TRUMP unlocked 40 million tokens 5 hours ago, equivalent to around 300 million US dollars

On March 19, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially approved a Nasdaq rule change allowing the exchange to pilot tokenized trading of securities—marking a key step for traditional capital markets toward blockchain adoption. Under the plan, eligible stocks and ETFs will clear and settle in tokenized form within the existing trading system, while maintaining the same order book, trading priority, and shareholder rights as traditional shares. The pilot is tied to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)'s tokenization initiative. Investors can opt to settle in tokenized form when placing orders, with the system processing trades on-chain post-execution. Nasdaq noted that beyond the settlement method, trading rules, market data, fee structures, and regulatory monitoring will remain unchanged. Tokenized securities will also be fully compliant with and integrated into existing U.S. securities law frameworks. Industry observers say this move marks t

On March 19, Visa’s Crypto Labs launched a command-line tool (CLI) that lets AI agents initiate automated payments directly in the terminal—enabling "hands-free" programmatic transactions. This tool delivers payment capabilities for robots, scripts, and other automated processes without requiring API key management. It can be used to purchase cloud resources, call API services, and facilitate machine-to-machine payments. The product is currently in testing and requires users to apply for access via a GitHub account. Visa noted that as AI shifts from "answering questions" to "performing tasks"—including automated computing power purchases, service invocations, and micropayments—payment infrastructure needs to evolve to support "command-line commerce." Additionally, Visa has integrated the Machine Payment Protocol (MPP) and is collaborating with industry-led AI payment standards (spearheaded by firms like Coinbase and Cloudflare) to accelerate the development of AI-native paymen

March 19 — Per The Wall Street Journal, which cites U.S. officials, Donald Trump has explicitly said he wants to hold off on further strikes against Iran’s energy infrastructure following Israel’s attack on the Natanz nuclear site. Trump previously knew about and backed the operation, which was meant to warn Tehran about the Strait of Hormuz situation. He now believes Iran has “gotten the message” against further escalation, though his position hinges on Iran’s next moves. Iran, meanwhile, has hit back firmly. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched a large-scale missile attack on U.S.-tied energy facilities as a “reciprocal response” to strikes on its own energy infrastructure, noting the conflict has entered a “new phase.” Iran warned it will broaden the strikes to all energy infrastructure of U.S. and Israeli allies if attacks persist.

March 19 — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell publicly addressed the impact of the Justice Department (DOJ) investigation on his tenure for the first time Wednesday, stating he has no plans to leave the Fed Board until the probe is fully completed and could serve as interim chair until a successor is confirmed. Powell noted he has not decided whether to serve out his full Board term through 2028, with that call hinging on what is best for the institution and the public. The ongoing DOJ investigation and relevant legal proceedings are key factors in his decision to remain, he added. Separately, the Fed held interest rates steady in the 3.5% to 3.75% range for the second straight meeting. During his post-meeting press conference, Powell downplayed expectations of near-term rate cuts, emphasizing current policy is near a neutral level and there is no compelling reason to cut rates until the economy shows meaningful signs of weakness.

On March 19, senior U.S. officials told The Washington Post the Pentagon has asked the White House to greenlight a congressional budget request exceeding $200 billion to fund a war with Iran. The request’s scale far outstrips the cost of the administration’s current large-scale airstrike operations and is all but certain to face pushback from lawmakers opposed to the conflict. It aims to urgently ramp up production of key weapons, which have been significantly depleted over the past three weeks. White House officials say the Pentagon’s ask is unlikely to clear Congress. Sources familiar with the matter note the Pentagon has floated several funding proposals of varying sizes over the past two weeks. Deputy Defense Secretary Steven Feinberg is leading the effort, with his team developing a series of funding proposals to quickly address the Pentagon’s ammunition shortage. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton—a Republican senator—is also pushing to include additional fun

On March 19, per HTX market data, Bitcoin briefly dropped to $70,500 this morning but has since rebounded to around $71,000, with its 24-hour loss narrowing to 4.04%.