Meta plans facial recognition for smart glasses to identify contacts across its platforms, raising fresh privacy and regulatory concerns.

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OpenAI joins $100M Pentagon drone swarm challenge, supplying voice translation software while limiting its role in weapons control.

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Figure shares rise 6% after forecasting up to $162M in Q4 revenue, beating estimates as loan activity surges 131%.

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MegaETH's innovative approach aims to redefine blockchain application development for broader user adoption.

The post Namik Muduroglu: Blockchain teams must engage in application development, MegaETH achieves 55,000 transactions per second, and the shift from infrastructure to user-centric ecosystems | Unchained appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

ARK Invest bought $19M in Bitmine, Bullish and Robinhood shares as crypto-linked equities gained, extending its buying streak.

The post ARK Invest expands holdings in Bitmine, Bullish, and Robinhood appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

Coinbase (COIN) Surges 18%, Strategy (MSTR) Jumps 10% as Crypto Stocks Jump 

U.S. markets saw a rotation into risk assets today and crypto-linked stocks, like Coinbase and Strategy, led some of the brightest gains of the day’s session. Even as broader indexes such as the Dow and S&P 500 traded mixed on inflation and economic data, digital-asset exposure helped certain high-beta names outperform.

Coinbase (COIN) was among the standout performers. COIN surged more than 18% on the day, finishing well ahead of most traditional technology stocks as traders “bought the dip” in crypto exposure. 

The daily gain came despite a difficult earnings backdrop: Coinbase reported a $666.7 million Q4 2025 loss, its first in several quarters, driven by lower trading revenue as crypto volumes sagged. 

Long-term revenue lines like subscription and services — particularly stablecoin revenue — showed strength, helping cushion sentiment.

Over the last couple of months, Coinbase shares have slid as the broader crypto market weakened and analysts grew more cautious. 

Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded $COIN from buy to neutral, setting a $120 price target and warning of downside risk tied to softer market conditions. 

The stock has struggled in early 2026, falling roughly 34% year-to-date as Bitcoin dropped about 30% in the past month and altcoins posted even steeper losses. Lower crypto prices have reduced trading volumes, squeezing one of Coinbase’s main revenue drivers. 

Meanwhile, CEO Brian Armstrong sold more than 1.5 million shares worth about $545 million, calling it a diversification move. 

Strategy’s (MSTR) strong day

Strategy (MSTR) also posted notable upside on the day, with shares rising around 10% in line with a rebound in Bitcoin prices. Strategy shares have swung dramatically alongside bitcoin’s price, falling hard during the broader crypto sell-off before rebounding later into the week as markets stabilized. 

Despite the turbulence, Strategy is staying committed to adding to its bitcoin treasury. The firm disclosed another purchase of more than 1,100 BTC this week, spending roughly $90 million at an average price near the high-$70,000 range. 

Strategy also announced its latest earnings results, which reflected the risks of its bitcoin-heavy balance sheet. 

The company posted a multi-billion dollar quarterly loss, largely tied to mark-to-market declines on its bitcoin holdings, underscoring how price downturns can heavily impact reported financial performance even as the firm maintains a long-term holding posture.

Executive Chairman Michael Saylor continued to publicly defend the strategy, reiterating that the company does not intend to sell bitcoin through downturns and arguing that Strategy is positioned to withstand extended volatility in Bitcoin’s price. 

Other crypto-related stocks saw gains as well today, with Circle (CRCL) climbing roughly 7% and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) rising 6.5%, continuing the sector’s upward momentum.

This post Coinbase (COIN) Surges 18%, Strategy (MSTR) Jumps 10% as Crypto Stocks Jump  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

White House Executive Director: Trillions Are Waiting To Enter Bitcoin And Crypto, Working Hard on Market Structure Bill

Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, discussed the ongoing push for the crypto legislation and the federal government’s management of Bitcoin during a Yahoo Finance interview earlier today, stressing the need for regulatory clarity and institutional engagement.

Witt explained that the House passed its version of the Clarity Act last year, and the Senate is drafting its own amendments. 

Sections of the bill addressing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have cleared the Agriculture Committee, while portions covering the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) remain in the Senate Banking Committee. A markup scheduled for January was postponed, and Witt said discussions are underway to resolve outstanding issues. 

“We are taking it so seriously,” he noted, emphasizing the need for compromise on concerns such as stablecoin yields and deposit flight.

“We’ve taken it so seriously,” he said, “It’s why we’ve hosted the different interested stakeholders here at the White House, and we’re going to continue to stay at the table and encourage them to find a compromise on this issue.” 

Crypto held by the U.S. government

While the Clarity Act focuses on regulatory clarity, Witt highlighted the government’s Bitcoin holdings as a separate but critical priority. 

Following an executive order, agencies halted uncontrolled liquidation of digital assets, preventing potential losses that “could have been tens of billions of dollars.” 

He said efforts are underway to centralize oversight, ensure proper accounting of wallets holding Bitcoin and other digital assets, and explore ways to increase the government’s holdings in a budget-neutral manner.

Witt pointed to existing legislation from Senator Cynthia Lummis and a forthcoming House bill from Representative Begich, which would formalize authority over government digital assets. 

“Ultimately, if Congress decides, we could add to that stockpile with outright purchases,” he said, noting that such acquisitions would require appropriations approval.

Witt spent some time in the interview stressing the broader implications for U.S. leadership in digital finance. Centralizing asset management safeguards public resources while positioning the United States to engage more strategically in Bitcoin markets. 

“There are trillions of dollars in institutional capital on the sidelines waiting to get into this space,” Witt said via X regarding the interview. 

Witt also noted that improved regulatory clarity under the Clarity Act allows both banks and crypto firms to operate with confidence, creating opportunities for innovation and institutional participation.

He emphasized that banks and crypto companies are moving toward collaboration. “There’s tremendous opportunity for the JPMorgans of the world to engage in crypto activities,” he said.

With committee reconciliation and Senate floor time still pending, Witt signaled a sense of urgency. 

“We’ve got to get this done,” he said, framing crypto legislation and government Bitcoin oversight as complementary steps to secure U.S. influence in crypto.

This post White House Executive Director: Trillions Are Waiting To Enter Bitcoin And Crypto, Working Hard on Market Structure Bill first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Brazil Proposes National Bitcoin Reserve, Targets 1 Million BTC Over Five Years

Brazilian lawmakers have reintroduced a bill to create a national Strategic Sovereign Bitcoin Reserve, known as RESBit, proposing the gradual acquisition of one million bitcoins over five years. 

The bill, presented by Federal Deputy Luiz Gastão (PSD/CE), outlines a comprehensive framework to integrate Bitcoin into the country’s financial strategy and diversify national reserves.

The proposed legislation establishes several guidelines for RESBit. First, the plan calls for a gradual accumulation of at least 1,000,000 BTC over five years. It prohibits the sale of bitcoins seized by Brazilian judicial authorities, ensuring that these assets remain within public control. 

The bill also allows for the collection of Brazil’s federal taxes in Bitcoin and offers incentives for public companies to engage in Bitcoin mining and storage.

Transparency is a central feature of the proposal. The bill mandates public disclosure of RESBit’s bitcoin holdings through internet-based platforms, enabling auditing by the public.

It emphasizes secure storage of digital assets using technologies such as cold wallets, multisignature wallets, and other internationally recognized mechanisms.

In addition, the legislation permits temporary holdings of spot ETFs backed by bitcoin in the reserve portfolio, subject to urgent and limited circumstances.

If approved, Brazil could join a small group of countries actively holding Bitcoin at a national level, potentially surpassing major holders like the United States and China. 

Other countries like Brazil exploring Bitcoin reserves 

Quite famously, El Salvador holds the mantle as the ‘world’s first country’ with a strategic Bitcoin reserve, reporting over 7,560 Bitcoin under President Nayib Bukele’s program.

Despite scaling back mandatory Bitcoin acceptance under IMF agreements, the government has maintained regular purchases, citing long-term financial sovereignty and reserve diversification. The National Bitcoin Office now splits holdings across multiple addresses to bolster security and transparency.

The Central American nation’s approach has inspired policymakers worldwide. In the United States, the BITCOIN Act of 2025 proposed somewhat of a federal strategic Bitcoin reserve, while several states, including New Hampshire and Arizona, have passed or proposed laws allowing portions of public funds to be invested in digital assets.

President Trump’s March 2025 executive order further directed federal agencies to explore Bitcoin accumulation from seized assets without new taxpayer costs.

In Europe, the Czech National Bank has a similar allocation in bitcoin, while Switzerland sees a citizen-led initiative proposing a constitutional mandate for Bitcoin holdings. 

Hong Kong, Ukraine, and Pakistan are also exploring frameworks to hold Bitcoin at the national level, with Pakistan pledging never to sell its future reserves.

This post Brazil Proposes National Bitcoin Reserve, Targets 1 Million BTC Over Five Years first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Lightning Labs Rolls Out AI Agent Tools to Help With Bitcoin Transactions on Lightning Network

Lightning Labs has released a new open-source toolkit designed to allow AI agents to operate directly on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, providing autonomous systems with a native way to make payments and access services. 

The company says the tools address a key gap in the emerging AI economy: enabling agents to transact without human intervention.

Michael Levin, Lightning Labs’ Head of Product Growth, explained that the toolkit allows AI systems to run a Lightning node, pay for services, and host paid endpoints without needing identity verification, API keys, or traditional registration. 

The repository includes seven modular features, covering tasks such as node management, key isolation, scoped credentials, L402-based payments, paid endpoint hosting, and querying the state of a node.

