PayPal announced on Tuesday that access to its U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin PYUSD has been extended to 70 markets, up from a focus on the U.S. and UK. Users in newly added regions such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Singapore can now buy, hold, send, and receive PYUSD through their PayPal accounts, with eligible users outside Singapore and the UK able to earn rewards on holdings. The expansion follows PYUSD's 2023 launch and coincides with the token's market capitalization climbing to $4.12 billion.

On March 17, 2026 in George Town, British Virgin Islands, Aster announced the official launch of its Aster Chain Mainnet, a purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain focused on trading privacy. The network aims to eliminate onchain position hunting by embedding ZK-verifiable encryption and stealth addresses directly into the execution layer, while targeting CEX-level performance with over 100,000 TPS and 50ms median block times. A phased expansion will follow, including an upcoming staking program to reward early users and liquidity providers.

In early March, the Pi Network Core Team completed protocol migration v19.9 and prepared version 20.2, while also introducing multiple ecosystem upgrades on March 14's Pi Day. Around the same period, Kraken enabled trading for PI and the token surged to nearly $0.30 with its market cap approaching $3 billion before sliding back to about $0.18. Upcoming daily token unlocks above 15 million and an RSI near 10 highlight elevated volatility and technically oversold conditions in the short term.

On March 17, 2026 in George Town, British Virgin Islands, Aster announced the mainnet launch of Aster Chain, a purpose-built Layer 1 focused on onchain trading privacy and high performance. The network integrates ZK-verifiable encryption, stealth addresses and selective disclosure, targeting institutional-grade confidentiality while delivering CEX-style throughput of over 100,000 TPS with 50ms median block times and zero gas. A phased rollout will support the Aster trading interface, third-party builders via Aster Code, and a forthcoming staking program for early participants and liquidity providers.

On March 17, 2026 in George Town, British Virgin Islands, Aster announced the official launch of Aster Chain Mainnet, a purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain for private onchain trading. The network embeds ZK-verifiable encryption and stealth addresses at the execution layer to prevent position hunting while maintaining traceable asset transfers for compliance. Aster Chain targets CEX-level performance with over 100,000 TPS and 50ms median block times, and will roll out a staking program within a week of launch to reward early users.

Bitcoin has climbed from the $60,000 region into the mid-$70,000s, pushing into a major resistance band between $75,000 and $80,000. On the daily and 4-hour charts, price is testing a key supply area and the upper boundary of a rising channel while still trading below the 100-day and 200-day moving averages at $80,000 and $93,000. Momentum remains constructive and funding rates are still negative, indicating cautious sentiment and the potential for further upside if resistance is cleared.

Research firm Delphi Digital said on a Monday post that stablecoins are becoming a cheaper way to move U.S. dollars across emerging market FX corridors, where legacy systems can charge up to 8% in combined fees. While onchain transfers settle in seconds, off-ramps like bank account and interbank access still create major friction between blockchain networks and traditional finance.

Mastercard said on Tuesday it signed a definitive agreement to acquire stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK for as much as $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent payments. The company aims to connect blockchain-based rails with its global fiat network, supporting cross-border transfers, payouts and other digital asset payment use cases as demand for stablecoin services grows.