Golden Weekly is a weekly blockchain industry summary column launched by Golden Finance, covering the week's key news, mining information, project dynamics, technological progress and other industry dynamics. This article is the news weekly, taking you to a glance at the major events of the blockchain industry this week.
Headlines
▌BlackRock executives remain silent on Solana ETF plan
Although the application boom for Solana ETF continues to heat up, BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company (with $11.6 trillion in assets under management), has not yet joined the ranks. BlackRock's iShares brand currently manages the two largest spot cryptocurrency ETFs: iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF ($55.4 billion) and iShares Ethereum Trust ETF ($3.7 billion). When asked whether BlackRock has plans to launch a Solana ETF, Rachel Aguirre, head of BlackRock's US iShares product department, did not disclose specific details, but said that the company will follow three core principles: What are customer needs? Is the investment logic valid? Is it suitable for launching in the form of an ETF? Currently, institutions such as Franklin Templeton, Bitwise, Grayscale and 21Shares have submitted applications for Solana ETFs. Bloomberg analysts estimate that the probability of Solana ETF being approved by the US SEC is 70%.
▌Robinhood CEO: Trump Administration Could Pass Stablecoin Legislation This Year
When asked on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid podcast whether lawmakers will push for stablecoin regulation to be passed in 2025, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev responded, “I think so.” He noted that there are already stablecoin bills in circulation and another bill was introduced before the election, indicating that consensus is building on the issue.
Tim Scott, a Republican senator and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has formed a working group to expedite certain parts of digital asset legislation. Scott is working with David Sacks, the Trump administration’s head of crypto policy and a Silicon Valley investor.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Bill Hagerty recently proposed the United States Stablecoin Innovation Guidance and Establishment Act, a bill focused on regulating stablecoins.
▌Microsoft Open Source Multimodal AI Agent—Magma
At 3 a.m. today, Microsoft open-sourced the multimodal AI Agent basic model—Magma—on its official website. Compared with traditional agents, Magma has multimodal capabilities across the digital and physical worlds, and can automatically process different types of data such as images, videos, and texts. For example, you can use Magma to automatically place e-commerce orders and check the weather; you can also automatically operate physical robots, or get help when playing real chess. In addition, Magma also has built-in psychological prediction functions, which enhances the ability to understand the spatiotemporal dynamics in future video frames, and can accurately infer the intentions and future behaviors of people or objects in the video.
▌Trump holds first cabinet meeting: talks about tariffs, mineral agreements and "small government"
On February 26, local time, US President Trump held the first cabinet meeting of his second term. Elon Musk, head of the Government Efficiency Department, although not a member of the cabinet, also attended the meeting. Trump said that the State Department must be carefully selected for layoffs, and the United States will cut the government and reduce its size. Regarding the upcoming US-Ukraine mineral agreement, Trump said that the United States "will cooperate with Ukraine on rare earths." The United States hopes to recover the $350 billion allocated to Ukraine by reaching a mineral agreement. Trump said: "The United States will not provide security guarantees for Ukraine in an agreement to end the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but Europe will do so." He also said that Ukraine "can forget" about joining NATO. He plans to receive Ukrainian President Zelensky's visit to the United States on the 28th and hopes that the United States and Russia will have more talks. Trump said that most tariffs will continue to be implemented. The United States will impose a 25% tariff on goods imported from Mexico and non-energy goods imported from Canada from April 2 (originally scheduled for March 4). 25% tariffs are expected to be imposed on Europe soon, covering cars and other goods.
▌BitMEX is seeking to sell and has tapped investment bank Broadhaven Capital to assist with the transaction
Cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX is seeking to sell and has hired investment bank Broadhaven Capital Partners to assist with the transaction. BitMEX was founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes and others and was accused of failing to implement effective anti-money laundering measures. Hayes resigned as CEO after facing criminal charges in the United States.
▌U.S. SEC characterization: memecoins are not securities, investors need to bear their own risks
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Corporate Finance Supervision Division issued guidance on memecoins, saying that they are not securities, but similar to collectibles. The department believes that the transactions related to memecoins described in the guidance do not involve the issuance and sale of securities under federal securities laws. Therefore, individuals involved in the issuance and sale of memecoins do not need to register their transactions with the Commission under the Securities Act of 1933, nor do they need to comply with the registration exemption provisions in the Securities Act. Therefore, memecoin buyers or holders are not protected by federal securities laws.
