Mastercard plans to acquire BVNK, a stablecoin infrastructure startup, for approximately $1.8 billion at most, aiming to strengthen its position in cryptocurrency payments and stablecoin settlement. This transaction will support Mastercard's cooperation network with over 85 digital asset companies.

On March 17, PolyBeats detected that a new address on Polymarket invested $38,700 to buy the option "Extended's FDV exceeds $300 million on its first day of launch," with the current probability at 36%. Extended is a non-custodial perpetual contract exchange based on Starknet, with core mechanisms including unified margin and multi-asset collateral. It raised $6.5 million in funding in April 2024.

Gate News Alert: On March 17, according to Nansen monitoring, 9 wallet addresses collectively added 24.5 million ZRO tokens, valued at $47.5 million. These purchases represent 2.6% of ZRO's circulating supply, with an average entry price of $1.94 per token. All wallets are funded by a certain CEX, and these 9 wallets hold no other tokens, only ZRO.

Stripe and Paradigm's jointly developed new public chain Tempo is expected to launch its mainnet by the end of March, adopting a dual-track model focused on payments and DeFi. The mainnet will not issue tokens, and the team will wait for better market conditions to design the tokenomics model.

On Polymarket's "European Champions League Winner" prediction market, an account heavily bet $2.3 million, predicting Atalanta won't win the championship, with total bets reaching $3.1 million. The event contract trading volume has exceeded $287 million.

A user fell victim to a phishing attack after signing a malicious Permit transaction, resulting in approximately $280,000 worth of USDC and USDT being transferred by the phishing attacker. The victim's address is 0xB20d4Cd049B1A65Bc0475D29060Fe54fa0981607, with multiple phishing addresses involved in this incident.

March 17, the US Bitcoin ETF achieved net inflows for six consecutive days, with total capital reaching $962.8 million, and Bitcoin price increased over 12%. Analysis suggests that geopolitical tensions and Bitcoin's safe-haven attributes drove institutional demand, with the market maintaining focus on its future trajectory.

As artificial intelligence impacts software revenue, private credit markets face pressure with default rates climbing to 5.8%. Analysts warn that currency expansion may be necessary, with Bitcoin emerging as a hedge tool for investors, its appeal rising amid uncertainty. Markets need to monitor private credit dynamics and the impact of policy adjustments on Bitcoin's price.

Cryptocurrency security researcher al_f4lc0n has accused blockchain project Injective of slow communication in handling a critical security vulnerability and disputed the bounty amount. The vulnerability stemmed from a defect in the sub-account verification mechanism, threatening over $500 million in assets. al_f4lc0n failed to receive the deserved bounty, raising questions about Injective's security governance.