Из жизни альткоинов

За последний год ежемесячный объем транзакций в стейблкоинах неоднократно превышал $1 трлн, подсчитали аналитики компании TRM Labs. $141 млрд в стабильных токенах получили кошельки, связанные с нелегальной деятельностью.

The crypto market continues to face notable selling pressure, with several leading altcoins struggling to regain upward momentum after months of volatility. Sentiment remains fragile as investors weigh macro uncertainty, liquidity conditions, and the lack of sustained bullish catalysts. While periodic rebounds have emerged, most altcoins remain well below previous cycle highs, reinforcing a cautious environment across the broader market.

A recent CryptoQuant report provides additional perspective on this dynamic. According to the analysis, retail investors appear to be under persistent pressure to sell altcoins, particularly as price weakness and negative sentiment dominate headlines. At the same time, the data suggests a more complex underlying picture. Despite ongoing pressure, certain segments of the market are forming notable buying walls, indicating that demand has not disappeared entirely.

Trading volume across altcoins has risen significantly since Ethereum established its recent bottom, reaching levels that are difficult to compare directly with the previous cycle. This increase in activity, even while prices remain depressed, may reflect repositioning rather than pure capitulation. Importantly, most altcoins have yet to stage meaningful recoveries, suggesting that current participation could represent accumulation, speculative positioning, or a mix of both as the market searches for direction.

Retail Capitulation Meets Strategic Crypto Accumulation

The CryptoQuant analysis indicates that much of the current altcoin selling pressure is being driven by retail participants reacting defensively to volatility and prolonged drawdowns. Fear-driven liquidations often emerge during uncertain phases, particularly when liquidity tightens, and price recovery lacks momentum. This behavior tends to amplify short-term weakness, especially across mid- and lower-cap crypto assets.

However, the same data suggests that a portion of this selling volume is being systematically absorbed by larger or more patient market participants. This absorption dynamic typically reflects positioning rather than speculation, as buyers accumulate exposure while sentiment remains fragile. Historically, such phases have preceded structural market transitions, although timing remains uncertain and outcomes are not guaranteed.

Some analysts argue that the current cycle may be characterized by unusually strong preparatory accumulation compared with previous market phases. Elevated spot volumes alongside persistent volatility suggest capital rotation rather than outright market exit in certain segments.

That said, projections about a future altcoin bull phase being significantly stronger than the previous cycle remain speculative. Market structure, macro liquidity conditions, regulatory developments, and Bitcoin dominance will all influence whether such expectations materialize. The data primarily supports a market undergoing redistribution rather than a confirmed bullish reversal.

Altcoin Market Cap Remains Under Structural Pressure

The total crypto market capitalization excluding the top ten assets continues to show persistent weakness, reinforcing the view that the broader altcoin sector remains under structural pressure. The chart reflects a clear failure to sustain momentum following the mid-2025 rally, with capitalization steadily declining since the last major peak. Recent price action shows the market hovering near roughly $170B, significantly below previous highs and still trending downward.

Technically, the structure appears fragile. Price has moved below the shorter-term moving averages and is testing longer-term support zones. The inability to reclaim these averages suggests declining momentum rather than a consolidation phase. Volume spikes accompanying downward moves also indicate that selling activity remains dominant, not merely passive drift.

Historically, similar configurations have occurred during late corrective phases when capital rotates back toward Bitcoin and larger-cap assets. This typically reflects risk reduction rather than outright market exit, but it nonetheless suppresses altcoin performance for extended periods.

Importantly, the absence of strong recovery attempts suggests liquidity constraints remain a key factor. Unless broader market sentiment improves or Bitcoin stabilizes convincingly, the altcoin segment may continue to face headwinds. At present, the data support ongoing redistribution rather than a confirmed cyclical bottom for the broader altcoin market.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

US lawmakers and crypto leaders say a major bill could move fast. According to an on-site interview, Senator Bernie Moreno told reporters he hopes the US CLARITY Act will clear Congress by April.

