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According to The Block, the latest "2026 Ecosystem Vulnerability Audit Report" released by Web3 security company Immunefi shows that losses from DeFi protocols due to hacker attacks have decreased by 74% from the peak of $2.62 billion in 2022 to approximately $680.3 million in 2025.The report points out that the median loss per attack has also significantly decreased, from $6 million in 2022 to $1.5 million in 2025, reflecting an overall improvement in security levels.At the same time, the proportion of losses from bridge exploits has dramatically decreased from 73% in 2022 to 3% in 2025, and the share of flash loan attacks has dropped from 54% to less than 1%. Risks at the infrastructure level (such as private key leaks and database attacks) have also decreased from 30.7% in 2022 to 10.3% in 2025. Immunefi stated that this reflects the ongoing optimization of oracle design, reentrancy attack protection, and access control standards, indicating that the overall DeFi ecosystem "is becoming safer."However, the report also notes that losses slightly rebounded to $680.3 million in 2025, mainly due to the increasing complexity of multi-chain systems and a few high-severity incidents. Meanwhile, the number of independent security incidents continues to rise, reflecting an expanding attack surface.

According to SoSoValue data, the cryptocurrency market sector generally declined, with the PayFi sector dropping 4.15% in 24 hours, XRP down 3.26%, Stellar (XLM) down 11.45%, but Ultima (ULTIMA) rose against the trend by 2.79%. At the same time, Bitcoin (BTC) fell 3.6%, dropping below $71,000; Ethereum (ETH) decreased by 0.92%, falling below $2,000. However, the SocialFi sector rose against the market, increasing by 7.03% in 24 hours, with Toncoin (TON) up 4.18% and Chiliz (CHZ) up 5.71%.The AI sector rose by 3.13%, with Worldcoin (WLD) increasing by 18.53%; the DeFi sector rose by 2.98%, with Hyperliquid (HYPE) up 1.76% and LAB (LAB) up 64.79%; the Meme sector rose by 1.09%, with Siren (SIREN) up 15.38%. In other sectors, the Layer1 sector fell by 1.09%, with NEAR Protocol (NEAR) surging 14.22% during the day; the CeFi sector declined by 1.47%, with Binance Coin (BNB) down 1.94%; the Layer2 sector decreased by 2.31%, while Optimism (OP) remained relatively strong, rising by 2.88%.The cryptocurrency sector index reflecting historical market trends shows that the ssiSocialFi, ssiAI, and ssiMeme indices rose by 7.22%, 1.87%, and 1.31%, respectively.

The tokenized U.S. Treasury fund VBILL under VanEck has officially launched on the DeFi lending protocol Euler. The fund is issued and tokenized by Securitize, allowing investors to use tokenized U.S. Treasuries as collateral for on-chain lending and liquidity operations, while also meeting compliance requirements. This move reflects that DeFi protocols are accelerating their transformation towards institutionalization and compliance to attract traditional financial capital into the on-chain market.Data shows that the scale of tokenized U.S. Treasuries has surpassed $15 billion, growing approximately 150% over the past year. Traditional asset management giants such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Janus Henderson have all launched on-chain Treasury or money market products. Euler has previously integrated Securitize's DS Protocol to support the access of tokenized securities with investor qualification restrictions and transfer rules to the lending market. DeFi protocols like Aave are also laying out institutional-level RWA business. Institutions expect that the asset tokenization market could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033. Securitize executives stated that as traditional financial institutions enter the crypto space, DeFi protocols must find a balance between openness and compliance requirements.

