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The decentralized perpetuals trading platform Lighter saw its native token LIT rise by nearly 10% this morning during the early hours of the US session.

This happened after it was revealed that it had entered into a significant revenue-sharing contract with USDC issuer Circle.

Lighter closes $920 million USDC revenue-sharing deal with Circle: a win for DeFi traders.

LIT, the token that powers the Lighter ecosystem, rose by nearly 10% after the news and stood at $1.46%.

The agreement concerns approximately $920 million in USDC deposits on Lighter's platform, marking a milestone for this young DeFi exchange.

Hedera’s HBAR is outperforming the broader crypto market. While Bitcoin and Ethereum have risen approximately 2% over the past day, the HBAR price has gained nearly 10% this past week and about 8% in the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, HBAR is trading around $0.096.

This rise creates expectations of a breakout. However, data from momentum, volume, and derivatives shows that the risk is increasing faster than the confidence.

Hope for a falling wedge breakout is growing, but the risk remains

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin calls the Russian invasion of Ukraine "criminal aggression." He advocates for applying crypto-inspired principles of governance to change the Russian political system.

His remarks, published ahead of the fourth anniversary of the invasion on February 24, 2026, link blockchain concepts with the long-term security of Europe and Ukraine.

Vitalik Buterin condemns aggression, supports Ukraine

The Russian-Canadian innovator directly dismisses narratives that present this conflict as morally ambiguous. He emphasizes that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is unjustifiable.

A new OKX survey shows that Americans find financial knowledge and knowledge of digital assets increasingly attractive in a partner. 21% say that crypto as a Valentine's gift would be a 'turn-on'.

The results indicate that financial knowledge is clearly an advantage in the dating market these days.

Millennials and Gen Z are redefining attractiveness around money management

In the survey of 1,000 Americans, 66% believe that knowledge of personal finance makes someone more attractive. This trend is strongest among younger generations: 76% of Gen Z and 75% of Millennials consider financial knowledge important in a partner.

Berachain price surprised the crypto market after a sudden and sharp increase. BERA rose nearly 210% during the intraday high on Wednesday, before the price fell back again.

This strong movement generated a lot of interest, but on-chain data shows that the increase was mainly due to speculation and not due to a sustained influx of capital.

What caused the BERA price to rise

The main catalyst behind the BERA rally seems to be a large short squeeze. The funding rates fluctuated significantly as bears were caught off guard. Reports showed that funding dropped to as low as -5.900%, indicating a significant imbalance in the derivatives market.

Chainlink (LINK), one of the largest oracle platforms, has struggled to recover in February. Despite several pieces of positive news, the selling pressure continues.

Now that the price is approaching a support level that has held for six years, February could be the decisive moment for LINK to enter a new price phase.

Positive developments in February do not offset the selling pressure.

Data from the market shows that the current level around $8.4 corresponds to a long-term support line that has held since 2020. This makes LINK's price behavior in the coming days an important entry point for analysts as they formulate future expectations.

The Cardano price rose by about 3% in the last 24 hours and is currently trading around $0.26. This stands out because the broader cryptocurrency market remains largely flat. On the chart, ADA is beginning to form a familiar recovery pattern that previously led to increases. However, on-chain and derivative data show that this setup may have little strong support.

This creates a clear distinction between improving technical signals and weak investor conviction.

Rebound pattern is forming again: just like in December

Welcome to the US crypto news morning update – your essential overview of the most important crypto developments for today.

Grab a cup of coffee, as the crypto market may enter another turbulent period. Analysts warn of more volatility as macro uncertainty increases and investor confidence weakens. This could signal a decisive moment before a possible recovery can begin.

Crypto news of the day: Standard Chartered warns of the last capitulation, sees Bitcoin dropping to $50,000 before recovery

Solana's price remains under pressure and extends a 3-week downward trend due to weak support from investors and bearish macro conditions.

SOL is trading around $80, reflecting the declining demand in the broader crypto market. In addition to concerns, long-term holders are also showing signs of less confidence.

Solana's profitable supply drops to multi-year low

On-chain data shows that the percentage of Solana in profit has decreased to 15%. This is the lowest level since November 2022. A declining percentage in profit usually means that the majority of holders are at a loss, making them less likely to sell.

Bitcoin (BTC) has decreased by 23.4% so far this year, following a further decline of more than 6% in 2025. The Bitcoin price remains under pressure and is currently trading at $67,214.

This keeps a key question determining market sentiment: when will the downward trend of Bitcoin end? Four key signals indicate that the asset may still be in the early stages of a bear market, suggesting that further declines may follow.

Capital flight confirms bearish sentiment shift

As part of the strategy to turn X (formerly Twitter) into a “super app” or Everything App, a crucial missing component, X Money, is now starting to take shape.

