Market Signal Briefing

Iran Tensions Push Oil Prices Higher and Keep Gold Under Pressure As of right now, the latest word is coming out of Iran: no talks with the US about calling off the war says the new statement – and in stark contrast – Donald Trump suggesting only yesterday that a deal might be on the cards. Whats more a senior adviser Mohsen Rezaei, is also saying that the war wont be over until Iran gets full pay for the damage its suffered

Meanwhile , the war of words is escalating with Iran’s energy sites coming under fire, and the Strait of Hormuz closing, sending oil prices spiking higher and higher.

And if that’s not enough to drive prices up, it will only add to the inflation picture which will push central banks to raise interest rates – remember we mentioned how that was putting pressure on the gold price… earlier.

Strong US Dollar and Rate Hike Expectations Keep Gold Under Pressure Back in the US, traders are now seriously starting to think that the Federal Reserve will not cut interest rates any further – and may even start raising them by the end of the year. The end result being US bond yields are going up which makes gold a much less attractive option for investors as the US dollar gets stronger.

Still, worries about the Middle East situation aren’t going to fade away anytime soon – and all that adds up to gold being a safe haven for nervous investors.

Gold Price Forecast: XAUUSD Breaks 0.236 Fibonacci, $4,111 in Focus

Amazon Web Services said it was once again facing service disruptions in Bahrain on Monday, as a result of the ongoing conflict ‌in the Middle East.

"We are working closely with local authorities and prioritizing the safety of our personnel throughout our recovery efforts," a spokesperson said in a statement shared with CNBC. 

AWS advised customers to migrate their applications to alternate AWS Regions, and said it had already helped a large number of users to do so. 

It comes after the cloud provider reported service disruption related to the Iran conflict in Bahrain and the UAE earlier in March.

In the UAE, two AWS facilities were directly struck by drones. In Bahrain, a drone strike landed in close proximity to company facilities and caused physical damage.

These previous AWS disruptions caused reported outages of apps and digital services in the UAE.

In recent weeks, Iran has continued to launch missile and drone strikes on its Middle East neighbors as part of its retaliation against Israel and the U.S.

Most artificial intelligence (AI) development happens inside centralized data centers, where thousands of specialized chips, called graphics processing units (GPUs), deliver the necessary computing power. Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices are two of the world's top GPU suppliers.

Micron Technology (MU 4.24%) provides those chipmakers with a very important component called high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which helps unlock maximum processing speeds from each GPU by facilitating the seamless flow of data. The company is experiencing astronomical demand for its HBM solutions right now, which triggered a near-threefold increase in its revenue during the fiscal 2026 second quarter (ended Feb. 26).

Micron stock is up by an eye-popping 330% over the last 12 months alone, and it was trading at $444.27 as of the market close on March 19. However, its attractive valuation suggests it could soon rocket past $500, so should investors take this opportunity to buy?

Image source: Getty Images.

Memory is critical in AI workloads HBM sits alongside GPUs and other components in the AI data center hardware stack. It stores information until GPUs are ready to process it, so capacity is critical. A low HBM capacity creates bottlenecks, forcing GPUs to pause workloads while they wait to receive more data. This would create a horrible user experience for anyone trying to run AI chatbots or AI agents.

Micron's HBM3E solution for the data center offers 50% more capacity than the competition while consuming 30% less energy, so it's perfect for AI companies seeking the fastest processing speeds at the lowest cost. But Micron is upping the ante with its new HBM4 solution, which offers a further 60% increase in capacity compared to HBM3E, along with a 20% improvement in energy efficiency.

Nvidia is using Micron's HBM4 in its latest Vera Rubin GPUs, which currently lead the industry in terms of AI processing performance.

But Micron's AI opportunity transcends the data center, because it's also a top supplier of memory solutions for personal computers (PCs) and smartphones. The company says PCs with agentic AI capabilities require up to 32 gigabytes of dynamic random access memory, which is twice as much as the average PC. Similarly, around 80% of flagship smartphones from top manufacturers are shipping with at least 12 gigabytes of memory, compared to just 20% of smartphones one year ago. More memory means more revenue for Micron.

Micron's revenue and earnings are soaring Micron generated a record $23.8 billion in total revenue during its fiscal 2026 second quarter, up 196% from the year-ago period. The result exceeded management's forecast of $18.7 billion by a wide margin.

Micron's cloud memory business (where it accounts for HBM sales) contributed $7.7 billion in revenue, up by 163% year over year. The company's mobile and client segment (where it accounts for PC and smartphone memory sales) also generated $7.7 billion in revenue, but that was up by an even greater 245%.

The soaring demand for AI-related memory solutions has given Micron an incredible amount of pricing power. As a result, its generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) earnings rocketed higher by 756% during the second quarter, coming in at $12.07 per share. Earnings typically drive stock prices, so this number could play a key role in shareholder returns from here. But more on that in a moment.

Micron provided some extremely bullish guidance for the current fiscal 2026 third quarter, which will conclude at the end of May. The company expects to deliver a whopping $33.5 billion in revenue along with earnings of $18.90 per share, representing staggering year-over-year increases of 260% and 1,025%, respectively.

Micron stock still looks cheap Based on Micron's trailing-12-month earnings of $21.18 per share and its stock price of $444.27, its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is just 20.9. That means that despite more than quadrupling over the past year, Micron stock is still cheaper than the S&P 500 index, which trades at a P/E ratio of 24.1, and the Nasdaq-100 index, which trades at a P/E ratio of 30.3.

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Micron is also substantially cheaper than Nvidia, which has a P/E ratio of 36.4. The stark valuation gap doesn't make much sense, in my opinion, because Nvidia is using Micron's HBM -- therefore, investors who believe Nvidia will continue selling truckloads of GPUs should be equally bullish on Micron.

Looking ahead, Wall Street's consensus estimates (provided by Yahoo! Finance) suggest Micron could deliver earnings of $36.67 per share during fiscal 2026, followed by $57.31 per share in fiscal 2027. That places its stock at forward P/E ratios of 12.1 and 7.7, respectively.

In other words, Micron stock would have to climb by 171% over the next 18 months just to maintain its current P/E ratio of 20.9, without even factoring in the potential for an even higher valuation. That would translate to a stock price of $1,203, so surpassing $500 might be a mere formality.

However, it's important to remember the AI semiconductor cycle is far from normal. In the past, data center operators would build infrastructure and use it for several years before upgrading it. The capital investment cycle has been reduced to one year (and even less in some cases) because companies like Nvidia are launching new GPUs so quickly.

But even the wealthiest tech giants won't be able to maintain the current pace of infrastructure spending forever, which is something Wall Street is likely factoring into Micron's valuation. Nevertheless, I think $500 will be an easy hurdle to clear from here.

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 24, 2026) - Homeland Uranium Corp. (TSXV: HLU) (OTCQB: HLUCF) (FSE: D3U) ("Homeland" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Homeland President and CEO Roger Lemaitre is scheduled to present at the Kinvestor Mining & Energy 2026 Virtual Investor Conference (KME26) on Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 11:40AM PT / 2:40PM ET. More details below.

Kinvestor Mining & Energy 2026 (KME26) brings together a carefully curated lineup of mining and energy companies at a pivotal moment for the sector. This one-day virtual event features a series of presentations from companies in the metals, minerals, and energy sectors. Attendees will hear directly from management teams as they outline key developments and near-term opportunities, followed by live Q&A sessions designed to foster open, candid dialogue.

Presentation Details:

Date: March 26, 2026
Presentation Time: 11:40AM PT / 2:40PM ET
Presenter: Roger Lemaitre, President & CEO

Register now:
https://events.zoom.us/ev/AqZOiYwerf2Kv3TJez8vTvVNTyKMEmr_jp80f3UtIxI9XTeO0zBv~AkmdtrWVoWZtnV1D_4otYWubNl7RAMADGLfEEDe-cehqsTGgxN4mCA9sFmsXCsUfJ759BiM8DASA415fwSX_l37-5Q

About Kinvestor

Kinvestor creates powerful opportunities for investors to connect with both established and up-and-coming public companies in the mining, technology, and energy sectors on a free to join virtual platform. Kinvestor is powered by Kin Communications Inc, a full-service investor relations agency with over 14 years of experience across multiple industries. Their goal is to foster long-term relationships with investors, thought leaders and the media through our virtual conferences and interview series The Kinvestor Report. For more information visit kinvestor.net.

