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Binance plans to secure five additional regulatory licenses in Asia this year, Nikkei Asia reported. The exchange currently holds licenses in countries including Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, and Thailand, and it is also set to acquire a license in South Korea through its acquisition of Gopax. The company aims to expand its total number of licensed jurisdictions to over 20 this year by obtaining more licenses in the Asian region.

The Korea Exchange has activated circuit breakers for the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices, halting trading for 20 minutes, Yonhap News reported. This is the first such activation in approximately 576 days. It marks the sixth time a circuit breaker has been triggered for the KOSPI and the 11th time for the KOSDAQ. The last time circuit breakers were activated for both markets was on Aug. 5, 2024.

The development of Australia's tokenization market and cryptocurrency sector has the potential to generate 24 billion Australian dollars (about $17 billion) in annual economic value, according to a study from the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC), Cointelegraph reported. The research center stressed that regulatory action from lawmakers is a prerequisite for the crypto industry to realize this economic potential. It identified regulatory uncertainty, difficulties in policy coordination, and a lack of clear pathways for scaling pilot projects as major obstacles. The DFCRC recommended introducing a regulatory sandbox to test new technologies like tokenized financial markets and improving the current licensing framework. It also suggested operating tokenized government bonds and an institutional central bank digital currency (CBDC) within the sandbox to support the tokenization market, collateral-based lending, and related financial services.

Bitcoin zero-knowledge rollup project Citrea has launched the Citrea Foundation to support the expansion of the Bitcoin application ecosystem, according to an official blog post. The foundation is an independent organization dedicated to fostering the growth and decentralization of Bitcoin's programmable ecosystem, with a core mission to support the open-source community and developers. This approach aims to ensure that protocol development remains a collaborative, community-driven process. The foundation plans to support cryptographic research for building trustless infrastructure, develop Bitcoin bridge technology, and operate a grant program for developers. It will also provide strategic support for ecosystem building and community expansion.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) held its first Virtual Asset Committee meeting of 2026 on March 4 at the Government Complex Seoul, chaired by FSC Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young. The committee discussed its response to a past incident involving erroneous virtual asset payments and explored directions for regulatory improvements. According to Edaily, officials from relevant ministries, financial authorities, and private sector members also reviewed the main contents of the government's draft for a bill known as the Digital Asset Basic Act, or the second phase of virtual asset legislation. Following the meeting, the FSC will work to enhance the self-regulatory internal control standards of the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA) and will proceed with government-party consultations to advance the legislation.

The Korea Exchange has triggered a sell-side sidecar for the KOSDAQ market. This is the first time the mechanism has been activated in four months.

South Korean police have arrested a new type of phishing gang accused of hacking a cryptocurrency wallet and stealing 800 million won (about $602,000) worth of Tether (USDT), Newsis reported. The Seoul Gangbuk Police Station announced today that it had arrested seven members of the organization on charges including violations of the Information and Communications Network Act and the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Six of the individuals, including the 41-year-old leader identified only as A, have been detained. The group is accused of carrying out the hack around April of last year.

Artificial intelligence (AI) models prefer Bitcoin over fiat currency, Decrypt reported, citing a study from the Bitcoin Policy Institute. According to the research, 22 out of 36 AI models from companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek, xAI, and Minimax chose Bitcoin as their most preferred currency. No model selected fiat currency as its first choice. For the study, each model was treated as an independent economic agent and allowed to choose a currency freely without any predetermined options.

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb announced it will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals for AKT at 9:00 a.m. UTC today.

Paraguay's National Power Administration (ANDE) has signed a memorandum of understanding with crypto infrastructure firm Morphware to launch the country's first government-led Bitcoin mining project using confiscated miners. According to Bitcoin Magazine, the pilot phase will deploy approximately 1,500 mining rigs, which will be operated in compliance with regulations using the nation's surplus hydroelectric power.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has warned that the growing use of stablecoins could undermine the eurozone's monetary sovereignty by weakening its control over monetary policy and disrupting the intermediary role of banks, Bloomberg reported. In a recent report, the ECB stated that a widespread shift of household deposits to cryptocurrencies could impair the banking sector. The central bank added that this impact would be significantly amplified if non-euro-denominated stablecoins come to dominate the market. The ECB also projected that increased stablecoin adoption could create uncertainty in the transmission of policy interest rates to lending. To protect monetary sovereignty, European authorities and the financial sector are now promoting the development of euro-based stablecoins and establishing relevant regulations, the report added.

Iranians are buying Bitcoin in large quantities and withdrawing the funds to self-custody addresses amid the country's conflict with the United States, Bitcoin Magazine reported, citing data from Chainalysis. From January to March of this year, Iran's cryptocurrency ecosystem grew to $7.8 billion. The data also showed that BTC withdrawals from exchanges to personal addresses surged following localized battles, bombings, or internet shutdowns.

BlackRock has withdrawn 4,376 BTC ($298 million) from and deposited 567 BTC ($38 million) to Coinbase Prime over the past 12 hours, according to data from Lookonchain.

