BlackRock deposits 567 BTC and 22,657 ETH into Coinbase

On March 17, OpenAI entered into an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to sell artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the U.S. government. (Golden Ten)

March 17 — Payment giant Mastercard announced plans to acquire stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK, with a total transaction value of up to $1.8 billion. In a joint statement Tuesday, the two parties noted roughly $300 million of the amount is contingent consideration. Reportedly, the acquisition follows a $2 billion potential deal between BVNK and Coinbase Global that fell through four months ago. The transaction also underscores that traditional payment giants are accelerating their expansion into stablecoins and on-chain payment infrastructure.

On March 17th, per TrumpMeme, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino is set to attend and deliver remarks at the Trump Luncheon at Mar-a-Lago.

March 17: Bitget market data shows U.S. stock index futures turned higher, with S&P 500 futures up 0.2%, Nasdaq 100 futures 0.1% higher, and Dow Jones futures rising 0.3%.

**March 17** Multiple sources report Iran’s newly installed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei rejected a de-escalation proposal delivered via intermediaries during his first foreign policy meeting since taking office. He stated Iran will not consider a ceasefire or peace talks until the U.S. and Israel “are forced to surrender, admit defeat and pay compensation.” The U.S.-Israel military conflict with Iran has entered its third week, with at least 2,000 casualties reported to date. Meanwhile, Iran’s ongoing blockage of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed energy prices higher, stoking fresh global inflation concerns. Other media outlets claim Mojtaba was injured in a prior airstrike and secretly flown to Moscow for treatment—but Iran’s ambassador to Russia has publicly denied this. Mojtaba was selected last week by a religious body to succeed his late father, assassinated former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He has not appeared in public yet, and speculation abounds about his health

On March 17th, Elon Musk took to social media to announce that xAI will train three Grok Build models simultaneously by the end of this week.