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The Bitcoin Layer 2 network Stacks announced that its SIP-034 upgrade has been implemented on the mainnet, which can increase the network processing capacity of some DeFi applications by up to 30 times.The upgrade optimizes transaction processing limits by resetting only the exhausted single resource limit instead of all limits, thereby utilizing block capacity more efficiently. Alex Huth, the product lead at Stacks Labs, stated that this improvement has the greatest impact on complex and read-intensive DeFi applications, such as concentrated liquidity and advanced automated market maker (AMM) designs. Although the upgrade does not directly change the STX token economics, it is expected to indirectly increase transactions and fees as network activity increases.

According to Nikkei Asia, Japanese fiber optic cable manufacturer Fujikura announced that it will invest up to 300 billion yen (approximately 1.9 billion USD) in Japan and the United States, planning to triple its fiber optic cable production capacity to meet the strong demand brought about by the construction of artificial intelligence data centers.This investment is part of a series of actions by Japanese material companies in response to the Japan-U.S. Economic Cooperation Agreement and to accelerate their layout in the U.S. Meanwhile, several Japanese companies are also actively following up on investments related to AI infrastructure, including JX Advanced Materials expanding AI material production capacity and Japan promoting the construction of a domestic AI chip ecosystem.

According to the Nikkei Asia, Bhutan, once known as the "Kingdom of Happiness," is facing a severe outflow of young talent and a high unemployment rate.To revitalize the economy, the Bhutanese government is supporting a state-led Bitcoin mining initiative and promoting the "Gelephu Mindfulness City" special administrative zone project—this is a planned special zone centered around environmental protection, hoping to inject new momentum into national development through the cryptocurrency economy.

The People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, has officially approved a project to establish a large new venture capital fund. This venture capital fund plans to raise 50 trillion VND (approximately 190 million USD) by 2035 to promote the development of the city's technology ecosystem. Priority investment areas include artificial intelligence and blockchain digital technology, semiconductors, biotechnology, and renewable energy. Several enterprises and investment funds, including Vingroup, Sovico Group, VinaCapital, FPT Corporation, and Lotte Ventures Vietnam, have formed a consortium to participate in this fund.

According to Startupresearcher, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam has approved the establishment of a large new venture capital fund, which plans to raise 50 trillion Vietnamese dong (approximately 190 million USD) by 2035 to promote the development of the technology ecosystem in Ho Chi Minh City.Priority investment areas include artificial intelligence and blockchain digital technology, semiconductors, renewable energy, etc. Currently, several companies and investment funds, including Vingroup, Sovico Group, VinaCapital, FPT Corporation, and Lotte Ventures Vietnam, have formed a consortium to participate in the fund.

According to market news, staff from the City of Vancouver have recommended terminating a council motion that explored the city becoming a "Bitcoin-friendly city," citing that its regulations do not allow Bitcoin to be held as a municipal reserve asset.In the report, staff stated that it has been definitively determined that Bitcoin does not fall under the category of permitted investment assets, and referenced the Vancouver Charter, which stipulates the allocation of municipal funds and does not allow Bitcoin to be held as a reserve asset.The motion was proposed over a year ago by Mayor Ken Sim, aiming to explore the possibility of accepting cryptocurrency for tax payments and converting part of the financial reserves into Bitcoin. The British Columbia Ministry of Municipal Affairs pointed out at the time that, according to provincial regulations, municipal authorities cannot hold financial reserves in cryptocurrency, as the legislative intent is to prevent local government funds from facing undue risks.

According to market news, the Catalonia police in Spain recently dismantled an illegal Bitcoin mining operation in the Sant Vicenç de Castellet industrial area of Barcelona. According to estimates by the national electricity company Endesa, the operation illegally obtained electricity by directly connecting to the high-voltage power grid, with a value of up to €860,643, marking the largest electricity theft case in the industrial sector in the region in nearly a year.During the raid, police seized 88 Bitcoin mining devices. Investigations revealed that the operation had been running illegally since October 2025, lacking both a power meter and protective systems. Its dangerous three-phase connection method also posed serious fire hazards, threatening the stability of electricity supply to nearby businesses. A 34-year-old Asian man, identified as the main suspect in the case, appeared in court in Manresa on March 3 and is currently facing charges of electricity theft.

