Crypto.com has entered into a partnership with KG Inicis, described as South Korea's largest payment gateway and value-added network provider, as stated in a Tuesday press release. The firms intend to integrate Crypto.com Pay so that foreign tourists can use digital assets to pay for local goods and services, while merchants receive instant settlement in either fiat or crypto.

Hana Financial Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with Standard Chartered Group to cooperate on digital asset initiatives, including stablecoin-related projects. The South Korean financial conglomerate aims to use the partnership to broaden its global traditional and digital finance footprint, building on previous crypto custody ventures and record net income results.

Bitcoin traded around $72,800 on Sunday night after climbing 2.5% over the previous 24 hours in a relief rebound supported by renewed spot ETF inflows and liquidations. Other major cryptocurrencies, including ether, XRP and Solana, also advanced as analysts cited bitcoin's perceived role as a macro hedge amid geopolitical tensions. Traders are now watching support near $70,000 to $71,000 and resistance in the $73,000 to $75,000 band, with some analysts highlighting upside potential toward $80,000 if inflows persist.

BlackRock's iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB) recorded more than $15.5 million in first-day trading volume, after launching with over $100 million in assets. The fund stakes the majority of its ether, distributes around 82% of rewards to holders, and charges a 0.25% annual sponsor fee, temporarily reduced to 0.12% on the first $2.5 billion for its first year.

U.S. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said at an Investor Advisory Committee meeting that staff are crafting a more limited innovation exemption to permit restricted trading of certain tokenized securities. The IAC had urged the commission to avoid a broad blanket exemption and instead pursue rule-by-rule reforms, arguing that tokenized securities should remain fully subject to core investor protections.

Metaplanet has created two wholly owned subsidiaries, Metaplanet Ventures and Metaplanet Asset Management, and approved these moves at a board meeting, according to CEO Simon Gerovich. The firm plans to deploy ¥4 billion over the next few years into bitcoin-focused infrastructure in Japan and will invest ¥400 million in yen stablecoin issuer JPYC as the VC arm's first deal.

On March 10, DeFi platform Aave faced a temporary oracle issue on its Ethereum Core and Prime deployments that triggered about $26 million in unfair wstETH liquidations across 34 accounts. The malfunction was linked to a misconfigured Correlated Asset Price Oracle that applied an incorrect capped exchange rate, and a compensation plan involving 141.5 ETH recovered plus up to 345 ETH from the DAO treasury is being prepared for affected users.

South Korea's Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office sold 320.8 BTC seized from an international gambling platform, generating 31.6 billion won for the national treasury. The bitcoin had been stolen in August 2025 through a phishing attack but was returned to the authorities last month, after which it was sold between Feb. 24 and March 6 while the hacker remains under investigation.

In a recent report to the Vancouver City Council, municipal staff concluded that bitcoin does not qualify as an allowable investment asset for the city under the Vancouver Charter and recommended ending work on a proposed BTC reserve. The motion, introduced by Mayor Ken Sim in November 2024 to make Vancouver more “bitcoin-friendly” by allocating part of its reserves to BTC, had been approved in December 2024 pending a feasibility review.