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Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson took the stage at Consensus Hong Kong on Thursday wearing a McDonald's uniform - a bear market meme - and announced that LayerZero, a cross-chain messaging protocol backed by Citadel Securities, will integrate with the Cardano blockchain.

The deal came alongside a confirmed late-March launch date for Midnight, Cardano's privacy-focused partner chain.

The announcements arrived as ADA trades around $0.26, down roughly 91% from its September 2021 all-time high of $3.09 and off about 34% in the past month alone.

What Hoskinson Said

"The industry is not healthy. S--- is getting real. Twitter is a nuclear dumpster fire. Sentiment is at an all-time low," Hoskinson said during his keynote.

He then drew a distinction between what he called a "micro" downturn and a macro environment he still considers bullish, citing recent regulatory progress in the U.S. as evidence.

Hoskinson argued the industry needs "a brand new paradigm, new vision, new narrative" - and pointed to the LayerZero partnership as proof that institutional infrastructure work continues regardless of price action.

Read also: Bitcoin Faces A $68,300 Test That Has Preceded Every Major Crash - Why This Week's Close Matters

What Was Actually Announced

LayerZero connects over 150 blockchains and handles more than $80 billion in cross-chain assets. Its integration would give Cardano access to ecosystems including Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL).

Hoskinson also confirmed that USDCx, a stablecoin product, will launch on Cardano with wallet and exchange support.

Separately, Input Output Global announced that Midnight will go live in the final week of March. The privacy chain uses zero-knowledge cryptography and allows users to keep transactions private while selectively disclosing data to authorized parties. A public simulation environment, Midnight City, opens on Feb. 26.

Why It Matters - and What It Doesn't Solve

The partnerships add technical capabilities Cardano has lacked: institutional-grade cross-chain access and native privacy infrastructure. LayerZero's recent backing from Citadel Securities lends the protocol institutional credibility.

But none of this addresses ADA's immediate problem. The token has lost a third of its value this month in a broader sell-off that has pushed Bitcoin down 47% from its October high and triggered $6 billion in crypto ETF outflows since November.

Cardano's total value locked in DeFi remains a fraction of competitors like Ethereum and Solana.

Hoskinson's McDonald's stunt grabbed attention. Whether the LayerZero and Midnight launches can generate sustained demand for ADA is a separate question entirely.

Read next: Vitalik Buterin Says Crypto Apps Must Stop Paying Users To Exist - And The Data Backs Him Up

Michael Saylor's Strategy acquired 40,150 Bitcoin (BTC) in January, accounting for 93% of all purchases by publicly traded digital asset treasury firms.

The remaining 3,080 BTC came from all other companies combined, according to a Bitcoin Treasuries report - the fourth consecutive month Strategy's competitors have seen their share shrink.

In total, digital asset treasuries added roughly 43,230 BTC worth $3.5 billion last month, up from 28,900 BTC in December but a fraction of the 147,000 BTC bought in November 2024 during the post-election rally.

A One-Company Market

The numbers paint a picture of a corporate Bitcoin market increasingly dependent on a single buyer. While 30 public companies announced purchases in January - up from 20 in December - the volume outside Strategy continued to decline.

That concentration carries risk. Strategy's stock has fallen roughly 70% from its highs, and the company reported a $12.4 billion fourth-quarter net loss driven by $17.4 billion in unrealized losses under fair-value accounting.

Its holdings of more than 714,000 BTC - over 3% of total supply - now sit more than $7 billion underwater at current prices.

The firm's market-to-net-asset-value ratio has slipped below 1.0, meaning shares trade at a discount to the Bitcoin backing them. That dynamic complicates further equity raises, since issuing stock below NAV dilutes existing shareholders rather than adding value.

Read also: Vitalik Buterin Says Crypto Apps Must Stop Paying Users To Exist - And The Data Backs Him Up

Cracks in the Broader Model

Strategy is not the only treasury firm under pressure. Standard Chartered noted last year that half of the roughly 60 publicly traded Bitcoin treasury companies had an average purchase price of about $90,000.

With Bitcoin trading around $68,000, that leaves many sitting on steep losses.

Four public companies sold BTC in January. Miners Riot Platforms and Bitdeer offloaded 1,363 and 490 BTC respectively.

What Saylor Says vs. What the Numbers Show

Saylor said this week that Strategy will never be forced to sell and will keep buying "forever." The company has built a $1.4 billion cash reserve covering roughly 21 months of preferred dividend and interest payments, according to a DL News report - a buffer designed to avoid forced liquidation in a downturn.

But the firm's growing reliance on preferred shares adds ongoing costs. Its variable-rate preferred offering (STRC) pays annualized dividends of 11.25% and has raised $3.4 billion to date.

Prediction market Myriad currently prices a 25% probability that Strategy sells Bitcoin before year-end - a wager that will test whether Saylor's cash buffer outlasts the drawdown.

Read next: Bitget Wants 40% Of Tokenized Stock Trading By 2030 - But The Market Barely Exists Yet

Bitcoin (BTC) is trading near a level that has historically separated mid-cycle corrections from prolonged bear markets - the 200-week exponential moving average, currently at approximately $68,300.