‘Inget’ — your bitcoin payments agent

A central feature of the release is lnget, a command-line HTTP client that works with the L402 payment standard. L402 is based on the internet’s HTTP 402 “Payment Required” status code. Instead of requiring a login or API key, an L402-enabled server responds to a request with a Lightning invoice.

lnget automatically reads the invoice, pays it through a connected Lightning backend, and retrieves cryptographic proof of payment. The agent can then access the requested resource, and subsequent requests reuse cached credentials.

The tools support several Lightning backends. Users can connect directly to a local lnd node via gRPC, use Lightning Node Connect for encrypted tunnel access, or experiment with an embedded Neutrino light wallet. 

This flexibility allows developers to experiment without running a full Lightning node, while maintaining compatibility with production setups.

Lightning Labs frames the launch as a step toward a “machine-payable web.” Traditional financial systems such as credit cards or bank accounts do not work well for autonomous agents, which need instant, programmatic payments often at very small values.

 The combination of lnget on the client side and Lightning Labs’ Aperture reverse proxy on the server side enables a full commerce loop: one agent can host a paid service, and another can consume it, with Lightning handling the payment behind the scenes.

Private key security

The toolkit emphasizes security. Lightning Labs recommends using LND remote signer architecture, which separates private key storage from node operations. The agent can interact with the node without ever directly accessing private keys. 

Developers can also use scoped credentials called macaroons, which grant limited permissions such as pay-only, invoice-only, or read-only, reducing risk while allowing agents to transact safely.

Lightning Labs’ release comes as broader efforts to enable AI payments gain traction. 

Coinbase recently unveiled Agentic Wallets, allowing agents to hold funds, make payments, and trade tokens using the x402 protocol, while Stripe has previewed machine payments for USDC.

This post Lightning Labs Rolls Out AI Agent Tools to Help With Bitcoin Transactions on Lightning Network first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

U.S. Treasury: Congress Needs to Pass Crypto Legislation This Spring 

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that Congress must move quickly to pass crypto legislation establishing clear federal rules for digital assets, urging lawmakers to deliver the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature this spring.

Speaking on CNBC, Bessent was asked about the status of the proposed “Clarity Act” amid a recent sell-off across the crypto market. 

He said the bill would provide “great comfort to the market” during a period of heightened volatility, signaling the administration’s push to create a more defined regulatory framework for the sector.

Bessent added that some crypto firms have attempted to block the legislation, but noted there remains a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers committed to advancing the bill. 

However, he warned that the coalition’s momentum could weaken if Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives in November.

Last week, Bessent urged Congress to pass the legislation, warning that the U.S. needs clear crypto market structure rules before the spring legislative window closes. 

Bessent told Fox News that “what we’re seeing in the crypto market over the past few months means more than ever that the U.S. needs market structure, we need clarity, and we need to get this across the line this spring,” he said. 

He said recent volatility in bitcoin and digital asset markets underscores the urgency of legal certainty. 

Bessent blamed the current stalemate on resistant factions within both the crypto industry and traditional finance, with disputes centering on stablecoin yield restrictions and regulatory oversight. 

Potential crypto tax breaks

At a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s annual report, Bessent was pressed by members of Congress on whether China is using blockchain and digital assets to challenge American financial leadership, with Bessent saying Treasury has not observed rumored gold-backed Chinese instruments but noting China’s activity through Hong Kong.

The discussion shifted quickly to U.S. regulation, where Bessent voiced strong support for the proposed Clarity Act, arguing that digital asset innovation should be embedded within the U.S. economy under “safe, sound, and smart” oversight.

He also warned that deposit volatility from crypto-related legislation could harm community and small banks by limiting their ability to lend locally.
Senator Cynthia Lummis raised the possibility of a de minimis Bitcoin tax exemption for small transactions and asked for clearer guidance on calculating capital gains across mixed-cost portfolios, with Bessent offering to have Treasury’s tax policy office engage with her team.

The hearing followed Bessent’s earlier testimony that the government cannot bail out bitcoin or direct banks to hold crypto, and that seized BTC will now be retained in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve rather than sold.

This post U.S. Treasury: Congress Needs to Pass Crypto Legislation This Spring  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

CFTC Chair forms a new Innovation Advisory Committee packed with crypto, exchange, and prediction-market CEOs

Most crypto traders barely think about the Commodity Futures Trading Commission until something breaks, a lawsuit hits, or a Bitcoin futures headline crosses their feed.

In the popular mental map of US regulation, the SEC is the one staring at tokens, and the CFTC is the one that shows up around Bitcoin, usually around futures.

Then the CFTC went and did something that does not fit that simple story.

On Feb. 12, the agency announced a fresh slate of members for its Innovation Advisory Committee, a 35-person group that reads like a who’s who of crypto, Wall Street market plumbing, and the new world of prediction markets.

The names jump out right away: Brian Armstrong from Coinbase, Vlad Tenev from Robinhood, Shayne Coplan from Polymarket, plus Uniswap’s Hayden Adams, Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse, Solana Labs’ Anatoly Yakovenko, Chainlink’s Sergey Nazarov, and Kraken co CEO Arjun Sethi, all listed in the same federal announcement.

It goes further. The committee also includes leaders from the core machinery of American markets, Nasdaq, CME Group, Intercontinental Exchange, DTCC, Options Clearing Corporation, and ISDA.

So the real question is not “why are crypto CEOs advising Washington,” because that part has been happening in different forms for years. The question is why the CFTC is building a table this big, this broad, and this crypto-heavy, at a moment when a lot of people still treat the agency like it lives in the Bitcoin corner of the room.

The answer starts with the CFTC’s job as the referee for derivatives markets, then it spills into something bigger, a fight over prediction markets, and a push in Congress that could hand the CFTC a larger slice of crypto oversight than most people expect.

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Nov 12, 2025 · Andjela Radmilac

A committee that looks like a map of where money is going next

The CFTC’s own language around the committee is about modernization and future proofing, under new chair Michael Selig. The membership list tells the rest of the story.

When you put Coinbase and Robinhood next to CME and Nasdaq, you get a picture of crypto’s next phase that has less to do with memes and more to do with infrastructure.

Clearing, custody, collateral, surveillance, contract design, market integrity, and the boring rules that decide whether a product survives.

That is the part most retail traders never see, until a platform freezes, a product gets pulled, or a regulator drops a memo that changes how a trade is treated. The IAC is stacked with the people who build those pipes, crypto pipes and traditional ones.

It also includes the CEOs of Kalshi and Polymarket, and it includes FanDuel and DraftKings leadership in the same lineup. You can call that a curiosity, or you can call it the CFTC quietly saying, “event contracts are part of the future market structure conversation.”

That matters because prediction markets have gone from niche internet obsession to something mainstream readers are running into during sports, politics, and pop culture, and major outlets are already tracking the confusion this creates for the public and for regulators.

Why the CFTC wants crypto chiefs in the room

There are two timelines converging here, and both push the CFTC toward crypto, even if your mental model starts and ends with Bitcoin.

First, Congress is actively debating whether the CFTC should get broader authority over “digital commodities.” The Senate Agriculture Committee said it advanced the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act, describing it as a step toward new CFTC authority to regulate digital commodities and strengthen consumer protections. If that direction sticks, the agency’s “crypto job” expands from a high profile corner of the market to a much bigger section of the map.

Second, the CFTC has been signaling a more active posture on how new tech fits into market rules. In a recent CFTC and SEC staff joint statement, the agencies emphasized coordination around spot commodity products and venue flexibility, part of a broader push to modernize how these markets are handled.

Now add a practical reality. Rules are written by people, and those people need to understand how products behave under stress, how liquidity forms, where manipulation shows up, and what parts of a system fail first.

An advisory committee packed with CEOs is one way to compress that learning curve. Bloomberg Law framed this as the new chair deepening reliance on crypto, prediction market, and exchange executives via a panel of big names advisers.

You can debate whether that is healthy, risky, or simply inevitable. You can also treat it as a signal. The CFTC is preparing for a world where crypto products look more like mainstream market products, and mainstream market products start absorbing crypto mechanics, tokenized collateral, 24 7 trading expectations, and programmable settlement.

Prediction markets are forcing the issue

If you want the shortest path to understanding why Polymarket and Kalshi are in this committee, follow the money and follow the jurisdiction fight.

Prediction markets have been posting eye popping volume moments. The Block maintains a monthly dataset comparing Polymarket and Kalshi volumes, giving a clean KPI for how quickly this category is scaling.

The surge has also become cultural. The Guardian reported that Kalshi hit a $1 billion daily volume milestone during the Super Bowl, and described how these platforms have pulled attention from people who never thought they were “trading” anything.

At the same time, the legal and regulatory perimeter is still being contested. The CFTC chair has publicly talked about drafting new rules for event contracts, and a broader push for clarity as prediction markets expand rules.

A Sidley analysis of the “Project Crypto” summit described Selig laying out a four part agenda to support the responsible development of event contract markets.

That puts the CFTC in an unusual position. Event contracts sit at the intersection of derivatives regulation, consumer protection, and the politics of gambling enforcement. When a product category grows this fast, the regulator either shapes it or spends years chasing it.

Adding the biggest operators to an innovation committee is a clear sign that the CFTC wants to shape it, and it wants to do it with the people who already have the users.

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Dec 9, 2025 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

So why does this matter to Bitcoin people?

Because the “CFTC equals Bitcoin” shortcut misses what the agency actually touches, and it misses what the market is turning into.

