Bitcoin mining difficulty jumped 14.7% to 144.4T in a record absolute increase as hashrate rebounded after U.S. winter storm curtailments.
Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich has directly addressed anonymous claims that the company hid Bitcoin purchases, failed at options trading, and kept borrowing details from shareholders. Bitcoin is down 45% from its October high and now trades around $68,000. Metaplanet shares have dropped roughly 85% from their 2025 peak. Gerovich posted a point-by-point response on X, …
U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis has called on the Treasury Department to consider using America’s gold reserves to buy Bitcoin. The move aims to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve that could help reduce national debt and strengthen long-term financial stability. Lummis Urges Treasury to Use Gold Reserves for Bitcoin Senator Lummis proposed that the U.S. Treasury …
Three engineers are accused of stealing sensitive mobile processor and cryptography files from Google and two other companies.
Bitcoin’s mining difficulty jumped roughly 15% to a new all‑time high of about 144.4 trillion, bouncing back from a recent steep decline after storms reduced global hashrate by up to 30%. The rebound reflects miners powering machines back on and total hashrate climbing close to 1 zettahash per second, helping keep block times near the …
CME Group has spent most of its life as the financial plumbing moving the gears behind wheat hedges, rate bets, equity futures, the quiet machinery that keeps risk moving. Now it is taking a very public step into crypto’s always-on world. On May 29, CME says it will launch 24/7 trading for its cryptocurrency futures […]
The post The Bitcoin CME gap is dead – and past gaps could close forever in May this year appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Pi Network’s open mainnet just turned one. From exchange listings and protocol upgrades to over 16 million migrated users, the past year reads like a highlight reel. But behind the milestones, a different story is playing out. A significant portion of the Pi community still can’t touch their coins. KYC remains incomplete for millions. Tokens …
While the broader crypto market remains range-bound and selective, SUI is stabilizing near $0.94, quietly compressing beneath resistance as a new institutional narrative unfolds in the background. The price action may look calm on the surface, yet structurally, both supply mechanics and technical positioning are beginning to align. Two U.S. listed SUI ETFs have entered …
Bitcoin’s slide into the $60,000–$70,000 zone has lit up the usual “bottom” dashboards: extreme fear, washed-out positioning, and a cluster of indicators many traders treat as capitulation signals. But CryptoQuant contributor Mignolet says the market is missing the only thing that ultimately matters: a visible bid from dominant buyers. “What I emphasized in the $80K–$90K range still remains the same,” he wrote on Feb. 18. “Many indicators that market participants follow are pointing to a bottom and extreme fear. However, we do not see dominant players (whales) actually using this situation.” Mignolet’s core argument is simple: a bottom is not a sentiment reading, it’s an event and he doesn’t see the kind of forced absorption that typically marks a durable turn. “No matter how many indicators suggest a bottom, if there is no real buying force stepping in, we cannot know where the true bottom will be,” he said. “That is why I do not make price predictions lightly.” Related Reading: Revealed: The Biggest Bitcoin Holders Of 2026, According To Arkham Data He contrasted the current tape with the 2024 bull cycle, when fear could still dominate headlines even as large allocators quietly took the other side. In that period, he argues, the market had a measurable backstop: institutional demand showing up through US spot Bitcoin ETFs, specifically BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC, which “clearly absorbed the selling pressure.” The “most important point,” in his framing, is that the same mechanics aren’t showing up now. Mignolet says the accumulation pattern FBTC sustained for roughly a year has “already broken down,” and IBIT, previously described as a buffer during heavy sell pressure, is “now trending downward, unlike last year.” That shift is why he keeps the bottom call “on ice,” even if price ultimately holds the current region. In his view, Bitcoin remains in a phase where traders should “be cautious about further shocks,” and even a successful defense would likely require time before it can be treated as confirmed. When Everyone Reads The Same Bitcoin Data Beyond flow, Mignolet is also warning about a structural change in how market narratives form. He argues the proliferation of on-chain analytics has made the space more information-dense, but not necessarily more insightful and in some cases, more hazardous. Related Reading: Bitcoin Doesn’t Get A Macro ‘Bailout’ This Time: Alden Warns Of Gradual QE “The problem is that everyone looks at the same data and often reaches similar conclusions,” he wrote. “In many cases, even the people producing the data do not fully understand it. When information becomes too common, it pushes expectations in one direction.” He describes today’s well-packaged on-chain dashboards as “clean and convincing, almost like an answer sheet,” which can harden conviction precisely when flexibility is required. The downstream risk, he suggests, is that widespread agreement around “obvious” bottoms can keep investors anchored through deeper drawdowns or longer grind periods. In the near term, Mignolet’s base case is not a clean trend reversal but “sideways movement without a clear direction,” with enough volatility to create opportunities for short-term traders. For his own positioning, he described the period as “waiting,” stepping back to watch “liquidity flows, supply and demand conditions, and overall market sentiment,” then “reset” his framework. The bigger picture, he says, is still bearish and potentially more drawn out than he expected last year. His closing warning is that this down cycle is “unlikely to end lightly,” with the plausible outcomes being a larger-than-expected drop, a longer-than-expected sideways phase, or both. At press time, Bitcoin traded at $67,889. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Metaplanet’s Simon Gerovich addressed critics who accused the company of hiding losses and key details of its Bitcoin bets, as investor anger over leveraged Bitcoin treasuries spreads.
