WuBlockchain Weekly: 20 Millionth Bitcoin Mined, Binance Responds to Iran-Related Investigation, BlackRock Launches Staked Ethereum ETF, etc

Mar 13, 2026

1. 20 Millionth Bitcoin Mined link

The current Bitcoin block height has reached 940,000, and the 20 millionth BTC has been mined, accounting for approximately 95.2% of the total 21 million BTC supply. This means that in the next approximately 114 years, only about 1 million BTC will be generated through mining. As the Bitcoin block reward is halved approximately every 210,000 blocks, the rate of new issuance continues to decline, so the issuance cycle for the final small amount of BTC is significantly lengthened.

2. U.S. Senators Seek Compromise on Stablecoin Yields to Advance Clarity Act link

US senators are seeking a compromise on stablecoin yields to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Banks fear stablecoin payouts to holders will draw funds from bank deposits, while some lawmakers and the crypto industry advocate restricting balance-based yields while allowing activity-related incentives. Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Thom Tillis are pushing a middle ground to prevent deposit outflows while preserving financial innovation space.

3. U.S. Treasury Report First Acknowledges Crypto Mixers Have Legitimate Uses in Certain Cases link

The U.S. Treasury Department acknowledged for the first time in a March report submitted to Congress that crypto mixers may have legitimate uses in certain cases. The report states that legitimate users of digital assets may use mixers to maintain financial privacy when conducting transactions on public blockchains. Previously, the U.S. Department of Justice stated in August last year that it would no longer actively pursue criminal liability for developers of privacy-enhancing crypto tools.

4. BlackRock Launches Ethereum Staking ETF to Meet Investor Demand for On-Chain Yields link

BlackRock has officially launched its Ethereum Staking ETF, ETHB, aiming to meet growing investor demand for yields from cryptocurrency funds. It has the same fee as ETHA, at 0.25 basis points, but the fee is reduced to 0.12% for the first year or the first $2.5 billion in assets. By staking the ETH it holds on-chain, the fund not only tracks the market price movements of Ethereum but also provides staking returns to investors.

5. Wall Street Journal: DOJ Probes Iran Using Binance to Evade Sanctions link

The Wall Street Journal exclusively reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Iran’s use of Binance to evade sanctions, focusing on funds flowing through the crypto platform to networks supporting terrorist organizations, including Yemen’s Houthi militants. The Journal said the investigation was launched after Binance discontinued an internal probe into more than $1 billion in funds that passed through Binance to a network funding Iran-backed terrorist groups.

Binance responded in a statement that it had delisted the entities Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust from its platform in August 2025 and January 2026 respectively, and stated there is no evidence that their accounts engaged in direct transactions with Iranian entities. Binance disclosed that it processed over 71,000 law enforcement requests in 2025 and assisted law enforcement agencies in seizing more than $752 million in assets over the past three years, with approximately $579 million related to cases involving U.S. government agencies. Binance announced that it has filed a lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, accusing it of publishing false and defamatory reports and causing significant reputational damage. Binance said the move is aimed at combating misinformation and holding the media accountable for prioritizing click rates over journalistic integrity. Binance stated that it has never terminated any internal compliance investigations and that it is not aware of any relevant investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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6. Crypto Code Commits Drop ~75% Since Early 2025; Developers Shift to AI Projects link

Data from the world’s largest code hosting platform GitHub shows that the blockchain ecosystem is experiencing a comprehensive outflow of developers. Since the beginning of 2025, weekly code submissions for crypto projects have dropped from approximately 850,000 to 210,000, with active developers falling to around 4,600. The number of developers in mainstream ecosystems such as Ethereum, Solana, and Base has all declined significantly, with Aptos seeing a approximately 60% drop in developers and BNB Chain experiencing an approximately 85% reduction in submissions. Only wallet infrastructure continues to show modest growth.

In contrast, GitHub’s Octoverse report indicates that the platform added over 36 million new developers in 2025, with annual code submissions up approximately 25% year-on-year. AI-related repositories and LLM development tools are growing rapidly, and among the remaining contributors in the crypto sector, the proportion of senior developers has risen.

7. Strategy Announces $1.28 Billion Purchase of 17,994 BTC link

Strategy announced the purchase of 17,994 BTC for approximately $1.28 billion, with an average price of about $70,946. As of March 8, 2026, the company holds a total of 738,731 BTC, with a total acquisition cost of approximately $56.04 billion and an average cost of about $75,862.

