Latest Crypto News | Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoin Updates

The Federal Reserve sought public comment on a proposal to offer limited-access “skinny master accounts” to certain fintech and crypto firms; the consultation closed with 44 responses. Most crypto firms and stablecoin issuers (notably Circle and Anchorage Digital Bank) generally supported the plan, arguing it would strengthen U.S. payment rails and align with Congress’ GENIUS Act goals. The Fed’s proposed guardrails include an overnight balance cap equal to the lower of $500 million or 10% of an account-holder’s assets, no interest paid on balances, and no direct access to the Fed’s Automated Clearing House (ACH) and some clearing services. Anchorage welcomed access but flagged practical concerns around the balance cap, lack of interest on reserves, and denied ACH/clearing access. Banking groups, including the American Bankers Association and state bankers associations, warned many eligible nonbank entities lack long-term regulatory records and consistent federal safety-and-soundness standards; they urged stronger governance, risk management and compliance conditions. Watchdog Better Markets opposed the move as an irresponsible concession to crypto. The Fed will review comments and may take months to issue final rules. Traders should monitor regulatory updates because limited central-bank access for crypto firms could affect liquidity, settlement speed and treasury operations in crypto-linked payment services. Primary keywords: Federal Reserve, skinny master accounts, crypto firms, Circle, Anchorage. Secondary keywords: payment infrastructure, ACH limits, overnight balance cap, regulatory standards.

Security firms SlowMist and Koi Security uncovered a large-scale supply-chain poisoning campaign on OpenClaw’s official plugin marketplace, ClawHub. Koi Security scanned 2,857 AI skills and flagged 341 as malicious; SlowMist’s MistEye system identified 400+ coordinated indicators across plugins. Attackers uploaded seemingly benign “skills” that act as dependency installers or utilities, then fetched more dangerous payloads and persistent backdoors (often Base64‑encoded) from common domains and IPs tied to Poseidon infrastructure. Malicious packages frequently used crypto-, finance- and automation-related names and requested elevated permissions to steal credentials, files and enable remote control — creating a direct risk to endpoints that hold exchange logins or keys. OpenClaw has integrated VirusTotal automated scanning to scan packages before publication and to re‑scan active skills daily; it says further protections are planned as the AI-agent ecosystem scales. SlowMist recommends auditing SKILL.md files, avoiding copy‑paste install commands, limiting plugin permissions, and being cautious with prompts that request passwords, accessibility access or system configuration changes. For traders: tighten plugin hygiene, restrict device permissions, isolate wallets/keys from general-use devices, and monitor for unusual outbound connections — the alert raises endpoint and operational security risk rather than an immediate market-structural shock.

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has demanded users return Bitcoin mistakenly credited by exchange Bithumb during a promotional crediting error. An employee intended to credit 695 users with 2,000 KRW each but entered the unit as BTC, briefly issuing roughly 620,000 BTC (~$40–44 billion) — labelled “ghost Bitcoin.” Bithumb recovered the vast majority (about 99.7%) after pausing trading; roughly ₩13 billion (~$10–11 million) worth of BTC remains unrecovered and about 1,786 BTC were sold before trading halted, of which around 93% were reclaimed. FSS Governor Lee Chan-jin said users who only confirmed receipt with the exchange will not be held at fault, but anyone who sold or liquidated the mistakenly received BTC without Bithumb’s confirmation is legally required to return the assets under unjust enrichment rules. The FSS is investigating potential breaches of the User Protection Act, will reflect lessons in the second phase of digital asset regulation, and plans targeted inspections of internal controls at other exchanges. The Financial Services Commission and FSS also agreed to grant limited investigative powers to the FSS’s capital market special judicial police with safeguards to prevent overreach. Key points for traders: the incident exposed exchange control weaknesses, recovery efforts limited trading flows temporarily, and the regulator’s enforcement stance increases legal risk for wallets that received and moved the coins.