About Homeland Uranium Corp.

Homeland Uranium Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on becoming a premier US-focused and resource-bearing uranium explorer and developer. The Company is 100% owner of the Coyote Basin and Cross Bones uranium projects in northwestern Colorado.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/289677

Source: Homeland Uranium Corp.

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New agentic AI capabilities designed for business data accelerate enterprise innovation and help defend enterprises from AI-era threats 

Available on all platforms from multicloud to on-premises

, /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle AI World Tour -- Oracle today announced new agentic AI innovations for Oracle AI Database that will help customers rapidly build, deploy, and scale secure agentic AI applications that are suitable for full-scale production workloads. Oracle AI Database architects agentic AI and data together across operational databases and analytic lakehouses. It enables AI agents to securely access real-time enterprise data wherever it resides and easily use business data with LLMs trained on public data to provide business insights. Customers can choose AI models, agentic frameworks, open data formats, and deployment platforms. In addition, customers running on Oracle Exadata further benefit from Exadata Powered AI Search, which enables agentic AI at the highest scale with accelerated AI queries for high-volume, multi-step agentic workloads.

"The next wave of enterprise AI will be defined by customers' ability to use AI in business-critical production systems to safely deliver breakthrough innovations, insights, and productivity," said Juan Loaiza, executive vice president, Oracle Database Technologies, Oracle. "With Oracle AI Database, customers don't just store data, they activate it for AI. By architecting AI and data together, we help customers quickly build and manage agentic AI applications that can securely query and act on real-time enterprise data with stock exchange-level robustness in every leading cloud and on-premises."

Innovate faster with AI designed for data
With agentic AI capabilities architected for data, Oracle AI Database helps eliminate the need to build and maintain data-movement pipelines that add complexity and security risk, and may produce worse outcomes. New capabilities include:

Oracle Autonomous AI Vector Database provides the simplicity of a vector database with the full power of Oracle AI Database. It enables developers and data scientists to quickly and easily build vector-powered applications using intuitive APIs and an easy-to-use web interface. Built on top of Oracle Autonomous AI Database, it combines an easy-to-use developer experience with enterprise-grade security, reliability, and scalability. Currently in limited availability, Autonomous AI Vector Database is accessible through either the Oracle Cloud free tier, or a developer tier with low-cost pricing. Customers can seamlessly upgrade with one click to the full power of Oracle Autonomous AI Database when their requirements grow, with full support for graph, spatial, JSON, relational, text, and parallel SQL—eliminating the need for separate databases and complex cross-database agentic workflows. Oracle AI Database Private Agent Factory enables business analysts and domain experts to rapidly build and safely deploy data-driven agents and workflows. The AI Database Private Agent Factory provides a no-code AI agent builder that runs as a container in public clouds or on-premises, maintaining data security by enabling customers to build, deploy, and manage AI agents without having to share data with third parties. AI Database Private Agent Factory includes multiple pre-built AI agents specialized for data, including a Database Knowledge Agent, a Structured Data Analysis Agent, and a Deep Data Research Agent. Other approaches rely on external agent orchestration or must make calls to different types of databases. Oracle has simplified agentic AI for business users by architecting it into its AI Database, providing consistency and simplicity—with enterprise-grade security, resiliency and scalability for every agentic workload. Oracle Unified Memory Core lets users store context for AI agents in a single system. It uniquely enables low-latency reasoning across vector, JSON, graph, relational, text, spatial, and columnar data in one converged engine, with consistent transactions and security. Minimize AI data risk
Oracle AI Database helps customers safeguard data from external attacks, insider misuse, accidental disclosure, and unintended exposure to LLMs across multicloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments. New capabilities include:

Oracle Deep Data Security implements powerful end-user-specific data access rules in the database. Each end-user or AI agent acting on behalf of an end-user can only see the data that the end-user is allowed to see. It can implement sophisticated persona and function-based rules. For example, what parts of a customer account specific sales reps, finance reps, shipping clerks, executives, support reps, and customer relatives are allowed to see. This provides unique end-user data security capabilities to protect against new AI-era threats, such as prompt injection, using declarative, database-native controls that implement least-privilege access. By centralizing and decoupling security from application code, it enables customers to easily determine who can see what data and continuously update access rules as new threats emerge, and it effectively provides guardrails for agents working within Oracle AI Database. Security at the source of the data – the database – offers superior protection when AI agents directly access data on behalf of end-users. Oracle Private AI Services Container enables customers with stringent security requirements to run private instances of AI models while avoiding sharing of data with third-party AI providers, or sending data outside of their firewall. In addition, it helps mitigate performance bottlenecks by allowing customers to securely offload compute-intensive AI tasks, such as vector embedding generation, outside the database, helping keep all data secure within their environment. The container can be deployed in the public cloud, on private clouds, or on-premises, including in air-gapped environments. Oracle Trusted Answer Search provides enterprises with an accurate, testable, and deterministic way to use AI to provide answers to end-users. Instead of directly using an LLM to answer an end-user question, Trusted Answer Search uses AI Vector Search to match the question to a previously created report. This helps mitigate the risk that probabilistic LLMs may occasionally hallucinate or misunderstand a query. End AI data lock-in with open standards and frameworks
Running in all leading cloud providers, in hybrid deployments, and available on-premises, Oracle AI Database gives customers the flexibility to choose the AI model and application-tier agentic framework that best fits their needs. They can build, deploy, and run agentic AI applications using open standards and data formats. New capabilities include:

Oracle Vectors on Ice provides customers with native support for vector data that is stored in Apache Iceberg tables. AI Vector Search can read vector data directly from Iceberg tables, create vector indexes to accelerate vector search, and automatically update these indexes as the underlying vector data changes. Oracle Vectors on Ice allows AI search on data lake data and enables unified search across business data in the database and vectors stored in a data lake. This enables customers to achieve unified intelligence across databases and data lakes. Oracle Autonomous AI Database MCP Server enables external AI agents and MCP clients to securely access Autonomous AI Database and its capabilities without custom integration code or manual security administration. It complements the Oracle SQLcl MCP Server for Oracle AI Database, available via the Oracle SQL Developer VS Code extension. "In the era of agentic AI, a unified memory core is essential for agents to maintain context across diverse data types, such as vector, JSON, graph, columnar, spatial, text, and relational, without the latency or staleness of external syncing," said Steven Dickens, CEO and principal analyst, HyperFRAME Research. "Only Oracle AI Database delivers this in a single, mission-critical engine with concurrent transactional and analytical processing, high availability, and ironclad security, enabling real-time reasoning over live business data. Organizations without this foundation will struggle with fragmented, unreliable agents, while those leveraging Oracle gain a decisive edge in scalable AI deployment."

Customers and developers can leverage the new agentic AI capabilities for Oracle AI Database now, to start developing and deploying game-changing agentic AI applications without moving data, learning new skills, or struggling with database scalability and the lack of agentic AI security guardrails. Learn more details about the latest AI innovations in this Oracle AI Database Agentic AI announcement blog.

About Oracle
Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at oracle.com.

Trademarks
Oracle, Java, MySQL and NetSuite are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. NetSuite was the first cloud company—ushering in the new era of cloud computing.

SOURCE Oracle

The plant-based polymer specialist says revenue growth and positive adjusted EBITDA are both within reach this year

Itaconix PLC (AIM:ITX, OTCQB:ITXXF, FRA:18G0), the AIM-listed plant-based specialty polymer company, says it has made a strong start to 2026 and expects to reach positive adjusted EBITDA for the first time this year, with management forecasting revenues of $13.3 million and adjusted EBITDA of $300,000 million for the full year.

The upbeat assessment of prospects follows what the company described as its most successful year to date, with revenues surpassing $10 million for the first time in 2025, rising 61% to $10.5 million (2024: $6.5 million).

Gross profit exceeded $3 million for the first time, reaching $3.6 million, while the gross profit margin in its core Itaconix Performance Ingredients business reached 41%.