According to CoinDesk, several researchers in the fields of post-quantum cryptography and blockchain security have stated that AI is accelerating the development of quantum computing and forcing the encryption industry to reassess the reliability of existing security systems.Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden pointed out that researchers are using machine learning to optimize quantum error correction—one of the biggest engineering bottlenecks in the field of quantum computing. NEAR Protocol co-founder and former Google AI researcher Illia Polosukhin warned that the "harvest now, decrypt later" strategy has become a real threat, where attackers collect encrypted traffic now and decrypt it later when quantum computers mature, "this is likely already happening."Since most blockchain networks rely on the same elliptic curve cryptography as the internet, once quantum computers become powerful enough, they could theoretically derive private keys from public keys, thereby compromising wallets and systems. Researchers noted that the combination of AI and quantum computing is creating a continuous arms race in security, where security measures will no longer be static infrastructure but must continuously evolve and upgrade. Currently, multiple blockchain ecosystems such as Ethereum, Solana, and NEAR are actively promoting post-quantum cryptography migration solutions.

According to CoinDesk, billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio stated that Bitcoin's lack of privacy protection, with transactions being monitorable and potentially controllable, is a primary reason why central banks are reluctant to hold Bitcoin. Dalio mentioned that about 1% of his portfolio is allocated to Bitcoin, but he believes that the transparent ledger characteristic of Bitcoin makes it difficult to serve as a reserve asset.Dalio also pointed out that Bitcoin has a 90-day correlation coefficient of 0.89 with the Nasdaq index, and about 79% of its price fluctuations can be explained by the performance of tech stocks, which undermines its function as an independent store of value. Furthermore, the market size of Bitcoin is still relatively small compared to gold and is more susceptible to influence; Dalio believes that gold still plays a more central role in the global system.

According to Jinshi reports, the US Dollar Index DXY has basically retraced all gains since February 27. The dollar was already weak before the outbreak of the war in Iran, affected by policy burdens, including Trump's trade war and threats to the independence of the Federal Reserve. Although investors had previously unwound their short positions on the dollar after the outbreak of the war, the gains have now disappeared, partly due to optimistic market expectations that the US and Iran may resume negotiations. Jane Foley from Rabobank stated that the divergence in global central bank policies is also an important factor.

According to Gate's market data, gold (XAUUSDT) has fallen below $4,600, currently priced at $4,596.86, with a 24h decline of about 1.66%; silver (XAGUSDT) has fallen below $74, currently priced at $73.77, with a 24h decline of 0.74%. Against the backdrop of gold and silver corrections, overall trading activity has not decreased but rather increased.According to CoinGlass data, the 24-hour contract trading volume for gold (XAU) on the Gate platform reached $230 million, an increase of 122.30%, ranking among the top globally; the 24-hour contract trading volume for silver (XAG) was approximately $315 million, an increase of 213.96%, with an open interest of about $21.5244 million, both ranking among the top two globally.Gate has pioneered the metal contract trading sector, providing 24/7 uninterrupted trading, offering users greater strategic flexibility and asset management efficiency in volatile markets. Gate's contracts cover a variety of traditional financial assets including stocks, metals, foreign exchange, indices, and commodities, supporting trading in core assets such as gold, silver, and globally popular stocks. Gate continues to build a more efficient and professional multi-asset one-stop trading platform for global users.

According to monitoring by Hyperinsight, the price of HYPE fell in the afternoon, briefly touching the $40 mark. The trader "Loracle" on Hyperliquid, holding a 5x leveraged short position in HYPE, was subsequently liquidated, with the current position size reaching $23.8 million and an average entry price of $40.871, making it the largest short address for HYPE on-chain.It is reported that this address is one of the early contributors to the Hyperliquid ecosystem and is the founder of Hypurrfun. Previously, during the main upward wave starting from $20, this address had heavily gone long and at one point became the second-largest long position for HYPE on-chain, but has now flipped to short on April 20. Address: 0x8def9f50456c6c4e37fa5d3d57f108ed23992dae.

