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Cryptocurrency exchanges establish emergency measures when the situation in Middle East bases escalates and poses a security threat to employees in the region. 

Some key platforms also deployed contingency plans as threats of missiles and military interventions got worse over the weekend.

The measures will secure the employees and will not interfere with trading services.

Exchanges activate staff safety measures

Cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, and Bitget made available to the teams in the Middle East shelter guidance and emergency responses. 

Remote working guidelines and evacuation assistance were also verified through internal communications and communicated to the public.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen told the community that the exchange would protect the 2, 204 employees in the region. 

The company made a commitment to pay full salaries irrespective of the disruption in its operations. 

It also promised to provide temporary accommodation, transportation, emergency rations, and medical treatment.

The company indicated it would pay airfare and relocation expenses in case there is a need to relocate it. 

The employees were advised at all costs to work at home and report on a daily basis to ensure they were safe.

The founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, made a post on X where he wrote that he is confident in the UAE leadership and the defense system. 

He encouraged the community to be on guard during times of overheated tensions. 

Bitget’s CEO, Gracy Chen, shared safety protocols for staff as Middle East tensions spilled over from the weekend.

Binance allegedly issued a March 1 announcement advising UAE-based employees to adhere to the official government advice on safety.

The local alerts were suggesting people take shelter in the nearest areas and not to be around the windows or open areas since the missiles might hit them. 

Lots of people reached out. All good, and very calm here actually, considering the circumstance. UAE citizens and tourists have a lot of confidence in the country's leadership, and defense system. Seen a few smoke in the sky and heard a few booms.This seems to be the most… https://t.co/7DmtPwTLqr

— CZ BNB (@cz_binance) February 28, 2026

Transactions focused on communication with local governments and in-house security organizations.

Regional presence increases operational focus

The Middle East is now one of the main centers of digital assets companies. 

The UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia launched laws that brought international transactions.

Binance affirmed plans to set up its base in the UAE last year. OKX, Rain, and CoinMENA continue to have strong operations within the area.

OKX said that its risk teams were keeping a close eye on the developments. 

The exchange declared that it would be able to recreate financial records and keep obligations when the systems are disrupted.

The conventional financial institutions responded in a timely manner. 

The Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group of Japan are said to have delayed coming to the region and joined Standard Chartered in giving advisories.

In the meantime, the UAE Capital Market Authority gave notice of the shutdown of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and the Dubai Financial Market, no later than March 3, 2026. Authorities gave the reason of continued security threats.

Crypto markets operate as tokenized gold surges

The markets of digital assets responded instantly because of their continuous trading nature. Bitcoin dropped to $62,938 on the weekend but has since recovered to be above $66,000. 

Ether declined to $1,783 and then started climbing past $1,900.

The tokenized commodities experienced high demand with the traditional exchanges closed. 

Tether Gold was nearly $5,500 and registered over $1 billion of trading transactions per day. Pax Gold overcame $5,500 of approximately $900 million turnover in a day.

The majority of the action was done on centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges. 

The spurt was an indication of investor demand for gold-correlated assets when the geopolitical environment was strained.

The other test of resilience is the one that is now facing crypto exchanges. 

Their international structure and past experience of managing crises can assist them in overcoming the uncertainty and also focus on the safety of the staff.

The post Crypto exchanges set up emergency plans as tensions rock Middle East bases first appeared on Coinfea.

Volume in DEXs increased to the highest point of February 2020, even amidst the widespread market cooldown. 

The month of trading has recorded over $284 billion, the highest trading record ever recorded in 2025. 

DEX activity had its best February performance since 2020, breaking the 2025 record. | Source: Dune Analytics

The performance presents the long-term need for decentralized trading venues despite the decline in overall sentiment.

DEX volumes remain elevated despite a monthly decline

In February, the volumes of DEX increased to over $284 billion. 

This figure was more than the last 2025 monthly record of $239 billion. 

It further surpassed activity during sections of the 2021 to 2022 bull cycle.

This was the outcome after a drastic decline as early as January. DEX trading was down by over 37%. relative to the previous month. 

January had recorded over $402 billion in volume, and it was hard to match.

Nevertheless, the February 2026 performance was the best in February since 2020. Activity was also above February 2025. 

The information is indicative of resilience in the decentralized markets in a softer trading environment.

Weaker performance was also registered in centralized exchanges. 

Volumes there went down to five-month lows. Conversely, DEX platforms were more active in relation.

Various decentralized platforms added revenue-sharing programs in the month. 

These activities were to be used to lure traders and money providers. 

The programs contributed to the solution of a portion of the general market slowdown.

Meme tokens and prediction markets drive trading flows

The changing trader interests in February were reflected in DEX volumes. Meme token activity facilitated keeping the momentum going. 

Other meaningful flows were made by decentralized prediction markets.

Uniswap dominated the total trading. PancakeSwap and PumpSwap were placed in the second and third places. 

Kalshi and Polymarket were also in the top ten in volume. 

HumidiFi provided additional action by its dark liquidity pools.

Hyperliquid continued to be a major derivatives trading source that was decentralized. 

Despite the decrease in its volumes compared to previous heights, the platform achieved a good foundation. 

Hyperliquid is a leader in yearlyized revenue and the variety of users of such markets (Artemis data).

Hyperliquid is also one of the perpetual futures platforms. It is among the few non-centralized applications that are approaching the centralized exchange volumes in that sector. 

This stance highlights the ongoing demand of on chain derivatives.

In recent months, traders have become more discriminating. Liquidity is now focusing on established platforms and trending assets. 

Fewer participants run to provide liquidity to each new token.

Confidence was also supported by security innovations on key DEX platforms. 

Minimized hacking cases made users more confident.

Consequently, the decentralized venues were still managing numerous trending assets in February.

Network health and token performance are tied to DEX strength

The DEX activity was prominent in network performance in the month of February. 

Decentralized exchange trading and finance were implemented on Ethereum to strengthen staking demand. 

Higher requirements of the collateral stimulated the additional staking of ETH.

This movement made networks safer and minimized supply in the market. 

Powerful DEX earnings are currently serving as a measure of ecosystem well-being. 

High volumes of trading are indicators of extended on-chain participation.

The fact that Solana had active token markets also worked to its advantage. PIPPIN was the best performer in the month of February, surging by 129.4%. Raydium is a vital liquidity provider and trader to the token.

Raydium pools were operated by large holders to cause price fluctuations. 

This cycle increased Solana-based liquidity and increased DEX volumes even more. 

Combining centralized and decentralized listings, other dominant tokens maintained momentum.

Niche markets were still able to commoditize even in the face of the general market weakness. 

These parts would tend to be independent of overall trends. 

According to the DEX statistics of February, decentralized trading has been a fundamental aspect of the crypto market structure.

The post DEX Volumes Post Strongest February Since 2020 Amid Shifting Market Trends first appeared on Coinfea.

Railgun activity remained elevated in February, despite the overall market witnessing a downturn. The mixer remains one of the key products in the Ethereum ecosystem, which may see growth in the coming years amid concerns about privacy in the cryptocurrency industry. Currently, Railgun holds a peak value locked, indicating robust activity as one of the most widely used mixers.

