On-Chain Data

Bitwise's research indicates that Ethereum's price movements are primarily driven by Bitcoin and macroeconomic liquidity, with relatively weak influence from on-chain fundamentals. The model shows that Bitcoin volatility can explain 65% of Ethereum's volatility, while accommodative monetary conditions and ETF fund flows also contribute to Ethereum's price. The current market views Ethereum as a "network commodity," and its price movements in the short term may still be dominated by Bitcoin and the liquidity environment.

The HIP-3 market of Hyperliquid has reached a milestone with open interest surpassing $1.43 billion. Significant trading activity, particularly in perpetual WTI contracts, indicates growing user interest in tokenized traditional assets.

Ethereum will introduce the "Fast Confirmation Rules" (FCR) on March 18, enhancing the efficiency of asset transfers from Layer 1 to Layer 2, with confirmation times reduced to approximately 13 seconds. This mechanism is implemented through "fast confirmation blocks," which enhance network throughput and user experience without compromising security, and is expected to drive the adoption of L2 solutions. No hard fork is required, simplifying the deployment process.

As the crypto market rebounds, on-chain capital inflows to Bitcoin have significantly increased, reaching the highest levels, indicating the market may face selling pressure. Meanwhile, prices are approaching short-term resistance zones, and macro interest rate policies remain a key factor. Market expectations for rate cuts have cooled, which could constrain risk assets.

On March 18, the SEC Chair announced that XRP was classified as a "digital commodity," ending regulatory uncertainty. On the same day, Coinbase displayed an XRP spot order book reaching a 9:1 buy-to-sell ratio, the strongest buyer signal. This development reduced compliance risks for holders, boosted institutional confidence, and paved the way for future financial product applications.

International oil prices declined on March 18, with WTI crude falling over 3% and Brent crude dropping over 2%. The WTI futures contract price on the Hyperliquid platform fell below $93, and Abraxas Capital's positions turned fully profitable with total positions of $27.8 million.

On March 18, US natural gas prices fell 3.6% briefly, leading all liquidations across the network, with a cumulative decline of 11.6%. The largest long position address was liquidated as prices fell below $2.91, with liquidation size reaching 638,364 contracts and losses of $200,000. Meanwhile, the address held BTC short positions and crude oil and gold long positions as hedges, but suffered losses on both sides.

Stacks Labs has successfully implemented the SIP-034 upgrade, enhancing network processing efficiency for DeFi applications by up to 30 times by resolving critical bottlenecks. This update allows selective reset of resource limits, enabling more transactions per block, particularly benefiting complex DeFi use cases. While STX tokenomics remain unchanged, the upgrade may boost long-term network activity.

Bitmine, linked to crypto analyst Tom Lee, recently purchased $142 million in Ethereum, raising its total holdings to over $10.7 billion. It now holds 3.8% of total ETH supply and continues buying aggressively, prompting speculation about when this "whale" will stop.

Gate News bot message, the Royal Government of Bhutan transferred 596 BTC (valued at $44.44 million) to 2 wallets. Over the past 19 hours, the government has moved a total of 973 BTC ($72.32 million), which includes 20.5 BTC ($1.52 million) sent to QCP Capital.

The RWA (Real World Asset) tokenization sector is drawing significant attention, highlighted by Chainlink's dominance with 14.2 million interactions, far surpassing other projects. The article examines market perceptions and potential for growth among top projects like ONDO and AVAX.

Gate News reports that on March 18, on-chain analysts monitoring showed that 6 hours ago, a wallet believed to belong to Cumberland withdrew a total of 543.5 BTC from a certain CEX, valued at approximately $40.58 million. The destination and purpose of the funds remain unclear.

Bitcoin price oscillates around $74,140, with the U.S. SEC and CFTC issuing new guidelines clarifying that most cryptocurrencies are not securities, providing clear guidance for the market. Tether launches an AI fine-tuning framework. The market continues to monitor the impact of high interest rates and geopolitical tensions on the economy.

PIPPIN, a memecoin AI on Solana, plummeted on March 17, 2026, after coordinated sell-offs by over 50 wallets, causing its price to drop nearly 60% and erasing about 19,283,746,565,748,392,010 million in market cap, highlighting risks of concentrated ownership.

Gate News report: On March 18, according to on-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai_9684xtpa) monitoring, 5 new addresses withdrew a total of 29,598 ETH from a certain CEX 8 hours ago, valued at approximately $68.94 million, with an average withdrawal price of $2,329 per ETH.

The Bhutanese government transferred approximately $27 million in Bitcoin as the price rebounded to $73,500, demonstrating the organized nature of its selloff and market manipulation strategy. Since 2026, Bhutan has transferred over $40 million in Bitcoin, and despite rising mining costs and increased fiscal pressure, it still holds over 5,000 Bitcoin, indicating that its long-term confidence in Bitcoin remains unchanged.

CryptoQuant report shows bullish signals in the Bitcoin futures market, but if the price continues to rise, it will encounter resistance near $75,000 and $85,000. Meanwhile, the inflow of Bitcoin into centralized exchanges is accelerating, which may signal potential selling pressure, creating a contradiction with the bullish sentiment in the futures market.

Gate News: On March 18, according to Onchain Lens monitoring, 7 hours ago, BlackRock withdrew 2,449 BTC (worth $181.82 million) from a certain CEX. Over the past two days, BlackRock withdrew 6,167 BTC (worth $456.23 million) from the CEX and deposited 2,267 BTC (worth $166.66 million).

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed a new fast confirmation rule mechanism that allows users to receive guarantees of irreversible transactions within 12 seconds. This rule is based on validator honesty and low network latency. While its security is slightly lower than economic finality, it remains reliable for many application scenarios.