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According to Forbes, as Bitcoin prices approach $100,000 in early 2026, U.S. President Trump’s latest remarks regarding the selection of the Federal Reserve Chair have been viewed by the market as a potential "turning point" for prices.Recently, Trump publicly stated at the White House that, despite widespread expectations that White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett would succeed current Chair Powell, he "prefers to keep Hassett in his current position," calling a reassignment "a serious concern." This statement quickly dampened market bets on Hassett becoming the Federal Reserve Chair.As a result, the probability of Hassett's election on the prediction market Polymarket has significantly declined, while the probability of his main competitor, former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh, winning has risen to nearly 60%. Market analysis indicates that Hassett is viewed as a more dovish candidate, and if he were to become the Federal Reserve Chair, it could be more favorable for interest rate cut expectations in 2026, thereby supporting Bitcoin and risk asset performance.In contrast, Warsh's stance is relatively hawkish, suggesting that a high-interest rate environment may persist longer, posing short-term pressure on crypto assets. Although Warsh has previously invested in crypto companies and served as an advisor to institutional-grade crypto bank Anchorage, analysts believe that his monetary policy stance is not as accommodative as Hassett's. Nansen's Chief Research Analyst Aurelie Barthere pointed out that Hassett "originally had a higher level of support for the crypto market."

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated that the next Federal Reserve Chair will be selected in early January next year. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has organized and overseen the candidate selection process, establishing an agenda that could bring comprehensive changes to the Federal Reserve while pushing for interest rate cuts. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is at a pivotal moment in his government career.Although the power transition at the Federal Reserve poses risks for Bessent, another more reasonable possibility is that he will gain new powers. He will work with a Federal Reserve Chair willing to cooperate, who may be inclined to grant the Treasury Secretary some powers that have long been considered off-limits for politically sensitive departments within the executive branch. At that point, the Treasury will have a greater say in the Federal Reserve's large-scale asset purchases and sales (referred to as quantitative easing and quantitative tightening, respectively).

The Federal Reserve announced on Thursday that its board has unanimously voted to reappoint 11 regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents for a five-year term, starting March 1 of next year. The Federal Reserve stated that the reappointments were made after a comprehensive evaluation of the regional Federal Reserve presidents by the boards of the regional Federal Reserve Banks and received "unanimous consent" from the Federal Reserve Board.According to legal provisions, all regional Federal Reserve presidents and their first vice presidents serve five-year terms. The current terms will expire on February 28, 2026. This move addresses a key issue surrounding the future composition of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy committee. Previously, there were reports that Trump might attempt to appoint his allies to review these reappointment decisions—part of a broader effort to increase pressure on the Federal Reserve. (Jin Shi)

According to market news, Nasdaq-listed biotech company Sonnet Biotherapeutics has received shareholder approval to merge with Hyperliquid Strategies Inc.Previously, it was reported that Hyperliquid Strategies submitted an S-1 filing to raise up to $1 billion, which may be used to purchase HYPE tokens.

ChainCatcher News, President Trump stated that the Republican Party must take advantage of the Democrats' forced government shutdown to eliminate redundancies, waste, and fraud, which could save billions of dollars.

ChainCatcher news, according to News 1, the South Korean exchange Coinone sold virtual assets worth approximately 4.356 billion won (about 3.09 million USD) to Upbit and Korbit between the 8th and 31st of last month.Benefiting from the price increase, Coinone realized an additional profit of about 220 million won. This sale aligns with the "Roadmap for Corporate Participation in the Virtual Asset Market" announced by the Financial Services Commission of South Korea in February this year, allowing non-profit organizations and exchanges to liquidate virtual assets for personnel costs and tax expenditures.Coinone stated that the related funds will also be used to cover other operating costs.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jin Shi reports, Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) economist Tiffany Wilding pointed out in a report that although U.S. President Trump may continue to criticize the Federal Reserve and call for interest rate cuts in the short term, he will not replace the current chairman Powell.Instead, Trump will influence Federal Reserve decisions through upcoming appointments, including the term of Governor Quigley expiring in January and the term of Chairman Powell expiring in May.It is important to note that Powell's term as a governor will last until January 2028. Wilding emphasized that regardless of whom Trump nominates to succeed as chairman, the new leader must present a convincing monetary policy proposal, first gaining Senate approval and then seeking majority support from the Federal Open Market Committee.

