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

March 26: The European Parliament’s full chamber voted on the EU-U.S. trade agreement, which passed. The European Parliament’s International Trade Committee voted 29 in favor on March 19 to restart the legislative approval process for the deal. The EU and U.S. struck the trade agreement in July 2025. Under its terms: - The EU must eliminate tariffs on U.S. industrial goods and grant preferential market access to U.S. seafood and agricultural products. - In exchange, the U.S. will impose a 15% tariff on most EU exports to the U.S. (CCTV News)

March 26 — The U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed rule targeting changes to investment options in the $10 trillion domestic 401(k) market has cleared White House regulatory review, moving one step closer to official release. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) finished its review of the rule on March 24, clearing the way for the Labor Department to formally publish the proposal in the coming weeks. If finalized, the rule would amend trustee guidance for plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), potentially allowing plan sponsors to include cryptocurrency and private equity among designated investment options. The proposal stems from an executive order signed by former President Donald Trump last year, which directed the Labor Department to make it easier for participant-directed defined contribution plans to include alternative assets. That executive order also instructed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Tr

March 26th — Per data from HyperInsight Monitoring, a whale with an address starting with 0x1e9 has fully closed out its GOLD and SILVER short positions over the past half hour. The total position size at close was approximately $2.61 million, netting the whale roughly $120,000 in profits. These short positions were initiated earlier this morning. Capitalizing on the intraday drop in precious metals, the address opted to close the positions at an opportune moment to lock in gains. The holding period spanned roughly 15 hours from initiation to profit-taking.

On March 26, Resolv Labs shared an update on curbing unauthorized USR minting via its social media channels. The official statement notes that of the 80 million USR tokens unauthorizedly minted during the March 22, 2026, exploit, roughly 46 million (some 57% of the total) have been permanently removed from circulation via token burns and blacklisting. As a result, no unauthorizedly minted assets linked to attacker-controlled addresses remain available for transfer or trading. The team took the following steps to address the 80 million unauthorized USR tokens: - On March 22, roughly 9 million USR were burned in two transactions. - An additional ~36 million USR held by attacker-controlled wallets in wstUSR form have been blacklisted. This required upgrading the wstUSR contract, a process that included a 72-hour timelock due to contract-level restrictions. - Any remaining unauthorized USR linked to the attacker has been burned.

March 26th update: QCP Capital released its latest report via its official channel, noting Bitcoin trades near $70k. The price is consolidating calmly rather than facing clear bearish pressure. The broader macro environment remains fragile: fresh Middle East developments are weighing on risk sentiment. While oil prices have pulled back from this week’s highs, they still hold a meaningful geopolitical risk premium. Bitcoin’s resilience stands out here. Recent net outflows show tokens are being moved off exchanges—not prepped for selling. Meanwhile, its market dominance continues to edge higher, bolstering a relatively defensive stance in crypto markets. A key macro takeaway: Markets have consistently priced inflation shocks faster than growth shocks. Risk assets have already factored in rising oil prices and interest rate repricing. But if geopolitical tensions linger, the extent of damage to broader economic growth remains unclear. That leaves Bitcoin in an awkward but not ove