DL News

Kiedy trader kryptowalutowy przypadkowo zamienił 50 milionów dolarów na 37 000 dolarów w zeszłym tygodniu, korzystając z aplikacji finansów zdecentralizowanych, obserwatorzy byli zdumieni tym błędem.

Analizy po wydarzeniu z Aave i CoW Swap, aplikacji DeFi, z których korzystał trader, przypisały transakcję tragicznemu przypadkowi błędu użytkownika. Ale nie wszyscy byli przekonani do tego wyjaśnienia.

Niektórzy spekulowali, że nierównomierna wymiana była w rzeczywistości wyrafinowanym sposobem na pranie pieniędzy, ukrytym jako straszna, ale legalna transakcja.

To prawie na pewno nie jest prawdą, według ekspertów.

Hyperliquid właśnie wygenerował 1,5 miliarda dolarów w obrotach powiązanych z ropą w ciągu 24 godzin, a traderzy stawiają, że wojna w Iranie podniesie cenę tokena HYPE do nowych rekordów.

Wolumen to rekord, który podkreśla, jak szybko traderzy przechodzą do zakładów energetycznych na zdecentralizowanej platformie handlowej związanej z kryptowalutami, gdy wojna w Iranie nabiera tempa.

Wzrost Hyperliquid wśród całego chaosu „tylko przyspieszy”, powiedział Hyunsu Jung, CEO firmy skarbcowej Hyperliquid Hyperion DeFi w rozmowie z DL News.

„Głęboko wierzymy, że płynność rodzi płynność, a Hyperliquid jest obecnie najbardziej płynną platformą onchain z szeroką przewagą, szczególnie pod względem obrotu i otwartego zainteresowania, które są kluczowymi wskaźnikami dla każdej giełdy kontraktów terminowych,” powiedział.

Traderzy opcji Bitcoin są nerwowi.

Zgodnie z najnowszym raportem Bitcoin ChainCheck firmy VanEck, intensywnie zabezpieczają się przed spadkami na poziomach, które nie były widziane od pięciu lat.

W zeszłym miesiącu stosunek opcji sprzedaży do opcji kupna — wskaźnik pesymistycznych w stosunku do optymistycznych zakładów — osiągnął szczyt na poziomie 0.84 i średnio wyniósł 0.77. To najwyższy poziom od czerwca 2021 roku i znajduje się wśród 9% najbardziej pesymistycznych okresów od połowy 2019 roku. Otwarte zainteresowanie opcjami Bitcoin wynosi około 33 miliardów dolarów.

Tłumaczenie: inwestorzy kupują znacznie więcej zabezpieczeń przed spadkiem wartości Bitcoina, niż stawiają na wzrost wartości aktywów.

Cena Bitcoina gwałtownie spadła w czwartek, gdy wojna na Bliskim Wschodzie się zaostrzyła, wywołując obawy o kryzys energetyczny, zanim się odbiła.

Iran uderzył w główną instalację gazową Kataru, Ras Laffan, powodując straty w miliardach dolarów. Atak miał miejsce po tym, jak Rezerwa Federalna w środę ostudziła nadzieje inwestorów na cięcia stóp procentowych w późniejszej części roku.

„Widzimy podwójne uderzenie dla aktywów ryzykownych,” powiedział David Lawant, szef badań w Anchorage Digital, w rozmowie z DL News. „Kryptowaluty nie są odporne na te makro wiatry.”

Kiedy Paul Atkins, przewodniczący Komisji Papierów Wartościowych i Giełd, ogłosił w tym tygodniu, że jego agencja stworzyła „klasyfikację tokenów”, ostrzegł, że Kongres będzie potrzebny, aby „przyszłościowo zabezpieczyć” ten przełomowy krok w regulacji kryptowalut w USA.

Po wszystkim, regulatorzy przychodzą i odchodzą z każdymi wyborami prezydenckimi. Prawo, jednak, jest znacznie trudniejsze do zmiany.

To oznacza, że nadchodząca legislacja dotycząca struktury rynku może zrujnować paradę kryptowalut, jeśli będzie bardziej restrykcyjna niż klasyfikacja tokenów SEC, która spotkała się z powszechnym uznaniem w kręgach kryptowalutowych, gdy ogłoszono ją we wtorek.

