transition

According to Cointelegraph, about two years away from Bitcoin's fifth halving, mining companies are facing a more challenging operating environment than the halving in 2024. At that time, the block reward will drop from 3.125 BTC to 1.5625 BTC, compounded by record-high network hash rates, rising energy costs, and a more cautious capital market, significantly compressing the industry's profit margins.On the balance sheet front, several leading mining companies have begun to actively deleverage. MARA Holdings sold over 15,000 Bitcoins in March to reduce leverage, Riot Platforms sold over 3,700 in the first quarter, Cango sold 2,000 to repay Bitcoin collateralized debt, and Bitdeer's Bitcoin holdings dropped to zero on February 20.Industry insiders generally hold a cautious outlook. Cango's communications head, Juliet Ye, stated, "The middle ground has almost disappeared; operators with scale and diversified layouts can cope, while those lacking these conditions will struggle in the next halving." GoMining CEO Mark Zalan pointed out, "Capital discipline is now more important than maximizing hash power," and new deployment projects must meet stricter return thresholds.In terms of business models, pure block rewards have become "an increasingly thin business," with strong operators moving towards power and data center businesses, exploring additional revenue through grid peak shaving and waste heat utilization. Cango is transitioning to a dual-line model focusing on both computing power and AI workloads, with Ye stating, "The truly important facilities in five years will be those that can do multiple things simultaneously."

Nasdaq submitted a rule change to extend the timeline for switching the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) and iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) from specific listing requirements to general listing standards, from the originally scheduled first quarter of 2026 to the third quarter of 2026, to give the sponsor BlackRock more time to complete the transition.The change was submitted on March 31, 2026, and took effect immediately.

NASDAQ-listed company AVAX One Technology (AVX) announced the advancement of its AI infrastructure strategy. The company has signed a FEED plan for a 10MW AI/HPC microgrid data center, located in Alberta, Canada, leveraging the local low-cost natural gas power to create a high-cost-performance, scalable dedicated AI computing facility. The project is designed by BlueFlare and is one of the first AI computing centers in the area.At the same time, the company invested less than $500,000 to purchase 220 Bitmain S21 Pro mining machines, increasing Alberta's computing power from 150 PH/s to over 200 PH/s. This move serves as a transitional cash flow source during the construction period of the AI center, achieving a dual-track layout of "mining + AI computing power" to quickly monetize existing power capacity.

According to Fortune, Zaheer Ebtikar, the founder of the crypto hedge fund Split Capital, announced the closure of the fund and officially joined the stablecoin startup Plasma as Chief Strategy Officer. Ebtikar stated that the closure of the fund was not due to poor performance, but rather because he believes that the crypto hedge fund business model is no longer viable. Ebtikar pointed out that the launch of digital asset ETFs by traditional financial institutions such as BlackRock and Fidelity has allowed institutional investors to allocate crypto assets directly through compliant channels, leading to a significant decline in demand for crypto hedge funds. Meanwhile, the crypto venture capital sector has also experienced a "mass elimination," with the prices of mainstream cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum having dropped nearly 50% from their historical highs in 2025.

According to BBX data, yesterday global listed companies showed strong momentum in "revenue monetization" and "mainstream financial institutions entering directly" in cryptocurrency asset allocation:$50 million strategic increase: Nomura's digital asset subsidiary Laser Digital announced yesterday that it has completed a $50 million increase in Bitcoin treasury on behalf of its parent company. This marks the first time a major Japanese financial giant has clearly decoupled its proprietary positions from institutional brokerage business, indicating that Japanese financial institutions are beginning to view BTC as core Tier 1 capital.Direct conversion of advertising revenue: Reddit disclosed in its quarterly supplemental filing submitted to the SEC yesterday that it has begun converting part of its excess cash reserves and advertising revenue into BTC and ETH. Reddit stated that the allocation of its on-chain native assets aims to provide underlying liquidity for the future "contributor economy."$25 million hedging initial position: Zillow Group's board approved a $25 million allocation for Bitcoin yesterday. As a real estate technology giant, Zillow plans to use BTC as a cross-border liquidity buffer for its global home purchase settlement business to combat fluctuations in multiple fiat currency exchange rates.15% net profit allocation: WonderFi officially established financial guidelines yesterday, announcing that it will convert 15% of its net profit each quarter into Bitcoin reserves over the next three years. It executed its first purchase of $2.4 million yesterday, with total holdings steadily increasing.$10 million debt transformation: Stronghold Digital disclosed yesterday that the $10 million in cash freed up through a debt-to-equity agreement has all been converted into Bitcoin, establishing a financial restructuring goal of "low debt, high holdings."

