Markets: Michael Saylor's Strategy made up 98% of corporate BTC purchases in the past month. The firm acquired 45,000 BTC, while all other treasury companies combined bought about 1,000 BTC.

@Machibigbrother (Machi) saw his BTC and ETH long positions fully liquidated again as the broader market slid. He added 500K USDC three days ago but is now down to $138K, leaving the account nearly wiped out in 72 hours. Total recorded losses have reached $30.75M. He then quickly re-entered the market, opening a 25x leveraged long on 1,600 ETH valued at $3.33M.

The White House has cleared its review of a rule that could open the door for cryptocurrency exposure within the roughly $10 trillion U.S. 401(k) retirement market.

The Pentagon is assessing a set of major escalation scenarios involving Iran, with U.S. officials confirming contingency planning, Axios reported. Sources described four potential "final blow" options. Possible targets include Kharg Island, Iran's main oil-export hub. Larak Island is also viewed as a key military position. Additional options reportedly involve seizing disputed strategic islands. The plans are said to range from deploying ground forces to a large-scale bombing campaign. Officials indicated any move would hinge heavily on stalled diplomatic progress, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining a central factor in U.S. calculations.

Foreign holders increased their U.S. Treasury positions by $34.8 billion in January, taking total holdings to $9.3 trillion, according to The Kobeissi Letter. The level is the second-highest on record.

Moonwell, a multichain DeFi lending protocol with roughly $85 million in total value locked (TVL), narrowly avoided a governance takeover after an attacker spent just $1,808 to push a malicious proposal through critical early steps. DL News reported that the attacker acquired governance tokens, submitted a proposal, and cleared the quorum threshold in about 11 minutes. If ultimately executed, the proposal could have granted control over key parts of Moonwell, including seven markets and the protocol's core smart contracts, creating a path to potentially siphon more than $1 million in user funds. Why a $1,808 move nearly controlled an $85 million protocol Moonwell primarily serves the Moonbeam and Moonriver ecosystems. DefiLlama data places its TVL at around $85 million. For a protocol of that size, the low cost of the attempted takeover points to a governance design mismatch: quorum and proposal thresholds that did not scale with the market value of its governance token. Blockchain security firm Blockful said the attacker purchased 40 million MFAM, Moonwell's governance token. With MFAM trading near $0.000025 at the time, the buy cost just over $1,800. The attacker then used the position to submit a proposal titled "MIPR39: Protocol Recovery Admin Migration" and quickly push it past the quorum requirement. Blockful argued the proposal was not a routine governance dispute. In its view, the proposal's authorized contract contained preconfigured transactions intended to drain liquidity after execution. The episode underscores a growing concern in DeFi: governance itself can be the exploit, even when smart contracts have no obvious technical bug. A familiar DAO problem, pushed to an extreme Moonwell is not the first project to face governance-related risk. In 2024, Compound Finance saw controversy after a group led by an anonymous participant known as Humpy amassed enough voting power to pursue a proposal that would have moved about $24 million from the treasury to a private vault. The situation ended through negotiation, but it highlighted how concentrated token ownership can enable procedural capture. Aave has also dealt with tensions around value and control, including debate over fees from a CoW Swap integration that were routed directly to Aave Labs rather than the DAO. Those disputes revived a fundamental question in token governance: what does a DAO truly own—brand, revenue, governance rights, or just a voting wrapper? The Moonwell case extends the threat model. It suggests DAOs may be vulnerable not only to whales, but also to attackers who cheaply accumulate thinly traded governance tokens and exploit low-friction proposal processes. What Moonwell can still do Moonwell still has options, but timing matters. At the time of reporting, public voting showed about 68% of votes opposing the proposal, indicating the community broadly recognizes the move as malicious. Blockful warned, though, that the attacker could control additional unidentified wallets. That raises the possibility of late-stage vote aggregation that could still alter the outcome. To reduce reliance on vote counts alone, Blockful recommended using Moonwell's emergency mechanism known as the Break Glass Guardian. The tool functions as an onchain emergency brake, allowing multisig holders to shift administrative privileges before a malicious proposal can take effect. The design resembles circuit breakers used in traditional finance and reflects an uncomfortable reality in DeFi: many protocols still depend on centralized or semi-centralized backstops in crisis scenarios. A broader warning about low-priced governance tokens Beyond Moonwell, the incident highlights a structural risk: when governance tokens trade at depressed levels, liquidity is thin, participation is low, and ownership is fragmented, DAOs can become unusually easy to manipulate. DeFi security discussions often focus on technical vulnerabilities such as reentrancy, oracle design, access controls, and key management. Moonwell shows governance can be just as exploitable—especially when a protocol safeguards tens of millions in assets while governance power can be bought for the price of "street-market goods." The episode is likely to become a reference point in 2026 debates about DAO security. It reinforces the need for better-aligned thresholds, execution delays, emergency brakes, and token distribution safeguards. The larger question may not be whether Moonwell withstands this specific attempt, but how many other protocols are similarly exposed.