Przedsiębiorca, który opracował schematy kryptograficzne w celu oszukania kilku bogatych Moskwian — w tym Pawła Derewianko, jednego z najbardziej lubianych aktorów Rosji — spędzi następne sześć lat w więzieniu.

Sąd Okręgowy w Presnie w Moskwie uznał mężczyznę, Grigorija Muluzyana, za winnego oszustwa „na szczególnie dużą skalę”, poinformowała prokuratura miasta.

„Ofiary przekazywały Muluzyanowi swoje pieniądze w gotówce podczas osobistych spotkań w jego biurze w Moskwie,” powiedzieli prokuratorzy na sali sądowej. „Oszukał ich, wmawiając, że mogą zwiększyć swoje dochody, inwestując w kryptowaluty.”

Policja we Francji oskarżyła siedem osób podejrzewanych o brutalny atak, w którym rodzice profesjonalisty z branży kryptowalutowej zostali porwani i torturowani przez napastników, którzy filmowali to zdarzenie – i powiedzieli, że nie przestaną, dopóki nie dostaną ponad 9 milionów dolarów.

Atak, w Haute-Savoie, odbył się według coraz bardziej znanego i makabrycznego scenariusza.

Ofiary były „wiązane mocną taśmą”, a napastnicy „zadały obrażenia głowy” mężczyźnie, emerytowanemu lekarzowi, powiedzieli funkcjonariusze gazecie Le Dauphiné Libéré. Mówili również, że „kilka razy przecięli plecy jego żony” nożem do pudełek, powiedziała policja.

Mastercard jest najnowszym gigantem płatności, który mocno stawia na kryptowaluty.

Firma o wartości 451 miliardów dolarów dodała startup infrastruktury stablecoin BVNK do swojego portfela w momencie, gdy tradycyjni gracze finansowi zwiększają swoje przyjęcie technologii blockchain.

Obserwatorzy rynku twierdzą, że ten ruch jest częścią większej grabieży w branży finansowej, gdzie giganci Wall Street walczą o dominację.

„Wszyscy chcą orkiestratorów,” powiedział Wyatt Lonergan, partner zarządzający w VanEck Ventures, w rozmowie z DL News. „Dlaczego? Ponieważ poruszanie się między warstwą fiat a stablecoin to miejsce, gdzie tkwi złożoność [i], a złożoność to miejsce, z którego mogą wydobywać marżę.

To rzeczy koszmarów.

W zeszłym tygodniu przemysł kryptowalutowy patrzył z przerażeniem, gdy nieznany trader na blockchainie Ethereum spalił około 50 milionów dolarów, zgadzając się na niezwykle jednostronną wymianę, skierowaną przez aplikacje zdecentralizowanej finansów bez zezwoleń.

Pomimo ostrzeżeń na ekranie, trader zgodził się na wymianę około 50 milionów dolarów wartości stablecoina USDT Tether na 327 tokenów Aave, wartą zaledwie 37 000 dolarów.

„Przed potwierdzeniem transakcji użytkownikowi pokazano wyraźne ostrzeżenie na interfejsie Aave, wskazujące, że transakcja miała niezwykle duży wpływ na cenę” – powiedział Nikita Ovchinnik, CEO Barter, rozwiązania na zdecentralizowanej giełdzie CoW Swap, w rozmowie z DL News.

Traders are struggling to find safe places to park their capital as the US and Israel’s war with Iran continues to rattle the global economy.

Over the past week, gold has shed almost 10% of its value, while Bitcoin has dropped over 7% from its midweek high.

Gold is typically seen as a hedge against inflation, currency devaluation, and geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, acts broadly as a risk-on asset, and tends to do well when there is excess money in the financial system.

But a perfect storm of economic issues brought on by the escalating conflict in the Middle East is putting pressure on both assets, despite their differences.

‘Oil-driven inflation spike’

The root problem, analysts say, is the surging price of oil.

Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane that oil produced in the Middle East must pass through, has caused the price of oil to soar as high as $119 a barrel in recent weeks.

Brent crude futures jumped 8% over the past seven days as fears that elevated oil prices will weaken the global economy pervade. Oil prices are roughly a third higher than when the conflict started almost three weeks ago.

Gold usually performs well under such conditions. But not this time.