With the token down 47% from its October 2025 all-time high of $126,000, this week's close could determine whether the sell-off deepens or stabilizes.

The cryptocurrency traded around $67,000–$68,000 on Thursday, hovering just below the 200-week EMA after last week's plunge to $60,000.

What Happened

Analyst Rekt Capital noted that in prior cycles - 2018 and 2022 - a weekly close below the 200-week EMA followed by a failed retest of the level from below triggered what he termed "bearish acceleration," meaning steeper and more sustained price declines.

Bitcoin must close the week above $68,300 to avoid repeating that pattern.

The 200-week EMA, along with the 200-week simple moving average, had been expected to act as a long-term price floor. Last week's drop below $60,000 broke through both levels intraday, though the weekly candle recovered.

Read also: Vitalik Buterin Says Crypto Apps Must Stop Paying Users To Exist - And The Data Backs Him Up

Oversold Readings Offer Counterpoint

Not all indicators point to further losses. Bitcoin's Mayer Multiple - the ratio of price to the 200-day moving average - has dropped to approximately 0.6, according to CryptoQuant data.

Readings below 0.8 have historically coincided with strong long-term buying opportunities.

Only about 5.3% of Bitcoin's trading days have seen a lower Mayer Multiple. Previous instances at this level include the December 2018 bear market bottom, the March 2020 COVID crash, and the November 2022 FTX collapse.

Charles Edwards, founder of quantitative fund Capriole Investments, called the 0.6x reading "historically one of the best buy signals in Bitcoin history," while acknowledging further downside is possible.

Broader Market Context

The technical debate plays out against a deteriorating macro backdrop. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have shed roughly $6 billion in net outflows since November 2025, according to CoinShares data.

CryptoQuant noted that institutional demand has "reversed materially," with ETFs becoming net sellers in 2026 after purchasing 46,000 BTC during the same period last year.

Standard Chartered on Wednesday lowered its near-term target to $50,000 while keeping a year-end call of $100,000. Bernstein, by contrast, called this the "weakest bear case" in Bitcoin's history, citing the absence of major industry failures that typically accompany deeper drawdowns.

Whether that pessimism is warranted or a contrary indicator depends largely on what happens when the weekly candle closes on Sunday.

Read next: Bitget Wants 40% Of Tokenized Stock Trading By 2030 - But The Market Barely Exists Yet

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin said on Wednesday that most crypto token incentive programs from 2021 to 2024 functioned as "galaxy brain justification" for speculation rather than genuine user acquisition.

In a lengthy post on X, he argued that the industry's successful apps now grow by being useful, not by paying people indiscriminately to show up.

The comments came in response to a crypto user who claimed that apps cannot attract meaningful usage without airdrops or token rewards.

Buterin pushed back, citing his own father's regular use of Fileverse - a decentralized document platform - as proof that organic adoption of cryptocurrency applications is possible without financial incentives.

Good Incentives vs. Bad Ones

Buterin drew a distinction between two categories. Incentives that compensate for temporary, unavoidable costs of using immature technology - such as DeFi liquidity rewards that offset hacking risk in early-stage protocols - are economically sound, he said.

Incentives that attract users who would never engage with a mature version of the product are destructive. Paying people to post promotional content was the clearest example, he wrote, because it draws participants who "optimize for maximum laziness" and leave the moment rewards dry up.

Even when subsidized users stay, the damage may already be done. Buterin argued that quantity of community and quality of community are different goals. In DeFi, one ETH in a liquidity pool performs the same function regardless of who deposited it.

In social platforms or community-driven projects, that logic breaks down - higher-quality participants write open-source tools, answer questions, and become potential team members.

Read also: Bitget Wants 40% Of Tokenized Stock Trading By 2030 - But The Market Barely Exists Yet

The Bubble Thesis

Buterin went further with what he called a "more cynical take." During 2021–2024, the real product for many projects was creating a speculative bubble, he wrote. Incentive programs existed primarily to inflate narratives, not to bootstrap networks.

He referenced his November 2025 essay on "galaxy brain resistance" — the idea that sufficiently clever reasoning can justify almost anything.

Any argument that token incentives help acquisition, he said, should be tested against the simpler explanation that the incentives just served a "pump and dump wearing a suit."

Why It Matters

The post arrives as airdrop farming remains a major activity in cryptocurrency. Multiple DeFi protocols and layer-2 networks distributed tokens worth hundreds of millions of dollars throughout 2024 and 2025, often to wallets that rapidly sold their allocations.

Buterin's conclusion was blunt: the bulk of the effort should go into making an actually useful app. That was historically ignored because narrative engineering, not product quality, drove speculative cycles.

But the projects crypto users "most appreciate and respect" now, he wrote, do the majority of their user acquisition that way.

Read also: Malaysia's BNM Dives Into Stablecoin Sandboxes: A Cautious Bet on Tokenized Assets

Bitget, the Seychelles-based crypto exchange, said Wednesday it aims to handle up to 40% of global tokenized stock trading by 2030 - a target it pegs at $15–30 trillion in annual volume.