Adjusted EBITDA losses, which strip out interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share-based payments and exceptional items, narrowed sharply to $600,000 million from $1.8 million in 2024, and net losses fell to $1.4 million from $2 million.

The company ended 2025 with net cash and investments of $4.4 million (2024: $6.7 million), which it said represented a strong working capital position to support continued growth.

Itaconix sells polymer ingredients used in detergents and other consumer products, marketing them on the basis of their safety, performance and sustainability credentials.

During 2025, the company developed new unit dose detergent formulations for 17 North American brands through its SPARX Formulated Solutions programme, and launched an ecommerce platform for its BIO*Asterix specialty itaconate monomers and resins business, which it described as a large new revenue opportunity.

Chief executive John Shaw said the company's commercial traction, diverse revenue base and production capacity positioned it for continued growth.

And pointed out that Itaconix has reached this stage while navigating geopolitical uncertainty, demonstrating the resilience of its supply chain and operations.

PZ Cussons (LSE:PZC), the consumer goods group behind Imperial Leather soap and Carex hand wash, expects full-year profit to come in at the upper end of its guidance range after continued strong trading through the third quarter.

Like-for-like revenue rose 6.3% in the three months to 28 February, a slight easing from the 9.5% recorded in the first half but still comfortably positive.

The group now expects adjusted operating profit towards the top of its £53 million-£57 million guidance range, which itself was upgraded last month after a strong first half that saw underlying profits jump 32% and profit before tax leap more than 50%.

A key factor is the Nigerian naira, the currency of Cussons' important African market, where previous sharp devaluations had weighed heavily on reported results.

The group said the naira had shown further stability and that management actions had continued to reduce its sensitivity to currency swings.

Full-year results are to be published in early August.

A brief ceasefire trade lasted less than 24 hours before global markets shifted back into crisis mode. Bitcoin climbed 3.1% to $70,352 on Tuesday morning, recovering from its weekend dip below $68,000. Ethereum, Solana, Dogecoin, and XRP each posted gains between 2% and 4%, signaling renewed crypto resilience amid escalating geopolitical tension.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia has agreed to grant the U.S. military access to King Fahd Air Base, reversing its earlier stance against allowing its bases to be used in operations targeting Iran. The UAE has reportedly taken similar steps. This development transforms what was previously a U.S.-Israel air campaign into a broader regional coalition — a major escalation that markets had not previously priced in.

Iran's deputy speaker rejected any possibility of U.S. negotiations, reinforcing Monday's denial from the Fars news agency. The Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, with only minimal vessel traffic pushing through. Brent crude surged 4% to approximately $104 per barrel in response.

Traditional markets took an immediate hit. S&P 500 futures declined 0.5%, European equities were set to open 0.8% lower, the dollar strengthened by 0.3%, and gold dropped 1.5% — extending what is now its longest recorded daily losing streak. The gold sell-off continues to baffle analysts, as safe-haven assets typically appreciate during wartime uncertainty. Forced liquidations by padding-pressured funds selling their most liquid holdings remains the prevailing theory.

With the five-day deadline Trump issued to Iran expiring this Saturday, Saudi Arabia's entry fundamentally changes the conflict's trajectory. A multinational Gulf coalition fighting Iran puts oil infrastructure across the region at serious risk.

Bitcoin holding the $70,000 level while traditional markets deteriorate raises a compelling question — is crypto finally decoupling from risk-off sentiment, or simply waiting for the next catalyst?

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TRON DAO has scaled up its artificial intelligence fund by a factor of ten, from $100 million to $1 billion, targeting investments in and acquisitions of early-stage startups building core infrastructure for the agentic economy.

The billion-dollar fund, announced on Monday, will focus investments in four areas: agent identity systems, stablecoin-based payment rails, tokenized real-world assets (RWA), and developer tooling for autonomous financial systems.

The expansion is built on Tron DAO’s theses dating back to 2023, which foresees stablecoins becoming the practical medium of exchange between AI agents, stablecoins becoming the natural payment layer for “AI-augmented people,” and the rise of tokenized equity. 

Blockchains race to support agentic AITron is just one of many crypto-native ecosystems to expand investment into AI by targeting the agentic payment economy. Solana and Base have also made moves to expand into this nascent field; others recently include Visa, Stripe, and World. 

In September, the Ethereum Foundation formally entered the agentic AI race with the launch of the “dAI Team,” which aims to make Ethereum the “preferred settlement and coordination layer” for AI agents and the machine economy. 

However, it is a notable contrast to TRON’s approach as Ethereum is positioning itself as a trust and coordination layer rather than a payments rail, leaning into its decentralization ethos rather than competing on speed and fees.

Agentic payment volume on the x402 protocol has spiked recently. Source: ArtemisTron scaling to support AI agents, Justin Sun saysTron said its blockchain is positioned to serve the future agentic economy with 370 million user accounts, more than $21 billion in daily transaction volume, and over $85 billion in circulating USDt (USDT).

Tron founder Justin Sun previously told Cointelegraph that many AI agent use cases involve small, frequent transactions, “which require networks that are fast and inexpensive to use.” 

Average confirmation times are about three seconds on TRON, compared with roughly 12 seconds on Ethereum, “making it well-suited for high-frequency transactions,” he said, citing an Arkham report.

Regarding scaling, he said the real question is what happens if AI agents move from a handful of applications to mainstream machine-to-machine commerce.

“To support this shift, infrastructure is beginning to develop around the ecosystem,” he continued, mentioning an AI agent framework recently launched on TRON called AINFT, which is designed to help developers build and deploy autonomous agents.

Magazine: Google flags crypto malware, retiree loses $840K in ‘expert’ scam: Hodler’s Digest

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read our Editorial Policy https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy

The correlation between Bitcoin and gold in March is showing rare signals suggesting Bitcoin may have already formed a bottom.

As the market enters the final week of March, gold has recorded its fourth consecutive weekly decline. Meanwhile, Bitcoin continues to consolidate around $70,000. This divergence is drawing increasing attention from analysts.

BTC/Gold Ratio Signals a Potential Bottom in MarchAnalyst Michaël van de Poppe studied the BTC/Gold ratio chart. He stated that the current 70% drawdown closely matches historical bottoms following bear cycles lasting 13–14 months.

Previous deep drawdowns in this ratio—86% in 2014, 83% in 2018, and 76% in 2022—all marked cycle bottoms. When the ratio recovers, it indicates that Bitcoin is outperforming gold.

He believes the chart may no longer be declining. Instead, it appears to be entering a consolidation phase, opening the door for a potential recovery in Bitcoin.

“This time won’t be different,” Michaël van de Poppe predicted.

BTC/Gold Ratio. Source: Michaël van de PoppeIn the short term, a bullish divergence on the BTC/Gold chart further strengthens the expectation that Bitcoin will outperform gold in the near term.

Bitcoin–Gold Correlation Hits a 3-Year Low.Data from CryptoQuant helps clarify the pattern observed by Michaël van de Poppe.

In March, the Bitcoin–gold correlation index dropped to -0.9, the lowest level since late 2022. At that time, Bitcoin hit a bottom at $15,600 and began a bullish trend that lasted more than two years.

Bitcoin–Gold Correlation. Source: CryptoQuant.Meanwhile, veteran trader Peter Brandt stated that gold is forming a clear bearish pattern known as the “Nine Red Birds” pattern. This pattern consists of nine consecutive daily closing declines.

He noted that this pattern has appeared only four times in his career. It often leads to markets taking years to recover.

The combination of Peter Brandt’s outlook and Bitcoin’s inverse correlation with gold suggests that Bitcoin may have already bottomed in March.

What Drives the Divergence Between Gold and Bitcoin?Swissblock, an institutional-grade analytics and market data firm, explained that Bitcoin priced in geopolitical risks early when the Iran conflict escalated at the beginning of the month.

“Bitcoin priced the geopolitical risk first. Bitcoin sold first, but recovered the fastest. The message is clear: Bitcoin has adapted to the shock better than expected, not repriced it as a systemic crisis,” Swissblock stated.

