Coinbase Ventures has joined Echo.xyz, an on-chain private investment platform, as a &#8220;Group Lead&#8221; to expand funding opportunities for startups building on Base. This move is part of the next phase of the Base Ecosystem Fund, which was created to…

Echo.xyz and Coinbase Ventures to drive funding for Base projects

In the ongoing debate over Bitcoin’s market trajectory, two prominent crypto 
analysts have shared contrasting viewpoints on X, underscoring the community’s 
divided sentiment. While one maintains that a drastic downturn remains 
possible, the other posits that the worst of the market downturn has already 
passed—citing a notable 87.5% probability. Bitcoin Bears In Trouble? Crypto 
analyst Doctor Profit (@DrProfitCrypto) posted on X and laid out two potential 
paths for Bitcoin: “There are two scenarios: A) Bottom to be 68-74k region in 
normal market, B) Full crash towards 50k in Black Swan event.” He did not 
provide a specific probability for either outcome but emphasized that a Black 
Swan event—a term used to describe a rare, unexpected event that can 
drastically impact markets—cannot be ruled out. While noting that such an 
extraordinary downturn was previously unlikely, he now concedes that recent 
shifts in the macro landscape may leave room for it:“Take your bets, I would 
say that a Black Swan event was very unlikely in the last few months, but ask 
me now, I would not rule it out, rather welcome it.” Related Reading: Bitcoin 
Teeters On The Edge: Will This Pivot Hold Or Collapse? In direct contrast, 
crypto analyst Astronomer (@astronomer_zero) responded with a more bullish 
outlook, asserting that the bottom is already behind us. He referenced a track 
record of Bitcoin price reversals around Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) 
meetings, claiming it works “14 out of 16 times,” or roughly 87.5% of the 
time. “Not guarantees, but an 87.5% chance, granted the chart below and all 
the confluences I already presented. So far so good.” His approach relies on 
mapping out price movements in proximity to FOMC dates, noting that markets 
often price in interest rate decisions (and related news) before official 
announcements. Astronomer’s method contends that Bitcoin typically finds local 
bottoms in a window spanning from up to five “2D bars” before an FOMC date to 
the day of the meeting itself. “All it requires is flip on a daily (or 2 daily 
in my case to keep the chart clean) timeframe, plot out all the dates FOMC 
meeting appeared, and see what price did. This shows that indeed price tends 
to reverse when time is nearing into FOMC. The caveat is that the price 
reverses before or at the very latest, right at the FOMC day,” the analyst 
writes. Related Reading: Bitcoin Shows Signs of Recovery—Is the Whale Sell-Off 
Finally Over? He points out that the next FOMC meeting is scheduled for March 
19, meaning the bottom—if the historical pattern holds—should appear no later 
than that date: “Works almost every time, 14 out of 16 times in fact (or 87.5% 
of the time)… The time difference the bottom happens versus the FOMC day is 
usually 0 to 5 2D bars before the exact date. Given the next FOMC is the 19th 
of March, that means the low is in the latest that day and the earliest the 
5th of March.” To bolster his argument, Astronomer points to what he perceives 
as “peaking fear” in the market. He views heightened pessimism and “cautionary 
posts out of nowhere” from established traders as typical signals that a 
rebound could be imminent: “Sentiment wise, fear is peaking to hilarious 
levels. Even ‘Reputable’ traders are protecting their reputation […] I don’t 
blame anyone’s methods, but I take it as a great sign of a bottom.” At press 
time, BTC traded at $83,277. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from 
TradingView.com

Bitcoin Bottom Confirmed? Data Shows 87.5% Chance The Worst Is Over

The founder of a cryptocurrency exchange whose namesake was tied to Anti-Money 
Laundering (AML) was found guilty of wire fraud and money laundering in a 
California court.
In a March 12 trial in the US District Court for the Northern District of 
California, a jury found AML Bitcoin creator Rowland Marcus Andrade guilty of 
two felony counts as part of a scheme to defraud investors. Authorities 
initially filed criminal charges against Andrade in June 2020 in parallel to a 
civil case filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against 
the AML Bitcoin creator and the NAC Foundation, for which he was the founder 
and CEO.
&#8220;Mr. Andrade&#8217;s outrageous lies lured and scammed individuals into investing 
their hard-earned money into a new cryptocurrency with fabricated features,&#8221; 
said Linda Nguyen, the IRS Criminal Investigation Oakland Field Office Special 
Agent in Charge. &#8220;But there is nothing advanced about this scheme. Rowland 
Marcus Andrade stole money from innocent people and used it to further his 
personal wealth.&#8221;
_Rowland Marcus Andrade jury verdict on March 12. Source: PACER_
The SEC&#8217;s civil case against Andrade was notable for the involvement of 
political lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who served four years in prison between 2006 
and 2010 following his conviction on mail fraud, conspiracy to bribe public 
officials and tax evasion. A judge agreed to stay the SEC lawsuit in January 
2021 until the conclusion of Andrade&#8217;s criminal case, suggesting that it may 
once again proceed soon.
The June 2020 indictment alleged the NAC Foundation claimed a cryptocurrency 
that AML Bitcoin would launch &#8212; it never did &#8212; would comply with money 
laundering and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations. Andrade used those claims 
for an initial coin offering between 2017 and 2018. According to the 
information presented at his trial, the AML Bitcoin creator diverted more than 
$2 million in proceeds from the sale of the platform, spending it on real 
estate and luxury automobiles.
_**Related:**__**IRS wants court to toss crypto exec &#8216;s appeal over bank 
record summons**_
&#8220;Andrade falsely claimed, among other misrepresentations, that the Panama 
Canal Authority was close to permitting AML Bitcoin to be used for ships 
passing through the Panama Canal when no such agreement existed,&#8221; said the 
Justice Department.
The AML Bitcoin creator is scheduled to return to court for a sentencing 
hearing on July 22, having remained free on a $75,000 bond since 2020 with 
some travel restrictions. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for 
the wire fraud count and 10 years for the money laundering count.
_**Magazine:**__**Trump &#8216;s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider 
trading questions**_