The ambition rests on a bold thesis: that a meaningful share of the estimated $100-130 trillion in annual equity trading will eventually route through crypto rails. Tokenized equities, however, currently sit below $1 billion in total market value.

The announcement came alongside a mobile app redesign that places crypto and traditional financial products on a single homepage, with a unified "Trade" tab for crypto assets and a separate "TradFi" tab for stock perpetuals, gold, FX, and indices - all settled in USDT.

What Happened

Bitget launched TradFi trading in January and has since expanded to more than 200 tokenized stock and ETF listings through a partnership with Ondo Finance (ONDO).

The exchange claims 89.1% of global market share for Ondo-issued tokenized stock tokens and a peak daily volume of $6 billion in January 2026.

That dominance, though, comes with important caveats. The 89% figure applies only to Ondo-issued tokens, not the entire tokenized equities market, where Kraken's xStocks and Backed Finance also compete.

Bitget has also been running a zero-fee trading promotion through April 2026, removing transaction and gas fees on all tokenized stock trades - a subsidy that likely inflates reported volumes.

The Gap Between Ambition and Reality

A January 2026 report from Sentora and DL Research found that tokenized equities reached roughly $963 million in market value, up nearly 2,900% year-on-year but still a rounding error in global finance.

The broader tokenized RWA market, including Treasuries and private credit, stands at roughly $20–24 billion.

Bitget's $15-30 trillion target assumes global stock trading grows to $160–200 trillion by 2030 and that crypto platforms capture 20–40% of that flow. Even Ark Invest's bullish projection estimates all tokenized assets - not just equities - reaching $11 trillion by decade's end. McKinsey's forecast is more conservative at $2 trillion.

Why It Matters

The app update and volume claims reflect a broader race among exchanges to position themselves as on-ramps for tokenized traditional assets.

Kraken, Robinhood, Gemini, and Coinbase have all moved into tokenized equities, while Securitize plans to launch onchain stocks with full shareholder rights in early 2026.

Whether Bitget's market share holds once fee subsidies end - and whether tokenized stocks gain enough regulatory traction to scale beyond today's niche - remains the open question.

For now, the exchange is spending aggressively to own a category that barely exists yet.

Standard Chartered has slashed its year-end cryptocurrency forecasts, projecting Bitcoin (BTC) could fall to $50,000 and Ethereum (ETH) to $1,400 in a "capitulation" over the coming months before recovering by the end of 2026.

What Happened: Bank Cuts Crypto Forecasts

In a new report, Standard Chartered said it expects further price declines across digital assets in the near term. The bank lowered its end-2026 Bitcoin target to $100,000 from $150,000 and its Ethereum forecast to $4,000 from $7,500.

The report cited declining ETF holdings — with the average BTC ETF position now down roughly 25% — and a worsening macro backdrop as key drivers. Markets expect no further rate cuts until Kevin Warsh takes over as Federal Reserve chair in June, which Standard Chartered said makes ETF holders more likely to sell than buy the dip.

The bank noted, however, that its long-term forecasts through 2030 remain unchanged. It also pointed out that this sell-off has not triggered the collapse of any digital asset platforms, unlike 2022, suggesting the asset class is becoming more resilient.

Also Read: XRP Drops 33% But Nine-Year Trendline Holds Strong

Why It Matters: Deeper Downturn Ahead

Standard Chartered's call for a near-term bottom at $50,000 for Bitcoin and $1,400 for Ethereum would still represent a smaller drawdown than previous cycles, according to the report. The bank expects other digital assets to broadly follow the majors lower before a second-half recovery brings prices back to its revised targets.

The forecast carries weight because it comes from one of the most prominent traditional banks covering digital assets. If realized, the projected decline would test investor conviction across the crypto market at a time when macroeconomic uncertainty continues to weigh on risk appetite.

Read Next: Ethereum Loses $2,000 Level Amid Bearish Momentum

As stablecoin regulation advances in the U.S. and Hong Kong and global interest rates trend lower, a quieter shift may be underway inside DeFi, where the retail-led era could be giving way to institutional capital and algorithmic allocators.

Sam MacPherson, co-founder and CEO of Phoenix Labs, said the market is nearing a turning point in how capital will enter and use on-chain markets.

“We’re reaching an inflection point where institutions are really going to come on-chain in size,” MacPherson told Yellow.com an interview.

In his view, that transition will reshape what “DeFi adoption” means, pushing protocols to optimize for compliance constraints, balance-sheet realities, and system-level risk management rather than retail growth loops.

Institutions Are Coming On-Chain In Size

MacPherson’s core macro call is that institutional participation will expand materially from here, and that the winners will look less like consumer apps and more like connective tissue.

He framed Phoenix Labs’ strategy as building around that expectation, however, the next set of dominant on-chain liquidity pools may be the ones that institutions can actually plug into, with risk frameworks that resemble what they already recognize.

This is also why he described Spark as an “institutional connectivity layer,” arguing that institutional borrowers often need features that purely permissionless markets do not provide, including KYC/AML processes, fixed-rate products, and operational monitoring.

Banks As Partners, Not Existential Threats

MacPherson rejected the idea that bank-issued stablecoins automatically crowd out decentralized finance.

