US Media: Khamenei's Son to Be Announced as Iran's Supreme Leader on Wednesday

Visa on March 4 announced an expanded partnership with Bridge—Stripe’s stablecoin infrastructure subsidiary—to advance its global card issuance strategy. The offering will launch in 2025, enabling businesses and fintech developers to issue Visa cards backed by stablecoins. Transactions involving these cards will settle on the Visa network via Bridge’s collaboration with LeadBank. Currently, Bridge-supported stablecoin-linked cards are available in 18 countries and regions. The partners plan to expand to more than 100 markets across Europe, the Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East by year-end. (Source: Businesswire)

March 4 — Paraguay’s national power utility ANDE has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with crypto infrastructure firm Morphware to launch the country’s first government-led Bitcoin mining pilot project, using confiscated mining rigs. Initially, roughly 1,500 seized rigs will be deployed, leveraging the nation’s surplus hydropower for compliant mining operations. Under the terms of the agreement, ANDE will own and oversee the mining farm, while Morphware provides technical and operational support. For the mined Bitcoin, the government is weighing selling the tokens for public spending or holding a portion via financial instruments. (Source: BitcoinMagazine)

On March 4, Google Gemini announced the launch of its Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite model via official sources. A lightweight variant of the Gemini series, this model is built for high-volume, low-cost tasks—including large-scale translation, transcription, and data extraction. It also delivers six real-world use cases through a Python SDK. Key capabilities include multi-modal input support, structured JSON output, and configurable abstraction levels. The model is ideal for background processing and model routing, helping developers optimize AI architectures to reduce costs.

March 4 — Bloomberg reports that Latin American stablecoin-focused financial app ARQ has closed a $70 million funding round, with participation from Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund. The capital will be used for rebranding, hiring new talent, and expanding services beyond U.S. dollar-denominated transfers to include wealth management, local currency high-yield accounts, and lending. Previously known as DolarApp, ARQ offers multi-currency accounts, digital wallets, foreign exchange services, and debit cards to help users store and transfer funds across borders. With over 2 million customers in Latin America, the app has topped $10 billion in annualized transaction volume. ARQ says it has built infrastructure connecting traditional banking networks with stablecoin-powered payment systems, enabling users to hold foreign currencies and transact seamlessly.

On March 4, Glassnode data showed Bitcoin network contract holdings recorded their largest single-day percentage gain since July 2025. As Bitcoin’s price tested $69,400, leverage ratios spiked sharply. This trend lined up with speculators piling into bets that Bitcoin would break $70,000—only for those wagers to fizzle.

March 4th, Ray Dalio told the Tuesday episode of the All-In Podcast that Bitcoin isn’t a viable long-term store of value or safe-haven asset—citing no central bank backing, ongoing questions about its privacy safeguards and quantum resistance. He argued Bitcoin won’t become “digital gold,” noting “there’s only one kind of gold in the world.” Gold isn’t a speculative precious metal, he said—it’s the “most mature currency” and the second-largest reserve asset held by central banks globally. Dalio added it’s hard to see why central banks would buy and hold Bitcoin long-term. (Per Cointelegraph)