Morning News | Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei Assassinated; Kalshi to Refund Fees for "Will Khamenei Step Down" Related Market; Bitcoin Spot ETF Sees Net Inflow of $787 Million This Week

整理：ChainCatcher

Important News:

• Iran's crypto "shadow economy" reaches $7.78 billion as citizens turn to Bitcoin for hedging
• AurumX ecosystem infrastructure manadia completes $7 million seed round financing
• Iranian media: Supreme Leader Khamenei assassinated
• Michael Saylor releases Bitcoin Tracker information again, possibly hinting at further BTC accumulation
• Kalshi CEO: Opposes profiting from individual deaths, will refund fees related to "Khamenei's resignation" market
• Data: Bitcoin spot ETF sees a net inflow of $787 million this week, with BlackRock's IBIT leading at $503 million
• Data: Ethereum spot ETF sees a net inflow of $80.46 million this week, with Grayscale's ETHE leading at $40.4688 million

What important events have occurred in the past 24 hours?

Data: Bitcoin spot ETF sees a net inflow of $787 million this week, with BlackRock's IBIT leading at $503 million

According to ChainCatcher, based on SoSoValue data, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net inflow of $787 million during this week's trading days.

The Bitcoin spot ETF with the highest net inflow this week was BlackRock's ETF IBIT, which had a weekly net inflow of $503 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $61.81 billion. The second was Grayscale Bitcoin Trust GBTC, with a weekly net inflow of $89.4264 million, while GBTC's historical total net outflow reached $25.87 billion.

As of the time of publication, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $83.4 billion, with an ETF net asset ratio of 6.36%, and the historical cumulative net inflow had reached $54.8 billion.

Analyst: This Middle East crisis may be different, do not underestimate the risk of the situation spiraling out of control

According to ChainCatcher, as reported by Jinshi, the situation has become more chaotic with Iran launching missiles at U.S. military bases in Gulf cities, airlines suspending flights, and oil tankers halting passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Rong Ren Goh, portfolio manager of Han Ya Investment's fixed income team, stated that tail risks in the Middle East have increased. The market will reprice, shifting from geopolitical shocks to regime risk shocks and long-term conflicts, rather than just retaliatory actions, unless Iran expresses a willingness to negotiate.

Analysts believe a greater risk lies in the complacency of the market. The market has assumed that the impact of the conflict will be limited and has been dismissive of comparing this conflict to the 1979 Iranian regime change.

Barclays analysts emphasize that history strongly suggests not to chase prices when conflicts erupt, but rather to "sell the news." However, it is concerning that investors have now become accustomed to the "sell the news" mentality, potentially underestimating the risk of the situation spiraling out of control. It is advised not to buy any dips immediately. If the stock market corrects significantly, such as the S&P 500 dropping more than 10%, then a buying opportunity may arise. But that is not the case now.

Michael Saylor releases Bitcoin Tracker information again, possibly hinting at further BTC accumulation

According to ChainCatcher, Strategy founder Michael Saylor has released Bitcoin Tracker-related information again.

Based on previous patterns, Strategy always discloses Bitcoin accumulation information the day after relevant news is released.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Chinese citizens should avoid traveling to areas around Iran

According to ChainCatcher, citing Xinhua News Agency, as the U.S. and Israel launch military actions against Iran, and Iranian forces strike U.S. military bases in the Middle East, some neighboring countries have closed their airspace and suspended international flights. Some Chinese citizens have been injured in the attacks, and some temporary travelers are stranded locally.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminds Chinese citizens to closely monitor the situation and avoid traveling to countries and regions around Iran that are affected by military strikes. Chinese citizens already in those countries and regions should enhance their safety precautions and avoid sensitive areas such as military facilities and protest gatherings.

Data: Ethereum spot ETF sees a net inflow of $80.46 million this week, with Grayscale's ETHE leading at $40.4688 million

According to ChainCatcher, based on SoSoValue data, Ethereum spot ETFs saw a net inflow of $80.46 million during this week's trading days.

The Ethereum spot ETF with the highest net inflow this week was Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETHE, which had a weekly net inflow of $40.4688 million, while ETHE's historical total net outflow reached $5.15 billion. The second was Fidelity ETF FETH, with a weekly net inflow of $39.4843 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $2.5 billion. The Ethereum spot ETF with the highest net outflow this week was BlackRock ETF ETHA, with a weekly net outflow of $41.7752 million, while ETHA's historical total net inflow reached $11.83 billion.

As of the time of publication, the total net asset value of Ethereum spot ETFs was $10.96 billion, with an ETF net asset ratio of 4.72%, and the historical cumulative net inflow had reached $11.6 billion.

X platform updates paid cooperation policy: cryptocurrency, investment services, etc. do not meet promotion conditions
According to ChainCatcher, based on the updated paid cooperation policy of the X platform, financial products, services, or opportunities (including loans, investment services, cryptocurrencies, buy now pay later services, and other finance-related content) are listed as prohibited categories for paid cooperation promotions. Additionally, the policy requires that all paid cooperation content must clearly indicate its commercial nature in the posts, such as "advertisement" or "promotional content," and ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Users who violate this policy may face penalties such as being required to delete posts or account suspension.
Tron Inc discloses accumulation of over 176,000 TRX tokens, total holdings exceed 684 million
According to ChainCatcher, Nasdaq-listed TRX treasury company Tron Inc. disclosed that it has purchased 176,081 TRX tokens at an average price of $0.28, bringing its total TRX treasury holdings to over 684 million.