Bitcoin, Risk Index & Gold. Source: SwissblockA recent report from BeInCrypto showed that whale addresses holding more than 1,000 BTC have climbed to a one-year high despite fears of war and recession.

In addition, Bitcoin entered the week alongside key macroeconomic data releases, including PMI and jobless claims. These indicators may help shape market trends in the coming months.

Australia's $3.16 trillion pension sector may be on the verge of a major shift toward digital assets. Hostplus, one of the country's largest superannuation funds managing approximately $105 billion, is actively exploring whether to offer Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through its Choiceplus self-managed investment option. While Choiceplus currently represents just 1% of the fund's total assets, growing member demand is pushing leadership to reconsider its digital asset strategy.

Chief Investment Officer Sam Sicilia acknowledged that members have been vocal about wanting crypto access, signaling that institutional interest is increasingly being driven from the ground up. Hostplus isn't alone in this space. Late in 2024, retirement and wealth firm AMP Ltd. made headlines as one of Australia's first major pension managers to enter the crypto market, allocating around $17.2 million to Bitcoin futures.

This institutional momentum is unfolding against a backdrop of surging retail crypto adoption nationwide. According to the 2026 Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index, which surveyed more than 2,000 Australians, a record 33% of the population now holds digital assets. Awareness has reached 95%, and over half of Australians aged 25 to 34 are active crypto holders, making them the most engaged demographic.

Independent Reserve CEO Adrian Przelozny attributes this trend to shifting economic realities, particularly younger Australians turning to alternative investments as traditional wealth-building options like homeownership become less accessible. Cryptocurrencies, with their historically strong return potential, have naturally filled that gap.

Long-term sentiment remains broadly optimistic. Two in five Australians believe crypto will eventually become mainstream for everyday transactions, and 67% now recognize Bitcoin as a legitimate financial instrument. Regulatory clarity continues to be a deciding factor, with more than half of respondents saying clearer exchange oversight would increase their confidence in the market.

<Copyright ⓒ TokenPost, unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited>

Wavbridge has launched South Korea’s first custody service for digital assets issued on the institutional blockchain ‘Canton Network’, a move the firm says will give local institutions a more ‘regulation-aligned’ way to store and manage tokenized assets as real-world asset (RWA) activity accelerates globally.

The company said on Tuesday KST (Tuesday UTC) that it is now providing custody support for Canton-based assets, positioning the service as a bridge between traditional finance requirements—such as confidentiality, compliance, and operational controls—and blockchain-based issuance and settlement. Canton counts more than 600 participating global financial institutions and technology firms, including Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Citadel Securities, and DTCC, according to Wavbridge.

Canton has emerged as one of the most closely watched networks in institutional tokenization, with Wavbridge citing monthly tokenized transaction volumes exceeding $8 trillion. The network’s profile has been driven less by retail crypto momentum and more by its attempt to meet practical constraints faced by banks, clearing houses, and brokers—areas where public blockchains’ default transparency has often been viewed as a barrier to production deployment.

At the core of Canton’s pitch is architecture designed to blend public-chain interoperability with private-chain confidentiality at the Layer 1 level. That approach allows transaction details to be disclosed selectively only to relevant counterparties, an important feature for institutions that must protect sensitive trading and client information while maintaining auditability and compliance controls. Industry participants have increasingly described Canton as a ‘realistic institutional blockchain’ because it was built with regulatory compatibility and financial-market workflows in mind, rather than retrofitted after the fact.

Melvis Langyintuo, executive director of the Canton Foundation, said the Korean rollout is notable because Wavbridge is viewed as a digital asset infrastructure provider well suited to ‘regulatory alignment’. “Canton Network was built as institutional blockchain infrastructure for real financial markets,” he said, adding that the network supports secure asset issuance, custody, and settlement across banks, clearing institutions, and exchanges.

Langyintuo also pointed to South Korea as a strategic jurisdiction where policy frameworks and institutional readiness are converging, suggesting the launch could strengthen the foundations for institutional-grade digital asset operations. While the announcement did not disclose which specific tokenized products would be supported first, the focus on custody suggests early demand is likely to come from firms preparing back-office readiness for tokenized instruments rather than from speculative trading flows.

Wavbridge said it plans to expand into trading support for Canton-based digital assets later this year and confirmed it is already operating a Canton network node. The network is currently secured by more than 700 validators and more than 30 ‘super validators’, and processes over 800,000 transactions per day, according to figures shared by the company.

The development underscores growing interest among South Korean institutions in enterprise blockchain networks that can connect traditional financial infrastructure with digital assets inside a compliance-first environment. Oh Jong-wook, CEO of Wavbridge, said the company expects the custody launch to materially improve access for institutional investors, adding that use of Canton within the domestic financial sector could rise gradually as compliant infrastructure and distribution channels mature.

<Copyright ⓒ TokenPost, unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited>

The once-touted “Ethereum killer” is in extreme pain, wallowing in the depths of a bear market, but a bottom may be finally forming, say analysts.

Cardano is showing classic bottom indicators with active wallets down 43% on their investments over the past year, and ADA dropping over 70% since September, said Santiment on Tuesday.

However, this extreme negative MVRV value (market value to realized value ratio) is generally an indicator of ADA being in an “opportunity” or “buy zone,” they added.

“In a zero-sum game, when average returns are severely negative, this is an indication of a looming turnaround with coins always averaging 0% on MVRV’s across any timeframe,” they said before adding:

“So when other traders are in severe pain, key stakeholders and professional traders are intrigued by this due to the lowered risk of buying or adding on to their positions.”

Cardano Sentiment Crushed Adding to this pain, Cardano’s Binance funding rate is showing its highest short-to-long ratio since June 2023, meaning traders are heavily betting on further declines.

“This historically is another bottom signal,” they said, explaining that funding rates are always prone to liquidate and “send prices in the direction that traders are expecting the least.”

ADA was once a top ten crypto, but has now fallen to 13th place, below WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) and only just above Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

ADA prices have gained 2.5% over the past 24 hours to reach $0.26, but the asset is down almost 92% from its 2021 all-time high of $3.09 and failed to get anywhere near it in the 2025 crypto market peak.

📉 Average wallets that have been active on the Cardano network over the past year are netting a return of -43% on their investments. Memes aside about the altcoin’s major -71% price decline since September, this extreme negative MVRV value is generally an indicator of $ADA being… pic.twitter.com/LzQRKhobQe

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) March 24, 2026

You may also like: Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson Outlines Strategic Funding Roadmap for 2026: Here’s What’s New Crypto Trading Activity Hits Yearly Lows as Holiday Lull Freezes Markets Why Is Cardano’s Hoskinson Leaving X and What Does it Mean for ADA’s Price? There was very little discussion or chatter about Cardano on crypto social media, but it is not the only altcoin in pain.

Other Altcoins in Severe Pain Solana is down almost 70% from its memecoin-driven all-time high in January 2025, with SOL prices hovering around $90 at the time of writing.

Speaking of memecoins, Dogecoin (DOGE) was down 87% from its peak price five years ago, and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is down a similar amount.

Chainlink (LINK), the once-touted standard for real-world asset tokenization, has not seen any momentum from this narrative, wallowing 83% down from its 2021 all-time high.

Not all altcoins were deep in bear markets, though, with Tron (TRX), Hyperliquid (HYPE), and Leo (LEO) faring much better.

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Pi Network (PI) price trades near $0.188, down roughly 3% today but still holding an 11.6% gain on the month. Two patterns are forming simultaneously on the 8-hour chart that could define the next move.

A hidden bullish divergence on the RSI suggests selling pressure is fading, while a cup-and-handle formation points to a potential 22% rally. However, BeInCrypto’s proprietary Pi Isolation and Shock Index (PISI) reads near zero, indicating the breakout may not arrive immediately. The Pi Coin price sits at a crossroads between pattern confirmation and continued consolidation.

The 8-hour chart on OKX shows a hidden bullish divergence forming between February 19 and March 23. During that period, the PI price carved a higher low on the candles while the Relative Strength Index (RSI), a momentum indicator, formed a lower low. Hidden bullish divergence typically suggests that selling pressure is weakening within an existing structure, supporting continuation rather than reversal.