According to Criptonoticias, the Catalonia police in Spain seized an illegal Bitcoin mining operation in Sant Vicenç de Castellet, Barcelona, which was operating through illegal connections to the high-voltage power grid.According to calculations by the Spanish national electricity company Endesa, the amount of electricity fraud involved is as high as €860,643, one of the highest amounts recorded in the industrial sector in the region over the past year. Police discovered 88 ASIC mining machines in the industrial building, which were directly connected to the grid via a three-phase system, without any meters or protection systems.Investigators pointed out that this type of connection poses a serious risk of overload and fire, while threatening the stability of power supply to surrounding businesses. A 34-year-old man, identified as a suspect in the case, appeared in court in Manresa on March 3. Currently, the judicial proceedings are only focused on the alleged crime of electricity fraud, and the police are assessing the seized equipment to determine the actual scope of activities.

According to Decrypt, the Bitcoin rebound continues, breaking through $71,000 for the first time in three weeks, but whether this upward trend can be sustained still depends on the overall liquidity environment and geopolitical risks.Ranveer Arora, co-founder and CEO of Altura, stated, "The continuous inflow of ETF funds provides structural buying support, but the more direct driving factors seem to be position resets, reduced supply elasticity post-halving, and improved liquidity expectations. In the crypto market, once selling pressure is digested and positions start to rotate, the flow of leverage and derivatives often accelerates the price discovery process." Arora believes that Bitcoin's performance is still closely related to the global liquidity environment. He pointed out that Bitcoin's performance "is less like a traditional defensive asset and more like a high-beta expression of global liquidity conditions."Alex J., Chief Product Officer of LetsExchange, stated that Bitcoin's rise to $71,000 is "mainly driven by escalating geopolitical tensions and rising uncertainty." When asked whether this rebound can be sustained, Alex J. said, "It's unlikely. But the price is also not expected to drop significantly." He explained that when the global financial system experiences severe turmoil, significantly affecting the liquidity flows between different assets, Bitcoin struggles to compete with conservative assets like gold.

According to CoinDesk, Tether and the city of Lugano, Switzerland, have committed to invest up to 5 million Swiss francs (approximately 6.3 million USD) to expand its Bitcoin initiative, aiming to make Lugano a global hub for digital infrastructure.The plan builds on the existing foundation of over 400 merchants accepting Bitcoin and USDT payments.

The Paraguayan National Electricity Company ANDE has signed a memorandum of understanding with the cryptocurrency infrastructure company Morphware to launch the country's first government-led Bitcoin mining pilot project using Bitcoin mining machines seized by law enforcement.The first phase will deploy approximately 1,500 confiscated mining machines and utilize local surplus hydroelectric resources for compliant mining. According to the arrangement, ANDE is responsible for the ownership and regulation of the mining site, while Morphware provides technical and operational support. For the mined Bitcoin, the government is discussing selling it for public expenditure or using financial instruments to hedge risks and hold part of the assets.

According to a report by Cointelegraph, the latest working paper released by the European Central Bank on Tuesday shows that the growth of stablecoin usage is siphoning off funds from bank deposits, weakening the transmission of monetary policy to loans.The research indicates that the rising interest in stablecoins is associated with a significant decline in retail bank deposits and a decrease in corporate loans. When deposits decrease, banks may be forced to rely more on wholesale or market financing, which is typically more expensive and unstable. The European Central Bank points out that the extent of stablecoins' interference with the transmission channels of monetary policy depends on their adoption scale, design features, and regulatory approach. In particular, stablecoins denominated in foreign currencies may further weaken the link between domestic monetary policy and bank loans.

The blockchain data analytics platform Nansen will establish a local entity and form a team in Gelephu, Bhutan, to provide blockchain data and market intelligence to industry participants in the region. CEO Alex Svanevik stated that this move is not to replace the Singapore operations but to add a new entity, choosing Gelephu because its vision is to integrate digital assets into the economic framework from the start.It is reported that Nansen plans to hire locally, and details about the team size and office will be announced in the coming months.