The comment came during a recent gathering with members of the press, and it set off a flurry of reaction across markets and inside the halls of power.

Lawmakers And Industry At Odds Over Clarity Act

Reports note that the biggest fight left on the table is stablecoin yields. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said industry talks are more hopeful now, but he had pulled his group’s backing earlier because the bill would ban interest-bearing stablecoins and put the SEC front and center as the lead regulator.

That tug-of-war matters. Banks worry that easy yield on crypto tokens could pull deposits and weaken their model. Crypto firms counter that such products are useful and in demand. Both sides also want clear rules so firms can plan ahead.

Policymakers Have Momentum

Based on reports, the White House reacted strongly when one major exchange stepped back from support. The executive office signaled surprise and urged quicker agreement.

Markets noticed. Prediction markets moved, with odds on passage swinging dramatically in response to the media interview.

Polymarket showed a sharp uptick in probability that the bill would pass — then a pullback once details were questioned.

“Hopefully by April,” Moreno said during an interview at US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Wednesday. What Could Break The Deal

Trump has pushed a pro-crypto message, and that helps gathering momentum among allies in Congress. But partisan lines remain.

If members tie the bill too closely to a single political brand, bipartisan support could fray. Also, banks and regulators are not uniform: some large institutions want stricter rules; others prefer limited, clearer guardrails that let certain products exist under oversight.

Why Fast Passage Is Uncertain

Reports say industry players want clarity asap, while some regulators want broader authority. That difference explains the public sparring.

Negotiators can and do move quickly when leadership prioritizes a measure, yet complex financial bills often require many rounds of drafting and amendment. Even so, lawmakers and execs at industry meetings appear to be pushing hard for a resolution soon.

If the bill clears, it could bring clearer rules for exchanges, banks, and stablecoin issuers. For investors, clarity is usually good. For firms, the shape of the final text will determine whether new products live or die.

Featured image from Wallpapers.com, chart from TradingView

Balaji Srinivasan is once again making the most provocative version of a privacy argument and he’s pinning it to a specific chain: Zcash. In a Feb. 18 video shared on X, Srinivasan framed the stakes in stark terms: “The choice is clear. It’s Zcash or communism,” tying the rise of AI-enabled surveillance to what he described as a renewed appetite for wealth seizure.

In a follow-up post, he argued that AI has shifted surveillance from a state-scale project to something closer to an on-demand service. “Any scrap of information online can now be integrated, digested, and synthesized…by any state or stalker capable of running an AI model…to form a dossier more complete than anything the Soviets could ever dream of,” he wrote.

Srinivasan’s prescription was blunt: “There will be no single silver bullet. But anything you haven’t encrypted can and will be used against you.”

Srinivasan anchored his “communism requires surveillance” claim in an historical example meant to make a modern point about data exhaust. “In 1918, in the midst of the Bolshevik Revolution, Lenin gave an order to murder 100 nearby ‘kulaks,’” he said, emphasizing that such an order “required a list”: names, locations, and a population that couldn’t easily move.

His argument is that the internet reverses that asymmetry if encryption becomes the default. “Today, neo-communism is rising once again. But the Internet could change the game,” he said. “No full list, if we encrypt it. No fixed location, either. They can’t hit what they can’t see.”

Those themes carried into a longer discussion on the Never Say Podcast, where Srinivasan connected privacy to basic operational freedom. “If you’re under surveillance, you’re not sovereign,” he said. “If every move is being tracked…you don’t have the advantage of surprise. You can never launch something. You can never have private deliberations.”

Arjun Khemani, a 19-year-old Zcash researcher on the episode, echoed the AI angle from the user side: “Especially with AI, being able to recognize where you are exactly…you can’t have freedom without privacy,” he said, arguing that broadcasting every transaction and context signal is “not… the world that I want to live in.”

The choice is clear. It’s Zcash or communism.pic.twitter.com/4sAG9WG0jA

— Balaji (@balajis) February 18, 2026

Zcash As A Scaling Bet, Not Just A Privacy Stance

Srinivasan’s pitch wasn’t limited to privacy-by-principle. He positioned Zcash as a technical response to where he thinks the market has landed on scalability: on-chain throughput wins, and routing complexity loses.

