Today's News Highlights:
Today's Fear and Greed Index drops to 10, a new low since June 2024
Circle issues an additional 250 million USDC, total issuance of Solana reaches 8.5 billion by 2025
Binance HODLer airdrop launches MyShell (SHELL)
Coinbase includes Cookie DAO (COOKIE) in its listing roadmap
Berachain appoints former Polygon Labs CTO Paul O’Leary as new Chief Technology Officer
Metaplanet to issue 2 billion yen zero-interest ordinary bonds to purchase BTC
DTCC lists the first Solana futures ETFs, codes $SOLZ and $SOLT
FBI: North Korean hacker group "TraderTraitor" steals $1.5 billion in crypto assets from Bybit
Regulation/Macro
Metaplanet to issue 2 billion yen zero-interest ordinary bonds to purchase BTC
Japanese listed company Metaplanet announced its decision to issue the seventh series of ordinary bonds to EVO FUND, raising a total of 2 billion yen. The bonds will be used to purchase Bitcoin. These are zero-interest bonds with a face value of 50 million yen each, scheduled for full redemption on August 26, 2025, and allow bondholders to redeem early.
Bitwise Aptos ETF officially registered in Delaware, entity type is statutory trust
According to Delaware corporate registration information, the Bitwise Aptos ETF was established on February 25, 2025, in Delaware, classified as a statutory trust and categorized as a general entity. The registered agent is CSC Delaware Trust Company, with the registered address in Wilmington, DE. This registration indicates that Bitwise may plan to launch an ETF based on Aptos (APT), but it has not yet received regulatory approval or been listed for trading.
DTCC lists the first Solana futures ETFs, codes $SOLZ and $SOLT
The U.S. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has listed the first Solana futures ETFs issued by Volatility Shares, namely: • $SOLZ (Volatility Shares Solana ETF) • $SOLT (Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF)
According to CoinDesk, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee passed a resolution by a vote of 26-16 to initiate the repeal of the IRS's new tax regulations on decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. The resolution must be approved by a majority in both the House and Senate and signed by the President to take effect. The IRS approved a transaction reporting system in December 2024 that included DeFi protocols in the traditional broker tax framework, which has faced widespread opposition from the crypto industry. Several organizations jointly signed an open letter urging Congress to repeal the policy. Senator Ted Cruz has introduced a companion resolution in the Senate. Republican lawmakers argue that the regulation exceeds legal authority and increases compliance burdens for U.S. taxpayers and the IRS, while Democratic lawmakers believe it helps ensure crypto transactions are taxed legally. It is estimated that repealing the regulation will reduce tax revenue by $3.9 billion over the next decade.
Trump: Will soon announce a 25% tariff on the EU
U.S. President Trump: Will soon announce tariffs on the EU. A 25% tariff may be imposed, applicable to cars and all other goods.
FBI: North Korean hacker group "TraderTraitor" steals $1.5 billion in crypto assets from Bybit
According to an FBI announcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed that the North Korean hacker group "TraderTraitor" is responsible for the theft of $1.5 billion in crypto assets from the Bybit exchange on February 21. The FBI stated that the hackers have converted some of the stolen funds into Bitcoin and stored them across multiple blockchain addresses, which are expected to be exchanged for fiat currency through laundering channels. The FBI urged RPC node operators, exchanges, DeFi service providers, and blockchain analytics firms to block addresses associated with TraderTraitor to prevent the further circulation of stolen assets. Additionally, the FBI listed several Ethereum addresses related to the organization and called for businesses to cooperate with law enforcement to combat North Korean cybercrime activities.
U.S. Treasury Secretary appoints Galaxy Digital advisor Tyler Williams to lead crypto policy
According to CoinDesk, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has appointed Galaxy Digital regulatory advisor Tyler Williams as his digital assets and blockchain policy advisor. Williams previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 2018 to 2020, focusing on digital asset regulation, and has worked on financial regulations in both the Senate and House. This appointment comes as the Treasury and Commerce Departments push to create a sovereign wealth fund that may involve digital assets. Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Treasury and Commerce Departments to study the establishment of a digital asset reserve. Although Bitcoin was not explicitly mentioned, the government may include it as part of the national reserve strategy.
SEC and Justin Sun, Tron jointly request to pause litigation to explore settlement possibilities
U.S. court documents show that the SEC, along with Justin Sun, the Tron Foundation, the BitTorrent Foundation, and Rainberry, jointly filed a motion in the Southern District of New York Federal Court to pause the SEC's fraud lawsuit against Sun and Tron to consider "potential solutions." The documents state that pausing the litigation is in the interest of all parties, will not harm any party or the public, and can avoid the court ruling on Tron’s motion to dismiss, saving judicial resources. If the judge approves, the case will be paused for 60 days, during which both parties must submit a joint status report. The SEC sued Sun and his affiliated companies in 2023, accusing them of market manipulation, fraud, and issuing unregistered securities. This request is similar to the SEC's handling of the Coinbase and Binance cases, which may indicate that both parties are nearing a settlement.
