News Preview:
- CME Group plans to launch Solana (SOL) futures on March 17, pending regulatory approval;
- Ethereum Foundation developers will launch the new "Hoodi" testnet on March 17 to conduct final testing for the Pectra upgrade;
- Starknet plans to launch its mainnet between March 17 and 24;
- Gitcoin has announced details of the six community rounds for GG23, with the OSS Program application expected to begin on March 17;
- The US SEC's Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit will hold its first roundtable on March 21.
March 17
Exchanges:
CME Group plans to launch SOL futures on March 17
According to PR Newswire, CME Group has announced plans to launch Solana (SOL) futures on March 17, pending regulatory approval. Market participants will be able to trade micro (25 SOL) and standard (500 SOL) contracts. The SOL futures will be cash-settled and based on the CME CF Solana-Dollar Reference Rate, which serves as the daily reference rate for the US dollar price of SOL. The SOL futures will join the company's suite of crypto products, which includes Bitcoin and Ethereum futures and options.
Binance to support Kadena (KDA) network upgrade and hard fork, suspending deposits and withdrawals on March 17
The Kadena (KDA) network will undergo an upgrade and hard fork on March 18, 2025 at 00:00 (UTC), and Binance will support this upgrade. Deposit and withdrawal suspension period: March 17, 2025 23:00 (UTC); Upgrade and hard fork block height: 5,659,280 (estimated March 18, 2025 00:00 UTC). Binance will reopen KDA deposits and withdrawals after the network upgrade is complete and stable, and trading will not be affected.
Project Dynamics:
Ethereum developers to launch Hoodi testnet on March 17 to prepare for Pectra upgrade
Ethereum Foundation developers will launch the new "Hoodi" testnet on March 17 to conduct final testing for the Pectra upgrade. Previously, Pectra encountered configuration issues during the activation process on the Holesky and Sepolia testnets, causing the official release plan to be delayed. The Pectra upgrade aims to improve the usability and scalability of Ethereum, including reducing Layer 2 data availability costs, increasing staking limits, and introducing account abstraction to enhance smart contract and wallet functionality. If the testing goes smoothly, the upgrade could be deployed to the Ethereum mainnet as early as April 25. The Hoodi testnet will focus on validating exit tests to avoid the Holseky queue backlog from impacting related research.
Starknet plans to launch mainnet between March 17 and 24
According to Starknet's 2025 decentralization roadmap, its goal is to become the first fully decentralized Layer 2 (L2) to massively scale Ethereum. The plan focuses on staking mechanisms, decentralized operation, and governance independence. In addition, Starknet's latest v0.13.4 version has been deployed on the testnet, bringing optimizations such as state compression, fixed L2 gas prices, and Cairo-native performance improvements, and plans to launch the mainnet between March 17 and 24. Future version v0.14.0 will also introduce 2-second block times, more efficient sequencers, and improved fee markets.
Gitcoin announces details of six community rounds for GG23, OSS Program application expected to begin on March 17
The Ethereum-based crowdfunding platform Gitcoin has announced details of the six community rounds for GG23 on the X platform, including Regen Coordination, GoodDollar GoodBuilders, Token Engineering the Superchain Retro Round, Regen Rio de Janeiro, Gitcoin Grants Garden, and Web3 for Universities, each with around $21,000 in funding. Additionally, the OSS Program application period is expected to run from March 17 to 31, and the QF donation period from April 2 to 16.
ZKsync to terminate Ignite program and stop rewards on March 17, focusing on Elastic Network
According to ZKsync, the Ignite program will stop rewards on March 17 and not launch a second season, due to a focus on developing the Elastic Network, slow progress in interoperability technologies, and adjustments to funding strategies due to market conditions. Ignite has helped increase ZKsync Era TVL to $270 million, and the team will now optimize the token economic model and launch new ecosystem incentives, with a summary report to be released on March 30.
Cronos proposal to restore 70 billion burned CRO tokens expected to end voting on March 17
The Layer 1 blockchain Cronos is facing strong opposition to a proposal to restore 700 million CRO tokens burned in 2021. Early voting results on Mintscan show 95.7% of participants voted against the plan. Voting is expected to end on March 17. Additionally, Cryptoslate reported that CRO advocate Wyll Bilderberg stated on X platform: "Burn is burn, burned tokens should not be revived. I almost never oppose anything that happens on Cronos, but today, I strongly oppose! If this bill passes, it will only confirm that Cronos is highly centralized and therefore untrustworthy." Previously, Cronos proposed to reissue the 700 million burned tokens to "create a Cronos strategic reserve".
Token Unlocks:
ApeCoin (APE) will unlock 15.6 million tokens at 8:30 PM Beijing time on March 17, representing 1.95% of the current circulating supply, valued at around $8 million.
Solv Protocol (SOLV) will unlock approximately 117 million tokens at 6:00 PM Beijing time on March 17, representing 7.93% of the current circulating supply, valued at around $5 million.
