Headline
▌US Media: IRS Plans to Lay Off Nearly 45,000 Employees
The IRS is drafting plans to cut its 90,000-person workforce by up to half through layoffs, natural attrition and incentive buyouts, two people familiar with the matter said. The layoffs are part of the Trump administration's attempt to reduce the size of the federal government workforce through Musk's government efficiency department, including closing some agencies, laying off almost all probationary employees who have not yet received civil service protection, and offering buyouts to almost all federal employees through a "delayed resignation plan" to quickly reduce the number of government employees.
▌Circle's USDC will become Japan's first dollar stablecoin
Circle's USDC will become Japan's first dollar stablecoin, and SBI VC Trade will be the first to list Circle's stablecoin under Japan's new payment framework.
Market
As of press time, according to Coingecko data:
BTC's latest transaction price is $87,070.70, with a daily increase or decrease of +1.1%;
ETH's latest transaction price is $2,165.88, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.6%;
BNB's latest transaction price is $582.56, with a daily increase or decrease of +1.4%；
SOL's latest transaction price is 144.39 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +1.4%；
DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.1986 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -0.3%；
XPR's latest transaction price is 2.45 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +2.7%。
Policy
▌The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned 49 Bitcoin and Monero addresses involving the dark web market Nemesis
According to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the U.S. government has added 49 cryptocurrency addresses to the sanctions list, which are controlled by Iranian citizen Behrouz Parsarad, who is accused of being the administrator of the dark web market Nemesis. The sanctioned addresses include 44 Bitcoin and 5 Monero addresses.
Nemesis had 30,000 active users before it was shut down, and facilitated nearly $30 million in drug transactions during its three years of operation. According to OFAC, Parsarad made millions of dollars by charging users transaction fees and was suspected of laundering money for drug traffickers and cybercriminals. Nemesis traded a wide range of items, including drugs, personal identity data, forged documents, ransomware, and cybercrime tools (such as phishing attacks and DDoS tools).
▌U.S. Senate votes to repeal IRS DeFi broker rule
On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate, with strong support from many Democrats, successfully passed a resolution aimed at repealing the Biden administration's cryptocurrency tax rules, which may be the biggest obstacle to eliminating the new IRS broker rule (which was originally planned to cover decentralized finance DeFi). The Senate passed the resolution authorized by the Congressional Review Act by 70 votes to 27, aiming to completely repeal the expansion of the IRS broker rule. However, the House of Representatives still needs to pass an identical resolution, after which U.S. President Trump can sign it into law. Once completed, not only will the rule be completely repealed, but the IRS will also be prohibited from pursuing similar policies in the future.
The House Financial Services Committee has already passed an identical resolution and recommended it for approval in a full House vote, which is still awaiting a vote. The White House said earlier today that the president may sign the resolution quickly.
▌The US SEC agrees to drop the lawsuit against Cumberland DRW
Cumberland DRW, a crypto trading company, posted on the X platform that it has signed a joint application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to drop the lawsuit filed by the SEC against it. The agreement was reached in principle by both parties on February 20 and is currently awaiting approval by the SEC committee.
The US SEC sued Cumberland DRW in October last year, accusing it of operating as an unregistered securities dealer and selling more than $2 billion in unregistered securities.
▌Belarusian President orders the development of cryptocurrency mining to generate revenue from excess electricity
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has instructed the new Minister of Energy to develop the country's cryptocurrency mining industry to make full use of excess electricity resources. The decision comes as Lukashenko forms a new government, and he also stressed that the current priority is to upgrade the country's 5,700-kilometer power grid to meet the growing power demand of households and economic activities.
Blockchain Applications
▌Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian participates in the bid for TikTok and plans to "put it on the chain"
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is considering acquiring TikTok and plans to "put the social media app on the chain." The app plans to integrate the Frequency blockchain, a "decentralized social media protocol" designed to give users control over their own online content. Frequency is a blockchain-based decentralized platform created by Project Liberty to increase transparency, accountability, and data ownership.
Alexis Ohanian said on Platform X: "This is exciting news for the digital world. I am now officially one of the people trying to buy TikTok US and bring it to the blockchain. TikTok is a game changer for creators, and its future should be created by them. Users should own their data. Creators should own their audience. Period."
Cryptocurrency
▌Standard Chartered Analyst: $69,000 to $76,500 is a key potential support zone for Bitcoin
As Bitcoin price faces potential volatility near key support levels, Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick expressed concerns about the short-term trend of Bitcoin and Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy).