Instead, he argued that banks entering on-chain markets will still need DeFi liquidity rails, and that competing head-on with bank balance sheets would be unrealistic.

“If we’re getting into a liquidity war with a bank, we’re not going to be able to win that,” he said. “But when banks come on-chain, this is not their space. We can help facilitate their entry into DeFi.”

Also Read: DogeOS Targets Billions In Idle Dogecoin To Build A Culture-Driven DeFi Ecosystem

Lower Rates Could Revive Crypto-Native Yields

With tokenized T-bill yields compressing and policy rates easing, the assumption is that on-chain savings yields must fall or take on more credit risk.

MacPherson said lower rates can increase risk appetite, which tends to increase leverage demand, which can lift crypto-native borrowing and funding activity.

“Lowering interest rates will drive more crypto speculation,” he said, describing a path where increased leverage demand supports on-chain rates rather than undermines them.

If that thesis holds, the next yield regime may be less about pass-through of risk-free rates and more about how quickly leverage demand returns during easier monetary conditions.

AI Agents, Governance Realism, And The Compliance Trade-Off

MacPherson said he expects AI agents to become major market participants, arguing that more sophisticated allocators can improve capital efficiency and reduce emotion-driven volatility.

“I suspect actually AI agents will be the main operators on blockchains in the not too distant future,” he said.

He also described decentralized governance as an open-ended experiment.

If it fails to coordinate effectively at scale, he suggested systems may revert toward more centralized operational structures, even if the underlying product continues to function.

“It’s possible that if it’s not successful, we revert back to more of a corporate structure,” he said.

Read Next: Institutional Arbitrage May Replace Staking As Crypto’s Yield Engine, Says Crypto Exec

Elon Musk said during an xAI presentation on Feb. 11 that X Money, the digital payments system for his social media platform X, is running in closed internal beta and could expand to a limited external beta within one to two months before a worldwide rollout to the platform's more than 600 million active users.

What Happened: X Money Nears Public Beta

Musk disclosed the timeline during xAI's "All Hands" event, where he also discussed the AI venture's reorganization.

"We actually have X Money live in closed beta within the company, and we expect in the next month or 2, to go to unlimited external beta, and then go worldwide to all X users," Musk said.

X Money has secured money transmitter licenses in more than 40 U.S. states. The platform has also established a partnership with Visa to support its payments infrastructure.

Musk described the service as "the central source of all monetary transactions," adding: "It's really going to be a game-changer." The payments feature is part of his broader push to turn X into a so-called "super app" modeled after Asia's all-in-one platforms such as WeChat, combining social networking, messaging, commerce and financial services.

X currently claims more than 1 billion installs worldwide. "If you wanted to, you could live your life on the X app," Musk said.

Also Read: XRP Drops 33% But Nine-Year Trendline Holds Strong

Why It Matters: Crypto Speculation Grows

The announcement has fueled speculation about whether X Money could eventually integrate cryptocurrency payments, though no such feature has been confirmed. Two tokens have drawn particular attention from investors building their own narratives around the platform.

Dogecoin (DOGE) remains closely tied to Musk's personal brand, and past comments from Musk suggesting the meme coin could be suitable for micropayments have kept speculation alive. Separately, XRP (XRP) has drawn interest because Cross River Bank, a financial partner working with X on payment processing, has used Ripple's protocol for cross-border transfers since 2014.

Neither DOGE nor XRP showed significant price movement following the announcement. The actual impact of X Money on crypto markets and the broader financial system will depend on what the platform looks like once it officially launches.

Read Next: Ethereum Loses $2,000 Level Amid Bearish Momentum

As meme coin narratives face renewed pressure in a risk-off market, DogeOS is betting that Dogecoin’s (DOGE) future lies not in price momentum, but in unlocking billions of dollars sitting idle on centralized exchanges.

Jordan Jefferson, CEO and founder of DogeOS and the MyDoge wallet, said the real opportunity is not to replace Dogecoin or compete with high-throughput chains like Solana (SOL), but to build an ecosystem around an asset that has already survived a decade of market cycles.

“Doge is Doge,” Jefferson told Yellow.com in an interview. “We’re not fundamentally changing Dogecoin. We’re creating more opportunities around it and on it.”

According to Jefferson, the core structural issue is that most Dogecoin remains parked on centralized exchanges, where trading fees accrue to platforms rather than to holders.

“Dogecoin is supposed to be the people’s currency. Why is it all in the hands of a few exchanges?” he said. “Billions and billions in fees are earned by exchanges on Dogecoin trading, and someone holding Doge cannot provide liquidity and earn a share of those fees anywhere.”

Culture Over Throughput

Unlike many Layer-2 projects, DogeOS is not positioning itself as a faster or cheaper alternative to Ethereum (ETH) or Solana.

Jefferson said that framing is outdated.

“The world doesn’t really need another blockchain,” he said. “Competing on technology alone is a losing battle.”

Instead, he describes Dogecoin as a “culture chain,” one built on a globally recognized meme and a loyal user base that has persisted for more than 10 years.

In his view, that cultural capital is more defensible than incremental improvements in transaction speed.