March 18
Project Dynamics:
Meta to launch Community Notes feature in the US on March 18
Meta will launch the "Community Notes" feature in the US on March 18, applicable to Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. This system is based on the crowdsourced fact-checking mechanism implemented on X (formerly Twitter) since 2021, aiming to improve the transparency and scalability of platform information verification.
Initia to close wallet extension on March 18, users need to migrate testnet data in time
The Layer 1 blockchain Initia has announced that it will close its wallet extension service at 3:00 UTC on March 18 (11:00 AM Beijing time). Initia wallet users must complete the migration before this date, or they will lose access to their testnet data, including the Jennie testnet and related data. Users can migrate their wallets through migration.initia.xyz.
Sui Foundation launches SuiNS RFP program, application deadline is March 18
The Sui Foundation has announced the launch of the SuiNS program, aiming to drive impactful development and strengthen community collaboration by directly funding projects that meet the needs of the Sui ecosystem and support the growth of SuiNS. The SuiNS RFP program application channel is now open, and developers can submit their proposals by March 18, 2025 at 15:59 (UTC+8). The RFP committee will then screen candidates and vote on the final proposals to receive funding. Selected developers must sign a funding agreement outlining the project's milestones, deliverables, and timeline, and undergo an identity verification process to maintain transparency and accountability.
The SuiNS aims to provide users with a simple, easily identifiable identity that can be used in the Sui ecosystem, driving more personalized and feature-rich interactions to enhance the user experience and application functionality. The RFP program aims to accelerate innovation in the Sui ecosystem, with each RFP defining a specific focus area to encourage developers to propose solutions and utilize the funding to build these solutions.
Token Unlocks:
Fasttoken (FTN) will unlock 20 million tokens at 8 am Beijing time on March 18, accounting for 4.65% of the current circulating supply, valued at approximately $79.8 million
QuantixAI (QAI) will unlock approximately 566,000 tokens at 8 am Beijing time on March 18, accounting for 3960.24% of the current circulating supply, valued at approximately $41.4 million
Melania Meme (MELANIA) will unlock 26.25 million tokens at 8 am Beijing time on March 18, accounting for 17.50% of the current circulating supply, valued at approximately $17.6 million
March 19
Exchanges:
WazirX: The voting period for the proposed restructuring plan is set from March 19 to March 28
The Indian crypto exchange WazirX posted on the X platform that the next key step is to vote on the proposed restructuring plan. Voting period: Planned from March 19 to March 28, 2025. Asset rebalancing distribution: After the rebalancing is completed, if the majority of creditors vote in favor, then within 10 business days after the restructuring plan takes effect, approximately 85% of the account balance (as of 1 pm Indian Standard Time on July 18, 2024) will be distributed to the plan creditors.
Project Dynamics:
Babylon extends the airdrop registration deadline to March 19
The Babylon Foundation announced that due to some users completing the airdrop registration recently, the airdrop registration deadline will be extended by 4 days to 4 pm Beijing time on March 19.
The Core 2025 Game Hackathon will end on March 19
The Core Foundation has officially launched the Core 2025 Game Hackathon, providing $380,000 in prizes to global developers to incentivize the creation of innovative games based on Bitcoin. This hackathon will last four weeks, and participants will build high-performance, decentralized games on the Core blockchain, exploring more possibilities for Bitcoin in the gaming field. Event duration: February 5 - March 19; Total prize pool: $380,000 + additional developer incentives; Track categories: Casual games, social PvP games, puzzle games.
Token Unlocking:
Polyhedra Network (ZKJ) will unlock approximately 15.53 million tokens at 8 am Beijing time on March 19, accounting for 25.72% of the current circulating supply, valued at approximately $31.8 million
March 20
Macroeconomics:
At 2:00 am on March 20 (Thursday), the US Federal Reserve FOMC will announce its interest rate decision and economic outlook summary
Exchanges:
Coinbase International will list REZ, GRASS and RARE perpetual contracts on March 20
The Coinbase international exchange announced on the X platform that Coinbase International and Coinbase Advanced will add Renzo, Grass and SuperRare perpetual contracts, with the new trading pairs being REZ-PERP, GRASS-PERP and RARE-PERP. Trading will be opened at 5:30 pm Beijing time on March 20, 2025 or later.
According to the OKX announcement, the platform will delist trading pairs including XR, GOAL, KP3R, LBR, LAMB, BZZ and GPT on March 20, 2025 from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm (Beijing time), and has suspended deposits since 11:00 am (Beijing time) on March 13, suggesting users to manage their assets in a timely manner. After the delisting, any unfilled orders will be automatically canceled, and the process is expected to be completed in 1-3 business days. Starting from 4:00 pm (Beijing time) on June 20, 2025, the withdrawal function for the relevant cryptocurrencies will be closed, and users need to complete the asset transfer before that.
