Starcloud, an Nvidia-backed orbital data center startup, said it will start mining Bitcoin from space later this year when its second spacecraft is launched, positioning it to become the first company to mine Bitcoin off Earth.

Starcloud “will be the first to mine Bitcoin in space,” the startup’s CEO, Philip Johnston, posted to X on Saturday after revealing its Bitcoin mining ambitions in space in an interview with HyperChange on Thursday.

In the interview, Johnston said running Bitcoin application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners would be “one of the most compelling use cases” of space compute due to it being significantly cheaper than GPUs.

“GPUs are about 30 times more expensive per kilowatt or per watt than ASICs,” Johnston said. “A 1-kilowatt B200 chip, it might cost $30,000. A 1-kilowatt ASIC is like $1,000.”

In the X post, Johnston said Bitcoin mining in space will become a “massive industry” due to how much more economical it is than mining the cryptocurrency on Earth.

“Bitcoin mining consumes about 20 GW of power continuously. It makes no sense to do this on Earth, and in the end state, all of this will be done in space.”

Starcloud was founded in early 2024 to build data centers in space as a solution to address rising energy needs for AI. In November, it launched a satellite with an NVIDIA H100 into orbit, marking the first time a GPU that powerful has ever operated in space. 

Its data centers, which comprise around 88,000 satellites, are primarily powered by solar energy.

Sending Bitcoin to Mars 

While Johnston’s Starcloud envisions mining Bitcoin in space, tech entrepreneurs Jose E. Puente and Carlos Puente last year came up with a solution to send it across planets. 

In September, Puente told Cointelegraph that it is theoretically possible to send Bitcoin to Mars in as fast as three minutes by leveraging an optical link from NASA or Starlink and a new interplanetary timestamping system.

While someone would need to be there to receive it, the Bitcoin transaction would move through space stations — such as antennas and satellites — or even a relay around the Moon before reaching Mars.

However, they said mining Bitcoin on Mars would not be feasible due to the latency between the two planets. 

Related: Bitcoin drops 2% as oil prices surge on energy shortage fears 

Bitcoin mining profitability margins have thinned over the past few months, particularly due to Bitcoin’s

However, the Bitcoin mining difficulty has fallen 7% from a record 155.9 trillion units in November to 145 trillion, giving miners some much-needed breathing room for now.

Magazine: The debate over Bitcoin’s four-year cycle is over: Benjamin Cowen

Explore more articles like this

Markets Outlook

Get critical insights to spot investment opportunities, mitigate risks, and refine your trading strategies.

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Services and Privacy Policy

The Flow Foundation and its parent company Dapper Labs filed a motion with the Seoul Central District Court on Monday seeking to block the planned delisting of the FLOW token from three South Korean exchanges.

Layer-1 blockchain Flow suffered a “security incident” in December when an attacker exploited a vulnerability that allowed certain assets to be duplicated rather than minted, bypassing supply controls without accessing or draining existing user balances.

The exploit resulted in $3.9 million in duplicated tokens, but “no user funds were compromised, and all counterfeit tokens were permanently destroyed.” 

Several exchanges halted FLOW token trading following the incident due to the impact of duplicate tokens on their value and the trustworthiness of the network. 

Among these were major Korean exchanges Upbit, Bithumb and Coinone, which announced on Feb. 12 that they would end FLOW trading support on March 16.

However, Flow Foundation claimed that every major global exchange has now “independently reviewed and restored full FLOW services” since the remediation efforts, and said it “remains committed to ensuring open access to FLOW in every market.”

FLOW is available on major exchanges

The Seoul Central District Court will review the application on March 9 and determine the next steps.

The Foundation stated that the token “remains fully available on major global exchanges,” including Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Gate.io, HTX, Binance, and Bybit, with Korbit continuing to support FLOW trading in Korea.

Related: Magic Eden winds down EVM, Bitcoin NFT markets to focus on gambling

Dapper Labs, the creators of the NFT project CryptoKitties, announced the development of Flow in 2019 as a new layer-1 blockchain designed to address scalability challenges facing Web3 games and digital collectibles. 

The Flow ecosystem continues to grow, said the Foundation. Disney, NBA, NFL, and Ticketmaster are all seeing success as they continue actively building on the blockchain, it added. 

FLOW collapses from all-time high

It is not the case for the FLOW token, however.

The asset has gained marginally following the announcement, but has tanked 75% since the incident in late December, and is currently trading at $0.043.

FLOW is down 99.9% from its 2021 all-time high when it reached $42, according to CoinGecko. Total value locked on the platform is down 82% to $21 million since its November 2025 peak, reports DeFiLlama. 

Meanwhile, total NFT market capitalization has declined 92% from its peak of around $17 billion in mid-2022 to roughly $1.4 billion today, according to CoinGecko. 

