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According to Fortune, Valinor, a blockchain private credit startup co-founded by former Blackstone employees, announced the completion of a $25 million seed round financing. This round was led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from the crypto division of Susquehanna, Maven11, and the founder of TeraWulf, a Bitcoin mining company transitioning to artificial intelligence.Valinor's core business is to put the private credit process on-chain. Traditional private credit institutions rely on manual verification and spreadsheet collaboration when handling revolving credit lines and other businesses. Valinor plans to replace these processes with smart contracts to achieve automated routing of funds and condition-triggered execution.Both co-founders have traditional finance backgrounds, having worked in banks and the private credit division of Blackstone before transitioning to the crypto industry in 2022. Initially, Valinor focuses on providing loans to crypto companies, and later plans to introduce blockchain technology into the loan process to enhance efficiency. Currently, the company has completed lending for several fintech and crypto companies through blockchain technology.The funds raised in this round will be used to expand the loan scale, broaden the customer base, and increase team personnel, with the current number of employees at 6.

Foreign exchange trading startup XFX, which supports stablecoin trading, has completed a $17 million financing round, led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Haun Ventures and Coinbase Ventures.Santiago Alvarado, co-founder and CEO of XFX, declined to disclose the valuation of the company in this financing round. It is reported that XFX currently allows customers to exchange between stablecoins and also permits the exchange of three fiat currencies: US dollars, Mexican pesos, and Colombian pesos.

According to Cointelegraph, M1X Global, behind the Marshall Islands UBI program, has completed a $3 million angel round of financing, with investors including former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan and Cumberland Labs CEO Tama Churchouse, among other figures in the crypto industry. The funds will be used to promote the expansion of USDM1 digital sovereign bonds into the institutional market.USDM1 was launched on the Stellar blockchain last December, but the IMF has warned that the project carries financial risks and cybersecurity vulnerabilities, believing that its returns are not proportional to its risks.

According to a report by CCTV cited by Jinshi, on March 20 local time, U.S. officials stated that the U.S. military is deploying three warships and approximately 2,500 Marines to the Middle East. Previously, informed sources indicated that the troop increase would provide U.S. President Trump with more military options, including launching operations to "clear" the Strait of Hormuz, which would require deploying air and naval forces to the Iranian coastline.According to informed sources, the Trump administration is also considering deploying ground troops to Khark Island, the "lifeline" of Iranian oil exports. This plan aims to seize the island as leverage to force Iran to restore passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Khark Island is located in the northwestern part of the Persian Gulf, more than 20 kilometers from the Iranian coast, and is Iran's largest crude oil export base, with about 90% of Iran's oil exported from here.

According to Axios, Trump is seeking to form a multinational coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and plans to announce it later this week. Four sources revealed that if the situation of oil tanker passage in the Persian Gulf continues to be obstructed, Trump is also considering seizing Iran's key oil transshipment hub, Khark Island, which would require the intervention of U.S. ground forces.Iran is currently blocking oil exports from Gulf countries while allowing tankers loaded with Iranian crude oil to pass freely. On Saturday, Trump stated on Truth Social that the U.S. and multiple countries would send warships to the Persian Gulf and called for participation from China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the UK. On Sunday, he mentioned on Air Force One that the U.S. is negotiating with seven countries, some of which have refused to participate.The White House refers to the plan as the "Hormuz Coalition," and no country has publicly committed to joining yet, but senior officials expect countries to announce support this week. On Sunday, Trump discussed the plan with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and warned NATO allies that failure to respond would have negative implications for NATO's future.Regarding Khark Island, it is located about 15 miles off the coast of Iran and accounts for approximately 90% of Iran's crude oil exports. Trump ordered strikes on military facilities on the island on Friday but did not target oil facilities. U.S. officials stated that seizing the island would constitute an economic blow to the Iranian regime but could also provoke Iran to retaliate against oil facilities in Gulf countries.

According to Iranian state media, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that after the U.S. military attacked Iranian islands (Hark Island), U.S. ports, docks, and military bases within the UAE have become legitimate targets for strikes.On the evening of the 13th Eastern Time, U.S. President Trump posted on social media, stating that the U.S. Central Command "just" bombed the Iranian oil export hub Hark Island at his direction, "completely destroying all military targets on the island." Trump mentioned that he did not choose to destroy the island's oil infrastructure. However, he threatened that if Iran or any other country interferes in any way with the safe passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, "I will immediately reconsider this decision."

According to Fortune, stablecoin infrastructure company Cyclops announced the completion of an $8 million funding round, with the valuation undisclosed, with participation from Castle Island Ventures, F-Prime, and Shift4 Payments.Cyclops is dedicated to building a layer of infrastructure to accelerate the adoption of stablecoins. Cyclops co-CEO Alex Wilson stated, "Our vision and goal is to be the first platform that payment companies think of when building various stablecoin solutions."

The father of smart contracts and co-founder of Castle Island Ventures, Nic Carter, posted on the X platform stating that the incentivized posts on platforms like Kaito combined with AI have generated a large amount of low-quality content. The early fun of the crypto tweet circle was in grassroots gaming, but the current industry growth focus has shifted towards stablecoins and financial infrastructure, leaning more towards institutional and VC narratives, making it difficult for ordinary retail investors to feel the opportunity for "fair participation and getting rich against the odds," leading to a decline in participation enthusiasm.Additionally, the "de-niche" design of the X platform, which enhances "recommendations for you," makes it difficult for creators to reach their niche communities, resulting in fewer opportunities for crypto professional content to be recommended. Nic Carter added that the X platform has quickly responded by revoking the API access for the "InfoFi" application to reduce platform spam content, and he strongly supports this approach.