Want more token insights like this? Sign up for Editor Harsh Notariya’s Daily Crypto Newsletter here.

PI RSI Hidden Bullish Divergence: TradingViewComplementing the RSI setup, a cup-and-handle pattern has been taking shape since mid-March. The cup’s rounded bottom formed between roughly March 15 and March 19, and the current price action is consolidating inside the handle. If the handle breaks upward and Pi Coin price clears the neckline, the measured move targets a 22% rally.

Pi Coin’s Cup-and-Handle Pattern: TradingViewBoth patterns lean bullish, but the timing of any breakout depends on how the Pi Network token behaves relative to the broader market. That is where the proprietary index comes in.

A Proprietary Index Says Wait, but Big Money Is Flowing InBeInCrypto’s Pi Isolation and Shock Index (PISI), a custom Z-score indicator that measures how strongly Pi moves independently of the broader altcoin market (TOTAL3), currently reads -0.03. That places it almost exactly at the zero line, indicating normal behavior with no strong independent momentum in either direction.

The PISI has a proven track record on this token. On March 12, when the index surged from 1.02 to a peak of 2.59 in the green zone, Pi’s price subsequently rallied roughly 40%. Conversely, on March 13, when the PISI plunged to -5.50 in the extreme zone, Pi corrected approximately 43%. The current flat reading suggests the consolidation inside the handle could persist before any decisive move.

PI Isolation and Shock Index: TradingViewOne reason for the muted PISI is Pi’s low correlation with Bitcoin. The one-month correlation matrix shows a reading of just 0.11 between BTC and PI. Pi Network is moving largely independently of Bitcoin, which means it is not benefiting from any Bitcoin-led momentum. Instead, Pi is tracking more closely with the altcoin market. If an altcoin rotation gains traction, Pi could get pulled along, but until then, the independence limits its upside catalyst.

PI and BTC Correlation: DeFillamaPi Coin’s proximity to the TOTAL3 can make it a leading tracker to gauge early altcoin rotation as well.

However, despite the muted PISI, one indicator is quietly turning bullish.

Pi Coin Price Needs $0.200 to Trigger the Setup As Big Money Flows InThe Chaikin Money Flow (CMF), a proxy for big money flows, has just crossed above zero on the 8-hour chart, reaching 0.03. The last time CMF crossed above zero was in late February, and that crossover preceded a prolonged rally for PI. A similar move now, while the cup-and-handle is forming and the RSI divergence is intact, adds weight to the bullish case. It suggests bigger participants are starting to accumulate again.

The first psychological and technical hurdle sits at $0.200, the 0.5 Fibonacci level. An 8-hour close above this zone would confirm that the handle is resolving upward. The next confirmation arrives at $0.204, the 0.618 Fib, which closely aligns with the neckline of the cup-and-handle pattern.

A break above $0.204 activates the 22% measured move, targeting $0.246. Beyond that, the 2.618 Fibonacci extension sits at $0.275.

PI Price Analysis: TradingViewOn the downside, $0.182 is the immediate floor. If the CMF slips back below zero and $0.182 breaks, the pattern weakens, and $0.168 becomes the next support. A close below $0.168 would invalidate the cup-and-handle entirely.

Currently, an 8-hour close above $0.200 is what Pi Coin price needs to turn the cup-and-handle from a developing pattern into a confirmed short-term rally.

Bitmine has increased its bet on Ethereum (ETH) with a $137 million purchase, as the King of Altcoins reclaims the crucial $2,150 level, and some market observers call for the end of the crypto market correction.

Bitmine Adds 65,000 ETH Amid End Of Crypto Winter Calls On Monday, the largest Ethereum treasury in the world, Bitmine, announced it continued to ramp up its bet on the King of Altcoins by purchasing roughly $137 million in ETH last week.

In its weekly update, the company reported it acquired 65,341 ETH over the past week, maintaining its “increased pace of ETH buys in each of the past three weeks.” This represents a significant increase in the average 45,000-50,000 ETH acquisitions from prior weeks.

Notably, Bitmine’s latest purchase has pushed the company’s total crypto and cash holdings to $11 billion at current prices. As of March 22, the second-largest crypto treasury firm holds 4,660,903 ETH, 196 Bitcoin (BTC), a $200 million stake in Beast Industries, a $95 million stake in Eightco Holdings as part of its “Moonshots” initiative, and unencumbered cash worth $1.1 billion.

In addition, it holds 3.86% of ETH’s total supply, and nears its goal to control 5% of the leading altcoin’s 120.7 million supply. Meanwhile, the firm’s total staked ETH stands at 3,142,643, worth $6.5 billion at $2,072 per ETH.

Bitmine’s chairman, Tom Lee, highlighted that the company maintained its increasing purchasing pace due to its base case that “ETH is in the final stages of the ‘mini-crypto winter.’”

As he noted, “crypto and particularly ETH have outperformed the broader market since the Iran war commenced, with ETH rising 18% and outperforming equities by 2,450bp.” To Lee, this has demonstrated that cryptocurrencies are a “good ‘wartime’ store of value.”

He also highlighted the US Congress’s recent progress on the CLARITY Act, affirming that it will be a positive fundamental catalyst for Ethereum and “another reason probabilities favor the crypto winter as being largely behind us.”

Ethereum Bullish Momentum Returned? On Monday morning, Ethereum rose alongside the rest of the crypto market after President Donald Trump announced he was postponing planned strikes on Iranian energy power plants for five days.

Ethereum surged 8% from the $2,000 psychological level, reclaiming the crucial $2,150 area. Analyst Ali Martinez noted that the King of Altcoin is “showing signs of a major structural shift,” as it has shown the strongest combination of technical support and on-chain signals in months.

From a technical perspective, Ethereum is currently trading within a multi-year ascending triangle pattern on the weekly chart. This pattern suggests a potential breakout towards the $10,000 level.

As he explained, the recent move toward $1,800 served as “a critical reaction point, aligning with the rising trendline of this multi-year structure.” In addition, on-chain data confirms that the recovery “wasn’t just a random bounce,” with the MVRV ratio recently dropping below 0.8, which historically has been a “generational buy zone.”

The fact that this on-chain reset happened exactly as price tested the triangle’s support adds massive weight to the bullish thesis.

He also highlighted that the key SuperTrend indicator has flipped from Sell to Buy for the first time since May, suggesting that the extended sideways period is ending, and a new uptrend is beginning.

Martinez concluded that a sustained move above the $2,350 area would be the first signal that Ethereum is exiting its accumulation range and entering a “true bull market expansion” and that any dips into the $1,800-$2,000 range should be “viewed as an opportunity as long as the $1,800 floor remains intact.”

Ethereum’s performance in the one-week chart. Source: ETHUSDT on TradingView Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com

7h05 ▪ 4 min read ▪ by Luc Jose A.

Summarize this article with:

Strategy once again strengthens its position in bitcoin, despite a hesitant market. The company led by Michael Saylor has just announced the purchase of 1,031 additional BTC, extending a series of acquisitions started at the beginning of the month. This operation takes place in a context marked by the rise of institutional players and increased pressure on prices. It thus renews questions about the accumulation strategy adopted and its implications for market balance.

In Brief Strategy strengthens its accumulation strategy with the purchase of 1,031 Bitcoins for 76.6 million dollars. The company raises its reserves to 762,099 BTC, despite a latent loss of about 7 %. A series of massive purchases in March confirms sustained investment momentum. Strategy faces increasing competition from Bitcoin ETFs, notably BlackRock. Strategy continues its purchases despite an uncertain market Strategy acquired 1,031 bitcoins for 76.6 million dollars, according to an 8-K filing submitted to the SEC. The operation was conducted at an average price of 74,326 dollars per BTC, a level below the overall average cost of its acquisitions, set at 75,694 dollars.

The company specifies that these purchases were funded by the sale of common shares. This acquisition now brings its holdings to 762,099 BTC, at a total cost of about 57.69 billion dollars.

In March, Strategy bought 41,362 BTC for about 2.93 billion dollars ; Bitcoin is currently trading around 70,895 dollars ; The company shows an unrealized loss of about 7 % ; The current valuation of its holdings reaches about 54 billion dollars. These elements reflect a progressive accumulation strategy, regardless of short-term fluctuations.