Lawmakers criticize South Korea’s Financial Services Commission after Bithumb mistakenly credited 620,000 BTC and the probe faces delays.
US crypto regulation appears closer to a breakthrough as momentum builds around the long-debated Clarity Act. Fresh signals from Washington, combined with rising betting odds and executive-level engagement, suggest the bill may finally move forward after years of uncertainty. When Could It Pass Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said he believes there is a 90% chance …
As market volatility sends Dogecoin (DOGE) to retest its breakout level, some analysts have advised “cautious” optimism for the leading memecoin, arguing that weak bullish momentum could invalidate the recent price action. Related Reading: SUI Eyes Price Recovery As Institutional Exposure Expands With Grayscale, Canary ETF Launches ‘Optimism With A Seatbelt On’ On Thursday, Dogecoin fell to a one-week low of $0.095 before bouncing back above the $0.098 support level. The cryptocurrency has been hovering between $0.096 and $0.104 for the past six days, briefly reaching a multi-week high of $0.117 during the weekend. Notably, DOGE broke out of a one-month descending trendline after last week’s price surge, igniting optimism among investors. However, the market’s volatility has halted the leading memecoin’s momentum, which is now moving sideways within its local range. Market observer Whale Factor highlighted that Dogecoin has returned to “the ultimate support level” located at $0.097. This level is a macro resistance-turned-support, serving as a key bounce area over the past two years. “We’ve seen this play out twice before with massive bounces. (…) If this horizontal support holds, the risk/reward for a long position here is insane,” he affirmed, adding that a rebound from this level could target the $0.15-$0.20 area. Meanwhile, analyst Trader Tardigrade noted the recent performance, explaining that the breakout and the subsequent retest of the downtrend line is “textbook bullish price action.” Nonetheless, he has warned that he is “cautiously optimistic” due to weak bullish momentum. As he explained, the descending trendline has been retested and held as support over the past five days, printing daily closes above the breakout level. This signals that the structure remains bullish. Despite this, the analyst considers the rally “feels a bit underpowered” and that DOGE’s uptrend momentum “is lacking strength” as the price is slowly retracing the recently climbed levels. “Price has to attract real demand to make this breakout credible. Keep an eye on volume and punchier candles—until those show up, it’s optimism with a seatbelt on,” he asserted. Dogecoin To Repeat Previous Performances? Trader Tardigrade also pointed out that Dogecoin seems to be mirroring the same pattern that has previously led to parabolic moves. Per the post, the memecoin has completed a “Solid Base structure” twice before, first in 2016 and then in 2020. The analyst emphasized that historically, “when DOGE finishes building these bases, it doesn’t take long before the breakout happens.” Now, the cryptocurrency is at the edge of the third base, with the “same prolonged consolidation, same gradual accumulation, same compressed energy.” Similarly, market watcher Bitcoinsensus observed that in past cycles, Dogecoin had “thrived during strong risk-on environments,” typically breaking out after long stretches of consolidation. Related Reading: BNB Chain’s AI Agent Ecosystem Surges As Crypto Markets Bleed Notably, the cryptocurrency saw a 95x move between 2017 and 2028 after breaking out of its macro consolidation range. Then, it recorded a 310x rally toward its latest all-time high (ATH) following its 2020 breakout. The chart shows that the altcoin could be near the end of its long consolidation period, and a parabolic move could begin in the next year. “If this cycle plays out like previous ones, Dogecoin may have room to push toward the $5 zone,” the analyst concluded. As of this writing, DOGE is trading at $0.097, a 1.1% decline in the daily timeframe. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
The judge found Kalshi is likely to succeed in arguing that sports event contracts qualify as swaps under federal commodities law, potentially preempting state regulation.
Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich pushed back against online criticism of the company's transparency and bitcoin strategy.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao returned to the U.S. in February 2026 for the first time since his 2024 release, attending a major crypto summit at Mar-a-Lago organized by Trump-linked World Liberty Financial. Zhao engaged with Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., later posting on X that he “learned a lot” from the event. The summit …
Data shows the social media sentiment toward XRP has surged to a 5-week high even as mood around Bitcoin and Ethereum remains dull. XRP Positive/Negative Sentiment Has Shot Up Recently In a new post on X, analytics firm Santiment has talked about how XRP, Bitcoin, and Ethereum currently compare in terms of the Positive/Negative Sentiment. This indicator tells us about whether an asset is observing more bullish or bearish comments on the major social media platforms. The metric works by filtering social media posts/threads/messages for terms related to the cryptocurrency and putting them through a machine-learning model that separates between positive and negative sentiments. It then counts up the number of posts in each category and determines the ratio between them. Related Reading: Bitcoin Consolidating In A Triangle—Is A 15% Move Next? When the value of the Positive/Negative Sentiment is greater than 1, it means bullish comments outnumber the bearish ones. On the other hand, the indicator being under this level could indicate the dominance of a negative sentiment among social media users. Now, here is the chart shared by Santiment that shows the trend in the Positive/Negative Sentiment for three top cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, XRP, and Ethereum. As displayed in the above graph, Bitcoin and Ethereum have both seen the Positive/Negative Sentiment decline to near-neutral levels recently. Bullish and bearish comments are almost exactly canceling out for the former with the metric sitting at 1.05, while the latter is seeing a slight dominance of positive sentiment with a value of 1.4. The analytics firm noted: Crypto markets have struggled to maintain momentum, and social data indicates there are far less bullish comments toward Bitcoin and Ethereum compared to last week. Meanwhile, the indicator has taken a completely different route for XRP. From the chart, it’s visible that the Positive/Negative Sentiment has recently witnessed a sharp rise for the digital asset ranked fourth by market cap. XRP has also struggled like the rest of the market recently, so what’s behind the divergence? According to Santiment, it’s likely to lie in the recent partnership expansion announcements. The wave of bullish comments over the last couple of days has pushed the Positive/Negative Sentiment to 2.35, the highest level in five weeks. If past pattern is to go by, though, this excitement around the asset may not necessarily translate to the cryptocurrency’s price. Related Reading: Bitcoin Bearish Momentum Losing Steam? Analyst Flags Key Metric Generally, digital asset markets tend to move in the direction that goes contrary to the expectations of the majority. In that view, Bitcoin and Ethereum with their relatively dull sentiments may be better positioned for a rebound than XRP. XRP Price At the time of writing, XRP is floating around $1.39, up around 5% in the last seven days. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs are seeing their sharpest pullback of the current market cycle, as falling prices and steady investor withdrawals weigh on fund balances. However, analysts say the broader institutional adoption trend remains intact despite the recent pressure. US Bitcoin ETF Outflows Show Investor Caution According to Glassnode data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF balances …
On Feb. 19, US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw 166 million dollars in net outflows, marking the third straight day of withdrawals and showing ongoing investor caution. At the same time, spot Ethereum ETFs recorded 130 million dollars in outflows, with BlackRock’s ETHA leading at 96.8 million dollars, reflecting weaker institutional demand and short-term market uncertainty.
The crypto market may see strong price swings today as Bitcoin and Ethereum options worth nearly $2.4 billion are set to expire. With the crypto market already under pressure, traders are closely watching key levels, including Bitcoin’s max pain at $70,000 and Ethereum’s at $2,050, which could influence short-term price movement. $2 Billion Bitcoin Options …
The bill would clarify which digital assets fall under securities law versus Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversight.