Bitget recently released a promotional video for UEX, centered around the core proposition "Switch to Bitget, the Universal Exchange," interpreting a multi-asset unified trading scenario and encouraging traders to switch from fragmented single-asset platforms to an integrated cross-market trading entry.In response to the current macro environment where the correlation between cryptocurrency, U.S. stocks, gold, and foreign exchange markets continues to strengthen, Bitget previously upgraded the app's interactive experience, integrating crypto assets, stocks, and CFD products into a unified trading entry, allowing users to perform cross-market operations on the same interface, shortening the operational path by about 30% compared to the industry's conventional processes.Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated that the traditional fragmented trading methods are causing users to continuously lose Alpha opportunities, and the goal of the panoramic exchange UEX is to eliminate operational friction between different markets, providing users with a unified and efficient global asset trading entry.

Fernando Martinelli, co-founder of the Balancer protocol, announced the official closure of Balancer Labs (BLabs). He stated that BLabs, as a corporate entity, has become a burden for the protocol's development, and due to the ongoing legal risks from the v2 vulnerability incident on November 3, 2025, along with a lack of sustainable revenue sources, the decision to close has become inevitable.Core team members of BLabs will be integrated into Balancer OpCo through governance voting, with the relevant proposal submitted by Marcus and Danko.Fernando also stated that the protocol still has practical operational value—over $1 million in annualized total fee revenue in the past three months—so it will not cease operations entirely. He clearly supports the currently proposed tokenomics restructuring plan, which includes: reducing BAL emissions to zero, shutting down the veBAL mechanism, allocating 100% of protocol fees to the DAO treasury, lowering the v3 protocol revenue share to 25% to attract organic liquidity, and providing a buyback exit channel for BAL holders.

According to a report by Jinshi Data, "Fed mouthpiece" Nick Timiraos stated that the surge in energy prices has made the already tricky power transition at the Federal Reserve even more difficult.This process was already quite complex. Kevin Walsh's appointment has been stalled due to a Department of Justice investigation and obstruction from Tillis. Additionally, unlike previous Federal Reserve chairs since Volcker, Walsh has committed to a complete break from his predecessor's policies rather than continuing them.Currently, the market expects a 50-50 chance of interest rate hikes and cuts this year, which could put Walsh in a dilemma: on one hand, there is the president who nominated him, and on the other, the committee he is about to lead.In 2008, after a period of aggressive rate cuts, oil prices suddenly surged. At that time, Walsh strongly pointed out that the inflation risk "is the main risk" and suggested that the Fed's next move should be to raise interest rates. However, Trump's expectations were exactly the opposite.

CryptoQuant analyst Axel Adler Jr stated, "The last time the seller risk ratio showed active selling pressure signals was in December 2024 (around $107,000), after which the signal has remained off. Currently, the model shows accumulation signals, while the selling pressure on the network has decreased to about 6 times lower than the average level of this cycle. The indicator continues to decline and has replicated the levels seen during the 2022-2023 bear market, when Bitcoin prices were around $16,000-$20,000.The current cycle has gone through a distribution phase and has re-entered the accumulation phase, which is still ongoing. The 180-day rolling average has dropped to 1,913, a level that historically corresponds to bear market phases, but at that time, the corresponding price was only $16,000-$20,000, while the current price is in the $67,000-$72,000 range. The current market state is neutral with a slight accumulation bias. The main risk is: if there is a lack of price catalysts, the market may enter a prolonged consolidation, in which case the rolling average SRR indicator will continue to decline."

The blockchain attendance proof protocol POAP announced that it will enter maintenance mode starting March 16, 2026, ceasing the onboarding of new issuers, but existing issuers, integrations, and collection tools will continue to operate.POAP co-founder Isabel Gonzalez stated that the platform successfully found its niche in the crypto-native community but failed to break out of the niche to achieve larger-scale expansion. The platform began charging commercial clients in 2023 to sustain operations, but still could not support further development.Since its first issuance at the 2019 ETHDenver hackathon, POAP has minted over 6.7 million tokens, attracting more than 37,000 issuers, including brands like Adidas and Porsche. The team is currently focused on building an open digital collectibles standard to provide a more sustainable infrastructure for community event records and participation certification.