Address‑poisoning and signature‑phishing attacks surged in late 2025 and early 2026, causing large losses and raising risks for crypto users and traders. Attackers use "dust" or full fake addresses that match visible leading and trailing characters so victims who copy from past transactions paste malicious addresses. Scam Sniffer reported two major address‑poisoning incidents that stole $50 million in December 2025 and $12.2 million in January 2026. Blockchain trackers report hundreds of millions of poisoning attempts across chains (notably Ethereum and BSC), with tens of millions of dollars confirmed stolen and many more attempts tracked. Signature‑phishing—tricking users into approving malicious contract calls or overly broad token allowances—also spiked: in January attackers stole $6.27 million from 4,741 users (a 207% month‑on‑month rise), with two attacker wallets receiving about 65% of those funds. Analysts link higher dust activity to lower gas costs after network upgrades (for example, Ethereum’s Fusaka changes), which make tiny spray‑and‑pray transfers cheap; Coin Metrics found a large share of stablecoin balance updates were under $0.01. Illicit proceeds are often routed into noncooperative protocols (notably into DAI) or concentrated attacker wallets, complicating recovery. The report also notes an unrelated treasury exploit at Step Finance that drained roughly $27.2 million in SOL. For traders: heightened scam activity increases on‑chain noise, may temporarily lift transaction counts and stablecoin flows, and can raise short‑term volatility or reduce retail confidence—especially for users handling large transfers. Actionable precautions: always verify full destination addresses (not just visual fragments), avoid signing unknown contract approvals, regularly audit and revoke token allowances, use address whitelists and hardware wallets, and subscribe to on‑chain scam alerts from reputable trackers.

TON Foundation launched TON Pay (Feb 9, 2026), a wallet-agnostic payments SDK that embeds one-click crypto checkout into Telegram Mini Apps. TON Pay supports Toncoin (TON) and USDT, uses TON Connect for wallet linking, and removes prepaid gas and multi-step checkouts to simplify onboarding. The SDK targets sub-second settlement and average fees below $0.01, aiming to make microtransactions economically viable across Telegram’s ~1.1 billion monthly users. Initial deployment is focused on Telegram Mini Apps with plans to expand to web and other platforms; future features include subscriptions, gasless transactions, region-specific fiat off-ramps, analytics, and MPC wallets. The Foundation will work with local custodians and fiat conversion providers to meet compliance and requires merchants to follow Telegram’s platform policies. Led by Nikola Plecas (VP of Payments), TON Pay positions Toncoin as a payments rail inside a major social app, increasing developer monetization opportunities and accelerating mainstream crypto onboarding. Traders should monitor on-chain usage metrics, stablecoin flows (USDT), and adoption within Telegram Mini Apps — higher utility and payment volume could be bullish for TON but depends on adoption, fiat-rail partnerships, and regulatory compliance.

Ripple has activated Permissioned Domains on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and will launch a Permissioned DEX on February 18, creating a compliance-verified, institution-only on-chain trading environment. Permissioned Domains require participant verification and regulatory compliance, addressing banks’ primary concern about unknown liquidity providers and counterparty compliance that previously blocked on-chain settlement. The Permissioned DEX will restrict trading to verified institutions and institution-only liquidity pools, connecting Ripple’s network of 300+ financial partners to on-chain settlement and potentially unlocking billions in institutional flows. For traders, this increases the likelihood of larger, compliant institutional flows into XRPL and could boost utility demand for XRP as a settlement liquidity tool. Expected impacts include higher on-chain volumes for XRP and tokenized assets, stronger use-case visibility for cross-border payments and tokenized commodities, and positioning XRPL as a regulated, high-speed hub for institutional settlement. Key SEO keywords: XRPL, Ripple, Permissioned DEX, Permissioned Domains, institutional liquidity, on-chain settlement.

HTX (formerly Huobi) has integrated Ethena Labs’ USDe synthetic dollar into its platform with on-platform, on-chain minting and redemption routed directly through Ethena smart contracts. The integration lets traders mint or redeem USDe without using spot order books or OTC liquidity, enabling unlimited scale, uniform mint/redemption costs regardless of size, atomic settlement, and reduced slippage. USDe is collateralized by spot BTC and ETH and kept near-par via a delta-neutral hedging strategy using derivatives. HTX will also launch a daily rewards program for USDe holders (paid weekly) and promotional products including a Flexible Earn product offering up to 15% APY and a trading competition with a 10,000 USDe prize pool (running through Feb 20). HTX and Ethena say the move improves capital efficiency, liquidity access and on/off-ramp simplicity between CeFi and DeFi, making it easier for traders to gain dollar exposure via a crypto-native synthetic asset.

