The Florida Senate passed Senate Bill 314 on Thursday with a vote of 37-0, paving the way for a regulatory framework to be established for the issuance of payment stablecoins in the state. The bill, along with its accompanying House Bill 175, will be submitted to Governor Ron DeSantis for his signature within the next 30 days. The bill reportedly prohibits payment stablecoin issuers from paying any form of interest to holders, provided that "federal law prohibits such payments." The accompanying bill, CS/CS/SB 1440, also passed on the same day, expanding the protection of confidentiality for information from virtual currency companies, qualified payment stablecoin issuers, and other institutions to protect trade secrets and non-public information. (The Block)

Huoxun Finance News, March 7th - According to Blockspace, Bitcoin mining company Cathedra Bitcoin announced an all-stock merger agreement with technology company Sphere3D. Upon completion of the merger, the new company will retain the Sphere3D name and Nasdaq listing, and will maintain its 53MW capacity and 1.2EH/s Bitcoin mining infrastructure operating in five data centers in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Iowa. Cathedra Bitcoin shareholders will reportedly receive 49% of the merged company's issued shares. The company plans to further expand its operational capacity by 100MW, as well as provide AI and high-performance computing (HPC) services.

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Kim Forrest, Chief Investment Officer of Bokeh Capital Partners, stated that the unexpectedly weak non-farm payroll data indicates the economy is in a period of volatility. We know that large-scale layoffs have already occurred. The difficulty in hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic has led companies to retain far more employees than actually needed, many of whom are unnecessary. The methods we use to measure the economy may not necessarily convey the truly important information. Higher layoff rates and lower labor force participation rates give the Federal Reserve a reason to cut interest rates. (Jinshi)

Huoxun Finance News, March 7th - According to GuruFocus, Nasdaq-listed Solana Treasury company DeFiDevelopment announced plans to launch a dividend-paying stablecoin following its strategic investment in stablecoin protocol development project Apyx. The aim is to introduce transparent returns to the stablecoin market. The two companies reportedly also discussed token economics, valuation frameworks and development roadmaps, as well as how to utilize the Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) dividend-paying preferred stock.

According to a report by Huoxun Finance on March 7, a New York federal judge has granted class-action status to investors in a market manipulation lawsuit against Tether and Bitfinex. The case is divided into two groups of plaintiffs: spot investors and futures traders. The lawsuit alleges that Tether and Bitfinex manipulated cryptocurrency market prices by issuing USDT between 2017 and 2019, causing losses of hundreds of billions of dollars to investors who purchased BTC and ETH.