The popular AI framework Virtuals Protocol will host an in-person meet-up in Hong Kong on Friday, January 17.

March 7 — Stablecoin issuer Tether announced it co-led a $7.5 million investment round in startup Utexo, with participation from Big Brain Holdings, Portal Ventures and Franklin Templeton. Utexo is building infrastructure to enable USDT to settle directly on the Bitcoin network and support payments via the Lightning Network. Its solution offers a pre-confirmable fixed fee and leverages Bitcoin’s security to complete transactions through atomic and privacy-focused settlement mechanisms. Paolo Ardoino noted that native USDT settlement on Bitcoin and the Lightning Network will further strengthen Bitcoin’s role as a global dollar settlement network. USDT currently has a supply of ~$184 billion, making it the largest USD stablecoin by market capitalization.

March 7: CleanSpark, Cango and BitFuFu released February 2026 operational data showing the three firms collectively mined roughly 1,250 Bitcoin (BTC) last month, valued at approximately $86 million at current market prices. Key details by company: - **CleanSpark** led the trio with 568 BTC mined (the most among the three), posting a peak hash rate of around 50 exahashes per second (EH/s). The firm sold 553 BTC, generating roughly $36.7 million in proceeds. - **Cango** mined 454.83 BTC in February and held 3,313 BTC as of month-end. - **BitFuFu** mined 227 BTC, with 190 of those coming from cloud mining clients. Separately, several mining companies are ramping up expansion of hash rate capacity, power resources and data center infrastructure into artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) to secure more stable long-term revenue streams.

On March 7, asset management firm 21Shares launched the first physically-backed Polkadot exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. under the ticker TDOT, which is now trading on the Nasdaq. Eric Balchunas noted the ETF launched with $11 million in seed capital and carries a 0.3% management fee. Physically-backed crypto ETFs enable investors to bet on price movements without directly holding the digital assets. 21Shares describes Polkadot as a blockchain network built to connect multiple independent blockchains and enable interoperability. Its native token, DOT, currently has a market capitalization of approximately $1.7 billion. Previously, 21Shares has rolled out physically-backed ETFs tracking assets like Bitcoin, XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, and Sui.

As of March 7, the U.S. dollar is on track for its best week in over a year, strengthening as the ultimate safe haven amid Middle East tensions and surging oil prices. As of press time, the spot dollar index is up 1.5% this week—its biggest weekly gain since late 2024. Hostilities are disrupting oil production and shipping, ramping up inflation worries for the Federal Reserve and other central banks. This has prompted traders to dial back bets on Fed rate cuts, giving the dollar an additional lift. Adding to economic complexity, a report released Friday showed U.S. employers unexpectedly cut jobs last month. Still, with focus centered on energy prices, the data only briefly pressured the dollar before it quickly resumed its climb. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield rose for the fifth straight day. “Right now, the market is looking past the weak data,” Bank of America FX strategist Alex Cohen noted. “Ongoing uncertainty and record-high oil prices are by far the dominant d

**March 7** As Middle East tensions escalate, global oil prices are climbing. WTI crude has surged more than 13% intraday, approaching $90 per barrel. Brent crude is currently trading at $89.15 a barrel, up over 8% on the day. Earlier, Brent futures climbed above the $90 level.

On March 6, Curve Finance announced via social media that PancakeSwap allegedly copied its code without permission, violating applicable open-source licenses. Curve noted this action not only raises legal concerns but, based on historical experience, is often unwise for projects using its code in a similar fashion. Curve also mentioned that if PancakeSwap wishes to continue using its StableSwap technology without legal risk and leverage Curve’s expertise to ensure user asset safety (SAFU), it can still reach out to Curve for authorized licensing and collaboration.