Data: Web3 social application Towns has over 400,000 total users, with over 200,000 token holders

March 12th – Citi Research has raised its Brent crude price forecasts: $75 per barrel for Q1, $78 for Q2, and $68 for Q3, up from prior projections of $73, $70, and $62, respectively. The firm noted oil prices may fluctuate in the $80-$100 per barrel range in the near term. In a report, analyst Eric Lee stated: “We believe neither the U.S. nor Iran wants the conflict to escalate further, as that would likely target regional energy infrastructure and Iran’s domestic public infrastructure. Thus, our base case is the situation will de-escalate shortly after the U.S. achieves its military objectives.” He added, however, that the risk of attacks on regional energy infrastructure remains elevated – a scenario that could trigger an oil shock akin to the 1970s. (Source: FX Street)

March 12 — Binance has officially rolled out four new AI Agent Skills, expanding into derivative trading, leveraged trading, Binance Alpha, and asset management, per an official announcement. The new capabilities include: - Alpha Market Data: Access without an API key required; - USD?-M Futures Trading: 70+ endpoints, with testnet support; - Leveraged Trading: Cross/isolated margin, up to 10x leverage; - Asset Management: One-stop tools for deposits, withdrawals, and balance tracking; Building on its initial 8 skills, AI Agents can now tap into deeper Binance trading infrastructure and broader asset management tools via a unified, standardized interface.

On March 12, per HyperInsight monitoring, escalating geopolitical tensions pushed international oil prices higher after Iran’s Supreme Leader stated the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed. U.S. oil firm Battalion Oil surged more than 21%, while the U.S. crude oil ETF jumped nearly 7%. On the Hyperliquid platform, WTI crude (CL) rose above $93, and Brent crude (BRENTOIL) climbed to $96. Against this backdrop, the largest bull whale on-chain ASTER — neoyokio.eth (address 0x152) — opened a 4x leveraged long position on crude oil in the past half-hour. The whale purchased 55,800 contracts (equivalent to $5.2 million) at an average price of $92.97. As of press time, this position has a realized profit of $32,000.

March 12 (Reuters) - A Reuters survey shows most economists expect the Federal Reserve to cut the federal funds rate by 25 basis points in the next quarter, bringing it to a range of 3.25%-3.50%. Of the 96 economists polled, 63 hold this view—up from 51 out of 101 respondents who predicted such a cut in February. Separately, 29 out of 37 surveyed economists said the Fed is more likely to keep interest rates steady for longer than previously anticipated. (FX678)

On March 12th, on-chain analyst Ai Auntie (@ai_9684xtpa) reported that a whale with $34.74 million in crude oil short positions currently holds 21,200 BRENTOIL tokens (entry price: $91.8) and 15,200 CL tokens (entry price: $87.8). The whale faces an unrealized loss of $1.84 million on these positions, though across their 18 total positions, they remain in overall unrealized profit.

March 12: Binance CEO CZ tweeted, “Spreading FUD is easy—clearing it, though, is always hard.”