The development team behind Across Protocol, Risk Labs, has proposed to dissolve the existing DAO structure and transform the project into a U.S. C Corporation. The team pointed out that the current token and DAO architecture have significantly impacted its ability to collaborate with institutional and corporate partners, and a traditional corporate structure will help explore new business opportunities.According to the proposal, ACX token holders can choose to exchange their tokens for equity in the new company at a 1:1 ratio or redeem them for USDC at a price of $0.04375 each, which is a 25% premium over the average price of the past 30 days. Holders of over 5 million tokens can directly convert to equity, while smaller holders can participate through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).After the announcement, ACX surged 70% in a single day to $0.06. The redemption window is expected to open within three months after the proposal is approved, lasting for six months. Co-founder Hart Lambur emphasized that the formal decision must be approved by a DAO vote.

Bitfinex released a report stating that despite the fierce BTC sell-off momentum, the $60,000 to $62,000 range remains intact, indicating that forced selling is gradually transitioning to a phase where it is being absorbed by the market, rather than a new round of capitulation selling.The situation with derivative positions confirms that leverage has been fully reset. The open interest in futures has decreased by more than 50% from the peak in October, and after the escalation of the situation in Iran, the funding rate briefly turned significantly negative, indicating that market sentiment has bottomed out, with a large proportion of short positions. Historically, if spot demand follows, such extreme situations will create conditions for a rebound short squeeze.However, the options market presents a more complex picture: recent options skew remains defensive, with strong demand for downside protection, while the quarterly positions in late March show a clear bullish tendency, concentrated in the $80,000 to $90,000 range.

According to Cointelegraph, despite previous rumors about Arkham planning to shut down its trading platform Arkham Exchange, Arkham CEO Miguel Morel stated that the cryptocurrency trading platform launched by Arkham Intelligence is not shutting down and is transitioning from a centralized model to a fully decentralized trading platform (DEX).He stated, "The future of crypto trading is decentralized, and that is the direction we are working towards." Arkham Exchange launched in 2024, supporting users for spot crypto trading and perpetual contract trading. The platform released its mobile application by the end of 2025.According to CoinGecko data, as of the time of writing, Arkham's average daily trading volume is approximately $640,000.

Investment firm Variant's Chief Legal Officer Jake Chervinsky posted on the X platform: "Today is my last day working full-time at the company, after which I will transition to an advisory role."

According to Jinshi News, Federal Reserve Governor Cook stated that the labor market has stabilized and is roughly in balance, but will closely monitor any potential rapid changes.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission announced that licensed corporations, virtual asset service providers licensed by the SFC, and related entities (collectively referred to as "licensed institutions") must transition to the new suspicious transaction reporting platform developed by the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit, namely the "Second Generation Suspicious Transaction Reporting and Management System" (STREAMS 2) by February 2, 2026.This platform will replace the existing system to enhance automation and analytical capabilities, thereby improving the efficiency of analyzing suspicious transaction reports and disseminating financial intelligence. From February 2, 2026, STREAMS 2 will be the only channel for submitting suspicious transaction reports, and licensed institutions can submit reports in XML format, specified PDF format, or via an online form.

According to The Block, the European cryptocurrency trading platform Bitpanda will launch trading for stocks and ETFs on January 29, integrating over 10,000 stock and ETF products into its existing application.Bitpanda stated in a press release that this launch marks "the first time the largest cryptocurrency, stock, and ETF products in Europe are combined into one application," creating what it calls the most comprehensive regulated investment platform in Europe.Founded in 2014, Bitpanda has established a pan-European business under various national and EU regulatory frameworks and holds licenses to operate in the European Economic Area and the UK.

According to market news, informed sources indicate that Polygon has recently implemented a large-scale internal layoff, with about 30% of employees being dismissed this week. On social media, several Polygon-related employees and ecosystem members have posted information about resignations or team changes.This layoff occurs after Polygon's strategic shift towards stablecoin payment and the completion of the acquisition of Coinme and Sequence for a total of $250 million. Polygon Labs' communications director, Kurt Patat, confirmed that the layoffs are part of the team integration measures following the acquisition, and the total number of employees is expected to remain stable.

Lighter's marketing director Sebastián J. announced on Discord that its Equity Perps (U.S. stock perpetual contracts) market is now live on the mainnet, open 24 hours a day for 5 days a week (Monday to Friday, with weekends off). Previously, these markets only followed U.S. trading hours. These markets are about to achieve round-the-clock trading.