Bitcoin is the gateway drug for mainstream derivatives in crypto, and it has been the cleanest institutional on ramp for years. That creates a perception that the CFTC’s crypto universe begins and ends there.

Yet the IAC membership list includes DeFi rails, centralized exchanges, stablecoin and custody infrastructure, plus the clearing and exchange giants that move trillions in traditional markets.

Put that together with the Senate’s market structure work, and you get a forward-looking picture, a regulator that may be gearing up for a broader mandate, a market that keeps inventing products faster than rulebooks update, and a new class of “trading” that looks like gambling to some people and looks like price discovery to others.

There is also a credibility problem lurking in the background. Barron’s has reported on staffing declines inside CFTC enforcement, even as crypto and prediction markets grow, raising questions about whether the agency can keep up with the pace of innovation and the risk of fraud.

That dynamic makes advisory committees feel even more consequential, because a regulator short on resources has to choose where it spends attention.

The people building crypto’s biggest companies have spent years arguing they want clearer rules. Now they are being invited into a room where some of those rules may start taking shape, alongside the CEOs who run the exchange and clearing systems Wall Street already trusts.

If you only watch Bitcoin price candles, this looks like a random roster announcement.

If you watch where US market structure is moving, it looks like a preview of the next regulatory era, one where crypto stops being treated like a side quest and starts being treated like a design problem inside the core financial system.

The post The CFTC “only does Bitcoin,” so why has it invited crypto’s biggest CEOs into the room? appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin developer contributors just cleared a documentation hurdle that crypto Twitter treated like an emergency quantum patch. It wasn't.

On Feb. 11, a proposal for a new output type, Pay-to-Merkle-Root (BIP-0360), was merged into the official Bitcoin Improvement Proposals repository. No nodes upgraded. No activation timeline exists.

The BIPs repository itself warns that publication doesn't imply consensus, adoption, or that the idea is even good. What actually happened is that a draft specification met the threshold for in-scope, formally documented status.

Yet the framing around P2MR reveals something more interesting than the merge itself: Bitcoin's developer community is wrestling with a migration problem that can't be solved by clever cryptography alone.

The real story is that Bitcoin's upgrade path is slow, coordination is hard, and preparing for low-probability, high-consequence risks requires starting years before anyone agrees the threat is real.

Taproot without the key-path door

P2MR is easier to understand if you think of it as Taproot with one piece removed.

Taproot outputs today (P2TR) commit to a tweaked public key. When spending from a Taproot output, users have two options: use the key-path (a simple signature that looks like any other Bitcoin signature) or the script-path (reveal one script from a Merkle tree of possible scripts and prove it was part of the commitment).

Most Taproot spends use the key path because it's smaller and cheaper, and it reveals nothing about what other spending conditions might have existed.

P2MR strips out the key-path entirely. The output commits directly to the script-tree Merkle root, with no internal key and no key-spend option.

Every spend must reveal a script and provide a Merkle proof. That makes P2MR spend more (a minimum of 103 bytes versus 66 bytes for a Taproot key-path witness) and be more expensive.

The tradeoff is deliberate: P2MR removes the always-available attack surface that a public key creates.

Long-exposure vs. short-exposure

BIP-0360 frames quantum risk through two attack models, and this distinction matters because the defenses differ.

A long-exposure attack targets data that's already visible on-chain, such as a public key in an unspent output, which has been exposed for months or years. An attacker with a future quantum computer can work on breaking that key offline, with no time pressure.

They don't need to win a mempool race, but need to build a quantum system capable of recovering the private key from the public key.

Short-exposure attacks are tighter. The attacker must recover a private key while a transaction is unconfirmed, typically within minutes or seconds.

BIP-0360 argues that short-exposure attacks will require more advanced quantum systems and frames post-quantum signatures as defenses against that window.

P2MR doesn't solve short exposure, but eliminates the long-exposure surface for Taproot-style functionality.

Migration lead time is the real constraint

If quantum computers capable of breaking elliptic curve cryptography are still years or decades away, why file this proposal now?

The answer has more to do with Bitcoin's upgrade velocity than with quantum timelines. Even if the risk is uncertain, the safe transition path requires multiple sequential phases: specification, implementation, review, activation debate, wallet and exchange support, user education, and gradual migration.

Each phase takes months or years. Starting early creates optionality, as waiting for certainty means starting too late.

BIP-0360's tone is “prepared, not scared.”

The proposal doesn't argue that quantum computers will break Bitcoin in 2027 or 2030. It argues that Bitcoin should adopt a low-risk, tapscript-native output type to avoid extended exposure before post-quantum signatures are ready.

The logic is forward-looking: Taproot and tapscript are the modern scripting languages for advanced Bitcoin protocols.

If you believe those tools will matter for Lightning, covenants, or other smart contract use cases, then having a version of that functionality without the long-exposure risk is a useful building block.

The timing also reflects a shift in how quantum risk is discussed in Bitcoin circles.

BIP-0360 explicitly addresses criticism that Bitcoin developers weren't taking the quantum threat seriously.

Adding Isabel Foxen Duke as co-author, someone focused on making the proposal understandable to a general audience, not just core developers, signals an intent to make quantum preparedness legible and accessible.

Recent academic work has also made discussions of quantum risk more concrete. Papers on hybrid post-quantum signatures and benchmarking elliptic curve cryptanalysis on quantum systems provide quantitative resource estimates rather than vague warnings.

Science is advancing, even if the timelines remain uncertain.

Opt-in migration, not automatic protection

If P2MR ever activates, and that's a significant “if” given that activation requires broad consensus and a successful soft fork deployment, the changes are opt-in, not mandatory.

Wallets would add support for a new address type, starting with bc1z, corresponding to SegWit version 2. Users who want to reduce long-exposure risk can generate P2MR addresses and move funds by sending them to those addresses.

Existing Taproot outputs remain spendable under existing rules. Nothing breaks overnight, and no coins are retroactively protected.

The migration would resemble the gradual shift to SegWit or Taproot: early adopters move first, exchanges and custodians add support over months, and users migrate when they see a reason to.

For most retail users, the reason might be vague (“quantum safety”) or nonexistent. For institutions with long-horizon holdings, the calculation is different.

Custodians holding Bitcoin for years care deeply about long-exposure risk. P2MR enables continued use of tapscript-style programmability, which is useful for multisig setups, time-locked vaults, and other advanced scripts. At the same time, it removes the “leave a public key sitting on-chain” attack surface.

The tradeoff is real: P2MR spends are larger and more expensive than Taproot key-path spends. Every P2MR spend reveals that a script tree was used, sacrificing some of the privacy benefits that Taproot key-path offers.

For users who prioritize low fees and privacy over quantum risk mitigation, the Taproot key path remains the better choice.

What could derail this

P2MR is a draft, not a done deal. Activation requires convincing node operators, miners, developers, and economic users that the tradeoffs are worthwhile.

Some will argue that quantum risk is too distant to justify the coordination cost.

Others will point to privacy losses from mandatory script-path spends or to fee overhead from larger witnesses.

Still others will question whether P2MR is necessary if post-quantum signatures arrive sooner than expected.

Technical obstacles remain, too. Post-quantum signature schemes are still being standardized, and their size and verification costs vary widely.

If the winning schemes don't integrate cleanly with P2MR's script-path framework, the proposal's value as a foundation for future work diminishes.

What's at stake

Zoom out, and P2MR is part of a larger question about how Bitcoin makes decisions under uncertainty.

The proposal doesn't claim to know when quantum computers will threaten Bitcoin or which post-quantum schemes will win. Instead, it argues for creating an option today that reduces risk tomorrow.

The bet is that having the option is worth the coordination cost, even if the option is never widely used.

That framing shifts the debate from “is quantum risk real?” to “how much optionality is worth building in?” The answer depends on who you ask.

For long-term holders and custodians with multi-year time horizons, the optionality is valuable. For retail users chasing low fees and privacy, the tradeoffs are harder to justify.

The endgame isn't a single activation date or a universal migration. It's a slow, uneven shift where different users adopt P2MR for different reasons, or don't adopt it at all.

Bitcoin doesn't have a central authority that can mandate upgrades. The network evolves through voluntary coordination, and P2MR's success depends on whether enough participants find the tradeoffs worthwhile. The proposal is now formally documented.

Whether it becomes part of Bitcoin's consensus rules is a question for the next several years of debate, testing, and coordination.

The post Bitcoin devs merge new plan to limit “quantum” exposure risk but there’s a fee and privacy tradeoff appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Coinbase just posted the kind of earnings report that makes two groups of people sweat at the same time.

The first group is obvious, COIN shareholders who saw the company swing into a loss while crypto prices and activity cooled. Coinbase reported about revenue of roughly $1.78B for the quarter and a loss of -$2.49 per share, when analysts were looking for a profit.

Inside Coinbase’s own materials, the story looks like a business still producing cash, but taking a real hit on the bottom line, with a quarterly net loss of $667M and adjusted EBITDA of $566M.

The second group is less obvious: people who do not own COIN at all but still rely on Coinbase’s plumbing.

If you bought spot Bitcoin ETFs through a brokerage app because you wanted exposure without the headache of wallets and keys, most of that Bitcoin ultimately sits with Coinbase.

When these ETFs launched, Coinbase became custodian for the majority of the category, including major products like BlackRock’s IBIT, where Coinbase is referenced in the fund’s materials via Coinbase Prime relationships.

Over time, the market has piled into ETF wrappers hard enough that Bitcoin ETPs have been reported holding about 7% of Bitcoin’s maximum supply, around 1.5 million BTC in that snapshot.

