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Quick Facts:

• Polymarket is suing Massachusetts to establish that prediction markets are federally regulated derivatives, not state-regulated gambling.
• The lawsuit represents a critical test for the crypto industry’s ability to operate under federal oversight rather than fragmented state laws.
• SUBBD Token leverages similar decentralized principles to disrupt the $85B creator economy, offering AI tools and lower fees than Web2 competitors.
• The conflict highlights a broader market trend toward platforms that offer user sovereignty and resistance to centralized censorship.

The battle for decentralized information markets just hit a breaking point.

Polymarket, the world’s largest prediction platform, has officially filed a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This legal maneuver serves as a sharp counter-offensive to the Cease and Desist order issued by the state’s Attorney General, who accused the platform of running an unlicensed gambling operation.

Polymarket’s argument hangs on a single hook: federal preemption. The company contends its markets are financial derivatives under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), not games of chance subject to state-level gambling laws.

That distinction isn’t just legalese, it’s survival. If prediction markets are classified merely as gambling, they face a fractured nightmare of 50 different state regulators. If they’re derivatives? They face a single federal framework.

This lawsuit follows the precedent set by Kalshi, a regulated competitor that recently scored a massive win against the CFTC, emboldening platforms to challenge regulatory overreach.

But this isn’t just about election betting or sports outcomes. The conflict highlights the friction between decentralized protocols and legacy frameworks that struggle to categorize Web3 innovation. The market’s reaction? Telling.

Rather than fleeing, liquidity in decentralized sectors has deepened. Investors are hunting for sovereignty and utility outside the reach of arbitrary restrictions.

While prediction markets fight for the right to trade truth, SUBBD Token ($SUBBD) is using this sentiment to disrupt the $85 billion creator economy. As users look for platforms that guarantee ownership and freedom from censorship, SUBBD is capitalizing on the shift toward decentralized monetization.

Explore the SUBBD Token ecosystem.

Disrupting The $85B Content Economy With AI And Web3

While the Polymarket case highlights the struggle for permissionless trading, the content creation industry faces a parallel crisis: centralization.

Right now, Web2 giants strangle the landscape, extracting up to 70% of creator earnings through fees and maintaining absolute authority over who can monetize. Sound familiar?

This centralized control creates a fragile ecosystem where influencers face arbitrary bans, demonetization, and payment processor restrictions. SUBBD Token has emerged to fix these inefficiencies by merging Web3 financial sovereignty with advanced AI tooling.

The project’s architecture is built to return value to the user (a concept foreign to most legacy platforms). By utilizing the Ethereum blockchain, SUBBD eliminates the intermediaries that typically siphon revenue, offering a transparent payment infrastructure that supports creators, fans, and even AI-driven influencers.

The platform integrates proprietary AI models directly into the ecosystem, offering features like AI Personal Assistants for automated interactions and AI Voice Cloning. Why does that matter? It lets creators scale their output without the burnout associated with traditional streaming.

From a market perspective, the utility here goes beyond simple tokenization. The platform introduces governance mechanisms that allow token holders to vote on feature rollouts and creator curation, fostering a community-owned ecosystem rather than a corporate dictatorship.

For investors watching the regulatory squeeze on platforms like Polymarket, SUBBD represents a tangible application of decentralized tech, solving a clear operational problem rather than relying on purely speculative trading. The integration of ‘HoneyHive’ membership tiers and token-gated exclusive content further aligns the token’s velocity with platform growth.

Read more about $SUBBD here.

SUBBD Presale Momentum Signals Demand For Decentralized Monetization

You can see the hunger for utility-driven crypto assets in the project’s early numbers. According to official presale data, SUBBD Token has already raised $1.47M, indicating strong capital inflows despite the broader market’s regulatory uncertainty.

The token’s current price of $0.057495 offers a vital entry point for investors looking to capitalize on the intersection of AI and the creator economy before the platform fully launches.

Financial incentives play a major role in this early accumulation phase. The protocol offers a robust staking mechanism, providing a fixed 20% APY for the first year to users who lock their tokens. This strategy is designed to reduce circulating supply volatility during the project’s initial expansion phase.

Plus, stakers unlock platform-specific benefits, including exclusive livestreams, daily behind-the-scenes drops, and XP multipliers that enhance their standing within the ecosystem.

Smart money seems to be betting on the convergence of two high-growth narratives: the explosion of AI tools and the necessity of censorship-resistant payments. While the Polymarket lawsuit dominates the headlines regarding regulatory jurisdiction, projects like SUBBD Token are building the infrastructure that renders traditional gatekeepers obsolete.

By offering a solution that combines lower fees, AI utility, and staking yields, the project positions itself as a hedge against the centralization risks currently plaguing both the prediction and content markets.

Buy your $SUBBD tokens here.

This article is for informational purposes only and doesn’t constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are volatile assets; always conduct your own research before investing. The regulatory landscape is evolving and may impact project viability.

Quick Facts:

• Bitcoin Hyper combines Bitcoin’s security with the speed of the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), addressing the critical need for scalable Bitcoin DeFi.
• The project has demonstrated massive market interest, raising $31.3M in its ongoing presale with tokens priced at $0.0136754.
• On-chain data highlights significant whale accumulation, including a single $500K purchase on Jan 15, 2026, signaling institutional confidence.
• By solving the “programmability gap,” Bitcoin Hyper aims to recapture capital that has historically migrated to Ethereum and Solana.

Bitcoin is fighting a multi-front war. While institutional flows via ETFs have stabilized the asset class, the battle for dominance in 2026 is being fought on entirely different terrain: utility.

As of late 2025, Bitcoin is struggling to reclaim the critical $98,000 level after a sharp correction, leaving traders questioning if the cycle has peaked. But price action only tells half the story.

The real ‘lost ground’ isn’t just market cap. It’s the hundreds of billions in decentralized finance (DeFi) activity that has migrated to Ethereum and Solana because of Bitcoin’s inherent programmability limits.

This matters (a lot) because history suggests capital rotation follows innovation. When Bitcoin stagnates, liquidity hunts for yield in high-performance ecosystems. But a new infrastructure layer is emerging to challenge that dynamic. By bringing smart contract capabilities directly to the world’s most secure blockchain, Layer 2 solutions are attempting to unify Bitcoin’s liquidity with Solana’s speed.

Leading this charge is Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER). By integrating the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) as a Layer 2 on Bitcoin, the project aims to recapture the market share Bitcoin has historically ceded to faster chains. With over $31.3M raised in its presale, the market is signaling a serious appetite for this hybrid approach.

Read more about $HYPER here.

The SVM Advantage: Why Smart Money is Watching

The core value proposition of Bitcoin Hyper lies in a specific architectural choice: utilizing the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) for execution while relying on Bitcoin Layer 1 for settlement. This isn’t just a technical upgrade; it’s a fundamental shift in how capital can be deployed on Bitcoin.

Traditional Bitcoin transactions are secure but notoriously slow and expensive, often costing upwards of $5–$10 during congestion. In contrast, the SVM architecture allows for sub-second finality and transaction costs that are fractions of a cent.

For developers, this solves the ‘scalability trilemma’ without abandoning Bitcoin’s security guarantees. The project features a Decentralized Canonical Bridge, allowing users to transfer $BTC seamlessly into a high-speed environment for DeFi protocols, NFT platforms, and gaming dApps.

Unlike previous attempts to scale Bitcoin that relied on complex sidechains, Bitcoin Hyper offers a developer experience compatible with Rust, the language powering Solana’s thriving ecosystem.

The risk? Execution. Bridging assets between a Turing-incomplete chain like Bitcoin and a high-performance environment is technically demanding. However, if the team pulls it off, this modular blockchain approach, separating execution (L2) from settlement (L1), could unlock trillions in dormant Bitcoin capital.

As technical analysts have noted, this infrastructure is critical for Bitcoin to move beyond a ‘store of value’ and become a productive asset in the 2026 economy.

Check the $HYPER presale.

