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Katie Haun, founder and CEO of the crypto venture capital firm Haun Ventures, stated in an interview with CNBC, "What is happening in the global payments space is essentially an arms race. Mastercard this week acquired the stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, officially entering the stablecoin space. This is one of Mastercard's largest acquisitions ever. Stablecoins can transfer digital dollars instantly and frictionlessly on a global scale, which is a truly significant innovation. The transaction volume in this space has reached $12.5 trillion, and we believe this scale will only continue to grow in the AI era."On the regulatory front, Katie Haun mentioned, "This week, the CFTC and SEC jointly released guidance on what constitutes a security and what constitutes a commodity, which is a core issue in the crypto industry. I have heard that the Senate Banking Committee is advancing a compromise proposal that could be announced as early as today, and I am cautiously optimistic about it. But the key issue is that Congress effectively has only three working months left before the midterm elections, and they need to quickly push the CLARITY Act to a vote after the Easter recess." Speaking about the combination of AI and blockchain, Katie Haun stated, "AI agents will increasingly replace humans in executing transactions and payments. If you think AI agents will use the same payment systems as humans, I believe that is a mistake. Agents require 24/7, instant settlement on a global scale, and stablecoins are the infrastructure built for this new era."

According to the latest "February 2026 Private Wealth Management Monthly Report" released by Gate, the cryptocurrency market faced overall pressure in February due to macroeconomic and geopolitical factors, with BTC experiencing a monthly decline of approximately 15.5%, and ETH also retracing. The market's fear and greed index dropped into the "extreme fear" zone, indicating a significant increase in risk-averse sentiment.Against this backdrop, Gate's private wealth management products maintained overall steady performance, but short-term returns showed some differentiation. Among them, Star Core Smart Investment (USDT) had the highest annual return rate, reaching 9.5%; Starry Hedge (USDT) and Star Orbit Arbitrage (USDT) had cumulative return rates of 18.0% and 17.2%, respectively. During the statistical period, Starry Hedge (USDT) achieved positive returns in all 20 cycles, with a total win rate of 100%; Gravitational Hedge (USDT) also performed outstandingly, with a total win rate of 95%.The report pointed out that recent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and rising shipping risks have heightened market concerns about disruptions in crude oil supply, driving a rebound in WTI oil prices. Looking ahead, the narratives related to AI Agents and TradFi may continue to attract market attention in the next 1-2 months and become important catalysts for capital rotation.

The founder of Binance, CZ, commented on social media regarding the news "Block plans to lay off nearly half, betting on AI to improve company efficiency": "The reality is, either maximize the use of AI, or wait to be replaced by AI."Previous news from ChainCatcher reported that Block plans to lay off over 4,000 people, with a layoff rate close to 50%.

Bitcoin fell back after a strong rise to $70,000 during the U.S. trading session on Wednesday, reporting around $68,600 during the Asian session on Thursday, failing to effectively hold the key integer level. Since the end of February, BTC has maintained a range-bound structure, having dipped to $62,500 earlier this month and reaching $71,100 on February 15.Market participants noted that Bitcoin had previously broken through a similar range in January, but then quickly fell from $98,000 to $60,000, forming lower highs during this downward cycle, which has made some traders cautious about the sustainability of the current breakout. Derivatives data shows that the total open interest (OI) in cryptocurrency futures has increased by over 6.6%, approaching $100 billion, with a growth rate higher than the overall market cap increase, indicating new capital inflow.In the options market, Deribit data shows that the Bitcoin rebound has driven an increase in demand for call options with strike prices between $85,000 and $90,000. However, the overall options structure still leans towards bearish protection, with $60,000 put options being the current most popular position, having a nominal open interest exceeding $1.4 billion, indicating that the market still retains concerns about downside risks.

According to Cointelegraph, data shows that the crypto market has largely retraced the gains made after the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Total3 (the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies excluding Bitcoin and Ethereum) surged over 91% shortly after the election results were announced on November 5, 2024, rising from about $600 billion to $1.16 trillion by December 2024. The market then fell back to around the $900 billion range and briefly rebounded to $1.13 trillion on January 18, 2025.In October 2025, Total3 reached a new stage high of about $1.19 trillion but subsequently faced a significant decline, breaking the structural uptrend. Currently, Total3 is approximately $713 billion, down about 40% from the October 2025 peak, nearing the mid-November 2024 levels, with no clear signs of sustained recovery in the market.In terms of mainstream assets, Bitcoin has seen a maximum drop of over 50% from its peak to its low, dipping to around $60,000 before rebounding to about $68,000; Ethereum has retraced about 60% from its historical high of nearly $5,000 in August 2025. Sentiment indicators are also at low levels. CMC's Fear and Greed Index reports a score of 14, indicating "extreme fear," and on February 5, it briefly fell to 5, one of the lowest levels on record.