According to SoSoValue data, the cryptocurrency market sector generally retreated, with the Meme sector dropping 3.45% in 24 hours. Within the sector, SPX6900 (SPX) fell 6.73%, MemeCore (M) decreased by 14.74%, but Pump.fun (PUMP) rose against the trend by 4.14%. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 2.51%, falling below $78,000; Ethereum (ETH) dropped 3.71%, falling to around $2,300.Notably, only the NFT sector rose by 2.29%, with Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) increasing by 10.01% and SuperVerse (SUPER) rising by 3.74%.In other sectors, the DeFi sector fell 1.72% in 24 hours, but Jupiter (JUP) rose by 5.35%; the CeFi sector decreased by 1.78%, with Aster (ASTER) dropping by 2.72%; the Layer1 sector fell by 2.31%, with Solana (SOL) decreasing by 2.95%; the PayFi sector dropped by 2.91%, while SafePal (SFP) surged by 2.39% during the day; the Layer2 sector fell by 3.13%, with Starknet (STRK) decreasing by 5.45%.The cryptocurrency sector indices reflecting historical market trends show that the ssiNFT, ssiRWA, and ssiSocialFi indices rose by 4.64%, 19.6%, and 0.04%, respectively.

According to SoSoValue data, influenced by macro factors such as the small-scale skirmish between the U.S. and Iran on Sunday, the overall trend of the cryptocurrency market is downward. Bitcoin (BTC) fell 1.11% in 24 hours, dropping to around $74,000, while Ethereum (ETH) decreased by 2.37%, falling below $2,300.However, sectors like SocialFi and AI saw slight increases, with 24-hour gains of 1.92% and 0.95%, respectively. Within the SocialFi sector, Toncoin (TON) and Chiliz (CHZ) rose by 1.49% and 4.60%, respectively. In the AI sector, Pieverse (PIEVERSE) surged by 77.43%, and Venice Token (VVV) increased by 4.89%.In other sectors, the CeFi sector fell by 0.86% in 24 hours, but Bitget Token (BGB) rose by 1.35%; the Layer1 sector decreased by 1.06%, with Canton Network (CC) remaining relatively strong, increasing by 1.64%; the PayFi sector dropped by 1.46%, while Monero (XMR) gained 0.41% during the day; the Meme sector fell by 2.17%, with MemeCore (M) declining by 6.03%; the DeFi sector decreased by 2.24%, but Reserve Rights (RSR) rose against the trend by 10.52%; the Layer2 sector fell by 2.28%, with Arbitrum (ARB) down by 0.39%.The cryptocurrency sector indices reflecting historical market trends show that the ssiMeme, ssiDeFi, and ssiLayer2 indices fell by 3.00%, 2.70%, and 2.63%, respectively.

According to Hyperbridge's official disclosure, the loss from the Token Gateway vulnerability incident has been revised from an initial estimate of $237,000 to approximately $2.5 million, with the increase mainly coming from losses in incentive pools on Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain, and Arbitrum.The attacker extracted about 245 ETH from the relevant contracts and then bypassed the MMR proof verification mechanism by forging cross-chain messages, minting 1 billion bridged DOT and selling them into a thinly traded market. Currently, some of the stolen funds have been traced on-chain to Binance, and Hyperbridge is collaborating with Binance's compliance team and law enforcement agencies for an investigation.Native DOT of Polkadot and products like Intent Gateway are unaffected, while the Token Gateway and the bridged DOT contracts on the four affected EVM chains remain suspended. The MMR verification logic patch is undergoing external audit, and the bridging functionality will be restored after the audit is completed.

According to market news, Spain's CaixaBank has obtained authorization as a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) under the EU MiCA regulation, becoming the sixth licensed bank in the country to offer customers services for the custody, buying, and transferring of crypto assets.The six authorized institutions in order are BBVA, Openbank (under the Santander Group), Cecabank, Renta 4 Banco, Kutxabank, and CaixaBank. Among them, BBVA was the first to be approved in 2025 and officially launched Bitcoin and Ethereum buying and custody services in July of the same year. The MiCA authorization serves as a "regulatory passport" across the EU, allowing licensed institutions to operate legally without having to apply country by country. The transition period in Spain will end on June 30, 2026, at which point unauthorized institutions will not be allowed to provide crypto asset services.

