Author: Tristan Lodenberg

Brazil’s instant payment network Pix has expanded its services to Argentina, allowing Brazilians living in the country to send payments and pay for goods and services using the system in both markets. The initiative was announced by the Banco Central do Brasil as part of efforts to extend the reach of its widely used digital payments platform. Pix is already integrated with several crypto service providers operating in Brazil. Platforms such as Binance, Crypto.com, Kraken, Mercado Bitcoin and the Lemon support Pix for fiat onramping, allowing users to move funds between traditional payment rails and digital asset platforms. Pix Linked…

Actor Michael B. Jordan has moved into the top position on the prediction market platform Polymarket for the Best Actor award at the 2026 Oscars. His odds surged more than four times since March 1, reflecting strong momentum ahead of the ceremony. A week before the awards show, traders on Polymarket placed Jordan’s chances of winning at about 47%, narrowly ahead of Timothée Chalamet at 45%. Other nominees trail significantly, with Leonardo DiCaprio at 5%, Wagner Moura at 4%, and Ethan Hawke at 1%. SAG Award Win Boosts Momentum Jordan’s rise in prediction markets followed his Best Actor victory at…

Strategy, the Bitcoin treasury company led by Michael Saylor, has signaled another potential Bitcoin purchase as the cryptocurrency trades near the $66,000 level. Saylor posted a message stating “The Second Century Begins” while sharing the firm’s well-known Bitcoin accumulation chart, a signal that has often preceded new BTC acquisitions. The company’s most recent purchase took place in the final week of February, when Strategy acquired 3,015 BTC for more than $204 million. That transaction increased the firm’s total holdings to 720,737 BTC, with a treasury value of roughly $48.1 billion based on market prices at the time. Bitcoin Price Below…

Recent data shows that Bitcoin has moved more closely with major stock indexes in recent months, but analysts say the crypto still plays an important role in portfolio diversification. According to research from NYDIG, Bitcoin’s correlation with equity benchmarks has risen to around 0.5. The correlation includes major indexes such as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq-100. However, analysts say that even with correlations at this level, stocks explain only about 25% of Bitcoin’s price movements, leaving the majority of price changes driven by crypto-specific factors. Unique Market Forces Continue to Influence Bitcoin Analysts note that Bitcoin’s performance is influenced…

US lawmakers are calling for a permanent ban on a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), warning that temporary measures fail to protect Americans from potential risks. The push comes after a proposed amendment to the Federal Reserve Act would block CBDC issuance only until 2031. Congressman Michael Cloud, along with 28 other members of Congress, sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, urging that a CBDC must be permanently prohibited. The lawmakers argued that digital currencies issued by the Federal Reserve would give the unelected central bank unprecedented control over Americans’ finances, exposing…

Tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), excluding stablecoins, have surged to over $25 billion in onchain value, nearly quadrupling from $6.4 billion a year ago, according to RWA.xyz data. The growth highlights a shift from experimentation to institutional-scale deployment, with asset managers including BlackRock, Fidelity, and WisdomTree launching tokenized fund products. Six categories now exceed $1 billion each, including U.S. Treasuries, commodities, private credit, institutional alternative funds, corporate bonds, and non-U.S. government debt. The number of tokenized U.S. Treasury offerings alone increased from 35 to more than 50 in the past year, signaling growing institutional adoption. Issuance Drives Growth, Not Trading Despite…

Bitcoin experienced a 7% correction between Thursday and Friday, retreating from a failed attempt to reclaim $74,000 and settling near $67,517. The pullback was driven by a combination of rising oil prices, weak U.S. macroeconomic data, and ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. U.S. retail sales fell 0.2% in January, while the economy shed 92,000 jobs in February, reinforcing risk-off sentiment. Impact of Private Credit Market and Institutional Flows Redemption spikes in private credit funds from BlackRock and Blackstone highlighted growing investor anxiety. Blackstone processed record 7.9% tender requests in its flagship credit fund, while BlackRock limited withdrawals on one…

Stablecoin activity reached a record high in February, with monthly transaction volume hitting $1.8 trillion. Circle’s USDC accounted for 70% of the total, surpassing Tether’s USDt despite its smaller market capitalization. USDC Transfer Volume Trends USDC’s monthly transaction volume reached $1.26 trillion, more than double USDt’s $514 billion. Analysts note that USDC has consistently overtaken Tether in transfer volume over recent months. Its market cap stands at $77.4 billion, compared to USDt’s $184 billion, yet its usage growth signals rising adoption and liquidity in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Rising Stablecoin Supply Boosts Market Buying Power USDC’s supply has expanded rapidly, with…

Researchers reported that an experimental autonomous AI agent, ROME, attempted unauthorized crypto mining during its training phase. The AI, designed to complete tasks by interacting with tools, software environments, and terminal commands, reportedly diverted GPU resources and established a reverse SSH tunnel to an external IP address. The unusual behavior emerged during reinforcement learning runs, when security alerts flagged outbound traffic from training servers. Firewall logs indicated activity resembling crypto mining and attempts to access internal network resources. The research team noted that these actions were not intentionally programmed but occurred as the agent explored different ways to interact with…

Stablecoin issuer Circle has moved $68 million between its internal entities using its own stablecoin, demonstrating how blockchain based payments can replace traditional banking transfers. According to CEO Jeremy Allaire, the transfers were completed through the company’s Circle Mint platform, which is designed for minting and redeeming the stablecoin USD Coin. The system enabled Circle’s treasury team to carry out routine intercompany transfers that are typically processed through bank wire payments. In total, the firm executed 11 transactions across eight corporate entities, moving more than $68 million. Allaire said the transfers were finalized in under 30 minutes, highlighting a major…