The rise of Railgun offers an alternative to Tornado Cash for regular activity and has been adopted by DeFi users to disguise positions. Total value locked on Railgun expanded to over $113M, with most of the value on the Ethereum network. Polygon, Arbitrum, and BNB Chain make up the small remainder. As Cryptopolitan reported, Ethereum is seeking to upgrade its ecosystem, seeking AI assistance and viable use cases.

Railgun registers peak value locked in February

Railgun achieved $269K in fees for February, slightly lower compared to March. However, the size of transfers is also expanding, showing that larger DeFi clients trust the protocol. Vitalik Buterin has used Railgun on multiple occasions, though some of his latest transfers are not anonymized. Railgun is also expanding through dedicated wallets and a privacy toolkit, which can be integrated into DeFi apps.

Railgun claims to offer privacy for legal users. However, threat actors also adapted and expanded their usage of mixers. According to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, mixing is back after the end of sanctions against Tornado Cash. According to the researchers, sanctions reshaped the mixing ecosystem. While Tornado Cash was the leader in the 2020-2022 period, sanctions led to a diversified mixer market.

Other protocols had the advantage of not tainting funds, as exchanges may still be reluctant to accept funds linked to Tornado Cash. Railgun emerged as the leading protocol, with a share of 13% in 2022 and over 71% in 2025. The main funds moving through Railgun are WETH, USDT, USDC, and DAI, showing the influence of DeFi as the main driver. Railgun scans the funds at entry based on a database of tainted wallets.

However, this approach has failed to catch funds from recent exploits, as hackers now shift their haul much faster. Other pools check for the origin of funds when withdrawing assets. For now, Railgun has managed to see acceptance, allowing counterparties to move funds to exchanges without revealing previous transaction details. Meanwhile, RAIL tokens slid to $1.02, erasing over 46% in the past month. RAIL is unraveling from a previous rally that boosted privacy tokens.

Despite the project’s prominence and promotion, RAIL lacks listings on major exchanges. As the token relies on DeFi liquidity, its price reflects the market sentiment directly. RAIL has also been immune to concentrated pumps from centralized exchanges. The mindshare of RAIL is also down by 46% recently, as the token does not offer immediate signs of rallying.

The post Railgun hits peak value locked in February first appeared on Coinfea.

X now permits paid crypto promotions under its updated labeling policy. On Sunday, X mentioned that cryptocurrency and gambling are cleared for paid partnerships, creating potential revenue for content creators. The move comes as X prepares to roll out new features in the coming months, including X Money.

In view of this development, industry influencers can now engage in paid partnerships to promote crypto products and services, provided they follow X’s labeling rules and clearly disclose sponsorships. Influencers are also responsible for ensuring that paid crypto content is blocked or not visible in regions where such promotions are restricted due to local regulations. The update essentially overturns a ban that dates back to at least June 2024. Still, in major markets, the restrictive measure is still in effect in the UK, Australia, and the EU.

X clears crypto and gambling promotions

The news was reported by analyst DeFi Ignas, who mentioned that digital assets are no longer listed under Prohibited Industries for paid promo on X. However, despite the recent exclusion, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, weapons, and diet-related products were added to the ban list. In addition, promotions for sex products and services, alcohol, dating platforms, and recreational and prescription drugs remain restricted.

The platform’s head of product, Nikita Bier, insists the updated ad policies are designed to help creators stay compliant and transparent with their audiences. He noted, “X’s core value is providing an authentic pulse on humanity. While we want to encourage people to build their businesses on X, undisclosed promotions hurt the integrity of the product and lead people to distrust the content they read on X.”

That means paid collaboration posts must show the “Paid Partnership” label. Additionally, influencers must ensure their content complies with applicable laws, including FTC rules. They must also clearly show the product, service, or CTA in the content, without requiring the user to follow extra links. Still, the updated policy sets a clear boundary between Paid Partnerships and routine ads.

X Money to enter external beta phase

The development permits some content to run through X Ads even if it wouldn’t be allowed in a partnership. However, users who violate X’s paid partnership policy may have their posts removed or their accounts suspended. Meanwhile, X Money is heading towards an external beta after completing its internal private beta. Founder Elon Musk revealed, “For X Money, we’ve actually had X Money live in closed beta within the company. We expect in the next month or two to go to a limited external beta, and then to go worldwide to all X users.”

He added that the goal is to make X indispensable for communications, news, or X Money, noting, “you could live your life on the X app.” What X Money is, he added, is a solution for all financial transactions — and, if it works together with XChat and more powerful communication tools, could change the way users engage with the platform, leading to growth to more than one billion daily users.

Overall, X Money supports Musk’s ambition to transform the platform into an all-in-one app for messaging, payments, and day-to-day activities. Although the company has yet to reveal concrete plans to integrate crypto assets into X Money. Earlier, former CEO Yaccarino had stated that X would add investment and trading capabilities, suggesting that digital assets could become part of its financial offerings.

The post X Money beta nears launch as platform reopens crypto promotions first appeared on Coinfea.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has said he hopes artificial intelligence could help the company fast-track the Ethereum roadmap. In his statement, Buterin mentioned that AI assisted them in creating the 2030 roadmap in just two weeks, a process that would normally take years.

In his post on X, Buterin called the experiment “impressive,” noting that the technology speeds up coding. However, he cautioned that anything built within such a short period, without the Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), could have shortcomings, with some features existing only as incomplete stubs. Even with the mistakes, he said, the real takeaway should be in the AI trend itself.

Buterin hails the assistance from AI

In the post, Buterin explained that he experimented with agentic coding on his blog software and completed it in only an hour, stressing that the best way to use AI is to balance its benefits, accelerating development while enhancing security through test-case generation, formal verification, and multiple implementations. He also claimed that AI can help with formal verification and generate far more test cases.

The Ethereum founder also noted that AI speeds up coding, but it doesn’t eliminate the need to fix bugs and inconsistencies. But he expects that the Ethereum 2030 roadmap will be completed much faster with artificial intelligence, because those challenges can now be tackled more quickly. “People should be open to the possibility (not certainty! possibility) that the Ethereum roadmap will finish much faster than people expect, at a much higher standard of security than people expect,” he said.

Buterin also contended that there is still the prospect of error-free software, something most people once saw as an unrealistic dream. He also emphasized that that type of software would be critical for trustless systems, though total security cannot exist because it would mean your code perfectly mirrors all the information in your mind. Meanwhile, Buterin also shared on Saturday that Ethereum would implement account abstraction in the Hegota upgrade within a year.

Ethereum reveals new plans as part of Hegota upgrade

He recalled that the concept dated back to discussions in 2016. He explained that EIP-8141 is an all-encompassing proposal designed to resolve the remaining issues with account abstraction, with deployment scheduled for this year. In addition, he asserted they’ve been working on the project for over a decade, thus implementing it within a year. He also assured the community that the core framework is deliberately simple and broadly functional and will be centered on frame transactions.

He also pointed out that users could settle gas fees in other tokens through paymaster contracts or automated decentralized exchanges. The Ethereum founder added, “Intermediary minimization is a core principle of non-ugly cypherpunk Ethereum: maximize what you can do even if all the world’s infrastructure except the Ethereum chain itself goes down.”

