Ethereum Gas Fee Continues to Drop, Now at 0.352 Gwei

March 12 — Binance.US named former Currency.com CEO Stephen Gregory as its new CEO, replacing former interim CEO Norman Reed. The company said the move is intended to drive further growth of the platform in the U.S. market. Gregory boasts a legal background and deep experience in digital asset compliance and regulation, previously serving as Chief Compliance Officer at Gemini and CEX.io. Binance.US noted his expertise will support the exchange’s development in the U.S. market. Gregory expressed honor to lead the Binance.US team, ushering in a new phase for the exchange, and highlighted the strength of the Binance.US brand. The appointment comes roughly a year after Binance.US resumed USD deposit and withdrawal services. In 2023, the exchange paused USD deposits and withdrawals amid alleged securities law violations.

On March 12th, two top U.S. financial regulators—the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)—announced they’ve signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to boost cooperation on cryptocurrency asset regulation and the rollout of new digital asset products, with the goal of supporting lawful innovation and protecting investors. Per statements from both agencies, the MOU aims to “guide coordination and cooperation between the two bodies,” focusing on fostering lawful innovation, upholding market integrity, and safeguarding investors and customers. The SEC and CFTC also plan to jointly advance a federal-level policy framework to create a “fit-for-purpose regulatory structure” for emerging technologies like cryptocurrencies. SEC Chair Paul Atkins noted that longstanding regulatory disputes, overlapping registration requirements, and conflicting rules between the agencies have somewhat stifled innovation, prompting some market parti

March 12 — Blockchain payments firm Ripple has launched a share buyback program of up to $7.5 billion, valuing the company at approximately $50 billion, sources familiar with the matter told The Block. Bloomberg first broke the news. The buyback will be conducted via a tender offer, allowing investors and company employees to sell their shares back to Ripple. The program is expected to run through April this year. This latest move follows Ripple’s October 2023 attempt to repurchase $1 billion in shares at a $40 billion valuation, which saw limited participation as some private shareholders declined to sell. Ripple’s most recent funding round closed in November 2023, raising $500 million at a $40 billion valuation. The strategic financing was led by funds affiliated with Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities, with participation from Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace, among others. Earlier this year, Ripple CEO Monica Long stated the

On March 12, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Ayush Varshney—co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Darwin Labs—at Mumbai Airport as he allegedly tried to leave the country, over his purported role in the notorious GainBitcoin Ponzi scheme. Probes uncovered the scam was run by Variabletech Pte. Ltd., which lured investors with promises of sky-high returns on crypto investments. Law enforcement accused Darwin Labs of building and deploying core technological infrastructure for the scheme—including the MCAP crypto token and ERC-20 smart contracts. Darwin also provided technical support for several fraud-linked platforms: GBMiners.com (a Bitcoin mining site), a Bitcoin payment gateway, the CoinE Bank Bitcoin wallet, and the GainBitcoin investment website—all used to entice and defraud investors. Media reports say the scheme launched in 2015 and operated across multiple Indian states. It’s estimated to involve roughly 1.9 billion Indian rupees (arou

March 12 – U.S. Energy Secretary Wright announced today that the 32-member International Energy Agency (IEA) has unanimously agreed to former President Trump’s request to coordinate a release of 400 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products from member nations’ reserves to ease energy prices. Under this joint action, Trump has authorized the U.S. Department of Energy to begin releasing 172 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) next week. Deliveries are expected to take approximately 120 days at the planned release rate. Separately, Trump pledged to safeguard U.S. energy security through responsible SPR management. The U.S. has arranged to replenish roughly 200 million barrels of the reserve over the coming year – 20% more than the planned drawdown – with no cost to taxpayers.

March 12 — The USDC Treasury has just minted 90 million additional USDC on the Ethereum blockchain, per Whale Alert tracking.