“Geopolitical tensions are usually good for gold, but given the big rally we’ve seen earlier in the year it makes sense that it needs to cool off a bit for now,” Laurens Fraussen, a research analyst at Kaiko, a crypto data firm, told DL News.

Fraussen isn’t the only one to notice gold’s uncharacteristic weakness.

“Counterintuitively, this has been bearish for gold, because the oil-driven inflation spike has pushed Fed rate cut expectations from June out to October, with 10-year yields climbing to 4.24%,” Ben Harvey, a research analyst at crypto market maker Keyrock, told DL News earlier this week.

“Higher real yields raise the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold, overpowering its traditional safe-haven bid.”

Interest rate reaction

With oil on a tear and fuelling inflation concerns, investors are watching the reaction from the Federal Reserve closely.

Yesterday, the US central bank held interest rates at 3.5% to 3.75% — a broadly expected outcome.

But the event rattled markets for other reasons.

“Powell’s tone was a lot more hawkish than people anticipated,” Fraussen said. At a press conference following the decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the central bank is making progress on lowering inflation, but not as much as it had hoped.

Those comments came as a signal that the Fed plans to keep rates higher for longer to tackle rising prices, causing the US dollar to strengthen against other currencies. In fact, some analysts are now even expecting a rate hike as early as April.

“A potentially strong dollar and longer than anticipated elevated rates usually don’t do well for gold, nor for risk assets,” Fraussen said.

Bitcoin’s fake rally

To be sure, Bitcoin is still trading higher than it did before the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.

But analysts aren’t convinced the rally is anything for investors to get excited about.

They’ve attributed it to traders opening shorts on Bitcoin in the hope that the war would drive prices down further.

When that didn’t happen, those traders were forced to close their shorts, fuelling a temporary rally.

“It’s not real buying pressure,” Fraussen said. “You can see open interest and funding is just oscillating between short covering, longs being off-side.”

Fraussen predicts that if Bitcoin settles back below $70,000, it will eventually return to trade at its pre-war price at around $60,000.

Still, there is a glimmer of hope for Bitcoin bulls.

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have registered seven consecutive days of inflows, adding $9.5 billion.

That brings the total amount of funds locked in the financial products to some $96 billion, the highest since the start of February.

Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com.

The Federal Reserve’s hawkish tone zapped investors’ appetite for risky assets like Bitcoin, which saw its price tank by 5% to $70,000 following the US central bank’s Wednesday meeting.

And analysts say that traders shouldn’t expect the price to bounce back as long uncertainties remain over the economy caused by the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

“Looking ahead, Bitcoin is likely to trade in a more selective environment rather than a broad risk-on rally,” Illia Otychenko, lead analyst at crypto exchange CEX.IO, told DL News.

The bearish outlook comes as the Fed decided not to cut interest rates at its March meeting. Lower interest rates usually incentivise investors to bet on riskier assets.

While it was expected that the central bank wouldn’t slash rates this month, the calamity of the US-Israeli offensive against Iran is now obliterating expectations of further cuts this year. The CME FedWatch tool shows that about 96% expects rates to hold and that 4% of investors now expect a rate hike in April. That’s down from a 61% chance of a cut on December 31.

Investors now see little chance of easing this year, or at most one move in the second half, as rising energy prices linked to the Iran conflict and a higher Fed inflation outlook reinforce a “higher for longer” stance, Otychenko said.

“The macro backdrop is becoming more complex — it’s no longer just about slowing growth, but also about inflation potentially staying sticky amid rising uncertainty,” Otychenko said.

Sharp sell-off

Otychenko’s warning comes as broader markets saw a sharp sell-off on Wednesday after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled geopolitical uncertainty clouding the central bank’s plans for 2026.

Global markets weakened, with the Dow falling 1.6%, closing below its 200-day moving average, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined over 1.4%. Europe’s Stoxx 600 fell 1.8% and major Asian indices fell between 2% and 3.4%.

Gold also sank over 4% and is trading at $4,685, down 12% from its January peak of nearly $5,400 per ounce.

On Thursday, Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil price, climbed to $115 a barrel after Israeli strikes triggered Iranian retaliation targeting energy infrastructure across the Middle East, including Qatar’s key liquified natural gas hub at Ras Laffan.