He also highlighted that privacy-focused platforms like Railgun and Tornado Cash could replace public broadcasters, which he described as a major source of user experience friction. Additionally, he noted that the new framework could be applied to existing Ethereum accounts, enabling them to perform batch transactions and support sponsored fees. His remarks come at a time when ETH is 60% below its 2025 high, with some analysts warning the asset could drop below its $2,000 support this month.

The post Vitalik Buterin backs AI to fast-track Ethereum roadmap amid ETH slump first appeared on Coinfea.

Six anonymous accounts on Polymarket won almost $1.2 million after placing accurate bets that the United States would strike Iran. The development occurred just hours before real bombs began to fall on Tehran and other locations in Iran on February 28.

Bubblemaps, a blockchain analytics company, investigated and located those six accounts. In its revelation, the majority of cryptocurrency wallets received funding within the day before the assaults. When the market asked if the United States would attack Iran by February 28, 2026, these consumers piled up on “Yes” shares.

Insider claims trail suspicious bets on Polymarket

A newly created wallet, dubbed ‘Roeyha2026’ in Lookonchain’s analysis, was funded just 11 hours before placing a $50,000 ‘Yes’ bet on the U.S. striking Iran by March 1, 2026, yielding nearly $97,000 in profit as the market resolved positively shortly after the strikes. Another took nearly 150,000 shares at 20 cents and made a solid six-figure gain. Interestingly, none of these wallets had done anything else, and they’ve all been drained since.

The total volume on that one contract hit almost $90 million. Bubblemaps even put out a visual map linking the wallets through similar funding paths and labeled the group as “suspected insiders.” The latest spark in what is becoming a complete nightmare for prediction markets is the Polymarket frenzy over those U.S.-Iran attacks. These platforms are now making billions of dollars in transactions annually, but this expansion has sparked a contentious debate.

Currently, there are at least 20 federal lawsuits in motion, primarily targeting Kalshi and Polymarket. The central issue in all of them is whether these sites count as legit CFTC-regulated exchanges or unlicensed gambling ops that should have to follow state sports-betting laws, including licensing fees, age checks, taxes, etc. States are not standing idly, as Nevada temporarily blocked Polymarket and others.

In addition, Massachusetts received a preliminary injunction against Kalshi’s sports contracts from a judge, and states like Connecticut, New York, and Tennessee have added cease-and-desist orders or lawsuits. State regulators, who claim that these platforms are operating illicit betting operations, and the businesses themselves, who argue that federal law grants them complete autonomy and states cannot intervene, are engaged in a heated battle.

Regulators are now paying attention

Regular players are also now filing class-action lawsuits, claiming that the ease with which money may be made and the absence of appropriate safeguards are promoting gambling addictions without enough cautions or limitations. The platforms are facing an increasing amount of moral and user-protection criticism in addition to the legal dispute. Regulated spots like Kalshi point out that they already ban war-related contracts to avoid exactly these headaches.

Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour responded directly to Senator Murphy on X: “Senator, regulated prediction markets are not allowed to do war markets. The market you’re posting to is unregulated and offshore.” With trading volumes going parabolic, like when Kalshi alone cleared over $1 billion just on Super Bowl Sunday, the whole thing could end up reshaping whether prediction markets become a mainstream way to “forecast” the future or get reined in as unregulated speculation loopholes.

To stop what he claims are dishonest and unstable prediction markets, Senator Chris Murphy is advancing his own legislation. The CFTC’s role in protecting jurisdiction, encouraging innovation, and combating unfair practices was highlighted by Chairman Mike Selig. However, unfair tactics in these markets are still unregulated. The major platforms themselves are divided. Shayne Coplan, Polymarket CEO, told CBS News’ 60 Minutes: “It’s the most accurate thing we have as mankind right now, until someone else creates some sort of a super crystal ball.”

The post Polymarket ‘insiders’ allegedly cashed in on Operation Epic Fury first appeared on Coinfea.

Bitcoin dev tests the network limits with on-chain image as BIP-110 debate rages. One developer, a Slovak, coded a 66KB image into one Bitcoin transaction. 

This action questions the suggested anti-spam laws and has re-established the confrontation within the community.

The image was directly written on the blockchain of Bitcoin by Martin Habovštiak in a single entry. 

He claimed that the test was meant to look at the practical implications of BIP-110.

 The proposal aims to attach constraints to non-payment-based information on Bitcoin payments.

The picture depicts a proponent of the move, Luke Dashjr, crying. 

According to Habovštiak, a BIP-110-compliant fork could view the image as a single transaction on-chain, which has its value written in one contiguous block.

BIP-110 proposal and ongoing dispute

In October 2025, it was renamed to BIP-110 and was added under the previous name of BIP-444. 

The proposal presents a soft fork to minimize blockchain spam. 

It consists of seven new rules of transaction validity and restrictions on certain scripting functions.

The plan would impose a limit on OP_RETURN outputs of 83 bytes. 

It would also limit pushes of individual data to 256 bytes. Some opcodes would be outlawed under the scheme proposed.

Proponents claim that random information presents legal and operational threats to the node operators. 

They feel that non-financial writings do not focus on the main role of Bitcoin as money. 

As early as 2023, Luke Dashjr, CTO of the Ocean mining pool and creator of Bitcoin Knots, expressed his dislike of such data being spam.

Habovštiak did not use OP_RETURN, OP_IF, and Taproot in his test. Instead, it used SegWit v0. It was observed by many that these omissions are at the heart of BIP-110 restrictions.

Technical claims and counterarguments

Habovshiak claimed that his deal shows how BIP-110 rules might be defied. 

He claimed that the picture was encoded as a neighboring file in the witness information. 

He further argued that the BIP-110 fork might view the file as a full transaction.

A X user contested this statement by saying the protocol-level transaction was not contiguous. 

Habovštiak replied that the critic had made use of a limited meaning of the word.

He also said that he developed an alternative version of the transaction that did not exceed BIP-110 limits. 

To him, that version had been considerably bigger than the original one. 

He said that the limitations would not trim the total blockchain data down, but may create more of it.

Habovshtiak clarified that he decided to give the idea a trial on the mainnet to put more weight on his argument. 

According to him, the demonstration of the validity of the proof in the conditions of the live networks was more significant than the theoretical demonstration.

Rising tensions between the core and knots

The experiment came at a time of incessant tension between the supporters of Bitcoin Knots and Bitcoin Core. 

The point of contention is on the types of data that are allowed in the network.

According to the statistics of The Bitcoin Portal, approximately 8.8% of the nodes support BIP-110 today. 

In the meantime, the number of Bitcoin Knots nodes has grown by at least ten times since the beginning of the previous year.

According to Habovshtiak, the transaction was a single proof of concept. He claimed that he made the code secret to deter the use of NFTs. 

His positioning was also depicted as being against blockchain spam but against what he continues to perceive as false statements.

The larger discussion on how restricted the data in Bitcoin is will probably persist because node operators will evaluate the effectiveness and intention of the proposal.

The post Bitcoin dev tests network limits with on-chain image first appeared on Coinfea.

Morgan Stanley has officially submitted a proposal for a new national trust bank charter seeking authorization to custody digital assets. This development comes at a time when Wall Street firms are actively pushing to enter the crypto market.

According to filings published by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the investment bank submitted an application to create Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association, a subsidiary designed to custody and manage digital assets on behalf of clients.

