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According to Bloomberg, hedge funds that once fueled the U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) craze are rapidly withdrawing.Data compiled by CF Benchmarks, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the crypto trading platform Kraken, shows that the total allocation of Bitcoin ETFs held by the largest hedge funds has decreased by 28%. Gabe Selby, head of research at CF Benchmarks, wrote in a research report on February 19: "The dominant theme over the past two quarters has been hedge funds' de-risking operations. The spike and subsequent drop in October seem to have triggered systematic reductions." Brevan Howard significantly adjusted its position in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, becoming the largest seller of this spot ETF in the fourth quarter. Its holdings decreased by about 86% to 5.5 million shares, reducing the value of its spot position from approximately $2.4 billion to $275 million. Bitcoin prices have fallen alongside macro risks, and at certain stages, the declines were even greater, undermining the logic previously presented to institutional investors—that Bitcoin could hedge against inflation, currency devaluation, or stock market pressures.

According to CNBC, dozens of Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Yellen on Thursday, requesting an investigation into potential conflicts of interest and national security issues related to the Trump family's cryptocurrency project, World Liberty Financial. The letter was led by New York Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks and was co-signed by 40 other lawmakers.Meeks referred to Yellen as Trump's "follower" during a hearing and questioned the $500 million investment by members of the UAE royal family in World Liberty Financial last year. In a statement released with the letter, Meeks said, "The $500 million transaction involving the Trump family and the UAE royal family not only concerns national financial stability but also involves serious national security implications." At the time of the request for an investigation, World Liberty Financial was applying for a national bank charter. This charter is reviewed and issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent agency under the U.S. Treasury responsible for regulating the banking industry.

According to The Block, investment bank TD Cowen stated that filling the Democratic vacancies at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission could help advance negotiations on the U.S. crypto market structure bill.The investment bank pointed out that the biggest obstacle to the passage of this bill is not its core framework (i.e., whether digital assets should be regulated as securities by the SEC or as commodities by the CFTC), but rather a political dispute surrounding conflict of interest rules.Democrats are pushing for a ban to prevent senior government officials and their families from engaging in specific financial transactions involving digital assets. TD Cowen noted that, given Trump's involvement in the crypto project World Liberty Financial, this proposal would affect Trump and his family. Bloomberg estimated last month that Trump has made about $1.4 billion from his crypto project. The Trump family also holds a 20% stake in the mining company American Bitcoin.According to TD Cowen, it is unlikely that Democrats will abandon this demand, as the party has used Trump's crypto asset holdings as campaign material ahead of the midterm elections. Last month, no Democratic senators voted in favor of a bill in the Senate Agriculture Committee, citing concerns over Trump's crypto project. It remains unclear whether Democrats will support the Senate Banking Committee's bill.TD Cowen stated that Republicans oppose the proposal because they believe Trump would veto any legislation requiring his family to divest their crypto asset holdings. The report added that this disagreement has already caused a political stalemate, even as industry groups continue to negotiate the crypto regulatory framework.One possible path forward is for both parties to reach a compromise. In this scenario, Trump would agree to fill the Democratic vacancies at the SEC and CFTC. In return, Democrats would accept conflict of interest provisions that would only take effect after the next presidential inauguration.

The author of "Rich Dad Poor Dad," Robert Kiyosaki, stated in a social media post that he warned in his 2013 book "Rich Dad's Prophecy" about the impending arrival of the largest stock market crash in history, which is now imminent.Kiyosaki indicated that for those who are prepared, the upcoming crash will present significant wealth opportunities, while for those who are unprepared, it will be a nightmare. He emphasized that he holds physical gold, silver, Ethereum, and Bitcoin, and plans to continue increasing his holdings as Bitcoin prices decline. Kiyosaki specifically mentioned that the total supply of Bitcoin will always be limited to 21 million coins, and that nearly 21 million are already in circulation. He believes that a market crash is the best time to buy quality assets at a discount.

