according to Aurelie Barthere, principal research analyst at the Nansen crypto intelligence platform.BTC/USD, 1-month chart. Source: CointelegraphMost cryptocurrencies have broken key support levels, making it hard to estimate the next key price levels, the analyst told Cointelegraph, adding:“This is a macro correction (US tech will be down by 3% in the future, as discussed), so we have to monitor BTC. Next level will be $71,000 – $72,000, top of the pre-election trading range.”The analyst added: “We are still in a correction within a bull market: Stocks and crypto have realized and are pricing; a period of tariff uncertainty and fiscal cuts, no Fed put. Recession fears are popping up.”Continue readingCalls for stricter rules on political memecoins after $4 billion Libra collapseIndustry voices warned that politically endorsed cryptocurrencies must adopt stronger investor protections and liquidity safeguards to prevent another significant market collapse.Investor sentiment remains shaken after the Libra (LIBRA) token, which was endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei, suffered a $4 billion market cap wipeout due to insider cash-outs.According to blockchain analytics firm DWF Labs, at least eight insider wallets withdrew $107 million in liquidity, triggering the massive collapse.Source: Kobeissi LetterTo avoid a similar meltdown, tokens with presidential endorsements will need more robust safety and economic mechanisms, such as liquidity locking or making the tokens in the liquidity pool non-sellable for a predetermined period, DWF Labs wrote in a report shared with Cointelegraph.The report stated that tokens from high-profile leaders also need launch restrictions to limit participation from crypto-sniping bots and large holders or whales.“Limiting bot and whale activity is essential in limiting the impact of individuals acting on insider information to corner a large percentage of the token supply,” according to Andrei Grachev, managing partner at DWF Labs.Continue readingHyperliquid ups margin requirements after $4 million liquidation lossHyperliquid, a blockchain network specializing in trading, increased margin requirements for traders after its liquidity pool lost millions of dollars during a massive Ether (ETH) liquidation, the network said.On March 12, a trader intentionally liquidated a roughly $200 million Ether long position, causing Hyperliquid’s liquidity pool, HLP, to lose $4 million, unwinding the trade.Starting March 15, Hyperliquid will require traders to maintain a collateral margin of at least 20% on certain open positions to “reduce the systemic impact of large positions with hypothetical market impact upon closing,” Hyperliquid said in a March 13 X post.The incident highlights the growing pains confronting Hyperliquid, which has emerged as Web3’s most popular platform for leveraged perpetual trading. Hyperliquid has adjusted margin requirements for traders. Source: HyperliquidHyperliquid said the $4 million loss was not from an exploit but rather a predictable consequence of the mechanics of its trading platform under extreme conditions. Continue readingDeFi market overviewAccording to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the red.Of the top 100, the Hedera (HBAR) token fell over 24%, marking the biggest weekly decrease, followed by JasmyCoin (JASMY) down over 21% over the past week.Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlamaThanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.

In a significant regulatory development for the crypto industry, the United States House of Representatives voted to nullify a bill that threatened the privacy-preserving properties of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.In the wider crypto space, one of the Solana network’s most significant governance proposals was rejected; it sought to implement a mechanism to reduce Solana’s inflation rate by about 80%.US House follows Senate in passing resolution to kill IRS DeFi broker ruleThe US House of Representatives voted to nullify a rule requiring decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to report to the Internal Revenue Service.On March 11, the House of Representatives voted 292 for and 132 against a motion to repeal the so-called IRS DeFi broker rule that aimed to expand existing IRS reporting requirements to crypto.All 132 votes to keep the rule were Democrats. However, 76 Democrats joined with the Republicans to repeal it. This followed the Senate’s March 4 vote on the motion, which saw it pass 70 to 27.The rule would have forced DeFi platforms, such as decentralized exchanges, to disclose gross proceeds from crypto sales, including information regarding taxpayers involved in the transactions.After the vote, Republican Representative Mike Carey, who submitted the repeal motion, said, “The DeFi broker rule invades the privacy of tens of millions of Americans, hinders the development of an important new industry in the United States and would overwhelm the IRS.”Congressman Mike Carey speaking after the vote. Source: Mike CareyContinue readingSolana proposal to cut inflation rate by up to 80% failsA proposal to dramatically change Solana’s inflation system was rejected by stakeholders but is being hailed as a victory for the network’s governance process.