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Iran's intelligence ministry indirectly contacted the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) through a third country's intelligence agency just one day after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes began, proposing talks on terms to end the war, The New York Times (NYT) reported. According to sources familiar with the matter, both the U.S. administration and Iran are highly skeptical about their readiness to establish a short-term exit strategy, or "offramp." The NYT added that Israeli officials reportedly favor a multi-week military operation to inflict maximum damage on Iran's military and potentially destabilize the regime, and have urged the U.S. to ignore Tehran's approach. The U.S. is currently not taking the proposal seriously, the report noted.

Decentralized prediction market Polymarket has deleted a publicly traded prediction market on a potential nuclear explosion following strong criticism from social media and market participants, The Block reported. The market was a contract on whether a nuclear explosion would occur within the year. Polymarket had previously posted on its official X account that traders were predicting a 22% chance of such an event, a post that has since been deleted. Industry observers noted that these types of markets raise ethical issues and social sensitivities, with some suggesting that prediction contracts related to war and violence have a high potential for insider trading.

Binance has announced it will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals for THORChain (RUNE) starting at 4:00 p.m. UTC on March 5 to support a network upgrade.

Brian Armstrong, CEO of U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, stated on X that the fundamentals of cryptocurrency are stronger than ever. He made the comment while citing a post from John D'agostino, a strategic advisor at Coinbase Institutional. D'agostino argued that the crypto market remains strong despite volatility and sharp shifts in investor sentiment. He emphasized that infrastructure has continued to improve even during general downturns, pointing to faster crypto payments, increased institutional investor participation, regulatory clarification, growing ETF-related fund activity, and engagement at the nation-state level.

Coupang Pay, the payment arm of South Korea's largest e-commerce company Coupang, has sparked speculation that it is preparing to introduce a stablecoin after a recent job posting for its legal team. According to the Korea Economic Daily, the posting listed "review of services and business structures related to stablecoin issuance, utilization, and distribution" as a key responsibility. Industry observers reportedly view this move as Coupang beginning a serious review of the business case for stablecoins. The primary incentive is the potential to significantly reduce payment processing fees. Industry estimates suggest that large e-commerce firms like Coupang could save hundreds of billions of won annually by replacing traditional payment systems with a stablecoin.

Bitcoin payment app Strike has launched a service allowing users to borrow cash against their Bitcoin, the company announced on X. Founder Jack Mallers said the loans carry an annual interest rate of 13%. The service is currently available only in Massachusetts and Georgia, with plans to expand across the U.S. and to global markets.

On-chain analyst ai_9684xtpa reported that a whale address starting with 0xA9A, suspected to be an anonymous institution, withdrew 4,900 ETH ($9.71 million) from OKX about two hours ago. The average entry price is $1,978.82, and the position is currently showing an unrealized profit of approximately $457,000. Withdrawals from exchanges are typically interpreted as an intention to hold.

South Korea's National Assembly Research Service (NARS) has concluded that a proposal by the government and the ruling Democratic Party to cap major shareholder stakes in cryptocurrency exchanges may be unconstitutional, the Dong-A Ilbo reported. In a response to an inquiry from People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon on March 4, NARS stated that such a limit could infringe on constitutionally protected rights to property, occupation, and corporate freedom. The agency argued that because shares are a protected form of property, linking ownership limits to the potential revocation of an exchange's license would violate the right to freely hold and dispose of assets. CoinNess previously reported that the cap being considered for inclusion in a proposed basic act on digital assets was expected to be around 20%.

Major exchanges have seen $100 million worth of futures liquidated in the past hour. In the past 24 hours, $460 million worth of futures have been liquidated.

An anonymous trader with an address starting in 0x004E has opened a 30x long position of 600 BTC, worth $42.7 million, over the past 20 minutes, Lookonchain reported. The move comes as Bitcoin rebounded to $71,000. The trader's average entry price is approximately $70,235, and the position is currently showing an unrealized profit of around $570,000.

Multiple Lamborghini dealerships in the U.S. have begun accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) for payments, Solid Intel reported.

Daily trading volume and open interest (OI) in prediction markets on BNB Smart Chain (BSC) have plummeted after the token launch and airdrop for the platform Opinion (OPN) failed to meet expectations, Wu Blockchain reported, citing data from Dune. According to the analysis, daily trading volume on BSC-based prediction markets has fallen by more than 70% week-on-week, while OI saw a net outflow of approximately $89.7 million last week. The number of daily active traders and total transactions are also trending downward. Wu Blockchain attributed the decline to the performance of Opinion, which it described as the leading project in the BSC prediction market sector.

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has announced that it will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals for Ardor (ARDR) starting at 9:00 a.m. UTC on March 11 to support a network mainnet upgrade.

