Gate.io Launches INIT Perpetual Contract Pre-trading

March 26th: OnchainLens monitoring indicates a newly created wallet potentially linked to BitMine has withdrawn 50,000 ETH from FalconX, valued at $108.37 million. Address: 0xA177566863eB86A9699CDA8E6603fb7ab2367dc9

March 26 — UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the UK will impose a temporary ban on political parties accepting cryptocurrency donations, citing concerns over illicit finance and foreign interference risks, while tightening political donation regulations overall. Previously, Nathan Gill, ex-leader of the UK Reform Party’s Welsh branch, was sentenced to 10? years in prison for taking cryptocurrency bribes.

**Polymarket Unveils First-Ever Taker Fees for Most Trading Categories** March 26 — Prediction market platform Polymarket announced a major policy shift Tuesday, introducing taker fees for nearly all trading categories starting March 30. The new variable fee structure features crypto-related contracts with a peak rate of 1.8%, while actual fees will fluctuate along a curve tied to market dynamics and token prices. Sports, Finance, Politics, Culture, Weather, and General categories have lower tiered rates, and Mention/select Economic Prediction contracts cap at a 1.5% peak. Notably, Geopolitics is the only fully fee-exempt category—underscoring Polymarket’s strategic focus on high-risk global events. The change ends the platform’s longstanding zero-fee appeal.

March 26 — Leading Ethereum crypto treasury BitMine announced the launch of MAVAN, its institutional Ethereum staking platform, which will run validator infrastructure for both its own holdings and external clients. The platform was initially built to support BitMine’s existing Ethereum treasury and is now open to institutional clients and custodians, with plans to onboard additional ETH assets in the coming weeks. It combines U.S.-based infrastructure with a globally distributed setup and is expected to expand to additional proof-of-stake (PoS) networks and blockchain services. BitMine noted it staked 101,776 ETH over the past week, and intends to further increase the amount allocated to MAVAN while working to stake most of its remaining Ethereum. The company estimates that at current yield levels, staking rewards could reach nearly $3 billion annually.

March 26 — As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) readies to roll out a Tokenized Assets Innovation Exemption, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee held a hearing titled “Tokenization and the Future of Securities: Modernizing Capital Markets” on March 25. Republican Congressman Andy Barr noted security tokenization is already a trend, adding the U.S. must lead this shift while safeguarding investors. Some Democratic lawmakers, however, raised concerns the innovation exemption could weaken core securities regulations. SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the agency will soon seek public input on a range of issues tied to future rulemaking — including a proposed innovation exemption that could function as a regulatory sandbox for on-chain assets. Separately, crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett reported Atkins stated the long-awaited tokenization innovation exemption may be released in the coming weeks.

On March 26th, Visa announced it will join the Canton Network as the first major global payment firm to serve as a super-validator. The company will be among the network’s 40 super-validators, supporting banks and financial institutions in shifting their payment flows onto the blockchain. Visa’s Head of Global Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships, Rubail Birwadker, stated: “Many banks view a lack of privacy as a fatal barrier to meaningful on-chain activity. By acting as a super-validator on the Canton Network, we’ll deliver Visa-caliber trust, governance, and operational rigor to privacy-focused blockchain infrastructure—enabling regulated financial institutions to shift payments onto the blockchain without overhauling their existing operations.”