Tel Aviv, Israel sounds alarm, more Iranian missiles en route

March 24 — Amid escalating Middle East tensions, a surge in energy prices has sparked a chain reaction pressuring the precious metals market. Spot gold fell nearly 2% intraday, though it briefly rebounded above $4,400 during European trading, remaining range-bound on the weak side. A further drop Wednesday would mark its 10th straight trading day decline. Market analysts note the gold pullback isn’t a breakdown of traditional logic, but a classic case of a “liquidity squeeze.” As rising oil prices lift inflation expectations, investors are forced to offload high-liquidity assets—including gold—to cover losses in stocks, bonds and other holdings or meet margin calls. This “sell quality assets to plug gaps” behavior is common in extreme volatility. Earlier, former President Trump announced a delay in strikes on Iran’s power grid, offering temporary support to gold prices. But Iran’s subsequent tough stance, plus reports that U.S. allies could be drawn into the conflict, have deepen

**Iran’s Rezaee: War Won’t End Until U.S. Meets Compensation, Sanctions, Guarantee Demands** In a March 23 interview on Iran’s state television, Mohsen Rezaee — newly appointed military advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader — stated Iran will not halt military action until three conditions are met: receiving full compensation, the lifting of all economic sanctions, and securing international legal guarantees the U.S. will not interfere in Iranian affairs. Rezaee also emphasized Iran’s dispute with the U.S. is not limited to recent conflicts or last June’s U.S. attacks on Iran. Instead, the rift has persisted for 47 years since the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution’s victory, he said, adding a “final settlement” is required. Source: Golden Finance

In a March 24 report, Macquarie Group global strategist Jeffrey said it’s too early to pin high hopes on a Middle East “peace agreement” in the coming days—since the two sides’ demands remain hard to reconcile. It’s unrealistic to think the U.S. will drop its demands on Iran’s nuclear assets or pull out of its Gulf bases. Iran is also unlikely to stop backing its proxy militias at this stage. **That said, the conflict is unlikely to extend past mid-April—by then, the Iranian threat is likely to be neutralized.** Once that threat is gone, the U.S. will hold the upper hand in any follow-up talks. (IG)

March 24th — Per AI Monitoring, address 0xedf…8fc0b currently holds a 40x short position on 650 BTC, valued at $46.09M. The position has an unrealized loss of $246k, with a stop-loss set above $71,300 and gradual take-profit kicking off at $69,500. Entry price: $70,520; Liquidation price: $71,711.

On March 24, Pacifica—a perpetuals trading platform built on the Solana ecosystem—announced a 50% discount on transaction fees for its RWA market this week. Any RWA asset transaction on the platform qualifies for the 50% fee cut. The promotion runs from 9:00 AM Beijing time on March 24 through 9:00 AM Beijing time on March 31. Separately, Pacifica previously launched the “TradFi vs DeFi: Market Wars” trading competition. Participants can select from different asset categories to compete, and the winning side will split a prize pool of 300,000 points. Entries for the competition close at 10:00 PM Beijing time on April 6. (Users can access Pacifica via app.pacifica.fi/?referral=pacbot.)

**Hainan Regulator Alerts to Illegal RWA Trading; PBOC-Led Notice Bans Domestic RWA Tokenization** On March 24, Hainan Province’s local financial supervision bureau released a March 19 risk alert targeting illegal Real World Asset (RWA) transactions. Recently, some entities have promoted themselves under names like “Hainan International Data Asset Exchange,” “Hainan Data Exchange,” and “Hainan Sea Exchange,” claiming to legally offer RWA and Real Data Asset (RDA) services. These unapproved entities are operating as trading venues in violation of regulations, suspected of illegal financial activities that threaten public property security. The “Hainan International Data Asset Exchange” has not been approved in Hainan. Provincial government approval is required to establish a trading venue in the province; entities without authorization may not use terms like “exchange” or “trading center” in their names or conduct trading venue-related business. Separately, the People’s Bank