According to Gate market data, the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq 100 index have given back some of their gains after a surge triggered by the tariff ruling.

According to The Block, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis called for the banking industry to embrace stablecoins and digital assets during an interview, believing that this will bring new product opportunities for traditional financial institutions.She pointed out that stablecoins can significantly reduce settlement times and costs, thereby greatly enhancing the efficiency of domestic and international transactions. Providing custody and payment services for this will open up more business possibilities for banks. Lummis currently serves as the chair of the Senate Digital Assets Subcommittee.She emphasized that she does not understand why the banking industry resists digital assets, as this actually provides banks with new financial products to offer to customers. The current disagreement between banks and the cryptocurrency industry over stablecoin yield terms remains a key factor delaying the passage of the U.S. cryptocurrency market structure bill.

According to SoSoValue data, most sectors in the crypto market have retraced, with only the DePIN, AI, and SocialFi sectors remaining relatively strong, rising 0.01%, 0.06%, and 2.14% respectively over the past 24 hours. Within the DePIN sector, Arweave (AR) increased by 2.40%; in the AI sector, Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) rose by 1.33%, and Worldcoin (WLD) increased by 2.03%; in the SocialFi sector, Toncoin (TON) went up by 2.80%.In addition, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 3.10%, briefly dropping below $73,000, but has now rebounded to above $76,000; Ethereum (ETH) decreased by 3.72%, touching $2,100 at one point, and is now approaching $2,300.In other sectors, the Layer1 sector dropped by 2.12% over the past 24 hours, with Solana (SOL) falling by 5.00%, while Cosmos Hub (ATOM) rose by 5.49%; the Meme sector declined by 0.38%, with Binance Life significantly increasing by 13.58%; the PayFi sector decreased by 0.96%, but Trust Wallet (TWT) rose by 4.20%; the Layer2 sector fell by 1.56%, with Polygon (POL) down by 3.74%; the CeFi sector dropped by 1.70%, with OKB down by 2.11%; the DeFi sector decreased by 1.93%, while Morpho Token (MORPHO) rose against the trend by 5.01%.The crypto sector indices reflecting historical market performance show that the ssiSocialFi, ssiDePIN, and ssiAI indices increased by 2.56%, 0.68%, and 0.42% respectively.

According to the latest crypto weekly report released by Gate Ventures, the overall crypto market faced pressure and retraced in the past week, with BTC down 8.7% and ETH's decline widening to 19.4%. ETF fund flows significantly weakened, with BTC and ETH ETFs recording net outflows of approximately $1.49 billion and $327 million, respectively, while the total market capitalization of crypto assets declined by 11.3% over the week. The ETH/BTC exchange rate fell below the critical level of 0.03, further deteriorating market sentiment and entering the "extreme fear" zone, with increased volatility revealing gradual leverage and position pressure.In terms of on-chain and industry activities, despite market pressure, venture capital and innovation dynamics continue to drive progress. Several developments are focused on payment infrastructure, compliant on-chain services, and adaptive DeFi architectures. In terms of investment and financing, a total of 11 financing transactions were completed last week, with a disclosed total financing amount of approximately $188.5 million, an increase of about 52% compared to the previous week, with funds mainly concentrated in DeFi and infrastructure-related areas. These dynamics indicate that, in a context of cautious sentiment, capital allocation remains structurally selective and continues to support developments related to long-term on-chain utility.

Bitcoin's price has plummeted to last year's lowest point, and the cryptocurrency market has also seen significant sell-offs. This decline was triggered by a sharp drop in gold and stocks during the U.S. early trading session, but despite these markets rebounding significantly from their lows, cryptocurrencies have not shown a similar rebound, highlighting the industry's relative weakness.21Shares cryptocurrency research strategist Matt Mena stated that it is crucial for Bitcoin to hold the support level of $84,000. He pointed out that if this support level is not maintained, the next target is the $80,000 level where market buyers typically enter; falling below this price would mean Bitcoin could drop to the $75,000 low reached during the tariff turmoil in 2025.Ledn's Chief Investment Officer John Glover believes that today's sell-off is part of the overall correction for Bitcoin since it hit an all-time high in October. This round of decline could ultimately lead to Bitcoin's price dropping to $71,000, a 43% decrease from the $126,000 seen in early October. Hilbert Group's Chief Investment Officer Russell Thompson stated, "Technical support levels have all been breached, and I believe Bitcoin currently lacks support, with the price potentially falling to $70,000."