Solana (SOL) shows signs of a potential cycle turning point on the weekly chart after a sharp selloff and quick reclaim of a long-term horizontal support/resistance zone. Trader Tardigrade (@TATrader_Alan) calls the drop SOL’s “final dip,” noting that sustained weekly closes above the reclaimed multi-cycle level would favor a bullish trend continuation. Separately, DrBullZeus (@DrBullZeus) highlights an unusually oversold weekly RSI(14) in the low-30s on SOL/USDT after price briefly fell into the high-$80s before reclaiming that area. Key confirmation signals for traders are: (1) weekly closes staying above the reclaimed horizontal zone; and (2) RSI stabilizing and turning higher — both would indicate a momentum reset and raise odds of a reversal. Conversely, a weekly close back below the reclaimed level or a persistently pinned oversold RSI would increase downside risk and prolong consolidation. Practical trading notes: keep position sizing tight, watch weekly close levels for confirmation or failure, use RSI trend and support/resistance flips as primary triggers, and prepare for higher volatility around the decisive weekly close.

Coinbase aired a one-minute Super Bowl karaoke-style ad using the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” aiming for wide brand awareness rather than product detail or security explanations. The nostalgia-driven spot displayed animated lyrics and encouraged singalongs; it aired early in the game and quickly spread across social media and public screens, producing massive reach and web traffic. Public reaction was mixed: some praised its memorability and viral potential, while critics said it failed to explain why users should choose Coinbase or how assets are protected. CEO Brian Armstrong defended the creative approach, saying distinctive hooks are necessary to stand out in crowded commercial breaks; marketing chief Catherine Ferdon framed it as bringing people together and reflecting crypto-community growth. The ad’s landing link reportedly received extremely high traffic (causing brief site issues), and the campaign replaced Coinbase’s 2022 QR-code stunt as a broad cultural play. Traders should view this primarily as a brand-awareness move with limited immediate price impact: it raises visibility and could influence sentiment over time, but it is unlikely to produce direct, short-term trading flows or materially move major tokens absent further product- or policy-related news. Keywords: Coinbase, Super Bowl ad, brand awareness, crypto marketing, market sentiment.

Tron Inc., led by Justin Sun, continued a coordinated treasury buy program with a purchase of 179,408 TRX at an average price of $0.28, bringing total treasury holdings above 680.7 million TRX. This follows earlier daily accumulations in the month — 184,226 TRX at $0.27 on Feb 7 and 181,085 TRX at $0.28 on Feb 8 — and was publicly endorsed by Sun (“Keep Going”). After the disclosure TRX traded near $0.2785, up about 0.85% intraday. However, 24-hour trading volume fell roughly 25% to around $522 million, while TRX is down ~1.8% over the past week and ~6.2% month-to-date. For traders: the company’s steady treasury accumulation (purchase size: 179,408 TRX; avg price: $0.28; treasury: >680.7M TRX) signals deliberate supply reduction that can provide price support. Short-term upside is limited by weak volume and broader market weakness. Ongoing regulatory uncertainty around Justin Sun (an SEC case currently paused) adds a risk factor that may constrain investor confidence. Monitor buy cadence, on-chain treasury transfers, TRX volume, and price reaction for position sizing and risk management.

A wallet linked to the Infini protocol exploit resurfaced after roughly 200+ days of dormancy, spending $13.32 million in DAI to acquire 6,316 ETH at an average price near $2,109 during a recent market sell-off. On-chain analytics from Lookonchain, PeckShield and CertiK show the address then consolidated holdings and routed a total of 15,470 ETH (≈$32.6M) into the privacy mixer Tornado Cash. Historical chain activity indicates the exploiter initially stole about $49.5M in USDC in February 2025, converted stolen funds into ETH, and previously sold portions at cycle highs (notable sells near $3,322 and $4,202 per ETH). This recent move is consistent with the exploiter’s pattern of buying into local lows and selling near highs, suggesting resumed laundering rather than a simple cash-out to stablecoins. No funds have been reported frozen or recovered; investigators continue to monitor the address. Primary keywords: Infini exploiter, Tornado Cash, ETH buy dip. Secondary keywords: laundering, on-chain analytics, Lookonchain, PeckShield, CertiK.

Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes has publicly wagered $100,000 that Hyperliquid’s native token HYPE will outperform any CoinGecko-listed altcoin with market capitalization above $1 billion between 00:00 UTC Feb 10, 2026 and 00:00 UTC Jul 31, 2026. The bet responds to criticism from Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani and converts a technical and public dispute into a simple market outcome: the loser donates $100,000 to the winner’s chosen charity. On-chain activity shows significant insider-related accumulation of HYPE in late January and early February, with Hayes increasing his holdings and other Multicoin-linked addresses swapping large amounts into HYPE. The contest coincides with bullish discussion around Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal HIP-3, which extends Hyperliquid into non-crypto derivatives (equity and commodity perpetuals). Independent analysis cited shows TradFi instruments now account for roughly 31% of Hyperliquid venue volume with daily notional above $5 billion; HIP-3 silver perpetuals displayed competitive top-of-book spreads (median ~2.4 bps vs COMEX ~3 bps) but materially lower depth (~$230k within ±5 bps on Hyperliquid vs ~$13M on COMEX). During a sharp silver sell-off Hyperliquid showed heavier execution tails and larger dislocations versus COMEX, highlighting capacity and slippage risks. For traders, key takeaways are heightened volatility and potential price impact from concentrated accumulation and public endorsements or disputes; HIP-3’s 24/7 retail-weighted flow could drive demand and revenue diversification for Hyperliquid — supporting HYPE — but depth and execution constraints pose downside risk during stressed markets. At press time HYPE traded near $32.28.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the Senate Banking Committee to begin confirmation hearings for Kevin Warsh as President’s Federal Reserve chair nominee despite an ongoing Department of Justice probe into current Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Bessent told Fox News the committee should proceed with hearings while monitoring the DOJ investigation. Senator Thom Tillis has threatened to delay Warsh’s confirmation until the DOJ completes its probe, a stance that could complicate the panel’s Republican majority. Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed Bessent on whether Warsh would be shielded from legal or political pressure over interest-rate decisions; Bessent said enforcement is “up to the president,” offering no direct assurance. The dispute raises political and legal uncertainty around Fed leadership and monetary-policy continuity. Crypto markets reacted quickly when Warsh was nominated earlier: bitcoin (BTC) fell sharply and leveraged long positions saw large liquidations, an example traders should weigh when updating rate-expectation and risk-positioning. Traders should monitor confirmation progress, DOJ developments, and Fed messaging — heightened political risk can increase volatility, affect rate expectations, and influence risk-on assets like BTC.

Tether froze about $544 million of USDT on Feb. 7 after receiving and verifying a law‑enforcement request from Turkish authorities investigating illegal online betting and alleged money‑laundering linked to operator Veysel Sahin. Turkish prosecutors have reportedly seized over $1 billion of related assets in the same probe. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the firm reviews enforcement information and acts if requests meet legal requirements. Tether also reported having assisted more than 1,800 investigations across 62 countries and said it has frozen roughly $3.4 billion in USDT tied to suspected criminal activity. Industry data from 2025 showed stablecoin issuers (mainly Tether and Circle) had blacklisted about 5,700 wallets holding roughly $2.5 billion, with USDT comprising about 75% of frozen amounts. The reports highlight ongoing links between USDT flows and large alleged laundering and sanctions‑evasion schemes, and note recent high‑profile enforcement cases involving roughly $1 billion in suspected laundering. For traders, the developments underscore increasing on‑chain enforcement and the operational ability of stablecoin issuers to block or blacklist wallet access — a factor that can reduce available liquidity in affected USDT pools, raise counterparty and execution risk, and temporarily impair access to large USDT balances during probes.

Fundstrat Head of Research Tom Lee says the crypto market has likely bottomed, citing falling inflation, absorption of excess supply from major failures, and Bitcoin’s resilience under geopolitical stress. Lee expects a narrative shift from survival to expansion as ETF inflows and a potential Fed pivot return liquidity, which will target infrastructure — especially institutional-grade security. The article highlights the “harvest now, decrypt later” threat: adversaries storing encrypted blockchain data today to decrypt when quantum computers mature. BMIC (BMIC) is presented as an early candidate addressing that risk. BMIC combines post-quantum cryptography, ERC-4337 account abstraction, AI threat detection, and a “Burn-to-Compute” token utility intended to connect decentralized quantum hardware providers in a so-called Quantum Meta-Cloud. The presale has raised about $444K with tokens priced near $0.04947. The piece frames BMIC as a niche infrastructure bet that could command a premium in the next bull cycle if markets reprice quantum-resistant custody solutions. Traders should weigh potential asymmetric upside from early presale exposure against standard presale risks and low liquidity; do due diligence before allocating capital.