“Even though our proposal was technically defeated by the vote, this was a major victory for the Solana ecosystem and its governance process,” commented Multicoin Capital co-founder Tushar Jain on March 14.Around 74% of the staked supply voted on proposal SIMD-228 across 910 validators, but just 43.6% voted in favor of it, with 27.4% voting against it and 3.3% abstaining, according to Dune Analytics. It needed 66.67% approval from participating votes to pass and only received 61.4%.Jain added that this was the biggest crypto governance vote ever, by the number of participants and the participating market cap, of any ecosystem, chain or network.“This was a meaningful scaling stress test — a social, rather than technical, stress test — and the network passed despite a wide stratification of diverging opinions and interests.”Continue readingBitcoin $70,000 retracement part of “macro correction” in bull market — AnalystsBitcoin’s potential retracement to $70,000 may be an organic part of the current bull market, despite crypto investor fears of an early arrival of a bear market cycle.Bitcoin (BTC) fell more than 14% during the past week to close at around $80,708 after investors were disappointed with the lack of direct federal Bitcoin investments in President Donald Trump’s March 7 executive order. It outlined a plan to create a Bitcoin reserve using cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.Despite the drop in investor sentiment, cryptocurrencies and global markets remain in a “macro correction” as part of the bull market, according to Aurelie Barthere, principal research analyst at the Nansen crypto intelligence platform.BTC/USD, 1-month chart. Source: CointelegraphMost cryptocurrencies have broken key support levels, making it hard to estimate the next key price levels, the analyst told Cointelegraph, adding:“This is a macro correction (US tech will be down by 3% in the future, as discussed), so we have to monitor BTC. Next level will be $71,000 – $72,000, top of the pre-election trading range.”The analyst added: “We are still in a correction within a bull market: Stocks and crypto have realized and are pricing; a period of tariff uncertainty and fiscal cuts, no Fed put. Recession fears are popping up.”Continue readingCalls for stricter rules on political memecoins after $4 billion Libra collapseIndustry voices warned that politically endorsed cryptocurrencies must adopt stronger investor protections and liquidity safeguards to prevent another significant market collapse.Investor sentiment remains shaken after the Libra (LIBRA) token, which was endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei, suffered a $4 billion market cap wipeout due to insider cash-outs.According to blockchain analytics firm DWF Labs, at least eight insider wallets withdrew $107 million in liquidity, triggering the massive collapse.Source: Kobeissi LetterTo avoid a similar meltdown, tokens with presidential endorsements will need more robust safety and economic mechanisms, such as liquidity locking or making the tokens in the liquidity pool non-sellable for a predetermined period, DWF Labs wrote in a report shared with Cointelegraph.The report stated that tokens from high-profile leaders also need launch restrictions to limit participation from crypto-sniping bots and large holders or whales.“Limiting bot and whale activity is essential in limiting the impact of individuals acting on insider information to corner a large percentage of the token supply,” according to Andrei Grachev, managing partner at DWF Labs.Continue readingHyperliquid ups margin requirements after $4 million liquidation lossHyperliquid, a blockchain network specializing in trading, increased margin requirements for traders after its liquidity pool lost millions of dollars during a massive Ether (ETH) liquidation, the network said.On March 12, a trader intentionally liquidated a roughly $200 million Ether long position, causing Hyperliquid’s liquidity pool, HLP, to lose $4 million, unwinding the trade.Starting March 15, Hyperliquid will require traders to maintain a collateral margin of at least 20% on certain open positions to “reduce the systemic impact of large positions with hypothetical market impact upon closing,” Hyperliquid said in a March 13 X post.The incident highlights the growing pains confronting Hyperliquid, which has emerged as Web3’s most popular platform for leveraged perpetual trading. Hyperliquid has adjusted margin requirements for traders. Source: HyperliquidHyperliquid said the $4 million loss was not from an exploit but rather a predictable consequence of the mechanics of its trading platform under extreme conditions. Continue readingDeFi market overviewAccording to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the red.Of the top 100, the Hedera (HBAR) token fell over 24%, marking the biggest weekly decrease, followed by JasmyCoin (JASMY) down over 21% over the past week.Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlamaThanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.