Ethereum is struggling to reclaim the $2,000 level, with persistent selling pressure continuing to weigh on sentiment across the broader crypto market. Despite intermittent recovery attempts, price action remains fragile as liquidity conditions tighten and investors reassess risk exposure following the sharp correction from the 2025 highs. The repeated failure to secure sustained acceptance above this psychological threshold has reinforced caution among both institutional and retail participants. Related Reading: The Altcoin Exodus: Trading Volumes Halve As Capital Flees To Bitcoin $65,000 Fortress Recent on-chain analysis highlights a notable structural development: Ethereum is currently trading below the realized price of every major whale cohort. The realized price metric represents the average acquisition cost of coins held by a given group, effectively serving as a proxy for aggregate cost basis. When the rice falls below this level, it implies that even large, historically resilient holders are sitting on unrealized losses. Historically, such conditions tend to coincide with late-stage corrective phases rather than early bull expansions. The last comparable occurrence followed Ethereum’s previous all-time high cycle, specifically in September 2018. That period marked a prolonged consolidation phase during which market excesses were gradually absorbed before a new structural uptrend eventually emerged. Ethereum Trades Below Whale Cost Basis Trading below whale realized prices also has psychological implications. Large holders typically operate with longer investment horizons, and their profitability cushions often help stabilize markets during corrections. When that cushion disappears, volatility can increase as confidence weakens and liquidity becomes more reactive to macro catalysts. This does not necessarily imply immediate bullish reversal conditions. Rather, it signals that the market may be undergoing a redistribution phase in which weaker hands exit while longer-term investors reassess positioning. Markets often require extended stabilization periods after leverage unwinds and sentiment deteriorates, particularly following euphoric cycles. Related Reading: Ethereum’s Leverage Reset Clears The Path For A Healthy Rebound – Analyst At the same time, such environments sometimes attract strategic accumulation. Investors willing to tolerate volatility may view sub-realized-price conditions as opportunities, particularly when accompanied by declining leverage and cooling speculative activity. Whether this dynamic ultimately leads to accumulation or further downside depends heavily on macro liquidity trends, regulatory developments, and broader risk appetite across financial markets. Technical Price Outlook From a technical perspective, the weekly chart underscores Ethereum’s current vulnerability. Price has recently broken below key moving averages that previously functioned as dynamic support. These averages now act as resistance zones, limiting upside momentum unless decisively reclaimed. The recent decline toward the $1,900–$2,000 region reflects a continuation of the broader corrective structure that began after the mid-2025 peak. Volume patterns suggest participation has moderated compared with the impulsive rally phase, indicating reduced speculative enthusiasm. However, declining volume during corrections can also signal exhaustion of aggressive sellers, potentially setting the stage for base formation if demand stabilizes. Related Reading: Is Bitcoin Supply Moving To Strong Hands? Whale Data Suggest Structural Shift Immediate support appears concentrated near the recent local lows around the mid-$1,800 zone, while resistance remains clustered near the $2,200–$2,400 region where prior consolidation occurred. A sustained move above these levels would be required to shift short-term momentum decisively positive. Conversely, failure to hold current support could expose Ethereum to deeper retracement levels consistent with broader market deleveraging. For now, Ethereum remains at a technical and psychological crossroads. Trading below whale realized prices, struggling beneath major resistance levels, and navigating uncertain macro conditions collectively define a market still searching for equilibrium rather than entering a confirmed recovery phase. Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com
CNBC reported Thursday that a group of House Democrats are pressing the Treasury Department to examine potential conflicts of interest and national security risks tied to World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the crypto venture associated with the Trump family. Security Concerns Over Trump-Linked Crypto Venture In a letter sent Thursday to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, more than 40 Democratic lawmakers, led by Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, called for a formal review of the company’s structure and foreign investment ties. The letter follows a tense House Financial Services Committee hearing earlier this month, during which Bessent testified before lawmakers. At that hearing, Meeks sharply criticized the Treasury secretary, referring to him as a “flunky” of President Trump. Related Reading: ‘Sell Bitcoin Now,’ Peter Schiff Warns, Predicts $20,000 Target On Breakdown He also raised concerns about a $500 million investment in World Liberty Financial made last year by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the United Arab Emirates’ royal family who has sometimes been referred to as the “spy sheikh.” In a statement accompanying the letter, Meeks said the half‑billion‑dollar deal involving an Emirati royal presents both financial and national security concerns. “The Trump family’s $500 million deal connected to the Emirati royal family is not only a matter of national financial instability, but it also carries serious national security implications,” he said. Treasury Asked To Clarify White House Role The lawmakers’ request comes as World Liberty Financial is pursuing a national bank charter. Democrats are seeking assurances that the chartering process remains insulated from political or foreign influence. As such, they argued that the matter extends beyond a technical debate over crypto regulation. “This is no longer just a debate about crypto chartering theory,” they wrote. “It is about foreign ownership, national security, regulatory integrity, and whether our bank‑chartering process is resilient to political and geopolitical pressure.” Related Reading: Revealed: The Biggest Bitcoin Holders Of 2026, According To Arkham Data The group asked Treasury officials to detail what safeguards are in place to prevent foreign governments, their proxies, or politically connected investors from using the national bank chartering process to gain leverage within the US financial system or access sensitive financial and technological infrastructure. They also sought clarification on the role, if any, played by the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Treasury Department in reviewing or influencing charter decisions made by the OCC. The lawmakers requested a response from the Treasury Department by Feb. 26. In closing, they emphasized the broader implications for public trust. “The credibility of America’s banking regulatory framework, and of the institutions charged with protecting it, depends on transparency, independence, and a demonstrated willingness to resist undue influence,” they wrote. As of this writing, World Liberty Financial’s native crypto, WLFI, is trading at $0.1168, marking a 3% decline over the past 24 hours. However, according to CoinGecko data, the cryptocurrency has increased by nearly 10% in the past seven days. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin difficulty rebounds to 144.4T as hashrate recovers to 1 ZH/s despite multi year low hashprice.
