Paradigm's Tempo Launches Mainnet

️ On today's Top Picks:

Crypto News

• ⭐️ S&P Dow Jones Indices & trade[XYZ] partner to launch official S&P 500 $SPX perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid $HYPE; "anchored by the official index data required for deep liquidity and institutional confidence at scale."

• Phantom issued no-action relief from US CFTC; means Phantom does not need to register as an introducing broker to offer users access to regulated markets directly in the Phantom app.

• Ethereum Foundation $ETH deploys another 3,400 ETH (~$7M) into Morpho $MORPHO; previously deployed 2,400 ETH (~$5M) & ~$6M in stablecoins into Morpho; cites Morpho's GPL-2.0 license.

• Tally, a crypto governance platform, to shut down after cancelling ICO; says ICO "...didn’t make sense in the current market"; governance application to begin winding down at the end of March.

• Algorand Foundation $ALGO cuts 25% of workforce citing uncertain global macro environment & downturn in crypto markets; held ~$38M in US dollar-denominated investments and 1.1M ALGO (~$100K) according to latest transparency report.

• ⭐️ Kraken freezes IPO plan due to difficult market conditions; to revisit listing when market conditions improve; confidentially filed draft S-1 registration statement with US SEC in November 2025.

• FTX Recovery Trust to distribute ~$2.2B to creditors on March 31st; creditors should expect to receive funds within 1 to 3 business days; marks forth distribution of payouts to FTX creditors.

• US SEC & CFTC issue joint guidance declaring "most crypto assets" are NOT securities; also says staking, mining, airdrops, & token wrapping are not inherently securities transactions.

• US Senate Banking Committee to hold markup for crypto market structure bill (Clarity Act) before end of April; US President Trump recently called out banks holding the Clarity Act hostage.

• US SEC approves Nasdaq proposal to allow tokenized securities trading under DTC tokenization pilot; eligible Nasdaq participants will be able to have trades settled as blockchain-based tokens.

• Moody's launches new Token Integration Engine (TIE) to bring its credit analysis onchain; operating node on Canton Network $CC as part of initial rollout.

• Mastercard $MA to acquire BVNK, a stablecoin infrastructure firm, for up to $1.8B; includes $300M in contingent payments; acquisition expected to close late 2026.

• PayPal $PYPL expands PYUSD stablecoin to 68 more countries across South America, Africa, & Asia; PYUSD's market cap has risen to $4.1B since launching in August 2023.

• GSR acquires Autonomous, a token launch, finance, & operations platform, and Architech, a crypto advisory firm, for $57M; Autonomous to continue to operate under existing brand; Architech to form foundation of GSR Digital Asset Advisory.

Alpha

• ⭐️ Tempo, a payments-focused L1 blockchain incubated by Stripe & Paradigm, launches mainnet; also introduces Machine Payments Protocol (MPP); Polymarket projects 51% chance Tempo launches a token by December 31st.

• Polymarket $POLY acquires Brahma, a DeFi infrastructure firm, for an undisclosed amount; to improve user experience and boost liquidity for smaller markets; top Brahma community members to be rewarded.

• Aster $ASTER launches Aster Chain, its privacy-focused L1 for derivatives trading; to roll out in phases beginning with Chain Genesis; claims 50ms block time, up to 100,000 TPS, & zero gas;

• xStocks launches xPoints program; users can earn xPoints by holding xStocks, providing liquidity, lending or borrowing, & participating in ecosystem quests.

• Soneium launches Soneium Score Season 7 NFT badge; users with at least 84-100 points are eligible to mint in Stage 1; users with at least 80-83 points are eligible to mint in Stage 2; Season 8 is already live.

• Katana $KAT launches TGE; Pre-Deposit campaign participants can claim vKAT rewards (subject to exit fee); users who stake within first 72 hours can earn Founding Staker status.

• Megapot opens Megapot V2 liquidity pool; capped at $1.1M; liquidity providers can earn Megapot points; to launch lottery tickets sales on March 24th; recently raised $5M in funding.

• ICYMI LayerZero $ZRO to launch Zero public testnet soon; just launched Zero internal testnet with private testnet to follow; Zero is an L1 blockchain built in partnership with Citadel Securities, DTCC, & ICE.

Airdrops

• Upcoming TGEs & Airdrops: Backpack $BP on March 23rd, Based $BASED on March 30th, USDai $CHIP expected in March, Perle potentially in March, Mezo $MEZO potentially in March.

• Based $BASED to launch TGE & airdrop on March 30th; airdrop eligibility & allocation checker already live; Based Season 1 XP holders, Season 2 Gold holders, & more are eligible.

• ⭐️ Perle $PRL launches airdrop registration, eligibility & allocation checker; Perle Season 1 points holders are eligible; to launch airdrop claim soon, potentially in March.

