Live Feed

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has established a new dedicated team to support DeFi protocols, The Block reported. The team includes a governance developer from MakerDAO (MKR, now SKY) and a co-founder of Gearbox Protocol. The team is set to support development in areas including: - User-controlled AI - On-chain futures markets - Communities based on futarchy, a governance model where values are determined by voting and implementation methods by prediction markets - Privacy-preserving collateralized loans using zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs The foundation also plans to strengthen its collaboration with individual DeFi projects. It stressed that DeFi must evolve while upholding the core principles of being permissionless, censorship-resistant, privacy-first, self-custodial, and open-source.

An analysis suggests that the recent selling pressure on Bitcoin, triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff remarks, was primarily driven by short-term investors reacting to uncertainty. In a contribution to CryptoQuant, analyst firm XWIN Research Japan noted that while Trump's tariff comments have directly impacted Bitcoin's price on several occasions, this time they acted as a catalyst in an already unstable market rather than being the fundamental cause of the decline. The firm pointed to the Short-Term Holder Realized Profit/Loss Ratio (SOPR) as a key indicator, which shows whether these investors are selling at a profit or a loss. For instance, when a 60% tariff on Chinese goods was announced last April, fear spread on social media, and the SOPR fell below one, indicating that short-term holders were selling at a loss. More recently, after the Supreme Court blocked a tariff policy, a new 15% flat tariff was immediately introduced. Following this, the SOPR again dropped below one, signaling a sell-off. The analysis concluded that the selling pressure came structurally from short-term holders sensitive to uncertainty, not from long-term holders conducting systematic sales.

Solana ecosystem project Step Finance (STEP) announced on its official X account that it is ceasing all business operations. The shutdown includes the on-chain protocol Remora Markets and the Solana ecosystem media platform SolanaFloor. The decision follows a $40 million hacking incident the project suffered in January. The team stated that after the hack, they explored all possible solutions, including fundraising and acquisitions, but were unsuccessful. They added that a buyback for STEP holders based on a pre-hack snapshot and a redemption process for token holders linked to Remora Markets are underway, with more details to be announced soon.

An Ondo Finance (ONDO) multi-signature address deposited 24.47 million ONDO, worth approximately $6.12 million, to Coinbase about six hours ago, EmberCN reported. Deposits to exchanges are often interpreted as a precursor to selling.

A sustained decline in Binance's stablecoin holdings is increasingly signaling a contraction in crypto market liquidity, according to an analysis by crypto analyst Darkfost on CryptoQuant. Darkfost noted that Binance, which holds approximately 64% of all stablecoin reserves on exchanges, has seen its holdings continuously decrease since Nov. 13, 2025. The exchange's reserves have fallen by 18.6%, or about $10 billion, from $50.9 billion to $41.4 billion, returning to levels last seen in October 2024. The analyst attributed this outflow to capital rotating into stocks and commodities, driven by the expansion of the AI industry and a rally in precious metals. Meanwhile, risk appetite for digital assets has been constrained by comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, who stated that the central bank could maintain its current interest rate policy if February employment data proves to be strong. Darkfost concluded that an inflow of stablecoins is necessary to restore market stability.

CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index has risen by one point to 30. The index compares the price performance of the top 100 cryptocurrencies, excluding stablecoins and wrapped tokens, against Bitcoin. An "altcoin season" is declared when 75% of these top 100 coins outperform Bitcoin over the preceding 90 days. Conversely, when Bitcoin outperforms the majority of altcoins, it is considered a "Bitcoin season." A score closer to 100 indicates a stronger altcoin season.

Following on-chain analyst ZachXBT's announcement that he will expose insider trading at an anonymous crypto firm on Feb. 26, the community has begun to speculate that the company in question is Polymarket. An X account with the handle spacexbt noted that ZachXBT mentioned multiple employees had exploited inside information over a long period. The account pointed to several past instances on Polymarket, including bets on Google search predictions, the Super Bowl halftime show, and the potential arrest of Nicolás Maduro. It also referenced a case where individuals were arrested for using confidential military intelligence to trade on the platform. According to the post, Polymarket has previously dismissed such concerns, stating that such outcomes are inherent to prediction markets. However, the account argued that repeated incidents make Polymarket appear to be an unusual platform. It also highlighted that shortly after ZachXBT's announcement, Polymarket created a prediction market on the topic but did not include itself as a betting option, despite user requests.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index from data provider Alternative is at 8, up three points from yesterday. This reading indicates that the market remains in a state of extreme fear. The index measures market sentiment on a scale where 0 represents extreme fear and 100 signifies extreme optimism. The score is calculated based on volatility (25%), market volume (25%), social media mentions (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin's market cap dominance (10%), and Google search trends (10%).