Asked why “Zcash must scale” is a “moral imperative,” Srinivasan contrasted Bitcoin’s scaling reality: exchanges, custodians, and database entries with the decentralization promise many users think they’re buying. “Lightning…they’ve been saying, ‘Lightning is going to be there any day now’ for 10 years,” he said, arguing that real-world deployments tend toward “a hub and spoke topology” resembling traditional finance rails. “Within a bank, it’s fast…between banks, they do settlement,” he added, describing a dynamic he sees mirrored in major Lightning implementations.

From there, he argued crypto has effectively segmented into layers: Bitcoin for immutability and brand, Ethereum for programmability, and Solana for straightforward on-chain execution at scale. The opening he sees for Zcash is combining “Solana-like scalability” with private transactions, leaning on zero-knowledge proofs as “compression technology” as much as secrecy. “It’s what a lot of people wanted Bitcoin to be,” he said.

Srinivasan also stressed that privacy doesn’t necessarily replace transparency, it complements it. He argued that Bitcoin’s public ledger can be a feature for proof-of-reserves narratives, while Zcash’s private-by-default design targets a different threat model. His bottom line is coexistence, not conquest: “It’s possible that Bitcoin… and Zcash coexist because Bitcoin is transparent and Zcash is private,” he said, while suggesting “this could be Zcash’s moment.”

At press time, ZEC traded at $259.18.

The XRP Ledger has just activated one of its most anticipated upgrades. According to XRPScan, the Permissioned DEX amendment was enabled on February 18, 2026 at 10:58:10 AM UTC after 82.35% of validators voted in favor.

This is the second amendment to go live on the Ledger in less than a week, following the activation of the Token Escrow (XLS-85) amendment on February 12. XRP enthusiasts are happy with the development, as evidenced by various posts on the social media platform X. However, what does a Permissioned DEX actually mean for everyday users?

Permissioned Dex Is Bigger Than A Simple Upgrade

Ripple enthusiasts and executives have repeatedly stated that the largest obstacle to institutional adoption of decentralized exchanges is compliance. Without permissioning tools, even Ripple itself could not fully utilize certain XRPL functionalities in regulated environments.

A Permissioned DEX is still a decentralized exchange, but with controlled access. A Permissioned DEX is where anyone can trade freely, but creators of the DEX restrict participation to verified entities. This means that banks, payment providers, and regulated financial institutions can take advantage of a Permissioned DEX to trade, provide liquidity, and settle transactions inside an environment where all participants are known and approved.

Decentralized networks like the Ledger are permissionless, meaning anyone can participate without authorization or approval from a gatekeeper. However, as nice as that may sound, the reality behind this structure is that traditional financial institutions cannot transact on open systems with anonymous counterparties due to compliance, AML, and regulatory obligations. They must know who they are trading with, maintain audit trails, and prevent exposure to illicit activity. A permissioned environment solves that barrier without removing the decentralized foundation of the ledger itself.

The Ledger already had built-in DEX functionality, fast settlement, low fees, and deterministic execution. The new amendment adds the compliance layer that large financial institutions need before deploying huge amounts of capital into the XRP ecosystem.

What Does This Mean For XRP Users?

Therefore, the launch of Permissioned Dex on the XRP Ledger is another obstacle to mass institutionalization that has been removed. According to an enthusiast known as Nick on the social media platform X, once the market structure bill is passed this year, then every other single obstacle to mass institutionalization of the Ledger will be removed. 

According to another analyst on X known as Stern Drew, the upgrade is huge because permissioned liquidity unlocks institutional participation, the missing bridge between traditional finance and blockchain rails. This is expected to be reflected in the price action of the altcoin moving forward. 

However, the analyst noted that it might take time for institutions to actually deploy liquidity until the CLARITY ACT and DNAOnChain’s zk-credential system go live. Nonetheless, the first permissioned offer has already been created on the XRP DEX.