Story Protocol has postponed its first major IP token unlock by six months to August 2026. Co-founder S.Y. Lee said the delay gives the team more time to develop real-world use cases and build enterprise licensing deals for AI training datasets rather than rely on visible on-chain revenue. The project has shifted strategy from tokenized media toward licensing rights-cleared, human-contributed multilingual voice samples and first-person video — data that is harder to obtain by web scraping and better suited for paid enterprise agreements. Lee argued that near-zero on-chain gas revenue is a misleading metric for Story Protocol’s health; while daily on-chain revenue peaked around $43,000 in Sept 2025 and is currently negligible (DeFiLlama), the expected revenue model centers on off-chain dataset licensing and embedded royalty splits in smart contracts. Citing Worldcoin’s extended lockups as precedent, the team framed the vesting extension as a sign of long-term commitment rather than distress. For token holders, the delay slows immediate token supply expansion and may temper short-term liquidity, while the market will watch for enterprise deals and dataset licensing revenue as signals before broader unlocks or liquidity increases.

Binance will delist 20 spot trading pairs and suspend trading at 08:00 UTC on 10 February 2025. Affected pairs include ARDR/BTC, GALA/FDUSD, MANA/ETH, ICP/ETH and 16 others. The action removes specific pairs only — the underlying tokens remain tradable in other markets (for example USDT/BUSD pairs) and can be withdrawn. Binance says the decision follows a routine review focused on liquidity, low trading volume and project development. Trading in the listed pairs will halt at the deadline, open orders will be canceled, and users should convert holdings to alternate pairs or withdraw assets beforehand. Analysts note pair delistings typically concentrate liquidity in remaining markets, can reduce slippage on primary pairs and close some arbitrage routes; historically, average volume in surviving pairs often rises after delistings. Immediate trader actions: close open orders, convert positions to other pairs (e.g., USDT/BUSD markets) or withdraw tokens. Exchange-level effects include improved market quality and lower manipulation risk; project-level pressure rises on issuers to maintain market-maker support and on-chain development. This is framed as routine exchange maintenance rather than investment advice, but traders holding these pairs should act before the cut-off to avoid forced conversion or order cancellations.

DeGate released its January 2026 monthly update highlighting user-experience improvements across its multichain non-custodial wallet and trading platform. Key updates: 1) Turbo Range UI overhaul — clearer visualization of position, entry price, and current price within ranges to simplify position monitoring; 2) Out-of-Range Notifications — instant app alerts when Turbo Range positions move out of range to enable timely management and yield optimization; 3) Transaction Confirmation Timer — a countdown displayed during transaction confirmations to reduce failed transactions from signature timeouts; 4) External Wallet Login on Mobile — support for connecting third-party wallets to DeGate’s mobile app, increasing accessibility and flexibility. The update reiterates DeGate’s support for cross-chain token purchases without bridging or additional gas tokens and promotes features like Simple Earn and Turbo Range for on-chain yield. No new tokens, funding events, or protocol governance changes were announced.

Backpack Exchange, founded by former FTX and Alameda figures, is in talks to raise around $50 million at a pre-money valuation above $1 billion, potentially achieving unicorn status. CEO Armani Ferrante outlined a tokenomics plan intended to prevent founders, executives, employees and early investors from selling tokens to retail before the product reaches “escape velocity.” The proposal sets a 1 billion token supply at launch, with 25% allocated at the Token Generation Event (TGE) and a portion earmarked for active community members and points holders. Ferrante stressed aligning token incentives with long-term product growth and signalled ambitions to eventually pursue a U.S. public listing. The fundraising discussions come amid growing investor interest in fintech and crypto startups; the reported $50 million is a baseline and the round could expand. For traders, the key points are a potential valuation-driven funding event, a lockup-style tokenomics design that may limit early token circulation, and public-listing plans that could influence long-term token demand and perceived credibility.

Bitcoin faces renewed bearish pressure after closing a third consecutive week below the 100-week moving average and trading around $68–69K following a crash to $60K. Analysts including Coin Bureau CEO Nic Puckrin, MN Fund founder Michaël van de Poppe and CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju warn that historical patterns suggest extended periods below the 100-week MA (average ~267 days) and rising unrealized losses. Glasnode reports unrealized market loss at the $70K level is ~16% of market cap. High-volume sell periods — comparable to post-2022 bottom activity — and heavy selling pressure have reduced the market’s pumpability, according to on-chain and market analysts. Some see these conditions as accumulation opportunities (van de Poppe), while others caution that inflows and corporate treasury buys (e.g., MSTR, DATs) won’t spark rallies until selling pressure abates. Bitcoin is down ~44% from its peak and remains in bear-market territory, with the path of least resistance to the downside.

