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Despite market growth from increased user numbers and ETF listings, Australia's cryptocurrency industry continues to face regulatory uncertainty, Cointelegraph reported. Speaking at the 'XRP Australia 2026' event in Sydney on Feb. 27, Kate Cooper, CEO of OKX Australia, argued that restrictions on banking services for exchanges remain in place. John O'Loghlen, Coinbase's managing director for the APAC region, also called for an end to de-banking. He expressed concern that non-custodial wallet developers and public blockchain infrastructure providers could face excessive regulation amid reforms to payment service provider rules. Additionally, Bill Morgan, a pro-XRP Australian lawyer, commented that discussions on crypto-related legislation have slowed since the change in government.

Cho Jae-woo, a professor in the social sciences department at Hansung University, reported on X that he has confirmed the theft of 4 million PRTG tokens, worth approximately $4.8 million. He stated that the incident, which occurred about 10 hours ago, followed the leak of a mnemonic phrase in a press release from South Korea's National Tax Service.

Axiom employees used advance knowledge of an impending insider trading report to profit from bets on the prediction market Polymarket, CoinDesk reported. The development followed on-chain analyst ZachXBT's identification of Axiom, a Solana-based trading platform, as a project where insider trading had occurred. Just before ZachXBT's announcement, 12 wallets placed large bets on Axiom, collectively earning $1 million in profit. One account, predictorxyz, reportedly secured a $410,000 profit after betting when the probability of Axiom being named was just 13.8%. ZachXBT confirmed that he had contacted Axiom for fact-checking before his announcement, stating that a leak was "probably inevitable."

Upbit announced it will delist Nomina (NOM) at 6:00 a.m. UTC on March 30. Meanwhile, Bithumb has extended its delisting watchlist designation for NOM.

The following are the 24-hour long/short ratios for BTC perpetual futures on the world’s three largest crypto futures exchanges by open interest: Overall: 48.97% long, 51.03% short - Binance: 48.48% long, 51.52% short - OKX: 48.11% long, 51.89% short - Bybit: 48.62% long, 51.38% short

Solana has launched a new website, payments.org, and an official X account, "Solana Payments," both dedicated to its payments ecosystem. The site features a real-time payment simulator, developer documentation, and case studies on adoption by major financial companies. Solana stated that it has consolidated these resources to provide immediate utility for developers and businesses in the payments sector.

The number of consumer complaints related to cryptocurrency filed in South Korea surged last month, SBS Biz reported. According to the Korea Consumer Agency and the Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations on Feb. 27, cryptocurrency saw the largest month-over-month increase in consultations among all product categories. The number of cases jumped 30.2-fold from 68 last December to 2,054 last month. The figure marks a 55.5-fold increase from January of last year. The media outlet attributed the spike to a surge in investor inquiries after a virtual asset platform altered the conditions for a promotional event that provided support funds for API trading integration.

Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings and Startale, a Web3 joint venture between Sony and the Astar Network Foundation, have unveiled a Japanese yen stablecoin, JPYSC. According to The Block, JPYSC is a regulatory-compliant stablecoin slated for launch in the second quarter of this year, with issuance managed by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank. SBI's crypto exchange, SBI VC Trade, will act as the distribution partner, while Startale will lead the technology development.

ETH is expected to trade sideways for the time being, according to Swyftx analyst Pav Hundal. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Hundal said that short-term uncertainty has already been priced into the market, adding that it would not be surprising if ETH does not move significantly in the coming weeks. He noted that geopolitical tensions related to Iran and progress on a U.S. bill on crypto market structure (CLARITY) have also been largely factored in. However, Hundal pointed to short-term pressures, explaining that market confidence has not fully recovered since a liquidation event worth around $19 billion last October and that consumer sentiment has dropped to its lowest level since 2022.

Focus AI has completed its acquisition of the Busan Digital Asset Exchange (Bdan), concluding a process that began last December, Newspim reported. The company announced on Feb. 27 that it had made the final payment, securing a 40.61% stake to become the largest shareholder. Bdan is South Korea's first real-world asset (RWA) tokenization exchange, with ITcen Global holding an approximate 19% stake. Through the acquisition, Focus AI plans to expand its digital asset infrastructure business, including RWA, security token offerings (STO), and stablecoin-based payment and settlement services.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $68,000. BTC is trading at $68,013.99 on the Binance USDT market.

IoTeX (IOTX), which recently suffered a $4.4 million loss from a validator key theft, has proposed on X to end support for CIOTX across all its networks. The proposal covers networks including Ethereum, Base, Solana, BSC, Polygon, and IoTeX. The plan, designated IIP-56, outlines different termination procedures for each network based on the extent of the damage suffered. IoTeX intends to submit the proposal for community discussion before proceeding to a governance vote. The move follows an incident where a hacker illicitly minted 410 million CIOTX and converted $4.4 million in bridged assets to BTC and ETH.