A shift in financing and pressure from institutional players The financing of this last acquisition is based exclusively on the sale of common shares, a notable change compared to previous operations.

During its purchase of 22,337 BTC (about 1.6 billion dollars), Michael Saylor’s company had largely mobilized its preferred stock product STRC, which generated nearly 1.2 billion dollars, or about 75 % of the total financing. This inflection in financing sources reflects an adjustment in capital management and in investor exposure to its Bitcoin strategy.

At the same time, Strategy’s position fits into an increasingly competitive institutional landscape. The company’s holdings remain slightly below those of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) fund, which holds about 785,300 BTC on behalf of its clients. More broadly, American spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively hold nearly 1.3 million BTC, or about 6.1% of the total supply capped at 21 million.

The simultaneous evolution of these strategies reveals a market structured by players capable of absorbing significant volumes. Strategy’s continuous accumulation, despite temporarily negative performance, contrasts with the diversification logic of ETFs. This dual movement could influence market liquidity, price formation, and the role of bitcoin in company balance sheets and institutional portfolios in the coming months.

Strategy continues its accumulation at a sustained pace, despite a pressured market and increased institutional competition. This dynamic fits into a key phase for the company, now on the verge of recording its second best quarter of bitcoin acquisition. It remains to be seen whether this strategy will strengthen its position or increase its exposure to bitcoin cycles.

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Luc Jose A.

Diplômé de Sciences Po Toulouse et titulaire d'une certification consultant blockchain délivrée par Alyra, j'ai rejoint l'aventure Cointribune en 2019. Convaincu du potentiel de la blockchain pour transformer de nombreux secteurs de l'économie, j'ai pris l'engagement de sensibiliser et d'informer le grand public sur cet écosystème en constante évolution. Mon objectif est de permettre à chacun de mieux comprendre la blockchain et de saisir les opportunités qu'elle offre. Je m'efforce chaque jour de fournir une analyse objective de l'actualité, de décrypter les tendances du marché, de relayer les dernières innovations technologiques et de mettre en perspective les enjeux économiques et sociétaux de cette révolution en marche.

DISCLAIMER

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.

Balancer Labs will shut down as corporate entity became 'a liability' after $110 million exploitCo-founder Fernando Martinelli said he considered winding down the entire protocol but decided the team deserved a chance to restructure, with the DAO targeting zero emissions, fee restructuring, and a BAL buyback to offer holders a fair exit. Mar 24, 2026, 6:25 a.m.

The company that built decentralized finance (DeFi) powerhouse Balancer is closing.

Balancer co-founder Fernando Martinelli announced Tuesday that Balancer Labs, the corporate entity that incubated and funded the decentralized exchange protocol, will be shutting down.

The decision comes roughly five months after a v2 exploit in November 2025 that drained approximately $110 million in digital assets, as CoinDesk first reported, including osETH, WETH, and wstETH, the third known security breach for the project and the one that created the legal exposure Martinelli cited as the reason for shutting down BLabs.

"BLabs, as a corporate entity, has become a liability rather than an asset to the protocol's future and is just not sustainable as is without any sources of revenue," Martinelli wrote in a governance forum post.

Martinelli added he "seriously considered" shutting everything down entirely. But he stopped short of calling for a full wind-down because the protocol still generates revenue.

Balancer was one of the defining names of the DeFi boom. At its peak in late 2021, the protocol held nearly $3.5 billion in total value locked, putting it alongside Aave, Uniswap, and Curve as foundational infrastructure for decentralized trading.

DeFiLlama data shows TVL at $2.96 billion as of October 2021, with fees spiking above $6 million annualized. But the TVL now sits at $157 million, a 95% drop from peak.

The market cap has fallen to $10 million. BAL trades at $0.16 against a fully diluted valuation of $11 million, meaning it trades far below net asset value.

Balancer produced over $1 million in annualized fees over the past three months. That's not enough to sustain the current operation, but it's enough to sustain a much leaner one.

The restructuring plan the remaining team is proposing is aggressive. BAL emissions would be cut to zero, ending what Martinelli described as a "circular bribe economy that costs more than it generates."

The veBAL governance model, which he said was captured by meta-governance protocols like Aura and bribe markets that made voting "unrepresentative of the actual Balancer front line," would be wound down.

Protocol fees would be restructured so the DAO treasury captures 100% of revenue instead of the current 17.5%. The v3 protocol share would drop to 25% to attract organic liquidity. And a BAL buyback would offer holders exit liquidity at a fair price.

"If you believe in the restructured Balancer, you stay. If you don't, you get a fair exit," Martinelli wrote. "That's honest dealing, and it clears the overhang."

Essential BLabs team members would be absorbed into Balancer OpCo pending a governance vote. Martinelli himself will have no formal relationship with the protocol after the wind-down but offered to serve as an advisor.

The product scope is narrowing to five areas where the team sees differentiation: reCLAMM pools, liquidity bootstrapping pools, stablecoin and liquid staking token pools, weighted pools, and expansion to non-EVM chains. Everything else gets cut.

BAL was trading at $0.72 as of Tuesday morning, down roughly 88% from its all-time high.

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Bitcoin's mining concentration just showed up in a rare 2-block reorg

1 hour ago

A 2-block reorg at height 941,881 saw Foundry's chain overwrite blocks from AntPool and ViaBTC, coming days after mining difficulty dropped nearly 8%.

What to know:

Foundry USA, Bitcoin's largest mining pool, briefly produced seven consecutive blocks on Monday, triggering a rare two-block chain reorganization that orphaned valid blocks from AntPool and ViaBTC.The incident, which the network resolved as designed by favoring the chain with the most cumulative proof of work, underscores how shrinking industry margins are concentrating hashrate into fewer, larger mining pools.While a two-block reorg does not threaten Bitcoin's overall security, growing hashrate concentration increases the odds that a single pool will mine multiple blocks in a row and create short-lived competing chains when blocks are found nearly simultaneously.

Bitcoin (BTC) shook off a brief push to $76,000 last week, only to reverse sharply as hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data and a more hawkish Federal Reserve narrative tightened financial conditions and revived risk-off positioning across markets.

In a weekly note published Sunday UTC, Bitfinex Alpha said BTC opened the week near $71,000 and rallied roughly 7% over two sessions to around $76,000 before momentum faltered. The report characterized the move as a 'false breakout', arguing that macro pressure—amplified by rising geopolitical risk in the Middle East and fears tied to the Strait of Hormuz—quickly turned the market’s focus back to inflation and rates.

The pullback was swift. From the local high near $76,000, BTC fell as much as 10.2% to a low of $67,363, according to the report. Still, the decline stopped above March’s opening level of $67,035, a detail analysts highlighted as evidence that a key structural support zone remains intact despite the volatility.

Risk sentiment improved later in the week after President Trump said the U.S. would delay an attack on an Iranian power facility, helping spark a rebound in crypto assets. Bitfinex Alpha noted that the episode underscored how quickly digital-asset pricing can swing when macro drivers collide with headline geopolitical risk.

Notably, Bitcoin’s performance continued to diverge from equities. The S&P 500 slid to roughly 6,564—well below its March open and back toward levels last seen at a November 2025 low—while BTC managed to defend its monthly opening price. On a relative basis, the report estimated the benchmark index fell about 4.9% over the period, while BTC held up at higher levels, reinforcing the narrative of 'relative strength' in crypto versus traditional risk assets during the same macro shock.

Bitfinex Alpha also pointed to the timing of Bitcoin’s advance—beginning before the macro deterioration became dominant—as a potential sign of early 'institutional demand'. The implication is that positioning may have been established ahead of key Fed messaging, with subsequent price action reflecting a rapid re-pricing to new economic data rather than a purely technical-driven move.

On-chain indicators add another layer to the market structure. Using UTXO realized price distribution data, the report identified heavy accumulation between $59,000 and $72,000 during February and March 2026, creating what it described as a 'buying wall' and a robust cost-basis support band. That base helped push prices higher, but the breakout proved unstable as leveraged long positions piled in while holders who had previously been underwater used the rally to sell near breakeven—creating immediate overhead supply.

