Trump may pass stablecoin legislation US SEC: Meme does not belong to securities

Golden Weekly is a weekly blockchain industry summary column launched by Golden Finance, covering weekly key news, mining information, project trends, technological progress and other industry trends. This article is one of the news weekly news magazines, which will take you to take a look at the major events in the blockchain industry this week.

Headlines

▌BlackRock executives remain silent on Solana ETF plan

Although the Solana ETF application boom continues to heat up, BlackRock (with $11.6 trillion in assets under management), the world's largest asset manager, has not yet joined the ranks. BlackRock's iShares brand currently manages two of the largest spot cryptocurrency ETFs: iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF ($55.4 billion) and iShares Ethereum Trust ETF ($3.7 billion).

When asked if BlackRock has plans to launch the Solana ETF, Rachel Aguirre, head of BlackRock's iShares product department, did not disclose specific details, but only stated that the company will follow three core principles: What are customer needs? Is the investment logic valid? Is it suitable to launch in the form of ETFs?

Currently, Franklin Templeton, Bitwise, Grayscale and 21Shares have submitted Solana ETF applications. Bloomberg analysts estimate that the probability of Solana ETF being approved by the U.S. SEC is 70%.

Robinhood CEO: Trump administration may pass stablecoin legislation this year

When asked in Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid podcast whether lawmakers will push for the passage of stablecoin regulation in 2025, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev replied: "I think it will." He pointed out that there are stablecoin bills in circulation and another bill has been proposed before the election, indicating that consensus is gradually forming on this issue.

Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has formed a task force to speed up certain parts of digital asset legislation. Scott is working with David Sacks, the head of crypto policy in the Trump administration and Silicon Valley investor.

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Bill Hagerty recently introduced the U.S. Stablecoin Innovation Guidance and Establishment Act, a bill focusing on regulating stablecoins.

▌Microsoft open source multimodal AI Agent—Magma

At 3 a.m. today, Microsoft opened the basic model of multimodal AI Agent on its official website - Magma. 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, texts, etc. For example, you can use Magma to automatically place e-commerce orders and query weather; you can also automatically operate physical robots, or get help when playing real chess. In addition, Magma can also have built-in psychological prediction function, which enhances the understanding of space- time dynamics in future video frames, and can accurately infer the intentions and future behaviors of characters or objects in the video.

▌Trump holds first cabinet meeting: talk about tariffs, mineral agreements and "small governments"

On February 26, local time, US President Trump held his first cabinet meeting for his second term. Elon Musk, head of the government's efficiency ministry, although not a member of the cabinet, also attended the meeting. Trump said that the State Department's layoffs must be carefully selected, and the United States will cut the government and reduce the size of the government. Regarding the upcoming U.S.-Ukraine mineral agreement, Trump introduced that the United States "will cooperate with Ukraine on rare earths." The United States hopes to recoup the $350 billion allocated to Ukraine through a mineral agreement. "The United States will not provide security for Ukraine in an agreement to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but Europe will do so." Trump said, adding that Ukraine "can forget" to join NATO. He plans to host Ukrainian President Zelensky's visit to the United States on the 28th, and hopes that the United States will hold more talks with Russia. Trump said most of the 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 starting from April 2 (original scheduled for March 4). A 25% tariff is expected to be imposed on Europe soon, covering cars and other goods.

▌ BitMEX is seeking a sale and has contacted investment bank Broadhaven Capital to assist in the transaction

Cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX is seeking a sale and has hired investment bank Broadhaven Capital Partners to assist in the transaction. Founded by Arthur Hayes et al. in 2014, BitMEX has been charged with failure to implement effective anti-money laundering measures. Hayes resigned as CEO after facing criminal charges in the United States.

