DeFiance CEO: No "TACO" or Easing of Middle East Situation in the Short Term

On March 20, Onchain Lens reported that a whale withdrew 2.265 million ASTER (valued at approximately $1.54 million) from Binance after 5 months of inactivity, then deposited the tokens into Aster DEX.

March 20 — An Iranian military spokesman said Israeli and U.S. officials and military personnel will no longer be safe at "vacation spots and tourist destinations worldwide" following an airstrike that killed an Iranian official.

On March 20 (Wednesday), the Financial Times reported that a tanker operator paid Iran $2 million to ensure safe passage for its vessel through the Strait of Hormuz. The report noted that Iran is now charging "privileged" nations millions of dollars per tanker to secure safe transit through the strait.

On March 20, The Information reported that cryptocurrency hardware wallet maker Ledger has hired John Andrews—former executive at stablecoin issuer Circle—as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to prepare for a potential initial public offering (IPO). Andrews previously served as Head of Capital Markets and Investor Relations at Circle and was involved in the firm’s IPO efforts. Additionally, Ledger is opening a New York office to expand its U.S. business. Andrews noted that the IPO plan may be delayed amid current market volatility.

Google’s Threat Intelligence Group reported on March 20 that a iOS exploit chain named DarkSword is targeting iPhones running iOS 14.4 through 14.7. Attackers are using compromised websites to deploy Ghostblade—a malicious program designed specifically to search for and steal data from cryptocurrency CEX exchanges (including Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, Kucoin, OKX, MEXC) and wallet apps (including Ledger, Trezor, MetaMask, Exodus, Uniswap, Phantom, Gnosis Safe). Additionally, Ghostblade exfiltrates sensitive data including SMS messages, iMessages, contacts, Wi-Fi passwords, geolocation, and chat histories from Telegram and WhatsApp. The malware focuses on rapid data theft—automatically deleting temporary files and terminating its activity once collection is complete. To date, related attacks have been observed in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia, and Ukraine.

On March 20, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) officially announced it has signed its first Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Major League Baseball (MLB), establishing an information exchange and cooperation mechanism focused on MLB-related prediction markets. The agreement aims to boost MLB event integrity and collaborate on addressing potential prediction market risks—including preventing fraud, market manipulation, and other misconduct. Under the MOU, the two parties will share information within a legal framework to respond faster to relevant incidents and proactively identify emerging trends. U.S. CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig noted the move will strengthen prediction markets’ integrity and resilience, and give regulators additional tools to protect market participants.