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has again postponed the listing of Centrifuge (CFG) for won trading, now scheduled for 10:00 a.m. UTC today. The listing was initially set for 7:00 a.m. UTC and was later pushed back to 9:00 a.m. UTC before the most recent delay.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $71,000. BTC is trading at $71,097.04 on the Binance USDT market.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $70,000. BTC is trading at $70,039.87 on the Binance USDT market.

European crypto asset manager CoinShares has launched an exchange-traded product (ETP) for BNB that includes staking rewards, the company announced on its official X account. The product, which trades under the ticker CBNB, is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and is available for immediate trading. It carries a 0% management fee and provides a 0.25% staking yield.

The crypto and on-chain markets played a key role in enabling price discovery during the Iran crisis over the weekend, according to Bitwise Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Matt Hougan. He noted that just before the incident early Sunday morning, U.S. time, major global stock, futures, and foreign exchange markets were closed. The 24-hour crypto market was the only one where real-time price discovery was possible. Hougan explained that in the past, investors had to wait for U.S. futures markets to open following geopolitical events, but now they can react immediately through crypto infrastructure. He added that around the time of the incident, the decentralized perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid (HYPE) became a trading hub with volume exceeding $11.5 billion, and demand for tokenized assets also surged. "This Iran crisis will significantly accelerate the shift to on-chain finance," Hougan emphasized.

The current market is likely in the mid-to-late stage of a bear market, based on the activity of whale addresses holding over 10,000 BTC, crypto analyst Murphy (@Murphychen888) said on X. The analyst noted that there are currently 88 such addresses, down from 121 at the 2022 bear market bottom. These large-scale investors have historically followed a pattern of completing their accumulation before a bull market begins and reducing their holdings near the market peak. According to Murphy, these whales accumulated 2.54 million BTC by June 2024 before decreasing their holdings to 2.15 million BTC by last October, a drop of 392,000 BTC. As of March 2, their holdings have risen to 2.26 million BTC, indicating they have re-entered an accumulation phase. The analyst predicted that the next bull market could begin once this accumulation is complete.

James Throne, Chief Market Strategist (CMS) at Canadian investment advisory firm Wellington-Altus, has criticized the banking sector's efforts to block stablecoin rewards in the proposed CLARITY crypto market structure bill, calling it a defensive mechanism to protect vested interests. In a post on X, Throne argued that while JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has spoken of fair competition, a similar debate occurred in the 1970s over whether money market funds (MMFs) should offer rewards. At that time, he noted, politicians chose to support industry innovation and competition over protecting banks, which led to higher returns for ordinary investors and forced the banking sector to change. Throne emphasized that the banks' attempt to block stablecoin rewards is a hidden effort to eliminate innovative rivals, adding that stablecoins are already accepting institutional regulation. He concluded that the banking sector is wary of the spread of stablecoins because it threatens a profit structure built on what he described as a "quiet cartel."

Mentions of an "alt season" on social media are currently at extremely low levels, a phase that has often preceded altcoin rallies in the past, according to crypto on-chain analytics firm Santiment. In a post on X, Santiment explained that a high volume of social media activity related to an "alt season" generally tends to coincide with price peaks. Conversely, when mentions are at their lowest, it is common for large-scale holders to begin driving prices up. However, the firm cautioned that a lack of interest in altcoins does not necessarily lead to a price surge.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $69,000. BTC is trading at $69,003.52 on the Binance USDT market.

Binance has announced that it will list MANTRA/USDT perpetual futures at 8:00 a.m. UTC on March 4. The new contract will support up to 50x leverage.

Bitcoin is showing resilience despite geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and macroeconomic uncertainty, and its recent downtrend may be coming to an end, according to a new report from K33 Research. The report notes that BTC is in an oversold state after six consecutive weeks of decline, with its weekly Relative Strength Index (RSI) approaching all-time lows. It also highlighted that spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest inflows in five months last week, confirming institutional buying. Additionally, funding rates in the perpetual futures market turned negative at the end of last month, suggesting a lower probability of further price drops, while on-chain data indicates that selling pressure from long-term investors holding BTC for over six months is easing. K33 Research concluded that there is no compelling reason to sell BTC at its current price levels, suggesting that the present environment of lower volatility and reduced impact from macro shocks could present a favorable opportunity for long-term accumulation.

South Korean lawmakers are reportedly finalizing plans to cap major shareholder stakes in cryptocurrency exchanges at 20% as part of a new digital asset basic act. According to The Herald Business, the ruling Democratic Party's digital asset task force and South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) discussed the proposal yesterday. The plan would allow for exceptions of up to 34% ownership, subject to FSC approval via an enforcement decree. A three-year grace period for compliance after the law takes effect was also agreed upon. However, a differentiated standard would grant smaller exchanges like Coinone and Korbit an additional three-year extension. The Democratic Party's Policy Committee is expected to agree on a bill incorporating these measures following a closed-door meeting with the FSC tomorrow morning.