MARA Holdings announces Q4 2024 financial report, revenue up 37% year-on-year
Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings announced its Q4 2024 financial report, with revenue for the quarter reaching $214.4 million, a 37% year-on-year increase, and total annual revenue of $656.4 million, a 69% year-on-year increase. Net profit increased by 248% year-on-year to $528.3 million, with annual net profit growing by 107% to $541 million. • Direct energy costs were $28,801 per Bitcoin, with a cost of $0.039 per kilowatt-hour. • Total hash rate increased by 115% year-on-year to 53.2 EH/s. • Bitcoin holdings grew by 197% to 44,893 BTC (approximately $4.6 billion), of which 10,374 BTC were lent out or used as collateral for loans. • A total of 2,492 BTC were mined in Q4, and 15,574 BTC were purchased through zero-interest convertible senior notes. • The company did not sell any Bitcoin in Q4.
SEC terminates investigation into Gemini Trust, no enforcement action taken
SEC documents show that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded its investigation into Gemini Trust Company, LLC, and decided not to take enforcement action. Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss confirmed on social media that the investigation lasted 699 days, with a Wells notice received 277 days ago. Winklevoss criticized the SEC's regulatory actions for causing significant losses to the crypto industry, accusing the agency of enforcing rules without clear guidelines, leading to high legal costs and economic losses for businesses. He called for regulatory reform, including requiring the SEC to compensate affected companies three times their legal fees, firing relevant enforcement personnel, and banning those who abuse regulatory power from holding government positions again. Previously, the SEC had withdrawn its lawsuit against Coinbase and terminated investigations into OpenSea, Robinhood, and Uniswap.
Financing
Phantom acquires SimpleHash to enhance real-time token data features
According to an official announcement from Phantom, Phantom has acquired the leading token data platform SimpleHash, which provides real-time, comprehensive blockchain data analysis. This acquisition marks Phantom's third acquisition in eight months, aimed at enhancing the user experience of token data. SimpleHash supports over 80 blockchains and has high concurrency processing capabilities, which will provide Phantom wallet with more accurate real-time pricing, NFT metadata updates, and market activity monitoring, as well as strengthen the detection of junk tokens. The official stated that this integration will optimize user experience, making wallet data faster, more accurate, and secure. SimpleHash has notified existing customers that current services will be gradually shut down.
According to The Block, Web3 infrastructure provider QuickNode has announced the launch of the "RollOut" accelerator program, with a scale of $65 million, aimed at supporting the next generation of Layer 2 projects. The program will kick off in March, providing participants with technical tools, funding support, and industry resources, with partners including Google, Coinbase Ventures, Dragonfly, Arbitrum, Chainlink, Fireblocks, and over 30 other institutions. RollOut will last eight weeks and will offer training in ecosystem building, community development, token economics, and market strategy, as well as provide data availability grants and security audit discounts for selected projects. QuickNode expects the Layer 2 market to reach $1 trillion by 2030 and hopes to incubate quality projects through this program to drive innovation in decentralized applications (dApps).
AI
NVIDIA Q4 revenue surges 78% to $39.3 billion, driven by strong demand for AI chips
Due to a surge in demand for NVIDIA's AI-specific chips, the company's quarterly revenue saw a significant increase, exceeding Wall Street expectations. For Q4 of fiscal year 2025, NVIDIA's revenue grew 78% year-on-year to $39.3 billion, surpassing the market expectation of around $38 billion. NVIDIA (NVDA.O) reported a net profit of $22.091 billion for Q4 of fiscal year 2025, compared to the market expectation of $19.611 billion and $12.285 billion in the same period last year. NVIDIA stated that it expects Q1 fiscal year 2026 revenue to be $43 billion, roughly in line with Wall Street's expectation of about $42 billion. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang noted that the demand for Blackwell is astonishing, as inference AI adds another scaling law—more training compute makes models smarter, and more long-term thinking compute makes answers smarter. NVIDIA's stock price rose over 3.5% in after-hours trading.
Project Updates
Cobo launches Safe{Wallet} co-signing service to enhance multi-signature transaction risk control
Digital asset custody and wallet technology provider Cobo announced the launch of the Safe{Wallet} co-signing service, allowing users to independently analyze and control risks for Safe multi-signature transactions within a custody address, further enhancing transaction security. This solution introduces Cobo address MPC or Web3 wallets to participate in signing within Safe{Wallet}, acting as an independent third party. Cobo ensures that it uses independent signing solutions with other signers, avoiding single point risks that arise from all signers relying on shared infrastructure. Additionally, combined with Cobo's robust risk control system, each transaction undergoes anomaly detection to promptly block potential unexpected behaviors, and transaction reviews and cross-verifications are achieved through the Cobo Guard asset security protection system, effectively preventing data tampering or forgery, ensuring the authenticity and validity of transactions.