So when Coinbase “misses,” the emotional question people ask is simple, is the custodian in trouble?

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That question is understandable, the framing is messy, and the numbers that fly around on social media can get silly fast. The real way to look at it is practical. Custody is meant to be boring. Trading is meant to be cyclical. Earnings are where those two truths collide.

Coinbase missed, and the miss landed on the most sensitive nerve

Coinbase’s quarter fell short because the part of the business that looks like a casino during bull markets stopped acting like one.

Coinbase’s transaction revenue dropped to about $983M, with consumer transaction revenue down sharply. That tracks with what a lot of regular people have felt over the last few months, fewer “everyone is trading” moments, fewer viral coins, less late-night adrenaline.

This is also where Coinbase has been trying to change its identity. Subscription and services revenue came in around $727M in the quarter, and stablecoin revenue growth was highlighted as a tailwind in the same reporting.

In Coinbase’s own shareholder letter, the company also dropped a near-real-time datapoint, about $420M of transaction revenue through Feb 10, paired with a warning not to extrapolate too aggressively.

That is the push and pull. The market wants Coinbase to become steadier. The market also punishes Coinbase when the quarter shows how dependent crypto activity still is on mood.

Even the conversation around Coinbase’s business model has split into tribes.

On X, MilkRoad leaned hard into the “financial infrastructure” narrative and pointed to a growing lineup of products and more stable revenue streams.

On the other side, skeptics framed the quarter as a sign that institutions are pulling back and that regulation could crimp stablecoin-related revenue.

Both groups are reacting to the same fact, crypto has entered a phase where flows and policy can matter more than vibes, and Coinbase sits close to both.

The custody question, what happens if Coinbase has a bad year

When people hear “Coinbase is the custodian,” they often picture Coinbase taking directional risk on Bitcoin itself. That is not how custody is supposed to work.

ETF Bitcoin is held on behalf of the funds. The fund shareholders own shares in the ETF, the ETF owns the Bitcoin, the custodian safeguards it under a regulated framework. The bigger operational risks in custody are things like controls, compliance, operational resiliency, and the ability to meet the obligations of a qualified custodian, not whether Coinbase has a weak trading quarter.

That said, the reason this is such a charged topic is trust. Custody is the foundation that lets a retirement account holder say, “I’m fine owning Bitcoin exposure, someone serious is holding the coins.”

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Sep 20, 2024 · Liam 'Akiba' Wright

So the real question for 2026 is less dramatic and more specific, does anything in this earnings report change the probability of custody failures, disruptions, or a strategic retreat from the custody business.

The short answer is no; nothing in the public earnings materials suggests a retreat.

If anything, Coinbase has spent years trying to expand into the parts of crypto that behave more like traditional market infrastructure. The company is still presenting itself as a platform that wants to handle more institutional activity, more payments, more prime services, and more global derivatives.

That derivatives point matters. Last year, Coinbase announced the acquisition of Deribit, which is a very direct bet on the part of crypto markets where professionals spend most of their time.

Derivatives also tend to keep humming when spot volumes cool, because hedging and positioning never fully stop. Custody becomes one spoke in a wheel, and earnings become less hostage to retail mood swings.

A quieter signal, US institutions have been acting risk off

If you want to understand why Coinbase’s quarter felt heavy, look at where the marginal buyer has been.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw about $4.57 billion in outflows across Nov and Dec, and around $1.8 billion has already left since the start of 2026. That kind of flow regime changes the entire feel of the market.

This is where the custody angle connects to the earnings angle.

When ETFs are in steady inflow, the whole ecosystem feels like it is being institutionalized in real time.

When ETFs leak for weeks, it feels like the grown ups have left the room, even if the long term story stays intact.

Coinbase sits in the middle of that emotional swing because it is both a trading venue and a major piece of custody infrastructure.

The policy subplot, stablecoin rewards are becoming the bargaining chip

Coinbase’s CEO is also telling you, in plain language, where a lot of the real risk sits.

In an X post, Brian Armstrong said Coinbase is focused on a market structure “win-win,” and highlighted that GENIUS passed six months ago and is being re-litigated, with direct impact on customers. He also described ongoing engagement with the White House and banks.

Separately, our coverage has framed the current market structure negotiations around a trade-off, progress on a broader bill, in exchange for restrictions on stablecoin rewards.

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Feb 9, 2026 · Liam 'Akiba' Wright

This matters for the earnings conversation because stablecoin-related revenue is one of the cleaner, steadier ways for Coinbase to grow without relying on retail trading frenzy. If reward-like features get boxed in, Coinbase can still build a stablecoin business, but the packaging changes, the growth curve changes, and the investor narrative changes.

That is why some commentators are treating this quarter as a policy story as much as an earnings story.

So is Coinbase “in trouble,” and what should ETF holders watch next

Coinbase is not a fragile startup anymore. It is a public company with a diversified set of businesses, and with a strategic position in the parts of crypto that institutions actually use. A weak quarter is still a weak quarter, and the market is allowed to be disappointed, but disappointment is different from structural breakdown.

For the person who holds a spot Bitcoin ETF and just wants to know if the custodian risk went up, here is a grounded checklist that tells you more than the EPS headline.

1. First, watch custody concentration and market structure, because concentration cuts both ways. It gives ETFs a clean operational backbone, and it creates a single point of reputational failure for the category.
2. Second, watch policy headlines around stablecoins and rewards, because the growth mix shift at Coinbase depends on it. The White House, banks, and crypto industry triangle that Armstrong described in public is not theater, it is the business environment.
3. Third, watch flows and the US premium, because they telegraph whether institutions are leaning back in. The premium gap coverage and ETF outflow reporting are signals that the tape has been in a risk off mood, and Coinbase’s next few quarters are going to reflect that.
4. Finally, watch whether Coinbase can keep executing on its “everything app” ambition, because the long term path out of cyclical earnings is to own more of the stack. Coinbase is pushing into stock trading and prediction markets in its broader expansion story, and that is part of the same effort to widen what Coinbase is.

The simplest way to say it is this.

Coinbase missing earnings looks scary because it reminds everyone how cyclical crypto can be. Coinbase holding a large share of ETF custody looks scary because it concentrates trust. Put those together and you get a perfect social media storm.

The reality is less cinematic and more important.

Coinbase is trying to become the kind of company whose worst quarters look survivable, because the business is built on rails and services that people keep using when trading slows.

That is the bet investors are pricing, and that is the bet ETF holders should care about, because boring custody only stays boring when the operator stays stable, compliant, and committed to the job.

The post The Bitcoin ETF custody risk after Coinbase loses $667M asks a 1.5M BTC question appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The US economy is starting 2026 with an uncomfortable split-screen scenario that is complicating the outlook for Bitcoin's recovery towards $100,000.

While Wall Street credit pricing still looks calm, the “real economy” stress gauges are flashing late-cycle warning lights.

This disconnect matters for Bitcoin because its path to $100,000 is no longer just about crypto-native catalysts. It is increasingly about whether the next macro downdraft forces a liquidation phase that consumes the calendar year.

So, investors hoping for a straight line to six figures are facing a formidable obstacle: a consumer and corporate credit squeeze that threatens to drain liquidity from risk assets before the Federal Reserve can pivot to a rescue.

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Jan 2, 2026 · Liam 'Akiba' Wright

The consumer debt wall

The clearest red flag facing the market is the deteriorating state of the American consumer.

The New York Fed’s latest Household Debt and Credit report paints a grim picture of a populace leveraging up to maintain living standards. Total household debt rose to $18.8 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2025.

This represents an increase of $191 billion in a single quarter, leaving aggregate balances about $4.6 trillion above the pre-pandemic level.

The sheer volume of debt is concerning, but the quality of that debt is where the real alarm bells are ringing.

The report shows that 12.7% of credit-card balances were 90 or more days delinquent in the fourth quarter of 2025.

This marks a stark return to the elevated stress levels seen in the early 2010s, suggesting that the post-pandemic savings buffer has been fully eroded for a significant portion of the population.

When drilling down into the demographics, the signal becomes even harder to ignore.

In New York Fed charts tracking transitions into serious delinquency (defined as 90 or more days late) for credit cards, younger cohorts are performing notably worse than older ones.

The 18–29 and 30–39 age groups are running materially higher delinquency rates than households aged 40 and above.

This is not just a sobering credit statistic. It serves as a forward indicator for discretionary spending and employment sensitivity.

Younger borrowers are more exposed to rent inflation, rely on revolving credit to bridge gaps, and experience higher income volatility.

These are the exact demographics that drive retail crypto adoption, and their financial distress could accelerate a market downturn as layoffs spread.

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Feb 12, 2026 · Gino Matos

Corporate distress accelerating

While households are feeling the pinch, corporate distress is also rising.

Official bankruptcy filings in the US rose 11% in the 12-month period ending December 31, 2025, according to data from the Administrative Office of the US Courts.

However, the more market-moving development is the accelerating pace of large corporate cases.

Bloomberg has reported that at least six major companies sought court protection each week over a three-week period beginning Jan. 10.

This represents an intensity of corporate failure not seen since the early pandemic months, suggesting that the “higher for longer” rate environment is finally breaking zombie companies that survived on cheap capital.

Distressed-market commentary has highlighted even more alarming figures. Some observers have noted that 18 companies with liabilities exceeding $50 million filed for bankruptcy over a three-week period.

While this tally is best treated as an unofficial tracker metric rather than a standardized government series, it aligns with the broader trend of deteriorating corporate health.

