finance

According to Jin10, the South Korean Finance Minister stated that they will strengthen regulation of the cryptocurrency market.

The Nasdaq-listed fintech company SOLOWIN HOLDINGS announced that it has reached a securities purchase agreement with Streeterville Capital to secure $100 million in financing. SOLOWIN will issue and sell prepaid shares for Streeterville Capital to purchase, with the first transaction of approximately $5.415 million in prepaid shares already completed. The company plans to use these funds to support its stablecoin and asset tokenization business.SOLOWIN previously disclosed that it will launch a Bitcoin quantitative fund with Antalpha, with a size of up to $100 million, and will employ data-driven algorithmic trading strategies to invest in Bitcoin.

According to official news, Ondo Finance announced a partnership with Chainlink to accelerate the application of tokenized U.S. stocks in the DeFi space by adopting Chainlink as the official data oracle.It was introduced that Chainlink provides institutional-grade pricing tailored specifically for Ondo's on-chain tokenized stocks, allowing DeFi protocols to price Ondo Global Markets assets with top-tier accuracy, manage positions securely, and offer users stronger protection during market volatility.Currently, the initial lending of Ondo tokenized assets, including SPYon, QQQon, and TSLAon, supported by Chainlink, has gone live on Euler, enabling users to borrow stablecoins using tokenized stocks and ETFs as collateral. In the future, tokenized stocks and ETFs will expand to more markets, vaults, and structured products, facilitating more efficient capital deployment and portfolio construction.

The founder and CEO of OKX, Star, stated on social media, "Cryptocurrency has gone through the Bitcoin phase (2008--2015), followed by the smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApp) phase (2016--2024). The experimental phase is over. We are now entering the on-chain finance era (2025--present).In the next decade, a significant portion of the global economy will migrate on-chain. Financial services for the internet generation should be available 24/7, low-cost, and instant, as convenient as sending an email."

According to Fortune magazine, the cross-chain protocol LayerZero, supported by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Sequoia Capital, announced the launch of a new blockchain called "Zero," specifically designed for traditional finance, and has received support from several mainstream Wall Street institutions.The newly launched Zero blockchain aims to achieve a performance of processing 2 million transactions per second with a cost of less than one cent per transaction through breakthroughs in zero-knowledge proof technology, addressing the traditional financial system's demand for high throughput and low costs. The company plans to officially launch the network in September.Citadel Securities, ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood, and the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), have participated in the project as investors, partners, or advisors. Stablecoin issuer Tether and ARK Invest have also confirmed their investment in LayerZero.LayerZero co-founder Bryan Pellegrino stated that the introduction of these institutions with deep market structure experience aims to drive Wall Street's large-scale adoption of blockchain technology.

According to official news, the four core infrastructures of the LX ecosystem are about to be fully launched. Among them, the underlying public chain LXChain, the LX exchange, and the block explorer LXExplorer will be launched simultaneously on February 11, 2026, while the multi-chain payment tool LXPay is scheduled to be released on March 1, 2026.This launch covers a full-chain layout from public chain, trading, data to payment: LXChain adopts DPOS consensus and supports block generation in 3 seconds; the LX exchange supports spot trading of mainstream assets and will debut the LB/USDT mainstream trading pair; LXExplorer provides transparent on-chain data queries; LXPay will initially integrate multiple EVM-compatible chains, gradually achieving multi-chain asset payment and management.LX, symbolized by the "Statue of Liberty," is positioned as a global aggregation carrier and a multi-chain issuance platform, practicing the concept of "freedom changes crypto, trust returns to the community." The landing of this product matrix marks its official entry into a new stage of integrated aggregation ecology.

Maple Finance announced that there is a security vulnerability in its web application. The issue has been fixed, but out of caution, we will temporarily shut down the web application to ensure the fix is thoroughly completed.The team stated that the smart contracts were not affected and user deposits are safe. The team will notify users once the web application is back online.