The recent increase in global liquidity is largely driven by China, which explains why gold has been rising while Bitcoin has seen a correction, according to Chris Tipper, an analyst at the Australian-based crypto investment firm Ainslie Wealth. In a post on X, Tipper noted that while global liquidity stands at around $190 trillion, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) has been the primary contributor to its recent growth. The PBoC is expected to inject a similar amount of liquidity this year as the $1 trillion it supplied in 2023. However, due to the ban on BTC and cryptocurrency investments in China, this capital has flowed into gold and other real-world assets (RWA). Tipper argued that Bitcoin's recent decline is not due to a breakdown in its correlation with global liquidity, but rather a shift in the composition of that liquidity. He predicted that BTC will enter a recovery phase once Western liquidity momentum accelerates, driven by factors such as market intervention by the U.S. Federal Reserve or a weaker dollar.

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Matt Hougan stated on X that adding BTC to a traditional 60/40 portfolio, comprised of 60% stocks and 40% bonds, improves returns. He noted that adding BTC to such a portfolio improved returns with 100% probability over a three-year holding period and with 93% probability over a two-year period. Hougan explained that Bitwise first published this research in 2018 and has applied the same methodology every year since, with consistent results. He added that the optimal BTC allocation is 5% and that regular rebalancing helps improve returns.

The Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) team deposited 450 million PENGU, worth $3.12 million, to Binance seven hours ago, Onchain Lens reported. Such deposits to exchanges are typically interpreted as an intention to sell.

The Bitcoin transferred from a U.S. government-controlled wallet on March 3 was from funds seized from Miguel Villanueva, The Block reported. A government address moved 0.3348 BTC, worth $22,658, to three new addresses. Following the three transactions, the entire balance of the wallet labeled as belonging to Villanueva was depleted. While details of the original seizure are unknown, The Block noted that the transfer aligns with a plan to create a strategic reserve of seized Bitcoin rather than immediately selling it.

Token securities are not a temporary trend but are poised to become a pillar supporting the structural convergence of the capital market, said Lee Eog-weon, chairman of South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC), on March 4. He added that the government will overhaul the entire system, including issuance, distribution, and disclosure, to foster the emergence of diverse and innovative token securities. The Herald Business reported that Lee made the remarks at the kick-off meeting for a joint public-private "Token Securities Council," which will design the system's detailed framework and infrastructure. A law to establish a regulatory framework for token securities, which passed the National Assembly in January, is scheduled to take effect on Feb. 4 of next year following the finalization of subordinate regulations and the construction of necessary infrastructure.

The U.S. banking sector's opposition to paying rewards on stablecoins under the proposed CLARITY Act is likely to fail, according to an analysis by investment bank TD Cowen. The Block reports that TD Cowen noted in a recent paper that the banks' logic for opposing consumer rewards is politically unsustainable. However, the bank warned that a prolonged conflict between the banking and crypto industries could jeopardize the passage of the market structure bill itself. TD Cowen also explained that while the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) previously moved to block indirect payments of stablecoin rewards, the action is largely insignificant as the OCC lacks discretionary power in interpreting the law.

Binance has announced the temporary suspension of deposits and withdrawals on the Ethereum (ETH) network for wallet maintenance, starting at 5:55 a.m. UTC on March 4. The exchange stated that the maintenance is expected to last for approximately one hour.

The Altcoin Season Index from crypto data aggregator CoinMarketCap stands at 36, unchanged from yesterday. The index is calculated by comparing the price performance of the top 100 cryptocurrencies, excluding stablecoins and wrapped coins, against that of Bitcoin. An "altcoin season" is declared when 75% of these top 100 coins outperform Bitcoin over the preceding 90 days. The opposite scenario is considered a "Bitcoin season." A score closer to 100 indicates a stronger altcoin season.

Cryptocurrency adoption is surging in Latin America, with Argentina leading the charge, DL News reported, citing a report from crypto exchange Lemon. Last year, the region's crypto adoption rate was three times faster than that of the U.S., with Argentina ranking first in monthly active users. While Argentinians have historically used stablecoins to combat inflation, usage among locals and tourists increased last year due to the expansion of payment infrastructure. Peru also showed growth in areas such as crypto-related app usage and exchange trading volume.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has fallen four points to 10, remaining in the "Extreme Fear" range, according to data from Alternative. The index, which shifted from "Fear" to "Extreme Fear" on Jan. 30, has stayed at the latter level since. The metric measures market sentiment on a scale from zero (extreme fear) to 100 (extreme optimism). It is calculated based on volatility (25%), trading volume (25%), social media mentions (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin's dominance (10%), and Google search volume (10%).

Cryptocurrency infrastructure firm BitGo's European entity has officially launched its Crypto-as-a-Service (CaaS) across the entire European Economic Area (EEA), Cointelegraph reported. This enables European fintech companies and banks to legally offer cryptocurrency services to their customers using BitGo's infrastructure, without the need to build their own complex regulatory systems.

Bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings (MARA), formerly Marathon Digital, has denied rumors of a large-scale sell-off of its Bitcoin holdings. According to Cointelegraph, Robert Samuels, the company's Vice President of Investor Relations, clarified that the core of its approach to its Bitcoin treasury has not changed. He acknowledged that a 10-K report included language about expanding the company's strategy to permit the sale of Bitcoin from its balance sheet. However, Samuels stated this was not an unconditional plan to sell but rather a move to secure the option to trade at its discretion based on market conditions and capital allocation priorities. MARA Holdings currently holds 53,822 BTC.