betting

According to Hong Kong Radio, the Hong Kong government has decided to stop promoting basketball gambling projects. The Secretary for Home Affairs and Youth Affairs, Mak Mei-juan, stated in an interview with this station that the information collected by the authorities shows that the "prediction market" has developed rapidly in recent years, with monthly trading volume increasing from less than $100 million two years ago to over $13 billion last year, of which nearly 40% of the transactions are related to sports. The authorities are concerned that if new gambling projects are promoted at this time, it will lead to greater public concern and even participation in illegal gambling in the "prediction market." Therefore, it is believed that research should be conducted first before deciding on the next steps, and the promotion of new gambling projects should be halted for now.Mak Mei-juan stated that the existing regulated gambling projects have established a more mature monitoring and management system, which can help control risks. However, due to the uncertainty of the "prediction market," as a responsible government, there is a need to conduct research to understand the impact of the "prediction market" and its prevalence in Hong Kong. She also mentioned that the government has always maintained close contact with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, as the club has a rigorous monitoring system to oversee illegal gambling situations, and there are experts specifically targeting the fight against illegal gambling. The government will cooperate with the Jockey Club to obtain professional advice, allowing the authorities to implement measures specifically aimed at illegal gambling.Mak Mei-juan reiterated that the government's consistent policy is not to encourage gambling, and betting on sports projects in the "prediction market" is considered illegal gambling. The authorities will strengthen public education to help citizens understand the harms of gambling and refrain from participating in illegal gambling.

According to The Block, the total amount of bets related to the 2026 elections on the Polymarket platform has exceeded $2 billion. With the elections in Hungary and Peru approaching, the betting volume in April has significantly increased; the share of bets from non-U.S. markets has risen significantly and now accounts for a majority.The Block points out that election prediction markets are no longer exclusive to the United States and are gradually becoming a global phenomenon.

According to The Block, zero-knowledge proof scaling developer StarkWare announced layoffs and initiated an internal restructuring. Co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson stated in an all-hands meeting that the company is "overly large" and needs to return to a "startup mode" to accelerate product-market fit. The specific number of layoffs and the timeline have not yet been disclosed, but the company promises to provide severance compensation that exceeds legal requirements.After the restructuring, StarkWare will split into two independent business units: one is a revenue-oriented application department led by current CPO Avihu Levy, focusing on developing monetizable products on its own technology stack; the other is the Starknet development department led by current product head Tom Brand. Each unit will have its own engineering, product, and marketing teams.Strategically, StarkWare plans to fully control the complete blockchain proof technology stack, including Cairo, Sierra, and quantum-resistant STARK cryptography, reducing reliance on external Layer 1 blockchains and application teams. Ben-Sasson stated that the company will shift from "doing many things well" to "doing a few things excellently," focusing on high-potential, high-value directions that only StarkWare can achieve. Additionally, COO Oren Katz has applied for resignation and will officially leave at the end of April.

Benchmark reiterated its bullish outlook on Securitize in its latest research report, giving it a target price of $16 post-IPO (stock code SECZ), believing it is poised to significantly benefit from the wave of tokenized assets.Analysis indicates that the total market capitalization of companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange is approximately $44 trillion. If Securitize captures just 1 basis point (0.01%) of that market, its platform asset size could double from the current approximately $4 billion. Benchmark emphasizes that Securitize is not only a tokenization platform but also possesses a "complete regulatory qualification system" that includes broker-dealer, transfer agent, and trading functions, which is expected to generate diversified income throughout the entire lifecycle of asset issuance, secondary trading, and custody services. Additionally, the company has been designated as the digital transfer agent for the tokenized securities platform that the New York Stock Exchange plans to launch, which supports 24/7 trading. Meanwhile, its tokenized U.S. Treasury fund BUIDL, in collaboration with BlackRock, has approached $3 billion, indicating rapid growth in the institutional-level RWA market. However, Benchmark also cautions that factors such as regulatory uncertainty, fragmented liquidity, and technological risks may still exert pressure on its valuation.

According to CoinDesk, as market sentiment improves, the Bitcoin options market is showing a significant shift. The call options with a strike price of $80,000 on Deribit have become the most popular trades, with an open interest exceeding $1.6 billion, surpassing the previously dominant $60,000 put options (with an open interest of about $1.41 billion). Analysts believe that the recent temporary ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has led to a decline in oil prices, easing inflation expectations, which may enhance the market's expectations for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve, thereby benefiting risk assets including Bitcoin.In addition, asset management firm 21Shares stated that with continued inflows into ETFs and increased institutional holdings, if the geopolitical situation eases and the regulatory environment improves, Bitcoin could potentially surge to $100,000 by the end of the second quarter. However, risks remain in the market; the current ceasefire situation is relatively fragile, and if the conflict in the Middle East escalates again, a rebound in oil prices could suppress market risk appetite, thereby limiting Bitcoin's upside potential.

Kyle Samani, co-founder of Multicoin Capital, stated on the X platform that he is willing to bet on the viewpoint proposed by KOL ampera that "Bittensor (TAO) will enter the top 10 of crypto assets before 2028," and he is willing to accept a maximum bet amount of $1 million.

Polymarket platform data shows that the market bets an 80% probability that edgeX's FDV will exceed 300 million USD on the day after its launch, a 57% probability for exceeding 400 million USD, a 36% probability for exceeding 500 million USD, and a 19% probability for exceeding 600 million USD.According to previous news, edgeX will launch its TGE tonight at 20:30, and the official Twitter account has currently closed the comments section.