According to Bitcoin Archive, a bill for a Bitcoin tax exemption has been proposed in Rhode Island, USA, which will exempt state income tax and capital gains tax on small Bitcoin transactions with an annual transaction volume not exceeding $20,000.

The Marshall Islands distributes a national basic income (ENRA) through Stellar. The government of the Marshall Islands launched the first round of ENRA distribution on November 26, 2025, covering all citizens of the Marshall Islands, with funding sourced from the investment returns of the Compact Trust Fund (capped at 4%). The distribution methods include checks, bank transfers, and blockchain channels (Lomalo digital wallet, supported by Stellar). Additionally, the Stellar Foundation has also led the development of the digital sovereign bond USDM1. USDM1 is pegged 1:1 to short-term U.S. Treasury bonds, denominated in U.S. dollars and redeemable at face value.The national basic income is a mechanism through which the Marshall Islands ensures that national wealth is regularly shared among all citizens via this fund. The program aims to implement universal nationwide distribution for all resident citizens, with no income or employment thresholds, and maintains regular disbursements.

According to CoinDesk, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has completed the world's first on-chain distribution of Universal Basic Income (UBI) using the digital native sovereign bond USDM1 on the Stellar blockchain.The country's Ministry of Finance confirmed that this multi-million dollar initiative was developed in collaboration with the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) and infrastructure provider Crossmint, as part of the local UBI program ENRA. This program replaces quarterly physical cash distributions with digital transfers, benefiting many eligible citizens living across various islands. USDM1 is a sovereign bond denominated in US dollars, fully backed by short-term U.S. Treasury securities, and distributed through the Stellar issuance platform to a customized digital wallet application called Lomalo.A spokesperson for the Marshall Islands Ministry of Finance stated that USDM1 is issued under New York law, based on established legal frameworks, rather than regulatory discretion or policy preference. The U.S. Treasury collateral is held by an independent trustee, with redemption rights being fixed, unconditional, and legally enforceable. ENRA is a fiscal distribution program, issuing one unit for every one unit in trust short-term U.S. Treasury securities, fully backed and legally isolated throughout the process. The government emphasizes that USDM1 does not compromise the country's monetary or technological sovereignty. A white paper released alongside the initiative outlines its broader policy and financial framework.

The father of smart contracts and co-founder of Castle Island Ventures, Nic Carter, posted on the X platform stating that it is quite difficult for investors to achieve success in this cycle. Therefore, he suggests emotionally "decoupling" from cryptocurrencies, not putting too much pressure on themselves, and not feeling the need to succeed in this cycle. Reality is not like that; the price trends of cryptocurrencies over the past decade have blinded investors, and this situation may not happen again, as success requires creating products and delivering real value.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, institutional-grade liquidity vault startup RockSolid has completed a $2.8 million Pre-Seed funding round, led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Blockchain Builders Fund, GSR, Kindred Ventures, Rocket Pool, and the Stanford Blockchain Accelerator.The company also launched the first official rETH vault integrated into the Rocket Pool frontend. The new funds will be used to expand the technology, operations, and marketing teams. RockSolid's first product is a white-label one-click rETH vault, directly embedded in the Rocket Pool staking application interface, providing holders with customized DeFi strategy access. Nic Carter, founding partner of Castle Island Ventures, emphasized that the solution aims to lower the barriers for institutions and communities to participate in DeFi. Currently, Rocket Pool is the third-largest decentralized staking protocol, with a locked value of over $2.7 billion.

ChainCatcher news reports that, according to U.S. President Trump, he has "never had the pleasure" of visiting Jeffrey Epstein's island. Trump stated that he declined Epstein's invitation and called it a wise decision. Previously, Trump has repeatedly distanced himself from Epstein. (Jinshi)ChainCatcher news reports that, according to previous reports, on July 24, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump in May that there were many individuals involved in Epstein's files, including his name. The White House gave a contradictory response after the report was released: initially issuing a statement calling it "fake news," but a White House official later told Reuters that the government did not deny Trump's name appearing in some documents, noting that Trump's name had already been included in materials compiled by Bondi in February for conservative influencers.Trump was friends with Epstein from the 1990s to the early 2000s, and Trump's name appeared multiple times in the flight logs of Epstein's private jet during the 1990s. The names of Trump and several of his family members also appeared in Epstein's contact book, alongside hundreds of others. Recently, the Trump administration went against campaign promises by stating that it would not release these documents, a move that faced strong opposition from his supporters. Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein, stating that their friendship had ended long before Epstein first encountered legal troubles 20 years ago.

ChainCatcher news, according to DL News, the crypto pair trading platform Pear Protocol announced the completion of a $4.1 million strategic funding round, led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Compound VC, Florin Digital, and Sigil Fund.It is reported that the platform has completed a native integration with the Hyperliquid perpetual contract order book.

ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, the cross-border settlement infrastructure project XFX has officially launched and completed a $9.1 million seed round financing. This round of financing was led by Haun Ventures and Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Oak HC/FT, MAYA Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Paxos, Bitso, and other institutions.XFX focuses on building institutional-grade cross-border settlement infrastructure, aiming to promote the future development of global capital flows. The specific technical details and application scenarios of the project have not yet been disclosed, but its support from several well-known blockchain investment institutions indicates the market's continued interest in cross-border payment solutions.