According to anonymous sources familiar with the situation, as the talks were private, they mentioned that the headquarters will be based in Purchase, New York, although they stressed that services will be accessible across the US.

Morgan Stanley submits filing for national trust bank charter

The public filing lacks operational clarity but implies a broader strategic scope than simple asset protection. Therefore, if Morgan Stanley’s proposal is approved, analysts anticipate this charter could place the global investment management firm in the same category as other crypto-focused companies seeking federal regulatory approval rather than relying solely on state-level licensing.

Recently, Morgan Stanley has shown increased interest in the crypto industry. Analysts discovered that the Wall Street investment bank has moved past speculative involvement, opting instead to build its own internal frameworks and specialized crypto products. Some of the crypto-related activities the financial services company embraced this year include submitting an application to list spot Bitcoin and Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

In addition, the bank has also disclosed its intention to launch a proprietary digital wallet later in the year, appointing experienced executive Amy Oldenburg to spearhead its digital asset strategy in a newly established role. Apart from these activities, Morgan Stanley also announced its partnership with Zerohash, which will allow clients to trade digital assets this year.

OCC paves the way for digital asset custody in the financial system

Regarding Morgan Stanley’s new national trust bank charter application, sources highlighted that the proposal indicates the global asset management firm’s wholly owned subsidiary would oversee specific digital assets, executing buy-sell orders, swaps, and transfers to facilitate client investments while enabling fiduciary staking services.

Nonetheless, several individuals have raised concerns about applications from firms in the digital-asset ecosystem. Banking trade groups argue that the applications abuse the intended purpose of a trust bank charter, potentially threatening the safety of both consumers and the broader financial system. Even so, Jonathan Gould, the Comptroller of the Currency, firmly backed the process, claiming that it facilitates more robust regulatory oversight of these companies.

Morgan Stanley’s application follows the OCC’s December 2025 decision to grant conditional approvals for crypto national trust bank charters to Paxos Trust Company, Ripple National Trust Bank, Circle’s First National Digital Currency Bank, Fidelity Digital Assets, and BitGo. In February, reports highlighted that three additional firms secured approval.

These companies include Stripe’s Bridge National Trust Bank, Crypto.com National Trust Bank, and Protego’s National Digital Trust Company, bringing the total to eight firms. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that Morgan Stanley’s application represents the bank’s first-ever trust charter specifically focused on digital assets. Additionally, analysts alleged that the de novo charter application initiates a lengthy review process anticipated to take several months.

The post Morgan Stanley seeks digital asset trust bank chatter first appeared on Coinfea.

United States President Donald Trump has announced a ban on the usage of Anthropic AI’s technology on a federal level. The order follows an intense disagreement between the firm and the Pentagon regarding the military’s application of this technology.

Presently, negotiations between Anthropic and the Department of Defense had stalled, as both sides refused to reach a compromise with the deadline to reach an agreement approaching. Concerning the request from the Pentagon, sources said officials at the United States Department of Defense headquarters demanded that Anthropic loosen its ethical guidelines, noting that a failure to do so could result in severe repercussions.

President Trump halts the use of Anthropic AI tech

President Trump shared his post on Truth Social outlining his viewpoint on the matter. In the post, he noted that, “The Leftwing extremists at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE by trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War and forcing them to follow their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution.”

He also added that, “WE will determine our Country’s future – NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left AI firm led by people who don’t understand what the real world is like.” Notably, during this time, the deadline was merely one hour away.

Earlier, Anthropic declined Pentagon officials’ request for contractors to approve the utilization of their systems for any lawful purpose. At this point, the AI firm refused to ease limitations that prevented Claude from being used effectively for mass domestic surveillance or for fully autonomous weapons. Given the intensity of the situation, Trump characterized the incident as a significant threat to US troops and national security.

In a statement, he argued that, “Their selfishness is putting American lives at risk, our troops in danger, and our national security in jeopardy.” Following Trump’s argument, reports highlighted that Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, demonstrated efforts to calm things down. Even so, several analysts admitted that reducing tensions remains a challenge.

On the other hand, Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of Defense, argued that labeling Anthropic a supply chain risk threatened to terminate the connection between US military vendors and the AI company. Hegseth made these remarks roughly 24 hours after the CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, issued a statement alleging that his firm cannot comply with the Defense Department’s request. According to him, the request was against Anthropic’s conscience.

Generative AI earns popularity among several firms

Regarding the conflict between Anthropic and the Pentagon, reports highlighted that the generative AI field leverages advanced models to create realistic but inaccurate software code, text, images, and other outputs that closely mimic human creativity. To achieve this outcome, some sources noted that the models function by identifying underlying patterns in the training data to produce context-aware responses to user inputs.

At this point, it is worth noting that Generative AI moves beyond mere analysis to actively generating content. According to analysts’ research, this capability could revolutionize numerous industries, including defense. At the same time, developing these models poses serious challenges, including ethical concerns and potential existential risks.

Even so, several companies have demonstrated a strong commitment to allocating substantial funds to the field. For instance, Pentagon officials released a statement last summer claiming they had secured individual contracts with major industry players, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI. Notably, each contract was reported to be valued at $200 million, particularly for frontier artificial intelligence initiatives.

The post President Trump orders US agencies to halt Anthropic AI use amid ethics dispute first appeared on Coinfea.

ETH drops more than 5% in 24 hours after reports of US attacks on Iran shook global markets. The token erased over $200 in recent days and fell to $1,871.58.

The broader crypto market declined sharply, and leveraged traders faced heavy liquidations.

The geopolitical shock put pressure on risk assets, and digital tokens proceeded downwards. ETH was not as weak as a number of altcoins, but the downward trend was significant enough to clear most long-term stakes. 

According to market statistics, fear is still high and the ETF fear and greed index is around 35.

Long positions bear the brunt

ETH did not experience a short squeeze despite relatively balanced liquidity levels. Instead, long traders absorbed most of the impact as prices slid. 

Open interest has fallen to around $10 billion, reflecting significant deleveraging since January.

Roughly 50% of leveraged exposure has been reduced this year. Across exchanges, short open interest stands near 24%. 

On Hyperliquid, whales reportedly control more than 58% of short positions. Even so, recent price action has mainly liquidated longs due to weak sentiment.

The token reflects concentrated long-term positions towards the $ 1800 mark. Shorts are taken beyond $1,950. The current situation at the market does not presuppose the probability of the squeeze, with traders being wary of the world situation.

Machi big brother faces fresh losses

Another blow to Hyperliquid was experienced by Machi Big Brother, a major trader in the market. In the past week, he introduced liquidity in the sum of $245,000 and made several long positions. His plan was anticipatory of rebound and it entailed 25X leverage.

The decline in the prices initiated a chain of liquidations. According to on-chain data, his account has an approximately large liquidity amount of roughly $13,580 available.

A single outstanding 25X leveraged long position is estimated to be worth more than $428,000. Its liquidation is currently at $1,840.37 so that the position is currently at a small unrealized loss.

In the last half a year, Machi Big Brother has incurred a series of losses whenever corrections are made sharply. It is reported that he has lost millions of dollars by trading Hyperliquid. 

He does not make many remarks on positions as do traders like White Whale or James Wynn. His presence in the market is more about the scaling of Ethereum than the price fluctuations.