In a significant regulatory development for the crypto industry, the United States House of Representatives voted to nullify a bill that threatened the privacy-preserving properties of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.In the wider crypto space, one of the Solana network’s most significant governance proposals was rejected; it sought to implement a mechanism to reduce Solana’s inflation rate by about 80%.US House follows Senate in passing resolution to kill IRS DeFi broker ruleThe US House of Representatives voted to nullify a rule requiring decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to report to the Internal Revenue Service.On March 11, the House of Representatives voted 292 for and 132 against a motion to repeal the so-called IRS DeFi broker rule that aimed to expand existing IRS reporting requirements to crypto.All 132 votes to keep the rule were Democrats. However, 76 Democrats joined with the Republicans to repeal it. This followed the Senate’s March 4 vote on the motion, which saw it pass 70 to 27.The rule would have forced DeFi platforms, such as decentralized exchanges, to disclose gross proceeds from crypto sales, including information regarding taxpayers involved in the transactions.After the vote, Republican Representative Mike Carey, who submitted the repeal motion, said, “The DeFi broker rule invades the privacy of tens of millions of Americans, hinders the development of an important new industry in the United States and would overwhelm the IRS.”Congressman Mike Carey speaking after the vote. Source: Mike CareyContinue readingSolana proposal to cut inflation rate by up to 80% failsA proposal to dramatically change Solana’s inflation system was rejected by stakeholders but is being hailed as a victory for the network’s governance process.“Even though our proposal was technically defeated by the vote, this was a major victory for the Solana ecosystem and its governance process,” commented Multicoin Capital co-founder Tushar Jain on March 14.Around 74% of the staked supply voted on proposal SIMD-228 across 910 validators, but just 43.6% voted in favor of it, with 27.4% voting against it and 3.3% abstaining, according to Dune Analytics. It needed 66.67% approval from participating votes to pass and only received 61.4%.Jain added that this was the biggest crypto governance vote ever, by the number of participants and the participating market cap, of any ecosystem, chain or network.“This was a meaningful scaling stress test — a social, rather than technical, stress test — and the network passed despite a wide stratification of diverging opinions and interests.”Continue readingBitcoin $70,000 retracement part of “macro correction” in bull market — AnalystsBitcoin’s potential retracement to $70,000 may be an organic part of the current bull market, despite crypto investor fears of an early arrival of a bear market cycle.Bitcoin (BTC) fell more than 14% during the past week to close at around $80,708 after investors were disappointed with the lack of direct federal Bitcoin investments in President Donald Trump’s March 7 executive order. It outlined a plan to create a Bitcoin reserve using cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.Despite the drop in investor sentiment, cryptocurrencies and global markets remain in a “macro correction” as part of the bull market, according to Aurelie Barthere, principal research analyst at the Nansen crypto intelligence platform.BTC/USD, 1-month chart. Source: CointelegraphMost cryptocurrencies have broken key support levels, making it hard to estimate the next key price levels, the analyst told Cointelegraph, adding:“This is a macro correction (US tech will be down by 3% in the future, as discussed), so we have to monitor BTC. Next level will be $71,000 – $72,000, top of the pre-election trading range.”The analyst added: “We are still in a correction within a bull market: Stocks and crypto have realized and are pricing; a period of tariff uncertainty and fiscal cuts, no Fed put. Recession fears are popping up.”Continue readingCalls for stricter rules on political memecoins after $4 billion Libra collapseIndustry voices warned that politically endorsed cryptocurrencies must adopt stronger investor protections and liquidity safeguards to prevent another significant market collapse.Investor sentiment remains shaken after the Libra (LIBRA) token, which was endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei, suffered a $4 billion market cap wipeout due to insider cash-outs.According to blockchain analytics firm DWF Labs, at least eight insider wallets withdrew $107 million in liquidity, triggering the massive collapse.Source: Kobeissi LetterTo avoid a similar meltdown, tokens with presidential endorsements will need more robust safety and economic mechanisms, such as liquidity locking or making the tokens in the liquidity pool non-sellable for a predetermined period, DWF Labs wrote in a report shared with Cointelegraph.The report stated that tokens from high-profile leaders also need launch restrictions to limit participation from crypto-sniping bots and large holders or whales.