8. Arthur Hayes: War Isn’t Necentially Bullish for Bitcoin, but Money Printing Is link

Arthur Hayes stated that if he had only $1 to invest right now, he would not buy Bitcoin but wait for the Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy and resume money printing before entering the market. He believes war itself is not necessarily bullish for Bitcoin, but “money printing is bullish for Bitcoin.” Hayes also warned that geopolitical tensions could trigger a massive sell-off in both stocks and the crypto market, and that Bitcoin could fall below $60,000. However, he maintains a long-term bullish view, expecting Bitcoin’s price to exceed $100,000 in the coming years.

9. Tokenized Stocks On-Chain Total Value Surpasses $1 Billion link

The total on-chain value of tokenized stocks has exceeded $1 billion. Ondo Finance and the xStocks platform under Backed Finance hold the majority of market share in tokenized stock issuance and trading, with Ondo Finance accounting for approximately 58% and xStocks for about 24%, forming an early duopoly in the industry.

10. User Buys 50 Million USDT Worth of AAVE, Only Receives 324 Tokens Due to Price Impact link

Aave founder Stani Kulechov said a user previously tried to buy AAVE with 50 million USDT via the Aave interface. Due to the unusually large order size, the trading interface had already warned of potential extreme slippage and asked the user to confirm the risks. After checking and confirming on a mobile device, the user proceeded with the trade and ultimately received only 324 AAVE. Stani stated that the trade was executed after the user explicitly confirmed the risks, and the relevant CoW Swap router and integration process functioned as designed, but the outcome was clearly unsatisfactory. The Aave team said it would try to contact the user and refund the $600,000 fee charged for this transaction, while also stating that it would study further strengthening user protection mechanisms.

Aave engineering member Martin Grabina further explained that the issue with this trade was not slippage settings but the user accepting a quote with approximately 99% price impact. On-chain data showed that before execution, the system had shown the user a quote (approximately 50 million USDT for less than 140 AAVE) and warned of price impact risks, after which the user submitted a market order after confirmation. Grabina said the trade was routed through CoW Swap and the mechanism functioned as designed, with the user also receiving approximately 0.7% surplus. The team will continue to work on strengthening risk warnings and user protection mechanisms.

According to Arkham analyst Emmett Gallic, a user exchanged approximately 50.43 million aEthUSDT for aEthAAVE worth only about $36,000 via CoW Protocol. Titan Builder extracted ETH profits worth $34 million from the chaos and immediately transferred all proceeds to Coinbase.

The CoW DAO released a statement regarding the massive loss incident where a trader exchanged 50 million aEthUSDT for aEthAAVE. Disclosures showed that the trade was executed via the Aave interface (powered by CoW Protocol), and the system had issued a clear warning before execution that assets would be “almost completely lost,” but the user manually confirmed and proceeded with the trade with full knowledge. The CoW DAO emphasized that no DEX, aggregator, or liquidity pool in the current market can provide a reasonable transaction price for orders of this scale. In response to the incident, the CoW DAO announced that it would fully refund all fees generated from this transaction and is working to review how to strengthen security mechanisms while preserving user autonomy.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, the trader who previously exchanged 50.43 million aEthUSDT for approximately $36,000 worth of aEthAAVE is suspected to be Garrett Jin. On-chain tracking revealed that 13 wallets allegedly associated with Garrett Jin became active again today and transferred funds to two new addresses. Evidence shows that one of these addresses shares the same Binance deposit address as Garrett Jin. In addition, the timing of these wallets withdrawing stablecoins from Binance on February 16 and 20 is highly consistent with Garrett Jin’s records of large-scale sales of 261,024 ETH (approximately $543 million) and 11,318 BTC (approximately $761 million) on February 15 and 20.

Fundraising

Stablecoin payment firm KAST completes $80 million funding round link
Zcash ecosystem development team ZODL closes $25 million seed round funding link
Kled AI announces completion of $5.5 million seed round financing link
Zeta Network plans to issue $10 million convertible bonds, with the first $6 million financing to be used for purchasing Bitcoin link
General Tensor announces completion of oversubscribed $5 million seed and pre-seed rounds of financing link
Cryptio, a crypto accounting platform, completes $45 million Series B funding link
Ark Labs raises $5.2 million seed round, led by Tether link
Unitas Labs announces completion of $13.33 million seed round financing link
VeryAI secures $10 million seed round funding, led by Polychain Capital link
MetaComp completes Pre-A+ round financing with total funds raised of $35 million link
Anchorage Digital announces strategic investment in Immunefi and purchase of its native token IMU link

Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.

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