AML Bitcoin creator convicted of wire fraud, money laundering

Digital asset exchange DigiFT has launched Invesco&#8217;s tokenized private credit 
strategy on Arbitrum, further expanding the use cases of real-world assets 
(RWA) and giving institutional investors access to onchain credit markets.
According to a March 13 announcement, Invesco&#8217;s US Senior Loan Strategy (iSNR) 
token is now live on Arbitrum, a popular Ethereum layer-2 network.
The tokenized asset was launched on Feb. 19 and is designed to track the 
performance of a private credit fund managed by Invesco, a publicly traded 
investment manager headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
At the time of launch, the Invesco fund had $6.3 billion in assets under 
management, according to Bloomberg.
DigiFT described the iSNR token as the &#8220;first and only tokenized private 
credit strategy.&#8221;
_The iSNR tokenized fund has a minimum investment of $10,000. Source:__DigiFT_
DigiFT CEO Henry Zhang said adding iSNR to Aribitrum increases its utility by 
&#8220;allowing DeFi applications, DAOs and institutional investors to integrate 
with a regulated, onchain private credit strategy.&#8221;
Consistent with the initial launch of iSNR on Ethereum last month, investors 
on Arbitrum can purchase tokenized shares using popular stablecoins USDC 
(USDC) and USDt (USDT).
_**Related:**__**Cantor Fitzgerald taps Anchorage Digital, Copper as Bitcoin 
custodians**_
## DeFi tokenization on the rise
Despite the recent crypto market downtrend, RWA tokenization appears to be 
heating up with the launch of several DeFi-oriented products. Positive 
regulatory developments, the rise of liquid multichain economies and 
innovations in decentralized exchanges are expected to push RWA tokenization 
into the crypto limelight this year.
Earlier this week, tokenization company Securitize announced that oracle 
provider RedStone will deliver price feeds for its tokenized products, which 
include the BlackRock USD Institutional Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) and the Apollo 
Diversified Credit Securitize Fund (ACRED).
The integration means that Securitize&#8217;s funds &#8220;can now be utilized across DeFi 
protocols such as Morpho, Compound or Spark,&#8221; RedStone&#8217;s chief operating 
officer, Marcin Kazmierczak, told Cointelegraph.
Meanwhile, asset manager Franklin Templeton has launched a tokenized money 
fund on the Coinbase layer-2 network Base and a US government money fund on 
Solana.
_Private credit ($12.2 billion) and US Treasury debt ($4.2 billion) have 
dominated real-world asset tokenization so far. Source:__RWA.xyz_
According to industry data, the total value of RWAs onchain has grown by 17.5% 
over the past 30 days to reach $18.1 billion. Private credit and US Treasury 
debt account for nearly 91% of that total.
_**Related:**__**Trump-era policies may fuel tokenized real-world assets 
surge**_

DigiFT launches Invesco private credit token on Arbitrum

A federal jury has convicted Rowland Marcus Andrade, the founder and CEO of 
AML Bitcoin, of wire fraud and money laundering related to the fraudulent 
marketing and sale of the cryptocurrency. The verdict was reached after a 
five-week trial in…

AML Bitcoin founder convicted of fraud and money laundering

Bitdeer Technologies Group announced its SEAL03 wafer achieved a record 9.7 
joules per terahash (J/TH) efficiency during testing, while confirming plans 
to begin mass-producing its Sealminer A3 mining rigs in late 2025. With 9.7 
J/TH Milestone, Bitdeer Advances Sealminer A3 Toward 2025 Rollout The SEAL03 
chip, designed for Bitdeer’s next-generation Sealminer A3 machines, 
demonstrated its […]