According to CNN, citing multiple sources, federal prosecutors in Manhattan, New York, are investigating whether some high-yield bets in prediction markets violate insider trading and other laws.According to insiders, the head of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York recently met with representatives from Polymarket to discuss how existing laws might apply to potential misconduct in this rapidly evolving industry. The U.S. Department of Justice is focusing on those high-profile high-yield bets, marking an escalation in regulatory scrutiny of the industry. Over the past year, the prediction market industry has rapidly expanded with relatively limited federal oversight.

According to The Block, Anchorage Digital and Chainlink Labs jointly funded the newly established political action committee "Blockchain Leadership Fund," marking Anchorage Digital's first involvement in PAC financing.The fund plans to support candidates who promote digital asset and blockchain policies ahead of the midterm elections and actively engage in voter education. Currently, the U.S. Congress's cryptocurrency legislative process is stalled, with the Senate Banking Committee still at odds with the banking industry over stablecoin reward regulation issues. Meanwhile, the crypto advocacy organization Stand With Crypto has also launched a legislator digital asset position scoring system to continue building momentum for the industry ahead of the 2026 elections.

According to market news, bond traders are panicking over the possibility of further escalation in the Iran conflict and are seeking to hedge against the worst-case scenario of war consequences—namely, that the Federal Reserve may be forced to raise interest rates in the coming weeks.In the options market tracking Federal Reserve policy, demand for bets linked to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) has emerged, corresponding to scenarios of interest rate hikes as early as within two weeks. If the bond market significantly raises interest rate hike expectations before the Federal Reserve policy meeting on April 29, these trades will profit. This surge in hedging demand for emergency rate hikes marks a sharp reversal in market sentiment.Jeff Schuh, head of the rates department at Constitution Capital, stated that while the latest bets do not reflect the market's baseline scenario, they do indicate growing concerns: rapidly rising inflation will pose risks to investors who have been long on U.S. Treasuries in recent months. Currently, the interest rate swap market only accounts for a 3 basis point hike at the April 29 policy meeting, with a 12% probability of a 25 basis point increase.

According to the official announcement, the Huobi HTX "全民龙虾交易赛" will officially start on March 26 from 20:00 to 22:00. Special invited AI trading experts will compete with their exclusive AI players in a 2-hour racing showdown to validate their strategies in real trading.This competition has three major awards for the champion, runner-up, and third place. The champion will receive a reward of 1000U equivalent in $HTX, the runner-up 500U, and the third place 200U. The competition results will be evaluated based on a combination of profit amount ranking (weight 60%) and return rate ranking (weight 40%). At the same time, Huobi HTX will provide each participant with a loss reimbursement of up to 200U equivalent in $HTX and a subsidy for large model calls of up to 50U equivalent in $HTX, helping AI players to compete at full strength.Regular users can also win prizes! Log in to the Huobi HTX App and enter the event page to participate in the champion prediction. If you guess correctly, you can share a prize pool of 100U equivalent in $HTX. The entire event will be live-streamed, with real-time analysis of AI orders and opening and closing strategies. During the breaks, users can easily copy strategies by one-click following excellent traders and share in the trading benefits of experts.Follow the official Huobi HTX live broadcast room and lock in on March 26 at 8 PM to witness the peak showdown of AI competition.

The probability of Polymarket betting that the FDV of the Backpack token on its launch day will exceed $300 million has dropped to 58%, the probability of exceeding $200 million is 91%, the probability of exceeding $100 million is 99%, and the probability of breaking $500 million is about 13%.

According to Cointelegraph, data shows that for the week ending March 9, Polymarket and Kalshi set all-time highs in nominal trading volume, reaching $2.49 billion and $2.85 billion, respectively. Dune data indicates that the continued growth in trading activity has driven the total nominal trading volume of all prediction markets to $14.5 billion, with the number of unique users reaching 2.8 million.Meanwhile, U.S. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff has introduced the "DEATH BETS Act," which aims to amend the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) to explicitly prohibit federally regulated prediction markets from listing contracts related to war, terrorism, assassination, and personal death. Previously, six Polymarket traders faced insider trading allegations after profiting $1 million from accurately betting on a U.S. attack on Iran.

According to Bloomberg, citing informed sources, Polymarket is hiring companies including Palantir Technologies to help regulate its sports contract trading. This move is particularly noteworthy as the prediction market faces increasing scrutiny over insider trading issues.Informed sources stated that Palantir Technologies and TWG AI will assist Polymarket in identifying, preventing, and reporting suspicious activities. These individuals requested anonymity as the information has not been made public.They also mentioned that the measures include screening participants to cross-check against existing lists to confirm whether individuals who have been banned from participating in sports betting are attempting to trade on the platform.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, about an hour ago, someone created a new wallet (0xe074...10e2) and spent $25,676 betting that Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz before March 31.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, a trader named majorexploiter spent 4.53 million USDC 9 hours ago betting on Arsenal Football Club to win on March 1, 2026, and earned a profit of 2.42 million dollars.Data shows that he made 3 related bets in less than 3 days, all of which were profitable, with a total profit of approximately 3.67 million dollars.

According to Polymarket data, the probability of the market for "Khamenei will step down as Iran's Supreme Leader before March 31" has sharply risen to 93% today, an increase of 85 percentage points from before, with a total market trading volume of $30.43 million.