24H Hot Tokens and Key News｜Venus Protocol Hit by Flash Loan Attack; Among Global Top 20 ETFs, Only Bitcoin ETF Records Losses (March 16)
- Core View: The cryptocurrency market shows a broad upward trend, with significant gains in both mainstream and altcoins. Simultaneously, the industry faces multiple dynamics including security incidents, regulatory uncertainty, and a critical legislative window.
- Key Elements:
- Strong Market Performance: Mainstream tokens like SOL and TAO recorded 24-hour gains of 4.98% and 12.88% respectively, while altcoin RIO surged over 37%, indicating active overall market buying.
- Frequent Security Incidents: The BNB Chain lending protocol Venus Protocol was suspected of being hit by a flash loan attack, leading to large-scale liquidation of THE tokens, with the attacker profiting approximately $3.6 million.
- Critical Regulatory Progress: If the US CLARITY Act fails to advance in committee by the end of April, its chances of passing in 2026 are extremely low, highlighting the urgency of the current legislative window.
- Diverging Institutional Dynamics: Although BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF has seen inflows of $26 billion, its returns are negative, with 90% of its investors exhibiting a "buy the dip" long-term accumulation characteristic.
- Traditional Finance Attention: A US SEC Commissioner advised cautious advancement of an "innovation exemption" for tokenized securities and discussed related disclosure systems, indicating traditional regulators are attempting to adapt to technological innovation.
1. Popular Tokens on CEXs
Top 10 CEX Trading Volume and 24-hour Price Changes:
- BTC: +2.27%
- ETH: +4.07%
- SOL: +4.98%
- XRP: +3.10%
- DOGE: +2.30%
- BNB: +2.48%
- TAO: +12.88%
- TRUMP: -0.62%
- LINK: +3.38%
- AAVE: +5.75%
24H Top Gainers (Data Source: OKX):
- RIO: +37.34%
- NEO: +13.61%
- CFX: +11.13%
- ZRO: +10.44%
- DEGEN: +10.33%
- SPACE: +9.73%
- FET: +9.47%
- EIGEN: +9.09%
- QTUM: +7.38%
- ZEN: +7.35%
24-hour (Monday, based on last Friday's closing performance) Top Gainers in Crypto-Related Stocks (Data Source: msx.com):
- Verb Technology Company, Inc. - MSX (VERB.M): 4.18%
- Nabite - MSX (NA.M): 3.05%
- Canaan Inc. - MSX (CAN.M): 2.62%
- A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. - MSX (AMRK.M): 1.88%
- Lightwave Logic, Inc. - MSX (LWLG.M): 1.45%
- Blink Charging Co. - MSX (BLNK.M): 1.33%
- Pony.ai - MSX (PONY.M): 1.31%
- Faraday Future - MSX (FFAI.M): 1.27%
- GraniteShares ETF Trust GraniteShares 2x Short COIN Daily ETF - MSX (CONI.M): 1.19%
- Bit Origin - MSX (BTOG.M): 1.10%
2. Trending On-Chain Memes (Data Source: GMGN):
- Solana: OpenClawAi, 来跟华子
- BSC: Freedom of Money, 龙虾
Top Headlines
Venus Protocol Suspected of Flash Loan Attack, THE Experiences Massive Liquidation
Community reports suggest the BNB Chain lending protocol Venus Protocol may have suffered a flash loan attack, leading to large-scale liquidation of the related token THE. According to KOL 土澳大师兄, the attacker's wallet currently holds assets worth approximately $3.6 million, including about 20 BTC, 1.5 million CAKE, and around 200 BNB. Meanwhile, THE liquidations are ongoing, with about 42 million THE (worth roughly $14 million) still awaiting liquidation.
BlackRock Digital Assets Head: Among Global Top 20 ETFs, Only Bitcoin ETF is in the Red; 90% of Investors Buy the DipBlackRock's Head of Digital Assets stated in a live stream that among the top 20 global ETFs by inflows, only BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF has a negative return, while all others are profitable. BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF has seen inflows of $26 billion, ranking fourth globally. The head noted this indicates Bitcoin is undergoing intense turnover and long-term accumulation. Furthermore, 90% of investors in BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF are buying the dip, with only 10% being hedge funds engaging in short-term, rapid basis trading.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) issued a statement after receiving implementation plans from member countries. The agency stated that oil from this record reserve release will be immediately available in Asia as buyers rush to fill supply gaps caused by Middle East conflict disruptions. Oil for Europe and the Americas will not be available until the end of March. Last week, the IEA said the global oil market faces its worst supply disruption ever due to the Middle East conflict effectively blocking the critical Strait of Hormuz. Asian buyers are most dependent on Middle Eastern oil supplies, making the speed of the reserve release particularly crucial for the region. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol posted on X: "This will bring an unprecedented additional volume of oil to the market starting March 16. However, reopening the Strait of Hormuz is essential for restoring stable oil flows." Globally, about 72% of the currently committed release volume is crude oil, with 28% being petroleum products. (Jin10)
Odaily Seer Channel monitoring shows Polymarket launched a new market yesterday: "Will Military Action Against Iran End Before [Date]?", with the current probability for "No" at 87%. Odaily Seer Channel continues to monitor prediction markets, seeing changes before they are priced in.