Terraform Labs, the bankrupt developer of Luna and Terra, has filed a lawsuit against major U.S. market-making firm Jane Street in connection with the collapse of TerraUSD (UST) and Luna (LUNA), Unfolded reported.

Sui announced on X that VanEck Europe has launched a Sui-based Exchange Traded Note (ETN), the "VESU," on Germany's Deutsche Börse Xetra.

The Trump administration is considering imposing new tariffs on at least six industries for national security reasons, Walter Bloomberg reported. Details such as the target countries and tariff rates have not yet been disclosed. President Trump had previously warned in response to a Supreme Court ruling that any country attempting to "play games" would face much higher retaliatory tariffs and even stronger measures.

ProCap Financial, a Bitcoin treasury company led by Pomp Investments founder Anthony Pompliano, is expanding its share buybacks following a sharp decline in its stock price, Decrypt reported. The company recently purchased an additional 148,241 BRR shares, valued at $359,000. ProCap aims to restore its market net asset value (mNAV) to a level of one and enhance shareholder value through the buybacks. The company, which currently holds 5,007 BTC, began its buyback program last December and has since repurchased approximately 2% of its total outstanding shares. At that time, Pompliano also personally invested $1 million to purchase company stock. Meanwhile, BRR's share price has fallen by about 85% from its peak.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $65,000. BTC is trading at $65,006.17 on the Binance USDT market.

IoTeX (IOTX) has offered a 10% bounty, worth $440,000, to the hacker who exploited its platform if the stolen assets are returned within 48 hours, the project announced on X. The hacker previously minted 410 million CIOTX without authorization on the ioTube cross-chain bridge and converted $4.4 million worth of bridged assets into BTC and ETH.

Near Protocol (NEAR) has launched "Near.com," a super app that combines AI features with privacy technology, Unfolded reported. According to CoinMarketCap, NEAR is currently trading at $0.9786, down 2.83%.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) clarified on its official X account that a recent incident involving an organized attack on USD1 was not a smart contract or wallet hack. The company stated the event was due to a co-founder's X account being compromised and is unrelated to the security of its wallet or protocol infrastructure. WLFI emphasized that no smart contracts were affected, the USD1 reserves remain secure, and development will continue as scheduled.

The three major U.S. stock indices closed lower today. - S&P 500: -1.04% - Nasdaq: -1.13% - Dow Jones: -1.66%

Former Chainlink Deputy General Counsel Taylor Lindman has joined the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) crypto task force as Senior Counsel, Crypto in America host Eleanor Terrett reported on X.

The probability of the CLARITY Act, a U.S. cryptocurrency market structure bill, passing this year has dropped to 54% from 82% on the prediction market Polymarket.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has fallen below $64,000. BTC is trading at $63,957.63 on the Binance USDT market.

Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy (MSTR), the single largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, dismissed concerns about quantum computing as exaggerated during a recent podcast appearance. According to U.Today, Saylor described the threat as a psychological tactic, comparing it to a cycle of past fears such as China's mining ban. He recalled a series of concerns that previously pressured the market, starting with fears that China would dominate all mining, followed by worries over potential backdoors in Chinese mining equipment, and culminating in the country's eventual ban on Bitcoin mining. He argued that this pattern is like the latest fad and that the current fear over quantum computing has emerged simply because there are no other narratives to focus on.

Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin said at an event in Chiang Mai that Bitcoin had to prioritize decentralization from its initial design, which meant its privacy features were not fully optimized. According to Wu Blockchain, Buterin explained that early cryptographic technology tended to rely on centralized institutions for privacy protection, as it was practically impossible at the time to achieve both decentralization and privacy. He added that with the advancement of privacy technologies like zk-SNARKs over the past decade, parts of the Ethereum ecosystem have begun exploring ways to reintroduce privacy into on-chain systems.

Total assets under management (AUM) for cryptocurrency ETFs have fallen by 50% to approximately $95.9 billion from $195.1 billion on Oct. 6 of last year, Unfolded reported, citing data from Artemis.

Andrei Grachev, co-founder of crypto market maker DWF Labs, stated that interest in the market has waned, potentially leading to significant volatility. He noted via social media that according to the firm's internal data, crypto market liquidity has shrunk to its lowest level in four years. Grachev added that it seems no one is paying attention to the market anymore and that, historically, such an environment has often preceded major price swings.

Whale Alert reported that 250 million USDC has been minted at the USDC Treasury.