Also Read: Institutional Arbitrage May Replace Staking As Crypto’s Yield Engine, Says Crypto Exec

“There’s only one blue-chip meme,” Jefferson said. “And that’s Dogecoin.”

DogeOS aims to introduce native DeFi functionality, including yield and liquidity provision, to incentivize users to move Dogecoin on-chain.

The platform is designed to inherit Dogecoin’s proof-of-work security, potentially enhanced in the future by zero-knowledge verification, but without altering the base layer itself.

From Meme To On-Chain Economy

Jefferson argues that enabling smart contracts and DeFi infrastructure around Dogecoin could increase its on-chain velocity and broaden participation beyond centralized trading.

“The problem right now is there’s little incentive to move Dogecoin on-chain,” he said. “By introducing native DeFi and yield opportunities, there’s real financial incentive, not just a philosophical one about self-custody.”

The broader ambition is to convert what he calls “idle meme capital” into an active ecosystem, channeling developers to build products tailored to the Dogecoin community rather than replicating Ethereum-native applications.

Human-First, AI-Ready

Jefferson also pushed back on the notion that autonomous AI agents will soon dominate crypto usage.

“We’re very much building for human users,” he said, arguing that AI-driven finance remains overstated in the near term.

Still, he believes crypto will eventually serve as the settlement layer for AI-based payments and agents and that Dogecoin, as one of the most decentralized and widely distributed networks, is well positioned for that future.

Read Next: Exclusive: Aptos Says Institutional Blockchain Adoption Is Decoupling From Bitcoin Price Cycles

Fundstrat's Tom Lee told a conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday that Ethereum (ETH) has fallen more than 50% eight times since 2018 and rebounded sharply every time, a pattern he said points to another rapid recovery from its current slump below $2,000.

What Happened: Lee Predicts V-Shaped Rebound

Lee said each of those eight drawdowns produced what he called a V-shaped bottom, with Ethereum recovering at roughly the same speed as its decline. He pointed to last year's 64% drop between January and March as the most recent example.

"Nothing has changed," Lee said. "Ether will see another V-shaped bottom."

He compared the current downturn to previous troughs in late 2018, late 2022 and Apr. 2025, arguing investors should focus on opportunity rather than capitulation. Market analyst Tom DeMark of BitMine separately identified $1,890 as a potential downside target, describing a scenario in which the level is briefly tested twice — a formation Lee called a "perfected bottom."

Ethereum was trading near $1,970 at the time of writing, after falling roughly 37% over the past 30 days. Prices on Coinbase touched about $1,760 on Feb. 6, just above the 2025 low near $1,400, according to TradingView.

Also Read: XRP Drops 33% But Nine-Year Trendline Holds Strong

Why It Matters: Record Staking Signals Conviction

On-chain data suggests long-term holders are not retreating. The wait time to stake Ethereum has climbed to a record 71 days, with roughly 4 million ETH in the validator entry queue, according to ValidatorQueue.

The share of Ethereum supply staked has also hit an all-time high of 30.3%, or about 36.7 million ETH. Crypto analyst Milk Road described the trend as "a massive supply restriction," noting that roughly one-third of Ethereum's supply is now illiquid and earning around 2.83% APR.

"When people lock up $74 billion during a price dip, they're not speculating," Milk Road said. "They're settling in."

Read Next: Ethereum Loses $2,000 Level Amid Bearish Momentum

Pi Network (PI) is requiring all Mainnet node operators to complete the first step of a planned series of blockchain protocol upgrades by Feb. 15, as the project claims 16 million users have now migrated to its Mainnet.

What Happened: Node Upgrade Deadline

The Pi Core Team posted on X on Feb. 11 that the Pi Mainnet blockchain protocol is undergoing a series of upgrades, with the first step carrying a Feb. 15 deadline. All Mainnet nodes must complete this step to remain connected to the network.

The announcement came alongside a broader update on the project's node infrastructure. Pi nodes, which run on laptops and desktop computers rather than mobile devices, represent what the team calls the "fourth role" in the Pi Network community.

The network relies on a consensus model based on the Stellar Consensus Protocol rather than proof-of-work mining, using trusted groups known as quorum slices and a global trust graph built from mobile users' security circles.

The system operates across three tiers of participation: a computer app for checking balances and accessing internal tools, standard node participation for verifying blockchain validity and submitting transactions, and a SuperNode tier that handles consensus and ledger synchronization around the clock.

SuperNode operators must maintain stable 24/7 connectivity and are selected by the Core Team following KYC approval.

Also Read: XRP Drops 33% But Nine-Year Trendline Holds Strong

Why It Matters: Community Frustration Grows

The upgrade announcement did little to quiet persistent frustration within the Pi community. Rather than discussing the technical changes, many users pushed back against what they see as a lack of transparency around the project's second migration phase, questioning when their Pi tokens would finally be moved to the Mainnet.

Others demanded more details on what the upgrades would actually entail and whether they would address concerns about missing tokens. The pattern of community backlash is not new — previous Core Team posts have drawn similar criticism over unresolved issues.