Policy
▌South Dakota vetoes Bitcoin reserve bill
At the legislative meeting on February 24, local time, the South Dakota House of Representatives Commerce and Energy Committee decided to postpone the HB 1202 bill to the '41st day' of this legislative session. However, the state legislative session is only 40 days at most, and this move is equivalent to vetoing the bill, which means that the state will not include Bitcoin as an official investment option for the time being.
▌Dubai Financial Services Authority Approves USDC and EURC as the First Batch of Approved Stablecoins
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has officially approved Circle's stablecoins USD Coin (USDC) and EURC as approved tokens, becoming the first batch of stablecoins approved under the regulatory system. The new regulations will enable companies in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) to use these two stablecoins in a variety of digital asset applications such as payments and fund management. Since its establishment in 2004, DIFC has attracted nearly 7,000 active companies and strictly allows only approved crypto tokens to operate.
▌CFTC plans to reduce fines, sending new signals of deregulation
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will formally evaluate the level of cooperation or self-reporting of companies or individuals accused of misconduct before imposing fines, the latest signal that the derivatives regulator is changing its law enforcement approach. CFTC Acting Chairwoman Caroline Pham said the new advisory opinion is designed to create "meaningful incentives" for companies to proactively raise issues and resolve cases more quickly with reasonable penalties. Pham said the measure also shows that the agency is complying with an executive order from the Trump administration to revoke regulations that the White House considers too "cumbersome."
▌Arthur Hayes: Trump's control over the Republican Party will determine the next move of Bitcoin
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said in an article on X that the current crypto market has entered a phase of adjustment, awaiting further movement. If Trump fails to pass his budget bill that increases spending and raises the debt ceiling, Bitcoin may fall back to the level before the election victory, that is, the $75,000 to $70,000 range. This situation will test whether Trump's control within the Republican Party is strong enough.
▌The U.S. SEC has confirmed that it has received Grayscale's application to provide a pledge function for the spot Ethereum ETF
According to market news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has confirmed that it has received an application submitted by Grayscale to provide a pledge function for the spot Ethereum ETF.
▌Former CFTC Chairman Suggests Congress to Prioritize the Regulation of Stablecoins and Delay Market Structure Legislation
Former Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Timothy Massad called on Congress to prioritize the development of a stablecoin regulatory framework and postpone the discussion of crypto market structure legislation for several years. He believes that the market structure proposal currently proposed may exacerbate regulatory confusion rather than provide clear guidance.
▌The U.S. SEC terminated its investigation into Gemini and took no enforcement action
Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, said in a statement that the SEC terminated its investigation into Gemini and took no enforcement action.
Cameron said: "Although this marks another milestone in the end of the cryptocurrency war, which already includes the SEC's withdrawal of the Coinbase lawsuit and the end of its investigations into OpenSea, Robinhood and UniSwap, it does not make up for the damage the agency has done to us, our industry and the United States. The SEC has cost us tens of millions of dollars in legal fees alone, and hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity, creativity and innovation."
▌U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessant hires Galaxy Digital consultants to advise on cryptocurrencies
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant has appointed Galaxy Digital's Taylor Williams as digital asset and blockchain policy advisor. Williams previously served as deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury Department and worked on financial regulation in the Senate and House of Representatives. The appointment comes as the Treasury and Commerce Departments work together to create a sovereign wealth fund that could include digital assets.
▌U.S. SEC announces it has lifted its civil enforcement action against Coinbase
According to market news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it has lifted its civil enforcement action against Coinbase (COIN.O).
The case dates back to June 2023 (two years after Coinbase went public), when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Coinbase, alleging that Coinbase violated U.S. securities laws by merging the three normally separate functions of brokers, exchanges, and clearing agencies.
▌SEC Commissioner: SEC's withdrawal of civil enforcement lawsuit against Coinbase does not mean it has given up enforcement
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a statement saying that the SEC has officially withdrawn its civil enforcement lawsuit against Coinbase and said it would not take further action on the case. Peirce made it clear that she had never supported the case and criticized the SEC's previous practice of relying on enforcement actions to regulate the crypto industry, believing that this harmed the American public interest, hindered industry development, and hindered the normal functions of the SEC's professional policy team.
