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Socket detects malicious npm packages linked to Lazarus The Socket research team discovered six malicious npm packages tied to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, designed to deploy backdoors and steal user credentials and crypto wallet data, specifically targeting Solana and Exodus wallets. According to Wu Blockchain on X, the attackers used domain squatting and typosquatting, with five packages disguised as GitHub open-source projects, increasing the risk of infection.

According to Lookonchain , Ethereum’s current price drop below $1,800 has triggered the liquidation of a whale who had 67,675 ETH valued at $121.8 million. Despite the efforts to prevent liquidation by adding 2,000 ETH ($3.73M) and repaying 1.54 million DAI, the price still dropped below the level of $1,836.43. Besides the liquidation concerns, Data from Santiment shows Ethereum price movements from September 2024 to March 2025. The ETH price followed a strong upward trajectory from mid-September, peaking in early December before entering a decline in January. By March 12, 2025, the price had dropped to approximately $1,949, reflecting bearish sentiment. Additionally, open interest in USD per exchange for ETH followed a similar pattern. It surged from mid-October, peaked in December, and then declined alongside Ethereum’s price. By March 12, open interest had fallen to around $3.51 billion, signifying reduced market engagement. Total open interest in USD also mirrored these fluctuations, reaching approximately $7.77 billion on the same date. Hence, the correlation between ETH price and open interest is apparent. The rising price led to higher open interest, reflecting high trading activity. However, the falling price led to a drop in open interest, signaling declining trader interest. The market volatility between December 2024 and March 2025 fueled this trend, reducing open interest. As per analyst Merlijn The Trader information, patterns suggest a move for the ETH/BTC trading pair. Since 2015, Ethereum has experienced multiple accumulation and re-accumulation phases, leading to sharp breakouts. The ETH/BTC emerged at a lower end in 2017 and went all the way up to 0.14 BTC, after which it fell into a prolonged phase of accumulation from 2018 to 2021. The current ETH/BTC pair is once again in another re-accumulation phase , following a descending channel since mid-2022; this trend now further suggest approaching breakout just as the year 2017 did. DISCLAIMER: The information on this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. We encourage you to do your own research before investing.

On March 11, the development team behind Arbitrum, a leading rollup chain designed to enhance Ethereum’s scalability, announced the launch of an ARB token buyback program. In the announcement, the team emphasized that they are adding ARB tokens to their treasury as part of a strategic purchase plan, highlighting the ongoing growth of the ecosystem through technical advancements and DAO initiatives. Arbitrum’s team seeks to reinforce the project’s financial foundation by implementing the buyback program. A token buyback program involves repurchasing tokens from the open market, effectively reducing the circulating supply. This mechanism can have several positive effects. By decreasing the supply, the buyback could potentially increase ARB’s value over time. Additionally, repurchased tokens can be reinvested into projects, grants, and developer incentives, fostering wider adoption within the network. Furthermore, this long-term commitment to ARB’s values and governance not only boosts community confidence but also strengthens demand dynamics. By empowering ARB token holders with a decentralized decision-making process, the network encourages participation in protocol upgrades, changes, and treasury management, ensuring a more transparent and community-driven ecosystem. This buyback announcement comes on the heels of ZetaChain’s recent integration of the Arbitrum testnet, marking another significant step toward enhanced cross-chain interoperability. As a Layer 1 blockchain platform, ZetaChain is designed to streamline cross-chain interactions by seamlessly connecting multiple networks. Given Arbitrum’s reputation for high-speed and cost-efficient transaction processing, this integration allows decentralized applications (dApps) to function effortlessly across both Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks without the fragmentation or complexity associated with multi-chain architectures. At the same time, Arbitrum’s token supply dynamics continue to play a crucial role in its market behavior. With a total supply of 10 billion ARB tokens and approximately 4.41 billion currently in circulation, the scheduled token unlocks impact ARB’s liquidity and price movement. On February 16, a major unlock event saw the release of 92.65 million ARB tokens, representing 2.10% of the circulating supply. Another unlock event is set to take place on Sunday, with an identical 92.65 million ARB tokens scheduled for release. Notably, these token unlocks take place on the 16th of every month until April 2027, steadily increasing the circulating supply. Despite Arbitrum’s expanding ecosystem and continued adoption, the ARB token has experienced a prolonged price decline. Over the past year, ARB has lost 83.8% of its value, with a 13.4% drop occurring in just the past week. Recently, it fell below the critical support level of $0.40, now trading at $0.3289, representing an 86.22% plunge from its all-time high of $2.39. However, despite the ongoing downtrend, its trading volume has seen a notable increase of 56.6%, reaching $301 million in the last 24 hours.

