TL;DR The Season 12 Final of Axie Infinity Origins is officially underway, with 24,000 AXS and extra rewards up for grabs for the top 30,000 players. Player “Enrico” dominated the Mystic Era, positioning himself as the top contender for this season's grand finale.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-linked cryptocurrencies climbed sharply on Tuesday after OpenAI secured a $40 billion capital injection from Japan's Softbank, Microsoft, and other investors. With this latest round, OpenAI's valuation now stands at $300 billion.

As the crypto market enters Q2 2025, both investors and traders are anticipating a shift from bearish to bullish momentum. This change is essential for altcoins to recover, as many are currently facing challenges in bouncing back.

THORChain encountered some difficulties in 2025, including announcing insolvency in January. The company made an announcement on X, revealing that it had temporarily paused its network due to significant debt and leverage problems affecting its ecosystem.

The crypto market continued to increase over the past 24 hours, rising almost 1% to $2.86 trillion as it inches towards the $3 trillion mark. Bitcoin (BTC) saw a marginal rebound as it went from $86,380 to $88,447 before declining to its current level.

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls are trying to make a comeback by maintaining the price above the 200-day simple moving average ($84,899) over the weekend. Bitget Research chief analyst Ryan Lee told Cointelegraph that Bitcoin needs to close above $85,000 this week to signal strength and “prevent a drop to $76,000.

The crypto market rallied after the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged between 4.25% and 4.50% after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The Federal Reserve also stated it sees two rate cuts coming in 2025.

Once the stars of the crypto market, metaverse tokens like MANA, SAND, and AXS have struggled lately.

With Bitcoin on the verge of a breakout (or rejection), the altcoins are starting to stir. The altcoin market cap could already have bottomed.

Right now, NEAR Protocol is going through a tough time, with its token on the decline.

The crypto market remained flat for most of the day after a brief rally following better-than-expected inflation data quickly lost steam. Bitcoin (BTC) briefly rose above the $84,000 mark after the US CPI Report but fell flat later in the day, dropping below $84,000.

The crypto market recovered over the past 24 hours as prices rose after experiencing significant declines over the past few sessions. Bitcoin (BTC) dipped to a low of $76,982 on Tuesday before rebounding to reclaim $80,000 and reach $83,737 before losing momentum and declining to its current level.

THORChain has been called a money laundering protocol — a label no decentralized finance (DeFi) project wants unless it's prepared to have regulators breathing down its neck.Its supporters have fended off the criticism by championing decentralization, while its critics point to recent activities that showed some of the protocol's centralized tendencies. After exploiting Bybit for $1.4 billion, the North Korean state-backed hackers behind the attack, known as the Lazarus Group, flocked to THORChain, making it their top choice to convert stolen funds from Ether (ETH) to Bitcoin (BTC).

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance again captured noteworthy market attention with its latest update on 6 tokens this Tuesday. Notably, the exchange revealed that it is updating the leverage and margin tiers for RARE, AXS, ZEN, XTZ, SAGA, and CATI.

Bitcoin and crypto are currently seeing a relief rally on Tuesday. Is this short-term, or could this be the start of something bigger?

MoreMarkets aims to create yield opportunities from XRP, DOGE and other non-EVM tokens on different DEXs without having to leave their original network.

This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.

The team behind Axie Infinity AXS has introduced Axie Infinity: Atia's Legacy , a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game.

The crypto market slid back into the red as it declined over 4%, slipping below the $3 trillion mark and moving to its current $2.87 trillion. Bitcoin (BTC) is down nearly 5% despite Donald Trump's announcement of a strategic reserve consisting of Bitcoin.

NEAR could be preparing for a major move on the price charts soon.

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) is a blockchain platform that focuses on scalability, usability, and ease of development for decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts. It aims to provide a high-performance alternative to other platforms like Ethereum, with a strong emphasis on user and developer-friendly features.

This crypto bull market has not been particularly kind to the vast majority of altcoins. Unlike previous bull markets, the focus has been very much on Bitcoin, seemingly with only the merest sniff of an altcoins season, which has so far failed to arrive.

Ripple (XRP) was also among the top performers, gaining 4%.