Whale Activity Signals Confidence in the $HYPER Presale

While the broader market remains cautious, specific smart money actors are taking aggressive positions in infrastructure plays. On-chain data reveals significant accumulation for Bitcoin Hyper (view whale transaction).

According to recent records, two whale wallets have accumulated a total of $1M+ in $HYPER tokens. The biggest splash came on Jan 15, 2026, when a single wallet executed a purchase of $500K. This suggests high-net-worth individuals are positioning themselves ahead of the token generation event (TGE), likely anticipating the demand for a functional Bitcoin L2.

The financial metrics back up this bullish outlook. The project has raised an impressive $31.3M to date, a figure that stands out even in a crowded market. With the current token price set at $0.0136754, the valuation remains accessible compared to established L2s like Stacks or Optimism.

For retail investors, the staking incentives offer an additional layer of yield. Although the specific APY fluctuates, the protocol offers immediate staking after TGE with a short 7-day vesting period for presale participants. This structure encourages long-term holding rather than quick flips.

Investors should watch the timing here. As Bitcoin attempts to regain its lost ground above key resistance levels, the narrative is shifting toward ‘Bitcoin DeFi.’ Projects that can successfully deploy high-speed applications on Bitcoin are poised to capture the overflow of liquidity.

Bitcoin Hyper is positioning itself not just as a participant in this trend, but as the primary infrastructure layer enabling it. Join the $HYPER presale here.

Buy $HYPER here.

The content provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry inherent risks, including market volatility and regulatory uncertainty. Always conduct your own research before investing.

Quick Facts:

• USDT maintaining the $1.00 peg during market crashes is a primary indicator of systemic health and future buying power.
• Rising Tether market cap during price dips suggests capital is re-arming for a buy, not exiting the space.
• While the general market seeks safety, smart money whales have moved over $500K into Maxi Doge, signaling appetite for high-leverage narratives.
• Monitor USDT for any deviation below $0.998; maintaining parity is the prerequisite for any market recovery.

The crypto market is currently undergoing a stress test that separates fragile assets from the real deal.

While Bitcoin and Ethereum navigate a sea of red, Tether (USDT) has once again become the market’s liquidity lifeboat, maintaining its critical peg despite immense pressure. For a stablecoin, a ‘price prediction’ isn’t about moonshots or capital appreciation, it’s about solvency, survival, and the velocity of money.

Data points to a massive flight to safety. As altcoins bleed double-digit percentages, Tether’s trading volume has spiked. This signals that traders aren’t exiting the ecosystem entirely; they’re just stepping to the sidelines. This accumulation of stablecoin reserves is historically a bullish signal for the medium term. Think of it as ‘dry powder’ waiting for a spark to deploy back into risk assets.

Tether’s immediate job is a rigorous defense of the $1.00 parity. Unlike speculative assets where volatility is a feature, for USDT, volatility is a failure state. The fact that Tether continues to process billions in daily redemptions without de-pegging suggests the market infrastructure is finally maturing.

However, this defensive posture in majors has created a split market: while cautious capital hides in USDT, aggressive ‘smart money’ is using this dip to rotate into high-asymmetry presale opportunities like Maxi Doge ($MAXI), betting on the recovery.

Read more about $MAXI here.

USDT Technical Outlook: Stability Signals Future Volatility

You can’t analyze a stablecoin with traditional chart patterns; you have to look at peg deviation and capitalization trends.

Currently, USDT is oscillating tightly between $0.9998 and $1.0002. This micro-volatility is actually healthy, it indicates arbitrage bots are efficiently closing gaps. The bullish thesis for the broader market hinges on Tether’s market cap, which continues to expand even as asset prices fall.

This divergence, prices down, stablecoin supply up, creates a ‘coiled spring’ effect for the next leg up.

The technical ‘resistance’ for Tether is simply trust. If USDT holds the $1.00 level through this correction, it validates institutional confidence. Analysts are closely watching the spread between USDT and USDC on centralized exchanges. A widening positive spread for USDT would indicate it’s the preferred haven for offshore leverage traders preparing to buy the dip.

Conversely, if the peg wavers below $0.995 for long, it could trigger a secondary capitulation event across the board.

Scenario planning for the coming weeks is straightforward:

• The Bull Case (for Crypto): USDT holds $1.00 firmly while its circulating supply increases by $1-2 billion. This confirms fresh capital entry and usually precedes a Bitcoin rally.
• The Base Case: USDT trades flat at $1.00 with stagnant supply. The market ranges sideways as traders wait for macro clarity.
• The Bear Case: A de-peg event below $0.998 driven by regulatory news. This would invalidate the safety thesis and force capital into fiat, draining the ecosystem’s liquidity.

Buy your $MAXI here. Whales Rotate Into Maxi Doge for High-Beta Upside

While conservative capital parks in Tether, on-chain analytics reveal a subset of high-net-worth wallets are aggressively positioning in early-stage assets to maximize the recovery phase.

Maxi Doge ($MAXI) has emerged as a primary target for this rotation, attracting liquidity from traders looking for leverage-style returns without the liquidation risk of futures trading.

The project differentiates itself through a ‘Leverage King’ culture (a rarity in the meme space), appealing directly to the retail cohort that views volatility as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Current data confirms significant institutional-sized interest: according to Etherscan records, 2 whale wallets have accumulated $628K in recent transactions ($314K, $314K).

Maxi Doge is currently in its presale phase, having raised over $4.58M. With tokens priced at $0.0002803, the project offers a low-cap entry compared to established meme coins.

The value proposition extends beyond simple speculation; the ecosystem includes holder-only trading competitions and a ‘Maxi Fund’ treasury designed to sustain marketing pressure, a critical component for meme token longevity.

However, potential investors need to be realistic about the risks. While Tether offers stability, Maxi Doge represents the extreme end of the risk curve. It’s a high-beta play designed to outperform standard market moves, but it carries the inherent volatility of unlisted assets. For traders bored by the stability of $1.00, researching Maxi Doge offers a look at where the risk-on capital is flowing.

Buy your $MAXI here.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are volatile; conduct your own due diligence before investing.

Quick Facts:

• Ethereum has established strong support above $2,000, with $2,150 serving as the critical invalidation level for the bullish thesis.
• A confirmed breakout above $2,850 is required to trigger a run toward the $3,500 analyst target.
• Institutional flows into ETH ETFs remain the primary catalyst to watch for a shift in short-term momentum.
• LiquidChain solves liquidity fragmentation across major chains, attracting speculative capital betting on a unified cross-chain future.

Ethereum’s price action over the last quarter hasn’t been about explosive growth, it’s been a masterclass in resilience.

While Bitcoin flirts with range highs and Solana captures retail attention, Ether ($ETH) has quietly established a formidable defensive line above the psychological $2,000 mark. It’s coiling.

As macro liquidity conditions ease, the asset looks ready for a decisive move.

Why the defense? A massive shift in holder behavior. On-chain data shows that despite lackluster price performance compared to competitors, long-term holders aren’t selling at these valuations.

This accumulation phase has kept $ETH firmly anchored, even as heavy outflows from legacy institutional products initially dampened post-ETF sentiment.

But stability is a double-edged sword. While $2,000 is a rock-solid floor, the lack of fireworks is pushing capital elsewhere. Traders seeking high-beta exposure are increasingly rotating into infrastructure plays and presales that promise the erratic, high-multiple returns $ETH currently lacks.

Frankly, the market looks bifurcated: one side playing the safe, long-term accumulation game with $ETH, and the other aggressively targeting emerging layer-3 protocols like LiquidChain ($LIQUID) to capture early-cycle alpha.

Read more about $LIQUID here.

Technical Resilience: Can Ethereum Reclaim $3,000 Before Q3?

Technically, Ethereum is trapped. The asset is painting a classic consolidation pattern on the daily chart, having successfully tested the $2,200–$2,300 zone multiple times. That confirms this area as a region of significant demand.