Technically, the $72,000 to $82,000 zone is viewed as an 'air gap'—a range with comparatively limited historical trading activity. Such areas can allow price to travel quickly when demand is strong, but they can also expose the market to abrupt reversals if buyers hesitate. Last week’s brief entry into this zone, despite geopolitical uncertainty, suggested traders were treating the shock as potentially temporary—at least until inflation and rate expectations reasserted themselves.

Spot Bitcoin ETF flows were a central variable in the week’s churn. Bitfinex Alpha said U.S.-listed spot ETFs recorded seven consecutive trading days of net inflows ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, from March 9 through March 17, totaling about $1.162 billion. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ($IBIT) led the move, taking in roughly $169.3 million on March 17 alone, while Fidelity, ARK, VanEck, and Franklin Templeton also posted net inflows—signaling sustained spot demand from institutional channels.

That bid flipped immediately after the Fed event. From March 18 through March 20, spot ETF flows turned decisively negative, with about $305.7 million exiting over three sessions. The largest single-day outflow came on March 18 at roughly $163.5 million, including about $103.8 million from Fidelity’s fund, which the report described as the month’s biggest redemption for that vehicle. Additional net outflows of about $90.2 million on March 19 and $52.0 million on March 20 reinforced the view that the Fed’s hawkish signals triggered a broader asset-allocation adjustment, not merely a routine dip-buying pause.

Even so, cumulative flows from March 3 through March 20 were still positive—around $966.8 million—suggesting the broader uptrend in spot demand has not been fully undone. The more important takeaway, the report argued, is the clear inflection around the FOMC meeting, which may influence near-term market conviction.

Looking ahead, Bitfinex Alpha framed ETF demand as the swing factor for the next directional move. The report said discussions that Morgan Stanley may consider offering spot Bitcoin ETFs could expand structural demand via adviser-led distribution channels, though timing and implementation remain uncertain. If ETF inflows stabilize or resume, Bitcoin could re-enter the $72,000–$82,000 'air gap' and potentially extend toward $82,000; if demand continues to fade, the market is more likely to revert to its prior range and consolidate below key resistance.

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Broader financial markets saw disruption recently, driven by geopolitical tensions. Against that backdrop, Hyperliquid [HYPE] stood out with strong gains.

The HYPE token rose nearly 70%, climbing from $25 to $48 as the Middle East conflict escalated.

On the daily chart, HYPE traded near $20 after a short correction over the past five days.

Source: TradingView Momentum indicators suggest a cooling phase. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) approached oversold territory, signaling fading selling pressure as the correction neared exhaustion.

That shift suggested weakening short-term momentum after the pullback.

Oversold conditions often indicate seller fatigue. Markets may stabilize before attempting another move higher.

Open interest surge signals strong participation Market activity has expanded rapidly.

Open Interest [OI] climbed to $3.1 billion within 24 hours, pointing to fresh capital entering the market.

Some analysts linked this move to portfolio rotation from commodities like oil. Geopolitical stress often drives such shifts.

In this case, traders may have sought exposure through alternative markets.

Rising OI alongside volatility highlighted elevated participation. That move aligned with a post-rally reset.

Source: Coinalyze $44 emerges as recovery target Attention now turns to the next potential move. If buyers return, $44 remains a key resistance level. The level rejected several advances on the daily chart.

A move toward this level could signal renewed bullish momentum. However, failure to regain strength may extend the correction.

Source: CryptoQuant What’s next for HYPE? The structure remained constructive despite the pullback. The rally cooled, momentum reset, and participation stayed elevated.

If oversold conditions trigger demand, HYPE may attempt another bullish phase. For now, $44 remains the key level in a potential recovery setup.

Final Summary Hyperliquid [HYPE] rose nearly 70% amid geopolitical market disruption. Price corrected to ~$20 after a short-term pullback. Open Interest surged to $3.1B, reflecting strong market participation. Capital rotation from commodities may be driving inflows

Tron DAO is scaling up its artificial intelligence ambitions with a major expansion of its investment fund, increasing it from $100 million to $1 billion.

The move reflects a broader shift across crypto ecosystems towards supporting the emerging agentic economy, where autonomous AI systems interact, transact, and operate with minimal human input.

Announced on X, the expanded fund is designed to back early-stage startups and strategic acquisitions that can build the foundational infrastructure required for this next phase of digital finance and automation.

Competition is also intensifying across blockchain networks.

TRON announced the expansion of its AI Fund from $100 million to $1 billion. The fund will target investments in and acquisitions of early-stage companies building core infrastructure for the agentic economy. The fund will prioritize the development and consolidation of agent

Focus on core infrastructureThe billion-dollar fund will be deployed across four key areas tied to the agentic economy.

These include agent identity systems that allow AI entities to operate securely, and stablecoin-based payment rails for seamless transactions.

They also include tokenised real-world assets and developer tools that support autonomous financial systems.

Tron DAO’s approach reflects a focus on practical use cases, particularly in payments and infrastructure.

By prioritising stablecoin rails and identity systems, the fund is targeting the operational backbone needed for AI-driven financial interactions and automated economic activity.

Stablecoins at the centreThe expansion builds on Tron’s long-standing thesis developed in 2023.

The organisation has consistently argued that stablecoins will become the default medium of exchange between AI agents, as well as for individuals using AI-augmented tools.

It also expects stablecoins to evolve into the natural payment layer for digital interactions involving AI, while tokenised equity and real-world assets become more common in decentralised ecosystems.

These ideas now form the basis of how the fund will be allocated across sectors.

Growing competition in AI crypto spaceTron is not alone in moving towards the agentic AI economy.

Other crypto ecosystems such as Solana and Base have also stepped up their focus on AI-related infrastructure and applications.

Outside the blockchain-native space, companies including Visa, Stripe, and World have also shown interest in this rapidly evolving segment.

In September, the Ethereum Foundation launched its “dAI Team,” marking its formal entry into the space.

The initiative is aimed at positioning Ethereum as the preferred coordination and settlement layer for AI systems and the broader machine economy.

Tron positions as payment railTron’s strategy differs from Ethereum’s positioning.

While Ethereum is leaning into its decentralised architecture to serve as a coordination layer, Tron is focusing on becoming a high-speed, low-cost payment rail for AI-driven activity and machine-to-machine transactions.

The network says it is already equipped to support this transition.

It reports over 370 million user accounts, more than $21 billion in daily transaction volume, and over $85 billion in circulating USDT.

These figures are being used to highlight its readiness to handle large-scale, real-time financial interactions between AI agents.

The expansion also signals rising institutional confidence in blockchain-based AI infrastructure.

Networks are competing to attract developers, capital, and scalable use cases that can drive broader real-world adoption of autonomous systems.

Consumers are tightening their budgets and, at the same time, GLP-1 drugs are changing the way people eat. That has investors worried about food makers like Hormel Foods (HRL +1.26%) and General Mills (GIS +0.95%). The stocks have historically high yields of 5.2% and 6.5%, respectively. If you are looking for dirt cheap dividend stocks, you'll want to get to know these consumer staples companies today.

Hormel and General Mills are reliable dividend payers Hormel is a Dividend King, with six decades worth of annual dividend increased under its belt. General Mills has paid a dividend for 127 years and counting. The dividend has trended generally higher for decades. These are not upstarts; they are seasoned food companies that are going through a difficult period. And they have both proven they can survive hard times while continuing to reward dividend investors well.

Image source: Getty Images.

The key is that both Hormel and General Mills make necessity items. You aren't going to stop eating because there is a recession or a bear market. And they both have long and successful histories of updating their brand portfolios to keep pace with changing consumer preferences. Hormel's protein focus is particularly on point today, as GLP-1 drug use is spreading. Increasing protein intake is important to stave off muscle loss. However, if history is any guide, they will both figure out how to deal with the current headwinds, using tools such as innovation, acquisitions, and cost-cutting, among others. General Mills has notably been leaning into growing trends like pet food and moving away from food brands that have seen stagnant growth, such as Hamburger Helper, which was recently sold.