Peirce pointed out that the SEC's widespread application of the Howey test has led to unclear regulation, making it difficult for compliant companies to operate, while criminals have taken advantage of regulatory gray areas to evade legal responsibility. In addition, due to the lack of a clear regulatory framework, many crypto companies are forced to spend a lot of resources on legal responses rather than product innovation. She believes that the SEC's previous practice of formulating policies through law enforcement not only misleads the industry, but also prevents the policy team from effectively participating in the formulation of industry rules.
She emphasized that the SEC has now established a "Crypto Task Force" to give the policy team the lead and work with the public to develop a regulatory framework applicable to the crypto industry. The withdrawal of the lawsuit does not mean that the SEC has given up law enforcement, but rather that future regulation will focus on policy making rather than relying solely on law enforcement actions.
Blockchain Applications
▌Celo, Chainlink, etc. launched the cross-chain version of USDT "Super USDT" on the OP super chain
Blockchain infrastructure protocols Celo, Chainlink, Hyperlane and Velodrome launched the cross-chain version of USDT "Super USDT" on the OP super chain.
The stablecoin will be fully supported by the equivalent USDT reserves locked on the Ethereum expansion solution Celo, and its cross-chain function will be realized through Chainlink's cross-chain interoperability protocol and another open interoperability framework Hyperlane.
▌Vitalik Buterin: Will continue to study the new leadership structure of the Ethereum Foundation, and more information will be announced soon
Vitalik Buterin posted on the X platform that Aya Miyaguchi proposed the idea of switching from executive director to chairman of the Ethereum Foundation a year ago. During her seven years as executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, she has achieved many achievements and will continue to support the Ethereum Foundation in many of the same ways in her new position.
At the same time, Vitalik Buterin said that he is continuing to study the new leadership structure of the Ethereum Foundation and will announce more news soon.
▌The modular blockchain network Hemi plans to launch the mainnet on March 12
The modular blockchain network Hemi announced that it plans to launch the mainnet on March 12, 2025. Hemi completed a $15 million seed round of financing in September 2024, with participation from institutions such as Binance Labs, Breyer Capital and Big Brain Holdings.
▌Ondo Finance cooperates with Mastercard to introduce RWA to MTN
According to the announcement of Ondo Finance, Mastercard will incorporate Ondo Finance into its multi-token network (MTN), becoming the first real world asset (RWA) provider on the network. Ondo’s Short-Term Treasury Bond Fund (OUSG) will be the first tokenized RWA solution on MTN, enabling businesses to access daily yields and flexible cash management services on-chain. The integration allows MTN corporate users to access OUSG directly on the public blockchain and settle through traditional banking channels without the need for additional crypto infrastructure. OUSG is backed by BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund and Franklin Templeton, WisdomTree and others, providing stability and liquidity. QuickNode Launches $65 Million Layer2 Accelerator Program with Google, Coinbase Ventures and Others QuickNode, a Web3 infrastructure provider, is about to launch a $65 million accelerator program to help develop the next generation of layer 2 blockchain projects.
The eight-week “RollOut” program will launch in March, providing participants with tools and funding from more than 30 projects and companies, including Arbitrum, Chainlink, Coinbase Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, Fireblocks, Google, and Protocol Labs.
RollOut will provide workshops and mentorship from industry-leading developers and venture capital firms, and selected participants will compete for a variety of resources, such as grants from data availability providers and discounted security audit services. The program’s curriculum covers ecosystem building, community development, token economics strategy, and go-to-market planning.
▌Coinbase and NEAR set up the Open AI Alliance to promote decentralized AI services
Coinbase, NEAR AI and several blockchain and AI projects jointly established the Open Agents Alliance (OAA), aiming to use blockchain infrastructure to promote open artificial intelligence (AI) services. The alliance is committed to "ensuring secure, open source, economical and fair access to AI". Members will provide AI agent frameworks, cloud hosting and fiat/cryptocurrency conversion channels to support developers in building and deploying AI tools.
▌Blockchain loyalty platform Blackbird launches Flynet mainnet based on Base chain
Blackbird is a restaurant loyalty platform founded by Resy and Eater co-founder Ben Leventhal. The company announced that its Flynet mainnet has been launched, which can transfer restaurant payment functions to the chain. Flynet is a third-layer blockchain based on Coinbase's Base chain.