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded a net inflow of $6.57 million on Feb. 26, marking the third straight day of positive flows, according to data from Trader T. The daily breakdown is as follows: - BlackRock (ETHA): +$15.33 million - Fidelity (FETH): -$19.22 million - 21Shares (TETH): +$7.61 million - Invesco (QETH): -$2.22 million - Grayscale (ETHE): +$6.60 million - Grayscale Mini (ETH): -$1.53 million

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net inflow of $253.89 million on Feb. 26, marking the third consecutive day of net inflows, according to data compiled by Trader T. - BlackRock's IBIT: +$275.26 million - Fidelity's FBTC: -$51.49 million - Bitwise's BITB: +$69.01 million - Ark Invest's ARKB: -$44.86 million - Grayscale's Mini BTC: +$5.97 million

Colony, an accelerator for the Avalanche (AVAX) ecosystem, announced it will cease operations at the end of the first quarter, citing difficulties in achieving structurally sustainable growth.

Peter Steinberger, developer and founder of the open-source artificial intelligence (AI) agent OpenClaw, said on his X account that his best advice for men in their 20s is to "not waste time on cryptocurrency."

The individuals who stole 22 BTC from the custody of Seoul's Gangnam Police Station have been identified as the CEO and operator of the company that originally reported the coins stolen in a hack, Yonhap News reported. The two men, both in their 40s, were the CEO and de facto operator of a cryptocurrency firm. In 2020, they filed a police report claiming that billions of won worth of their company's self-issued tokens had been hacked. Police have now determined that the pair stole the coins themselves due to financial difficulties at their company, cashing them out for approximately 1 billion won at the time.

The following shows estimated liquidation volumes and position ratios for major crypto perpetual futures over the past 24 hours: - BTC: $71.59 million liquidated (69.31% longs) - ETH: $64.51 million liquidated (60.48% longs) - POWER: $18.07 million liquidated (86.05% shorts)

South Korean financial authorities will convene the Virtual Asset Committee, a public-private advisory body, next week to discuss a basic act on digital assets, The Herald Business reported. South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) has scheduled the meeting for March 4, marking the committee's first session this year. The primary agenda item is the government's proposed legislation, which is expected to be finalized after soliciting feedback from the committee's private sector members. Key topics for discussion include potential restrictions on major shareholder stakes in exchanges, capping them at 15-20%, and a framework for stablecoin issuance led by banking institutions holding a majority stake of 50% plus one share.

The current Bitcoin downturn is expected to end around the fourth quarter, with upward momentum returning in the first half of 2027, according to on-chain analyst Willy Woo. He suggested that the decline appears to have somewhat stabilized, which could lead to about a month of sideways price action or a rebound to around $75,000. However, Woo noted that a breakthrough of that level seems unlikely due to worsening liquidity. He believes the bear market bottom will likely form at $45,000, adding that if the global macroeconomy collapses, the support level could drop to $30,000, with a final line of defense at $16,000.

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan announced in his recent 2026-27 budget speech that the government will classify cryptocurrencies, precious metals, and certain commodities as eligible for tax concessions to attract more family offices and funds. Currently, there are over 3,300 single-family offices established in Hong Kong. A related amendment bill is set to be introduced in the first half of this year and will take effect from the 2025-26 tax year.

A whale who purchased $500 million in BTC and ETH earlier this month sold 23,500 ETH, worth $47.6 million, at a loss today, EmberCN reported. The investor still holds 150,000 ETH ($302 million) and 4,000 cbBTC ($268 million). The average purchase price for the ETH was $2,667, while the cbBTC was acquired at an average of $73,837. The position currently has an unrealized loss of $126 million.

JPYC Inc., the issuer and operator of the Japanese yen stablecoin JPYC, announced it has secured 1.78 billion yen ($11.9 million) in its first Series B funding round. The round was led by software developer Asteria. The company plans to use the funds to expand its financial and Web3 ecosystems and accelerate the practical adoption of stablecoins. JPYC currently supports Avalanche, Ethereum, and Polygon.

The team address for the memecoin Trump (TRUMP) deposited 5 million TRUMP ($17.3 million) to Binance over the past nine hours. According to Onchain Lens, the funds were transferred from a BitGo wallet, and the team is likely to sell the tokens before making further deposits.

The number of wallets holding 100 BTC or more has reached 19,993 and is approaching the 20,000 mark, according to on-chain data analysis firm Santiment. In a post on X, the firm noted that an increase in the number of whales during a downturn is typically interpreted as a bullish signal. However, Santiment explained that the price has faced downward pressure because the proportion of the total supply held by these whales has not yet increased significantly. The firm added that historically, a rise in the number of whales has been observed during accumulation phases, which were subsequently followed by price rebounds.