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According to data from CoinGlass, the Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index has been negative for 36 consecutive days, currently standing at -0.0467%. The index measures the price difference for Bitcoin between the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and the global market average. This marks the longest such streak since May 2023, surpassing the roughly 30-day negative period seen during the market crash on Oct. 11 of last year.

Bitcoin's mining difficulty has surged by 15%, marking its largest increase since 2021, CoinDesk reported. The media outlet explained that the spike follows a recovery in the network's hashrate, which had previously plummeted after a winter storm in the U.S. forced major mining operations to scale back. That event had caused the mining difficulty to drop by 12%. Despite the hashrate's rebound, profitability remains under severe pressure, as the hash price—the estimated daily earnings per unit of hash power—is stuck at a multi-year low of $23.9.

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit announced it will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals for Hedera (HBAR) starting at 9:00 a.m. UTC on Feb. 25 to support a network upgrade.

Bitcoin is having its worst start to a year on record, down 23% year-to-date, CoinDesk reported. The outlet noted that, according to CoinGlass data, Bitcoin has never previously posted consecutive losses in both January and February. While the cryptocurrency saw double-digit declines in January of 2015, 2016, and 2018, it rebounded in February each time. The current index reading 50 days into the year is 0.77, below the typical bear market average of 0.84. This performance also breaks a historical pattern where Bitcoin typically sees above-average returns in the year following a U.S. presidential election; last year, it fell 17%.

The following are the 24-hour long/short ratios for BTC perpetual futures on the world’s three largest crypto futures exchanges by open interest: Overall: 49.89% long, 50.11% short - Binance: 49.67% long, 50.33% short - OKX: 49.71% long, 50.29% short - Bybit: 49.76% long, 50.24% short

A new address withdrew 7,000 ETH, worth $13.55 million, from Binance about an hour ago, Onchain Lens reported. Withdrawals from exchanges are typically interpreted as a sign of intent to hold the assets.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $68,000. BTC is trading at $68,001.99 on the Binance USDT market.

Bithumb announced it will list Aztec (AZTEC) for KRW trading at 7:30 a.m. UTC today.

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit announced it will list Aztec (AZTEC) at 7:30 a.m. UTC today for trading against the South Korean won (KRW), Bitcoin (BTC), and Tether (USDT).

Ethical questions surrounding the crypto business dealings of U.S. President Donald Trump's family have become a major hurdle for the CLARITY Act, a key crypto market structure bill. According to Decrypt, Caitlin Long, CEO of Wyoming-based crypto bank Custodia Bank, stated that Trump-related meme coins and ventures like World Liberty Financial are making it difficult to secure bipartisan support for the legislation. She explained that the bill needs seven Democratic votes to pass, noting that Senator Elizabeth Warren is a particularly strong opponent of the Trump family's crypto activities. Long suggested that if the bill fails, the Trump family would share in the responsibility. However, she also pointed out that a bipartisan foundation for legislation still exists, citing the ongoing collaboration between Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a total net outflow of $165.69 million on Feb. 19, marking the third consecutive day of net outflows, according to data compiled by Trader T. - BlackRock's IBIT: -$163.99 million - Valkyrie's BRRR: -$1.7 million

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs experienced net outflows of $130.51 million yesterday, marking the second consecutive day of withdrawals, Trader T reported. The outflows were led by BlackRock, and no individual ETF recorded net inflows. - BlackRock (ETHA): -$97.11 million - Fidelity (FETH): -$11.62 million - Bitwise (ETHW): -$3.34 million - Grayscale Mini ETH: -$18.44 million

Bitcoin Core developer Matt Corallo has stated that the recent decline in Bitcoin (BTC) is not due to quantum computing. Speaking on the Unchained podcast, Corallo said he disagrees with the interpretation that quantum risk is the cause of the current price drop. He argued that if the threat from quantum computing were the real reason, Ethereum should have seen a significant rally against Bitcoin. While acknowledging that quantum computing could be a potential long-term risk, Corallo suggested that market participants are over-interpreting the issue in their search for a reason behind the short-term decline.