▌US SEC Qualification: Memecoins does not belong to securities, investors must bear their own risks

The SEC Corporate Financing Regulatory Department has issued guidance on memecoins, saying they do not belong to securities, but are similar to collectibles. The department believes that the transactions regarding meme coins described in the guidelines do not involve securities issuance and sales under the federal securities laws. Therefore, individuals involved in the issuance and sale of meme coins do not need to register their transactions with the Commission under the Securities Act 1933, nor do they need to comply with the registration exemption clauses in the Securities Act. Therefore, buyers or holders of meme coins are not protected by federal securities laws.

policy

▌South Dakota vetoes Bitcoin Reserves Act

At the legislative session on February 24 local time, the South Dakota House Business and Energy Committee decided to postpone the HB 1202 bill until the '41st day' of this legislative session. However, the state's legislative session has only 40 days at most, a move equivalent to vetoing the bill, meaning the state will not include Bitcoin in its official investment option for the time being.

▌Dubai Financial Services Authority Approves USDC and EURC as the first batch of recognized stablecoins

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) formally approved Circle's stablecoins USD Coin (USDC) and EURC as recognized tokens, becoming the first batch of approved stablecoins under this regulatory system. The new regulations will enable companies within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) to use these two stablecoins in a number of digital asset applications such as payments and fund management. Since its inception in 2004, DIFC has attracted nearly 7,000 active businesses and strictly permits only recognized crypto token operations.

▌ CFTC plans to reduce fines to release new signals of relaxation of regulation

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will formally evaluate the degree of cooperation or self-report of companies or individuals accused of misconduct before imposing fines, the latest signal that the derivatives regulator has changed its enforcement methods. CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline Pham said the new advisory is designed to create “meaningful incentives” for companies to proactively ask questions and resolve cases faster with reasonable penalties. Pham said the measure also shows that the agency complies 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 trend of Bitcoin

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes posted on X that the crypto market has entered a stage of adjustment and is waiting for further trends. If Trump cannot pass his budget to increase spending and raise debt ceilings, Bitcoin could fall back to its pre-election victory level, i.e., the $75,000-$70,000 range, a situation that will test whether Trump's control within the Republican Party is strong enough.

▌US SEC has confirmed that it has received the application from Grayscale and plans to provide pledge function for spot Ethereum ETFs

According to market news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has confirmed that it has received an application submitted by Grayscale, intending to provide pledge function for spot Ethereum ETFs.

▌Former CFTC Chairman recommends Congress give priority to the regulation of stablecoins and delay market structure legislation

Timothy Massad, former chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), called on Congress to prioritize the development of a stablecoin regulatory framework and postpone discussions on legislation on crypto market structure for years. He believes that the current proposed market structure plan may exacerbate regulatory confusion rather than provide clear guidance.

▌U.S . SEC terminates investigation into Gemini and takes no law enforcement action

Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, issued a statement saying that the SEC has terminated its investigation into Gemini and has taken no enforcement action.

"While this marks another milestone in the end of the cryptocurrency war, which already includes the SEC withdrawing the Coinbase lawsuit and ending an investigation into OpenSea, Robinhood and UniSwap, it does not compensate for the damage the agency has caused to us, our industry and the United States. In terms of legal expenses alone, the SEC has spent tens of millions of dollars on our expenses, and hundreds of millions of dollars on productivity, creativity and innovation."

▌U.S. Treasury Secretary Bescent hires Galaxy Digital consultant to advise on cryptocurrencies

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Becent has appointed Tyler Williams of Galaxy Digital as an advisor to digital assets and blockchain policy. Williams served as deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury and worked in financial regulation in the Senate and House of Representatives. This appointment comes as the Ministry of Finance and Commerce jointly commits to the creation of a sovereign wealth fund, which may include digital assets.

▌U.S . SEC announced that it has lifted civil law enforcement actions against Coinbase

According to market news, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has lifted civil law enforcement actions against Coinbase (COIN.O).

The case dates back to June 2023 (two years after Coinbase went public), when the SEC sued Coinbase, which accused Coinbase of merging three normally separate functions, broker, exchange and clearing agencies, in violation of U.S. securities laws.

▌ SEC member: The SEC revoked civil law enforcement lawsuit against Coinbase does not mean that it waives law enforcement.

SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a statement saying that the SEC has officially withdrawn its civil enforcement lawsuit against Coinbase and said it will not take further action on the case. Peirce made it clear that she never supported the case and criticized the previous SEC's reliance on law enforcement actions to regulate the crypto industry, believing that it has harmed the public interest of the U.S., hindered the industry and hindered the normal function of the SEC's professional policy team.

Peirce pointed out that the SEC's wide application of Howey tests has led to unclear supervision, making it difficult for compliant companies to operate, while criminals use vague regulatory areas to evade legal liability. Furthermore, 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 stressed that the SEC has established a "Crypto Task Force" to give policy teams the leadership and cooperate with the public to develop a regulatory framework suitable for the crypto industry. The withdrawal of the lawsuit does not mean that the SEC abandons law enforcement, but rather indicates that future regulation will focus on policy making rather than relying solely on law enforcement actions.

Blockchain application

▌ Celo, Chainlink and others launch the USDT cross-chain version "Super USDT" on OP Super Chain

Blockchain infrastructure protocols Celo, Chainlink, Hyperlane and Velodrome launch the USDT cross-chain version "Super USDT" on the OP hyperchain.

The stablecoin will be fully powered by an equivalent USDT reserve locked on Ethereum expansion solution Celo, which implements its cross-chain functionality through Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability protocol and another open interoperability framework, Hyperlane.

▌ Vitalik Buterin: Will continue to study the new Ethereum Foundation leadership structure, and more information will be announced soon

Vitalik Buterin posted on the X platform that Aya Miyaguchi proposed the idea of ​​transferring 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.

Meanwhile, Vitalik Buterin said it is continuing to study the new Ethereum Foundation leadership structure and more news will be announced soon.

▌Modular blockchain network Hemi is scheduled to be launched on the main network on March 12

The modular blockchain network Hemi announced that it plans to launch the main network on March 12, 2025. Hemi completed a US$15 million seed round financing in September 2024, and institutions such as Binance Labs, Breyer Capital and Big Brain Holdings participated in the investment.

▌ Ondo Finance cooperates with Mastercard to introduce RWA to MTN

According to Ondo Finance announcement, Mastercard has included Ondo Finance in its multi-token network (MTN), becoming the first real-world asset (RWA) provider on the network. Ondo's Short-term U.S. Treasury Fund (OUSG) will be the first tokenized RWA solution on MTN, enabling businesses to obtain daily earnings and flexible cash management services on-chain.

This integration allows MTN enterprise users to access OUSG directly on the public blockchain and settle through traditional banking channels without the need for additional cryptographic infrastructure. OUSG is supported by BlackRock BUIDL Fund and institutions such as Franklin Templeton and WisdomTree to provide stability and liquidity.

QuickNode cooperates with Google, Coinbase Ventures and others to launch the $65 million Layer2 accelerator program

Web3 infrastructure provider QuickNode is about to launch a $65 million accelerator program to help develop the next generation of Tier 2 blockchain projects.

The eight-week "RollOut" program will be launched in March to provide 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 guidance from industry-leading developers and venture capital firms, and selected participants will compete for a variety of resources, such as funding from data availability providers and discount security audit services. The program's courses cover ecosystem construction, community development, token economics strategy and listing planning.

▌ Coinbase and NEAR and other companies set up open AI alliances to promote decentralized AI services

Coinbase, NEAR AI and several blockchain and AI projects jointly established an Open Agents Alliance (OAA) to leverage blockchain infrastructure to promote open artificial intelligence (AI) services. The alliance is committed to “ensure secure, open source, economical and equitable AI access.” Members will provide AI proxy framework, cloud custody and fiat/cryptocurrency conversion channels to provide support for developers to build and deploy AI tools.

▌Blockchain loyalty platform Blackbird launches Flynet main network based on Base chain

Blackbird, a restaurant loyalty platform founded by Resy and Eater co-founder Ben Leventhal, announced that its Flynet mainnet is online to transfer restaurant payments to the chain. Flynet is the third layer blockchain based on Coinbase's Base chain.