Despite the VeChain ecosystem making significant progress over the past few months, its native crypto VET has failed to catch up with the developments while instead responding to the broader crypto market correction. Over the past month, the VET price has corrected by 30%, in tune with the fall in some of the top altcoins like Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), and others. Following this correction, market analysts believe that VeChain (VET) could be eyeing a parabolic rally, as per the historical trends. During the March 2020 COVID market crash, the VeChain price experienced a steep 81% crash, with market sentiment for the altcoin hitting an all-time low. Many believed the project was doomed, with widespread declarations that VeChain was finished and the bear market would persist indefinitely. However, defying all the optimism, VET bounced back confidently, with its price soaring 15x by August 2020. After a 60% correction that shook out weaker investors, VET embarked on an extraordinary 30x rally during the subsequent bull run. With the unfolding of the current crypto market cycle, investors have started to revisit the past trends, expecting another parabolic rally for VET to follow, as noted earlier. As of press time, the Vechain price is trading 7.77% down at $0.02316 with its market cap diving under $2 billion. Also, the 24-hour daily trading volume has surged by 44% to more than $99 million for VET. Currently, the derivatives data from Coinglass shows that the VET futures open interest has dropped 17.49% to $44 million. Thus, the trader sentiment around the altcoin seems to be bearish. Over the past few months, the VeChain ecosystem has registered some key advancements. As mentioned in our previous report, February was a landmark month for this ecosystem as the blockchain network recorded several achievements, including protocol upgrades, technical advancements, and strategic partnerships. A significant highlight was the network’s sustainability efforts, with over seven million sustainable on-chain actions recorded during the month. VeChain’s Cleanify initiative played a key role, capturing an average of 118,000 daily actions, reflecting growing adoption and engagement with its environmentally focused solutions. Additionally, VeChain unveiled its Renaissance project, thereby introducing a new staking system, different from the existing passive rewards. The reorganization aims to boost network engagement through an NFT-based staking model while reshaping VeChainThor’s tokenomics, as highlighted in our previous story. Under the Renaissance paradigm, Vechain would shift away from automatically generating VTHO from VET holdings. Instead, users must actively stake their VET to earn rewards, promoting greater decentralization and network security. The key feature of this transition is the introduction of Staking NFTs. This allows participants to lock up their assets while benefiting from a more dynamic and engaging reward system.

Hyperliquid liquidity pool allegedly exploited, depositors take heavy losses Cryptocurrency communities are raising concerns that Hyperliquid’s liquidity pool (HLP) has been manipulated, leaving depositors with heavy losses. According to @Copin_io on X, a trader allegedly exploited the system by using $10 million in $USDC to open a 141,000 $ETH long position worth $271.6 million, leveraging $23 million to control over $270 million. The position was liquidated at 160,000 ETH ($306.85 million), possibly as part of a deliberate strategy. By withdrawing funds to trigger self-liquidation, the trader shifted losses onto the HLP vault, which absorbed a $286 million ETH long. This tactic allowed them to move the market in their favor while hedging elsewhere for profit. As a result, some large investors are pulling funds from Hyperliquid, raising questions about potential changes to the platform’s trading and liquidity mechanics.