X wants to be more than just a social media platform. Elon Musk aims to turn it into a true game changer for personal finance. Users will be able to send messages, shop, and manage their entire personal wealth in one place.

Why are crypto investors excited about X Money

During an xAI “All Hands” presentation in February 2026, Elon Musk announced that X Money is already being tested internally by X employees. A limited rollout to users is expected within now and two months.

Bitcoin's price is still under pressure, and the recent decline continues without a clear reversal. BTC is trading around $66,996 at the time of publication, reflecting the cautious sentiment in the crypto market.

Due to growing uncertainty, many investors decide to sell, but one important group is trying to stabilize the price.

Bitcoin holders are underwater

The Spent Output Profit Ratio, or SOPR, shows that there is more doubt among Bitcoin investors. SOPR measures the ratio between the USD value at which coins are sold and their original purchase price. If the indicator is above 1, investors are selling at a profit.

BlockFills, a crypto lender and liquidity provider from Chicago, has temporarily suspended customer deposits and withdrawals.

This decision comes as the crypto market faces significant volatility and asset prices continue to decline.

Crypto liquidity provider BlockFills halts withdrawals and deposits during market turmoil

BlockFills operates as a crypto solutions company and liquidity provider for digital assets. It serves approximately 2,000 institutional clients, including hedge funds focused on crypto and asset managers. In 2025, the company handled $60 billion in trading volume.

The XRP price today is around $1.38 and shows the first signs of stabilization after weeks of weakness. A familiar recovery pattern is beginning to emerge on the chart, similar to previous patterns that led to strong rallies. However, on-chain and derivatives data do not yet confirm this optimism.

Buying pressure has significantly decreased, long-term holders are staying on the sidelines, and the leverage risk remains high. This creates a contradiction between what the chart indicates and how investors are actually behaving.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has dropped to 5 on Thursday. This indicates that market sentiment has significantly deteriorated while the prices of digital assets continue to decline.

The decline shows that panic among investors is increasing and risk appetite is decreasing, partly due to global market uncertainty.

Crypto sentiment is sinking further into extreme fear

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index reflects the overall emotional state of the crypto market on a scale from 0 to 100. A value of 0 to 24 indicates Extreme Fear, 25 to 49 refers to Fear, 50 stands for Neutral, 51 to 74 indicates Greed, and 75 to 100 signifies Extreme Greed.

Uniswap price has risen by about 3% in the last 24 hours and is trading around $3.40. But this small movement hides what really happened on February 11. That day, UNI rose nearly 42% to a high of about $4.57 after news linked Uniswap to the expansion of BlackRock's tokenized funds.

Since then, sellers have taken back about 26% of that increase. This raises an important question: was this institution-driven breakout a real trend reversal, or a trap for retail investors?

Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, plans to issue additional perpetual preferred shares to alleviate investor concerns about the volatility of its common stock, according to the company's CEO.

The announcement comes at a time when the share of Strategy, traded under the ticker symbol MSTR, has nearly dropped 17% since the beginning of the year.

CEO: preferred shares can become an important financing tool for Strategy

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Strategy CEO Phong Le spoke about the fluctuations in the Bitcoin price. He attributed this volatility to the digital characteristics of Bitcoin. When BTC rises, Strategy's digital asset reserve plan provides greater profits for the common stock.

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced during Consensus Hong Kong that TopNod, a non-custodial wallet, will integrate with the Stellar network. This step is part of SDF's broader expansion in Asia – a region where it faces significant competition from Solana, TON, and XRP in the areas of payments and tokenization.

The TopNod wallet utilizes key sharding and Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) technology, eliminating the need for a recovery phrase. The platform primarily focuses on tokenized Real-World Assets (RWAs) and stablecoins, rather than speculative tokens. However, the project is still relatively young with limited brand recognition outside the Web3 world.

Crypto-hackers now move stolen money sometimes within two seconds after an attack begins. In most cases, they move assets before victims disclose the breach.

That is the clearest result from the analysis by Global Ledger in 2025, in which 255 crypto-hacks with a total value of $4.04 billion were investigated.

Blink and it's gone: crypto-money laundering now starts before disclosure

The speed is remarkable. According to Global Ledger, in 76% of hacks, the money was moved before it became public. In the second half of the year, this even rose to 84.6%.

The native token of Berachain, BERA, rose by more than 150% on February 11. This is the largest one-day gain in months. The rally came after weeks of renewed activity, following a period where the project was under pressure throughout much of 2025 due to falling prices, concerns over token unlocks, and uncertainty among investors.

The immediate trigger seems to be the strategic move by the foundation towards a new model called 'Bera Builds Businesses.'

Berachain: From refund fears to revenue ambitions, what has changed?