Magazine: Bitcoin to outperform gold soon, FBI busts $46M crypto heist: Hodler’s Digest

Explore more articles like this

DeFi Newsletter

A weekly toolkit that breaks down the latest DeFi developments, offers sharp analysis, and uncovers new financial opportunities to help you make smart decisions with confidence.

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Services and Privacy Policy

Public institutions are under pressure to modernize faster than their systems were built to handle. In its recent report, New Tech, New Partners: Transforming development in the digital era, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) outlines a model for using blockchains as part of a broader effort to modernize public systems. The publication showcases over 40 pilot projects around the world that apply blockchain technology to improve transparency, speed and accountability of public systems. This ranges from payment infrastructure and social safety nets to climate finance and community-level funding mechanisms, enabled by fundraising platforms, wallets and digital certificates. 

The UNDP uses a pipeline model, which creates purpose-built partnerships that bring governments, blockchain startups and local companies together to solve public sector problems. Institutions get an opportunity to test new tools through small, problem-led initiatives and specific use cases. These tools are implemented on a local level and designed to solve specific problems, such as inefficient payment rails for micro-entrepreneurs or regional ESG control.

In its framework, UNDP treats blockchains as a trusted ledger for coordination and verification. The ability of blockchains to support shared records, traceable transactions and rule-based processes across multiple actors makes them a useful tool for governmental systems. UNDP also makes clear that these benefits are conditional. Poor governance, weak privacy protections and flawed technical design can create serious risks, such as defects in smart contracts or Illicit use of payment systems. The report reaches a pragmatic conclusion: Blockchain can be useful, but only when institutional safeguards are built in from the start and the technology is adopted responsibly with robust oversight.

Central to UNDP's approach is a commitment to platform-agnostic ways of working, which ensures that no single provider or protocol creates new dependencies, and that the digital infrastructure being built today remains open, interoperable, and genuinely in service of people and public purpose.

The report showcases how blockchains can be used to make public institutions more efficient and transparent, with examples from more than 40 countries across payments, financial access, identity systems and climate-related programs. Examples include projects such as crypto wallets for informal business payments, the use of eco-credit tokens and more. The cases also show how digital tools can help institutions extend services in developing nations, where trust is limited and infrastructure is fragmented.

Explore the full UNDP report to see the complete framework, lessons and portfolio of use cases.

Bitcoin’s recent parallel movement with US software stocks is more of a case of shared exposure to macro events, rather than any structural convergence, according to financial services company NYDIG.

In the past week, Bitcoin

“While the visual fit of their indexed price is compelling, the conclusion that Bitcoin and software equities have structurally converged, or that they share common exposure to themes such as AI or quantum risk, is overstated,” he said.

Cipolaro added the tandem rally “more plausibly reflects shared exposure to the current macro regime, specifically long-duration, liquidity-sensitive risk assets, rather than evidence of a structural convergence between Bitcoin and software equities.”

Bitcoin’s price is “unexplained by equities”

Bitcoin’s correlation with software stocks has increased on a 90-day rolling basis since its all-time high above $126,000 in early October, but Cipolaro said its correlations with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have also recently risen, indicating that “the change is not isolated to software stocks.”

However, even with Bitcoin’s correlations to software stocks and the two indices, “the majority of Bitcoin’s price movement remains unexplained by equities,” Cipolaro added.

He said that, statistically measured, only a quarter of Bitcoin’s price movements are explained by a correlation to the stock market, while at least 75% of its movements are affected by drivers outside traditional stock indices.

Cipolaro said it appears Bitcoin is not being priced as a hedge against macroeconomic conditions, which explains “the ongoing frustration around Bitcoin’s failure to ‘act like gold’ despite the digital gold label.”

Related: Bitcoin drops 2% as oil prices surge on energy shortage fears

He added that traders appear to be allocating to assets along a risk curve, rather than buying Bitcoin for a “distinct monetary thesis.”

Cipolaro argued, however, that Bitcoin has a distinct market structure and economic drivers, pointing to its network activity and adoption trends, along with regulatory and policy developments that make it different from other assets.

“That differentiation supports bitcoin’s role as a portfolio diversifier,” he said. “While cross-asset correlations with equities are currently elevated, they remain far from determinative of bitcoin’s returns.”

Magazine: Bitcoin may take 7 years to upgrade to post-quantum — BIP-360 co-author

Explore more articles like this

Crypto Biz Newsletter

Weekly snapshot of key business trends in blockchain and crypto, from startup buzz to regulatory shifts. Gain valuable insights to navigate the market and spot financial opportunities.

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Services and Privacy Policy

US banks are the ones most in need of crypto regulatory clarity, according to Chris Giancarlo, former chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who argues that they risk falling behind the rest of the world in payment innovation.