Bubblemaps disclosed on platform X that Trove Markets has quietly refunded the KOLs who participated in the presale, while other presale participants suffered heavy losses. By monitoring wallets associated with the TROVE token deployer, it was discovered that one day after the token crash, $100,000 worth of USDC and $350,000 worth of USDT were transferred to a newly funded wallet. On-chain evidence and leaked chat records have now been obtained, proving that the project team has engaged in improper behavior by treating investors differently.After raising $11.5 million through an ICO in January, Trove stated that it would retain $9,397,403 to continue building PerpDEX on Solana. This move sparked strong dissatisfaction within the community, with the token price dropping over 95%, resulting in severe losses for ICO participants, who accused the team of a rug pull. According to community feedback, the project has issues such as "paying KOLs for promotion, with funds flowing to entertainment platform deposit addresses."

According to market news, Paul Atkins, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stated at a Senate Banking Committee hearing that while his agency has the authority to provide regulatory clarity for the crypto industry through rulemaking, such rules lack "future adaptability" and can easily be overturned by subsequent administrations. Therefore, "a solid foundation in law is needed to prevent future backtracking."Atkins noted that the SEC currently has "quite broad powers" to advance rulemaking through the "Project Crypto" agenda, but he emphasized that "Congress needs to enact good legislation" to support these rules. Although progress on the Senate's bill to regulate the cryptocurrency market structure has been intermittent, one of the main Democratic negotiators, Senator Mark Warner, expressed at the hearing that he still hopes this work can make progress.

Ethereum treasury company ETHZilla Corporation (NASDAQ: ETHZ) has launched the Eurus Aero Token I through its wholly-owned subsidiary ETHZilla Aerospace LLC, which is the first tokenized entity asset backed by commercial aircraft engines.The token is built on the Ethereum Layer 2 network and is supported by two CFM56 commercial jet engines valued at approximately $12.2 million, leased to major U.S. airlines. Each token is priced at $100, with a minimum purchase of 10 tokens, and the target return rate for holding until the lease term expires is about 11%. ETHZilla states that this product provides qualified investors with access to an asset class traditionally limited to private aviation leasing funds or large institutional trades.The token will be exclusively offered through the Liquidity.io ecosystem, utilizing an ERC-20 token structure, with cash flows distributed to token holders monthly. ETHZilla plans to launch more tokenized asset classes in the near future, including manufactured home loans and auto loans.

Binance Co-CEO Richard Teng stated at the Consensus HK conference that the "1011 crash" event was not triggered by Binance, but rather that all exchanges globally experienced large-scale liquidations. Approximately 75% of the liquidations occurred around 21:00 Eastern Time, accompanied by isolated issues such as stablecoin de-pegging and delays in asset transfers.Teng pointed out that on that day, the U.S. stock market's market capitalization fell by about $1.5 trillion, with stock market liquidations amounting to approximately $150 billion, while the total liquidations in the crypto market were about $19 billion, affecting all exchanges. Binance provided support to affected users, while other exchanges did not take similar measures. Last year, Binance's trading volume reached $34 trillion, with 300 million users, and data did not show any large-scale withdrawals from the platform.He added that the market is temporarily affected by geopolitical and interest rate uncertainties, but institutions are still continuously entering the crypto market, indicating that "smart money" is still positioning itself. Teng emphasized that long-term participants should focus on the fundamental development of the crypto industry; although retail demand is relatively subdued, institutional deployments and corporate participation remain strong.