Read Next: Ethereum Loses $2,000 Level Amid Bearish Momentum

Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley predicts that two-thirds of global financial institutions will enter crypto within the next six months, citing direct conversations with top banking executives as the basis for his forecast.

What Happened: Bitwise CEO's Adoption Forecast

In an appearance on the Talking Tokens podcast, Horsley said he expects 66% of all financial institutions to begin utilizing digital assets in the near term. He based the prediction on personal discussions with bank CEOs, presidents and chairmen.

"I've spoken with a number of CEOs and presidents and a few chairmen of banks and I think it's all happening right now," Horsley said. "I think two-thirds of all financial institutions will be in crypto in the next six months."

The Bitwise co-founder added that more than half of all financial technology companies would also move into the space. He described the broader trend as the industry "getting wired-up connected," pointing to what he sees as crypto's path toward mainstream adoption as a store of value and asset class used by billions of people.

Also Read: XRP Drops 33% But Nine-Year Trendline Holds Strong

Why It Matters: Institutional Shift Accelerating

Horsley argued that having hundreds of major corporations and financial institutions enter the crypto market — and bring the asset class to their existing customer bases — would represent a fundamental shift. He characterized the moment as crypto "putting a dent in the universe and really becoming something that's ubiquitous and permanent."

The prediction is notable given Bitwise's position as one of the largest crypto index fund managers, though it remains to be seen whether traditional finance moves at the pace Horsley describes.

Read Next: Ethereum Loses $2,000 Level Amid Bearish Momentum

Bitcoin (BTC) realized losses have surged to approximately $2.3 billion on a seven-day basis — levels last seen during the June 2022 Luna and UST crash — but the current sell-off is unfolding near $67,000 rather than $19,000, suggesting a cyclical flush of late buyers rather than systemic market failure.

What Happened: Realized Losses Spike

The Bitcoin Net Realized Profit/Loss seven-day moving average recently dropped to around -$1.99 billion, according to Axel Adler's on-chain assessment. The metric tracks the balance between realized profits and losses from coins moving on-chain, offering a smoothed view of investor behavior.

It slightly recovered to roughly -$1.73 billion in the following days but still represents the second-deepest negative reading on record. Net losses have remained below -$1.7 billion for several consecutive sessions, indicating persistent seller pressure and ongoing capitulation among investors who entered at higher prices.

Historically, a sustained return above zero has marked transitions back to profit-dominant market phases.

Also Read: XRP Drops 33% But Nine-Year Trendline Holds Strong

Why It Matters: Price Context Differs

The headline figure looks alarming, but the broader backdrop tells a more nuanced story. In June 2022, comparable loss volumes occurred with Bitcoin trading near $19,000, during a period of structural network deterioration and cascading liquidations across the industry.

This time, similar realized losses are playing out around $67,000, after Bitcoin lost the key $70,000 support level. Adler's data suggests the current wave reflects the flushing out of late-cycle buyers and leveraged positions rather than a repeat of 2022's collapse.

The $60,000–$62,000 region now emerges as the next critical support area, aligning with prior consolidation zones. Holding that range could stabilize sentiment; a break below it could open the door to deeper retracement.

Read Next: Ethereum Loses $2,000 Level Amid Bearish Momentum

Uniswap (UNI) surged nearly 42% to around $4.57 on Feb. 11 after news tied the decentralized exchange protocol to BlackRock's tokenized fund expansion, but large holders sold roughly 5.95 million tokens during the spike — erasing about 26% of the gains and leaving the price near $3.40.

What Happened: UNI Spike and Selloff

The rally did not come out of nowhere. On the 12-hour chart, UNI had been building a bullish divergence since mid-January, with price making lower lows while the Relative Strength Index posted higher lows.

On-Balance Volume broke above a descending trendline on Feb. 11, the same day the BlackRock-linked headline hit, confirming that retail traders rushed into the token aggressively. The breakout candle, however, formed with a long upper wick and a small body — an early signal that sellers were absorbing buying pressure near $4.50.

On-chain data showed supply held by large UNI holders dropped from about 648.46 million tokens to 642.51 million on that day. At prices near $4.57, that roughly 5.95 million-token reduction amounted to about $27M in selling pressure.

Also Read: XRP Drops 33% But Nine-Year Trendline Holds Strong

Why It Matters: Whale Distribution Risk

The sequence of events suggests the BlackRock-driven surge functioned as a liquidity event for large holders rather than a lasting trend shift. Retail buyers provided demand while whales provided supply, and once the large wallets finished distributing, buy-side momentum collapsed.

UNI now sits near $3.40 with volume continuing to weaken. If the token holds above $3.21, consolidation may follow, but that support rests on short-term buying rather than long-term accumulation.

A breakdown below $3.21 could trigger a move toward $2.80 — the head of the prior reversal pattern — which would erase the entirety of the BlackRock-related gains.

To regain upside momentum, UNI would need to reclaim the $3.68 to $3.96 zone, which now acts as a major resistance area after the failed breakout.

Read Next: Ethereum Loses $2,000 Level Amid Bearish Momentum

Binance completed its $1 billion Bitcoin (BTC) purchasing plan for its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) after acquiring 4,545 BTC worth $304.58 million, bringing the reserve wallet's total holdings to 15,000 BTC valued at approximately $1.005 billion.

