Solana turns 5: Celebrating ecosystem milestones

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Yesterday marked the five-year anniversary of Solana’s genesis block. To celebrate, we’re taking a look back at half a decade’s worth of accomplishments within our ecosystem.​

The beginning

You’ve heard all about the ups and downs of Solana’s early days from us already — its architectural breakthroughs, the major downturn post-FTX, and its return to form as a comeback king. You can read more about it in our recent three part series here, here, and here. We also recently wrote about the technical innovations behind the network’s proof-of-history mechanism here.

Data and… Read more on Blockworks

Is this the bottom? – Blockworks

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.

We hope you got some rest over the weekend, because US equities are already off to another tumultuous start this week. 

After entering a correction last week, but then hitting a year-to-date high on Friday, the S&P 500 whipsawed today. At 2:30 pm ET it had managed to get back into the green, trading 1% higher. 

The Nasdaq Composite was also faring pretty well, trading 0.8% higher at that time. 

With recession fears mounting (and signals flashing), it begs the question: Have US stocks bottomed? 

The data (mostly) says no. Let’s take a look: 

The VIX is hovering around… Read more on Blockworks

What Are They And What Do They Do?

Covenant : a usually formal, solemn, and binding agreement. 

This word has become one of the most charged words in the Bitcoin space. They’re the best thing since sliced bread. They’re the most dangerous thing since the atom bomb. They aren’t really going to do anything to scale Bitcoin, but they’re neat. 

Everyone has a completely different attitude towards them. We have the pro-faction, the anti-faction, the ambivalent faction. To make matters worse, covenant is frankly a very vague term in its description of mature and concrete proposals to the protocol that would be classified as covenants. 

The degrees of difference between the functionality of different proposals that…

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NEW: Brazil Bill Proposes Salaries in Bitcoin for Employer Payments

Brazilian lawmakers are now considering a groundbreaking bill that would allow employers to pay their workers using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Introduced by Federal deputy Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Bragança this legislation aims to integrate digital currencies into the mainstream of salary and benefit payments while ensuring a portion remains in the national currency the Brazilian real.

The proposed bill which was filed on March 12 restricts cryptocurrency payments to a maximum of 50% of total wages with the rest compensated in Brazilian reais. This measure is designed to bolster the financial technology sector and attract more crypto investments into Brazil’s economy promoting a flexible yet regulated approach to digital currency earnings.

Deputy Orleans e Bragança who has a historical lineage to Brazil’s former royal family emphasizes that this move will provide employees and employers more autonomy in their payment agreements. This initiative follows global trends where countries like Switzerland Japan and Portugal have seen successful integrations of crypto payments enhancing the financial landscape through regulated flexibility.

Bill

A Saint Patrick’s Day Price History

From $5 to $83,000 – The Digital Gold Rush Continues

Bitcoin has come a long way since trading at just $5.34 on Saint Patrick’s Day in 2012. Now, in 2025, the world’s largest digital currency has reached $83,223 on this holiday, marking a staggering 1,558,000% increase in just 13 years. With institutional adoption surging and supply remaining fixed, Bitcoin’s long-term trajectory appears stronger than ever.

A Look at Bitcoin’s Explosive Growth

Bitcoin’s price movements in the early years was anything but predictable. In just one year, from 2012 to 2013, BTC skyrocketed 780%, reaching $47. The next year, it surged again to $630, a 1,240% increase from 2013.

However,…

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South Korea Dismisses Establishing Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

The Bank of Korea (BOK) has dismissed the possibility of establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve, citing concerns over price volatility and risks. This comes despite ongoing global discussions about using bitcoin as part of foreign exchange reserves following the United States plans to create a reserve.

In response to an inquiry from a member of the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee, the central bank rejected adding bitcoin to its reserves. BOK officials emphasized bitcoin’s wild price swings as a key deterrent, stating that transaction costs to convert bitcoin to cash “could rise drastically” if the market experiences instability.

As of March 17th, bitcoin…

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LATEST: Saylor’s Strategy Acquires Additional 130 Bitcoin, Spending $10.7 Million Total

Strategy Corporation has made another significant move in the cryptocurrency market by purchasing 130 bitcoins at an average price of $82,981 each totaling $10.7 million. The transaction was disclosed in a Monday morning filing revealing the acquisition was funded through the sale of a modest amount of the company’s preferred stock.

The firm sold 123,000 shares of its STRK stock last week which generated approximately $10.7 million. This strategic sale comes on the heels of Strategy’s announcement of a mammoth $21 billion at-the-market offering of the same stock type.

With this latest investment Strategy’s holdings have swollen to 499,226 bitcoins acquired at an average cost of $66,360 per token. The company boasts a BTC yield of 6.9% year-to-date demonstrating a bullish outlook on the future of cryptocurrency.

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