At a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, several Democratic lawmakers questioned SEC Chairman Paul Atkins regarding the recent reduction in enforcement actions against the cryptocurrency industry by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), expressing concerns about whether these decisions are linked to Trump and his connections to the crypto industry.Lawmakers specifically mentioned the SEC's suspension of the case against Tron founder Justin Sun and the withdrawal of the lawsuit against Binance. Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch stated during the hearing that the decline in SEC enforcement has impacted the agency's reputation and demanded an explanation for why the related cases were not pursued further. The SEC had previously sued Justin Sun in 2023 for allegedly issuing unregistered securities and manipulating trading volumes, but later in 2025, it applied to pause the case to explore settlement possibilities; in May of the same year, the SEC withdrew its lawsuit against Binance under Atkins's leadership.Data shows that in 2025, the SEC's overall enforcement actions decreased by about 30% compared to the previous year, with crypto-related cases dropping by approximately 60%, which is viewed by outsiders as a signal of a shift in regulatory focus. In response, Atkins stated that the SEC still maintains a "strong enforcement presence" and noted that some changes are part of the normal adjustments following a change in regulatory leadership.

According to the disclosure by the WeChat public account of the Internet Information Office of Jiangmen, the Kaiping City Procuratorate is handling a "money laundering" case involving virtual currency. The criminal gang received funds from telecom network fraud and other criminal proceeds, which were then arranged to be withdrawn from the bank and exchanged for virtual currency to be transferred to upstream fraudsters. In just two months, the amount of fraud-related funds transferred exceeded 2 million yuan.Currently, 19 individuals involved in the case have been sentenced by the Kaiping City Court for the crime of concealing and disguising criminal proceeds.

The Financial Times published an article stating that Bitcoin may have experienced dozens of significant crashes, hundreds of crypto companies may have gone bankrupt, and countless individuals may have lost their life savings, but every time Bitcoin drops, it always rebounds. Those who are capable can hold on, and each rebound brings a cognitive memory that convinces people that the cryptocurrency they admire will exist forever. Since its inception, Bitcoin has been on a path destined to end in a tragic conclusion.This week, Bitcoin experienced its most severe crash since 2022, briefly falling to around $60,000, erasing all gains since Trump's 2024 re-election, and dropping more than half from its historical high of over $127,000 last October. According to Coinglass data, approximately $1.25 billion in Bitcoin positions were forcibly liquidated within just 24 hours from Thursday to Friday.The U.S. indeed has a leader closest to being a "Bitcoin president," and his family has interests in crypto assets. However, even with the establishment of a "strategic Bitcoin reserve," the pardoning of many convicted crypto criminals, allowing Americans to include crypto assets in their 401(k) retirement accounts, and claiming to have ended former President Biden's "crypto war" within 200 days of taking office, Trump's presence in the White House still cannot stop the selling pressure.We may not have truly seen the final "death spiral" of Bitcoin yet; I cannot predict when it will come. Judging the end of a speculative frenzy solely based on faith is very difficult, and Bitcoin may still have a few rebounds (as of writing, it has rebounded to around $70,000). But confidence is beginning to wane. People are starting to realize that an asset sustained only by fantasy has no fundamental value. Ask yourself: will this thing still exist in 100 years? Remember, "what matters is not how you fall, but how you land."

Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley stated in an interview with CNBC, "Bitcoin has seen a double-digit drop in a single day and is currently in a bear market, down nearly 30% year-to-date. As for the reasons, I believe the current crypto market is being swept up by the overall macro environment, with investors selling off all liquid assets. Gold is down, the Nasdaq 100 is down, and Amazon is also being sold off. Over the past few months, there have indeed been some internal factors in the crypto space, such as operational disruptions at certain offshore trading platforms, but at this moment, crypto assets are trading more in sync with other highly liquid assets. I feel that long-term holders are experiencing uncertainty; meanwhile, newly entering institutional investors feel they are encountering a 'second chance,' seeing prices they once thought they had missed forever. I believe we are currently in a transitional phase. Ultimately, crypto assets remain a relatively small asset class, and most investors have not truly allocated to them yet. Therefore, the overall long-term outlook is very solid; it is just currently experiencing fluctuations and reversals during this transitional period."

