Singapore's largest money laundering case suspect Wang Shuiming may be extradited to China, with his accomplice being the mastermind behind the Hong Kong crypto platform scam AAX.

March 21st: OnchainLens data reveals whales are liquidating gold-linked assets amid a downturn. - Whale address **0xf5629393e446a103a4be1c49a956255e7c87c1d3** sold 1,733 XAUT for $8.04M USDC, then purchased 113.69 WBTC—incurring an approximate $863,000 loss. - Whale address **0xafd850735abcbfc71886b4bf93995dc9c04fd27e** sold 1,109 XAUT for $5.13M USDC, depositing the proceeds into Aave V3—incurring an approximate $867,000 loss. Addresses (full): 0xf5629393e446a103a4be1c49a956255e7c87c1d3 0xafd850735abcbfc71886b4bf93995dc9c04fd27e

March 21 (Kyodo News) — Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that Iran is ready to allow Japan-linked vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz following talks between officials from the two countries. Japan relies heavily on Middle Eastern oil imports. This month, the Iran-Iraq War prompted Japan to draw on its oil reserves. Tokyo has also faced pressure from former President Donald Trump to help secure the strait. Earlier this week, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met with Trump in Washington, where she explained the legal limits on Japan’s participation in such efforts. She also highlighted areas of agreement between the two sides, including a pledge to boost oil imports from the U.S. and cooperate on missile development. (Jinshi)

On March 21, Coingecko data shows the GameFi sector has a total market cap of $45.15 billion. FLOKI leads with a $2.86 billion market cap, followed by The Sandbox ($2.18 billion) and Undeads Games ($2.11 billion) in the top three spots. Earlier, Solana Foundation Chair Lily Liu noted blockchain games “will not make a comeback.” She argued the sector once eyed driving Web3 and metaverse growth via on-chain assets and open worlds, but actual outcomes have fallen well short of expectations. Market analysts point out blockchain games have long leaned on “Play-to-Earn” and other token incentive structures, yet lack the gameplay and content creation that actually draw core players—resulting in weak user retention and ecosystem sustainability. Firms like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Framework Ventures, and Animoca Brands have poured billions into the space, but returns have been underwhelming.

On March 21st, OnchainLens monitoring shows a whale address deposited $3 million in USDC into HyperLiquid and opened a 10x leveraged short position on HYPE—shorting 226,310 HYPE tokens with an approximate notional value of $9 million. Prior to this, the same whale held a HYPE short position for 48 days before eventually liquidating it at a $197,000 loss.

On March 21, Solana Foundation Chair Lily Liu stated that the blockchain gaming industry "will not recover." She noted that while the sector once aimed to fuel Web3 and the metaverse via on-chain assets and open worlds, real-world performance has fallen far short of expectations. Solana was once seen as one of the most promising public blockchains for large-scale blockchain games, thanks to its high performance and low-cost support for real-time interactions. Projects like Star Atlas and Stepn gained early attention, but the broader GameFi space has been in steady decline since its 2021 peak. Market analysts point out that blockchain games have long relied on "Play-to-Earn" and other token incentive models—but they lack the gameplay depth and content to attract core gamers, leading to weak user retention and unsustainable ecosystems. Firms including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Framework Ventures, and Animoca Brands have poured billions into the sector, with meager returns to show

**March 21st — Spot gold dropped below $4,500 an ounce Wednesday, with an intraday decline of over 3%, while spot silver tumbled nearly 7% intraday to last trade at $67.845 an ounce, per Bitget market data.** **On the news front, the selloff came as the U.S. dollar strengthened and reports surfaced that the U.S. has detailed plans to deploy ground troops in Iraq — stoking market fears of higher oil prices, inflation, and subsequent interest rate hikes.** **Independent precious metals trader Tai Wong noted: “Gold and silver are being dragged lower as market concerns mount ahead of the weekend. After a sharp pullback this week driven by rate hike worries, precious metals are particularly volatile. Prices are expected to consolidate soon, but the process will be full of twists and turns.”** **Top global brokerages see rising odds of rate hikes from the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BoE), possibly as soon as April. The Federal Reserve held rates steady Wednesday