“Limiting bot and whale activity is essential in limiting the impact of individuals acting on insider information to corner a large percentage of the token supply,” according to Andrei Grachev, managing partner at DWF Labs.Continue readingHyperliquid ups margin requirements after $4 million liquidation lossHyperliquid, a blockchain network specializing in trading, increased margin requirements for traders after its liquidity pool lost millions of dollars during a massive Ether (ETH) liquidation, the network said.On March 12, a trader intentionally liquidated a roughly $200 million Ether long position, causing Hyperliquid’s liquidity pool, HLP, to lose $4 million, unwinding the trade.Starting March 15, Hyperliquid will require traders to maintain a collateral margin of at least 20% on certain open positions to “reduce the systemic impact of large positions with hypothetical market impact upon closing,” Hyperliquid said in a March 13 X post.The incident highlights the growing pains confronting Hyperliquid, which has emerged as Web3’s most popular platform for leveraged perpetual trading. Hyperliquid has adjusted margin requirements for traders. Source: HyperliquidHyperliquid said the $4 million loss was not from an exploit but rather a predictable consequence of the mechanics of its trading platform under extreme conditions. Continue readingDeFi market overviewAccording to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the red.Of the top 100, the Hedera (HBAR) token fell over 24%, marking the biggest weekly decrease, followed by JasmyCoin (JASMY) down over 21% over the past week.Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlamaThanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.

In a significant regulatory development for the crypto industry, the United States House of Representatives voted to nullify a bill that threatened the privacy-preserving properties of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.In the wider crypto space, one of the Solana network’s most significant governance proposals was rejected; it sought to implement a mechanism to reduce Solana’s inflation rate by about 80%.US House follows Senate in passing resolution to kill IRS DeFi broker ruleThe US House of Representatives voted to nullify a rule requiring decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to report to the Internal Revenue Service.On March 11, the House of Representatives voted 292 for and 132 against a motion to repeal the so-called IRS DeFi broker rule that aimed to expand existing IRS reporting requirements to crypto.All 132 votes to keep the rule were Democrats. However, 76 Democrats joined with the Republicans to repeal it. This followed the Senate’s March 4 vote on the motion, which saw it pass 70 to 27.The rule would have forced DeFi platforms, such as decentralized exchanges, to disclose gross proceeds from crypto sales, including information regarding taxpayers involved in the transactions.After the vote, Republican Representative Mike Carey, who submitted the repeal motion, said, “The DeFi broker rule invades the privacy of tens of millions of Americans, hinders the development of an important new industry in the United States and would overwhelm the IRS.”Congressman Mike Carey speaking after the vote. Source: Mike CareyContinue readingSolana proposal to cut inflation rate by up to 80% failsA proposal to dramatically change Solana’s inflation system was rejected by stakeholders but is being hailed as a victory for the network’s governance process.“Even though our proposal was technically defeated by the vote, this was a major victory for the Solana ecosystem and its governance process,” commented Multicoin Capital co-founder Tushar Jain on March 14.Around 74% of the staked supply voted on proposal SIMD-228 across 910 validators, but just 43.6% voted in favor of it, with 27.4% voting against it and 3.3% abstaining, according to Dune Analytics. It needed 66.67% approval from participating votes to pass and only received 61.4%.Jain added that this was the biggest crypto governance vote ever, by the number of participants and the participating market cap, of any ecosystem, chain or network.“This was a meaningful scaling stress test — a social, rather than technical, stress test — and the network passed despite a wide stratification of diverging opinions and interests.”Continue readingBitcoin $70,000 retracement part of “macro correction” in bull market — AnalystsBitcoin’s potential retracement to $70,000 may be an organic part of the current bull market, despite crypto investor fears of an early arrival of a bear market cycle.Bitcoin (BTC) fell more than 14% during the past week to close at around $80,708 after investors were disappointed with the lack of direct federal Bitcoin investments in President Donald Trump’s March 7 executive order. It outlined a plan to create a Bitcoin reserve using cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.Despite the drop in investor sentiment, cryptocurrencies and global markets remain in a “macro correction” as part of the bull market, according to Aurelie Barthere, principal research analyst at the