Binance HODLer airdrop launches MyShell (SHELL)
Binance announced the 10th project of its HODLer Airdrops program—MyShell (SHELL). A total of 25 million SHELL (accounting for 2.5% of the total supply) will be airdropped, with another 25 million SHELL to be airdropped six months later. The total issuance of SHELL is 1 billion, with an initial circulating supply of 270 million (27%). From February 14 to 18, 2025 (UTC), users who subscribe BNB to Simple Earn or On-Chain Yields will be eligible for the airdrop, and the tokens will be distributed one hour before trading opens. Binance will list MyShell (SHELL) today at 21:00 (UTC+8), opening trading pairs SHELL/BTC, USDT, USDC, BNB, FDUSD, and TRY.
Coinbase adds Cookie DAO (COOKIE) to its listing roadmap
According to Coinbase Assets, Coinbase has added the Cookie DAO (COOKIE) token to its listing roadmap.
Coinbase launches Morpho (MORPHO), supporting Ethereum and Base networks
Coinbase announced the launch of the Morpho (MORPHO) token, supporting Ethereum (ERC-20) and Base networks. Users must ensure that transfers are made on the correct network, or they may risk losing funds. Deposits for MORPHO are now open, and trading is expected to start at 1 AM Beijing time on February 28 (9 AM PT on February 27), depending on liquidity conditions. The MORPHO-USD trading pair will be launched in phases, but some regions may face trading restrictions.
Berachain appoints former Polygon Labs CTO Paul O’Leary as new Chief Technology Officer
The Berachain Foundation announced the official appointment of Paul O’Leary as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Berachain. O’Leary previously served as CTO of Polygon Labs and has 20 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience in the blockchain and big data fields. O’Leary joined Berachain earlier this year and has been leading the team to advance the mainnet launch. He will leverage his extensive experience in engineering management to drive the development of Berachain.
Ondo Finance partners with Mastercard to bring RWA to MTN
According to an announcement from Ondo Finance, Mastercard has incorporated Ondo Finance into its Multi-Token Network (MTN), making it the first real-world asset (RWA) provider on the network. Ondo's short-term U.S. Treasury fund (OUSG) will become the first tokenized RWA solution on MTN, enabling businesses to earn daily yields and flexible cash management services on-chain. This integration allows MTN enterprise users to access OUSG directly on the public blockchain and settle through traditional banking channels without additional crypto infrastructure. OUSG is supported by BlackRock's BUIDL fund and institutions like Franklin Templeton and WisdomTree, providing stability and liquidity.
Opinions
WOO CEO: The craze for Meme coins is nearing its end, AI will play an important role in DeFi
WOO co-founder and CEO Jack Tan shared his vision for the WOO ecosystem and outlook for the future of the crypto market in a recent interview. He stated that WOO aims to become a decentralized CME, providing users with a fair and engaging trading environment. Regarding future developments, he believes AI will play an important role in DeFi, especially in personalized services and risk alerts. He also pointed out that the complexity of DeFi and blockchain needs to be simplified through AI, ultimately driving the adoption of Web3. Discussing market trends, Jack Tan believes that free markets will evolve on their own, and value will eventually return. He is optimistic about the long-term development of value coins and believes the craze for Meme coins is nearing its end. Additionally, he expressed optimism about the potential of the Asia-Pacific market, stating that if Hong Kong further relaxes its policies, it will occupy a more important position in the global crypto ecosystem. For crypto newcomers, he suggests gradually understanding the market through learning and practice, while believing that future entry barriers will continue to lower due to the emergence of new products.
Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, stated in a client report on Wednesday that in the worst-case scenario, Bitcoin could drop to the range of $72,000 to $74,000, and he expects this area to become a potential rebound point. He noted that Bitcoin's price has a lagging correlation with global central bank liquidity indicators, which may impact market trends. Currently, Bitcoin's price has rebounded from a previous low of $82,000 to $86,000. Thielen found through analyzing the on-chain metric "short-term holder realized price" (the average purchase price of wallets holding Bitcoin for less than 155 days) that $82,000 is a potential demand zone. Historical data shows that during bull markets, Bitcoin rarely stays below this metric for long, while in bear markets, it may persist below this level. Thielen also pointed out that the consolidation pattern for summer 2024 shows that Bitcoin once dropped below this metric by $9,620. If a similar pattern reoccurs, Bitcoin may stabilize around $82,000 and enter a period of stability. Currently, this metric is at $92,800, and the market will closely monitor its support role for the price.