However, the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) and the $2,700 horizontal level are currently acting as stiff resistance. With the Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovering near 48, momentum is neutral, leaving room for a breakout in either direction without immediate concern for overbought conditions.

The ‘slow bleed’ narrative? It largely ignores the massive institutional adoption of Ethereum’s Layer 2 ecosystem. While critics point to L2s cannibalizing mainnet revenue, the aggregate Total Value Locked (TVL) across the Ethereum ecosystem remains dominant.

The key metric to watch in the coming weeks is the net flow into Spot ETH ETFs. After months of stagnation, a reversal to consistent positive inflows would likely provide the necessary buy pressure to chew through the sell walls at $2,850.

Price Scenarios and Outlook:

• The Bull Case: If ETH can close a daily candle above $2,850 on sustained volume, it invalidates the lower-high structure. We could see a swift move to test liquidity at $3,500, driven by short liquidations and renewed institutional interest.
• The Base Case: The asset continues to chop between $2,300 support and $2,700 resistance. This accumulation range could persist for several weeks as the market waits for clearer macro signals from the Federal Reserve.
• The Bear Case: A breakdown below $2,150 would be technically catastrophic. It would likely trigger a cascade toward the $1,800 region as leveraged longs get flushed out.

Traders watching this setup should monitor the volume on the next retest of $2,500; low-volume bounces suggest weakness, while a high-volume rejection of lower prices would confirm the bullish accumulation thesis.

Get your $LIQUID here.

Smart Money Rotates: LiquidChain Targets the Cross-Chain Liquidity Gap

While Ethereum battles for momentum, sophisticated capital is hunting for infrastructure plays that connect these fragmented ecosystems. The rotation is moving toward solutions that solve ‘bridging fatigue.’

LiquidChain ($LIQUID) has emerged as a focal point here, positioning itself as a Layer 3 infrastructure play designed to unify liquidity across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.

The project differentiates itself with a ‘Deploy-Once’ architecture. This allows developers to build applications that access liquidity from multiple chains without complex wrapping mechanisms or vulnerable bridges.

That utility-first approach is clicking with early-stage investors. The numbers back this up: LiquidChain has raised over $533K to date, with tokens priced at $0.0136. The steady influx of capital during a choppy market suggests investors are betting on interoperability as the dominant theme of the next cycle.

The thesis for LiquidChain relies on its ability to serve as a high-beta correlation to the broader L1 market. If ETH and SOL rally, the demand for cross-chain execution generally expands, theoretically benefiting the protocols that facilitate that traffic. However, this sector carries risks.

As a presale asset, $LIQUID faces the dual challenges of delivering on its technical roadmap and navigating the volatility typical of unlisted tokens. It represents a speculative allocation for those betting that the future of DeFi is chain-agnostic rather than chain-maximalist.

For investors monitoring the space, the divergence is clear: ETH offers the stability of an established settlement layer, while projects like LiquidChain offer the speculative upside of solving the settlement layer’s connectivity problems.

Buy $LIQUID here.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Crypto assets, including presales, are high-risk investments. Always conduct independent research.

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) used a new X thread on Feb. 9 to reframe his criminal case as “Biden’s political lawfare,” positioning himself alongside Donald Trump and former FTX executive Ryan Salame in what read like a direct appeal for a future pardon.

“Biden’s lawfare machine threw bogus charges at me, Donald Trump, Ryan Salame, etc.,” Bankman-Fried wrote. “To make the charges stick, they prevented us from even being allowed to respond.” He opened with a blunt claim about process rather than facts: “Rule No. 1 of Biden’s political lawfare: Don’t let them present evidence.”

SBF Cries ‘Gagged Trial,’ Claims DOJ Hid Evidence

SBF’s argument hinges on the idea that authorities and the court curtailed what the jury could hear. He repeatedly singled out Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over his trial, claiming the court “rubber-stamped everything Biden’s DOJ wanted” and “made sure I couldn’t show the jury the truth.”

The “truth,” as SBF cast it, is a solvency narrative: “So they lied, said I stole billions of dollars and bankrupted FTX. But the money was always there and FTX was always solvent.” He also argued that restrictions prevented him from advancing that line at trial, writing that he was “prohibited” from “pointing out FTX was solvent” and from “even mentioning lawyers.”

In the thread, SBF linked to a court filing he said was authored by his prosecutor, “Sassoon,” describing it as “a 70-page document on all the evidence they didn’t want the jury to see,” and he framed the episode as part of a broader political effort to “silence the truth.”

A significant chunk of the thread is dedicated to Trump’s New York hush-money bookkeeping case, which Bankman-Fried portrayed as a routine classification dispute blown into criminality. “Charged him with 34 crimes over his bookkeeping of an NDA expense—should it be legal, campaign, or personal?,” he wrote. “These questions come up all the time when you’re running a business, and it’s often unclear.”

He then drew a parallel between court-imposed limits on Trump and his own pre-trial detention. “They then got the judge to impose a gag order on Donald Trump,” he wrote. “Biden’s DOJ silenced me, too—getting Judge Kaplan to gag and then jail me before trial. President Trump also had Kaplan as a judge.”

Bankman-Fried also amplified Salame’s complaints about licensing advice and charging decisions, alleging prosecutors leaned on pressure tactics to force a plea, including claims involving Salame’s fiancée, assertions presented as fact in the thread but not accompanied by supporting documentation beyond links to Salame’s posts.

The reaction underneath was unsparing, with multiple industry figures interpreting the thread less as a legal critique than a political pitch. “You’re a Delusional criminal who is now angling for a pardon,” wrote trader Bob Loukas. Attorney Ariel Givner was even more direct: “We GET it. You want a pardon from Trump.”

At press time, FTT traded at $0.3021.

Quick Facts:

• Bitcoin is consolidating under $70k; technicals suggest a breakout toward $85k-$100k if resistance at $72.5k clears.
• The primary downside risk is losing the $60k support, which could trigger a liquidation cascade toward $52k.
• Bitcoin Hyper uses the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) to bring high-speed smart contracts to Bitcoin, raising over $31M in early capital.
• On-chain metrics show accumulation, but low volume on current rallies warrants caution regarding potential fake-outs.

Bitcoin is currently engaged in a tense standoff with the psychological $70,000 barrier, a ceiling that has held firm for weeks.

The market is witnessing a classic consolidation pattern: volatility compressing, leverage flushing, and price trading in a tight range. Historically, this quiet precedes a violent move. While retail traders grow impatient with the chop, on-chain data tells a different story beneath the surface.

The main culprit for this hesitation? A messy mix of macroeconomic ambiguity and short-term profit-taking. Yet, the macro thesis remains solid. With institutional ETF flows providing a soft floor and global liquidity cycles turning, the math favors a breakout. The question isn’t if Bitcoin breaks higher, but when the post-halving supply shock finally dries up the available liquidity on exchanges.

This compression phase forces capital to make a choice. While Bitcoin prepares for its next leg up, risk-tolerant capital is already rotating. Traders looking to maximize the coming cycle are hedging spot holdings with high-beta infrastructure plays.

That rotation suggests that while Bitcoin targets a conservative 2x, emerging protocols like Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) are capturing attention (and liquidity) for their potential to fix Bitcoin’s scaling issues before the bull market truly heats up.

Learn more about $HYPER here.

Technical Outlook: The Path to $100K Requires a Clean Break

Despite the immediate resistance at $70,000, Bitcoin’s high-timeframe structure remains aggressively bullish.

Analysts are eyeing the convergence of the 50-day and 200-day moving averages, a setup that historically signals trend continuation rather than reversal. Plus, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has reset from overbought territory. That gives the asset room to run without overheating.

For the bulls to win, Bitcoin needs to reclaim the $72,500 level with real volume. A daily close above that zone would invalidate the bearish divergence and open a path toward price discovery.

Most technical models project that once $74,000 clears, the psychological vacuum pulls price rapidly toward the $85,000–$90,000 range. Consensus suggests a breakout here puts the $100,000 milestone in play by late Q3, fueled by corporate treasury adoption and ETF rebalancing.