• Mezo $MEZO launches Phase II airdrop allocation checker; Red Envelope participants are eligible for Phase II; Mezo Mats (points) holders were eligible for Phase I; to launch TGE & airdrop claim soon, potentially in March.

• Binance $BNB launches Fabric Protocol $ROBO HODLer Airdrop; BNB Simple Earn and/or BNB On-Chain Yields subscribers from March 4th to March 6th are eligible.

• ICYMI Backpack $BP to launch TGE & airdrop on March 23rd; closed TGE Verified on Sunday (March 16th); Backpack points holders & Mad Lads NFT holders will be eligible.

• ICYMI USDai $CHIP launches airdrop allocation checker; USDai Season 1 Allo (points) holders are eligible; TGE & airdrop claim expected in ~March.

• ICYMI OpenSea $SEA delays TGE citing challenging market conditions; gives no new target date; current Rewards Wave (Wave 6) to be the last; Treasures to be "meaningfully considered" at TGE.

Finance News

• ⭐️ Brent Oil & Natural Gas surge after Israel strikes Iran's South Pars gas field, the world's largest natural gas reserve; Iran retaliated by striking Qatar's Ras Laffan, the world's largest liquified natural gas facility; Trump warns the US will "blow up" South Pars if Qatar's LNG facilities are attacked again.

• US President Trump reportedly considers deploying thousands of additional US troops to Middle East amid Iran War; reportedly preparing to use force to take full control of the Strait of Hormuz.

• US to ease sanctions on Venezuela to “unlock” more oil amid Iran War; President Trump also suspends Jones Act in an effort to lower high fuel prices; average US gas prices have surged to $3.84.

• China buys an additional 1 ton of Gold $XAU in February; marks 16th consecutive monthly purchase; China’s total gold reserves are now up to 2,309 tons (~$371B), or 10% of foreign exchange reserves.

• US Federal Reserve leaves interest rates unchanged at 3.50%-3.75%; projects one rate cut in 2026 & one in 2027; says rate cuts will not happen without clear progress on inflation; also says implications of Middle East developments are "uncertain."

• US February PPI inflation rises to 3.4%, above expectations of 2.9%; US Core PPI inflation rises to 3.9%, above expectations of 3.7%; Fed Chair Jerome Powell warns rising energy prices from Iran war will drive inflation higher.

• Microsoft $MSFT reportedly considers suing OpenAI over Altman's recent deal with Amazon $AMZN; dispute over whether hosting Frontier on AWS Bedrock violates Azure API exclusivity clause.

• Robinhood $HOOD Ventures Fund I $RVI invests ~$14.6M in Stripe & $20M in ElevenLabs, an AI audio startup; also invested in Revolut, Airwallex, Boom, Databricks, and Ramp.

• ICYMI Alibaba $BABA tested 18 AI models on 100 codebases for 233 days; 75% broke previously working code during maintenance; only two Claude Opus models exceed 50% zero-regression rate.

Security and Exploits

• Bitrefill discloses March 1st cyberattack due to compromised employee laptop; 18,500 purchase records with “limited customer information” were accessed; names DPRK's Lazarus Group as potential suspect.

• Neutrl domain compromised; team advises users to avoid the website until it is secured; also advises users revoke approvals for 0x23...53F, 0xa...4b9, & any other addresses they do not recognize.

• BONK[.]fun $BONK domain remains compromised after hackers hijacked team account; team advises users to continue avoiding the website until it is secured.

• Apple releases first 'Background Security Improvements' update patching security vulnerability in WebKit; flaw allows a malicious website to potentially access data from another website in the same browser session.

• ICYMI Aave $AAVE & CoW Swap $COW publish conflicting post-mortems after recent $50M loss; Aave attributes loss to an “illiquid market”; Cow Swap blames compounding solver failures, gas limits, and mempool leak.

• ICYMI Whitehat hacker accuses Injective $INJ of ghosting after reporting "$500M" vulnerability; allocated $50K bounty of $500K maximum; says payout still unpaid with zero explanation for reduced payout.

Token Unlocks

• Lombard $BARD / ~$32M / MAR 18th
• LayerZero $ZRO / ~$54M / MAR 20th
• Wormhole $W / ~$1M / MAR 20th
• River $RIVER / ~$31M / MAR 22nd
Sourced from Tokenomist

Funding

• TransFi raises $14.2M in Series A funding led by Turing Financial Group.

• Derivio raises $6M in funding from YZi Labs, CMT Digital, Big Brain Holdings, Signum Capital, UOB Venture, Everstake Capital, Proximity Labs, among others.

• Republic raises an undisclosed amount in Strategic funding from Hamilton Lane.

• Current raises an undisclosed amount in funding from OKX Ventures, Sui Foundation, Comma3 Ventures, Cetus, & Bluefin.

• Lendasat raises an undisclosed amount in funding from Fulgur Ventures, Initial Capital, & Ark Labs.

The Degen Farmer