During an episode of Scott Melker’s The Wolf Of All Streets Podcast on Sunday, Giancarlo said the crypto industry will continue to build, even if the Senate’s crypto market structure bill doesn't pass. However, banks will be hesitant to invest in the technology without clear rules.

“The banks, however, can't afford regulatory uncertainty. Their general counsels are telling their boards, you can't invest billions of dollars in this… unless you've got regulatory certainty. The banks need this more than crypto,” he said.

“I think there's a recognition that this is the new architecture of finance and America, our financial institutions are the world's dominant financial institutions. We need to modernize that. We need to adopt this technology.”

US banks will fall behind if they wait too long on crypto 

The crypto market structure bill, known as the CLARITY Act, has stalled in the Senate as banks, crypto firms, and lawmakers have yet to agree on crucial provisions such as whether to allow stablecoin yields. 

Giancarlo warned that if US banks delay crypto adoption much longer, other countries in Asia and Europe will move ahead, leaving the American banking system behind.

“Digital rails will be built. And then the American banks will say, whoa what happened here? Our analogue identity-based, message-based system is no longer working anywhere outside the US, we need to modernize. They'll be on the back foot,” he said.

“The banks need this clarity because they need to build this, they need to be in the forefront, not in the rear guard of this innovation,” Giancarlo added. 

CLARITY Act failure could prompt workarounds

The crypto market structure bill passed the House of Representatives in July 2025 and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs before a potential full Senate vote, according to Congress. 

Related: Crypto industry split over CLARITY Act after Coinbase breaks ranks

If the bill passes the Senate, it will go to US President Donald Trump for signature. If it fails or is not signed, Giancarlo said SEC and CFTC leaders would likely step in to establish rules independently.

“If it doesn't get done, I do believe that under leaders like Paul Atkins at the SEC and Mike Selig at the CFTC, they will write the kind of rules that will make this work for now. They won't have the support of legislation that makes it work forever or at least into the next presidential cycle, but it'll make it work for now,” he said.

“Now, does that give the industry the certainty they want? No. And who needs that certainty more than the banks? Crypto doesn't need it. They were building even under the whip hand of Gary Gensler.”

Magazine: Would Bitcoin really be at $200K if not for Jane Street? Trade Secrets

Explore more articles like this

Crypto Biz Newsletter

Weekly snapshot of key business trends in blockchain and crypto, from startup buzz to regulatory shifts. Gain valuable insights to navigate the market and spot financial opportunities.

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Services and Privacy Policy

Crypto fundraising increased by almost 50% year-over-year between March 2025 and March 2026, according to Messari data, even as the number of deals dropped 46% as venture firms concentrated bets on larger, late-stage rounds.

Messari’s crypto fundraising overview shared by the company’s CEO Eric Turner on Sunday shows that the average deal size increased to $34 million in the last 12 months, up 272% from a year earlier. This came as the number of active investors fell 34.5% to 3,225.

“Capital concentration is heavily skewed by late-stage and strategic mega-rounds,” Messari said, noting that in February, just three fundraising events contributed 44% of the $795 million raised over the last month.

This included Tether’s $200 million investment into online marketplace Whop; $75 million raised for sports-focused peer-to-peer prediction market Novig in a Series B funding round led by Pantera Capital; and ARQ, a Latin American fintech app focused on stablecoins that secured $70 million Series B round led by Sequoia Capital.

The $795 million figure marks a 65.3% fall from the previous 30 days.

Turner noted that, outside of Dragonfly Capital, no major VCs have closed new funding rounds lately, adding that “the industry needs some fresh capital.”

Meanwhile, Coinbase Ventures, QUBIC Labs and Somnia have been the most active crypto investors over the past three months, Messari data shows.

Crypto funding nowhere near 2021-2022 levels

Monthly crypto fundraising has cooled significantly since its peaks in November 2021 and May 2022, when funding consistently hit $4 billion per month.

Since then, the $4 billion milestone has been reached only three times. Some investors have started to expand their focus toward the AI and high-performance computing sectors.

Related: Kalshi, Polymarket eye $20B valuations in potential fundraising: WSJ

While most crypto fundraising has focused on late-stage activity, Messari noted that early-stage fundraising “remains high in volume but fragmented.”

Messari pointed out that Interstate’s $1.5 million funding round on Thursday came from more than 15 participants, ranging from firms like Bloccelerate VC to individual angel investors like Sergey Gorbunov.

Magazine: What’s a ‘Network State’ and are there real-life examples? Big Questions

Explore more articles like this

Markets Outlook

Get critical insights to spot investment opportunities, mitigate risks, and refine your trading strategies.

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Services and Privacy Policy