However, risks remain. If the $60,000 support fails during a macro shakeout, the structure weakens significantly.

• Bull Case: A high-volume breach of $72,000 targets $88,000 in the medium term.
• Base Case: Another 2-3 weeks of chop between $64,000 and $71,000.
• Invalidation: A weekly close below $58,500 signals a deeper correction is needed to find liquidity.

Watch spot volume on Coinbase closely. If price pushes up while volume drops? It’s likely a fake-out.

Smart Money Rotates to Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) for L2 Utility

As Bitcoin battles resistance, sophisticated investors are looking at the rails that will power the network’s future. The focus is shifting toward Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER), the first Bitcoin Layer 2 integrating the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM).

While Bitcoin serves as pristine collateral, digital gold, it’s frankly too slow and expensive for DeFi. Bitcoin Hyper solves this by anchoring to Bitcoin for security while using SVM for high-speed execution.

The market’s appetite is clear. According to the official presale page, Bitcoin Hyper has raised $31.3M, with tokens currently priced at $0.0136754. That capital inflow suggests strong conviction in the ‘Bitcoin DeFi’ narrative.

By allowing developers to write in Rust and deploy dApps that settle on Bitcoin, the project bridges the gap between Bitcoin’s $1.3 trillion liquidity and modern functionality.

Whale activity backs this up. Etherscan records show that 3 whale wallets alone have accumulated $1M. The largest transaction, a $500K buy, occurred on Jan 15, 2026. (Note: Large-scale buy orders during a presale usually indicate institutional due diligence is finished).

Still, caution is necessary. Layer 2 protocols are high-risk environments subject to execution hurdles. While the promise of high APY staking and a Decentralized Canonical Bridge is appealing, $HYPER remains a beta play on the ecosystem’s expansion.

Buy $HYPER here.

This article is not financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are volatile assets. The content provided is for informational purposes only. Your should conduct your own independent research and consult with financial professionals before making any investment decisions.

A long‑running dispute between the US banking sector and the crypto industry is widening, with tensions now extending beyond stablecoin yields to a new regulatory flashpoint: “skinny” Federal Reserve (Fed) master accounts. 

According to a report published Monday by Crypto In America, the disagreement is emerging as another obstacle in an already strained relationship between traditional finance and digital asset firms.

Crypto‑Bank Tensions Grow

The issue comes as lawmakers continue to struggle with the passage of the anticipated crypto market structure legislation known as the CLARITY Act, which has been delayed in part by unresolved questions around whether crypto firms should be allowed to offer yield on stablecoins. 

Now, attention is shifting to the Federal Reserve’s proposal to introduce “skinny” master accounts, a limited form of Fed access that would allow eligible fintech and crypto firms to connect directly to the central bank’s payment infrastructure without receiving full banking privileges.

Eleanor Terret, the journalist closely tracking the bill’s progress in Washington, reported that banks and crypto advocates are sharply divided over the proposal. 

Terret noted that the disagreement became clear through 44 comment letters submitted to the Federal Reserve last Friday by a broad range of stakeholders, including crypto companies, industry groups, banking trade associations and individual commentators.

Circle (CRCL) argued that granting limited Fed access would strengthen the overall payments system by increasing its resilience. The Blockchain Payments Consortium said skinny master accounts could help remove uncompetitive practices that disadvantage consumers and concentrate risk within a small number of large banks. 

However, not all crypto firms expressed full approval. Anchorage Digital described the proposal as a step in the right direction but criticized its limitations. 

The company noted that the accounts would not provide direct access to the Federal Reserve’s automated clearing house, nor would they allow firms to hold balances or earn interest on reserves—features Anchorage believes are necessary for meaningful participation in the payment system.

Fraud And Oversight Concerns 

Banks, by contrast, raised concerns about oversight and risk. The American Bankers Association (ABA) warned that many of the entities likely to qualify for skinny accounts lack a long‑term supervisory history and are not governed by consistent federal safety and soundness standards. 

The group also pointed out that many crypto firms operate under regulatory frameworks that are still evolving. The Colorado Bankers Association echoed those worries, cautioning that expanded access could create opportunities for faster‑moving fraud.

The Federal Reserve has said it will review all submitted comments before drafting formal rules for skinny master accounts. Fed Governor Christopher Waller told Crypto In America that he hopes the central bank will be able to release a proposal for those rules in the fourth quarter of this year.

The debate is unfolding just ahead of a scheduled meeting at the White House on Tuesday, where officials are expected to bring together representatives from both the crypto and banking sectors in an attempt to ease tensions, particularly around the issue of stablecoin yield. 

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com

South Korean regulators have announced an inspection of local crypto exchanges and improved measures to address regulatory “blind spots” following Bithumb’s $40 billion Bitcoin (BTC) payment error.

New Task Force To Review Crypto Exchanges’ Practices

On Monday, South Korean financial authorities announced they will step up their efforts to regulate the crypto industry and foster a trustworthy trading environment for digital assets, local news outlets reported.

Following the “ghost Bitcoin” incident at Bithumb, South Korea’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)’s Governor Lee Chan-jin revealed an inspection of local exchanges and emphasized the need for improved legislation.

As reported by Bitcoinist, Bithumb accidentally distributed 620,000 Bitcoin, worth over $40 billion, to 249 users participating in the exchange’s “random box” promotional event due to an employee’s mistake.

Although 99% of the BTC were recovered, the incident raised serious concerns about the crypto exchange’s internal controls. Notably, Bithumb held 175 BTC in its own books, and less than 50,000 Bitcoin between its own assets and customer-held assets, according to a regulatory filing from last year.

This means that the exchange’s system failed to block the irregular transaction, distributing assets that did not actually exist to users and distorting market prices.

“The so-called ghost Bitcoin incident clearly revealed that, beyond a mere input error, there are structural weaknesses in internal controls and ledger management systems of cryptocurrency exchanges,” said Kim Jiho, a spokesperson for the ruling Democratic Party, in a Saturday briefing.

Meanwhile, the FSS Governor affirmed that the “incident bluntly exposed the structural flaws in virtual asset trading systems,” adding, “There are many aspects of the case that we view as extremely serious.”

As a result, the FSS, alongside the Korean Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), and the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA), formed an emergency task force to organize follow-up measures and review industrywide practices.

The reports noted that the task force plans to examine Bithumb and other domestic exchanges’ virtual asset reserves, management practices, operational conditions, and internal control systems.

“We will carry out planned investigations into major high-risk areas in the virtual asset market where unfair trading practices, such as market manipulation and the dissemination of false information, are a concern,” Lee stated.

Regulators To Address ‘Structural Vulnerabilities’

The FSS Governor also warned that the process could be escalated into a full investigation if any illegal activities are revealed, adding that the incident would be reflected in the long-awaited Second Phase of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, which is expected to serve as a comprehensive framework for the entire industry.

“While we are drawing up the second phase of virtual asset legislation, measures to address structural vulnerabilities at exchanges, exposed by the recent Bithumb incident, will be reflected,” Lee declared.

“As virtual assets are being incorporated into the legacy financial system, there remains the task of strengthening the regulatory and supervisory framework. This could serve as an opportunity to put the system in place properly,” he continued.

It’s worth noting that South Korean financial authorities are reportedly considering introducing a system to prevent suspects from hiding or withdrawing unrealized profits from market manipulation related to crypto assets.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) revealed last month that it is exploring the proposal for prosecution measures against suspects of crypto asset price manipulation, as some officials consider that there’s a need “to complement the current Virtual Asset User Protection Act by implementing measures for the confiscation of criminal proceeds or the preservation of recovery funds in advance.”

The measure would limit fund outflows, such as withdrawals, transfers, and payments from a crypto-related account suspected of obtaining illicit gains through typical market manipulation tactics.