It remains unclear whether he has hedged exposure to limit further downside. Market observers continue to monitor the position as volatility persists.

DeFi liquidity and market outlook

ETH sells at prices lower than most whales with holdings got. The area of $1,800 is regarded as one of the support zones. Nevertheless, there is short-term uncertainty due to ongoing geopolitical trouble.

The existing cost poses a challenge to the liquidity of Compound, where the lending positions have grown to approximately $1,891. Other protocols have smaller loans that are pressured as well. To date, no other DeFi contagion is visible, but individual lending positions might be under pressure in case the weakness persists.

Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum does not market itself as a store of value. Its ecosystem depends on steady development and network usage. Stability often supports growth more than conflict-driven volatility.

The traders are now waiting to see whether ETH will stabilize above $1800. A revival can be pegged on the reduction of geopolitical tension and better moods. Until then, leverage is held back and risk-aversion prevails on the market.

The post Machi Big Brother Faces New Liquidations as ETH Extends Decline first appeared on Coinfea.

Authorities in Japan raided the Tokyo offices of Microsoft on Wednesday, investigating whether the company improperly blocked Azure cloud customers from using competing services. Japan’s Fair Trade Commission carried out the raid based on suspicions that Microsoft Japan imposed conditions that locked out rival cloud providers.

The agency claimed that this can be done by restricting access to popular services on other platforms, a source with direct knowledge told Reuters. A Microsoft Japan spokesperson said the company is “fully cooperating with the JFTC in their requests.” Japanese regulators also plan to seek clarification from Microsoft’s parent company in the United States. This marks the first time Japan’s antitrust watchdog has raided Microsoft, though the company faces similar problems across multiple continents.

Microsoft in regulatory cross hairs amid crackdown on cloud monopoly

In Britain, competition lawyer Maria Luisa Stasi also filed a 2.1 billion-pound lawsuit on December 11, 2025, claiming Microsoft overcharged nearly 60,000 British businesses that use Windows Server software on cloud platforms run by Amazon, Google, and Alibaba. Her legal team told London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal that Microsoft charges higher prices to businesses that don’t use Azure.

Lawyer Sarah Ford said Microsoft “degrades the user experience of Windows Server” on rival platforms as part of “a coherent abusive strategy to leverage Microsoft’s dominant position” in the cloud market. Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority found in July that Microsoft’s licensing practices hurt competition for cloud services “by materially disadvantaging AWS and Google.”

Google also complained to the European Commission in September that Microsoft forces customers to pay a 400% markup to keep running Windows Server on competing cloud platforms while giving them delayed and limited security updates. Meanwhile, Brazil’s competition authority opened its own investigation in January into Microsoft’s cloud and software licensing.

Brazil commences investigations into market power

The Council for Economic Defense pointed to findings from the UK, saying Microsoft’s global licensing policies likely create the same problems in Brazil. Microsoft runs two cloud regions in Brazil and announced a $2.7 billion investment plan in September 2024 to expand its cloud infrastructure there. These investigations are among the biggest regulatory challenges Microsoft has faced since the 1990s, when it fought antitrust charges over web browser dominance.

Microsoft has pushed back, saying its business model helps competition and that “the cloud market has never been so dynamic and competitive.” The Federal Trade Commission opened a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft in November 2024. The probe looks at claims that Microsoft abuses its market power by using punitive licensing terms that stop customers from moving their data from Azure to other platforms.

NetChoice, a lobbying group that represents online companies including Amazon and Google, criticized Microsoft’s approach. “Given that Microsoft is the world’s largest software company, dominating in productivity and operating systems software, the scale and consequences of its licensing decisions are extraordinary,” the group said. Microsoft now faces investigations by regulators on four continents, all looking at whether it uses its dominance in operating systems and productivity software to push customers toward Azure while punishing those who pick competing cloud services.

The post Microsoft office amid cloud monopoly crackdown worldwide first appeared on Coinfea.

A new OpenAI report has shown that state-sponsored groups are using the same publicly available tools as regular internet users, and often struggling just as much. OpenAI recently shared details about how government-linked groups tried to use their platforms.

The most notable case came from a Chinese influence campaign that got exposed by accident when a Chinese law enforcement official used ChatGPT like a personal diary. The official wrote about an operation targeting Chinese critics living in other countries. The campaign involved hundreds of operators and thousands of fake social media accounts, according to OpenAI.

The operation tried to impersonate United States immigration officers to scare a dissident by falsely saying their public statements broke American law. In other cases, operators used forged documents claiming to be from a county court to try getting critics’ social media accounts taken down.

OpenAI gives insight into a new harassment campaign

They created a fake obituary and gravestone photos to spread false rumors about one dissident’s death. These rumors actually showed up online in 2023, a Chinese-language Voice of America article confirmed. Ben Nimmo, who leads investigations at OpenAI, called the effort industrialized harassment aimed at critics of the Chinese Communist Party through multiple channels.

Using ChatGPT as a record-keeping tool ended up exposing the operation. ChatGPT worked as a journal for the operative to track the covert network, while other tools generated most of the actual content that got spread through social media. OpenAI banned the user after finding the activity. OpenAI investigators matched descriptions from the ChatGPT user with real online activity.

The user described faking a Chinese dissident’s death by creating a phony obituary and gravestone photos for posting online. In another case, the ChatGPT user asked the system to create a plan for damaging the reputation of incoming Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi by stirring up anger over American tariffs. ChatGPT refused. But in late October, when Takaichi took power, hashtags showed up on a popular forum for Japanese graphic artists attacking her and complaining about tariffs.

Microsoft unveils similar trends in its report

The OpenAI report also covered several scam operations from Cambodia that used the platform for romance and investment fraud, plus influence campaigns linked to Russia targeting Argentina and Africa. In a separate report published by Microsoft in collaboration with OpenAI, looking at how nation-state actors from Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China are trying out large language models to support cyber attack operations.

Both companies shut down efforts by five state-affiliated actors by closing their accounts. The Microsoft report found these actors mainly wanted to use services for simple jobs like searching publicly available information, translating content, fixing coding errors, and running basic programming tasks. No major or new attacks using the models have been found so far. This gap between fear and reality happens during tough competition between Washington and Beijing over control of this technology.

The role it plays in military and economic matters has also become a major fight. The Pentagon recently told another company, Anthropic, it has until Friday to remove certain safety features from its model or risk losing a defense contract. Microsoft said it’s working on principles to lower risks from bad use of these tools by nation-state groups and criminal organizations. These principles include finding and stopping bad users, telling other service providers, working with other groups, and being transparent.

The post OpenAI report reveals nation state hackers fail to gain edge with AI first appeared on Coinfea.

The DOT token of Polkadot has increased by 27% in the last week as the network gets ready to have its first halving event on March 14. 

It is projected that the reduction in issues to come will greatly decrease the overall number of DOT tokens in supply, resulting in a greater amount of bullish behavior among the investors.

Halving event to cut the token supply by 50%

The halving event that will occur on March 14 will cut the supply of DOT tokens by 120 million to 55 million. The event is a pivotal event in the tokenomics of Polkadot. 

Last year, the community voted to place a progressive reduction in token issue, which eventually places the limit at 2.1 billion tokens.