More war

The bearish Bitcoin outlook comes as President Donald Trump warned Iran on Truth Social that the US will “massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before” if Tehran attacks Qatar.

Adding to the chaos, Saudi Arabia is also threatening retaliation. Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Riyadh reserves the right to act against Iran if required, following talks with Arab and Islamic counterparts on Tehran’s regional attacks.

As the war enters its third week, the Pentagon is weighing the deployment of thousands of additional US troops to the Middle East, people familiar with the discussions told Reuters.

The reinforcements could help the US secure oil tanker transit through the Strait of Hormuz, primarily via air and naval assets. Some scenarios under review extend to limited ground deployments, including positioning forces along Iran’s coastline.

Officials have also examined the possibility of sending troops to Kharg Island, which handles about 90% of Iran’s oil exports, as well as securing stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. Both missions are seen as operationally complex and high risk, given Iran’s missile and drone capabilities.

No decision has been taken and a ground deployment is not considered imminent, officials said, though Trump continues to keep “all options” open.

The deliberations come as US forces intensify strikes on Iran’s naval, missile and defence infrastructure. Since February 28, Washington has carried out more than 7,800 strikes and damaged or destroyed over 120 vessels, according to US Central Command.

American casualties are also mounting. Thirteen US troops have been killed and about 200 wounded, while any move to deploy ground forces would carry significant political costs for Trump, who has long campaigned against new Middle East wars.

Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email at lance@dlnews.com.

XRP osiąga nowe kamienie milowe, mimo że token handluje 60% poniżej swojego szczytu w lipcu, według Asheesha Birli, CEO Evernorth, firmy zarządzającej skarbem kryptograficznym o wartości 1 miliarda dolarów, która gromadzi ten aktyw.

Sieć zbliża się teraz do ośmiu milionów aktywnych portfeli i przetwarza około trzech milionów transakcji dziennie, powiedział Birla w notatce dla inwestorów udostępnionej DL News.

XRP zgromadziło również więcej niż 1 miliard dolarów w tokenizowanych towarach w ciągu ostatnich trzech miesięcy, ponieważ traderzy kryptowalut śpieszą się, aby postawić zakłady na aktywa rzeczywiste, takie jak ropa i złoto, w obliczu chaosu geopolitycznego wynikającego z wojny amerykańsko-izraelskiej z Iranem, powiedział Birla.

Prawnicy kryptowalutowi w tym tygodniu ostrzegli, że pierwszy w swoim rodzaju list od Komisji ds. Handlu Towarami Terminowymi niewiele zrobił dla zdecentralizowanej finansów, nawet jeśli zwiększył popularność Phantom, dewelopera popularnego portfela kryptowalutowego z samodzielnym hostowaniem.

List CFTC ogłosił, że agencja wydała stanowisko bez działań w związku z planem Phantom, aby umożliwić użytkownikom dostęp do regulowanych rynków pochodnych, kategorii, która obejmuje dostawcę rynków przewidywań Kalshi.

„Proaktywnie zaangażowaliśmy się w CFTC, aby uzyskać jasność na temat tego, jak interfejs bezdepozytowy, taki jak Phantom, może oferować dostęp do regulowanych rynków za pośrednictwem zarejestrowanego partnera, nie działając jako pośrednik, który potrzebuje własnej rejestracji,” napisał Phantom w poście na blogu wyjaśniającym decyzję CFTC.

Nowe dowody kryminalistyczne z Argentyny pokazują, że prezydent Javier Milei przez lata otrzymywał miesięczne płatności w dolarach od powiązanego z Libra lobbysty Mauricio Novelli, zanim doszło do skandalu z memecoinem.

W rzeczywistości analitycy odkryli, że płatności nawet podwoiły się po tym, jak Milei został prezydentem.

Libra była kryptowalutą promowaną przez Milei w lutym 2025 roku, która rzekomo wspierała małe i średnie przedsiębiorstwa w kraju. Traderzy kupowali tokeny masowo, co spowodowało ich wzrost, tylko po to, aby wewnętrzni gracze sprzedali je i spowodowali, że wartość tokena spadła w ciągu kilku godzin. Twórcy zgarnęli miliony zysków.

