Circle minted 250 million USDC on the Solana network 6 hours ago

March 18th — Bitcoin has fallen below $71,000, with its 24-hour decline widening to 4.1%, per HTX market data.

On March 18, web outage tracking site DownDetector reported that X was experiencing downtime.

Data from HTX shows Ethereum (ETH) fell below $2,200 on March 18th, with a 24-hour drop of 6.04%.

March 18 (Axios) — U.S. officials tell Axios that former President Donald Trump views regime change in Iran as an “additional win” but plans to end military engagement once core objectives are met. Trump’s core goals include dismantling Iran’s missile and nuclear programs, its naval capabilities, and funding for its proxy groups.

On March 18, SBI VC Trade—the digital asset subsidiary of SBI Holdings—announced it will officially launch its USDC lending service in Japan this Thursday. Retail investors can lend their stablecoins to the platform via fixed-term agreements to earn interest, with a maximum per-period application limit of 5,000 USDC. Unlike a deposit, the product is structured as a direct loan from users to SBI VC Trade, so users bear counterparty risk themselves. SBI VC Trade noted the platform may further lend out the borrowed USDC. Users cannot withdraw or transfer funds during the fixed lending term. Critically, the product has no asset segregation protection—unlike bank deposits—meaning users could fail to fully recover their assets if the platform goes bankrupt.

March 18 — President Trump announced Wednesday he’s temporarily waiving the century-old Jones Act for 60 days to cut domestic transport costs for oil, natural gas and other commodities, his latest move to address energy price spikes driven by the Iran War. The Jones Act mandates goods moving between U.S. ports must travel on U.S.-flagged, U.S.-built and U.S.-owned vessels. The waiver exempts certain products — including coal, crude oil, refined fuels, natural gas, LNG, fertilizers, refined oil-derived goods and other energy derivatives — from those rules, allowing foreign-flagged ships to temporarily haul them between U.S. ports. Some analysts, though, say the waiver’s expected impact is limited due to massive supply chain disruptions. The war has already sparked what the International Energy Agency (IEA) calls the “largest supply disruption in global oil market history.” Trump has also vowed to deploy U.S. Navy ships to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz and roll