According to Sing Tao Daily, the Hong Kong Chief Executive's Policy Unit held a digital finance seminar on February 8, 2026. Participants included a research team from the Financial Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, the chairman of the board of Yuan Coin Technology, members of the Web 3.0 Development Task Force, and experts such as former Monetary Authority Chief Executive Norman Chan.The meeting discussed how Hong Kong can contribute to the country's goal of becoming a "financial powerhouse" through the high-quality development of digital finance. The focus was on three main aspects: the application scenarios of digital finance, balancing regulation with innovative development, and connecting with the mainland's digital financial infrastructure to achieve coordinated development.The head of the Chief Executive's Policy Unit, Huang Yuanshan, stated that Hong Kong should seize the wave of digitalization and promote high-quality financial development to support the goal of becoming a financial powerhouse. Hong Kong has advantages in technological infrastructure, an active market, and a favorable policy environment. The application of digital finance should shift from financial innovation to serving the real economy, such as promoting the tokenization of assets to extend to real-world assets like precious metals and renewable energy, addressing issues like poor liquidity and cumbersome transactions associated with traditional assets.

a16z partner and a16z crypto leader Chris Dixon published an article on social media titled "The Long Game of Cryptocurrency," stating: There is a popular saying that the non-financial use cases of cryptocurrency are dead. Some also claim that the "read-write-own" model has failed. These conclusions misunderstand the core concepts and misjudge the stage of development we are in.We are currently in the financial era of blockchain. But the core idea has never been that all crypto applications will emerge simultaneously, nor that finance will not lead the way. The core thought has always been that blockchain introduces a new primitive—capable of coordinating human and capital at internet scale, embedding ownership directly into the system. Finance is the domain where this primitive can most naturally prove its value, which is why we often cite finance as the primary example of productive use cases for tokens.Finance is not separate from a larger vision; it is part of it. It serves as the foundation and testing ground for all other applications. At a16z and a16z crypto, we are looking long-term: our fund structure is designed for a cycle of over 10 years because building new industries takes time—operational sequence is crucial. Infrastructure and distribution networks often emerge before new categories of applications.The internet did not begin with social media, streaming, or online communities; it began with packet switching, TCP/IP, and basic connectivity. Only after hundreds of millions of people went online did entirely new cultural and economic categories emerge. Cryptocurrency is likely to be similar. A reasonable speculation is that we need to onboard hundreds of millions of people through financial applications like payments, stablecoins, savings, and DeFi before we can see meaningful adoption in media, gaming, AI, or other potentially more distant fields.Many applications rely on ready wallets, identities, liquidity, and trust mechanisms. This is why a16z has spent over five years working to establish a clear regulatory framework for tokens. Great endeavors take time. The breakthroughs we see today in the AI field are the result of decades of hard work by outstanding talents. Building a new technological system is a marathon, and this is what a marathon looks like in practice: a long period of groundwork followed by a sharp turning point. It is those chaotic years that make the clarity of the future possible.

According to sources, Eurozone finance ministers will discuss the issuance of euro-denominated stablecoins and ways to enhance the euro's monetary status through more joint EU debt.

Phoenix Finance confirms attendance at the "Build and Scale in 2026" themed forum to be held in Hong Kong on February 10. This event is co-hosted by ChainCatcher, RootData, and Alibaba Cloud, and is one of the important side events of the Consensus HongKong conference.Phoenix Finance is a yield-bearing stablecoin protocol focused on transforming real-world assets (RWA) into composable on-chain active capital. The protocol continuously reconstructs low-frequency, discrete real cash flows into standardized DeFi yields through an AI-driven yield engine and supports multi-chain native settlement. Through three layers of products: PUSD (stablecoin), yPUSD (yield-bearing stablecoin), and PYN (yield notes), it covers settlement, savings, and structured yield scenarios.The Phoenix mainnet is now live, allowing users to mint PUSD and stake it to earn yPUSD yields.This forum will focus on industry convergence trends, growth paths, and market opportunities in the new cycle, with in-depth discussions around key tracks such as RWA, stablecoins, AI, payments, and DeFi. The event aims to bring together high-quality project parties, investment institutions, and developers from around the world to build a high-value industry network and jointly explore future opportunities and value potential in the Web3 ecosystem.Event registration: https://luma.com/md5v6b5z