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The value opportunity is huge As already highlighted, both Hormel and General Mills have historically high dividend yields, which suggests the stocks are cheap. Although earnings are under pressure, making price-to-earnings ratios less useful, both companies have price-to-sales and price-to-book ratios that are well below their five-year averages. That helps confirm the value opportunity available for investors today.

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With each company actively working to turn its business around, buying today will get you in before those upturns arrive. A $1,000 investment will buy around 26 shares of General Mills or 45 shares of Hormel. And you'll lock in lofty yields from companies that have proven they know how to survive and reward income investors for sticking around through both the good and bad times.

Reuben Gregg Brewer has positions in General Mills and Hormel Foods. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

A Broadcom logo appears in this illustration taken August 25, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

TAIPEI, March 24 (Reuters) - Chip designer Broadcom (AVGO.O), opens new tab said it is seeing supply chain constraints, including capacity limits at its manufacturing partner TSMC (2330.TW), opens new tab, highlighting the ripple ​effects of soaring demand for AI chips on the broader tech ‌industry.

"We are seeing that TSMC is hitting (production capacity) limits," Natarajan Ramachandran, director of product marketing in Broadcom’s Physical Layer Products division, told reporters on Tuesday, adding he would have ​described TSMC's capacity as "infinite" until a few years ago.

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"They will be ​increasing the capacity to 2027, but that has become a bottleneck, ⁠or that has kind of choked the supply chain in 2026," he ​said.

TSMC did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.

The Taiwanese firm, ​the world's main producer of advanced AI chips, said in January that capacity was tight, as the boom in AI infrastructure buildout has soaked up much of its advanced production lines.

The ​world's largest contract chipmaker, whose major customers also include Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab - also ​said at the time that it was working hard to narrow the gap between supply ‌and ⁠demand.

Broadcom's Ramachandran said supply constraints extend beyond chips to various tech supply chains.

"Even though there are multiple suppliers in the industry today ... there is definitely a supply constraint in the laser space,” he said, adding that printed circuit boards (PCBs) ​had also emerged ​as an "unexpected" bottleneck.

Ramachandran ⁠said both Taiwanese and Chinese PCB suppliers are facing capacity constraints, contributing to longer lead times. He did not name ​the suppliers.

Many customers are now entering long-term agreements with ​suppliers to ⁠secure capacity commitments for as long as three to four years, he said.

The trend was underscored by memory chipmaker Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), opens new tab, which said last week that it is ⁠working ​with major customers to shift to longer contracts ​of three-to-five years.

The move reflects customers’ desire for longer-term supply security and suppliers’ efforts to guard ​against demand swings.

Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Kevin Buckland

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

The S&P 500 is slightly down this year as the market accounts for worries about rising oil prices. Although it's often used as a proxy for the broader market, the index is an average of only 500 stocks, and there are plenty of stocks both within it and outside of it that move differently.

Consider Coca-Cola (KO +0.48%) and Walmart (WMT +1.43%), two Dividend Kings -- companies that have raised their annual dividend for at least 50 consecutive years. They're both soaring this year, and they often do well when the market is under pressure.

Here's why they're both excellent anchor stocks for a diversified portfolio.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

1. Coca-Cola Coca-Cola is one of the oldest U.S. companies still in operation, and it has one of the longest track records as a Dividend King; it just raised its dividend for the 64th consecutive year. That's about as reliable as a stock can be.

Even more, it usually has a high yield, which isn't a given for Dividend Kings. Investors usually love Dividend Kings for their reliability, but they often have low yields. Coke's dividend typically yields around 3%, which is a high yield and a great feature.

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The beverage giant is one of Warren Buffett's favorite stocks, and the legendary investor has lauded its products that will always be around; popular drinks won't be overtaken by new technology, so Coca-Cola will always have a place in the economy. The company is, however, using new technology to amplify its systems. Buffett also loves its global brand that "travels," and its dividend.

More recently, Coca-Cola is demonstrating strength through its localized production, which has helped it avoid much of the recent, changing tariffs.

Coca-Cola stock is up 12% this year, and it offers investors value, protection, and passive income.

2. Walmart Walmart just raised its dividend for the 53rd straight year, which is still an excellent track record and rare achievement. Walmart's dividend yields just 0.75% at the current price, but it's usually closer to 1%, and it's one of the dividend stocks that are prized for their stability, reliability, and growth.

The company's hold on U.S. retail is unmistakable, even though it recently lost the crown as the largest company in the world to Amazon. Walmart has more than 5,000 U.S. locations between its Walmart stores and Sam's Club warehouses, and it has a store within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population.

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Walmart continues to report consistent growth despite inflation and macroeconomic volatility, and e-commerce has emerged as a surprising and robust growth driver. E-commerce sales increased 24% year over year in the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter (ended Jan. 31), with a 27% increase in U.S. e-commerce sales.

The market has also been liking Walmart's low exposure to tariffs, since much of its supply is in the U.S. It also has leverage with suppliers due to its size.

Finally, since it's a discount retailer, it tends to do well under pressure, giving it an edge when times are rough.

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SummaryHuntington Bancshares is a fundamentally solid regional bank, trading at an attractive valuation with a clear growth trajectory and conservative risk profile.HBAN is undervalued at a 10.72x P/E, with sector-average multiples between 11-14x and expected annual EPS growth of 14-15% through 2028.Recent M&A integrations, including Cadence and Veritex, are progressing well, supporting anticipated cost synergies and future earnings upside.I assign HBAN a 'Buy' rating with a $20/share price target, reflecting strong fundamentals, well-covered 4.11% dividend, and manageable integration risks.I do much more than just articles at Wolf of Value: Members get access to model portfolios, regular updates, a chat room, and more. Learn More »jetcityimage/iStock Editorial via Getty Images

One thing I love about the American banking market is the presence, existence, and continued strength of regional banks. I have previously had success in investing in several of the non-major regional banks (my history with the larger US

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / March 24, 2026 / Usha Resources Ltd. ("Usha" or the "Company") (TSXV:USHA)(OTCQB:USHAF)(FSE:JO0) ) is pleased to announce that Panther Minerals Inc. ("Panther") has acquired (the "Transaction") a 100% interest in Usha's Rubidium Ridge pegmatite project located in Ontario, Canada (the "RR Property"), pursuant to the sale and purchase agreement between the Company and Panther, dated February 18, 2026. In consideration, Panther paid the Company $80,000 in cash and issued the Company 4,150,000 common shares of Panther (the "Consideration Shares"). The Consideration Shares are subject to resale restrictions expiring six (6) months from the date of issuance.

The RR Property remains subject to a 2.0% net smelter returns royalty (the "NSR") in favour of the Company. Panther retains the right to repurchase 50% of the NSR for $1,000,000 and holds a right of first refusal to acquire the remaining 50%.

In addition, Panther is required to pay the Company a bonus of $1,000,000 upon delineation of an inferred resource or higher resource classification totaling at least 10 million tonnes at a minimum grade of 1% Li₂O.

The Transaction qualified as an "Exempt Transaction" for the Company under TSX Venture Exchange Policy 5.3 (Acquisitions and Dispositions of Non-Cash Assets).

About Usha Resources Ltd.

Usha Resources Ltd. is a North American mineral acquisition and exploration company focused on the development of quality critical metal properties that are drill-ready with high-upside and expansion potential. Based in Vancouver, BC, Usha's portfolio of strategic properties provides target-rich diversification and includes Southern Arm, a copper-gold VMS project in Quebec, and Jackpot Lake, a lithium brine project in Nevada.

Usha trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol USHA, the OTCQB Exchange under the symbol USHAF and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol JO0.

USHA RESOURCES LTD.

For more information, please call 778-899-1780, email [email protected] or visit www.usharesources.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, including, without limitation, statements relating to the Company's strategic plans, the NSR and the bonus payment.

Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions regarding general business and economic conditions, the availability of financing, the ability of Panther to advance exploration activities on the RR Property, and the Company's ability to execute on its business objectives.

Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: risks related to general economic conditions; volatility in capital markets; the ability of Panther to successfully explore and develop the RR Property; the risk that the anticipated benefits of the Transaction may not be realized; risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral properties; environmental risks; regulatory risks; and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure documents.

Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Usha Resources Ltd.