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Economist Peter Schiff posted on the X platform that mortgage structures backed by crypto assets could significantly increase home buying costs.Borrowers not only have to pay traditional mortgage interest but also bear the interest on the "second loan" secured by crypto assets. This model essentially amounts to 100% financing for the property, thereby amplifying leverage levels and potentially increasing overall default risk.

On March 26, the European Central Bank published a working paper studying the governance concentration of four major DeFi protocols: Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth, and Uniswap.The paper, based on holding snapshot data from November 2022 and May 2023, found that although governance tokens are distributed across tens of thousands of addresses, the top 100 holders in each protocol control over 80% of the supply, and a large number of governance tokens can be linked to the protocols themselves or centralized and decentralized exchanges, with Binance being the largest identified centralized exchange holder among the four protocols.In terms of voting participation, the paper noted that actual voters are mainly representatives who obtain proxy voting rights from small holders. The top 20 voters in Ampleforth control 96% of the proxy voting rights, the top 10 voters in MakerDAO hold 66%, and the top 18 voters in Uniswap hold 52%. About one-third of the main voters cannot be publicly identified.The paper argues that these findings challenge the assumption of inherent decentralization in DAOs, making it more difficult to determine regulatory anchors under the EU MiCA framework. MiCA currently excludes "fully decentralized" services from its scope. The paper also points out that it is impossible to determine from public data whether the holdings associated with the protocols belong to founders, developers, or treasuries, nor can it be determined whether exchange wallets are voting on behalf of themselves or their clients. The paper represents the authors' views and does not represent the official position of the European Central Bank.

According to Cointelegraph, Maxine Waters, a senior Democrat on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, has written to Jeff Schmid, president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, requesting an explanation regarding the approval of a limited-purpose master account for Kraken Financial.Waters has asked the Kansas City Fed to clarify the specific permissions of the Kraken account, the federal services accessible, any additional conditions or restrictions, and the anti-money laundering and consumer protection measures being considered by April 10. Kraken's banking division received the account earlier this month, allowing direct access to the Federal Reserve's core payment system, Fedwire.Waters pointed out that innovations in payments, digital assets, tokenization, and artificial intelligence are rapidly outpacing the existing legal framework, necessitating transparency in access to critical financial infrastructure. According to the crypto advocacy organization Stand With Crypto, Waters is rated as a "strong opponent of cryptocurrency."

According to Cointelegraph, a court in Texas, USA, dismissed a lawsuit filed by crypto developer Michael Lewellen. Lewellen sought a declaratory judgment from the court, stating that his developed software Pharos (used for donating to charitable crowdfunding activities) would not be prosecuted for violating money transmission laws. U.S. Chief District Judge Reed O'Connor dismissed the case on Wednesday, stating that Lewellen failed to demonstrate a credible and imminent threat of prosecution.Lewellen expressed his disappointment on the X platform, saying, "I am disappointed that the court dismissed my lawsuit today." The court's dismissal opinion also referenced a memorandum from the U.S. Department of Justice, which stated that the department would no longer prosecute virtual currency exchanges, mixing services, or offline wallets for actions or inadvertent violations by their end users. Lewellen added, "The non-binding memorandum from the Department of Justice cannot replace true legal certainty."

According to the Economic Observer, Ba Shusong, the chief economist of the China Banking Association and a senior advisor at the HSBC Business School of Peking University, is suspected of being involved in an illegal fundraising case and was taken away by the authorities around March 12, 2026, since then he has been "out of contact" with the outside world.Insiders say that the case may be related to an illegal fundraising project led by his students, and Ba Shusong has been restricted from leaving the country for at least six months. His affiliated institution and he himself have not publicly responded to the relevant situation.

The Federal Court for the Northern District of California recently dismissed Coinbase user Roger Metz's attempt to block the IRS subpoena.Metz claimed that the IRS's subpoena requiring Coinbase to hand over financial records related to its 2022 tax audit violated his privacy rights and procedural rules, and stated that he had discovered errors and paid additional taxes before the subpoena was issued. The court ruled that Metz's failure to notify the U.S. Attorney General within 90 days constituted "insufficient service," dismissing the case but allowing him to resubmit the application in the future.

