WTI Crude Oil Surges, Brent Crude Oil Breaks Above $104 Per Barrel

March 27 — Circle announced that its stablecoin USDC and cross-chain settlement infrastructure CCTP will soon launch on the Pharos Network.

The world’s largest regulated stablecoin and secure CCTP will integrate with Pharos, a Layer-1 network built for use cases including tokenized real-world assets (RWA), institutional-grade decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoin payments, and more.

(FX168) – On March 27th, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that the Iranian military launched a devastating drone attack overnight on Israeli military bases and transport hubs in Tel Aviv, plus military concentrations near Ben Gurion Airport. The strikes targeted Israeli special forces, with the goal of disrupting enemy ground and air force readiness, as well as support facilities and systems. The IRGC expects the attack to create an ongoing threat to enemy supply lines, directly impact Israel’s ability to carry out rapid, secure, large-scale transportation, and ultimately undermine the regime’s offensive capabilities.

On March 27, Daniel Li, founder of Liquid Capital (formerly LD Capital), noted in a post that the crypto market is in a bear market—with the second phase of the downturn incomplete and no meaningful rebound in sight. The market has disappointed investors for nearly four years: the October 11 crash culled the crypto middle class, the collapse of altcoins hit retail investors hard, the “13th rule” targeted crypto venture capitalists, while exchanges, market makers and projects face ongoing losses. The only sources of capital inflow are Wall Street spot ETFs, crypto treasuries and a handful of true believers. No disruptive innovation has emerged in the crypto sector yet.

**March 27 (AXIOS) — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is gearing up for what may be the biggest task of his career: leading U.S. efforts to de-escalate the U.S.-Iran conflict, with his push rooted in a reluctance to escalate hostilities.** Pence has already held multiple phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and engaged in indirect communications with Iranian officials, positioning himself to become the U.S.’s lead negotiator for potential peace talks. U.S. and Israeli sources tell AXIOS Pence is deeply skeptical of Israel’s pre-war optimistic assessments that the conflict would last just a few weeks. Pence’s advisors allege there are efforts within Israel to undermine him, possibly over concerns he’s not tough enough — a claim Israeli officials deny. White House officials note Pence’s government experience and longstanding opposition to endless overseas wars make him a more palatable interlocutor for the U.S. with Iranian counterparts than his predecessors,

March 27 — Aster, a privacy-focused Layer 1 blockchain transaction ecosystem, today announced the official launch of **Aster Code**, its modular Web3 transaction infrastructure designed to lower the barrier to building decentralized perpetual contract exchanges (Perp DEXs). Featuring a two-layer architecture of “core engine + open interface,” Aster Code delivers high-performance matching and clearing modules. This enables developers and financial institutions to quickly deploy custom on-chain derivative trading solutions, facilitating the redistribution of value from centralized players to on-chain users. Initial strategic partners include Binance Web3 Wallet, Trust Wallet, Safepal, Genius Terminal, Polarise, NOFA, Wallet V, ChimpX, and VergeX — covering key segments of the Perp DEX ecosystem. To accelerate ecosystem growth, Aster plans to launch the **Aster Code Ecosystem Fund** in the near future. The fund will provide funding and technical incubation, deepen collaboration,

March 27 (Caixin) — Over two months after Chen Zhi, founder of Cambodia’s Prince Group, was detained, the UK has imposed additional sanctions on a Southeast Asian fraud network—including Hu Xiaowei, a close associate of Chen. The UK government labeled Hu Chen’s “longtime partner” in the Prince Group, noting ties to private servers of the game *Legend*. The pair later co-founded companies both in China and overseas. The sanctions notice, published on the UK government’s website March 26, targets multiple individuals and entities linked to the Prince Group. Thirty-eight-year-old Chen was born in a fishing village in Fujian. He previously ran an internet café and worked as a network administrator, launching his career as a hacker by seizing control of *Legend* private servers. More than a decade ago, he moved to Southeast Asia and became a Cambodian citizen. Within years, he controlled a global online fraud network, raking in millions daily from his “Duke” role and amassing a net wo