Axie Infinity has created history with its mind blowing hold over the world. The financial system was revolutionized when Axie Infinity started climbing the ladder.

THORChain, a decentralized cross-chain swap protocol, witnessed an unprecedented surge in activity following the Bybit hack. According to DefiLlama, THORChain processed a record $4.66 billion in swaps in the week ending March 2, surpassing $1 billion in a single day.

The Lazarus Group has already laundered all the unfrozen funds it stole from the recent Bybit hack. The group used THORChain's DEX to convert ETH tokens, sparking community criticisms.

The CEO of the recently hacked crypto exchange Bybit says that North Korean hackers have converted 417,348 stolen Ethereum (ETH) into Bitcoin (BTC). According to Bybit CEO Ben Zhou, North Korean state-sponsored hackers stole approximately $1.4 billion in ETH from Bybit, bridging a significant portion of the assets to Bitcoin.

NEAR Protocol has created history with its mind blowing hold over the world. The financial system was revolutionized when NEAR Protocol started climbing the ladder.

THORChain reportedly generated $5.5M in transaction fees from the surge in activity linked to the laundering of Bybit's stolen funds.

THORChain generated over $5 million in revenue as Bybit's $1.4 billion hacker used the protocol for moving funds, sparking controversy over its role in illicit crypto transfers.

North Korean hackers used THORChain to help launder $1.4 billion in stolen Bybit funds, driving the protocol's weekly volume to a record $4.6 billion.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou has confirmed that $1.07 billion—roughly 77% of the assets stolen in the exchange's recent $1.4 billion security breach—can still be tracked. In a March 4 update, Zhou disclosed that hackers successfully laundered $280 million, around 20% of the 499,000 ETH stolen.

THORChain was one of the platforms Bybit hackers used to launder funds, according to observers.

The SEC has concluded its investigation into Yuga Labs, bringing an end to the probe into whether the company's Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs and ApeCoin violated federal securities laws.

The SEC's decision may influence future regulatory approaches to NFTs and digital assets, impacting innovation and market dynamics. The post SEC drops Yuga Labs investigation into BAYC NFTs and ApeCoin appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Near Protocol (NEAR) is approaching a key resistance level, fueling speculation about whether it can break out to new highs or face a pullback. At the time of writing, NEAR's price sits at $3.25, reflecting a 5.03% increase.

Near Protocol is testing a crucial resistance level; breakout potential hinges on market interest.

RUNE, the native token of the THORChain protocol, remains under significant bearish pressure following a 9.09% price decline in the last week. According to crypto analyst Ali Martinez, RUNE is likely far from a market recovery following a bearish flag pattern on its trading chart.

A developer from THORChain, known as Pluto, has announced his departure from the decentralized liquidity protocol following a contentious decision involving North Korean-linked transactions. The controversy emerged after a vote by the network's validators to block these transactions was swiftly overturned, raising concerns about the platform's governance and resilience to regulatory challenges.

Thorchain is facing operational risks as developers look to quit over disagreements on handling sanctioned funds linked to North Korean hackers.

THORChain developer “Pluto” resigns over failure to block illicit transactions. The FBI urged exchanges and validators to prevent North Korean money laundering.

Thorchain is grappling with developer departures and mounting concerns over its role in laundering stolen crypto, particularly Ethereum from the Bybit hack, tied to North Korean hackers.

THORChain token is flashing a bearish signal, forming a bearish flag pattern that suggests further downside even as swap volume surges. THORChain (RUNE) was trading at $1.3050 on Friday, down 82% from its November peak.

Key Points

Supporters of the decentralized exchange Thorchain have pushed back against claims that the protocol is actively aiding North Korea-backed hackers attempting to cash out funds from the Bybit hack.

THORChain's native token has plummeted 20% in the past 24 hours, wiping off recent gains as the rest of the market also bleeds. The price of THORChain (RUNE) changed hands around $1.20, dipping sharply after hitting highs above $1.60.

According to Arkham, Lazarus-linked wallets have moved over $240 million in ETH through THORChain. They primarily swapped it for Bitcoin (BTC).

THORChain developer Pluto announces his departure after a vote to block North Korean hacker-linked transactions was reverted. A validator is also threatening to exit unless the protocol can stop the flow of hacker funds.