Katie Haun, founder and CEO of the crypto venture capital firm Haun Ventures, stated in an interview with CNBC, "What is happening in the global payments space is essentially an arms race. Mastercard this week acquired the stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, officially entering the stablecoin space. This is one of Mastercard's largest acquisitions ever. Stablecoins can transfer digital dollars instantly and frictionlessly on a global scale, which is a truly significant innovation. The transaction volume in this space has reached $12.5 trillion, and we believe this scale will only continue to grow in the AI era."On the regulatory front, Katie Haun mentioned, "This week, the CFTC and SEC jointly released guidance on what constitutes a security and what constitutes a commodity, which is a core issue in the crypto industry. I have heard that the Senate Banking Committee is advancing a compromise proposal that could be announced as early as today, and I am cautiously optimistic about it. But the key issue is that Congress effectively has only three working months left before the midterm elections, and they need to quickly push the CLARITY Act to a vote after the Easter recess." Speaking about the combination of AI and blockchain, Katie Haun stated, "AI agents will increasingly replace humans in executing transactions and payments. If you think AI agents will use the same payment systems as humans, I believe that is a mistake. Agents require 24/7, instant settlement on a global scale, and stablecoins are the infrastructure built for this new era."

According to the latest "February 2026 Private Wealth Management Monthly Report" released by Gate, the cryptocurrency market faced overall pressure in February due to macroeconomic and geopolitical factors, with BTC experiencing a monthly decline of approximately 15.5%, and ETH also retracing. The market's fear and greed index dropped into the "extreme fear" zone, indicating a significant increase in risk-averse sentiment.Against this backdrop, Gate's private wealth management products maintained overall steady performance, but short-term returns showed some differentiation. Among them, Star Core Smart Investment (USDT) had the highest annual return rate, reaching 9.5%; Starry Hedge (USDT) and Star Orbit Arbitrage (USDT) had cumulative return rates of 18.0% and 17.2%, respectively. During the statistical period, Starry Hedge (USDT) achieved positive returns in all 20 cycles, with a total win rate of 100%; Gravitational Hedge (USDT) also performed outstandingly, with a total win rate of 95%.The report pointed out that recent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and rising shipping risks have heightened market concerns about disruptions in crude oil supply, driving a rebound in WTI oil prices. Looking ahead, the narratives related to AI Agents and TradFi may continue to attract market attention in the next 1-2 months and become important catalysts for capital rotation.

The founder of Binance, CZ, commented on social media regarding the news "Block plans to lay off nearly half, betting on AI to improve company efficiency": "The reality is, either maximize the use of AI, or wait to be replaced by AI."Previous news from ChainCatcher reported that Block plans to lay off over 4,000 people, with a layoff rate close to 50%.

Bitcoin fell back after a strong rise to $70,000 during the U.S. trading session on Wednesday, reporting around $68,600 during the Asian session on Thursday, failing to effectively hold the key integer level. Since the end of February, BTC has maintained a range-bound structure, having dipped to $62,500 earlier this month and reaching $71,100 on February 15.Market participants noted that Bitcoin had previously broken through a similar range in January, but then quickly fell from $98,000 to $60,000, forming lower highs during this downward cycle, which has made some traders cautious about the sustainability of the current breakout. Derivatives data shows that the total open interest (OI) in cryptocurrency futures has increased by over 6.6%, approaching $100 billion, with a growth rate higher than the overall market cap increase, indicating new capital inflow.In the options market, Deribit data shows that the Bitcoin rebound has driven an increase in demand for call options with strike prices between $85,000 and $90,000. However, the overall options structure still leans towards bearish protection, with $60,000 put options being the current most popular position, having a nominal open interest exceeding $1.4 billion, indicating that the market still retains concerns about downside risks.