UAE Debris Fall Results in Death of Asian Expat

On February 28, Balaji Srinivasan—former Coinbase CTO and angel investor—commented on two recent developments: Anthropic’s rejection of the Pentagon’s open security clearance request and former President Trump’s order of a strict ban. He argued that “principles” in politics and tech often mask tribal interests. As an example, he noted Democrats support Starlink for Biden administration military aid but oppose Anthropic assisting Trump-era military needs—reflecting a rational tribal strategy. Srinivasan pointed out Americans traditionally haven’t emphasized tribalism, but polarization has intensified in recent years. AI practitioners once naively expected a return to consensus, he said, but now must confront the dialectical relationship between networks and the state—pushing Silicon Valley to expand toward global startup hubs. “Tribes can cooperate internally and with one another,” he explained. “The key for tech companies is to know which tribe you belong to and which you’re e

On February 28, Israeli media reported that a U.S.-Israeli attempt to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi failed, according to the Israeli side’s initial assessment. Iran had previously confirmed both leaders were safe. An Israeli official stated the targets included Khamenei, Raisi, residences of cabinet ministers and military commanders, defense and intelligence facilities, and the Presidential Palace. The area around Khamenei’s office was also targeted. Reuters quoted an Iranian official as saying Khamenei is currently not in Tehran and has been moved to a secure location. Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported Raisi remains safe. (CCTV)

On-chain analyst Ai Auntie (@ai_9684xtpa) noted on February 28th that a whale that’s been steadily accumulating digital gold tokens since October 2023 has now locked in a $3.521 million profit. Currently, the whale holds 2,371.4 XAUT (with an average cost of $4,283 per token) and 559.74 PAXG (average cost of $4,004 per token).

**February 28 Breaking Update** At 2:00 PM ET today, Israel and the U.S. led strikes against Iran, which retaliated—triggering a full-scale U.S.-Iran conflict. Former President Trump directly stated his intent to “topple the Iranian regime,” while the U.S. military noted the conflict could last for weeks. Iran subsequently fired missiles at all Gulf nations except Oman, targeting U.S. military bases. Amid intense clashes, Bitcoin led declines at 2:00 PM, dropping 3.57% in one hour before stabilizing after a sharp free fall. It now trades at $63,935. Observers noted Bitcoin’s selling pressure surged by roughly $1.8 billion within an hour at 2:00 PM; since the incident unfolded over the weekend, cryptocurrencies became the preferred asset to sell during this safe-haven event. Notably, even with major gold markets closed, gold-backed tokens surged nearly 6% post-incident. Current prices: PAXG ($5,492.98), XAUT ($5,433.49), and Binance’s XAU contract ($5,364.38). BlockBeats advi

February 28 — Per an AXIOS reporter, a senior U.S. official stated no U.S. personnel have been injured as of now.