According to ChainCatcher, The Block reports that Nasdaq-listed Sonnet BioTherapeutics will merge with Rorschach I LLC at a valuation of $888 million to form Hyperliquid Strategies and launch HYPE treasury bonds.The new entity will hold 12.6 million HYPE tokens and $305 million in cash, aiming to build a strategic reserve for HYPE. Strategic investors participating in this transaction include Paradigm, Galaxy Digital, Pantera Capital, and others. After the merger, it will continue to be listed on Nasdaq under a new stock ticker, positioned as a public crypto finance company, with Bob Diamond serving as chairman of HSI and David Schamis as CEO.The transaction also includes a $5.5 million private placement and the conversion of $2 million in convertible notes. Existing Rorschach shareholders and new investors will hold approximately 98.8% of HSI, while legacy SONN shareholders will retain 1.2% of the shares. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, Nasdaq-listed Sonnet BioTherapeutics has agreed to an $888 million merger deal, will be renamed Hyperliquid Strategies, and will launch the HYPE treasury strategy.The Nasdaq-listed Sonnet BioTherapeutics has agreed to merge with Rorschach I LLC to form Hyperliquid Strategies and initiate the treasury strategy. According to a press release issued on Monday, Rorschach I LLC is a newly formed company associated with Atlas Merchant Capital LLC, Paradigm Operations LP, and other sponsors.Upon completion of the transaction, the new entity will be renamed Hyperliquid Strategies and is expected to hold 12.6 million HYPE tokens and $305 million in cash, with a total valuation of approximately $888 million. The deal has strategic investors including Paradigm, Galaxy Digital, Pantera Capital, D1 Capital, Republic Digital, and 683 Capital. After the merger is completed, Hyperliquid Strategies will continue to trade on Nasdaq, with a change in stock ticker, becoming a publicly listed cryptocurrency treasury company.The parties involved in the transaction stated that the cash proceeds will enable Hyperliquid Strategies to increase its holdings of HYPE tokens and build a top-tier HYPE strategic treasury. After the transaction is completed, Atlas co-founder and CEO Bob Diamond will serve as chairman of Hyperliquid Strategies, while another Atlas co-founder and CIO David Schamis will take on the role of CEO.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions regulator on Tuesday added North Korean citizen Song Kum Hyok to the "Specially Designated Nationals" list, accusing him of being a "malicious cyber actor" associated with North Korean hacking groups and engaging in cyber espionage.The action by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) excludes Song Kum Hyok from the global financial system, as he arranged for other North Korean officials to work as IT personnel in multiple companies, who would then funnel funds back to North Korea and also managed to exploit company vulnerabilities for personal gain.

ChainCatcher news, ZachXBT posted that despite Circle's constant emphasis on compliance, the USDC stablecoin has actually become a major infrastructure for North Korean IT workers to make payments.He stated that Circle has not taken any measures to detect or freeze these suspicious activities and claimed he could point out recent transaction volumes reaching up to 8-digit dollar amounts. ZachXBT believes that this serious issue has not received enough attention during the current "crime supercycle."

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, the Israel Defense Forces stated that as part of the Israel Defense Forces' preparations for defense and offense on all battlefields, with the commencement of the "Lion's Strength" operation, the Israel Defense Forces has begun to deploy reserve personnel from different units to various battlefields across the country.

According to GMGN market information, KOL Pata van Goon (@basedalexandoor) released the celebrity coin GOONC this morning on the meme issuance platform Believe. The coin's market value surpassed 10 million dollars within 3 hours of its launch, currently reported at 11.04 million dollars. The trading volume reached 18.4 million dollars.According to @basedalexandoor's page information, a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen follows this account, and his bio is set to "applied @openai." ChainCatcher reminds users that meme coins have no actual use case, and their prices are highly volatile, so users should exercise caution.

ChainCatcher news, the Ethereum Foundation announced new personnel appointments, Hsiao-Wei Wang will join the board of the Ethereum Foundation. Current board members include Aya Miyaguchi (Chair), Vitalik Buterin (Founder), Patrick Storchenegger (Swiss Legal Advisor), and Hsiao-Wei Wang (Co-Executive Director). During this adjustment process, the board will share more updates about its roles and functions within the Ethereum Foundation.

ChainCatcher news, the Meme coin Launchpad pond.fun on Linea has been hacked this morning. Users are advised to avoid interacting with the website and related efrogs and croak sites, as they may also pose security risks. The attacker is the project's chief software engineer, who has stolen liquidity and project tokens from the smart contract and transferred 64.8 ETH to the privacy protocol railgun.Currently, pond.fun has contacted Chainalysis and Elliptic to ensure that the hacker cannot pass the Proof of Innocence review, and is negotiating with the Linea team to handle the incident.

ChainCatcher news, AI safety and research company Anthropic has announced the launch of Claude 3.7 Sonnet, its smartest model to date, distinguished by its so-called hybrid mode, which combines reasoning capabilities with the traditional mode of providing answers in real-time.In addition, Anthropic will also release the agent coding tool Claude Code. Claude Code is offered as a limited research preview, allowing developers to delegate a large number of engineering tasks directly to Claude from their terminals.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, as part of the EU's extensive cryptocurrency regulations, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a consultation document on February 17, seeking input from stakeholders, "with the aim of developing guidelines to assess the knowledge and competence of individuals providing advice on crypto assets or information regarding crypto assets or crypto asset services on behalf of crypto asset service providers."The guidelines will align with the EU's Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), published in June 2023, aiming to establish consistent standards for employees providing crypto advice and information to clients, enhance investor protection, and promote trust in the crypto market.