According to the official news from ATT Global.io, the 1% discount for exchanging ETH will become one of the ongoing activity sections of the "IEO" series, aimed at allowing the ATT Foundation to better give back to the numerous ecological contributors and participants, while also providing more applications and usage scenarios for ATT.Advertising Time Trace (ATT) is a forward-looking Web3.0 application project that integrates DePin technology. Through its unique DA-AIOT-P (Decentralized Assets - Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things - Payment) mechanism, it has built a new digital advertising ecosystem that combines physical advertising assets, advertising e-commerce merchants, user resources, and digital technology. A commercial advertising system centered around the LED screens in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong has been established, gradually improving LED screen advertising coverage in key commercial areas such as Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, and Europe. Currently, the core participants of the ecosystem have reached tens of thousands, potentially radiating hundreds of thousands of commercial ecological users, aiming to become a new entry point for traffic and assets in the Web3 field.

According to Jinshi News, the US Dollar Index DXY has stopped falling and rebounded, currently reported at 97.04. The Japanese Yen, Euro, and British Pound have partially retraced gains against the US Dollar after a brief rise, with the Euro to US Dollar EUR/USD reported at 1.1874, the British Pound to US Dollar GBP/USD at 1.3683, and the US Dollar to Japanese Yen USD/JPY at 154.1.

According to SoSoValue data, the overall cryptocurrency market is showing a slight pullback trend, with the RWA sector leading the decline at 3.51% over the past 24 hours. Within the sector, Ondo Finance (ONDO) fell by 3.35%, Sky (SKY) dropped by 5.04%, but Keeta (KTA) rose against the trend by 8.43%. Additionally, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are maintaining narrow fluctuations around $91,000 and $3,100, respectively.In other sectors, the CeFi sector decreased by 0.31% over the past 24 hours, with Bitget Token (BGB) relatively strong, rising by 1.60%; the PayFi sector fell by 0.74%, while Monero (XMR) rose again by 8.24%; the Layer1 sector declined by 1.08%, with Canton Network (CC) down by 4.05%; the Meme sector decreased by 1.63%, but Binance Life surged by 15.55%; the DeFi sector dropped by 2.11%, with MYX Finance (MYX) increasing by 6.37% during the session; the Layer2 sector fell by 3.31%, while Stacks (STX) rose by 1.02%.The cryptocurrency sector indices reflecting historical market trends show that the ssiDePIN, ssiAI, and ssiRWA indices fell by 3.80%, 3.51%, and 3.44%, respectively.

The Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, Paul Chan, stated during a program today that Hong Kong's economy grew by 3.2% last year. Regarding the development of virtual currencies and artificial intelligence, Chan pointed out that virtual currencies are part of financial innovation, and Hong Kong should embrace them. However, he noted that the confidentiality of blockchain technology may lead to insufficient investor protection, impact anti-money laundering efforts, and pose risks to financial stability. He emphasized that the Hong Kong government must handle this cautiously and incorporate it into an appropriate regulatory framework. At the same time, Chan expressed concerns about promoting virtual currency investment to the public, believing that there should be an emphasis on public education and awareness.

PayFi protocol Huma Finance posted on platform X, stating that some users reported that their Vanguard badges were revoked after the second quarter airdrop event went live. In fact, holders need to continuously meet the relevant staking requirements to retain their badges, including holding 10,000 HUMA tokens or staking 100% of the received airdrop tokens, but some users did not fully understand this ongoing requirement.Currently, Huma Finance has temporarily restored the Vanguard badges and set a grace period, with a deadline of January 5, 2026, 00:00 (UTC).

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India raided a total of 21 residential and office locations in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and New Delhi as part of a money laundering investigation, uncovering a network of a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platform.The gang has been operating since 2015, using celebrity images and fake trading websites to promise high returns, attracting investors from India and abroad, and laundering funds through cryptocurrency wallets, P2P transfers, shell companies, and underground money exchanges. Currently involved websites include goldbooker.com, cryptobrite.com, among others, and official investment risk warnings have been issued.