Iran Denies 'Talks' with Trump, Market Gives Back Some Gains

March 23rd, U.S. President Donald Trump said he is in talks with a top Iranian leader (noting the U.S. has engaged with a respected senior Iranian figure) but did not specify whether the leader is Iran’s Supreme Leader. Trump added that it was the Iranian side that initiated the contact, not him, and stated Israel will be very pleased with the results they achieve.

March 23: U.S. President Trump says the person his team is talking to isn’t Iran’s Supreme Leader, and no response from the Supreme Leader has been received yet. (FX168)

March 23 — U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the U.S. has engaged in productive dialogue with Iran, and the two sides have reached a key consensus. (Xinhua News Agency)

**Market Brief: March 23** Per Bitget market data, U.S. stocks opened higher Wednesday: - Dow Jones Industrial Average: +1.6% - S&P 500: +1.4% - Nasdaq Composite: +1.6% **Sector Moves**: - Tech stocks broadly advanced: NVIDIA (+2%), Qualcomm (+~3%), Intel (+1.6%) - Energy stocks led decliners: Occidental Petroleum (-3.8%), ConocoPhillips (-1.6%), Chevron (-1.7%) **Crypto-Related Stocks (Mixed)**: - MSTR: +1.61% - BMNR: +1.15% - CRCL: -0.99% - COIN: +0.37% (modest gain) ### Notes on U.S. Language Habits: 1. **Conciseness**: Used bullet points/short phrases (common in real-time briefs) instead of long sentences. 2. **Colloquial Terms**: - "Opened higher" (standard for U.S. financial news) - "~3%" (casual shorthand for "nearly 3%") - "Modest gain" (clearer than "rose 0.37%" without extra fluff) 3. **Sector/Index Abbreviations**: Kept widely recognized acronyms (S&P 500, Nasdaq) but spelled out full names once for clarity. 4. **Mixed Mov

On March 23rd, Samuel Cardillo—former CTO of Nike’s digital product subsidiary RTFKT—called out OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger for two moves: publicly favoring Hermes Agent, and blocking him without even tagging him. Cardillo noted, “Peter just confirmed everything I’ve thought about him—he flat-out doesn’t listen to criticism or feedback.” He also lauded the Nous Research team for prioritizing community and practical solutions. Per reports, Hermes Agent (built by Nous Research) highlights self-learning systems, layered memory, supports agent growth via experience, and offers a migration tool for users switching from OpenClaw.

March 23rd — Katana, a custom Layer 2 (L2) network for decentralized finance (DeFi), announced the acquisition of decentralized exchange IDEX and the launch of its native perpetual contract platform, Katana Perps. The platform’s first season points program, “The Forge,” also went live simultaneously. Katana CEO Matthew Fisher noted the move aims to give Katana greater control over its underlying protocol stack and economic engine. Katana Perps uses an order book model, offering low-latency execution and advanced order controls, with backing from institutional market makers including GSR, Selini Capital, and Auros. The platform will also integrate deeply with Katana’s KAT token, vKAT governance system, and Vault Bridge, using vbUSDC as its primary collateral asset. U.S. users currently do not have access to the platform.