Latest crypto news, Bitcoin news, and blockchain news

08:33

Iran announces the closure of the stock market

Gelonghui March 7th｜According to CCTV International News, Iran's Minister of Economy announced today that the Iranian stock market will be closed until further notice.

08:32

VCs warn that the AI boom is drawing funds away from cryptocurrency startups

According to Odaily, several venture capitalists have warned that the AI boom is diverting funds away from crypto startups. Charles Chong, Vice President of Strategy at BlockSpaceForce, stated that investors now have "real alternative options with faster revenue visibility," and that crypto teams need to work harder, with founders required to be more precise in areas such as defensiveness and profit models.

DefiLlama data shows that crypto startups raised $128 million in the first week of March, with total funding in 2026 so far approaching $2.5 billions. This week's investors include Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, Ripple, Y Combinator, Wintermute, and Sequoia Capital, with investments mainly directed towards payments, trading, and DeFi infrastructure sectors.

The top three funding events this week: Latin American fintech company ARQ completed a $70 million Series B round led by Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund. The company has an annualized trading volume of over $10 billions and about 2 million users; Crossover Markets completed a $31 million Series B round led by Tradeweb Markets, with Ripple and Wintermute participating, and a valuation of about $200 million. The company operates the institutional digital asset trading network CROSSx; Hybrid derivatives exchange QFEX completed a $9.5 million seed round led by Yuri Sagalov of General Catalyst, with participation from Y Combinator and Paul Graham.

According to Odaily, several venture capitalists have warned that the AI boom is diverting funds away from crypto startups. Charles Chong, Vice President of Strategy at BlockSpaceForce, stated that investors now have "real alternative options with faster revenue visibility," and that crypto teams need to work harder, with founders required to be more precise in areas such as defensiveness and profit models.

DefiLlama data shows that crypto startups raised $128 million in the first week of March, with total funding in 2026 so far approaching $2.5 billions. This week's investors include Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, Ripple, Y Combinator, Wintermute, and Sequoia Capital, with investments mainly directed towards payments, trading, and DeFi infrastructure sectors.

The top three funding events this week: Latin American fintech company ARQ completed a $70 million Series B round led by Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund. The company has an annualized trading volume of over $10 billions and about 2 million users; Crossover Markets completed a $31 million Series B round led by Tradeweb Markets, with Ripple and Wintermute participating, and a valuation of about $200 million. The company operates the institutional digital asset trading network CROSSx; Hybrid derivatives exchange QFEX completed a $9.5 million seed round led by Yuri Sagalov of General Catalyst, with participation from Y Combinator and Paul Graham.

08:26

Allianz: Accelerated Rise in Oil Prices Driven by the Formation of Multiple Equilibriums

Golden Ten Data reported on March 7 that Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, stated that there were three historic facts in the global oil market this week: Brent crude oil posted the second highest weekly gain on record. WTI crude oil recorded the largest weekly gain in history. As the week progressed, the pace of daily price increases accelerated, which is consistent with market concerns about a "multiple equilibrium" state and the resulting chain reactions, collateral damage, and unintended consequences.

08:16

CryptoQuant analyst: Bitcoin bear market may have entered the mid-term stage

CryptoQuant analyst Axel posted on the X platform that bitcoin may have entered the mid-term stage of the current bear market cycle. The NUPL–MVRV harmonic composite indicator has reached 0.33, while historical cycle bottoms are usually around the 0.5 range. The chart shows that the start of the bear market cycle is moving upward, and extreme sell-off situations are becoming milder, but the indicator is still above the historical bottom area, and a full-scale sell-off has not yet been confirmed.

08:15

How the IOTA Trust Framework Is Powering EU-Compliant Digital Product Passports

Orobo links Digital Product Passports to IOTA Rebased, giving products one traceable record built for upcoming EU compliance needs.
The framework combines traceability, privacy, and lifecycle data to help firms manage product records with fewer compliance barriers.

The IOTA Trust Framework is moving into the digital product passport market through Orobo’s latest deployment. The rollout links product records to the IOTA Rebased mainnet and supports industries preparing for new European Union compliance rules. The system gives each product one verifiable digital record that can be checked across its lifecycle.

Digital Product Passports are becoming part of the EU’s wider push for better product transparency. These records are meant to store core details such as origin, composition, and circularity. As a result, companies and regulators can work from the same product data instead of relying on scattered records.

IOTA Trust Framework → (DPP) Digital Product Passport

Ready for EU🇪🇺 Regulation!

One Product → One Record → One Truth

Introducing Orobo's published Digital Product Passports (DPPs). Each DPP provides verified, traceable, and immutable data on the product’s origin,… pic.twitter.com/wauduk23uf

— IOTArebased.iota⚡️ (@IotaRebased) March 5, 2026

Orobo’s model assigns each item a digital twin tied to lifecycle information. That record can include production steps, transport updates, and recycling events. Since the data is anchored on IOTA Rebased, the history remains traceable and tamper-resistant.