Kendric points to the price range of November 6, 2024 (the day after the US election) as a key potential support zone for Bitcoin, with a price range of $69,000 to $76,500 expected. He believes that Bitcoin's movement within this range could determine its short-term trend. He noted that if the price of Bitcoin falls to the $69,000 to $76,500 range, it will be closer to Strategy's average purchase price of $65,000, so this is a key level to watch.
▌El Salvador's President: Will Not Stop Accumulating Bitcoin Due to IMF Agreement
Salvador's Nayib Bukele said on the X platform that El Salvador has no intention of stopping its purchases of Bitcoin (BTC), regardless of what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asks.
Bukele posted on the X platform: “‘This will stop in April.’ ‘This will stop in June.’ ‘This will stop in December.’ No, it will not stop, not now and not in the future when the world rejects us and most ‘Bitcoiners’ abandon us. Proof of Work > Proof of Complaint.”
Earlier in the day, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released more details of its $3.5 billion agreement with the Latin American country. The IMF claimed that as part of the loan program, the IMF prohibits “voluntary accumulation of Bitcoin by the public sector.”
▌El Salvador increased its holdings of 1 bitcoin again this morning, and currently holds 6101.18 bitcoins
According to the website of the Ministry of Finance of El Salvador, El Salvador increased its holdings of 1 bitcoin again in the early hours of this morning, and increased its holdings of 5 bitcoins yesterday. Currently, its bitcoin holdings are 6101.18, worth more than 520 million US dollars. It has increased its holdings of 13 bitcoins in the past 7 days and 45 bitcoins in the past 30 days.
▌Coinbase, Robinhood CEO and other industry executives have confirmed to attend the White House Cryptocurrency Summit
According to Fox Business Channel reporter Eleanor Terrett, although the formal invitation has not yet been issued, many important industry figures have confirmed that they will attend the Cryptocurrency Summit held at the White House this Friday. Sources pointed out that the scale of this summit may be smaller than previously expected.
Confirmed guests attending the summit include: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi, MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor, Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, Multicoin Capital managing partner Kyle Samani, Yield Guild Games co-founder Jp Richardson, World Liberty Fund co-founder Zach Witkoff, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov, etc.
Important Economic Dynamics
▌The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 95%
According to CME's "Fed Watch": The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 95%, and the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 5%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by May is 57.4%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 40.6%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 2%.
▌Analysis: Market turns from expectation to worry, "Trump option" disappears
Institutional analysts say the "Trump option" no longer exists. The evidence is that the U.S. stock market has almost wiped out all the sharp gains since the (Trump) election day, and this decline has also affected Bitcoin and other risky assets. People had expectations for President Trump to relax regulations, cut taxes and other fiscal stimulus measures, but now these expectations have been replaced by concerns. Chris Galipeau, senior market strategist at Franklin Templeton Investments, said: "The chaos in the U.S. government has brought a lot of uncertainty. This is simply a fire caused by Trump." Benoit Anne, general manager of Legg Mason Investment Management, said that the trade war is a risk to economic growth in the United States and other parts of the world. The stock market is reflecting this. The U.S. stock market is no longer rising all the way. Now the situation is more complicated and changeable. Galipeau said: "The worst may soon be over. The stock market is now in a "discount promotion" state, and the scope of earnings growth is expanding. This is a positive factor. Mid-cap stocks and small value stocks look particularly attractive. As AI-related transactions "lost support more and more", even the "Big Seven" in the technology industry have become close to becoming a good bargain."
▌Analyst: The United States may ease the issue of tariffs
Analyst Adam Button said that the US Secretary of Commerce said that Trump may cut tariffs on the United States and Mexico tomorrow. This sudden change of attitude makes people wonder whether this is part of the US plan. The reason is that the tariff policy announced by Trump yesterday was not found on the US federal website before. Now this originally unpublished document is available, but the release date is shown as March 6, which may imply that the US government will make some changes or exemptions before then. The above situation may be just a problem of bureaucratic procedures, but it still adds to people's confusion.
▌Fed Williams: Tariffs will have some impact on inflation
Fed Williams said that understanding the details of tariffs is key, and tariffs will have some impact on inflation. Start to consider the impact of tariffs on prices. Monetary policy is in good shape and can be adjusted as needed. I don't think there is a need to change interest rate policy at this time.
Golden Encyclopedia
▌What is DeFAI
DeFAI is to combine DeFi's decentralized financial ecosystem with AI-driven analysis and automation. DeFAI is still in its early stages, focusing mainly on momentum trading similar to memecoins, so there is still a lot of room for rapid development. DeFAI represents a turning point in the Crypto asset industry.
Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, Golden Finance publishes articles for information reference only and is not intended as actual investment advice. Please establish the correct investment concept and be sure to increase risk awareness.
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