What Happened: SAFU Fund Reaches $1B Target

The purchases were tracked by Arkham monitoring data, which showed the SAFU wallet steadily accumulating Bitcoin during a period of broader market weakness. Rather than waiting for favorable conditions, the exchange converted roughly $1 billion in stablecoins to BTC for the fund.

The SAFU was originally created as a reserve mechanism to protect users in the event of security breaches or unexpected losses.

Binance has stated that if the fund's value falls below $800 million due to market declines or legal costs, it will replenish the balance back to $1 billion through an automatic top-up mechanism.

Also Read: XRP Drops 33% But Nine-Year Trendline Holds Strong

Why It Matters: User Protection Signal

The timing of the accumulation — during a downturn rather than a rally — has drawn mixed reactions from market participants. Some view the stablecoin-to-BTC conversion as a vote of confidence in Bitcoin's long-term value, while critics argue the shift away from stablecoins could introduce additional price volatility to the reserve.

On-chain observers note that sustained inflows into a single reserve wallet of this size can reduce perceived exchange-side selling pressure.

Read Next: Ethereum Loses $2,000 Level Amid Bearish Momentum

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins told lawmakers he could not discuss the paused enforcement case against Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun during a Wednesday oversight hearing but agreed to consider a confidential briefing for members of the House Financial Services Committee on the matter.

What Happened: Sun Case Questioned

Representative Maxine Waters, the committee's top Democrat, pressed Atkins on the agency's decision to effectively shelve its case against Sun and whether his connections to President Donald Trump played a role.

The SEC formally accused Sun in 2023 of inflating TRX trading volume through a wash-trading scheme, alleging his employees carried out more than 600,000 wash trades between two accounts he controlled.

The agency moved to pause the case in court a year ago while considering a potential resolution, but none has been announced. "While you were exploring a potential resolution, Mr. Sun has been busy ingratiating himself within Trump's orbit," Waters said, pointing to Sun's ties to the Trump family's World Liberty Financial Inc.

Asked whether the SEC's fraud focus extends to cryptocurrency markets, Atkins replied: "Whatever involves securities." His agency dropped enforcement matters last year against Binance, Ripple (XRP), Coinbase, Kraken and Robinhood, with new leadership criticizing the prior "regulation-by-enforcement" approach.

Also Read: XRP Drops 33% But Nine-Year Trendline Holds Strong

Why It Matters: Regulation Race Heats Up

While Democrats zeroed in on the enforcement pullback, Republicans pushed Atkins on his pledge to deliver clear crypto regulations alongside the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Atkins said the agencies are drafting rules "consistent with what's in the Clarity Act" passed by the House, adding the effort would "help give certainty as to where the jurisdiction of the two agencies are."

The CFTC recently revised a no-action letter clarifying that national trust banks can issue payment stablecoins and expanding eligible tokenized collateral.

Read Next: Ethereum Loses $2,000 Level Amid Bearish Momentum

Bitfury co-founder Val Vavilov, a Latvian billionaire who built one of the largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining operations over 15 years, said he views the cryptocurrency's more than 50% decline from its October peak as a buying opportunity, though he declined to disclose how much he has purchased.

What Happened: Bitfury Founder Buys Dip

Vavilov, 46, said in comments on WhatsApp that "the fall in Bitcoin is an opportunity to rebalance our portfolio and purchase a certain amount of Bitcoin at a low price."

The remarks came after a market selloff last week that dragged Bitcoin below $67,000 during Asian trading hours on Wednesday, its lowest level since the previous Friday.

The rout has rattled even seasoned market participants. Michael Burry, known for his bet against the U.S. housing market before the 2008 financial crisis, warned that Bitcoin's decline could deepen into a self-reinforcing "death spiral."

Still, Vavilov struck a more measured tone than some of his peers, noting that Bitcoin is "only one component" of his investment portfolio and that his company has long diversified into artificial intelligence and other sectors. Michael Saylor's Strategy Inc. has taken a different approach, purchasing more than $7 billion worth of Bitcoin since the Oct. 10 crash, according to its website.

Also Read: Strategy Won't Stop Buying Bitcoin, Saylor Says

Why It Matters: Diversification Shields Wealth

Bitcoin's volatile start to 2026 wiped out gains made since President Donald Trump's return to the White House, and the broader selloff burned retail investors across the market. Vavilov, however, has been insulated by his expansion beyond crypto mining.

He owns a 12% stake in Cipher Mining Inc., a Nasdaq-listed company spun out of Bitfury in 2021, whose shares have surged roughly 200% over the past year. That rally followed a $3 billion, 10-year deal with Fluidstack, a cloud firm partly backed by Alphabet Inc.'s Google, to build AI data center infrastructure.

Read Next: XRP Drops 33% But Nine-Year Trendline Holds Strong

XRP (XRP) has fallen roughly 15% over the past week and 33% in the last 30 days to trade at $1.37, but analyst Arthur argues that a nine-year ascending channel on the monthly chart points to a key support zone at $0.85–$0.95 where institutional capital could re-enter the market.