On-chain data shows Bitcoin buyers from 2025 and 2026 realized $1.5 billion in losses per day on the recent move down in the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin Net Realised Profit/Loss Has Plunged Recently

In a new post on X, on-chain analyst Checkmate has talked about how loss-taking has looked during the latest Bitcoin price crash. The indicator cited by Checkmate is the “Net Realised Profit/Loss,” which measures the net amount of profit or loss that investors are realizing through their transactions.

The metric works by going through the transaction history of each coin being sold to see what price it was moved at prior to this. If the last selling price was greater than the latest spot price for any token, then that particular coin is now being moved at a net loss. On the other hand, the previous selling price being less suggests the sale is leading to profit realization.

In each case, the degree of profit/loss involved is equal to the difference between the two prices. The Net Realised Profit/Loss sums up this value for both types of sales and then finds their net value.

When the value of the indicator is greater than zero, it means the investors are selling their coins at a net profit. Similarly, it being negative implies loss-taking is the dominant mode of selling.

Now, here is the chart for the Ethereum Net Realised Profit/Loss shared by Checkmate that shows the trend in its 7-day exponential moving average (EMA) value separately for buyers from different years:

As displayed in the above graph, the Ethereum Net Realised Profit/Loss fell into the negative zone for the 2025 and 2026 buyers as the market crash took place. This suggests that buyers from the past year participated in loss realization.

“Class of 2025 and 2026 collectively puked out $1.5B/day in losses on the move lower, equivalent to the June 2022 low at $17.6k,” noted the analyst. Buyers from other years also participated in selling during the drawdown, but their distribution mostly involved profit-taking.

In related news, the unrealized loss in the market has also hit a value similar to that witnessed during the 2022 bear market, as on-chain analytics firm Glassnode has pointed out in an X post.

From the chart, it’s visible that the Relative Unrealized Loss, an indicator representing the unrealized Bitcoin loss as a percentage of the market cap, has risen to 16% recently. “Current market pain echoes a similar structure seen in early May 2022,” explained Glassnode.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $69,300, down more than 11% over the past week.

Federal Reserve (Fed) Governor Christopher Waller said on Monday that progress on the long‑anticipated crypto market structure legislation, commonly referred to as the CLARITY Act, appears to have stalled in Congress. 

His remarks come as lawmakers remain divided over key issues, most notably stablecoin yield provisions and the Federal Reserve’s proposal for so‑called “skinny” master accounts, a topic earlier highlighted by Crypto In America.

Stablecoin Yield Fight Fuels CLARITY Act Stalemate

Waller’s comments quickly drew reaction from market observers. Crypto analyst MartyParty noted on X that the governor’s assessment reflects the ongoing deadlock surrounding the CLARITY Act.

According to MartyParty, the delay is not accidental. He argued that resistance from the banking sector has intensified, particularly around the treatment of stablecoin yields and rewards. 

At the center of the dispute is whether crypto platforms such as exchanges and digital wallets should be allowed to offer interest‑like returns or incentives on stablecoins held by users.

Crypto industry advocates contend that yield‑bearing stablecoins encourage adoption, improve efficiency, and increase competition in the payments market. Banking groups, however, strongly oppose this view. 

They argue that stablecoin yields pose a direct challenge to traditional bank deposits, warning that higher returns—often in the range of 3% to 5% or more, compared with near‑zero yields on many bank accounts—could trigger massive deposit outflows. 

In MartyParty’s assessment, banks are concerned that passage of the CLARITY Act could move trillions of dollars onto crypto‑based payment rails, breaking what he described as the banking sector’s “closed‑loop system” and putting pressure on long‑established profit models.

Crypto And Banks Head Back To White House  

Amid rising tensions, MartyParty also reported that the White House has scheduled a second meeting for Tuesday, February 10, aimed at easing friction between cryptocurrency firms and banks over stablecoin yield payments. 

The meeting is expected to include senior policy officials rather than company chief executives, along with representatives from banking and crypto trade associations.

Another major point of contention is the Federal Reserve’s proposed “skinny” master account model. Under this framework, eligible fintech and crypto firms would be granted limited access to the Fed’s payment systems without receiving full banking privileges.

The debate around skinny accounts became especially clear through 44 comment letters submitted to the Federal Reserve. Crypto firms and industry groups generally expressed support, while banking organizations responded with caution or outright opposition. 

Banking groups raised concerns about oversight and risk. The American Bankers Association (ABA) warned that many entities likely to qualify for payment accounts lack a long‑term supervisory track record and are not subject to consistent federal safety standards. 

Governor Waller indicated that he hopes the Federal Reserve will be able to publish proposed regulations for skinny master accounts in the fourth quarter of this year.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Bitcoin is struggling to hold the $70,000 level as the market shows clear signs of weakening demand following weeks of sustained selling pressure. After several failed recovery attempts, price action continues to reflect fragile sentiment, with liquidity thinning and volatility increasing. Investors remain cautious as macro uncertainty, declining risk appetite, and persistent outflows from speculative assets weigh on the broader crypto market.

A recent analysis from Axel Adler indicates that the bear market underway since November 2025 has entered a deeper phase following last Friday’s sharp decline, which pushed total drawdown to roughly 46% from the cycle peak. This magnitude of correction historically marks a transition from an early pullback into a more mature bearish stage, where sentiment typically deteriorates further before stabilization occurs.

The report highlights that Bitcoin has approached the 1.25× Realized Price Band, a historically significant level that often separates standard corrections from capitulation phases. When price tests this boundary, market structure tends to become highly sensitive to liquidity shifts and investor positioning.

Whether Bitcoin can hold above this zone will likely determine the short-term direction. A sustained breakdown could signal deeper capitulation dynamics, while stabilization may provide the foundation for eventual accumulation.

Bear Market Drawdown Signals Transition Into Deeper Phase

Adler notes that the Bitcoin Bear Market Correction Drawdowns chart places the current 2025–2026 decline in historical context, comparing its magnitude with previous bear cycles. The metric tracks percentage drawdowns from each cycle’s all-time high on a logarithmic scale, allowing a clearer assessment of structural market stress rather than nominal price moves alone.

The current bear phase began after Bitcoin topped near $124,450 in October 2025. By November, the market had entered a persistent downtrend, with the correction expanding from roughly −20% to −30% initially before accelerating to around −46% by early February. Notably, the pace intensified sharply: the drawdown moved from approximately −28% on January 28 to −46% by February 6. A modest rebound followed, with price briefly stabilizing near $70,700, still implying a drawdown of roughly −43%.

Historically, earlier cycles saw significantly deeper declines, including roughly −93% in 2011, around −83% in both the 2013–2015 and 2017–2018 bear markets, and about −76% during the 2021–2022 correction. Against that backdrop, the current decline appears less severe so far.

Adler argues that three months of persistent downside momentum signal entry into a deeper corrective phase. Stabilization between −40% and −50% would suggest moderating cycle volatility, while a drop beyond −50% could reopen downside targets toward the −60% to −70% range.

Bitcoin Tests Critical Support As Downtrend Pressure Intensifies

Bitcoin’s latest price action shows a clear deterioration in market structure after the sharp breakdown toward the $65K–$70K region. The chart highlights a decisive loss of short-term support, followed by an aggressive selloff that pushed price well below the key moving averages, signaling sustained bearish momentum rather than a simple correction.

Notably, BTC is trading under the 50-, 100-, and 200-period moving averages, all of which are beginning to slope downward. This alignment typically reflects a transition from consolidation into a more established downtrend. The rejection near the mid-$90K area earlier in the cycle appears to have confirmed a lower high, reinforcing bearish continuation risk.

Volume dynamics also deserve attention. The sharp spike during the most recent drop suggests forced selling, likely driven by liquidations and panic positioning. Historically, such spikes can either mark capitulation or precede further downside if follow-through selling emerges.

From a structural perspective, the $65K zone is now critical. Holding above it could allow stabilization and a potential relief bounce. However, a sustained breakdown below this level would likely expose the next demand region closer to the low-$60K range, where stronger historical support may emerge.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

After one of its sharpest swings in over a year, Bitcoin (BTC) is attempting to find balance. Prices have stabilized above $70,000 following a rapid drop to $60,000 last week, but the calm has done little to settle the broader debate; is this a completed reset, or just a pause before another move lower?