 And this will be decreased every two years, giving a propensity to the production of new tokens, breeding the myth of scarcity, which will drive up demand.

Polkadot is also making staking and validator economics changes as part of its constant improvements. 

A Dynamic Allocation Pool (DAP) will exist, and burns of the treasury will cease when Phase 1 of the DAP is triggered. 

The tokens that would have been burnt or slashed are now sent to the DAP to be handled by the governance of the network. 

The next updates will focus on increasing the security and liquidity of the Polkadot network, which will provide investors and validators with a more balanced environment.

Price surge and short-term consolidation

DOT has recorded a tremendous increase in price, with a high price of 1.75 per week on week. 

This price action is after a low momentum in which DOT was traded between the ranges of $1.25 and 1.35. 

Polkadot (DOT) price chart. Source: CoinGecko.

The breakout was a burst of the token as it rose up to near the point of over 1.70, which was one of its most important moves in recent weeks. 

The price had a short run, and after climbing to the point of 1.75, it was met with resistance, and it took the form of a correction and went back to the area of 1.50 to 1.55 before it stabilized.

This is because the short-term consolidation is decreasing DOT by a slight 2.5% in the last 24 hours; DOT is currently trading at $1.62. 

In spite of this slight setback, the token has still increased by more than 25% in the past week, indicating that the investors are optimistic about the crypto event ahead of the halving.

ETF proposals await SEC approval

The news about the proposed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of Polkadot is also under close observation by investors. 

Both the 21Shares spot Polkadot ETF and the Grayscale DOT-based ETF proposals are under consideration by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

Although the two proposals have been submitted and are awaiting approval, they have yet to be greenlit by the SEC.

These ETFs may also increase the popularity of Polkadot, and more institutional investors will gain access to the asset. 

The success of this review is unclear; however, the fact that ETFs could get approved is contributing to the optimistic mood about Polkadot.

The DOT token of Polkadot is growing tremendously as the network is about to have its first halving. 

The expected reduction in supply of the tokens, as well as the suggested changes in network economics, have resulted in higher levels of optimism among investors. 

Moreover, the SEC does not provide Polkadot ETFs yet, which can also increase the popularity of the token. 

With the halving date coming closer, the whole world will be watching how Polkadot will further evolve and whether it will influence the general crypto market.

The post Polkadot Rallies by 27% Ahead of First Halving Event first appeared on Coinfea.

According to a report published by TRM Labs, AI-based crypto fraud increased by an impressive 500% in the past year. 

The fast development of artificial intelligence in cybercrime has enabled hackers to automate, scale, and customize crypto scams, which have led to massive financial losses.

Cryptocurrency cybercrimes have increased their efficiency and scale due to the use of generative AI tools. 

Nowadays, scammers use AI to perform phishing campaigns, identify as other people, and launder money more quickly than ever.

AI powers fraudulent schemes

Before the popularity of AI, mass crypto scams were massively dependent on human resources. Call centers and operators were the key to targeting the victim. 

Nevertheless, automation has taken over most of the manual processes due to the introduction of AI. 

Nowadays, generating convincing phishing emails, fake websites, and chatbots that look real is written by a generative AI.

Scam messages are also personalized with the help of AI. Fraudsters can find it easier to interact with their target because large language models (LLMs) are capable of generating customized content. 

AI translation tools also assist fraudsters in localizing these frauds in different regions and languages, which increases their efficiency.

Deepfake technology enhances scams

The Deepfake technology has also been central to the development of AI scams. Deepfake audio and video are used to deceive executives, other people, or even lovers in a very realistic way. 

The technology assists the criminals in developing confidence with the victims and deceiving them into giving out large amounts of money.

The capability of AI to handle hundreds of conversations at a time is a game-changer for fraudsters. 

It allows them to upscale scams, including romance and pig-butchering scams, which would otherwise demand a lot of human effort. 

Another advantage is the rate at which AI is capable of handling stolen data. Machine learning allows scammers to test stolen credentials, seed phrases, and private keys on a mass scale, which enables them to have control over the funds of victims in a short time.

Record losses and increasing Crypto crime

In recent months, the number of crypto fraud cases has reached alarming levels. In a high-profile instance, a crypto whale lost more than $280 million after being a victim of a social engineering attack. 

In the same way, a British employee of an engineering firm became a victim of deep fake fraud and lost his money to the tune of 26 million. 

In a different report, the federal agents of the US confiscated more than 61 million U.S. dollars of Tether USDT after they had tracked it down to money laundering in pig-butchering schemes.

In 2023, the value of illegal crypto operations reached an all-time high of 158 billion, having grown by 145%. 

According to TRM Labs, 30 billion of this amount was obtained through scams.

Combatting AI Crypto fraud

The growth of AI-related scams is not an accident, as the level of AI technology development is increasing at a high pace. 

Researchers such as Vectra AI have already recorded an enormous increase in AI-driven fraud, and it is expected to rise to 40 billion by 2024. 

With the development of AI tools, cybersecurity experts note that similar defensive strategies should be developed. 

Defenders need to use AI devices that will neutralize automated methods of the criminals to fight AI-related fraud.

The influence of AI on crypto fraud is indisputable. As scams have been automated and made more efficient, criminals have been contributing to larger revenues and making more transactions than ever. 

With cybercrimes growing and criminals steadily increasing their operations, security experts have to match the technological advancements to secure the crypto ecosystem.

The post AI-Driven Crypto Fraud Surges 500% Amid Automated Attacks first appeared on Coinfea.

Kalshi has announced that it has closed and reported two cases of insider trading to the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In its statement, the platform mentioned that one of the cases allegedly involved an editor for popular YouTuber, Mr. Beast.

The prediction platform said it opened 200 investigations into suspicious insider trading activities over the past year, and over a dozen of the investigations led to active cases. On popular request, Kalshi today released information on two insider trading cases it recently closed in a bid to showcase its efforts in countering illegal trading.

Kalshi sheds light on its investigations

In its report, Kalshi mentioned that the first case involved a US politician who bet about $200 on his own candidacy for Governor of California in May 2025. The candidate went on to share the trade on social media, which alerted Kalshi’s Surveillance Department and immediately got his account frozen. The platform said politicians are allowed to use its services, but shouldn’t bet on themselves.

“As a candidate in a race, you can (and probably should) follow and use Kalshi’s market forecast, but you should not trade on it,” Kalshi precisely noted. In the second case, the trader bet up to $4,000 on YouTube streaming markets. The culprit was identified as Artem Kaptur, who reportedly edited videos for the popular YouTuber, Mr. Beast.

Kalshi found that the editor likely had access to material non-public information connected to his trading, which enabled him to bet with near-perfect trading success, more suspiciously, on markets with low odds, it said. None of the traders were able to withdraw profits from the illegal bets, according to the report. The first trader was banned for five years and penalized 10 times his initial trade size, while the second trader got only a two-year ban, with a financial penalty five times the size of his initial trade size.

The fines will be donated to a non-profit, Kalshi said. “We’ve reported each of these cases to the CFTC, as we are required to do, and Kalshi will be donating the fines imposed to a non-profit that provides consumer education on derivatives markets,” the prediction market wrote. The stakes on Kalshi are higher now that it has significantly grown its monthly volumes. From the beginning of February to date, Kalshi has posted $8.5B in trades.