Handel S&P 500 przez całą dobę z dźwignią na łańcuchu będzie teraz możliwy po tym, jak indeks akcji dał platformie kryptograficznej Trade[XYZ] zielone światło na wprowadzenie nowego kontraktu terminowego na Hyperliquid.

Kontrakt wieczysty będzie śledzić S&P 500 i pozwoli inwestorom spoza USA uzyskać dźwignię na najwyższy indeks, 24/7, zgodnie z oświadczeniem z środy.

„Wierzymy, że inwestorzy działający w środowisku cyfrowym powinni wymagać standardów jakości instytucjonalnej, które definiują nasze indeksy, i cieszymy się, że możemy współpracować z Trade[XYZ], aby to zrealizować” – powiedział Cameron Drinkwater, dyrektor ds. produktów i operacji w S&P Dow Jones Indices, w oświadczeniu.

Cały sens firmy skarbcowej Bitcoin polega na tym, że ma ona przechowywać najpopularniejszą kryptowalutę na świecie. Prawda?

Jeśli tak, dlaczego firma z Korei Południowej, która reklamuje się jako skarbcowa aktywów cyfrowych, przenosi wszystkie swoje posiadłości Bitcoin z bezpiecznych zimnych portfeli do gorących portfeli na zagranicznych giełdach kryptowalut?

To jest pytanie, na które BitMax jest zmuszony odpowiedzieć po tym, jak południowokoreańska gazeta Maeil Kyungjae ujawniła, że DAT przeniosło swoje zapasy z bezpiecznych zimnych portfeli obsługiwanych przez największy bank w kraju do giełd kryptowalut za granicą.

Bitcoin’s price dropped further on Wednesday as traders digested hotter-than-expected US inflation data and awaited the Federal Reserve’s rate policy decision.

Over the past day, the coin has dropped by nearly 4%, and was recently priced at $71,622, according to CoinGecko. Ethereum dropped further — nosediving by 6% — and was priced at $2,181.

The selloff comes after the biggest coin started flirting with $76,000 last week — its highest level in over a month. Analysts believed it was decoupling from risk assets as stocks took a hit.

But investors continued to derisk Wednesday as inflation data came in worse than expected and the war in Iran escalated, with US equities and crypto both taking a hit.

James Butterfill, head of research at European asset manager CoinShares, told DL News that the fall in prices could be due to fears over what the Fed will say at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

“I have seen the futures market rate cut expectations for June fall further, suggesting forward guidance from the Fed will be quite hawkish given rising oil prices,” he added.

Rising oil prices to hurt Bitcoin

Oil prices continued to climb Wednesday on news that Israel had hit Iran’s South Pars gas field.

Experts previously told DL News that rising energy prices lead to higher inflation, in turn postponing interest rate cuts from central banks. Crypto markets have typically performed better in a low interest rate environment.

Now, with war raging in the Middle East, oil prices could continue to rocket up. Last week, Iran’s military spokesman warned oil prices could double due to the war.

All eyes on the Fed

Now, traders will be eyeing up what Fed Chair Jerome Powell says following the meeting on Wednesday.

Samuel Leyne, co-head of crypto trading at Marex, told DL News that the dip in crypto prices was likely down to traders positioning ahead of the event.

“The Fed decision is still ahead, so part of this is also pre-event positioning and profit taking rather than a reaction to the Fed itself,” he said.

Fed officials are expected to hold rates steady in the second meeting of 2026, but any signs from Powell after the meeting that the central bank may raise interest rates later in the year could lead to a shift in the market.

Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email at mdisalvo@dlnews.com.

France remains in the grip of a crypto “wrench attack” pandemic. But police are fighting back, with investigators making five arrests after a social media influencer’s father was doused in petrol by a group of thugs — including at least one teenager — demanding ransom payments in crypto.

The unnamed influencer’s father was allegedly attacked on December 31, 2024, in Saint-Genis-Pouilly, in the Ain region near the French-Swiss border, French media outlet France 3 reported.

“The victim, a 56-year-old man, was violently assaulted, doused with petroleum, and forced into the trunk of a car, along with his partner,” a spokesperson for the French prosecution said.

Wrench attacks

The arrests come amidst a rise of so-called “wrench attacks.”

In the crypto community, the expression refers to physical assaults and kidnapping attempts whereby criminals try to force crypto holders to send them their coins.