xAI is hiring a Crypto Finance Expert with an hourly rate of $45 to $100, and this position is fully remote.The job involves solving complex problems in quantitative crypto strategies, including on-chain data and capital flow analysis, DeFi yield and liquidity modeling, perpetual contracts and funding rate strategies, CEX/DEX cross-market arbitrage, crypto market microstructure and MEV research, machine learning-driven crypto alpha signals, and portfolio management and risk control in a 24/7 high-volatility market. Additionally, professional analyses must be produced in text, audio, and video formats for AI model training and benchmarking.Key qualifications required for candidates: a master's or PhD background in quantitative finance, computer science, statistics, or equivalent professional experience as a quantitative cryptocurrency trader, systems strategist, or on-chain analyst. Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, proficiency in cryptocurrency data sources and tools, and outstanding analytical skills, attention to detail, and the ability to make sound judgments in situations with incomplete information.

Step Finance issued a statement regarding a hacking incident on platform X, disclosing that approximately $40 million was stolen from its treasury due to the compromise of an executive's device. After detecting the security vulnerability, they collaborated with cybersecurity researchers and relevant authorities to initiate an investigation into the attack and notified law enforcement. During this period, some operational activities were temporarily halted, and approximately $3.7 million in Remora assets and $1 million in other positions have been recovered.As the largest liquidity provider for Remora Markets, LP activities will resume once the system is fully secure. Remora Markets is not related to this incident, and all rTokens are still backed 1:1 by custodial collateral. At this stage, it is advised that anyone refrain from using STEP tokens until the investigation is complete. A system snapshot will be taken prior to the exploitation to ensure the safety of STEP token holders, and any updates will be released immediately once there is progress.

Step Finance released an update on the hacking incident on platform X, disclosing that several of its funding wallets were breached by an attacker last night. The initial assessment indicates that the attack was carried out through a certain attack vector. Remedial measures have been taken, and the company is closely collaborating with security experts. Relevant authorities have also been notified, and further updates on the incident will be provided.According to previous reports, the treasury and fee wallets of Step Finance were compromised. On-chain data shows that approximately 261,854 SOL tokens were unstaked and transferred during the attack, amounting to about 30 million dollars.

According to a post by SolanaFloor on the X platform, multiple treasury and fee wallets of Step Finance were compromised. On-chain data shows that during the attack, approximately 261,854 SOL tokens were unstaked and transferred, worth about 30 million dollars.Additionally, Step Finance's official statement mentioned that they are currently investigating the attack, and more information will be released later.

According to market information, the stablecoin USDf under Falcon Finance has experienced a slight de-pegging, with a lowest quote of 0.9871 USD and a current quote of 0.9896 USD.According to the project's official website, USDf currently has a circulating market cap of 2.06 billion USD, with supported asset value of 2.43 billion USD.

USDY is the first tokenized U.S. Treasury on Sei, providing users with a composable, yield-generating asset backed by U.S. Treasuries. As one of the most widely used tokenized Treasury assets, with a market capitalization exceeding $1.28 billion, ONDO USDY brings an institutionally recognized asset to Sei's high-performance platform.USDY unlocks complex use cases for users in areas such as payments, savings, collateral, and DeFi. Ondo, along with institutions like BlackRock, Apollo, Hamilton Lane, and Nomura, is bringing tokenized assets to Sei's high-performance platform.

BitMine Chairman Tom Lee stated that major financial institutions are rushing to launch their financial tokenization products on Ethereum, with the latest being Fidelity's stablecoin FIDD, as Ethereum is the future of finance.Fidelity announced earlier today that it will launch the stablecoin FIDD on Ethereum, compliant with U.S. GENIUS regulatory standards. The stablecoin's reserves include cash, cash equivalents, and short-term U.S. Treasury securities, supporting round-the-clock institutional settlements and on-chain retail payments, with daily disclosures of issuance and reserves, and regular third-party audits.

According to the official announcement, Binance will launch the Owlto Finance trading competition on January 28, 2026, at 21:00. The event will be divided into two phases: the first phase will run from January 28, 2026, at 21:00 to February 4, 2026, at 21:00, and the second phase will run from February 4, 2026, at 21:00 to February 11, 2026, at 21:00.During the event, participants will be ranked based on the total trading volume of OWL tokens purchased. The top 3,400 users will share 1,564,000 OWL tokens, with each eligible user receiving 460 OWL tokens. Rewards will be distributed before February 25, 2026, at 21:00.