Ethereum Gas Fee Continues to Drop, Now at 0.352 Gwei

March 23, Monday Spot gold briefly climbed to $4,320.30 per ounce—just under $1 above last year’s year-end price—nearly erasing all its year-to-date gains. Meanwhile, the Middle East conflict has entered its fourth week, with the U.S. and Iran again exchanging new attack threats. Persistently rising oil prices have lifted inflation risks, reducing the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve (Fed) and other central banks. This is a headwind for gold, which has fallen for eight straight trading days and just posted its biggest weekly drop since 1983. Capital.com analyst Kyle Roda noted that technically, “gold is expected to rebound in the short term”—a move that will largely hinge on “whether Trump follows through on his threat to strike an Iranian power plant.” (Source: FX678)

**March 23rd** Market reports indicate the Israeli military has launched large-scale airstrikes on Tehran, Iran’s capital, targeting key infrastructure sites. This move marks a further escalation of tensions. In recent weeks, Israel and the U.S. have carried out multiple strikes on Iranian targets—including energy and military facilities—while Tehran has faced repeated bombings and Iran has launched missile counterattacks. Analysts warn that if strikes expand beyond military facilities to critical infrastructure, the conflict could enter a higher-intensity phase, potentially hitting regional energy supplies and global markets harder.

**March 23** Per HyperInsight monitoring (via https://t.me/HyperInsight), the "Strategy Whale" address (0x94d3…) has opened a new BTC short position: 44.19 BTC (worth ~$3.02 million) at an average entry price of $67,876, with a minor unrealized loss of $3,900. This address previously built a large short position on major altcoins during MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) major BTC purchase last December. At one point, it held the largest BTC short on Hyperliquid—a $120 million position.

OKX is set to list MON (Monad) on March 23, 2026, with the following timeline: - MON Deposit Open: 10:00 UTC+8 on 03/23/2026 - Pre-Order Period (MON/USDT): 18:00 - 19:00 UTC+8 on 03/23/2026 - Spot Trading Launch: 19:00 UTC+8 on 03/23/2026 - MON Withdrawal Open: 21:00 UTC+8 on 03/23/2026 ### Notes on U.S. language habits adapted: 1. Date format: Switched to **MM/DD/YYYY** (03/23/2026) for consistency with U.S. usage. 2. Tone: Used "is set to list" (formal, clear for announcements) instead of casual phrasing; "timeline" (common in financial updates) instead of "schedule"; "Launch" (standard for trading platform debuts) instead of "Starts". 3. Clarity: Grouped the trading pair (MON/USDT) with the pre-order period for readability, and kept UTC+8 notation (universal in global finance, familiar to U.S. crypto users). 4. Brevity: Removed redundant line breaks/HTML tags to match U.S. news flash brevity.

March 23 (Wednesday) — Middle East tensions continued to escalate Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran, demanding **unconditional access** to the Strait of Hormuz or else key infrastructure (including power plants) would be targeted. Iran hit back forcefully, stating it would “completely block” the vital global energy shipping lane if attacked — and expand targets to include energy, IT, and desalination facilities. The conflict, now in its fourth week, has disrupted roughly one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments, sharply raising energy supply risks. Meanwhile, both the U.S. and Iran are weighing potential negotiations, but deep divisions persist. The two sides have not had direct contact, only indirect talks via third-party countries. Iran has laid out tough conditions: closing U.S. military bases, compensating for losses, and rewriting rules governing the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S., in turn, demands a halt to uranium enrichment, limits on miss