According to the Financial Times, Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of crypto asset management firm Bitwise, pointed out that Ethereum's price has dropped 23% over the past month, while Solana, which hosts most of the Meme coin blockchain, has fallen 42%. The cryptocurrency market is currently digesting the end of the Meme coin craze, and the market will continue to be dragged down until institutional interest in cryptocurrencies recovers. Additionally, traders are becoming increasingly frustrated as Trump has not implemented some of the reforms he promised during his campaign more quickly, leading to a shift in market sentiment towards disappointment due to the slower-than-expected rollout of significant pro-crypto policies.
According to ICP founder Dominic Williams, a North Korean hacking group recently successfully stole $1.5 billion from Bybit, primarily exploiting vulnerabilities in the web interface of Safe{Wallet}, which is hosted in the cloud rather than on a smart contract. Williams criticized some Web3 projects for operating only in a "fake on-chain" manner, leading to security risks, and suggested using ICP (Internet Computer) for on-chain computation, data storage, and user experience verification to enhance security. He proposed migrating Safe{Wallet} to ICP and adopting cryptographic authentication mechanisms and multi-party consensus governance (such as SNS DAO) to strengthen security. Related reading: Is Safe Wallet not safe? A quick overview of the Bybit forensic investigation report.
FTX bankruptcy legal fees approach $1 billion, nearing historical levels of the Lehman Brothers case
According to Cointelegraph, the legal and consulting fees for the FTX bankruptcy case have accumulated to $950 million, making it one of the most expensive bankruptcy cases in U.S. history, second only to the Lehman Brothers case. Among these, restructuring consultant Alvarez & Marsal's fees are nearing $400 million, legal advisor Sullivan & Cromwell's fees exceed $300 million, and John Ray's consulting firm's fees are close to $10 million. Overall legal and financial advisory fees continue to rise, and the final costs are expected to exceed $1 billion.
Important Data
32,000 ETH transferred to Binance, worth over $75.28 million
According to Whale Alert monitoring, approximately 32,000 Ethereum (ETH) were transferred from an unknown wallet to Binance at 15:01, with a total transaction value of about $75.287 million.
FalconX deposits 340,000 SOL into multiple CEX exchanges, worth $46.8 million
According to Lookonchain monitoring, about 30 minutes ago, FalconX deposited 340,000 Solana (SOL) into Coinbase, Binance, OKX, and Bybit, with a total value of approximately $46.8 million.
According to SoSoValue data, on February 26 (Eastern Time), the Bitcoin spot ETF experienced a net outflow of $755 million in a single day, marking seven consecutive days of capital outflow. Among these, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) saw a net outflow of $22.6573 million in a single day, with a historical cumulative net outflow of $22.255 billion, while Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF (BTC) had a net outflow of $55.9694 million in a single day, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $1.051 billion. As of the time of writing, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs reached $95.162 billion, with an ETF net asset ratio (market cap ratio) of 5.69%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $37.123 billion.
According to SoSoValue data, on February 26 (Eastern Time), the Ethereum spot ETF experienced a net outflow of $94.2662 million in a single day, marking five consecutive days of capital outflow. Among these, Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE) had a net outflow of $3.3126 million in a single day, with a historical cumulative net outflow of $4.044 billion, while Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF (ETH) had a net outflow of $0 on that day, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $605 million. As of the time of writing, the total net asset value of Ethereum spot ETFs reached $8.556 billion, with an ETF net asset ratio (market cap ratio) of 3.03%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $2.931 billion.
Safe (SAFE) rises 32.5% in the past 24 hours, currently priced at $0.6728
According to Coingecko data, the Safe (SAFE) token has risen 32.5% in the past 24 hours, currently priced at $0.6728 per token.
A whale shorts ETH on HyperLiquid with 50x leverage, floating profit exceeds $62.4 million
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale shorted ETH on HyperLiquid with 50x leverage, and the current floating profit has exceeded $62.4 million. This whale is profiting not only from the drop in ETH prices but also earning additional income from the funding rate, achieving dual profits.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Circle issued an additional 250 million USDC on the Solana network nine hours ago. As of now, Circle has cumulatively issued $8.5 billion USDC on the Solana chain in 2025.
Today's Fear and Greed Index drops to 10, hitting a new low since June 2024
According to Alternative.me data, today's cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index has dropped to 10 (down from 21 yesterday), hitting a new low since June 2024, indicating extreme fear. Note: The fear index threshold is 0-100 and includes indicators: volatility (25%) + market trading volume (25%) + social media heat (15%) + market surveys (15%) + Bitcoin's proportion in the overall market (10%) + Google Trends analysis (10%).
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