The liquidity trap

In light of these events, the question for crypto investors is why these traditional finance problems would stop Bitcoin from tagging $100,000 in 2026.

The answer lies in the mechanics of a crisis. The “deepening crisis” phase typically first hits Bitcoin in the least flattering way: as a high-beta liquidity asset.

When credit tightens and defaults rise, investors usually prioritize cash. They shorten duration and sell liquid, volatile positions to cover margin calls or build defensive buffers.

For crypto, that liquidation impulse now runs through a very specific, highly reactive funnel: Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and other institutional products.

This dynamic is already visible in fund flows. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen net outflows of more than $600 million within the last two days alone, according to SoSo Value data.

Meanwhile, the selling pressure is not limited to a few days, as the 12 Bitcoin ETF products have recorded only two weeks of net inflows since the beginning of this year.

In a benign macro backdrop, that kind of persistent outflow can still be absorbed by the market.

However, that kind of consistent selling could become reflexive in a deteriorating macro backdrop.

In this case, redemptions pressure the price, price weakness triggers further de-risking models, and volatility itself becomes a reason for risk managers to reduce exposure further.

Policy paralysis

Meanwhile, Bitcoin bulls counter that crises eventually attract policy support, and the flagship digital asset has historically responded explosively when liquidity conditions turn favorable.

However, the timing for 2026 is complicated by the Federal Reserve not yet being in “panic mode.”

The central bank held the policy rate at a range of 3.5%–3.75% at its January meeting. While this is lower than the peak rates of previous years, it remains restrictive enough to pressure borrowers.

At the same time, the New York Fed has been conducting “reserve management” purchases. They are buying about $40 billion per month in Treasury bills and short-dated government bonds through mid-April.

These purchases are explicitly framed as technical operations rather than crisis-era quantitative easing.

If financial stress worsens materially, that technical line can blur quickly in markets’ minds. Still, the key for Bitcoin is timing.

The market often sells first and only rallies later when easing is unmistakable. If the Fed waits for credit spreads to blow out before cutting aggressively, Bitcoin could suffer a significant drawdown before the liquidity rescue arrives.

Downside targets and revised expectations

That timing risk is exactly why some major bank analysts are urging caution.

Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick has warned that crypto could see “one final wave” of selling pressure first. He flagged downside risks toward $50,000 for BTC, while arguing that this level represents “buy zones” for a later recovery.

Notably, data from CryptoQuant indicate that Bitcoin’s ultimate bear-market bottom is around $55,000.

Meanwhile, Kendrick also cut his end-of-year BTC target to $100,000 (down from $150,000).

According to him, the message is not “perma-bearish,” but rather a recognition that the path to higher prices likely runs through a significant drawdown first.

Essentially, the narrative that BTC could reach $100,000 this year is weakened by a deepening US financial squeeze that is compressing the runway.

If Bitcoin spends the next few months digesting a macro-driven deleveraging phase, then the “reflation rally” window shifts later into 2026.

In this case, hitting $100,000 becomes less about whether BTC can rally and more about whether there is enough time left in the year to do so after the washout.

Three paths for Bitcoin’s $100,000 question

A clean way to frame the year ahead is a three-case scenario model that keeps the focus on timing.

The base case is a soft landing with messy credit in which delinquencies rise but do not cascade into a jobs shock.

Here, corporate distress remains meaningful but contained and ETF flows stabilize after a period of outflows.

In that world, Bitcoin can trade in a wide range, and $100,000 becomes a late-year coin flip rather than a base expectation. The upside is possible, but it depends on the market regaining confidence before the calendar runs out.

The “hard landing” scenario involves corporate failures and consumer strain feeding into unemployment. Spreads would widen, and forced selling would dominate.

In that case, Bitcoin can plausibly reach the downside zone Kendrick flagged before any durable rally begins. A later recovery may still occur, but $100,000 in calendar year looks unlikely because the washout phase consumes the period when momentum would normally build.

The third scenario is a “fast pivot,” where data deteriorates quickly enough to trigger faster cuts and more visible liquidity support. That can produce a 2020-style sequence of a dump first, followed by a rip, but it still may require a capitulation low before the upside.

The bottom line is that macro stress can cut both ways. It can eventually justify easier policy and better liquidity conditions, which have historically supported Bitcoin.

However, that same stress can prevent Bitcoin from reaching $100,000 on schedule, as the first phase of a deepening squeeze is often the least favorable for crypto.

Unless policy support arrives early enough, and ETF flows flip back to sustained inflows, the path of least resistance in early 2026 looks more like downside and turbulence first.

So, a $100,000 print becomes less about whether Bitcoin can rally, and more about whether the market gets through the washout fast enough for the rally to fit inside the year.

The post Bitcoin price recovery dream meets $18.8 trillion household debt, and one Fed decision could flip everything appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin's mining difficulty decreased by 11.16% to approximately 125.86 trillion at the most recent retarget boundary around block 935,424.

That marks the largest negative adjustment since the 2021 China mining ban, the sixth consecutive downward retarget, and the tenth largest negative adjustment in Bitcoin's history.

However, difficulty adjustments are lagging indicators, as they reflect what occurred over the previous 2,016 blocks rather than what's happening now.

The real question is whether the machines that went dark are coming back, or whether this retarget marks the start of a deeper miner shakeout.

The most useful forward signal is the next adjustment. CoinWarz is already estimating a 12% rebound around Feb. 20, which implies that hashrate is returning fast.

This is a movement more consistent with curtailment and short-term economics than with a structural miner exodus. If that rebound fails to materialize and the difficulty continues to decline, then “capitulation” becomes more than a headline.

Three drivers, only one tied to capitulation

The difficulty drop indicates slower block times relative to the previous epoch, indicating that less hashrate was online.

Yet, three distinct forces can push hashrate offline, and they don't all mean the same thing.

Forced curtailment and outages are transitory. Winter Storm Fern hammered US miners in early February, forcing grid-connected operations to shut down during peak demand.

Foundry's pool hash reportedly dropped roughly 60% during peak disruption. When miners curtail operations during grid emergencies, the hashrate disappears overnight and can return just as quickly once the weather clears.

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That kind of offline event looks dramatic in difficulty numbers, but doesn't signal financial distress.
Economics-driven shutdowns are capitulation-adjacent.

The revenue per unit of hashrate, called hashprice, printed record lows in early February. TheEnergyMag reported hashprice falling below $32 per petahash per day, and Hashrate Index data shows live hashprice hovering in the low $30s.

When hashprice is crushed, marginal fleets running older ASICs or paying higher power costs shut off. That can be capitulation, but it can also be rational idling: miners waiting for difficulty to reset and profitability to improve before turning machines back on.

The protocol rewards that patience. Cutting difficulty 11.16% raises expected Bitcoin earned per unit hash by roughly 12.6% until the hashrate returns, creating a short profitability honeymoon for survivors.

Structural shifts represent slow-burning capitulation. Some miners are increasingly treating Bitcoin mining as an optional workload, with AI and high-performance computing data center pivots appearing alongside stress coverage for miners.

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If firms are reallocating capital from ASICs to data centers, the hashrate that goes offline may not return, at least not quickly. That's a different kind of capitulation: a strategic exit.

Capitulation checklist: what to watch

A double-digit negative retarget can mean very different things depending on subsequent events. Treat it like a diagnostic test rather than a verdict.

Protocol and hashrate behavior indicate whether machines are returning. Hashrate rebound speed is the clearest signal: a rapid snapback within hours or days indicates curtailment, while a slow grind suggests deeper stress.

The next retarget projection is your proxy. CoinWarz's 12% rebound estimate implies the hash is already returning. If that projection holds, the difficulty drop was a lagging artifact of temporary offline capacity.

Difficulty path over multiple epochs matters, too. A single large cut followed by a rebound isn't capitulation; multiple consecutive cuts define a stress regime.

The last 30 to 90 days have already seen cumulative difficulty decline in the double digits, which means this retarget wasn't the first sign of trouble, just the loudest.

Changes in pool concentration can reveal the reallocation of real-world capacity. If big pools lose market share structurally rather than temporarily, that's a signal that mining infrastructure is changing hands or going offline permanently.

Foundry's disruption during the storm is worth watching in that context.

Miner economics explain why machines shut off in the first place. Hashprice versus “pain thresholds” is the core metric.

Record or near-record lows are when marginal rigs go dark. A Bitcoin price drawdown relative to difficulty creates a squeeze: if price falls faster than difficulty can reset, stress spikes.

That's the macro tie-in for why this happened now. Fee support, the share of block rewards coming from transaction fees rather than the subsidy, also matters.

If fees aren't cushioning the subsidy, miners live or die on price and efficiency. Low fee environments amplify hashprice stress.

Balance-sheet stress is where true capitulation usually shows up.

Miner selling pressure, consisting of spikes in miner-to-exchange flows or reserve drawdowns, signals forced liquidation.

Public miner financing behavior, like emergency debt or equity raises, asset sales, or restructuring language, also flags distress.

ASIC secondary-market pricing is another tell: sharp drops in used ASIC prices suggest forced liquidation, while stable pricing suggests temporary offline capacity instead of bankruptcy.

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Weather, economics, or structure

Weather whiplash is the transitory case. Curtailment and outages push hashrate offline, difficulty drops, and hashrate returns quickly once conditions normalize.

In this scenario, the next retarget would flip positive, exactly what CoinWarz is projecting. This scenario means the difficulty drop was mostly operational.

The network adjusts, profitability improves for those who stayed online, and offline capacity returns.

