The U.S. Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on a network accused 
of helping North Korea generate illicit revenue through overseas information 
technology workers and cryptocurrency transactions. U.S. blacklists 
facilitators of DPRK scheme that used crypto to move illicit…

U.S. sanctions network tied to DPRK IT jobs and crypto laundering operation

We enable Bitcoin-native gas for smart contracts, routing execution through a 
VM while settling and pricing fees directly in Bitcoin’s existing fee market.

Solving Bitcoin’s gas issue (without a fork) | Opinion

Sweden is investigating a reported leak tied to CGI Sverige after hackers 
claimed they exposed source code from the country’s e-government platform.

Sweden probes reported leak of e-government platform source code

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has clarified the circumstances 
surrounding his massive 2021 crypto donation to the Future of Life Institute, 
while distancing himself from some of the group’s more recent policy 
approaches toward artificial intelligence. Vitalik Buterin: AI safety risks…

Vitalik Buterin explains $500M SHIB donation, distances himself from AI safety lobbying

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has expanded its digital assets 
offering and debuted its staked Ethereum (ETH) Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) on 
Nasdaq. Amid the news, the King of Altcoins is attempting to break out of its 
local range to challenge its bearish outlook. Related Reading: BNB Chain 
Dominates 40% Of Global Stablecoin Transactions With Small-Value Transfers 
BlackRock Debuts Staked Ethereum ETF On Thursday, BlackRock introduced the 
iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB) on Nasdaq to “provide investors with 
exposure to spot ether while potentially generating income by staking a 
portion of its ether holdings.” The ETH-based fund expands the asset 
management giant’s digital asset suite, which includes the largest Exchange- 
Traded Products (ETPs) of their kind, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) and 
the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA). As reported by NewsBTC, BlackRock 
submitted an S-1 form with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for 
its ETHB fund in December. The registration statement revealed that the fund 
sought to stake 70% to 90% of its Ethereum holdings and distribute staking 
rewards to stakeholders at least quarterly. The fund is set to share 82% of 
staking rewards with investors, while the remaining 18% will be split among 
the trust, custodians, and its staking service providers. BlackRock chose 
Coinbase Custody Trust as the custodian for the Trust’s ETH holdings, while 
Anchorage Digital Bank will serve as an available alternative custodian for 
the Trust’s ether holdings. Meanwhile, the Bank of New York Mellon is the 
Trust’s cash holdings custodian and administrator, according to the fund’s 
prospectus. In the official statement, Jessica Tan, Head of Americas for 
Global Product Solutions at BlackRock, affirmed that “Investors are 
increasingly allocating to digital assets as part of their strategic portfolio 
construction, and ETHB provides access to income and exposure to the asset in 
a convenient, transparent way.” “We continue to innovate to meet client demand 
and expand access, while providing the transparency and risk management 
clients expect from BlackRock,” she continued. ETH Price Holds Amid Breakdown 
Fears Following the news, ETH’s price broke above the $2,090 level to reach a 
one-week high of $2,095 before retracing. Analyst Ted Pillows noted that 
despite market volatility, the cryptocurrency has held the $2,000 
psychological barrier throughout the past three days. “The macro uncertainty 
is still there, but Ethereum’s overall strength is good,” he said, adding that 
the King of Altcoins needs to reclaim the crucial $2,150 area for a rally. He 
forecasted that Ethereum could see a “10%-15% quick rally” once this level is 
reclaimed. Meanwhile, Rekt Capital underscored a critical level on ETH’s 
weekly and monthly charts. As previously reported, ETH is currently testing 
its multi-year uptrend, a structural support that has held since mid-2022. 
Last month, Ethereum marginally closed below its multi-year support, opening 
the possibility for this level to become resistance on March’s monthly close. 
On the weekly timeframe, ETH has recorded four consecutive closes below the 
trendline, suggesting the market is likely beginning to treat this key level 
as resistance instead of support. “Structurally, this behaviour resembles the 
early stage of a breakdown process, where price initially loses support, 
rallies back into it and begins treating the level as resistance,” the analyst 
explained, but emphasized that the breakdown is not confirmed yet. Related 
Reading: Hyperliquid Rockets as Oil Touches $100: Arthur Hayes Reveals Why 
Therefore, Ethereum could invalidate the bearish scenario if the price closes 
the week above the multi-year uptrend and successfully tests it as support. “A 
successful reclaim could then open the door toward the green resistance region 
above, which has historically acted as a major pivot in Ethereum’s broader 
trend,” he concluded. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from 
TradingView.com

Cryptocurrency price in USD