Crypto Morning Report: SEC Chair Releases Crypto Asset Regulatory Framework, BASED Token to Have TGE

Author: Deep Tide TechFlow

Yesterday’s Market Trends

ADP Weekly Employment Report: In the four weeks ending February 28, 2026, private sector employers added an average of 9,000 jobs per week

According to Jin10 Data, the ADP Weekly Employment Report states that in the four weeks ending February 28, 2026, private sector employers added an average of 9,000 jobs per week.

SEC Chair Atkins Releases Crypto Asset Regulatory Framework, Clarifying Four Asset Types as Non-Securities

As disclosed on the SEC official website, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul S. Atkins delivered a speech at the Washington DC Blockchain Summit on March 17, officially announcing the launch of the crypto asset regulatory framework “Regulation Crypto Assets,” along with interpretive guidance on token classification and investment contract recognition.

Regarding asset classification, the SEC clarifies that four types of crypto assets are not securities: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, and stablecoins as defined under the GENIUS Act. The only crypto asset category still subject to securities laws is digital securities, i.e., tokenized traditional securities.

On investment contract recognition, the SEC specifies the termination conditions, requiring project teams to clearly and unambiguously disclose their core management commitments. Once an investment contract terminates, the related crypto assets are no longer under securities law jurisdiction.

For exemption pathways, Atkins proposes three mechanisms: first, “Startup Exemption,” allowing projects to raise up to $5 million within four years; second, “Funding Exemption,” permitting up to $75 million in 12 months with SEC disclosure filings; third, “Investment Contract Safe Harbor,” providing clear non-security recognition standards for qualifying crypto assets.

Atkins stated that the SEC plans to solicit public comments on these draft rules in the coming weeks and will coordinate with the CFTC to implement them. He also emphasized that comprehensive market structure legislation in Congress remains the fundamental path to ensuring long-term regulatory stability.

Senator Tim Scott: Progress in Crypto Market Structure Legislation Negotiations, Stablecoin Yield Draft Expected This Week

According to CoinDesk, U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chair and Senator Tim Scott said at the Washington DC Blockchain Summit on March 18 that substantive progress has been made behind the scenes on the stalled crypto market structure bill, with the first draft including stablecoin yield language expected this week.

Scott noted that stablecoin yield is the most discussed issue in the bill. Currently, Democratic Senator Angela Alsobrooks, Republican Senator Thom Tillis, and White House officials Patrick Witt are actively pushing for a resolution.

Regarding other unresolved issues, Scott revealed that several disagreements have entered negotiations over the past month, including ethical concerns related to President Trump and his family’s crypto projects, the quorum issue for major regulatory agencies’ bipartisan seats, and DeFi regulation and AML compliance requirements. Scott indicated that these issues are progressing well overall.

Based Foundation: BASED Token to Launch TGE on March 30

Hyperliquid ecosystem crypto trading and consumer platform Based Foundation announced on X that the BASED token TGE will occur on March 30.

Previously, Hyperliquid ecosystem crypto trading and consumer platform Based completed a $11.5 million Series A funding round led by Pantera Capital.

Tether Releases Cross-Platform BitNet LoRA Framework Supporting Large Model Training and Inference on Consumer GPUs and Smartphones

According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, Tether AI team released the new version of QVAC Fabric, integrating the cross-platform BitNet LoRA framework, enabling training and inference of billion-parameter large models on consumer-grade GPUs and smartphones.

The new QVAC Fabric LLM achieves cross-platform fine-tuning and inference of BitNet LoRA on AMD, Intel, Apple Metal, and mobile GPUs for the first time. On flagship devices, GPU inference speeds are 2 to 11 times faster than CPUs, with memory usage reduced by up to 90% compared to full-precision models. The Tether team has fine-tuned models up to 3.8 billion parameters on flagship phones like Pixel 9, S25, and iPhone 16, and achieved fine-tuning of models up to 13 billion parameters on iPhone 16. The related code has been open-sourced on GitHub.

NVIDIA Forecasts Revenue Reaching $1 Trillion Before 2027, AI Inference Demand Continues to Rise

According to Nikkei Asia, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang delivered a keynote at GTC 2026, forecasting that the company’s cumulative revenue will surpass $1 trillion before 2027, driven mainly by strong demand for AI chips. Despite ongoing doubts about the sustainability of large-scale AI infrastructure development, NVIDIA’s growth momentum remains robust. Additionally, Samsung’s foundry division will produce new Groq chips for NVIDIA, further deepening their collaboration in AI hardware.

Ant Group Chairman Jing Xiandong Donates 130 Million RMB to Support Shanghai Jiao Tong University AI Fund

According to Caifu Xingqiu, Ant Group Chairman Jing Xiandong and his wife jointly donated 130 million RMB in cash and Ant Group shares on March 17 to their alma mater, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, to support the “AI Future Cornerstone Fund.”

Bitrefill Hacked by North Korean Hacker Group, Approximately 18,500 User Purchase Records Accessed

As announced on Bitrefill’s official X platform, on March 1, 2026, the crypto gift card platform Bitrefill was subjected to a cyberattack. Based on attack techniques, malicious software used, on-chain tracking, and reused IP addresses and email addresses, investigators believe this attack closely resembles previous attacks by North Korea’s DPRK Lazarus/BlueNoroff hacking group targeting the crypto industry.

The initial entry point was an employee’s compromised laptop, which the attacker used to obtain historical credentials, then access snapshots containing production keys, and gradually move laterally into broader infrastructure, including some databases and hot wallets. Funds from hot wallets were subsequently transferred to addresses controlled by the attackers.

Regarding user data, about 18,500 purchase records were accessed, involving email addresses, crypto payment addresses, and IP metadata; approximately 1,000 records included user names, which were encrypted, but since attackers may have obtained encryption keys, affected users have been notified via email. The company states there is no evidence of complete database exfiltration.

Currently, Bitrefill has resumed normal operations. The company affirms its financial stability, will bear the losses with its own operating funds, and continues to strengthen access controls, log monitoring, and emergency response mechanisms.

Mastercard Plans to Acquire Stablecoin Infrastructure Startup BVNK for Up to $1.8 Billion

According to Bloomberg, Mastercard intends to acquire stablecoin infrastructure startup BVNK, with a deal value up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent consideration. This news comes just four months after the collapse of negotiations between BVNK and Coinbase over a roughly $2 billion merger. Both parties jointly announced the transaction on Tuesday.

GSR Acquires Autonomous and Architech for $57 Million, Launching an Integrated Crypto Capital Markets and Treasury Platform

According to Chainwire, crypto market maker GSR announced the completion of acquisitions of digital asset management firm Autonomous and token issuance and liquidity strategy consulting firm Architech for $57 million, aiming to provide an integrated capital markets and treasury management platform for tokenization projects from inception to scaling.

Post-acquisition, Autonomous will retain its brand under GSR Group and continue providing startup operations, support, and financial infrastructure services for tokenized projects; Architech will become the core of GSR’s digital asset advisory business, collaborating with GSR’s existing institutional trading, liquidity, and asset management capabilities.

Robinhood Venture Capital Fund Invests About $35 Million in Stripe and AI Audio Startup ElevenLabs

According to The Block, Robinhood Ventures Fund recently completed two private market investments totaling approximately $35 million, including about $14.6 million in payments company Stripe and about $20 million in AI audio startup ElevenLabs. Stripe’s valuation is approximately $159 billion and owns the stablecoin platform Bridge.

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