Economic shakeout is classic capitulation. Hashprice stays depressed, Bitcoin price remains weak, and older fleets stay offline because running at a loss makes no sense.

You'd see repeated negative adjustments over multiple epochs, elevated miner selling, and falling ASIC resale prices.

That creates short-term sell pressure risk and longer-term industry consolidation as weaker operators exit and stronger ones acquire distressed assets.

Structural reset is the path to reallocating data centers. Some firms treat mining as interruptible and reallocate capital to AI or high-performance computing. Hashrate becomes more seasonal and price-sensitive, leading to choppier difficulty adjustments and larger swings.

Bitcoin's security budget is increasingly tied to broader compute and energy markets. That's not a crisis, but it does change the dynamics of how hashrate responds to price.

What the rebound tells

The next retarget is the cleanest test of which scenario is playing out. If hashrate snaps back and difficulty rebounds as CoinWarz projects, the “capitulation” narrative fades.

The drop was real, but it reflected temporary disruptions, such as weather, short-term economics, and rational idling.

Miners who stayed online captured the profitability honeymoon, the difficulty resets to match the returning hashrate, and the network moved on.

The stress only gets deeper if the rebound doesn't materialize, which is unlikely. Yet if difficulty declines for two to three more epochs, that would imply the offline hashrate isn't coming back quickly, either because the economics don't support it or because the capital has moved elsewhere.

In that case, the expectation is that the balance sheet stress signals will start flashing: elevated selling, financing scrambles, and ASIC liquidation.

The difficulty drop itself is backward-looking.

It confirms that a meaningful share of hashpower was offline over the last two weeks, some for economic reasons and some for operational reasons.

What matters now is whether those machines are coming back, and the answer will show up in the data over the next week.

The protocol doesn't care about narratives, it just adjusts to whatever hashrate shows up.

Whether this retarget was a transitory blip or the start of a miner exodus depends on what happens next, not what already happened.

The post Bitcoin difficulty just plunged 11% but a projected rebound next week may decide miners’ fate appeared first on CryptoSlate.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that the crypto market would be calmed by the passage of the Clarity Act.

Bitcoin's rebound from $60K lows may be a dead cat bounce, as the daily charts scream caution and prediction markets price in more pain.

The CEO of Binance France was targeted in a recent home invasion attempt, but the executive was unharmed and the criminals were arrested.

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Coinbase just fell short of Wall Street expectations, but investors are overlooking the exchange’s resiliency, according to Bernstein.

Jurrien Timmer, director of global macro at Fidelity Investments, believes that Bitcoin’s recent crash to $60,000 is the end of the correction..

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Shiba Inu lead ambassador Shytoshi Kusama teases discussions on identity and legacy, including that of AI scheduled for this date.

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TLDR

• The United States issued a general licence to Reliance Industries, allowing direct purchases of Venezuelan oil without breaching sanctions.
• The move follows Washington’s easing of sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector after internal political changes.
• General licence permissions include buying, exporting, selling, and refining extracted Venezuelan crude.
• Reliance had previously stopped Venezuelan oil imports due to sanctions but now could resume direct purchases.
• The licence supports Reliance’s efforts to diversify crude sources and reduce reliance on higher‑cost alternatives.

The United States has issued a general license allowing India’s Reliance Industries Ltd to purchase Venezuelan oil directly. This development follows the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The decision could streamline Venezuela’s oil exports while benefiting Reliance’s refining operations.

U.S. Eases Sanctions to Facilitate Venezuelan Oil Purchases

According to a Reuters report, the U.S. has eased sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector, aiming to support a $2 billion oil deal with Washington. The sanction relief also complements the broader goal of aiding Venezuela’s oil industry reconstruction.

A general license now authorizes companies to buy and refine Venezuelan oil, bypassing previous restrictions. Reliance Industries applied for the license in January. As one of the world’s largest oil refiners, it operates an advanced refining complex.

The license will allow Reliance to resume buying Venezuelan oil directly. This could expedite the company’s plans to replace Russian oil supplies.

Reliance’s Oil Strategy and the Role of Venezuelan Imports

Reliance recently bought 2 million barrels of Venezuelan oil from Vitol, a major trader. The company is expected to continue seeking discounted Venezuelan crude, replacing Russian oil in its refineries.

Reliance’s purchase marks a shift from the company’s earlier reliance on Russian oil amid geopolitical tensions. The U.S. has granted specific licenses to traders like Vitol and Trafigura, enabling them to sell Venezuelan oil.

These traders now have the authority to market large quantities of oil from Venezuela. This move aims to reduce Reliance’s dependence on more expensive crude, thus lowering costs for its refining operations.

The Strategic Shift in Global Oil Supply Chains

Reliance’s refineries, with a combined capacity of 1.4 million barrels per day, stand to benefit from the cheaper Venezuelan oil. The company had ceased buying Venezuelan crude in 2025 due to U.S. sanctions but will now be able to resume direct purchases.

This shift will allow Reliance to diversify its oil sources amid the changing global oil market. The general license granted by the U.S. marks a key step in this transition.

By securing access to discounted Venezuelan oil, Reliance can maintain its competitive edge. This development could further align India’s energy interests with U.S. strategic goals in the region.

The post U.S. Grants General License to Reliance Industries to Buy Venezuelan Oil appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Tesla stock dropped 2.7% Thursday, ending a four-day winning streak, and fell another 0.7% in Friday premarket trading to $414.07
• Historical data shows Tesla stock rises 56% of the time on Friday the 13th versus 52% on regular days, with slightly lower volatility
• Shares remain down 3.3% since reporting better-than-expected Q4 earnings on January 20, despite beating analyst estimates
• Tesla plans to expand its AI-trained robo-taxi service to nine cities in the first half of 2026, currently operating in Austin and testing in San Francisco
• The company expects capital expenditures to exceed $20 billion in 2026, more than double 2025 levels, as it pivots toward AI, robotics, and autonomous vehicles

Tesla stock closed down 2.7% Thursday at $417.50, breaking a four-day winning streak. The EV maker’s shares fell another 0.7% in Friday premarket trading to $414.07.

Tesla, Inc., TSLA

The decline came without Tesla-specific news. Market-wide weakness hit tech stocks particularly hard. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2% Thursday as AI disruption fears spread across sectors.

Tesla shares have now fallen 3.3% since the company reported fourth-quarter earnings on January 20. The results beat analyst expectations for both revenue and profitability. Yet investors haven’t rewarded the stock with sustained gains.

The muted reaction suggests shareholders want more than good quarterly numbers. They’re waiting for concrete progress on Tesla’s AI initiatives before pushing the stock higher.

Robo-Taxi Expansion Plans

CEO Elon Musk outlined plans to expand Tesla’s AI-trained robo-taxi service to nine cities during the first half of 2026. The service currently operates in Austin, Texas, with testing underway in San Francisco.

The company aims to begin CyberCab production in April. Musk stated he expects Tesla to eventually produce more CyberCabs than all other vehicles combined.

Tesla is also winding down production of the Model S sedan and Model X SUV in coming months. That production space will shift to manufacturing Optimus, the company’s autonomous robot. Musk’s goal is to produce 1 million Optimus units annually.

Fourth-quarter deliveries fell 16% year-over-year to 495,570 vehicles. The drop raised concerns since Tesla remains primarily an automobile company.

Capital Spending Surge

Capital expenditures are expected to top $20 billion in 2026. That’s more than double the 2025 level. The funds will support battery technology development, CyberCab production, the Robotaxi system, and AI projects.

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Supervised platform will shift to a fully subscription-based model this quarter. The move could generate recurring revenue streams if adoption proves strong.

Despite recent weakness, Tesla stock is up 24% over the past 12 months. Shares gained 1.4% for the week heading into Friday trading.

Friday the 13th has historically been kind to Tesla stock. The company has experienced 27 Friday the 13ths since going public in 2010. Shares rose on 15 of those days, a 56% win rate. Average price movement on Friday the 13th is 2.3%, slightly below the typical 2.5% daily movement.

The stock trades at a forward P/E ratio near 205. Critics argue valuations remain stretched given unproven products like Optimus and CyberCab face uncertain demand. Competition in the EV space continues to intensify as traditional automakers expand electric offerings.

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving subscriptions face a crowded market where consumers already juggle multiple subscription services. Success depends on whether the technology delivers enough value to justify another monthly payment.

The post Tesla (TSLA) Stock Down 16% From All-Time Highs – Should Investors Buy the Dip? appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Amazon and Microsoft have entered bear market territory, both down over 20% from recent highs due to concerns about heavy AI spending without matching cloud revenue growth.
• The Magnificent Seven ETF has dropped nearly 11% from its October peak as investors rotate away from big tech stocks.
• Apple fell 5% on Thursday after reports emerged that its planned AI upgrade to Siri may face delays.
• Alphabet is down 6.4% over the past month, while Meta has given up all post-earnings gains and Tesla is down 7.3% year-to-date.
• UBS downgraded the U.S. technology sector to Neutral, citing concerns about AI capital expenditure outpacing current revenue generation.

The Magnificent Seven technology stocks are experiencing a downturn driven by investor concerns about artificial intelligence spending. The Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF closed Thursday in correction territory, down nearly 11% from its late October high.

Amazon and Microsoft have been hit hardest among the group. Both companies have now entered bear market territory, meaning they are down more than 20% from their recent highs. Investors have penalized the two tech giants for ramping up AI infrastructure investments without delivering proportional cloud computing revenue growth.