Cryptocurrency

▌View : ETF approval will help Solana break the narrative of "meme chain"

Titan CEO Chris Chung said that Solana's development from a meme coin narrative to an important blockchain competitor depends on the approval of the Solana ETF, which will bring institutional trust and unlock its potential in large-scale financial applications such as payments and transactions.

The article believes that meme coin has become so synonymous with Solana that some people in the industry think it is purely a "meme chain". Solana's Pump.fun launchpad has created more than 7.5 million tokens and generated more than 550 million US dollars in revenue. This is a benefit for the ecosystem, driving infrastructure upgrades and new users’ access, but Solana’s potential goes far beyond memecoin, and the approval of the Solana ETF – almost guaranteed this year – is a catalyst to help Solana position itself as a high- performance blockchain capable of supporting large-scale financial use cases, from complex transactions to borrowing, and Polymarket traders currently see an 85% chance of launching in the fall.

▌Traditional financial giant Citadel Securities plans to become a cryptocurrency market maker

Citadel Securities, the traditional financial giant and the largest market maker on the New York Stock Exchange with a market value of $65 billion, plans to enter the cryptocurrency market maker, betting that President Trump’s support for the crypto industry will bring about a market boom.

Citadel Securities plans to join the market maker list for several trading platforms such as Coinbase Global, Binance and Crypto.com, and may initially set up a market maker team outside the United States.

▌In the past 24 hours, the entire network was liquidated by US$879 million, and more than 294,000 people were exposed.

According to Coinglass data, the total liquidation amount in the cryptocurrency market reached US$879 million in the past 24 hours, of which US$815 million in long positions and US$64.2205 million in short positions. The amount of BTC liquidation reached US$240 million, ETH liquidation was US$187 million, and SOL liquidation was US$98.2312 million. A total of 294,419 people were exposed, and the largest single liquidation occurred in Bitmex's XBTUSD trading pair, with an amount of US$10 million.

▌Bernstein reiterates that it continues to be bullish on Bitcoin and maintains its $200,000 target price

Bernstein reiterated continuing to maintain its $200,000 Bitcoin price target, believing that there is a potential buying opportunity in the current price adjustment, and its research report describes the current price pullback as "another opportunity to participate in this cycle" and reiterates their bullish stance on the Bitcoin market structure. Bernstein also pointed out that Bitcoin has not yet reached its cyclical high and is expected to approach the $200,000 mark in the next 12 months. Their long-term predictions for Bitcoin are based on a simple argument: “Bitcoin will become a thriving ‘digital gold’ asset class driven by accelerated institutional and sovereign demand.”

▌ Circle: It does not advocate closing the channels for overseas stablecoin issuers to enter the treasury bond market

Circle said it does not advocate closing the access for overseas stablecoin issuers to enter the Treasury bond market. It hopes to level the playing field between U.S. and non-U.S. issuers, as well as between banks and non-bank issuers.

▌Leveraged ETFs linked to Strategy plummeted by nearly 50% in the past five days

Two leveraged ETFs (MSTX and MTSU) linked to Strategy have plunged nearly 50% in the past five days. Earlier, Bitcoin fell below $87,000 on Tuesday. As of Tuesday's close of ET, MSTX was trading at $23.83 per share and MTSU was $4.94 per share, a sharp drop from the previous week's prices that exceeded $43 and $9 respectively. Meanwhile, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) shares also fell nearly 10% to about $255 per share.

Geoffrey Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, said Tuesday that risk aversion in traditional markets is affecting the digital asset industry.

▌Analysis : BTC has "strong support" in the US$75,000-75,000 area, which may lay the foundation for the next round of rise

LMAX Group crypto strategist Joel Kruger noted that risk appetite in traditional markets has cooled due to global trade tensions and the hawkish outlook for the Federal Reserve. "We believe that the correlation between Bitcoin and traditional risky assets may be misleading, and given that Bitcoin's properties are more in line with the nature of store of value, it is easy to generate a lot of demand as an attractive portfolio diversified asset," he said.

Analysts say BTC has “strong support” in the $70,000-75,000 region, a level that could be “a higher low point of attractiveness”, laying the foundation for the next round of sharp gains and pushing Bitcoin to a record high above $110,000.

