Tag: Ásia-Pacífico

Kraken, the second-largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, has decided to postpone its multi-billion-dollar IPO plan due to unfavorable market conditions. Although the company has already filed its listing documents, it has opted to wait for a more favorable timing amid a weak crypto market, declining trading volumes, and cooling investor sentiment. While Kraken continues to expand its operations, this delay underscores that even top-tier platforms must exercise caution during the current cycle.

Binance has significantly lowered the thresholds for its VIP Program: the VIP 1 asset requirement has been reduced from $500,000 to $100,000, and the BNB holding and derivatives trading volume requirements have also been lowered accordingly. This move aims to attract more high-net-worth individuals and institutional participants, and includes adjustments to fee structures and rebate eligibility.

Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded net inflows for the seventh consecutive day, with a single-day net inflow of $199 million on March 17. BlackRock’s IBIT led with $169 million, followed closely by Fidelity’s FBTC. The ETFs’ total assets under management (AUM) now stand at $96.744 billion, with cumulative net inflows reaching $56.537 billion—representing 6.49% of Bitcoin’s total market cap.

On March 17, Ethereum spot ETFs recorded a net inflow of $138 million, marking the sixth consecutive day of net inflows. BlackRock’s ETHA and ETHB products drove the majority of the inflows, while Fidelity’s FETH saw net outflows. The total assets under management (AUM) of Ethereum spot ETFs now stand at $13.749 billion, representing approximately 4.89% of Ethereum’s total market capitalization.

Alibaba Cloud has announced price increases for select compute and storage products—up to 34%—citing surging AI demand and rising supply chain costs. Specifically, compute cards powered by T-Head chips see hikes of 5%–34%, while the CPFS (Intelligent Computing Edition) file storage service rises by 30%. The price adjustments stem primarily from accelerated adoption of large language models, driving unprecedented growth in Alibaba Cloud’s ‘Bailian’ platform and resulting in tight compute resource availability; the company is prioritizing stable operations for AI-related services.

Meta's acquisition of Singapore-based AI company Manus has drawn regulatory attention from China due to the founding team's Chinese background. According to insiders, Chinese authorities have imposed exit restrictions and other measures on executives involved in the deal. Meta stated the transaction is lawful, but Chinese regulators had previously launched an investigation into compliance with technology export regulations.

Circle has appointed veteran Microsoft executive Kirk Koenigsbauer to its Board of Directors and Risk Committee, leveraging his over 30 years of experience in enterprise software, cloud services, and security to enhance corporate governance, risk management capabilities, and accelerate its global enterprise services expansion.

Bitcoin has risen for 8 consecutive trading days—the first such streak in nearly two years—climbing from approximately $68,000 to above $75,000. Historical data shows that after similar multi-day rallies, BTC has continued to rise over the following 30 days roughly 60% of the time; however, caution is warranted, as a comparable rally in 2022 was followed by a sharp correction. This rally coincides with heightened geopolitical tensions driving capital inflows, while the market remains in the contraction phase of the Bitcoin halving cycle.

OpenAI has significantly revised its Stargate compute strategy, abandoning plans for in-house data centers in favor of third-party services such as AWS and Google Cloud. Under financing pressure, the company’s projected total compute spending through 2030 has been reduced from $140 billion to approximately $60 billion. OpenAI has also established a new collaboration model with SoftBank and plans to deploy gigawatt-scale compute on NVIDIA’s next-generation platform in the second half of 2026.

On March 16, bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a net inflow of $202 million, marking the sixth consecutive day of net inflows. BlackRock’s IBIT saw a single-day inflow of $139 million, while Fidelity’s FBTC attracted $64.52 million. The total assets under management (AUM) of bitcoin spot ETFs now stand at $95.772 billion, with cumulative net inflows reaching $56.338 billion.

On March 16, Ethereum spot ETFs recorded a net inflow of $35.89 million, marking the fifth consecutive day of net inflows. Fidelity’s FETH led daily inflows with $34.88 million, while BlackRock’s ETHB saw $32.39 million in inflows. Total assets under management (AUM) for Ethereum spot ETFs now stand at $13.63 billion, with cumulative net inflows reaching $11.825 billion.

Eric Turner, CEO of crypto data platform Messari, has stepped down and been succeeded by CTO Diran Li. The company is simultaneously conducting large-scale layoffs and pivoting its business focus toward AI, aiming to deliver AI-powered research and data services for institutional clients.