The selloff has spread beyond the initial leaders. Alphabet, which received praise for its Gemini AI platform and cloud unit growth, has declined 6.4% over the past month. Meta Platforms erased all gains from its recent earnings report, which had highlighted AI-driven revenue growth.

Apple Faces Delay Concerns

Apple experienced its worst single-day performance since April 2025, falling 5% on Thursday. Reports indicated that the company’s planned AI upgrade to its digital assistant Siri may be delayed. The news raised questions about whether new AI features will drive the next iPhone upgrade cycle.

The company also faces headwinds from rising memory chip prices. These cost pressures come as investors wait for clearer signs of AI adoption in Apple’s product lineup.

Broader Market Rotation Underway

UBS recently downgraded the U.S. technology sector to Neutral from its previous rating. Mark Haefele, chief investment officer for global wealth management at UBS, recommended investors diversify across sectors and geographies. He noted that AI value creation is occurring beyond the information technology sector.

Mark Hawtin of Liontrust Asset Management highlighted the rising capital expenditure across the Magnificent Seven companies. He pointed to Amazon as an example, noting that much of the company’s expected cash flow this year could be absorbed by increased capital spending on AI infrastructure.

Other Magnificent Seven Members

Nvidia has traded in a range for several months without breaking out. The chip maker continues to face questions about sustaining its AI-driven growth trajectory. Tesla remains an outlier in the group, moving based on investor sentiment around CEO Elon Musk’s robotaxi and robot deployment plans rather than AI trends.

Tesla is down 7.3% year-to-date. Meta Platforms sits just above the threshold that would place it in bear market territory alongside Amazon and Microsoft.

The collective decline reflects a shift in investor sentiment toward the market’s most concentrated positions. The Magnificent Seven stocks have driven a large portion of market gains over the past two years. Weakness in these companies now weighs on broader market indexes.

Investors are not reacting to weak earnings reports. The concern centers on future growth prospects, specifically how quickly artificial intelligence investments will convert into profits. Companies across the group are spending heavily on AI infrastructure while current revenue from the technology remains limited compared to the capital outlays.

Wall Street analysts maintain that Microsoft has the most upside potential among the group. The average price target for Microsoft stock stands at $593.38 per share, implying 47.7% upside from current levels.

The post Why Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) Stocks Just Crashed into Bear Market Territory appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• XRP ETFs saw a daily outflow of $6.42 million, with cumulative inflows at $1.22 billion.
• XRPC ETF reported a $1.44M net inflow, but its market price declined by 2.25%.
• XRP ETF experienced a daily drop of 2.20% and a $303.92K net inflow.
• XRPZ ETF saw a 2.00% drop in market price, with $737.47K in daily inflows.
• The GXRP ETF recorded an $8.91M outflow, with a 2.24% drop in market price.

As of February 12, the daily total net inflow for XRP ETFs recorded a loss of $6.42 million. According to SoSoValue, the cumulative total net inflow remains positive at $1.22 billion. The total value traded stands at $12.52 million, showing a relatively low trading volume for the day. Total net assets for the XRP ETFs are valued at $970.66 million, representing 1.18% of the XRP market cap.

XRPC, XRPZ, and XRP ETFs Record Inflows

Among individual XRP ETFs, the XRPC ETF, listed on NASDAQ and sponsored by Canary, saw a slight 0.61% decline. It reported a 1-day net inflow of $1.44 million and a cumulative net inflow of $412.60 million. The ETF’s net assets stand at $259.50 million, with an XRP share of 0.32%. Its market price is $14.36, showing a 2.25% daily decline.

The XRP ETF, listed on the NYSE and sponsored by Bitwise, experienced a daily decrease of 2.20%. It saw a daily net inflow of $303.92 thousand and has a cumulative net inflow of $359.29 million. Its net assets stand at $247.85 million, representing 0.30% of XRP’s market share. The market price dropped to $15.13.

The XRPZ ETF, listed on the NYSE and sponsored by Franklin, experienced a 0.40% drop in value. It reported a daily inflow of $737.47 thousand with a cumulative net inflow of $326.80 million. Its net assets stand at $221.98 million, accounting for 0.27% of XRP’s market share. The ETF’s market price fell by 2.00% to $14.69.

GXRP Losses $8.91 as TOXR ETF Holds Stable

The TOXR ETF, listed on the CBOE and sponsored by 21Shares, saw a daily decline of 2.23%, with no changes in its flow for the day. It has net assets totaling $166.91 million, holding 0.20% of XRP’s market share.

Lastly, the GXRP ETF, listed on the NYSE and sponsored by Grayscale, recorded a 2.24% drop, with a daily net outflow of $8.91 million. This XRP ETF has net assets of $74.43 million, representing 0.09% of the XRP market. Its market price decreased to $26.18.

The post XRP ETFs Face $6.42M Outflow, Grayscale’s GXRP ETF Records Largest Loss appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Moderna reported Q4 revenue of $678 million, beating Wall Street estimates of $626.1 million, driven by COVID-19 vaccine sales
• The company posted a quarterly loss of $2.11 per share, narrower than the $2.54 per share loss analysts expected
• Moderna reiterated its 2026 revenue growth target of 10% and expects 50% of sales from U.S. markets and 50% from international
• FDA refused to review Moderna’s flu vaccine application this week, citing trial design flaws, despite internal staff reviewers supporting the review
• Moderna stock slipped 0.3% in premarket trading Friday despite beating earnings, after rising 36% year-to-date through Thursday

Moderna shares dipped 0.3% in premarket trading Friday even after the biotech company delivered quarterly results that topped Wall Street expectations. The mixed reaction highlights investor concerns about the company’s path forward after a rough week.

The Cambridge-based vaccine maker reported fourth-quarter revenue of $678 million. That beat analyst estimates of $626.1 million.

Full-year 2025 sales reached $1.94 billion, surpassing the $1.89 billion consensus estimate. COVID-19 vaccine sales drove the better-than-expected performance.

Moderna, Inc., MRNA

Moderna posted a quarterly loss of $2.11 per share. Analysts had projected a steeper loss of $2.54 per share. The latest loss was narrower than the $2.91 per share loss recorded in the same quarter last year.

CEO Stéphane Bancel said the company entered the year “with strong momentum despite the continued challenging environment in the U.S.” The company reaffirmed its expectation for 10% revenue growth in 2026 compared to 2025.

Wall Street currently expects revenue growth of about 6% for the year. Moderna forecast research and development expenses of roughly $3 billion for 2026, matching analyst estimates.

FDA Setback Casts Shadow

The earnings beat came days after a setback with regulators. The FDA refused Tuesday to review Moderna’s seasonal flu vaccine application.

FDA vaccine chief Vinay Prasad said the company should have compared its vaccine to standard high-dose flu shots for older adults. Moderna ran its trial using regular-dose comparisons, which the company says FDA approved 18 months ago.

Internal FDA staff reviewers had supported moving forward with the review. Prasad overruled them, according to a Wednesday report from Stat.

Moderna criticized the decision and said it was awaiting further guidance on refiling. The company has been counting on its flu vaccine and a future COVID-flu combination shot to drive future growth.

Looking Ahead to 2026

The company expects about 50% of 2026 sales to come from U.S. markets. International markets will account for the remaining half.

Bancel said Moderna expects to meet its 2026 targets through expansion of its next-generation COVID vaccine. Strategic partnerships in international markets will also play a role.

Shares had climbed 36% year-to-date through Thursday’s close. Positive Phase 2b trial results for an intismeran autogene vaccine used in melanoma treatment drove much of the rally.

The company continues working on newer products to offset declining COVID vaccine demand. Sales have struggled since the pandemic windfall years when demand for COVID shots collapsed.

Moderna’s full-year 2025 revenue of $1.94 billion came in above the $1.89 billion analyst consensus, while the company maintains its 10% revenue growth target for 2026.

The post Moderna (MRNA) Stock Slips Despite Beating Q4 Revenue and Earnings Estimates appeared first on Blockonomi.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has selected several cryptocurrency executives to serve on its newly created Innovation Advisory Committee (IAC).

This development comes as the agency, led by Chair Michael S. Selig, continues to indicate that his administration plans to adopt a more permissive approach to regulating the digital asset industry.

IAC Appointee List Announced

Of the 35 members making up the panel, 20 are tied to companies involved in crypto, while at least five are involved in prediction markets. Among them are Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek, Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, and Polymarket architect Shayne Coplan.

“Today marks an important and energizing moment at the CFTC as the Innovation Advisory Committee takes shape,” said Selig in a Thursday press release.

Additional members include Anchorage Digital’s top executive, Nathan McCauley, Grayscale’s Peter Mintzberg, Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev, Solana’s Anatoly Yakovenko, as well as Ripple chief Brad Garlinghouse, and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong.

Executives at Paradigm, DraftKings, and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) were also included, together with representatives from traditional finance institutions such as Cboe, CME, Nasdaq, and the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), among other firms.

Selig said the main aim is to ensure America remains the home to the most transparent and well-regulated financial markets in the world.

 “By bringing together participants from every corner of the marketplace, the IAC will be a major asset for the Commission as we work to modernize our rules and regulations for the innovations of today and tomorrow,” he added.

Market Innovation and Crypto Regulation Streamlining

The IAC, launched in January, replaces the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC), which previously provided guidance on how emerging technologies were affecting derivatives markets.

The new body will serve as a resource on developments in derivatives and commodity markets, helping the Commission assess how innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain are reshaping financial systems and informing the development of adaptive regulatory frameworks.

The CFTC has also begun coordinating with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through a joint initiative known as “Project Crypto.”