▌Core Scientific, a listed US mining company, is planning to cooperate with CoreWeave to expand its data center in Denton, Texas for $1.2 billion

Core Scientific (CORZ), a listed U.S. mining company, rose more than 11% after the market trading 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 new 70 megawatts (MW) contract power added to the Denton Data Center will increase all critical IT loads to approximately 260 megawatts," the statement said.

▌ Berachain has appointed former Polygon Labs CTO as new chief technical officer

The Berachain Foundation announced that Berachain officially appointed Paul O'Leary as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). O'Leary served as the CTO of Polygon Labs and has 20 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience in the fields of blockchain and big data. Since joining Berachain early this year, O'Leary has led the team to promote the launch of the main network. He will use his extensive experience in engineering management to promote Berachain.

Important economic trends

▌US Treasury Secretary: No need for further negotiations with Ukraine economic framework agreement

US Treasury Secretary Besent said on the 27th that the economic framework agreement with Ukraine has been completed, covering key minerals, oil and gas and infrastructure assets. Besent said that Ukrainian President Zelensky and U.S. President Trump will sign the agreement on the 28th and no longer negotiate on the issue. He said it was a win-win deal on strategic minerals, oil and gas, and infrastructure assets.

▌The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 95.5%

According to CME's "Federal Observation", the probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 95.5%, and the probability of cutting interest rates by 25 basis points is 4.5%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by May is 73.2%, the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 25 basis points is 25.8%, and the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 50 basis points is 1.1%.

Musk and his companies reportedly received at least $38 billion in government funding in recent years

One analysis found that over the years, Musk and his business have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax relief. These payments date back more than 20 years. In 2008, Musk soon fought for a low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.

▌ 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell to 4.24%

At the end of New York on Wednesday (February 26), the yield on the US 10-year Treasury bond fell 4.59 basis points to 4.2486%. Beijing time 14:50 (latest Asian and Pacific trading) hit a new daily high and then fluctuated downward, 03:55, hitting the daily low as 4.2448%, approaching the bottom of 4.1992% on December 11, 2024, and reached 4.8069% on January 14, 2025. The yield on the two-year U.S. Treasury fell 2.26 basis points to 4.0716%, and the intraday trading range was 4.1312%-4.0634%. The yield on the three-year U.S. Treasury fell 4.52 basis points, the yield on the five-year U.S. Treasury fell 5.43 basis points, and the yield on the seven-year U.S. Treasury fell 5.22 basis points. The yield on the 20-year U.S. Treasury fell 4.62 basis points, while the yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury fell 4.65 basis points. The 2/10-year U.S. 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 "Federal Observation": the probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 95.5%, and the probability of cutting interest rates by 25 basis points is 4.5%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by May is 73.9%, the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 25 basis points is 25.1%, and the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 50 basis points is 1%.

▌ OpenAI launches Deep Research feature to Plus users

According to OpenAI announcement, the Deep Research feature is now fully open to ChatGPT Plus, Team, Edu and Enterprise users. This feature embeds images with references and optimizes the understanding and reference capabilities of uploaded files.

The query quota for Deep Research is as follows:

• Plus, Team, Enterprise and Edu users can use it 10 times a month

• Pro users can use it 120 times a month

In addition, OpenAI released a system card to introduce the development, capability evaluation and security improvements of the function, and invite experts to participate in the training of future models.

Advanced Voice features now launch a daily preview of the GPT-4o Mini version to all ChatGPT free users. This version is more cost-effective while maintaining the natural rhythm and tone of conversation.

▌U.S. stocks close: Three major stock indexes rise and fall

U.S. stocks closed on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially closing up 0.37%, the S&P 500 fell 0.47%, and the Nasdaq fell 1.3%. Tesla (TSLA.O) fell 8.3%, NVDA (NVDA.O) fell 2.8%, cryptocurrency concepts generally fell, Strategy (MSTR.O) fell 11%, and Coinbase (COIN.O) fell more than 6%.