According to Coinglass data, the Bitcoin Ahr999 indicator has dropped to 0.27, significantly below the "buying bottom line" (0.45). The last time this index fell to this level was on June 18, 2022, and again on November 22 of the same year, when the market experienced the "ETH crash liquidation" and "FTX explosion" events, respectively. Looking further back, it can be traced to March 16, 2020, the "316 crash" event.This indicator was created by ahr999 to assist Bitcoin dollar-cost averaging users in making investment decisions based on timing strategies. The indicator implies the short-term return rate of Bitcoin dollar-cost averaging and the deviation of Bitcoin's price from its expected valuation. Historically, the Ahr999 index has been below the buying bottom line (0.45) for 572 days.

According to reporter Eleanor Terrett, a Democratic staffer stated that the atmosphere of the relevant meeting was "positive," and described it as "the most productive Democratic meeting so far." Chuck Schumer also attended the meeting, emphasizing the importance of industry participation and calling for the momentum of legislative progress to be maintained and for the bill to be passed as soon as possible.Although there are still clear demands regarding certain provisions within the Democratic Party, attendees generally believe that this legislative effort, which was once considered "on the verge of being shelved" a few weeks ago, is currently "far from over," and there is still potential for progress.

According to Forbes, Bitcoin has recently experienced a significant pullback, raising concerns in the market about a new round of "deep declines" in crypto assets. Over the past week, the price of Bitcoin has dropped by about 10%, briefly falling below the $80,000 mark, with the latest low reaching $73,000, before slightly rebounding to above $75,000. Amid this sudden shift in market sentiment, CZ publicly stated that his confidence in the "super cycle" of Bitcoin in 2026 has significantly decreased.CZ mentioned that due to market panic (FUD), extreme liquidation events, and geopolitical uncertainties, the current environment will have "very high" volatility. The super cycle could still occur, but the probability has dropped to about 50%. Meanwhile, well-known investor and the inspiration for "The Big Short," Michael Burry, warned that Bitcoin's price could further dip to $50,000. He pointed out that if it falls to that level, Bitcoin mining companies may face severe financial pressure and even bankruptcy risks.Concerns about Bitcoin's weakness in the market have also intensified as funds accelerate their flow into traditional safe-haven assets like gold and silver. LMAX Group CEO David Mercer stated that the current market is experiencing "collateral tightening," with the speed of risk spreading outpacing the support system, leading to significantly amplified volatility. Analysts believe that against the backdrop of rising gold prices and crypto assets being revalued as "high-risk assets," Bitcoin's short-term performance will remain highly dependent on changes in the macro environment and market sentiment.

According to CoinDesk, Michael Burry, the real-life inspiration for the protagonist in "The Big Short" (who successfully predicted the 2008 financial crisis), has warned that the recent decline in Bitcoin could trigger a chain reaction across the entire market, particularly in the gold and silver markets.The plunge in Bitcoin may force institutional investors and corporate finance executives to sell up to $1 billion in gold and silver to offset losses incurred from cryptocurrencies. Michael Burry believes that Bitcoin's drop below $73,000 exposes its fragile foundations, and if the price falls to $50,000, it could threaten companies holding large amounts of Bitcoin and may even lead to the bankruptcy of some mining companies.Michael Burry asserts that Bitcoin has failed as a digital safe-haven asset or a substitute for gold, and the recent surge driven by ETFs is merely speculative behavior rather than a reflection of its lasting application in the real world.

Crypto reporter Eleanor Terrett revealed that two insiders disclosed that Senate Democrats plan to hold another closed-door meeting tomorrow to discuss the "Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act" (the CLARITY Act). This will be the first meeting held by Democratic members since the Senate Banking Committee postponed the bill's consideration last month.

10x Research posted on platform X that in the past 72 hours, gold, silver, and BTC have experienced significant price declines due to insider-driven repricing, macro shocks, and forced liquidations.10x Research pointed out that BTC is nearing strong support. The market is currently in a phase of changing risk-reward ratios and volatility compression, and 10x Research has proposed tactical positioning strategies for a rebound.