Monument Bank, a Bank of England-regulated lender, is preparing to tokenize £250 million of retail customer deposits on Cardano's privacy-focused Midnight blockchain. The move would make Monument the first UK-regulated bank to place tokenized retail deposits on a public blockchain. The bank said the deposits will remain interest-bearing, fully backed in GBP, redeemable on demand, and covered by the UK's Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Midnight is positioned as a privacy-first sidechain within the Cardano ecosystem, built around zero-knowledge proof technology designed to keep transaction details visible only to the bank and its customers while maintaining auditability. Ahead of the network's rollout, Midnight introduced its native tokens, DUST and NIGHT, including distribution tied to the Glacier airdrop. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson described the Monument agreement as "one of the largest deals we've ever done," and said it could add hundreds of millions to billions in total value locked (TVL) to Midnight over time. Monument's affiliate also plans to extend the same tokenized deposit rails to other banks through a Banking-as-a-Service offering.

Coinbase is again declining to back the U.S. Senate’s CLARITY Act, citing objections to revised language that would prohibit "passive" returns for simply holding stablecoins. On March 25, the company told Senate staff it cannot support the bill in its current form, flagging "significant concerns" with the draft’s yield provisions. Coinbase had already opposed an earlier version in January, a move that helped derail a planned Senate Banking Committee vote. The renewed pushback puts the Senate’s central crypto market-structure effort at risk for the second time in three months. A high-stakes USDC revenue engine Coinbase’s stance is closely tied to its stablecoin economics. The company generated about $1.35 billion in stablecoin revenue in 2025, including $355 million in the third quarter alone. Most of that revenue is tied to a distribution agreement with Circle, the issuer of USDC. Under the arrangement, Coinbase receives 100% of reserve income for USDC held on its platform. When USDC is held off-platform, Circle and Coinbase split proceeds 50/50. In 2024, Circle paid Coinbase $908 million out of total distribution costs of $1.01 billion. Coinbase now holds roughly 20% to 22% of all USDC in circulation, up from 5% in 2022. Because reserve income depends on interest earned on USDC reserves, a ban on passive stablecoin yields would directly weaken this business model. Coinbase’s opposition is widely viewed as driven by economics rather than ideology. Bipartisan compromise fails to bring Coinbase onside Senators Thom Tillis (Republican) and Angela Alsobrooks (Democrat) unveiled a stablecoin-yield compromise on March 10. On March 20, both said they had reached a preliminary agreement with White House backing, and industry voices described the issue as "99 percent resolved." The proposal draws a line between passive and active returns. Passive yield tied solely to holding a stablecoin would be banned, while activity-based rewards, such as incentives linked to payments or transactions, would remain permitted. Banking lobbyists have supported this distinction, arguing passive yields could pull deposits away from traditional banks. Coinbase is increasingly isolated on the issue. Ripple, Andreessen Horowitz, and Kraken support the bill. Senator Cynthia Lummis has advocated for protecting stablecoin rewards, yet the bipartisan compromise has attracted broad support. CEO Brian Armstrong signaled the company’s position in January: Coinbase would rather have no bill than one that restricts stablecoin yields. Second blockage in three months, with the clock ticking Coinbase’s January opposition helped halt a Senate Banking Committee markup that had been scheduled for January 16, leaving talks stalled for weeks. The CLARITY Act is designed to create a federal framework for crypto in the U.S., including a formal division of oversight between the SEC and the CFTC. The House passed its version in July 2025, but Senate momentum has remained limited. Beyond the yield fight, negotiations are strained by partisan disputes. Democrats are pressing for ethics rules to bar politicians from profiting from crypto-related engagements, measures Republicans oppose. At the same time, the Senate is negotiating an amendment to the GENIUS Act on stablecoin regulation, whose yield language intersects with the same underlying debate. Timing is tightening. After the Easter recess ends on April 13, a Senate Banking Committee markup is expected in the second half of April. May 2026 is seen as an informal deadline before midterm campaigning likely dominates the calendar. Coinbase is applying maximum pressure to reshape the yield provisions, but the strategy carries risk: it could sink the CLARITY Act entirely. The outcome could be paradoxical for the exchange. A near-term regulatory vacuum preserves today’s USDC economics, while prolonged uncertainty would delay the institutional clarity that could ultimately benefit Coinbase.

ChainCatcher reports that Hyperinsight monitoring shows U.S. crude and Brent crude both surged today as market expectations around a potential ceasefire tied to U.S.-Iran negotiations swung repeatedly. Against that backdrop, Abraxas Capital—the two largest addresses on the Brent crude oil chain—boosted positioning over the past hour, adding $16 million in short exposure at an average entry price of about $99.60. After the latest increase, the combined short position stands at $66.4 million, with an average entry price near $103 and an average liquidation price of $140. As oil prices have climbed, unrealized gains have narrowed to $2.2 million from $3 million.