Cryptocurrency
▌Viewpoint: ETF approval will help Solana break the "meme chain" narrative
Titan CEO Chris Chung wrote that Solana's development from a meme coin narrative to a major blockchain competitor depends on the approval of the Solana ETF, which will bring institutional trust and unleash its potential in large-scale financial applications such as payments and transactions. The article believes that meme coins have become synonymous with Solana, so much so that some in the industry believe it is purely a "meme chain", and Solana's Pump.fun launchpad has created more than 7.5 million tokens and generated more than $550 million in revenue. This is a boon for the ecosystem, driving infrastructure upgrades and new users, but Solana’s potential extends far beyond memecoin, and the approval of a Solana ETF — all but guaranteed this year — is the catalyst that helps position Solana as a high-performance blockchain capable of supporting large-scale financial use cases, from complex trading to lending, with Polymarket traders currently giving an 85% chance of a fall launch.
▌Traditional Finance Giant Citadel Securities Plans to Become a Crypto Market Maker
Traditional finance giant, the largest market maker on the New York Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of $65 billion, plans to enter the cryptocurrency market making space, betting that President Trump’s support for the crypto industry will bring a market boom.
Citadel Securities plans to join the list of market makers of multiple trading platforms including Coinbase Global, Binance and Crypto. com, and may initially set up its market making team outside the United States.
▌In the past 24 hours, the entire network has been liquidated for $879 million, and more than 294,000 people have been liquidated
According to Coinglass data, the total liquidation amount of the cryptocurrency market in the past 24 hours reached $879 million, of which long orders were liquidated for $815 million and short orders were liquidated for $64.2205 million. BTC liquidation amounted to $240 million, ETH liquidation for $187 million, and SOL liquidation for $98.2312 million. A total of 294,419 people were liquidated, of which the largest single liquidation occurred in the XBTUSD trading pair of Bitmex, with an amount of $10 million.
▌Bernstein reiterated that it continues to be bullish on Bitcoin and maintains its $200,000 target price
Bernstein reiterated that it continues to maintain its $200,000 Bitcoin price target, believing that there is a potential buying opportunity in the current price adjustment. Its research report describes the current price correction as "another opportunity to participate in this cycle" and reiterates their bullish stance on Bitcoin's market structure. Bernstein also pointed out that Bitcoin has not yet reached its cyclical high and expects it to approach the $200,000 mark in the next 12 months. Their long-term forecast for Bitcoin is based on a simple argument: "Driven by the acceleration of institutional and sovereign demand, Bitcoin will become a booming 'digital gold' asset class."
▌Circle: It does not advocate closing the channel for overseas stablecoin issuers to enter the Treasury market
Circle said it does not advocate closing the channel for overseas stablecoin issuers to enter the Treasury market. It hopes to level the playing field between U.S. and non-U.S. issuers, as well as between bank and non-bank issuers.
▌Leveraged ETFs Linked to Strategy Plunged Nearly 50% in the Past Five Days
Two leveraged ETFs linked to Strategy, MSTX and MTSU, have plunged nearly 50% in price in the past five days. This comes after Bitcoin fell below $87,000 on Tuesday. As of the close of trading on Tuesday ET, MSTX was trading at $23.83 per share and MTSU was at $4.94 per share, a sharp drop from last week's prices of over $43 and $9, respectively. Meanwhile, shares of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) have also fallen nearly 10% to about $255 per share.
Geoffrey Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered Bank, said on Tuesday that risk aversion in traditional markets is affecting the digital asset industry.
▌Analysis: BTC has "strong support" in the $70,000-75,000 area, which may lay the foundation for the next round of gains
Joel Kruger, crypto strategist at LMAX Group, pointed out that risk appetite in traditional markets has cooled due to global trade tensions and the Federal Reserve's hawkish outlook. He said: "We believe that the correlation between Bitcoin and traditional risk assets may be misleading. Given that Bitcoin's properties are more in line with the characteristics of value storage, it is easy to generate a lot of demand as an attractive portfolio diversification asset."
Analysts say BTC has “strong support” in the $70,000-75,000 region, a level that could serve as an “attractive higher low” to set the stage for the next major rally and push Bitcoin past $110,000, a new all-time high.
