On March 12, a crypto trader attempted to swap $50.4 million USDT for Aave tokens via CoW Protocol and SushiSwap but ended up receiving only about $36,000 worth of AAVE. A MEV bot executed a sandwich attack using a $29 million flash loan and realized roughly $9.9 million in profit, while Aave and CoW DAO said the user had manually accepted warnings about extreme slippage. Both protocols pledged to refund collected fees but stressed that DeFi user experience and safeguards still need improvement.

On a Thursday announcement, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on six individuals and two companies accused of enabling North Korea-linked IT worker fraud networks across multiple countries. The action freezes any US assets tied to those named, blocks their access to US financial services and targets cryptocurrency transactions allegedly used to launder $2.5 million and support the DPRK weapons program.

U.S. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said at an Investor Advisory Committee meeting that staff are crafting a more limited innovation exemption to permit restricted trading of certain tokenized securities. The IAC had urged the commission to avoid a broad blanket exemption and instead pursue rule-by-rule reforms, arguing that tokenized securities should remain fully subject to core investor protections.

After an extended downturn, Shiba Inu has staged a sharp breakout from a short-term consolidation range, moving from around $0.0000055–$0.0000057 to near $0.0000060 amid rising volume. Cardano remains pressured near its yearly low around $0.26 with weak momentum, while Bitcoin trades around $70,400 and is edging toward key resistance at $70,000–$71,000.

On Thursday, the United States Senate approved an amendment to the 21st Century Road to Housing Act that blocks the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency until Dec. 31, 2030. The measure, which passed by an 89–10 vote, allows dollar-linked digital assets that are open, permissionless and private, while critics in Congress and finance argue CBDCs could enable intrusive financial surveillance.

On 12 March 2026, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York asked the court to deny Sam Bankman-Fried's latest request for a new trial, describing his arguments as "incoherent" and "fanciful". The motion, filed on his behalf by his mother, claims political targeting and new witnesses, while the FTX bankruptcy estate has recovered over $16 billion and now projects 118–119% payouts on allowed claims by March 31, 2026.

A federal court in the Middle District of Alabama has granted a motion by former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao to dismiss significant portions of a February 2024 complaint alleging Binance, Binance.US and Zhao violated the Anti-Terrorism Act by facilitating transfers to Hamas. The judge ordered the plaintiffs to file a second amended complaint by April 10 or face the risk of total or partial dismissal, while Binance later characterized the ruling as a “full and complete legal victory.”

On March 12, 2026, blockchain intelligence platform NOMINIS reported that crypto-related incidents led to about $49.3 million in losses in February, down sharply from roughly $385 million in January. Researchers say the drop does not mean the ecosystem is safer, as attackers are shifting from complex smart contract exploits to techniques that manipulate user behavior and transaction authorizations. A major Solana-based DeFi breach at Step Finance accounted for about $30 million, while multiple smaller cases involved phishing approvals, malicious signatures and address poisoning.