The following shows estimated liquidation volumes and position ratios for major crypto perpetual futures over the past 24 hours: - BTC: $46.18 million liquidated (58.37% longs) - ETH: $45.6 million liquidated (65.21% longs) - SOL: $7.82 million liquidated (54.71% longs)

The DePIN platform IoTeX (IOTX) has begun its transition into an artificial intelligence (AI) platform, according to a report from Asian Web3 research and consulting firm Tiger Research. The report states that AI's effectiveness is hampered by its reliance on unverified and fragmented external data. IoTeX has been developing an integrated infrastructure to bridge this gap and is now becoming a platform to supply real-world data to AI via a three-layer stack composed of: - ioID, which verifies data reliability. - Quicksilver, which structures real-world data into a context that AI can recognize, infer, and act upon. - Realms, which helps AI understand context. Trio, the first commercial product based on this stack, is a subscription-based SaaS service offering AI feedback on live video. Tiger Research concluded that while IoTeX is technologically ready, this capability has not yet translated into revenue. The firm noted that for IoTeX to build a new revenue model with Trio and be re-evaluated as an AI infrastructure company, it will need to be supported by tangible performance results.

A proposal discussed at a White House meeting on stablecoins would effectively ban interest payments on balances held in crypto wallets, Eleanor Terrett, host of Crypto in America, reported on X. The meeting took place on Feb. 19. A draft of the measure reportedly includes a prohibition on paying interest on idle stablecoin balances, with violations subject to a civil penalty of $500,000 per day per incident. According to multiple attendees, banking representatives are more concerned about increased competition from crypto firms than potential deposit outflows. However, they are pushing for the regulatory bill to mandate a study on deposit flight resulting from the growth of payment stablecoins. Enforcement authority would be granted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of the Treasury, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The banking sector plans to brief its member firms on the meeting and explore potential compromises regarding the scope of permissible stablecoin rewards. A source noted that further negotiations are expected to resume within days, adding that setting a deadline by the end of this month is realistic.

The five operators of South Korea's won-denominated exchanges have a 90% success rate in civil lawsuits filed to recover mistakenly transferred funds from customers, Digital Asset reported. An analysis of 20 court rulings between 2017 and 2025 involving Dunamu, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Streami found that the exchanges won or partially won 18 cases, with only one loss and one forced mediation. The findings are notable in light of Bithumb's mistaken distribution of 620,000 Bitcoin on Feb. 6, as some recipients have reportedly not returned the funds, instead selling them for cash or swapping them for other virtual assets.

Simon Gerovich, CEO of the Japanese listed firm Metaplanet, has responded on X to criticism of the company's Bitcoin accumulation strategy, refuting claims that it lacks disclosure transparency. He explained that over the past six months, the company has expanded its income-generating strategies to capitalize on market volatility by selling put options and put spreads. Gerovich stated that a portion of these funds was used to purchase Bitcoin for long-term holding, with all related decisions being disclosed immediately. He added that all of the company's Bitcoin addresses are public, allowing shareholders to monitor its holdings through a real-time dashboard.

A man in Texas has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for a multi-million dollar cryptocurrency investment fraud and money laundering scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas announced. He was also ordered to forfeit $2.3 million and pay $2.8 million in restitution. The man was charged with approaching victims, building their trust, and then proposing cryptocurrency investments to defraud them of their funds before laundering the proceeds.

Global securities firm Mizuho Securities has maintained its $26 price target for cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, The Block reported. The firm also kept its Outperform rating, noting that while there have been recent departures of key executives, this has already been priced into the stock.

An address presumed to belong to Bitmine has withdrawn 10,000 ETH, worth $19.57 million, from Kraken, Onchain Lens reported. Withdrawals from exchanges are typically interpreted as a move to hold the assets.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said that combining FOCIL (EIP-7805), a censorship resistance mechanism, with the account abstraction-based EIP-8141 can enable ETH smart wallets, gas-sponsored transactions, and privacy transactions to be included in blocks quickly and with strong censorship resistance. He explained that EIP-8141 grants these account types native on-chain status, while FOCIL is designed to randomly select 17 participants per slot to include transactions.

CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index has risen two points from yesterday to 35. The index is determined by comparing the price performance of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins and wrapped coins, against Bitcoin. A period is considered an altcoin season if 75% of these top 100 coins have outperformed Bitcoin over the past 90 days; otherwise, it is deemed a Bitcoin season. A score closer to 100 indicates a stronger altcoin season.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index from data provider Alternative has dropped two points from yesterday to 7, signaling a continued state of extreme fear. The index measures market sentiment on a scale of 0, representing extreme fear, to 100, indicating extreme optimism. It is calculated based on volatility (25%), trading volume (25%), social media mentions (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin's market cap dominance (10%), and Google search volume (10%).

According to crypto options exchange Deribit, Bitcoin options worth $2 billion are set to expire at 8:00 a.m. UTC on Feb. 20. The put/call ratio is 0.58, and the max pain price—the point at which the most option buyers would lose their premiums—is $70,000. Additionally, Ethereum options valued at $410 million will expire at the same time. For ETH, the put/call ratio is 0.73, with a max pain price of $2,025.