▌Core Scientific, a U.S.-listed mining company, is planning to partner with CoreWeave to expand its data center in Denton, Texas, for $1.2 billion
Core Scientific (CORZ), a U.S.-listed mining company, surged more than 11% in after-hours trading on Wednesday as the data center and bitcoin mining company said it is planning to partner with CoreWeave to expand its data center in Denton, Texas, for $1.2 billion to support artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance cloud computing (HPC).
“The addition of 70 megawatts (MW) of contracted power to the Denton data center will increase the total critical IT load to approximately 260 MW,” the statement said.
▌Berachain has appointed former Polygon Labs CTO as new CTO
The Berachain Foundation announced that Berachain has officially appointed Paul O’Leary as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). O’Leary served as Polygon Labs CTO and has 20 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience in the blockchain and big data fields. O’Leary joined Berachain earlier this year and has led the team to advance the mainnet launch. He will use his extensive experience in engineering management to drive the development of Berachain.
Important Economic Dynamics
▌U.S. Treasury Secretary: Economic Framework Agreement with Ukraine Completed, No Further Negotiations
U.S. Treasury Secretary Benson said on the 27th that the economic framework agreement with Ukraine has been completed, covering key minerals, oil and gas, and infrastructure assets. Benson said that Ukrainian President Zelensky and U.S. President Trump will sign the agreement on the 28th and will no longer negotiate on the issue. He said that this is a deal on strategic minerals, oil and gas, and infrastructure assets, which is a win-win situation.
▌The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 95.5%
According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 95.5%, and the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 4.5%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by May is 73.2%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 25.8%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 1.1%.
▌Musk and his companies have reportedly received at least $38 billion in government funding in recent years
An analysis found that Musk and his companies have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax breaks over the years. These payments date back more than 20 years. In 2008, Musk sought a low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Energy shortly after becoming CEO of Tesla.
▌10-year Treasury yields fell to 4.24%
At the end of New York trading on Wednesday (February 26), the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell 4.59 basis points to 4.2486%. At 14:50 Beijing time (Asia-Pacific late trading), it refreshed the daily high and then fluctuated downward. At 03:55, it refreshed the daily low to 4.2448%, approaching the bottom of 4.1992% on December 11, 2024, and reached 4.8069% on January 14, 2025. The two-year Treasury yield fell 2.26 basis points to 4.0716%, and the intraday trading range was 4.1312%-4.0634%. The yield on three-year Treasury bonds fell by 4.52 basis points, the yield on five-year Treasury bonds fell by 5.43 basis points, and the yield on seven-year Treasury bonds fell by 5.22 basis points. The yield on 20-year Treasury bonds fell by 4.62 basis points, and the yield on 30-year Treasury bonds fell by 4.65 basis points. The 2/10-year Treasury yield spread fell by 1.922 basis points to +17.698 basis points.
▌The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 95.5%
According to CME's "Fed Watch": The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 95.5%, and the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 4.5%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by May is 73.9%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 25.1%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 1%.
▌OpenAI launches Deep Research feature to Plus users
According to the OpenAI announcement, the Deep Research feature is now fully open to ChatGPT Plus, Team, Edu and Enterprise users. The feature can embed images with citations and optimizes the understanding and citation capabilities of uploaded files.
The query quotas for Deep Research are as follows:
• Plus, Team, Enterprise and Edu users can use it 10 times per month
• Pro users can use it 120 times per month
In addition, OpenAI released a system card to introduce the development, capability assessment and security improvements of the feature, and invited experts to participate in the training of future models.
The Advanced Voice feature is now available as a daily preview of the GPT-4o Mini version for all ChatGPT free users. This version is more cost-effective while maintaining the rhythm and tone of natural conversation.
▌U.S. stocks closed: the three major stock indexes rose and fell
U.S. stocks closed on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially closing up 0.37%, the S&P 500 down 0.47%, and the Nasdaq down 1.3%. Tesla (TSLA.O) fell 8.3%, Nvidia (NVDA.O) fell 2.8%, and cryptocurrency concepts fell across the board, with Strategy (MSTR.O) falling 11% and Coinbase (COIN.O) falling more than 6%.
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