In 3 Weeks, Around $30 Billion in Reserves Depleted, Turkey May Use Gold Reserves to Stabilize Exchange Rate

**March 25** — The UK’s Labour Party has announced a temporary ban on political groups accepting cryptocurrency donations, pending the rollout of regulatory frameworks to address foreign election interference risks. The move could directly impact the Reform Party’s funding sources. Nigel Farage’s party previously received significant donations from the crypto industry. The UK government says the ban aims to boost transparency in political funding and public trust, and it will apply retroactively to crypto donations from today onward.

On March 25, Kairos Labs—the team behind an interest rate swap protocol—announced it has closed a $2.4 million seed funding round. The round was led by 6th Man Ventures, with participation from Lattice, Advancit Capital, and Compa Capital. Concurrently, Kairos released its technical whitepaper and launched a permissionless, non-custodial interest rate swap protocol built for EVM-compatible blockchains. The protocol is set to go live on Ethereum mainnet and Base in the coming weeks. The tool enables users to create interest rate swap markets, hedge between fixed and floating rates, and strengthen DeFi’s critical infrastructure. Currently, DeFi lending tops $40 billion in scale but remains largely floating-rate, with a gap in robust interest rate risk management tools. Kairos noted the protocol will serve as core infrastructure for on-chain fixed-income systems, accelerating the adoption of traditional financial products like bonds and structured credit in DeFi.

March 25th: Visa and Dune released a report noting that non-dollar stablecoins are gaining traction as actual payment and settlement tools—not just for DeFi yield generation. Data shows the total supply of non-dollar stablecoins hit $1.1 billion as of this February, tripling from early 2023. Transaction volumes surged from $600 million to $10 billion, a jump of over 1,600%. The current number of holding addresses stands at roughly 1.2 million, with active sending addresses seeing a sharp uptick. The report notes these stablecoins are increasingly used for cross-border payments, corporate settlements, and FX management. Funds are primarily held in user wallets, exchanges, and institutional treasuries—not DeFi protocols. EURC accounts for over 90% of transaction volumes, making the euro stablecoin the dominant player in this space. Analysts say as local-currency stablecoins grow, they’re emerging as “operational currencies” in the global payments system, pushing the stablecoin m

March 25 Iran’s Government Information Committee head HazzratI told Iran’s Student News Agency on March 25 that a reported U.S. ceasefire proposal to Iran is “a list of the enemy’s demands it cannot achieve through attacks.” The U.S.’s 15-point ceasefire proposal to Iran is another lie from President Trump and should be ignored, according to Golden Finance.

On March 25, Iran’s Fars News reported that Iranian officials stated, “What we seek is to end the war—not merely a ceasefire.” (Golden Cross)

March 25 Sources report Pakistan has passed along a 15-clause peace proposal to Iran on behalf of the U.S., with Turkey and Pakistan emerging as potential venues for mediation. Iran has explicitly stated it will not accept a ceasefire or negotiate with the “defaulting party,” calling ongoing talks with the U.S. “illogical.” Still, the remarks are viewed as a sign Tehran could be privately weighing diplomatic options. Regional tensions are escalating: Israel has carried out airstrikes on Tehran, while Iran has retaliated with strikes on Israeli and multiple U.S. military targets across the Middle East. Movement through the Strait of Hormuz is restricted, putting global energy supplies under strain. Analysts note that despite signs of diplomatic outreach, the U.S. and Iran have held firm on tough public stances, leaving the Middle East situation highly uncertain.