Nansen crypto intelligence platform.BTC/USD, 1-month chart. Source: CointelegraphMost cryptocurrencies have broken key support levels, making it hard to estimate the next key price levels, the analyst told Cointelegraph, adding:“This is a macro correction (US tech will be down by 3% in the future, as discussed), so we have to monitor BTC. Next level will be $71,000 – $72,000, top of the pre-election trading range.”The analyst added: “We are still in a correction within a bull market: Stocks and crypto have realized and are pricing; a period of tariff uncertainty and fiscal cuts, no Fed put. Recession fears are popping up.”Continue readingCalls for stricter rules on political memecoins after $4 billion Libra collapseIndustry voices warned that politically endorsed cryptocurrencies must adopt stronger investor protections and liquidity safeguards to prevent another significant market collapse.Investor sentiment remains shaken after the Libra (LIBRA) token, which was endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei, suffered a $4 billion market cap wipeout due to insider cash-outs.According to blockchain analytics firm DWF Labs, at least eight insider wallets withdrew $107 million in liquidity, triggering the massive collapse.Source: Kobeissi LetterTo avoid a similar meltdown, tokens with presidential endorsements will need more robust safety and economic mechanisms, such as liquidity locking or making the tokens in the liquidity pool non-sellable for a predetermined period, DWF Labs wrote in a report shared with Cointelegraph.The report stated that tokens from high-profile leaders also need launch restrictions to limit participation from crypto-sniping bots and large holders or whales.“Limiting bot and whale activity is essential in limiting the impact of individuals acting on insider information to corner a large percentage of the token supply,” according to Andrei Grachev, managing partner at DWF Labs.Continue readingHyperliquid ups margin requirements after $4 million liquidation lossHyperliquid, a blockchain network specializing in trading, increased margin requirements for traders after its liquidity pool lost millions of dollars during a massive Ether (ETH) liquidation, the network said.On March 12, a trader intentionally liquidated a roughly $200 million Ether long position, causing Hyperliquid’s liquidity pool, HLP, to lose $4 million, unwinding the trade.Starting March 15, Hyperliquid will require traders to maintain a collateral margin of at least 20% on certain open positions to “reduce the systemic impact of large positions with hypothetical market impact upon closing,” Hyperliquid said in a March 13 X post.The incident highlights the growing pains confronting Hyperliquid, which has emerged as Web3’s most popular platform for leveraged perpetual trading. Hyperliquid has adjusted margin requirements for traders. Source: HyperliquidHyperliquid said the $4 million loss was not from an exploit but rather a predictable consequence of the mechanics of its trading platform under extreme conditions. Continue readingDeFi market overviewAccording to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the red.Of the top 100, the Hedera (HBAR) token fell over 24%, marking the biggest weekly decrease, followed by JasmyCoin (JASMY) down over 21% over the past week.Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlamaThanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.

In a significant regulatory development for the crypto industry, the United States House of Representatives voted to nullify a bill that threatened the privacy-preserving properties of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.In the wider crypto space, one of the Solana network’s most significant governance proposals was rejected; it sought to implement a mechanism to reduce Solana’s inflation rate by about 80%.US House follows Senate in passing resolution to kill IRS DeFi broker ruleThe US House of Representatives voted to nullify a rule requiring decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to report to the Internal Revenue Service.On March 11, the House of Representatives voted 292 for and 132 against a motion to repeal the so-called IRS DeFi broker rule that aimed to expand existing IRS reporting requirements to crypto.All 132 votes to keep the rule were Democrats. However, 76 Democrats joined with the Republicans to repeal it. This followed the Senate’s March 4 vote on the motion, which saw it pass 70 to 27.The rule would have forced DeFi platforms, such as decentralized exchanges, to disclose gross proceeds from crypto sales, including information regarding taxpayers involved in the transactions.After the vote, Republican Representative Mike Carey, who submitted the repeal motion, said, “The DeFi broker rule invades the privacy of tens of millions of Americans, hinders the development of an important new industry in the United States and would overwhelm the IRS.”Congressman Mike Carey speaking after the vote. Source: Mike CareyContinue readingSolana proposal to cut inflation rate by up to 80% failsA proposal to dramatically change Solana’s inflation system was rejected by stakeholders but is being hailed as a victory for the network’s governance process.