Meta announced that starting June 15, users will no longer be able to build, publish, or update virtual reality worlds on Meta Quest headsets, nor will they be able to access Meta Horizon Worlds through Quest headsets. This virtual world feature will continue to be available on the Meta Horizon mobile app.A Meta spokesperson cited a blog post from February of this year, which mentioned that the company is shifting the focus of Worlds to "almost entirely mobile-centric." Earlier in January of this year, Meta had cut about 1,000 jobs from the Reality Labs division and closed several virtual reality game and content studios. Andrew Bosworth, head of Reality Labs and Chief Technology Officer, stated in a memo to employees that Meta will primarily focus on mobile experiences rather than immersive virtual worlds accessed through headsets.This move marks Meta's further retreat from the metaverse strategy previously championed by Mark Zuckerberg. Resources in Reality Labs have shifted from VR gaming to advancing wearable products aimed at AI goals, including Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

According to The Block, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit voted 7 to 3 to deny Custodia Bank's request for an en banc review, upholding the October 2025 panel's ruling that the Federal Reserve has the authority to approve or deny master account applications from eligible institutions.Notably, just days ago, the Kansas City Fed granted Kraken its first limited cryptocurrency master account, while the Federal Reserve is also developing a broader "streamlined master account" framework.Custodia is a Wyoming-chartered special purpose depository institution founded by Wall Street veteran Caitlin Long. The company first applied for a master account in October 2020. The Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank confirmed in early 2021 that there were "no significant issues" with the application, but ultimately denied it in January 2023 due to concerns about the bank's focus on a cryptocurrency business model.Custodia filed a lawsuit in June 2022, initially regarding a 19-month delay in approval, and later argued that the Currency Control Act grants any eligible depository institution the right to obtain a master account by law. Courts at all levels dismissed the lawsuit.

According to the Financial Times, victims of investment fraud in China are challenging a compensation arrangement involving approximately 61,000 bitcoins in a UK court. Representatives of the victims have filed an application with the High Court of England, seeking to overturn the proposal for compensation through the Chinese compensation mechanism, arguing that this plan may allow UK authorities to retain significant asset appreciation gains.These bitcoins were seized by the UK police during a money laundering investigation in London and are currently valued at around £3.2 billion (approximately $4.3 billion). It is reported that the law firm Candey represents about 5,700 victims in opposition, claiming that the current compensation scheme fails to ensure fair compensation.The fraud case is led by Qian Zhimin and involves over 128,000 Chinese investors, with the proceeds of the fraud converted into bitcoins and transferred overseas between 2014 and 2017. The UK prosecution has stated that some claims may result in a few victims and litigation funders receiving compensation exceeding their actual losses.

According to Bloomberg, U.S. prosecutors stated that FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried's request for a retrial should be denied because he failed to prove that his conviction was unjust.SBF is serving a 25-year prison sentence after a jury found him guilty of fraud and conspiracy in connection with the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange in 2023.

According to Bloomberg, this week, the lawyer of Chen Zhi, who is accused of being the head of a large-scale "pig butchering" scam gang, filed a motion in a New York federal court to dismiss the U.S. government's seizure of a batch of Bitcoin related to him. The lawyer argued that the prosecution's allegations regarding Chen Zhi's oversight of the scam operation lack specific evidence and are merely a vague description of the overall situation in Cambodia. They also questioned the timeline of the cryptocurrency seizure, stating that these Bitcoins could not possibly be the proceeds of fraud or money laundering.The U.S. Department of Justice announced the seizure of 127,271 Bitcoins controlled by Chen Zhi last October, which were valued at approximately $15 billion at the time. Chen Zhi had his nationality revoked by Cambodia in January this year and was extradited to China. Following sanctions from the U.S. and the U.K., over $1 billion in assets have been frozen or seized in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea. Human rights organizations pointed out that after the closure of the scam operation, thousands of trafficked workers have flowed out from places like Sihanoukville, facing the risk of being sold again.

"1011 Insider Whale" agent Garrett posted on platform X, stating that the current trend of Brent crude oil is still in the first phase, and multiple narratives in the market have not led to substantial changes. For example, the G7's statement that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is "ready to release" more is more of a gesture than a real solution, and expectations regarding a ceasefire remain largely at the narrative level.There is a lot of noise in the current market, but there is only one truly critical question: Is the Strait of Hormuz open? The answer remains negative. If this key shipping chokepoint continues to be restricted, its duration will become the core variable affecting energy market trading.