Though the platform is still lagging from January’s record of over $9.5B, it still carries peak levels of monthly transactions, after exponential growth in early 2026. As a result, Kalshi is seen as one of the highly regulated and accurate platforms, capable of giving insights into economic issues such as interest rate decisions based on group predictions. Sports remain the biggest source of activity on Kalshi, while Polymarket remains the venue for current events and niche issues.

The post Kalshi announces investigation into two cases of insider trading first appeared on Coinfea.

Bitcoin Depot has launched a new rule that would require ID checks for all transactions. The company introduced the new identity check to put a stop to the rising crypto ATM fraud and improve its compliance program. The Bitcoin ATM operator has begun a gradual implementation of the new rule.

According to the new development, Customers must show ID for every transaction at its kiosks, as the company aims to improve protection against crypto ATM scams. Bitcoin Depot has been in business since 2016 and has over 25,000 kiosks around the world. The company is the first major BTC ATM operator to require ID verification for each transaction.

Bitcoin Depot activates new policy for crypto ATM transactions

The policy was activated this month and is now applied throughout Bitcoin Depot’s U.S. kiosks. It aims to “prevent account sharing, identity theft, and account takeover attempts as deployment continues.” The release had no official word yet on deployment timing in other countries. But the rollout of the new policy in the United States comes after Bitcoin Depot faced rising complaints about BTC ATM scams.

In addition to the new feature, Bitcoin Depot will pay $1.9 million to Maine to settle claims involving scams on its machines, according to a report by Cryptopolitan. The Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection (BCCP) spent two years investigating Bitcoin Depot’s kiosk operations. The probe was launched after residents filed complaints saying scammers had used the company’s kiosks to defraud them.

Maine residents scammed via Bitcoin Depot kiosks qualify for refunds under the state settlement. Victims qualify if they lived in Maine from 2022 to 2025 and used a Bitcoin Depot kiosk there to convert cash to cryptocurrency. They must also have transferred the money to an unhosted wallet controlled by a scammer. Victims must file a claim on or before April 1, 2026, and refunds are expected in May 2026.

Americans have lost more than $333.5 million to Bitcoin ATM scams

American residents lost over $333.5 million to Bitcoin ATM scams in 2025, based on data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This number is far greater than what Bitcoin Depot is paying to Maine residents. In 2024, the FBI reported losses of $250 million to crypto kiosk fraud. The figure has since increased by 33.4% to $333.5 million in one year. Coin ATM Radar shows that the top 10 operators run 27,419 crypto ATMs in the US.

This equates to 87.7% of all crypto kiosks across the country. The remaining 12.3% or 3,838 crypto ATMs are managed by 131 operators. The number of crypto ATMs has increased sharply in the U.S. from 4,251 to 31,256 kiosks spread across the country. In February 2026, 254 crypto kiosks were installed in the U.S. The speed of installations is averaging at 16 crypto kiosks daily. This creates more opportunities for scammers to target new victims.

Also, Athena Bitcoin, a crypto ATM operator, has received multiple lawsuits and enforcement actions. The District of Columbia Attorney General sued the company last September. The lawsuit alleges Athena Bitcoin knowingly facilitated fraud through its crypto kiosks. Authorities found that 93% of all deposits made through Athena Bitcoin ATMs were connected to scams. Around 50% of transactions had been flagged by the company as suspected fraud.

The post Bitcoin Depot adds ID checks after uptick in crypto ATM scams first appeared on Coinfea.

Bitcoin dealers have gone more to the bearish side as the funding rates in the derivatives market have fallen to an alarming extent, indicating an increasing pessimism. 

Nonetheless, the spot price of Bitcoin has been able to maintain its position close to the support level of $68,000 to 69,000. 

The futures market is saturated with short positions, which means that the market mood is more than ever biased towards a downward trend.

Funding rates signal bearish sentiment

According to the latest statistics on derivatives analytics tools, Bitcoin funding rates have plunged into negative values to a considerable degree. 

This implies that long traders are being paid by short sellers to hold. 

The negative funding rates are a sign that there are many traders who are looking for Bitcoin prices to fall further, and the sentiment in the market is rather bearish.

This notwithstanding, the spot price of Bitcoin stood strong and varied within the range of $62,000- $69,000. 

This indicates that the bearish sentiment in the futures market is also increasing, but at the same time, the support of the market at $68,000-$69,000 still holds firm and does not cause a major price drop. 

The support zone is being defended by buyers, though they are not pushing the prices up in an aggressive way.

Market divergence between futures and spot

There has been a remarkable split between the futures and the spot market in the current market. 

The future market is an indication of the negative attitude since there is more short positioning in favor of more price decreases. 

Conversely, the spot market is still comparatively stable as buyers are interested in major support levels.

This scenario notes the absence of purchasing appetite, where the majority of the participants in the market are still hesitant to take long positions pending more clarity. 

The pressure to sell is still increasing, but the market is still in the consolidation stage, as Bitcoin is not demonstrating good momentum but weakness. 

Nonetheless, the support of between $68,000 and 69,000 remains intact and stable in the meantime.

Leverage reduction cleanses the market

In the last year, leverage was used by numerous traders to increase their positions, especially in the Bitcoin rally that touched its peak at $126,200 in October 2025. 

But when the price of Bitcoin started falling, forced liquidations were made, and this reduced overall leverage in the system.

The traders who apply more leverage to trade have also reduced in number, leading to a more stable market environment. 

Even though liquidation cycles can cause short-term volatility, they will eventually help clean the market, clearing away high-risk positions and lowering the risk of cascading crashes.

A Foundation for Long-Term Recovery

Although the current sentiment can be said to be ultra-bearish at this time, the market has already witnessed a much lower leverage, which could be an indicator of a clean business environment in the future. 

Records indicate that resets like these in the market usually come before more sustainable recoveries, though no immediate recovery is assured.

The important points of concern are the support at the $60,000 and the resistance at the 67,000 69,000. Provided that Bitcoin overcomes the level of resistance, there is a possibility that a short squeeze will cause an abrupt increase. 

But once the price is lowered below 60,000, then the negative trend can be ensured, causing further downfalls.

The post Bitcoin Traders Turn Bearish as Funding Rates Dive Despite $68K Support Hold first appeared on Coinfea.

ZachXBT has admitted that he might have disclosed privileged information during the interview portion of his findings after teasing an investigation dropping on February 26. Users have been betting on Polymarket about which crypto platform will be mentioned in the investigation.

Based on Polymarket bets, the most probable candidate remains Meteora, the Solana DEX. On-chain investigator ZachXBT stated he was probably one of the reasons for the leak, as he had to interview representatives and experts. While this is not the first time the on-chain sleuth has teased a report, the prominence of prediction markets has contributed to his latest investigation announcement going viral.

ZachXBT admits mistake in latest interview

According to ZachXBT, this is the first teaser to go viral and spark a Polymarket pair. Based on the updated prediction activity, Meteora is still the leader with odds of 47%. The odds remain relatively unchanged, but are still inconclusive. The actual investigation will launch tomorrow, and ZachXBT has not yet given more hints of the real platform.

