Bitcoin Surpasses $71,000

On March 24, per Onchain Lens data, a whale’s Brent crude oil long position was fully liquidated amid a sudden price drop, resulting in a $3.08 million loss. The whale’s cumulative losses have topped $4.4 million.

On Monday, March 24, former President Donald Trump said in a post that the U.S. and Iran held a "very good and productive dialogue" on ending the Middle East conflict. Prior to the post, 10 large new accounts on prediction market platform Polymarket had placed significant bets that the U.S. and Iran would reach a ceasefire by March 31 or April 15, with total wagers of roughly $160,000. A month-end ceasefire would net them over $1 million in profits; since Trump’s post, the accounts have already seen more than $300,000 in unrealized gains. One of those accounts previously bet over $85,000 on a U.S. strike against Iran and turned a profit. It is now betting on a ceasefire. The bets’ scale, timing, and the account’s track record have raised questions from outsiders: are these accounts linked to insiders with access to undisclosed U.S.-Iran diplomatic information? Separately, S&P 500 E-mini futures and WTI crude oil futures saw isolated anomalous trading volume roughly 15 minutes

March 24 — Per on-chain analyst Wu Jinyu’s data, a whale transferred 464 BTC (valued at $32.82 million) to Binance 2 hours ago, netting a $2 million profit. The whale bought the dip roughly a month ago at $66,317 per BTC and sold today at $70,713 per BTC.

March 24 — Balancer Labs co-founder Fernando Martinelli announced in a community post that he will gradually wind down the firm. The entity, which originally incubated the Balancer protocol, has become a drag on the protocol’s development amid ongoing legal risks tied to the November 2025 v2 exploit and a lack of revenue streams. Core team members will join Balancer OpCo (subject to a governance vote). Martinelli noted the protocol’s total fee revenue over the past three months has hit an annualized rate of over $1 million, and it remains operationally viable. Key issues stem from its tokenomics and high cost structure. Proposed measures include: - Halting BAL emissions entirely - Terminating the veBAL model - Directing 100% of protocol fees to the DAO treasury - Cutting the V3 protocol fee split to 25% to attract organic liquidity - Establishing a buyback mechanism for BAL holders to exit positions smoothly - Focusing on core products (reCLAMM, LBP, stablecoin/LST

**March 24 (Cointelegraph) —** After former President Trump temporarily de-escalated tensions with Iran and sought negotiations, Bitcoin briefly jumped 4%. WTI crude later dropped 14% to $85 a barrel, while the S&P 500 gained 3%. Yet Bitcoin derivative data still sends skeptical signals: the market lacks confidence in the $68k support level. **Futures:** Bitcoin’s 2-month futures annualized premium stood at 2% on Monday—below the 4-8% range typical for longer-dated contracts in neutral conditions. This signals weak demand for long leverage, and the lack of conviction has lingered for a month (even as BTC briefly rebounded to nearly $76k). **Options:** Deribit’s April 24-expiring $80k call option was priced at 0.017 BTC (≈$1,207) with 31 days until expiry and 48% implied volatility (IV). The market pegs the probability of BTC hitting $80k in that window at just 20%—a low bar for a 13% monthly gain, rare in crypto’s typically bullish market. **Macro Context:** The Fed’s pause

On March 24, per LookOnChain monitoring, Blockchain Capital re-delegated 6,400 ETH (roughly $13.82 million) 3 hours ago—its first such move in 2 years.