On-chain detective ZachXBT has disclosed that Russian OTC broker Aleksandr Khinkis has been allegedly assisting ransomware money laundering of $4.7 million since July 2025, involving 796 Bitcoin. The suspected funds were transferred across chains to Avalanche and deposited into Aave, with frequent activities in Southeast Asia and Australia. ZachXBT is calling on victims to report relevant addresses to improve freezing efficiency.

Gate News reports that on March 21, DeFiance Capital CEO Arthur posted on the X platform stating that in the short term, it is unlikely that Trump will back down or that the Middle East situation will cool down. Currently, the US and Israel are continuing to pressure Iran. He pointed out that in the coming weeks, global supply chains may be further disrupted. According to previous reports by Axios, the Trump administration is considering occupying or blockading Iran's Kharg Island to force it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Ethereum maintains its leading position in the L1 blockchain market with its leading Total Value Locked (TVL), continuously attracting concentrated capital and users. Its mature smart contracts and decentralized architecture enhance ecosystem depth, attracting institutional participation. Although other chains have advantages in efficiency and cost, Ethereum still leads significantly in stability and application composability. Future competition will revolve around performance and application scenarios.

Gate News Report: On March 19, the Layer 2 blockchain ecosystem is experiencing a consolidation phase, exhibiting a trend where the number of shutting down networks exceeds the number of newly launched networks. This phenomenon is primarily occurring among chains with TVL (Total Value Locked) of at least $100,000. Market tightening has resulted in projects lacking sufficient appeal or financial backing being unable to sustain operations, ultimately choosing to shut down.

Gate News, on March 18, LayerZero announced the integration of Cardano, connecting the Cardano ecosystem with over 160 blockchains including Ethereum, Solana, and Aptos. In this deployment, LayerZero's omnichain fungible token (OFT) standard supports over 700 existing tokens natively expanding to Cardano. Developers and users can access the aforementioned assets and applications across chains.

Gate News report: On March 17, data aggregation platform DefiLlama launched a new download center supporting rapid export of 50+ datasets. Users can download complete datasets and time series data, access multi-dimensional data across chains, protocols, categories, RWA, stablecoins, and more, with customizable column functionality and the ability to preview dataset content before subscribing.

Middle East tensions escalate as US military takes action against Iranian energy facilities; Iran warns of retaliation. Hormuz Strait traffic declines, shipping risks rise, and aluminum supply chains tighten. US 2022 GDP revised down to 0.7%, PCE holds at 3.1%, and labor market remains resilient. In crypto markets, BTC returns to key level of $71,300.

According to Gate News, the ERC-8004 standard AI agents on BNB Smart Chain have exceeded 34,000, making it the network with the most on-chain AI agents. Meanwhile, since the beginning of the year, ERC-8004 agents across all chains have increased to nearly 130,000, with on-chain transaction activity rising significantly.

The White House has requested that ABC News retract its report about a potential Iranian attack on California, claiming it exaggerated the threat and relied on unverified information. While the California government has prepared contingency measures, it has not identified any urgent threat. Meanwhile, Iranian drones are becoming increasingly important in Middle Eastern conflicts, with cryptocurrency also playing a role in related supply chains. This incident demonstrates the critical importance of drones and digital currency in modern warfare.