The presence of a market means the company may bet against the odds if it is certain of the investigation. Since there is no explicit standard in the crypto space, multiple platforms were suggested as probably being the object of investigation. As of February 25, accounts flagged as potential insiders have also been betting on alternatives to Meteora.

One trader bought ‘yes’ shares for Axiom, the non-custodial DeFi trading platform. The account even came back for more ‘yes‘ shares. Within a day, the mentions of the Polymarket prediction expanded their mindshare on social media. Trading volumes increased from around $5M to over $14M. The market climbed to the second spot on the Polymarket trending page.

MET on the rise after recent lows

Following speculation about Meteora insider activity, MET recovered to $0.17. Currently, only one whale is shorting MET through Hyperliquid. The whale uses the same address to make predictions on short-term crypto directional trading through Polymarket. Other than the initial panic, there is not much data to suggest future headwinds for Meteora.

The exchange remains a relatively liquid DEX for meme tokens and SOL swaps, as well as a hub for trading against USDC. One of the former whales that shorted MET on the first day after the market launch already closed the position. The whale still holds around $6,515.15 in ‘yes’ shares for Meteora. Despite the speculations of insider trading, for now, there are no entities with outsized bets.

The top holder of ‘yes’ shares holds 53,015 tokens on Meteora, while the counter-trader holds 84,670 ‘no’ tokens. Currently, the market is made up of smaller traders, though the viral status of the market is boosting the volumes. Insiders themselves are not holding outsized positions, but other traders are tracking their decision and boosting the odds of Meteora.

The post ZachXBT admits possible leaks amid insider trading allegations on prediction platforms first appeared on Coinfea.

Bitcoin accumulation was one of the factors that could calm the market, as there were signs of accumulation to new addresses. In February, the pace of accumulation slowed down, showing that even spot demand was weakening at the current price range.

Bitcoin accumulation remained weak in February, despite the lower price range. As sentiment remained near all-time lows, neither whales nor retail rushed in to buy the dip. BTC remained under selling pressure, as all attempts at recovery were followed by selling. In the short term, the leading coin still managed to recover to $65,000, but rejected the $70,000 range. As a result, instead of FOMO buying, BTC is now undergoing slower accumulation and waiting for a further correction.

Bitcoin accumulation slowed down in February

According to data from Glassnode, the Bitcoin accumulation score has barely budged above 0.5 points since early February. Currently, BTC trades in a defensive price range, dipping below previous support levels. The market also went through the sharpest capitulation event since 2022, with almost no hopes of a rapid recovery. BTC addresses with non-zero balance are still growing, but at a much slower pace.

New address creation is flat, instead of breaking out exponentially, showing BTC is no longer the object of rushed investments. The current BTC holding ratio shows no dominance of either whales or retail. The ratio has remained flat in the past month. Most of the whale transfers in BTC are linked to institutions or market makers, as some of the crypto native whales slowed down their activity.

Traders are still cautious and waiting for more signs of a local bottom to form, with potential predictions of a dip to the $50,000 range. While inflows to wallets slowed down, more BTC moved to exchanges, and particularly to Binance. Exchange reserves in total are at 2.75M BTC, close to the lower range. However, Binance reserves expanded in February, reaching their highest level since late 2024.

Binance holds over 674K BTC, with increased whale inflows. Binance is used as the most liquid market to take profits. Inflows to the exchange have usually coincided with BTC selling and new local lows. The BTC price direction is often dictated by derivative markets. However, the presence of coins potentially ready to sell is also a big factor.

Binance is especially exposed to selling, which may liquidate long positions and discourage directional bets on BTC. The crypto fear and greed index is therefore at 11 points, signaling extreme fear. This reflects the reluctance to take up long positions, which could be liquidated by selling. The slowdown of spot holders also raises the question of long-term trust in BTC. The slow accumulation and selling undermine trust in long-term BTC growth, or at least point to a longer crypto winter.

The post Bitcoin accumulation slid in February first appeared on Coinfea.

The world’s leading institutional conference is back in the heart of New York on 13-14 May, where capital markets transformation will be examined in depth, from issuance and market structure to settlement, custody, liquidity and regulatory alignment. 

This year’s event will be hosted by Deutsche Bank with the underlying foundation of Global Asset Digitization projects. It is the only venue where the commercialization of tokenizing assets is discussed comprehensively and at scale. 

Digital Assets Week is institution led and designed to support substantive dialogue between market participants and regulators on implementation, risk management and market structure as digital assets increasingly intersect with traditional capital markets. 

The New York conference typically gathers 400 to 500 participants, with the audience highly curated to ensure senior institutional representation. Participants across the series include the majority of large banks and asset managers, alongside policymakers, supervisory authorities and infrastructure providers actively engaged in regulated market development. 

This year’s action packed agenda includes a range of panel discussions and roundtables covering topics such as: 

● Moving Public Markets ‘On Chain’ – Is This ‘Hype’ or ‘Reality’? (What Does This Mean in Reality?) 

● Tokenized Private Markets and Secondary Liquidity – Where Have We Really Got To? ● The Vision of 24/7 Markets and Real-Time Settlement – Challenges and Opportunities? ● Tokenized ‘Yield’, ‘Deposits’, ‘MMFs’, ‘CBDCs’, ‘Rolling Contracts’… – Where is Product Innovation Taking Us? And where do stablecoins really fit? 

● Tokenized Private Markets – Which Assets Are Moving On-Chain First and Why? ● Interoperability, Standards, Legacy Systems, Regional Boundaries – The Challenges for Tokenization Scale? 

● Institutional Blockchain Adoption – Is It Re-Engineering the Post-Trade and Back-Office Space? 

● Making ‘Dumb’ Assets ‘Smart’ – Is Tokenization Finally Delivering? 

● The Global Roll-Out of Regulation – What’s the Current State for Stablecoins and Tokenized Assets? 

● TradFi Custody vs. Token/Crypto Custody – Are The Two Worlds Now Merging? ● Defining the DeFi Boundary: How Institutions Can Access Innovation, Without Importing Risk 

and many more crucial topics for the industry. 

Past attendees of DA Week include senior executives from Bank of America, BlackRock, BNP Paribas, Citi, Franklin Templeton, Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking (SGCIB), State Street, J.P. Morgan, HSBC, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, BNY, DTCC,

Fidelity Investments, WisdomTree, Morgan Stanley, Bank Julius Baer, Coinbase Asset Management, Bank Frick, Pantera Capital, SEI Investments, Wells Fargo Bank, New York Life Ventures, Outerlands Capital, U.S. Bank, Arta Global Markets, ClearBank, TD Bank & many more. 

Registration for the event is open, offering the competitive earlybird rate until 20th March and the possibility to apply for complimentary access for certain senior executives from Institutional Banks, Fund Managers, Asset Managers and Hedge Funds whose primary business is investment management, with a minimum of $50m AUM. Tickets can be accessed here: DIGITAL ASSETS WEEK NEW YORK TICKETS 

For sponsorship and speaking enquiries, or to request the agenda and attendee sample please contact: Julia Simonova julia@daweek.org

Disclaimer: The content within the Sponsored Insights and Press Release category has been provided by our partners and sponsors. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of our website. While our team takes care to share valuable and reliable content, we do not take responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or validity of any claims made in these sponsored articles and Press Releases. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and due diligence before making any decisions based on the information provided in Sponsored Insights.

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