“Even though our proposal was technically defeated by the vote, this was a major victory for the Solana ecosystem and its governance process,” commented Multicoin Capital co-founder Tushar Jain on March 14.Around 74% of the staked supply voted on proposal SIMD-228 across 910 validators, but just 43.6% voted in favor of it, with 27.4% voting against it and 3.3% abstaining, according to Dune Analytics. It needed 66.67% approval from participating votes to pass and only received 61.4%.Jain added that this was the biggest crypto governance vote ever, by the number of participants and the participating market cap, of any ecosystem, chain or network.“This was a meaningful scaling stress test — a social, rather than technical, stress test — and the network passed despite a wide stratification of diverging opinions and interests.”Continue readingBitcoin $70,000 retracement part of “macro correction” in bull market — AnalystsBitcoin’s potential retracement to $70,000 may be an organic part of the current bull market, despite crypto investor fears of an early arrival of a bear market cycle.Bitcoin (BTC) fell more than 14% during the past week to close at around $80,708 after investors were disappointed with the lack of direct federal Bitcoin investments in President Donald Trump’s March 7 executive order. It outlined a plan to create a Bitcoin reserve using cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.Despite the drop in investor sentiment, cryptocurrencies and global markets remain in a “macro correction” as part of the bull market, according to Aurelie Barthere, principal research analyst at the Nansen crypto intelligence platform.BTC/USD, 1-month chart. Source: CointelegraphMost cryptocurrencies have broken key support levels, making it hard to estimate the next key price levels, the analyst told Cointelegraph, adding:“This is a macro correction (US tech will be down by 3% in the future, as discussed), so we have to monitor BTC. Next level will be $71,000 – $72,000, top of the pre-election trading range.”The analyst added: “We are still in a correction within a bull market: Stocks and crypto have realized and are pricing; a period of tariff uncertainty and fiscal cuts, no Fed put. Recession fears are popping up.”Continue readingCalls for stricter rules on political memecoins after $4 billion Libra collapseIndustry voices warned that politically endorsed cryptocurrencies must adopt stronger investor protections and liquidity safeguards to prevent another significant market collapse.Investor sentiment remains shaken after the Libra (LIBRA) token, which was endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei, suffered a $4 billion market cap wipeout due to insider cash-outs.According to blockchain analytics firm DWF Labs, at least eight insider wallets withdrew $107 million in liquidity, triggering the massive collapse.Source: Kobeissi LetterTo avoid a similar meltdown, tokens with presidential endorsements will need more robust safety and economic mechanisms, such as liquidity locking or making the tokens in the liquidity pool non-sellable for a predetermined period, DWF Labs wrote in a report shared with Cointelegraph.The report stated that tokens from high-profile leaders also need launch restrictions to limit participation from crypto-sniping bots and large holders or whales.“Limiting bot and whale activity is essential in limiting the impact of individuals acting on insider information to corner a large percentage of the token supply,” according to Andrei Grachev, managing partner at DWF Labs.Continue readingHyperliquid ups margin requirements after $4 million liquidation lossHyperliquid, a blockchain network specializing in trading, increased margin requirements for traders after its liquidity pool lost millions of dollars during a massive Ether (ETH) liquidation, the network said.On March 12, a trader intentionally liquidated a roughly $200 million Ether long position, causing Hyperliquid’s liquidity pool, HLP, to lose $4 million, unwinding the trade.Starting March 15, Hyperliquid will require traders to maintain a collateral margin of at least 20% on certain open positions to “reduce the systemic impact of large positions with hypothetical market impact upon closing,” Hyperliquid said in a March 13 X post.The incident highlights the growing pains confronting Hyperliquid, which has emerged as Web3’s most popular platform for leveraged perpetual trading. Hyperliquid has adjusted margin requirements for traders. Source: HyperliquidHyperliquid said the $4 million loss was not from an exploit but rather a predictable consequence of the mechanics of its trading platform under extreme conditions. Continue readingDeFi market overviewAccording to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the red.Of the top 100, the Hedera (HBAR) token fell over 24%, marking the biggest weekly decrease, followed by JasmyCoin (JASMY) down over 21% over the past week.Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlamaThanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.