Police have recorded at least seven such attacks so far in March, per data compiled by Jameson Lopp, the co-founder and chief security officer of the crypto wallet provider CasaHODL.

In recent days, police have closed the net on several suspects in multiple cases, with suspicions overseas masterminds have commissioned the attacks.

Police have arrested individuals in Angers and Île-de-France, as well as Épinal, in the Grand Est region.

Detectives said there was evidence of “a structured network” operating behind the scenes.

The latest arrests comes days after police in the outskirts of Paris mobilised 100 armed officers and two helicopters to track down two teens suspected of stealing jewellry from a female crypto holder.

The teens, and an older man, are also accused of attempting to break into another crypto holder’s house “armed with explosive devices.”

Ransom demands

Police say the Saint-Genis-Pouilly attack took place just hours before the couple was due to celebrate the New Year in 2024.

Officers say the attack was carefully planned and carried out by individuals “already known to police and the courts.”

The youngest of the group was aged just 16 at the time of the alleged attack. The oldest was aged 42.

After kidnapping the man and his partner, the gang reportedly contacted their son, described as a Dubai-based influencer and crypto entrepreneur.

Police did not comment on whether or not the victim’s son paid the ransom the alleged kidnappers had demanded.

Detectives found the man near the city of Le Mans, some 700 kilometres from his home. They also found his partner tied up at the scene.

Prosecutors are set to charge all five suspects with kidnapping, unlawful confinement, extortion, organised crime, and aggravated violence.

Bungled Bitcoin burglary

Elsewhere in the county, another gang of would-be crypto robbers was reportedly thwarted by a burglar alarm.

Officers in Nantes reported several individuals tried to break into the house of the CEO of a Bitcoin-related company in the early hours of March 16.

After they triggered an alarm, the group allegedly fled the scene. Police say they are still searching for the suspected intruders.

Tim Alper is a News Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tdalper@dlnews.com.

Tempo is finally live.

The project, backed by payments giant Stripe and crypto venture firm Paradigm, announced the launch of its highly-anticipated blockchain on Wednesday alongside new tools to support so-called machine payments — transactions executed by artificial intelligence agents.

AI agents are autonomous software programmes designed to achieve specific goals without constant human oversight. They sit at the bleeding edge of the booming AI sector, yet doubts about their capabilities abound.

“Agents can already write code, coordinate services, retrieve data, and execute complex workflows across the internet,” Tempo said in a blog post announcing its blockchain’s launch. “But as these systems become more capable, they increasingly need to transact.”

Tempo aims to provide a standardised way for AI agents to coordinate payments for services, like accessing datasets or buying computing power, by themselves.

The launch comes as more and more crypto projects pivot to weaving AI into their offerings.

Last month, Tomasz Stańczak, a former co-director of the Ethereum Foundation, pushed for the $280 billion blockchain and its developers to utilise the technology to review and edit proposals, moderate meetings, write code, and even accept or reject network upgrades.

Several other crypto projects, including the Near blockchain and Render have also shifted their focus to AI in recent years.

‘Machine Payments Protocol’

For the longest time Tempo was teased as a blockchain purpose-built for stablecoins, tokens pegged to currencies like the US dollar, British pound, or euro.

“When we first announced Tempo in September, our premise was simple: if stablecoins become a core layer of internet commerce, the infrastructure that moves money needs to be purpose-built for payments,” Tempo said in its blog post.

Now, it appears Tempo is expanding its remit to building payments infrastructure for AI agents, too.

That will be powered by Tempo’s Machine Payments Protocol — or MPP.

The protocol lets AI agents enter a session in which they can continuously pay for services automatically, as long as they’re within pre-defined limits.

At the end of a session, those transactions can be aggregated into a single settlement transaction, which Tempo says allows the system to scale to larger and larger numbers of users — or agents — without getting clogged.

Excitement builds

Tempo has generated a lot of excitement within the crypto industry since it was first announced in September.

The project has stacked top talent in the leadup to its launch.

Last month, Farcaster co-founders Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan joined the project. Farcaster, which Romero and Srinivasan led for the past five years, was acquired in January by Neynar, as the social media app struggled to catch on with users.

Former Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Feist joined Tempo’s ranks in October, while Optimism Labs CEO Liam Horne and Rice University Professor Mallesh Pai also joined late last year.