AurumX ecosystem infrastructure manadia completes $7 million seed round financing

According to ChainCatcher, the Web3 verifiable data and AI collaborative infrastructure manadia has officially announced the completion of a $7 million seed round financing, with investors including OKX Ventures, Pillar VC, One Way Ventures, Quasar Holding Co., and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal also participating in this round of investment.

The project is incubated by AurumX investment institution AUR Labs in collaboration with leading global institutions, focusing on low-trust dependency data settlement and AI collaboration underlying infrastructure, providing core capabilities such as VERITAS verifiable oracles, AI Agent collaboration, privacy-preserving settlement, and compliant payments, to provide secure and trustworthy value exchange and cross-system collaboration support for finance, digital assets, and AI ecosystems. Manadia stated that it will continue to promote technology implementation and ecological expansion, aiming to make every digital collaboration safer, verifiable, and efficient, becoming a key underlying support for the global finance and AI ecosystem.

X platform adds timeline theme selection feature
According to ChainCatcher, Musk stated on social media that the X platform has added a timeline theme selection feature, allowing users to switch between different content themes based on their interests. He mentioned that if users feel fatigued by political content, they can choose other thematic content. Users can adjust their settings by clicking on the "For You" page.
Kalshi CEO: Opposes profiting from individual deaths, will refund fees related to "Khamenei's resignation" market
According to ChainCatcher, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour posted on X regarding Khamenei's death and related prediction market events, stating: "We will not list markets that are directly tied to death. When a market may have a death outcome, we will design rules to prevent people from profiting from death."

Kalshi will take the following actions regarding the event of "Khamenei's resignation as Supreme Leader":

1. Refund all fees for that market;
2. If users opened positions before Khamenei's death, settlements will be based on the last trading price before Khamenei's death;
3. If users opened positions after Khamenei's death, they will be fully compensated for their costs.

Tarek Mansour added: "No user will lose a dollar in this market. We will settle the market at the last transaction price before Khamenei's death, which was at 1:14 AM Eastern Time today."

Iranian media: Supreme Leader Khamenei assassinated
According to ChainCatcher, Iranian state media reported that Supreme Leader Khamenei has been assassinated.

Iran's crypto "shadow economy" reaches $7.78 billion as citizens turn to Bitcoin for hedging

According to ChainCatcher, as reported by Coindesk, blockchain analysis company Chainalysis stated that Iran's cryptocurrency ecosystem will reach $7.78 billion by 2025, with a growth rate exceeding that of the previous year.

Iran legalized cryptocurrency mining in 2019, allowing licensed operators to use subsidized electricity and sell mined Bitcoin to the central bank. Recent estimates indicate that Iran accounts for between 2% and 5% of global Bitcoin mining power. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as the country's main military force, has since deepened its influence in the cryptocurrency field.

Chainalysis estimates that by the fourth quarter of 2025, addresses associated with the IRGC will account for over 50% of Iran's total cryptocurrency inflows, with amounts exceeding $3 billion received last year. Another analysis by Elliptic found that the Central Bank of Iran has accumulated at least $507 million in USDT by 2025, which may help stabilize the rial exchange rate and facilitate trade. However, this effort has largely failed, as data shows that the rial has depreciated by over 96% against the dollar. Meanwhile, ordinary Iranians have begun turning to Bitcoin. During recent protests and internet outages, the amount of Bitcoin withdrawn from local exchanges to personal wallets surged.

Binance issues safety announcement to all staff, urging UAE employees to stay away from outdoor activities

According to ChainCatcher, due to the sudden escalation of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, Binance issued a safety announcement to all staff, urging all employees in the UAE to stay away from outdoor activities and remain in safe indoor areas.

Recently, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israeli/U.S. military targets, some of which flew over or targeted the UAE. Although most were intercepted by air defense systems, the UAE government issued an emergency safety alert to residents nationwide early this morning.

Meme Popularity Rankings

According to meme token tracking and analysis platform GMGN, as of March 2, 09:00,

The top five popular ETH tokens in the past 24 hours are: SHIB, LINK, PEPE, UNI, ONDO

The top five popular Solana tokens in the past 24 hours are: USELESS, Punch, WhiteWhale, neet, Buttcoin

The top five popular Base tokens in the past 24 hours are: PEPE, B3, SKYA, TOSHI, toby

What are some must-read articles from the past 24 hours?

Aave civil war escalates, Morpho quietly doubles: Is the lending throne about to change hands?

Altcoins are dead, which has become a consensus that crypto users have been reluctant to admit but must face over the past year. Even former blue-chip stocks have fallen into prolonged stagnation or decline under the continuous downturn of the market, showing little sign of recovery.

However, amidst this overall malaise, the MORPHO token has rebounded from a low of $0.96 in early February to the range of $1.8-$1.9, doubling against the trend. From the daily chart, this rebound has essentially formed a rounded bottom pattern, possibly signaling a bottom reversal. Is this rise merely a temporary push from market sentiment, or is it the start of a trend resonating with fundamental and structural variables?