Bitso has integrated Ripple Payments, XRP and regulated stablecoin RLUSD to accelerate cross‑border business payments and remittances between the U.S. and Latin America. Bitso Business will use Ripple’s blockchain rails and XRP as a bridge asset for near‑real‑time settlement, reducing reliance on costly pre‑funded nostro/vostro accounts, lowering settlement costs and improving liquidity efficiency. RLUSD provides dollar‑denominated on‑chain settlement that mitigates local‑currency volatility and simplifies reconciliation for businesses and remittance recipients. Bitso will act as a regional payout partner, offering compliant, transparent stablecoin liquidity at institutional scale and positioning itself as a primary B2B payment rail across US–LATAM corridors. The move follows wider market adoption of RLUSD (including recent listings on major exchanges) and reflects growing institutional and banking interest in using the XRP Ledger for faster, lower‑cost international flows.

XION, a Circle-backed layer-1 blockchain, has launched on-chain Zero-Knowledge (ZK) and DKIM modules to enable scalable, privacy-preserving email verification. The announcement says XION is the first blockchain to store email verification keys on-chain and pairs that with protocol-level ZK proofs so users can prove claims about an email without revealing the email itself. XION already integrates with Gmail and Apple Mail, serves over 800,000 monthly active users, and claims access to a potential market of some 3.8 billion users. More than 150 brands — including Uber, Amazon and BMW — are reportedly building consumer apps on XION. The chain is backed by investors such as Circle, HashKey and Arrington Capital, with over $36 million raised. Key use cases highlighted include anonymous whistleblowing, verified anonymous workplace reviews, wallet recovery backup, private credential checks, trustless ticket resales and insurance claims verification. XION frames the launch as a response to growing trust and privacy challenges amplified by AI, and notes DKIM’s traditional reliance on centralized DNS as a vulnerability that on-chain storage mitigates. For traders: this infrastructure push may drive ecosystem adoption, partnerships and developer activity for XION while increasing interest in identity-linked on-chain utilities.

Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen below the realized price for large investors holding 100–1,000 BTC — an average cost near $69,000 — according to on-chain analytics. This metric reflects the average price at which that cohort last moved their coins (wallets valued roughly $7M–$70M). Trading beneath this level puts those wallets at unrealized losses and historically has correlated with extended stabilization or weakness rather than immediate rebounds. A comparable event occurred after the 2021 all-time high when it took about seven months for BTC to recover above large-investor realized cost. Analysts view the signal as uncommon and noteworthy: while it does not determine market direction alone, it suggests rising stress among large holders and a broader shift toward risk reduction. Despite the recent dip, the long-term trend in realized cost for large investors remains upward, indicating continued accumulation at higher average prices across cycles. Investors are reminded this is not investment advice; crypto markets are highly volatile.

SEC Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should avoid imposing unnecessary regulatory barriers as tokenization technology evolves. Speaking at an asset management derivatives forum, Uyeda noted tokenized securities have moved from theory to early practice, with market participants testing issuance, custody and transfer of traditional securities on-chain. He emphasized that tokenized securities remain subject to securities laws — disclosure, custody and investor protections still apply — and that the SEC’s role is to adapt existing rules to a blockchain environment rather than create parallel rules for crypto-native assets. Uyeda reiterated a technology-neutral stance focused on regulatory outcomes over specific processes and cited a recent exemption request under the Investment Company Act as evidence that tokenization is becoming real-world practice. Keywords: SEC, tokenization, securities law, custody, disclosure, technology-neutral.

Research on multi-agent systems (MAS) surged from ~820 papers in 2024 to over 2,500 in 2025, but many agentic systems still fail in production because teams focus on prompts rather than architecture. The author identifies a “prompting fallacy”: model and prompt tweaks alone cannot fix system-level coordination failures. Common collaboration topologies are reviewed—supervisor-based (centralized control, good for sequential tasks but a bottleneck), blackboard-style (shared memory for creative iteration), peer-to-peer (direct exchange, good for exploration but prone to drift), and swarms (parallel coverage, useful for research and creative tasks but can cause token-cost explosion and require consolidation). Hybrid patterns—fast specialists in parallel with a slower aggregator—often work best. Models should be “hired” into roles: decoder-only models for generation and planning, encoder-only for analysis and retrieval, mixture-of-experts for selective high capability, and reasoning models for deliberate checking. The article stresses that collaborative scaling differs from neural scaling: adding agents increases coordination costs and can plateau or collapse performance depending on topology, communication overhead, and memory. The key takeaway for practitioners: prioritize organizational design—patterns, role assignment, and scaling limits—over chasing better prompts. Agentic performance is an architectural outcome, not a prompting problem.

Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange built on its own Layer 1, processed about $2.6 trillion in notional trading volume in 2025 — nearly double Coinbase’s roughly $1.4 trillion for the year, according to on-chain analytics firm Artemis. Hyperliquid’s growth was driven by high-frequency derivatives trading on-chain: daily peaks near $30 billion, monthly volumes in the hundreds of billions, TVL approaching $6 billion and open interest peaking around $16 billion. Active users rose from ~300,000 to 1.4 million in a year. The platform’s low fees, fast execution, on-chain settlement, UX similar to centralized platforms, and HYPE token buyback/burn mechanics supported adoption. Notable market figures have increased HYPE holdings, and Hyperliquid is testing products such as outcome-based contracts and limited-risk options. By contrast, Coinbase remains a major centralized entry point with higher fees and stricter compliance; its stock is down ~27% year-to-date. Risks include rising competition among on-chain derivatives DEXs, regulatory scrutiny, and execution or smart-contract vulnerabilities. For traders: the shift signals growing liquidity and choice in on-chain derivatives, potential fee and spread compression across derivatives markets, and increased attention on HYPE and related derivatives — factors that may affect short-term volatility and longer-term market structure for professional traders.

Tether’s treasury executed a 3.5 billion USDT burn on February 21, 2025, according to Whale Alert and on-chain records. The tokens were sent from Tether’s primary treasury address to an unspendable address, removing roughly 3.1% of the prior circulating supply (~112 billion USDT). Tether regularly mints and burns USDT to match fiat redemptions and manage peg stability; this unusually large burn likely reflects significant redemptions or a strategic supply adjustment. Immediate market reaction was muted: Bitcoin and Ethereum showed only minor price movement. Analysts note the burn reduces stablecoin liquidity available for trading pairs, which can increase buying pressure on other assets if demand for USDT remains unchanged. The event renews focus on Tether’s reserve management and forthcoming attestations that should show corresponding liability reductions. Historical precedent shows large USDT burns often precede consolidation or lower volatility; traders should monitor on-chain flows, exchange USDT balances, and Tether’s next attestation for confirmation. Primary keywords: USDT burn, Tether burn, stablecoin supply. Secondary/semantic keywords: stablecoin liquidity, reserve attestations, fiat redemptions, market impact.

Binance has scheduled a planned maintenance window for Tron (TRX) wallet services on Feb 11, 2025, pausing TRX deposits and withdrawals from 06:55 UTC for approximately one hour. Trading of TRX pairs on spot, margin and futures markets will remain active during the maintenance. Binance says the update is an exchange-side wallet/node maintenance—part of routine infrastructure work to update node software, run security checks and sync hot/cold wallets—and is not related to a Tron network upgrade or vulnerability. Users are advised that TRX balances remain secure; deposits sent during the suspension will be processed after services resume. The brief, communicated downtime aligns with industry practice and aims to improve security and operational reliability with minimal disruption to traders.

Ripple has expanded its institutional custody offering, Ripple Custody, through strategic partnerships with Figment and Securosys. The Figment integration enables banks, custodians and regulated entities to offer staking services on major networks (including Ethereum and Solana) without running their own validators, preserving institutional security and governance. Securosys brings hardware-based key management via CyberVault HSM and CloudHSM support, allowing flexible on-premises or cloud deployment and broadening HSM vendor options to reduce cost, complexity and procurement delays. Ripple’s recent acquisition activity (e.g., Palisade) complements these moves to broaden enterprise services. On-chain activity on the XRP Ledger remains muted: total locked value fell from about $80M early in the year to $49.6M, while stablecoins on the network are roughly $415.85M. XRP’s price has declined ~32% over the past month to around $1.44 at the time of reporting. The partnerships primarily strengthen Ripple’s institutional custody and settlement capabilities but have not yet materially affected XRP on-chain metrics or price.