Tempo has already inked over a dozen high-profile partnerships with AI firms Anthropic and Open AI, payments firms Mastercard and Visa, and neobanks Nubank and Revolut, among others.

Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com.

Strategy is breathing down BlackRock’s neck.

Michael Saylor’s firm is closing in on the Bitcoin held by Larry Fink’s exchange-traded funds after an aggressive buying spree that saw Strategy spend over $7 billion on Bitcoin in just the first two-and-a-half months of 2026.

Strategy now holds 761,068 Bitcoin worth approximately $57 billion at an average cost of $75,696 per coin. BlackRock’s IBIT, meanwhile, holds 782,179 Bitcoin worth over $55 billion, according to Bitbo — meaning Strategy trails by just 21,111 BTC, or roughly $1.5 billion at current prices.

And for André Dragosch, head of research at Bitwise Europe, that trend will likely continue.

“Strategy is more likely to acquire more Bitcoin than IBIT as long as the macro environment stays volatile due to rising energy prices and elevated recession risks,” Dragosch told DL News.

In fact, the near-parity highlights how Strategy is “playing in its own stadium right now,” especially as corporate treasury purchases have outpaced global exchange-traded product buys by a wide margin, “mostly due to Strategy purchases only,” Dragosch said.

The narrowing gap is harder to explain than it first appears. Both Strategy and IBIT have been aggressive buyers through Bitcoin’s 40% crash — Saylor’s firm mostly through convertible debt, whereas IBIT has deployed billions through investor inflows that have proven surprisingly sticky.

The difference may simply be timing and scale: Strategy can deploy billions in concentrated bursts, while IBIT accumulates more gradually as investor appetites ebb and flow.

That said, a new instrument has propped up Strategy’s buys lately.

STRC

The key to Strategy’s advantage, according to Dragosch, are preferred equity shares called STRC.

STRC is a type of security that pays regular dividends and ranks above common stock if the company runs into any financial snafus. It comes with a variable rate, which means that dividend payments adjust over time — right now STRC is paying 11.5% yield — and has no maturity date.

“STRC issuances have increased considerably in 2026 which is allowing Strategy to continue to raise capital for BTC purchases in a rather unfavourable market environment,” Dragosch said.

For investors, it’s less risky than buying Strategy’s common stock because preferred shareholders get paid dividends first and have priority if the company goes bankrupt. Still, it offers exposure to Strategy’s Bitcoin accumulation strategy without the full volatility of common shares or direct Bitcoin ownership.

Just last week, Strategy managed to raise around $283 million in STRC to fund a whopping 4,000-Bitcoin buy. This week, STRC funded 75% of their $1.5 billion purchase, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net.

Aggressively buying

Saylor has stopped at nothing to make the most of Bitcoin’s fall from $126,000 to $70,000.

The company has spent over $7 billion on Bitcoin already in 2026, with more than half of that in March. That would place it in Strategy’s top five of all-time monthly spending.

For context, Strategy spent just $231 million total during the entire 2022 bear market when Bitcoin prices collapsed below $20,000.

The monthly spending chart shows the dramatic acceleration: massive purchases in late 2024 and early 2025 as Bitcoin rallied toward $126,000, then relentlessly heavy buying through the subsequent 40% crash.

Is it sustainable?

Strategy’s ability to keep up the pace depends entirely on capital markets staying open, however.

The company has funded its Bitcoin buying through convertible debt offerings and at-the-market stock sales — continuously diluting existing shareholders to buy more Bitcoin. Strategy stock has fallen roughly 45% from its December highs, yet Saylor keeps selling shares to fund purchases.

At some point, either debt markets close down or shareholders could revolt. Other Bitcoin treasuries have been dealing with both of those situations, leaving Strategy as the majority corporate buyer these days.

BlackRock’s ETF, on the other hand, is composed of investors of all sizes, and they have shown a relentless commitment to buying Bitcoin — even as the spectre of another global geopolitical conflict rears its ugly head.

“Flows into Bitcoin ETPs are more pro-cyclical and dependent on global risk aversion compared to rather structural purchases by treasury companies like Strategy,” Dragosch told DL News.

Pedro Solimano is a markets correspondent based in Buenos Aires. Got a tip? Email him at psolimano@dlnews.com.