Project Dynamics:
BNBChain recently launched the second round of the $4.4 million Perpetual Liquidity Support Program, expanding from the Meme track in the first round to all outstanding native project tokens on the BNB Smart Chain (BSC). The goal is to provide long-term liquidity support for high-potential projects to strengthen the long-term development of the BNB Chain ecosystem. This round of the competition will be held from March 13 to March 20, 2025, including daily and weekly competitions, and the most promising assets will be selected based on key performance indicators. The daily competition will be divided into two tracks: the "Potential Explosion Zone" for projects with a market cap below $20 million, and the "Mature Zone" for projects with a market cap of at least $20 million. The daily competition will last seven days, with one winning project selected from each track every day. The competition ranking will be determined based on a comprehensive performance in trading volume, market capitalization, and 24-hour price appreciation.
BNB Chain will undergo the Pascal hard fork upgrade on March 20, supporting EIP-7702
BNB Chain will undergo a mainnet Pascal hard fork upgrade on March 20, 2025, improving EVM compatibility and becoming one of the first public chains to adopt EIP-7702. This upgrade will introduce features such as Gas Abstraction, EOA wallet smart contract-ization, and batch transactions, providing users with a smoother experience and developers with greater flexibility. Through the EIP-7702 proposal, BNB Chain will allow externally owned accounts (EOAs) to temporarily have smart contract functionality during transactions while maintaining account security. This upgrade will significantly lower the barrier for users to enter Web3. For example, Gas fee abstraction will allow users to complete on-chain interactions without holding the native token for gas fees, and dApps can sponsor gas fees for users, along with batch transaction functionality, to enhance the user's on-chain experience.
March 21
Policy and Regulation:
The US SEC Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit announces that the first roundtable will be held on March 21
The US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) newly formed Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit will hold its first roundtable discussion later this month as part of a series of meetings. The SEC stated in a Monday release that the event, titled "Our Past and Future - Defining the Securities Status", will take place on March 21 at the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C. This roundtable is part of the "Spring Sprint, Seeking Crypto Clarity" series of meetings. Hester Peirce, the Republican commissioner leading the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, said in the statement: "I look forward to leveraging public expertise to develop a workable regulatory framework for crypto." Peirce indicated that she plans to prioritize classifying some tokens as "non-securities".
According to reports, the guest speakers at the SEC Crypto Unit's first roundtable include Miles Jennings, General Counsel of a16z crypto and Delphi Ventures, and Sarah Brennan, General Counsel of investment firm Delphi Ventures.
Project Dynamics:
BNB Chain extends the "TVL Incentive Program" deadline to March 21
BNB Chain posted on the X platform that the TVL Incentive Program has been extended by 1 month, with the new deadline being March 21, 2025.
Regarding the performance bonus payment issue for the virtual asset WEMIX (WEMIX) of the Korean game company WeMade, the civil litigation initiated by about 20 former and current employees of the WeMadeTree subsidiary has been launched. The 42nd Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court has convened the first preparatory hearing for this case. The plaintiffs, former and current employees of WeMadeTree, claim that they signed a WEMIX development compensation agreement with the company and provided email evidence of the company's compensation promise. However, WeMade denies the existence of any oral agreement, only acknowledging that it has notified employees of the basic compensation plan, and argues that due to the legal regulations and accounting treatment standards for virtual assets being unclear, the company faces accounting uncertainties and criminal breach of trust risks for management, and therefore was unable to directly sign compensation contracts.
The court pointed out that the plaintiff's defect was the lack of a written contract, but at the same time believed that it would not be reasonable for the defendant to refuse to pay any compensation. The next debate in the case will be held on the morning of March 21. WeMade said it is willing to negotiate with the company members to formulate a specific compensation plan contract.
Token Unlocking:
Immutable (IMX) will unlock 24.52 million tokens at 8 AM Beijing time on March 21, accounting for 1.39% of the current circulating supply, worth about $13.4 million.
March 22
Token Unlocking:
SPACE ID (ID) will unlock 78.49 million tokens at 8 AM Beijing time on March 22, accounting for 18.23% of the current circulating supply, worth about $19.3 million.
March 23
Project Dynamics:
Ethereum Foundation extends the application deadline for the 2025 academic grant program to March 23
According to the update on the Ethereum Foundation website, the application submission deadline for the 2025 academic grant program has been extended to 23:59 AoE on March 23. It is reported that there is a total of $2 million available funding for this round to support academic work related to Ethereum.
Token Unlocking:
Metars Genesis (MRS) will unlock 10 million tokens at 8 AM Beijing time on March 23, accounting for 11.87% of the current circulating supply, worth about $97.4 million.
MANTRA (OM) will unlock 5 million tokens at 8 AM Beijing time on March 23, accounting for 0.51% of the current circulating supply, worth about $32.8 million.
Murasaki (MURA) will unlock 10 million tokens at 8 AM Beijing time on March 23, accounting for 1.00% of the current circulating supply, worth about $7.4 million.
