Most of Iran Cut Off From the Global Internet

On March 19, Coinglass data shows BARD contracts across major centralized exchanges (CEXs) have hit their maximum negative funding rate. Specifically, Binance’s BARD contract posted an hourly funding rate of -0.46%. Per HTX market updates, BARD plummeted by more than 50% at one point today. It’s currently trading at $0.59, having rebounded roughly 10% from its intraday low of $0.54 in the past half hour.

March 19: The Federal Reserve will release its interest rate decision in 20 minutes, followed by a monetary policy press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Key focus areas: - **Policy statement wording**: The statement is expected to emphasize "fine-tuning," but changes to phrasing around inflation, employment, and dovishness could signal a clearer policy path. - **Dot plot shifts**: The biggest highlight—will the latest dot plot revise 2026 interest rate cut expectations from 1 to 0? A confirmed hawkish signal may trigger rapid repricing of the U.S. dollar, Treasury yields, and risk assets. - **Economic projections**: Given significant uncertainty from the Middle East, the Fed’s projections may see minor tweaks, but no major revisions are anticipated.

On March 19, Citigroup downgraded crypto trading platform Gemini from Neutral to Sell, cutting its target price from $13 to $5.5 and noting the platform will take several more years to turn profitable. Earlier today, Citigroup also downgraded its 12-month price targets for BTC and ETH to $112,000 and $3,175, respectively.

On March 19, X Product Lead Nikita Bier stated: “The fortress we’re building—along with its layers of redundant protection—is designed to shield the platform from the flood of low-quality AI-generated junk content. In a few months, everyone will see how clear these measures are. Whether we deploy every tool in our arsenal remains to be seen, but failing to prepare ahead of time would be a dereliction of duty.”

On March 19, Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mujtaba commented on the assassination of Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, stating that the perpetrators will ultimately pay a blood price.

FTX’s liquidation trust plans to distribute roughly $2.2 billion to creditors in its fourth distribution on March 31, 2026, per a March 19 update.