According to Reuters, Anthropic filed a lawsuit on Monday attempting to prevent the Pentagon from placing it on a national security blacklist, escalating the high-stakes confrontation between the AI lab and the U.S. military over restrictions on the use of its technology.The Pentagon officially designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk last Thursday, restricting a technology that, according to insiders, is being used for military operations in Iran. Anthropic claims in the lawsuit that this designation is illegal and infringes on its rights to free speech and due process. The documents submitted to the federal court in California request that the judge overturn the designation and prevent federal agencies from enforcing it.Anthropic stated, "These actions are unprecedented and illegal. The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its immense power to punish a company for its protected speech."Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listed Anthropic as a national security supply chain risk last week after the company refused to remove restrictions on its AI for use in autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance. This designation poses a significant threat to Anthropic's government business, and the outcome could affect how other AI companies negotiate restrictions on the military use of their technology.However, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei clarified on Thursday that the designation has a "limited scope," and the company can still use its tools in projects unrelated to the Pentagon.

A bill has been proposed in New York State, USA, aiming to prohibit AI from answering questions in professional fields such as medicine, law, dentistry, nursing, psychology, and engineering.According to relevant interpretations, this action is essentially not about protecting the public, but rather "an industry that charges $500/hour is using politicians to protect its knowledge monopoly." Lawyers do not want users to know that AI can draft contracts in 30 seconds, doctors do not want users to know that AI can interpret blood reports better than residents, and engineers do not want users to know that AI can review your design sketches overnight. The intention behind New York State's proposed ban on AI answering professional questions is not to protect users, but to protect their businesses.

According to Cointelegraph, the UK House of Lords questioned Coinbase's Vice President of International Policy, Tom Duff Gordon, on Wednesday, focusing on whether stablecoins could lead to a loss of bank deposits and pose new risks to the UK financial system.Gordon stated that fully reserved and regulated stablecoins are "safer than uninsured bank deposits" because they are backed 1:1 by cash and high-quality government securities and can be redeemed at face value. He emphasized that stablecoins can significantly reduce payment costs and accelerate cross-border payments.Members of the UK House of Lords questioned the redemption risks of stablecoins during a crisis, their potential impact on banks, and their role in criminal activities. Gordon countered that concerns about disintermediation from banks are "greatly exaggerated" and emphasized that Coinbase strictly enforces KYC and anti-money laundering measures.Adam Jackson, Chief Strategy Officer of Innovate Finance, warned that the UK could establish a regulatory regime "stricter and less competitive than the EU's MiCA framework," causing the UK to fall behind the US and Europe in the competition for stablecoin innovation.

According to The Block, a16z Crypto criticized the colloquial use of the term "ZK" in certain developer environments in a blog post about its Jolt zkVM. The article pointed out that most zkVMs do not actually possess zero-knowledge properties unless expensive "wrapping" programs are applied. The author also mentioned that "zk" often becomes synonymous with "conciseness," meaning "short proofs that verify quickly," rather than true zero-knowledge privacy.As the community's focus on privacy grows, the misuse of this terminology is becoming a real issue. a16z's open-source Jolt zkVM launched a major upgrade on Tuesday, natively supporting zero-knowledge proofs. Jolt employs the NovaBlindFold folding scheme to create blinded proofs to prevent information leakage, making it suitable for privacy applications, with the zero-knowledge proofs generated after the upgrade only increasing by about 3 KB compared to the original non-ZK proofs.

According to Jin Ten, ECB Governing Council member Nagel stated that the role of the dollar as the preferred traditional currency during uncertain times is increasingly being questioned, leading to its weakening exchange rate. He pointed out that there is growing skepticism about the dollar's status as a safe-haven currency, and the trend of dollar weakness is expected to continue, as the decline in international investors' confidence may persist.

Eleven U.S. senators have sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pamela Bondi, requesting a comprehensive review of Binance's compliance with U.S. sanctions and anti-money laundering requirements, as well as an assessment of its adherence to the 2023 settlement agreement.The letter cites reports indicating that approximately $1.7 billion in digital assets flowed through Binance to entities linked to Iranian terrorism, including organizations associated with the Houthis and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Investigators also found that over 1,500 accounts were accessed by Iranian users, along with potential activities related to evading sanctions against Russia. The letter further notes that some compliance personnel at Binance who identified suspicious transactions were subsequently dismissed, and law enforcement agencies have indicated that Binance's cooperation in providing customer information has declined. Senators Chris Van Hollen, Ruben Gallego, and nine other senators co-signed the letter, expressing concerns about Binance's payment card launched in the former Soviet region and its partnerships related to stablecoins, believing these products could be used to evade sanctions. The senators have requested that the relevant agencies report on the review's progress by March 13. Additionally, Senator Richard Blumenthal initiated a congressional investigation into Binance this Tuesday, requesting relevant documents and internal records from Binance CEO Richard Teng. Binance denies the allegations, stating that it has identified and reported suspicious activities to authorities and does not allow Iranian users to access its platform.