The recent volatility has flushed out leverage, forced large players to cut risk, and shifted sentiment from optimism to caution. While dip buyers have returned, on-chain data, derivatives metrics, and macro signals suggest the market remains in a fragile holding pattern rather than a clear recovery.

Whales Step Back as Leverage Unwinds

One of the clearest signs of the reset came from whale activity. On-chain data shows that the so-called Hyperunit whale sold more than $340 million in Bitcoin, sending the funds to Binance after months of aggressive, leveraged trading across crypto markets. The move followed a major liquidation on a large Ethereum position, which reportedly resulted in losses of roughly $250 million.

At its peak, the wallet held over $11 billion in Bitcoin. Holdings have since fallen to about $2.2 billion, signaling a shift away from expansion toward capital preservation.

The selling coincided with a broader decline in Bitcoin open interest, which fell from around $61 billion to near $49 billion, pointing to widespread deleveraging rather than fresh short positioning.

This reduction in leverage has eased immediate downside pressure but has also reduced momentum, leaving Bitcoin without strong directional conviction.

Bitcoin Price Stabilizes, But Signals Remain Mixed

Bitcoin was trading around $70,000–$71,000 in Asian hours on Monday, holding steady after last week’s rapid rebound. Technical indicators still show weak momentum, with subdued volume and no clear signs of either buyers or sellers being firmly in control.

Market participants are split. Some analysts argue that the recent washout has removed excess risk and created conditions for a healthier base. Others warn that similar rebounds in this cycle have turned into bull traps, especially when driven by short-term traders rather than long-term accumulation.

Support near $60,000 remains a key level to watch, while resistance between $73,000 and $75,000 is seen as a test for any sustained upside.

Macro, Sentiment, and Structural Questions

Beyond price action, broader factors are shaping the debate. Global equity markets rebounded, helping risk assets stabilize, while US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded modest inflows as investors selectively bought the dip.

At the same time, concerns around long-term narratives, from Bitcoin’s safe-haven role to emerging discussions about quantum computing risks, continue to hover in the background.

Bitcoin’s ability to hold above $70,000 suggests the forced reset may be largely complete. Whether that turns into a durable recovery or another leg lower will depend on liquidity, conviction from larger players, and how markets respond to upcoming macro data.

Cover image from ChatGPT, BTCUSD chart on Tradingview

Bitcoin is struggling to reclaim the $70,000 level after several days of recovery from the recent $60,000 low, reflecting a market still searching for stability. The rebound offered temporary relief following intense selling pressure, yet momentum appears fragile as resistance continues to cap upside attempts. Volatility remains elevated, and sentiment has yet to fully recover from the sharp drawdown that pushed prices toward multi-month lows.

Amid this uncertain backdrop, fresh data indicate that the Binance SAFU Fund has purchased an additional 4,225 BTC, valued at roughly $299.6 million. The move comes at a time when broader market confidence remains subdued, immediately drawing attention from analysts tracking institutional positioning and liquidity dynamics. Historically, large strategic purchases during periods of weakness have sometimes preceded stabilization phases, although they do not guarantee an immediate reversal.

Market participants are now debating whether this accumulation reflects long-term confidence from major players or simply opportunistic positioning within an ongoing corrective cycle. While some analysts interpret the purchase as a constructive signal, others remain cautious, noting that macro conditions, exchange flows, and derivative positioning continue to exert pressure on price. For now, Bitcoin’s ability to sustain recovery above key resistance levels will likely determine whether this rebound evolves into a trend shift or remains a temporary bounce.

Institutional Accumulation Signals Amid Fragile Market Conditions

Data from Arkham indicates that Binance’s SAFU Fund has now accumulated a total of 10,455 BTC, worth roughly $734 million at current prices. This expansion of reserves is notable because it occurs during a period of persistent market fragility, when liquidity conditions remain tight, and investor sentiment is still recovering from recent drawdowns. Such activity from a major exchange-linked fund tends to attract attention, as it can reflect both strategic treasury management and broader confidence in Bitcoin’s long-term market structure.

From a market perspective, these purchases matter primarily due to their signaling effect rather than immediate supply impact. While the acquired volume represents only a fraction of circulating supply, institutional accumulation during corrective phases has historically coincided with stabilization periods, particularly when retail flows remain defensive.

However, this should not be interpreted automatically as a bullish catalyst. Exchange inflows, derivative positioning, and macroeconomic uncertainty continue to influence short-term price behavior.

Currently, the market remains in a transitional phase characterized by elevated volatility, cautious positioning, and selective accumulation. Large entities adding exposure while prices consolidate below key resistance levels can indicate long-term confidence, but confirmation typically requires improving liquidity conditions, declining exchange sell pressure, and stronger spot demand. Until those factors align, Bitcoin’s recovery remains tentative despite visible institutional participation.

Market Structure Weakens: Bitcoin Tests Long-Term Support Zones

Bitcoin’s weekly structure continues to show a fragile recovery attempt after the sharp breakdown that pushed price back below the $70,000 zone. The chart highlights a clear rejection from the region above $90,000 earlier in the cycle, followed by a sequence of lower highs and accelerated downside momentum. This pattern typically reflects distribution transitioning into a corrective phase rather than a simple pullback.

Price is currently trading beneath the short-term moving average cluster while approaching the longer-term trend support represented by the 200-week moving average area. Historically, this zone often acts as a structural support during deep corrections, but it does not guarantee an immediate reversal. Momentum indicators inferred from price behavior suggest sellers still dominate the order flow.

Volume dynamics reinforce this interpretation. The recent decline occurred alongside noticeable spikes in trading activity, indicating forced selling, liquidation cascades, or repositioning by large participants rather than passive drift lower.

If Bitcoin stabilizes above the mid-$60K region, consolidation could emerge before a new directional move. However, a sustained breakdown below that zone would likely open the door to deeper retracement levels, potentially testing prior accumulation areas formed earlier in the cycle.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

Japan’s snap election delivered a decisive mandate for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, triggering an immediate rally across equities, foreign exchange, and crypto markets. The Nikkei 225 surged to record highs above 57,000, the yen weakened sharply, and Bitcoin briefly climbed past $72,000 during Asian trading hours.

Related Reading: Arthur Hayes Puts $100K On Hyperliquid (HYPE) Outrunning Every $1B+ Altcoin

At first glance, the reaction looked like a classic risk-on move driven by expectations of fiscal stimulus and policy continuity. But beneath the rebound, a different dynamic is taking shape, one that could tighten global liquidity and pressure risk assets in the near term.

Traders have dubbed the shift the “Takaichi trade,” a combination of aggressive fiscal expansion, tolerance for a weaker yen, and support for loose monetary conditions. While this mix has lifted Japanese stocks and exporters, analysts warn it is also reshaping cross-border capital flows in ways that may weigh on global markets.

Portfolio Rebalancing and Liquidity Tightening

According to analysis from CryptoQuant contributor XWIN Research Japan, the main risk does not stem from capital fleeing the United States outright. Instead, global investors are rebalancing portfolios as Japanese government bonds regain appeal after years of ultra-low yields.

Expectations of higher spending and reflation have pushed yields up, drawing capital back into domestic Japanese assets. This rotation has coincided with a pullback in U.S. equities.

Over the past week, major indices, including the Nasdaq and S&P 500, slipped into correction territory, reflecting tighter financial conditions and a reassessment of risk. As inflows into U.S. equity ETFs slow, marginal liquidity across global markets has declined, amplifying volatility.

Currency dynamics add another layer of pressure. Yen weakness, persistent U.S.–Japan rate differentials, and steady demand for dollars have increased funding costs for leveraged trades. Historically, such conditions tend to push investors to de-risk across multiple asset classes simultaneously.

