Fueled by the U.S.-Iran geopolitical conflict, Western banks have accelerated their exit from large-scale commodity trade finance due to compliance and sanctions risks, prompting traders to shift to stablecoins for cross-border settlement. Stablecoins have become an alternative settlement tool; their usage is rising, with market value exceeding $300 billion and on-chain transaction volume reaching $4 trillion.

A major cryptocurrency exchange’s market value has fallen by more than 50%, it has laid off 30% of its staff, and it is considering asking the founders to forgive several hundred million dollars in loans. It lost $585 million last year, plans to exit multiple markets, and senior executives have stepped down. The Winklevoss brothers have not yet said whether they support the proposal.

Bittensor co-founder Jacob Steeves responded to Covenant AI’s exit from the network, proposing to restart the subnet governance mechanism and bring in community votes to elect the team. He believes this is an opportunity to redefine the subnet’s form and criticized Covenant AI’s founder’s decision-making.

Covenant AI announced that it is exiting the Bittensor network, questioning the authenticity of its decentralized governance structure and believing that decision-making power is centralized and lacks transparency. In recent subnet operations, it encountered improper behavior such as adjustments to management privileges. It believes this is inconsistent with the principles of decentralization. Covenant AI will continue to push forward in the direction of decentralized AI training.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Bitcoin futures market has continued to weaken. In March 2026, the daily average open interest fell to $7.2 billion, hitting a new low since February 2024, and has been declining for five straight months. The main reason is the large-scale unwinding of basis trades, which eliminated the arbitrage spread and caused leveraged capital to exit.

Gate News message, April 8, the trader "set 10 big goals first" (@Jason60704294) disclosed on social media that he has closed out his BTC and ETH long positions, choosing to take profit and exit. In this trade, his 4x leverage long on BTC generated a profit of about $12.12 million, and his 2x leverage long on ETH generated a profit of about $728k, for a total profit of more than $12 million.

Aave risk-management partner Chaos Labs has announced its official exit, citing reasons including long-term losses, the departure of key personnel, and disagreements with Aave Labs on risk management philosophy. Although Aave Labs proposed a $5 million budget plan, Chaos Labs believed the amount actually needed was $8 million, and the two sides’ disagreement over risk priorities was difficult to reconcile. In response, Aave Labs CEO said that the V4 migration has no mandatory timeline and that V3 will continue to operate normally.

In 2026, the private credit market faces liquidity pressure. Investor redemption demand is high, but actual settlement falls short of half, and multiple institutions have initiated redemption restrictions. Market tension and sentiment worsen, default rates hit a record high, and problems with asset structure are pronounced. Blockchain attempts have failed to improve liquidity, and macro pressures have struck borrowers. Overall, private credit could become a source of systemic risk.

Bitcoin Custodian Company Nakamoto sold 284 bitcoins in March 2026, earning approximately $20 million in profit and reducing its holdings to about 5,058 bitcoins. The company also reduced its stake in Metaplanet shares, with losses that were significant. It is expected to record a $166.2 million loss in 2025, with a net loss of $52.2 million. Nakamoto plans to exit its traditional healthcare business and pivot to the crypto space, but it faces near-term pressure; its stock price has fallen significantly and it has already received a delisting warning.

Gate News message, on March 28, trader Eugene posted that all of the positions he held have been fully stopped out and exited. Eugene said the trade failed to achieve the expected return, and noted that the market environment in 2026 is more challenging than in 2025. He revealed that afterward, he will consider reducing his trading frequency and will stay more patient in his trading decisions.