Industry News
Prosecutors in Taiwan, China, have indicted 10 individuals, including the responsible person Liu Yusen, CEO Zhang Hansen, and COO Zhang Yuting of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange "BITGIN" and its associated company. The Zhang siblings face potential sentences of up to 12 years. Prosecutors allege the company collaborated with fraud groups in 2023, facilitating scams and money laundering by providing USDT and coordinating offline cash exchanges with "fake currency dealers." The case involves 46 victims, with fraud amounts exceeding NT$150 million. Related funds were transferred via crypto wallets and overseas exchanges to conceal their origins.
In 2023, while investigating a telecom fraud case, the Dezhou Public Security Bureau in Shandong Province discovered a new criminal model involving "traditional underground banking + cryptocurrency" by tracking fund flows transaction by transaction. During case analysis, police gradually mapped out the related fund network by analyzing account transfers and fund trajectories.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Hester M. Peirce stated in an article that research has begun on an "innovation exemption" scheme for tokenized securities, allowing limited trading and technical trials for some tokenized securities. This exemption would be more cautious than the industry-proposed "blanket exemption." She believes it's necessary to explore whether different models of security tokenization should be allowed for experimentation under the innovation exemption framework and consider whether issuer consent is needed for third parties to issue tokenized versions of their stock, aiming to promote technological innovation while avoiding regulatory arbitrage and maintaining core investor protection mechanisms.
Colin Butler, Executive Vice President of Capital Markets at fintech company Mega Matrix, stated that regulatory uncertainty surrounding stablecoins may put traditional banks at a greater disadvantage than crypto companies. He noted that many banks have invested heavily in building digital asset infrastructure, but boards and compliance departments find it difficult to approve full-scale deployment before regulators clarify whether stablecoins will be treated as deposits, securities, or independent payment instruments. Currently, several major banks have initiated related layouts, such as JPMorgan Chase's Onyx blockchain payment network, BNY Mellon's digital asset custody services, and Citigroup's testing of tokenized deposits. However, Butler pointed out that regulatory ambiguity limits the scaled application of these investments, while crypto companies, having long operated in a grey regulatory environment, possess stronger adaptability.
Project News
Libra Token Scam Involves $5 Million Payment Agreement, Argentine President Milei Allegedly Linked
According to a previously undisclosed document extracted from the phone of intermediary Mauricio Novelli by forensic examiners, a payment agreement related to the Libra token scam involves a total of $5 million and primarily points to Argentine President Javier Milei. The document shows the agreement is divided into three payments: first, a $1.5 million advance (in tokens or cash); a second $1.5 million conditional on Milei announcing Hayden Davis as his advisor on social media; and a final $2 million payable after Milei and his sister Karina Milei sign a government consulting contract on blockchain or AI in person.
Sky Protocol Proposal Aims to Allocate ~70 Million USDS Genesis Capital to Expand Sky Agent Network
Sky Protocol (formerly MakerDAO) announced a passed proposal to allocate approximately 70 million USDS as Genesis Capital to several Sky Agents. This initial capital is intended for governance to launch new agents during the network's early expansion phase, aiming to promote diversified capital allocation and drive yield generation. The related funds remain within the protocol, managed by governance-controlled segregated accounts with a gradual exit mechanism. As agents mature and issue their own liquidity tokens, their reliance on this capital will gradually decrease. The Genesis Capital will support the further expansion of the Sky Agent Network during its launch phase. These independent capital allocators will participate in fund deployment and provide yield sources for the Sky Savings Rate.
Aave published a review report on X regarding the March 12th Swap incident. A user attempted to swap approximately 50.43 million aEthUSDT (worth about $50.43 million) for aEthAAVE via the integrated CoW Swap router on its front-end interface. However, due to the transaction size far exceeding market liquidity, the user ultimately received only about 327 aEthAAVE, worth approximately $36,000. The on-chain execution flow shows the funds were first swapped for WETH in the Uniswap V3 USDT/WETH pool, then used to purchase AAVE via the SushiSwap AAVE/WETH pool, finally generating about 331 AAVE which was deposited into Aave V3 to mint aEthAAVE.
Voices
Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy posted on X, stating that more people in the market are skeptical or taking a wait-and-see approach towards the Ethereum Foundation's (EF) actions rather than celebrating them. He believes this is a sign of the times—most people find it difficult to spend time reading official manifestos or mission documents in depth. He pointed out that the EF is currently the only player with the resources and network effects capable of not only maintaining the cypherpunk ethos but potentially truly achieving it. In the short term, this may not directly drive Ethereum's price up, but in the long term, if the EF successfully achieves its self-defined goals rather than being co-opted by traditional finance, it could have a positive impact.
10x Research: Altcoin Buy Signal Emerges, Bullish on AI Sector Crypto Assets
10x Research posted on X, stating that its quantitative model shows the strongest altcoin buy signal since October 2025, with Bittensor (TAO) performing particularly well. Its price has currently broken above the 7-day and 30-day moving averages, rising about 38.6% in just one week. Analysis suggests this rally is partly driven by news of Nvidia's plan to launch the open-source autonomous AI agent platform NemoClaw, while the completion of a $5 million funding round by AI computing network ecosystem company General Tensor has further boosted market sentiment. Bittensor network's recent transition to a Nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS) mechanism is believed to improve network operational efficiency.
Galaxy Digital Head of Research Alex Thorn stated that if the U.S. crypto market structure bill, the CLARITY Act, does not pass committee review by the end of April, its chances of passage in 2026 are "extremely low." He noted that the bill needs to reach the Senate floor for full consideration by early May; otherwise, as legislative time dwindles, the probability of passage will continue to decline.