Equity Weakness Spills Into Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s recent pullback fits this pattern. Despite briefly reclaiming levels above $70,000 after the election, analysts note that crypto markets remain closely linked to U.S. equities during risk-off phases. When stocks weaken, portfolio managers often trim crypto exposure simultaneously to manage overall volatility.

CryptoQuant data suggests the current softness in Bitcoin prices is driven less by on-chain deterioration and more by futures unwinds and leverage reduction. Open interest has declined, and forced liquidations earlier in the month cleared out crowded long positions, leaving traders more cautious about chasing rebounds.

From a longer-term perspective, Japan’s political stability could still support digital asset adoption. Takaichi’s supermajority gives her administration room to advance tax reforms, stablecoin regulations, and Web3 initiatives later in 2026.

Related Reading: Crypto Alert: 2 Victims Lose Over $60M In Address Poisoning Scam

For now, however, the market remains vulnerable to global risk cycles. As capital continues to adjust to Japan’s fiscal pivot and U.S. equities stay under pressure, short-term downside risks are likely to persist despite the post-election bounce.

Cover image from ChatGPT, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview

Ripple has been slotted into the global top 10 of the most valuable private companies at an estimated $50 billion valuation, according to a widely shared “unicorn companies” table circulating on X.

The ranking matters because it reframes Ripple less as a single-token narrative and more as a scaled private-market franchise: a payments infrastructure firm that, at least in secondary valuation terms, is now being discussed in the same breath as the largest AI and fintech “super-unicorns.”

Ripple Ranks #9 Among World’s Largest Private Companies

The image that has been widely reposted on X presents a “List of unicorn companies” with Ripple highlighted at a $50 billion valuation. In that snapshot, Ripple appears alongside a cohort dominated by AI, fintech, and consumer platforms, including OpenAI ($500B), ByteDance ($480B), SpaceX ($400B), Anthropic ($350B), xAI ($230B), Databricks ($100B), Revolut ($75B), Stripe ($70B), and Shein ($66B).

A $50 billion tag implies a step-up from a $40 billion post-money valuation associated with a late-2025 equity financing. Taking those two marks at face value, the move to $50 billion represents roughly a 25% increase in implied enterprise value in a short window, an unusually sharp change for a late-stage private company unless secondary markets are repricing aggressively or a new transaction has reset expectations.

Ripple’s private valuation history has also been shaped by company-led liquidity events. The firm has previously conducted share repurchases that effectively created valuation reference points for employees and early investors, including buybacks at an implied $15 billion valuation in 2022 and $11.3 billion in early 2024. Against that backdrop, the late-2025 jump to $40 billion and the current $50 billion figure depict a company whose private-market value has been re-marked upward in distinct steps rather than through the continuous feedback loop of public markets.

That context also matters for how traders and allocators interpret the headline. Private valuations are not the same thing as liquid market prices, and they can reflect transaction structure, preferred terms, or limited float dynamics as much as broad investor consensus. Still, when a company starts appearing on top-10 private-company lists dominated by AI and mega-fintech, it signals that the market increasingly views it as an infrastructure-scale business rather than a niche crypto-adjacent story.

The valuation narrative is also colliding with IPO expectations and Ripple’s consistent stance that a listing is not imminent. With no near-term plan or timeline to go public, Ripple’s price discovery remains anchored to episodic financings and tender offers, meaning the next meaningful datapoint could come from another private round, a new buyback, or secondary transactions that leak into the market.

For crypto markets, the immediate implication isn’t a direct token catalyst so much as a reframing of Ripple’s corporate footprint. If the $50 billion valuation is true, it sets a higher bar for how investors model the company’s optionality: whether that’s future capital raising, M&A capacity, or leverage in institutional partnerships. If it doesn’t, the episode will still have demonstrated how quickly private-market narratives can harden into “consensus” once a single, shareable number hits the timeline.

At press time, XRP traded at $1.40.

The Bitcoin market shrugged, but the conversation about quantum computers and Bitcoin popped back into feeds this week. It’s an old worry that keeps coming up: could future machines break the cryptography that protects wallets?

Based on reports from CoinShares and comments from long-time Bitcoin voices, the real story is less about an immediate panic and more about practical planning and who would actually be at risk.

Public Keys Expose A Small Slice

Reports say that only 10,230 BTC sit in addresses where public keys are already visible, and that changes the math. Those coins would be the easiest targets if a powerful quantum machine appeared.

Around 7,000 BTC sit in mid-size wallets holding between 100 and 1,000 coins. About 3,230 BTC live in larger addresses holding between 1,000 and 10,000 coins.

At today’s values that stake is worth several hundred million dollars. That’s big money, but it’s not the same as a collapse of the protocol. An aggressive theft of that size would look like a heavy trade or a major security incident, not a network failure.

 

Quantum Hardware Still Falls Short

According to experts, the algorithmic threat is straightforward: Shor’s algorithm would attack elliptic-curve signatures and Grover’s algorithm would weaken SHA-256 hashing.

But reports note a huge gap between experiment and attack. Current machines run at a little over 100 qubits in experimental setups. An effective break would need millions of stable, error-corrected qubits.

That kind of hardware has not been built. In short: the math shows a possible route, but the engineering is far from ready.

Old Coins, The Real Operational Headache

Many of the more exposed addresses date back to Bitcoin’s early days and contain coins that have never moved. That makes them special. When those keys were first used, best practices were different.

Now, those same keys are a known point of weakness if quantum computing power ever arrives. Movement of those coins would be messy. Custodians, exchanges, and individual holders would all need to coordinate.

A technical fix could be proposed and adopted. The hard work would be getting people to update software and migrate keys before any real danger materializes. That is a logistics problem more than a cryptography puzzle.

Veteran Voices Call For Early Work

According to Andreas Antonopoulos, a well-known Bitcoin and cryptocurrency expert, the threat is real but distant; he urges preparation rather than alarm.

British cryptographer Adam Back has said planning can happen in an orderly way, and panic is unnecessary so long as steps start now.

Those views line up: upgrade paths should be designed, wallets must discourage key reuse, and the community should test migration procedures.

If action is taken early, there’s ample room to make the shift without rushing or breaking systems.

Featured image from Crypto Valley Journal, chart from TradingView

Even after reclaiming the $70,000 price level following a relief bounce, Bitcoin short-term investors remain bearish about the cryptocurrency’s trajectory in the near term. With the price of BTC facing downside pressure, these investors are reducing exposure by offloading their holdings.

Short-Term Holders Quietly Shed Bitcoin Holdings

Investors’ activity and sentiment are starting to flip as the Bitcoin price battles with the ongoing volatile market state, bringing it back to downside levels not seen since 2024. Given the persistent downward movement, the supply held by short-term BTC holders is declining, marking a shift in supply and market dynamics.

Related Reading: Bitcoin Short-Term Holders Deep In Loss: MVRV Signals Capitulation Phase

Alphractal, an advanced investment and on-chain data analytics platform, reported that changing sentiment among short-term holders after examining their Net Position Change and Supply. This pattern implies that weaker hands are lowering their exposure by either selling into the recent volatility or allowing longer-term investors to buy their coins.

Historically, a market moving from speculative to more conviction-driven behavior is reflected in a declining short-term holding supply. At the same time, it is evident from the 90-day net position change that new wallet addresses are not interested in building up to these levels.

This reinforces a market scenario where continuation is improbable absent a price or mood reset and suggests weak marginal demand. In the meantime, Alphractal highlighted that the on-chain data remains very clear. 

Alphractal noted in another post that the Bitcoin LTH/STH is declining. A drop in this metric implies that BTC transactions from long-term holders are becoming increasingly less profitable in comparison to those from short-term holders. On-chain behavior is repeating, and this pattern has been present in every previous bear market.

BTC Short-Term And Long-Term Holders Are Now Facing Pressure

These investors are still underwater as prices decline. In a recent research, Darkfost, an author at CryptoQuant, revealed that Bitcoin has put all the short-term holders under pressure and is now beginning to test long-term holders since the start of the correction. This change signifies a significant stage in the market structure, where sustained pressure may either confirm long-term holding resistance or compel wider capitulation.