The rollout already covers several sectors, including batteries, construction, consumer electronics, and food and beverages.

Orobo is starting with electric vehicle batteries and expanding into textiles and construction. This approach gives businesses a structure for managing records from creation to end-of-life handling.

This week, IOTA-powered verifiable credentials were highlighted as Turing Space was selected to represent the Netherlands at Forum InCyber in France. We reported that the company is set to showcase digital identity solutions built on the network.

IOTA Supports Traceable Product Records

The framework is built to keep participation accessible across supply chains. IOTA’s Gas Station feature removes the need for every participant to manage tokens before using the system. That lowers one barrier for suppliers, manufacturers, recyclers, and other actors that need to interact with product records.

Each passport acts as a single source of truth for a product. Instead of storing key information in separate systems, the framework keeps verified records connected to one identity. This makes product history easier to review during audits, reporting, and compliance checks.

Additionally, sensitive business information can be hashed rather than exposed directly onchain. This enables verification without exposing confidential data to the open, which is crucial for firms that handle regulated or competitive information.

The infrastructure is based on custom Move contracts to document the events related to the lifecycle of each product. These contracts support logging across different stages, including production, movement, and recovery. Because of that, the record can remain consistent as a product moves through multiple parties and processes.

Last month, we also covered that IOTA launched a Regulatory Affairs hub to support MiCA compliance and policy engagement. The hub provides regulatory resources, technical documents, and public compliance materials for builders, exchanges, and ecosystem partners.

Previously, CNF reported that IOTA gained attention in a leading Korean business newspaper. The report linked IOTA to trade digitization, Kenya’s governance pilot, TWIN, and cross-border trade systems.

Orobo links Digital Product Passports to IOTA Rebased, giving products one traceable record built for upcoming EU compliance needs.
The framework combines traceability, privacy, and lifecycle data to help firms manage product records with fewer compliance barriers.

The IOTA Trust Framework is moving into the digital product passport market through Orobo’s latest deployment. The rollout links product records to the IOTA Rebased mainnet and supports industries preparing for new European Union compliance rules. The system gives each product one verifiable digital record that can be checked across its lifecycle.

Digital Product Passports are becoming part of the EU’s wider push for better product transparency. These records are meant to store core details such as origin, composition, and circularity. As a result, companies and regulators can work from the same product data instead of relying on scattered records.

IOTA Trust Framework → (DPP) Digital Product Passport

Ready for EU🇪🇺 Regulation!

One Product → One Record → One Truth

Introducing Orobo's published Digital Product Passports (DPPs). Each DPP provides verified, traceable, and immutable data on the product’s origin,… pic.twitter.com/wauduk23uf

— IOTArebased.iota⚡️ (@IotaRebased) March 5, 2026

Orobo’s model assigns each item a digital twin tied to lifecycle information. That record can include production steps, transport updates, and recycling events. Since the data is anchored on IOTA Rebased, the history remains traceable and tamper-resistant.

The rollout already covers several sectors, including batteries, construction, consumer electronics, and food and beverages.

Orobo is starting with electric vehicle batteries and expanding into textiles and construction. This approach gives businesses a structure for managing records from creation to end-of-life handling.

This week, IOTA-powered verifiable credentials were highlighted as Turing Space was selected to represent the Netherlands at Forum InCyber in France. We reported that the company is set to showcase digital identity solutions built on the network.

IOTA Supports Traceable Product Records

The framework is built to keep participation accessible across supply chains. IOTA’s Gas Station feature removes the need for every participant to manage tokens before using the system. That lowers one barrier for suppliers, manufacturers, recyclers, and other actors that need to interact with product records.

Each passport acts as a single source of truth for a product. Instead of storing key information in separate systems, the framework keeps verified records connected to one identity. This makes product history easier to review during audits, reporting, and compliance checks.

Additionally, sensitive business information can be hashed rather than exposed directly onchain. This enables verification without exposing confidential data to the open, which is crucial for firms that handle regulated or competitive information.

The infrastructure is based on custom Move contracts to document the events related to the lifecycle of each product. These contracts support logging across different stages, including production, movement, and recovery. Because of that, the record can remain consistent as a product moves through multiple parties and processes.

Last month, we also covered that IOTA launched a Regulatory Affairs hub to support MiCA compliance and policy engagement. The hub provides regulatory resources, technical documents, and public compliance materials for builders, exchanges, and ecosystem partners.

Previously, CNF reported that IOTA gained attention in a leading Korean business newspaper. The report linked IOTA to trade digitization, Kenya’s governance pilot, TWIN, and cross-border trade systems.