The autonomous internet protocol development company Unicity Labs announced the completion of a $3 million seed round financing, led by Blockchange Ventures, with participation from Middle Eastern communication application Tawasal and early Web3 investment firm Outlier Ventures.The company plans to use the new funds to build a peer-to-peer encryption architecture that enables autonomous AI Agents to discover services, verify counterparties, and conduct transactions at machine speed, without the need for intermediaries or shared ledgers.

The founder of Bitcoin Strategy, Michael Saylor, posted on the X platform stating that during bank holidays, Bitcoin can still transfer any amount to any location in the world within minutes, with transaction fees of about $0.44 (approximately 1 sat/vB).During the previous "Blocksize Wars" period, there were widespread concerns in the market that Bitcoin would face a scalability crisis. However, more than a decade later, Bitcoin's on-chain transaction fees remain low, and network bandwidth resources are abundant. This outcome once again demonstrates that market mechanisms and technological innovations are often more effective in addressing systemic challenges than administrative emergency interventions.

According to Binance spot data, the market has experienced significant fluctuations. Multiple tokens have shown a "spike and drop" status, with EUL dropping 23.52% in 24 hours, GLMR down 16.27%, and CITY down 11.8%.Other tokens such as DEXE, XRP, CYBER, XAI, GPS, and 0G have also seen significant declines, with decreases of 9.93%, 9.62%, 10.81%, 14.05%, 17.36%, and 10.57%, respectively.

On-chain detective ZachXBT posted about the user @sexinfochina, stating, "This user deliberately concealed the fact that they are an online criminal operating the Chinese dark web market 'FreeCity'. They publicly promote certain illegal services on Telegram and knowingly facilitated five money laundering transactions for North Korean hackers. Two years ago, this user asked me to investigate the reason a CEX account was frozen, and I found that it traced back on-chain to a theft case involving over a hundred million dollars by North Korean hackers."In addition, ZachXBT responded, "Although most users of this dark web platform are Chinese, many illegal transactions occur in Southeast Asia and other places."

Binance posted on the X platform stating that the recent market-focused data comes from the third-party platform Coinglass, and there was also a data discrepancy from DefiLlama previously. Currently, the related data is expected to take another 24 to 48 hours to recover.Binance believes that regularly conducting withdrawal tests on trading platforms is a positive and healthy practice, and reminds users to carefully verify addresses during the testing process and to confirm accuracy before proceeding with withdrawals. Additionally, Binance suggested that the industry could consider establishing an annual "Withdrawal Day" to uniformly verify the authenticity of assets across platforms, in order to enhance transparency and market trust.

Gate Research Institute's latest market report indicates that in the past two weeks, the global risk appetite has declined due to rising geopolitical tensions and tariff uncertainties, putting overall pressure on the crypto market and maintaining a defensive oscillation. BTC's rebound has weakened, while ETH is even more sluggish, with funds flowing back to main chain assets and high-leverage network funds flowing out. Mainstream assets have yet to form a trend recovery. The market capitalization structure has become more layered, with the top 400 tokens experiencing a slight pullback, while the 401-500 small-cap segment has strengthened against the trend, with funds shifting towards high-elasticity targets for short-term speculation; on-chain gold-like assets have strengthened, reflecting risk aversion, while some previously high Beta themes have significantly retraced. In terms of volume and price, only a few tokens have shown a resonance in volume, while most remain weak with low volume, and the market is in a transitional phase of "mainstream defense, small-cap rotation, and volume-price differentiation."Against the backdrop of increased market volatility, investors' demand for risk hedging and cross-market allocation has simultaneously strengthened. Gate continues to expand its TradFi footprint, covering diverse contract tracks such as stocks, commodities, indices, foreign exchange, and metals, with its product categories at the forefront of the industry. Recently, the platform's volatility index trading has seen active increases, with BTC and ETH volatility index prices and volumes rising together, indicating an increase in short-term volatility expectations. Gate is providing a more complete multi-asset hedging and strategy tool system by bridging traditional finance and the crypto market.