The effort is aimed at harmonizing regulatory approaches to digital asset markets, reducing jurisdictional overlap between the agencies, and providing clearer and more predictable rules for cryptocurrency companies operating in America.

The post CFTC Appoints Crypto Heavyweights to 35-Person Advisory Panel appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Aggregated funding rate data across major cryptocurrency exchanges revealed that the current wave of short positioning is the most extreme since August 2024, a period that coincided with a major bottom for Bitcoin, according to new analysis from Santiment.

At that time, funding rates sank deeply into negative territory as traders overwhelmingly positioned for further downside, amidst intense fear and bearish sentiment across the market.

Extreme Bear Bets Before 2024 Reversal

Instead of continuing lower, Santiment found that prices reversed sharply, and the forced unwinding of overcrowded short positions helped fuel a strong recovery. Following that August 2024 low, Bitcoin went on to climb roughly 83% over the next four months. The move illustrated how extreme negative funding conditions can emerge right before powerful rebounds.

Santiment explained that funding rates are a mechanism within perpetual futures markets, and are designed to keep futures prices aligned with spot prices. These rates represent small, periodic payments exchanged between traders. When funding is negative, short sellers pay long traders, and when it is positive, long traders pay shorts.

When aggregated funding rates across exchanges fall far below zero, it means that a major share of market participants is heavily positioned for declining prices, often driven by fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Such imbalances can create conditions ripe for sharp counter-moves.

Many short positions are opened using leverage, meaning traders borrow capital to amplify potential gains. If prices move higher instead of lower, losses on these leveraged shorts can accumulate rapidly. Once losses breach predefined thresholds, exchanges automatically liquidate those positions to manage risk.

When large numbers of shorts are forced to close simultaneously, the resulting wave of buying can accelerate price increases, a trend commonly referred to as a short squeeze. The deeper funding rates fall into negative territory, the more crowded short positions become, and the greater the potential fuel for a sudden reversal.

Aftermath of October Binance Liquidations

The analytics platform also pointed to recent market activity surrounding a liquidation event on Binance on October 10, 2025, when a wave of long liquidations contributed to a sharp drop in BTC’s price. In the aftermath of that move, traders increasingly shifted into short positions as they expected further downside, which ended up recreating a similar imbalance that could be observed through funding rate data.

Current aggregated metrics suggest sentiment has once again leaned heavily in one direction. While Santiment stated that heavy short positioning does not guarantee an immediate rally, it described the present environment as one of high risk, where positioning pressure could flip into rapid upside volatility if shorts are forced to unwind.

Based on broader sentiment indicators, it added that these short positions are unlikely to close voluntarily. This makes a liquidation-driven move higher a more probable resolution.

The post Bitcoin Shorts Hit August 2024 Levels as Funding Rates Sink Deeply Negative appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The cryptocurrency market made another move south in the past 24 hours, with most leading digital assets (including BTC) charting minor losses.

Somewhat surprisingly, Pi Network’s PI has defied the bearish environment, posting a daily gain of around 8%.

Finally in Green

Pi Network’s native cryptocurrency has been in a sharp decline over the past several months, disappointing its huge base of proponents and investors. Just a few days ago, its price dropped to a new all-time low of around $0.13, while its market cap plunged to around $1.1 billion.

Over the last 24 hours, though, the bulls stepped in, and PI reached almost $0.15. Its capitalization once again surpassed $1.3 billion, making it the 55th-largest cryptocurrency.

The notable resurgence comes shortly after the team behind the project provided an update on its Node infrastructure. The developers revealed that the Pi Mainnet blockchain protocol is undergoing a series of improvements and set a deadline of February 15 for the first upgrade.

The Core Team explained that it will run the consensus algorithm with Pioneers who have applied to become Nodes and have successfully installed all required blockchain software on their computers.

“While our hope is to include as many Pioneers as possible when defining the Node requirements, the availability and reliability of individual nodes in the network affect the safety and liveness of the network,” the official announcement reads.

PI’s price revival also coincides with a slowdown in token unlocks. Approximately 19 million coins are scheduled for release today (February 13), marking the record day for the next 30 days. Towards the end of the month, the daily unlocks are expected to drop below 5 million, which could reduce selling pressure and help stabilize the price.

The Recent Rumors

Earlier this month, some X users speculated that Kraken is preparing to allow trading services with PI. Such support from one of the leading crypto exchanges would likely have a positive price impact on the asset, as it would increase its liquidity and availability and improve its reputation.

Perhaps the biggest boost will be if Binance decides to embrace PI. The world’s largest crypto exchange was expected to do so last year and even held a community vote to determine whether its users wanted the token listed on the platform. Despite the overwhelming support, Binance has yet to honor their wish.

The post Pi Network (PI) Jumps 8% in 24 Hours: Is the Worst Over or Another Dead-Cat Bounce? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Although bitcoin and most altcoins have recovered from the massive losses charted at the end of the previous business week, the past seven days weren’t exactly positive for the asset class, as it remains miles from the Q4 2025 peaks.

Before we examine the developments that took place in the past week, let’s quickly recap the latest crash that culminated on February 6 when BTC plunged to $60,000 for the first time in well over a year. Many altcoins collapsed by 20-30% daily, reaching new local lows.

Nevertheless, BTC bounced off on that day by $12,000 and tapped $72,000 in what became one of its most impressive single-day recovery attempts. However, the predominant bearish trend resumed rapidly, and BTC was stopped and driven down to $68,000 during the weekend.

It spent the next several days trading sideways between that lower boundary and $72,000. After the latest rejection at the upper boundary, the bears initiated another leg down, pushing the cryptocurrency south to $66,000 on Wednesday and $65,000 on Thursday.

The past few hours were slightly more positive for bitcoin, especially since the US CPI numbers for January came out and showed that inflation has actually cooled off. BTC jumped to $67,600 but was stopped there and now trades inches above $66,000. This means that BTC now sits at approximately the same spot as last week, but many alts have produced more substantial volatility.

On the one hand, XRP, BNB, HYPE, and SOL are deep in the red, but on the other, BCH, XMR, and HBAR have surged by up to 9.5%.

Market Data

Market Cap: $2.37T | 24H Vol: $110B | BTC Dominance: 56.7%

BTC: $67,200 (-0.06%) | ETH: $1,970 (+1%) | XRP: $1.38 (-3.7%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

Binance Completes $1B SAFU Fund Shift to Bitcoin. The most significant news in terms of BTC acquisition this week came from Binance as the exchange completed the conversion of its entire $1 billion SAFU fund to bitcoin. The company bought a total of 15,000 BTC in the span of just a few weeks.

BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund Hits Uniswap as UNI Jumped 40%. The largest decentralized exchange partnered with Securitize to make BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund available for trading via UniswapX. The news sent shockwaves through the UNI community, with the token surging by up to 40% within minutes.

Banks Take Hard Line on Stablecoin Yields as White House Talks Stall. Although the March 1 deadline is approaching fast, the crypto industry and banks clashed again over stablecoin rewards without a clear agreement. No compromise was reached, said sources, but the session was described as “productive.”

Robinhood Enters Layer 2 Race With Public Testnet Launch of Robinhood Chain. The US-based trading platform noted earlier this week that it has launched the public testnet for Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum Layer 2 network built on Arbitrum, designed to accelerate the development of tokenized real-world and digital assets.

Miner Offloads $305M Bitcoin as Network Difficulty Sees Sharp Decline. The past few weeks have been tough on miners as well, especially in some regions due to severe weather. One of the larger entities in the field, Cango, disclosed that it had sold over $300 million worth of BTC amid rising pressure and falling profitability metrics.

Robert Kiyosaki Says Bitcoin Is a Better Investment Than Gold – Here’s Why. The best-selling author, who recently came under fire by the crypto community because of some controversial statements, believes bitcoin is a better investment than gold. Although he would rather hold both, if having to choose, he would opt for BTC due to its proven limited supply.

Charts

This week, we have a chart analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Binance Coin, and Hyperliquid – click here for the complete price analysis.

The post Binance Buys $1B in Bitcoin, US Inflation Lower-Than-Expected, but BTC Price Still Suffers: Weekly Crypto Recap appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The highly anticipated Consumer Price Index for the first month of 2025 just came out, showing that inflation has cooled year over year to 2.4%, which is slightly lower than the estimated 2.5%.

The Core CPI, which excludes more volatile sectors like food and energy, matched the expectations at 2.5%. Nevertheless, analysts indicated that the monthly increase in the regular CPI of just 0.2% is the lowest since last May.

Heather Long, Navy Federal Credit Union’s chief economist, noted that the prices for gas, used cars, and medical care all decreased in January, which helped bring down inflation even as utilities and transportation rose.

She determined that this is good news on the inflation front, even though there might be “one more bump from tariffs.”

Just In: US inflation cooled to 2.4% (y/y) in January —> The lowest inflation rate since May. The monthly increase was just 0.2%.

Gas prices, used cars and medical care all declined in January, helping to bring down inflation even as utilities and transportation rose.

Core CPI… pic.twitter.com/2z18M9va68

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) February 13, 2026

Bitcoin’s price has usually been volatile when the US CPI data comes out. The first minutes have been rather positive, as the asset rose slightly to $67,600 before it corrected to $67,200 as of press time.

A more significant impact is expected once the US Federal Reserve weighs in on this data for its next move in terms of interest rate reduction.

The post US CPI Data for January Shows Cooling Inflation: How Will Bitcoin’s Price React? appeared first on CryptoPotato.