Related Reading: Bitcoin Market Calm As Long-Term Holder Sell-Side Activity Dries Up, Bullish Phase Returning?

With a cost basis of  $103,188 and $85,849, the expert stated that the first long-term holder cohorts, particularly holders between 6m and 12m, and 12m and 18m holders, are already under pressure. However, the price of Bitcoin has reacted after hitting the realized price of older holders (those holding between 18m and 2 years), which is currently positioned at $63,654.

According to Darkfost, this level seems to be an area of interest to these holders, but this is not what is displayed exactly on the chart. The fact that their cost basis has been in an upward trend suggests that more holders have been keeping their coins longer. As the correction evolves, the reaction of long-term holders may play a critical role in determining the next possible direction for the flagship cryptocurrency asset.

XRP’s efforts to regain upward momentum following last week’s sharp decline have so far stalled, with $1.50 now rising as the most important price level. 

A new technical analysis shared by crypto analyst Tara points to Bitcoin’s unfinished price structure as the main reason why XRP’s price action is still stuck below $1.5, with the leading cryptocurrency’s next moves likely to determine whether the altcoin can recover or sink further in the days ahead.

XRP Hits Resistance, Bitcoin’s Structure Remains Incomplete

As the largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is known for strongly influencing how other large market-cap cryptocurrencies like XRP move. Interestingly, technical analysis of the altcoin’s price action on the daily candlestick price chart done by crypto analyst Tara links the two cryptos, and the outlook of XRP depends on how the Bitcoin price moves from here.

Expert Says If You Hold XRP, Pay Attention To These Things XRP has already completed a move into its textbook 0.382 Fibonacci resistance, which is sitting around $1.53. As shown on the daily candlestick price chart below, the token filled the liquidity zone around the October 10 flash crash low before bouncing at $1.15. However, this bounce was subsequently rejected at $1.53. The rejection from that region shows that the altcoin’s bulls have done their part technically, but the required follow-through is missing.

The reason, according to the analysis, lies with Bitcoin. The waves on Bitcoin’s chart are still developing, meaning the entire crypto market has not reached a resolution. As it stands, Bitcoin is currently in an unfinished corrective phase, and many analysts are projecting more lows. This has led to cautious capital inflows across the market. As a result, XRP is struggling to attract sustained buying pressure even after reaching important technical milestones on its own chart.

Short-Term Bitcoin Corrections Could Drag It Lower

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $69,800. The outlook by Tara is that Bitcoin will undergo a corrective move to the $65,800 region before making another push higher toward its 0.5 resistance around $75,400. This type of pullback and continuation scenario has implications for XRP’s price action.

If Bitcoin does correct as expected, the altcoin could be pulled back toward the $1.30 area, which is highlighted as short-term support. The continuation wave up by Bitcoin is then expected to take it as high as the 0.5 Fib at $1.65.

The more bearish scenario outlined in the analysis will occur if Bitcoin fails to hold higher support levels and instead breaks down to $52,200. Such a move would likely trigger a much deeper reaction across altcoins, because it would mandate Bitcoin breaking below its recent $62,800 low on February 5. In that case, the altcoin could be drawn down to its 0.786 Fibonacci support, which is currently sitting at $0.87.

Rumors of a possible US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into Binance have resurfaced long‑running questions about the October 10, 2025 liquidation event, the largest market wipeout in crypto history. 

October 10 Crash Back In Focus

For context, during the October 10 event, roughly $19 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated, with $3.21 billion erased in a single minute. Around 1.6 million traders were forced out of their positions as Bitcoin plunged from about $122,000 to $104,000.

Speculation around Binance’s role in the crash has intensified following a post on X (previously Twitter) by market expert Hugo Crypto. In his message, he cautioned that he could not independently confirm reports of an SEC probe into Binance, stressing that the claim remains a rumor. 

However, he argued that the broader story surrounding the October 10 collapse warrants serious attention regardless of whether a formal investigation is underway.

Since the crash, a series of developments has kept Binance under scrutiny. Shortly after the event in October 2025, the exchange attributed the turmoil to a broader macroeconomic shock and denied responsibility, later paying about $283 million in compensation. 

In January 2026, Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood stated during an appearance on Fox Business that a “Binance software glitch” was responsible for triggering the crash. 

Later that month, OKX CEO Star Xu publicly accused Binance of engaging in “irresponsible marketing campaigns,” further escalating tensions between major exchanges.

In early February, Binance reportedly sent cease‑and‑desist letters to X users who were speculating about the exchange’s solvency. Now, fresh rumors suggesting potential SEC involvement have added a new layer of uncertainty, even though no official confirmation has been made.

Binance Denies Responsibility

Regardless of whether the SEC is actively investigating, some former regulators argue that the October 10 crash itself demands a thorough review. 

Salman Banaei, a former official at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has compared the incident to the 2010 Flash Crash in traditional markets, saying it merits a similarly rigorous investigation.

The exchange’s leadership, however, continues to reject claims that the exchange caused the market collapse. At the end of January, former CEO Changpeng Zhao publicly dismissed accusations that Binance was responsible for the October 2025 crash. 

Zhao addressed claims that technical issues and pricing discrepancies on Binance triggered the record‑breaking liquidations. He emphasized that, following the crash, the platform offered approximately $600 million in compensation to affected users and businesses. 

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com

A recent major Ethereum sell-off is sharply taking over the spotlight in the broader cryptocurrency community. Given the prolonged volatile state of the market over the past few months, Trend Research has officially concluded its massive ETH unwinding, offloading thousands of the leading altcoin.

Massive Trend Research’s Ethereum Unwind Concludes

Ethereum’s price is facing heightened bearish pressure, and several big institutions appear to be dumping their ETH holdings, which is likely to extend the ongoing volatility. The most recent and popular sell-off swelling across the community is that of Trend Research, an Edmonton-based marketing research data collection firm.

Trend Research is marking a significant turning point for Ethereum, with the announcement that the protracted tale of strong selling and position unwinding has finally ended. MartyParty, a crypto commentator and the host of The Office Space, shared this update on the X platform, attracting community attention.

Looking at the on-chain tracking, the company has deposited/liquidated the entire 651,757 ETH into Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. At the time of the transaction, the portion of ETH was valued at a whopping $1.34 billion, with a reported average exit price of $2,055.

According to MartyParty, this caps off a brutal leveraged long position that began unraveling hard when the price of Ethereum experienced a sharp decline. Specifically, the forced selling began at levels of $1,750 earlier in February 2026. After the sell-off, the estimated realized loss clocks in at roughly $747 million, while other trackers estimate it at roughly $745 million, marking one of the biggest public sales from a major player in recent memory. 

MartyParty has outlined a breakdown of the action. The commentator highlighted that Trend Research originally built a huge ETH long. This was carried out by borrowing stables on Aave against ETH collateral, then buying more ETH exposure that reportedly peaked near +$2 billion at points.

As the price of Ethereum tanked, the company started moving ETH into Binance in the past days/weeks to repay debt and prevent complete liquidation. Prior batches ranged from 10,000 to 90,000 ETH, and they are increasing. Meanwhile, the final batch removed the rest, basically leaving their wallets empty. However, a few trackers point to tiny remnants like 0.165 ETH left in their wallet.

By making this move, a significant source of sell pressure that had been looming over cryptocurrency for the last week or so is eliminated. However, whether it triggers a relief bounce or if the market simply ignores it hinges on the broader crypto sentiment, including macro, other whales, and ETF flows, among others.

ETH Whales Reviving Buying Pressure

Even with the ongoing pullback, investors’ sentiment has not entirely turned bearish toward the altcoin. CW, a market expert, disclosed that inflows to accumulating wallet addresses seem to have increased despite ETH experiencing a notable drop.

Data shows that large holders or whales have been increasing their holdings, while retail investors continue to offload due to the panic. This divergence represents a shift in ownership, where supply moves from weaker hands to stronger conviction-driven investors.