Gate News reported that on March 18, ahead of the March 19 interest rate decision, it's worth noting that no Federal Reserve policymakers believe further rate hikes are needed by the end of 2026, though one official expects one rate increase by 2027.

Gate News report: On March 18, according to Coinglass data, on March 19, BARD contracts on mainstream CEX platforms have reached extreme negative funding rates, with BARD contract hourly funding rates on a certain CEX platform reaching -0.46%. According to market information from a certain CEX, BARD dropped more than 50% at one point today, currently trading at $0.59, rebounding approximately 10% from the recent low of $0.54 in the past half hour.

Gate News bot message, according to Gate official announcement on March 18, 2026 Gate will launch Katana (KAT) on the Flash Exchange platform on March 18, 2026 at 22:00 (UTC+8). Users can exchange KAT with other cryptocurrency assets through the Flash Exchange platform, supporting one-click exchange for over 2200 cryptocurrency assets. The Flash Exchange platform does not charge any fees for KAT exchange transactions.

Gate News report: On March 18, the latest weekly report from JustLend DAO, a decentralized lending protocol on TRON, shows that the platform's total value locked (TVL) reached $6.32 billion, with total deposits reaching $3.52 billion. JustLend DAO is one of the core DeFi infrastructure components in the TRON ecosystem.

Gate News reported that on March 18, on-chain data analytics platform Arkham revealed that "Mahjong Big Brother" Huang Licheng deposited approximately $250,000 about a week ago, and his current account profit has reached approximately $2.3 million. Previously, this address had accumulated losses of approximately $74 million over the past 6 months. Based on the current profit scale, he has recovered approximately 7.5% of his historical total losses.

On Polymarket, a new account invested $241,000 betting that Backpack token's FDV on day one will exceed $300 million, with current prediction probability at 71%. Backpack will launch its token on March 23rd and unlock 25% of circulating supply. Currently, the token's pre-market price is approximately $0.36.

Starchild platform launched the Skills Hub feature on March 18, enabling users to browse and install community skills, support custom skill publishing, integrate mainstream crypto data sources, and achieve modular workflow sharing. Currently available in beta version with free trial.

Gate News reports that on March 18, Helen Liu, former co-CEO of a certain CEX, will launch a new platform called ABFinance. The platform will build its business under US regulatory oversight, integrating deposit, earning, trading, and spending functions in one, while connecting fiat and cryptocurrency. According to previous reports, a certain CEX announced that co-CEO Helen Liu will step down on April 30, 2026, and start her own venture.

The head of the Plasma engineering team stated that Plasma One has entered the private testing phase, aimed at enhancing the usability and user experience of crypto products and building services similar to a new type of digital bank. The team plans to accelerate iteration and open up early access.

On March 18, the US stock market's storage and data storage sectors surged significantly, with Micron Technology and SanDisk reaching historic highs, rising 6% and 4.8% respectively. Whale addresses established large positions in SNDK, with unrealized profits reaching $1.1 million. Major long holders of MU also saw significant gains.