What Happened: Monthly Chart Flags Support

Arthur posted a detailed thread on X, mapping XRP price action from Mar. 2017 to the present on the monthly timeframe. The lower boundary of an ascending channel, tested repeatedly over nine years, now sits roughly 30% below current prices.

"The bottom of the monthly channel may very well represent the area where 'smart money' returns," Arthur wrote. He noted that the largest volume spike in XRP history occurred between November 2020 and April 2021, while the 2024 rally above $2 saw four times less volume.

"The real money hasn't returned yet," he said. "What we saw in 2024 was whales and some funds. Not the large institutional flow that changes a market forever."

Derivatives data from Arab Chain showed that over the past 30 days, XRP futures open interest dropped by about 1.8 billion XRP on Bybit, 1.6 billion on Binance and 1.5 billion on Kraken. The contraction suggests traders are closing leveraged positions rather than building new ones.

Also Read: Ethereum Stalls Below $2,050 As Bears Tighten Grip

Why It Matters: Macro Shift Builds Case

Arthur cited five macro developments distinguishing early 2026 from prior cycles, including regulatory clarity after the conclusion of Ripple's SEC lawsuit, the launch and scaling of RLUSD, and institutional integration of Ripple's technology. He also pointed to the accelerating tokenization narrative and what he called "real institutional infrastructure" now in place.

"Technical analysis is always driven by macro," he said.

"And the macro is pointing up." XRP has a history of sharp recoveries — it traded near $0.30 for months during the 2018 bear market before rallying to $1.70 in April 2021, then bottomed around $0.35 in spring 2022 and remained range-bound until November 2024, when it climbed above $2 and later hit an all-time high of $3.65 in Jul. 2025.

Read Next: Third-Largest Bitcoin Miner Sells 4,451 BTC Marking Pivot To AI

Ethereum (ETH) dropped below the $2,000 mark after failing to sustain gains above $2,050, with bearish technical indicators and a trend line resistance at $1,980 on the hourly chart suggesting the second-largest cryptocurrency could face further downside pressure toward the $1,900 support zone.

What Happened: ETH Breaks Below $2,000

ETH traded below both the $2,000 level and the 100-hourly Simple Moving Average after a correction from recent highs near $2,169. The decline pushed the price past the 50% Fibonacci retracement level of the upward move from the $1,745 swing low to that $2,169 high.

A bearish trend line has formed with resistance at $1,980 on the hourly ETH/USD chart.

Buyers showed some activity near the $1,900 level, but the hourly MACD continues gaining momentum in bearish territory while the RSI sits below 50.

On the upside, key resistance levels stand at $2,000 and $2,020, with a break above the latter potentially opening a path toward $2,165 and eventually $2,250 to $2,280. On the downside, failure to reclaim $2,000 could send the price toward $1,900, $1,850, and ultimately the $1,720 to $1,750 range.Now let me complete the article:

Also Read: Ethereum Stalls Below $2,050 As Bears Tighten Grip

Why It Matters: Bearish Signals Stack Up

The technical picture paints a concerning outlook for ETH holders. The hourly MACD is building bearish momentum, while the RSI has slipped below the neutral 50 mark — both indicators that sellers currently control the price action.

The $1,900 level, which aligns with the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of the recent rally from $1,745 to $2,169, represents a critical line of defense.

A breach there would expose significantly lower targets at $1,850, $1,820, and eventually the $1,720 to $1,750 region, effectively erasing most of the prior recovery.

Read Next: Third-Largest Bitcoin Miner Sells 4,451 BTC Marking Pivot To AI

Michael Saylor and his firm Strategy have reaffirmed their commitment to purchasing Bitcoin (BTC) on a quarterly schedule, maintaining a position of 714,644 coins worth tens of billions of dollars even as the cryptocurrency slid back below $70,000 this week.

What Happened: Strategy Reaffirms Quarterly Buys

According to public statements and company filings, Strategy will continue making Bitcoin purchases every quarter regardless of short-term price swings. The approach treats the cryptocurrency as a long-term reserve asset rather than a trading position.

The firm's 714,644-coin stockpile was assembled over years, funded in large part through debt instruments.

Strategy carries more than $8B in total debt, including notes created specifically to finance accumulation, though the company says it holds enough cash to cover ordinary obligations and dividend payments for a period measured in years.

Saylor's message was direct: selling is not on the table.

Also Read: Ethereum Stalls Below $2,050 As Bears Tighten Grip

Why It Matters: Debt-Funded Concentration Risk

Some analysts have raised questions about the sustainability of a debt-financed accumulation model, particularly as Bitcoin increasingly trades like a high-beta asset that moves in lockstep with tech stocks during risk-on episodes rather than serving as a safe haven. Short-term traders remain uneasy while long-term holders appear unbothered, but price swings of this magnitude have already pushed shares of companies with large crypto exposure sharply lower.

For outside observers, the central question is whether steady, debt-backed accumulation becomes a strength if prices recover — or a vulnerability if volatility persists and credit conditions tighten.

Read Next: Third-Largest Bitcoin Miner Sells 4,451 BTC Marking Pivot To AI