Enso coin price has exploded higher, doubling in less than 48 hours as momentum traders pile into one of the week’s most aggressive altcoin breakouts. A 33% surge in the previous session was followed by an 86% vertical extension today, instantly pushing ENSO coin into the spotlight at a time when much of the broader …
Geopolitical tensions and a cautious tone in U.S. stocks are keeping risk appetite in check, and some strategists warn of a potential retest of 2024 lows before a more sustained recovery.
Pi Network News Today: “Tap-to-Earn” mobile mining Pi Network has rolled out its latest mainnet upgrade, Protocol Version 19.6, marking a key step to improve network performance and stability. The update also comes as Pi Network celebrates its mainnet launch anniversary. However, despite this major upgrade, Pi Coin has dropped 6% after gaining 28% in …
Parsec launched in January 2021, just months before Bitcoin almost doubled in price, then reached new all-time highs later in the year.
Reports say Goldman Sachs now holds a mix of crypto exposures that go beyond Bitcoin alone. Its chief executive, David Solomon, told an audience he owns a very small amount of Bitcoin while he watches how the market behaves. Related Reading: XRP On The Spotlight As Arizona Advances Landmark Digital Asset Bill That personal detail grabbed attention after investor Grant Cardone amplified the comment on social media, and it added another layer to what appears to be a deliberate, measured shift inside the firm. Token Holdings And Paper Losses Based on filings, Goldman Sach’s positions are spread across several major tokens. The firm shows exposure to about 13,740 Bitcoin held through US-listed spot ETFs, a stake worth roughly $920 million after a recent price slide. Ethereum accounts for about $1 billion of exposure. Smaller stakes in XRP and Solana come in at about $153 million and $108 million, respectively. David Solomon @GoldmanSachs just said at World Liberty Forum, “I’m still trying to figure out how Bitcoin behaves. I own a little bitcoin, very little.”@MarALago @worldlibertyfi pic.twitter.com/iepTMeE6lL — Grant Cardone (@GrantCardone) February 18, 2026 Altogether, crypto-linked ETF holdings add up to roughly $2.36 billion, according to the disclosure. These numbers mean the bank is carrying unrealized losses on some positions since prices fell sharply. Yet the holdings remain, which suggests an institutional view that does not chase every short-term move. Some of those choices were made after new spot ETF options launched for certain tokens, pushing the bank to broaden its lineup beyond Bitcoin and Ether. Exploring What Works Reports note that Goldman has also been quietly building out teams focused on tokenization, stablecoins, and other blockchain-based tools. Work on prediction markets and experiments with putting tokenized assets into parts of the balance sheet has been underway. Employees are testing ways these technologies might fit into existing services rather than upending them. The CEO’s phrasing was cautious. He said his firm is evaluating how these systems could be folded into core operations where they make sense, rather than rushing in just to be first. “I’m still trying to figure out how Bitcoin behaves. I own a little bitcoin, very little,” Solomon said. That tone lines up with a strategy of measured adoption — try, test, and integrate only when the fit is clear. A Public Signal With Private Limits World Liberty Forum provided the stage where Solomon shared his remarks, and the public nature of the comment matters. High-level executives admitting any personal crypto holdings is still newsworthy. It signals interest but not a full personal endorsement; he emphasized that his stake is small and that he remains in observation mode. Related Reading: Bitcoin’s Powerful Rally Signal Is Back — Is History About To Repeat? Regulatory And Market Context The disclosure also comes as lawmakers and regulators continue to shape rules that could affect how banks use crypto tools. Clearer rules in Washington could accelerate practical uses, or at least make trial programs easier to run. Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
Metaplanet reported a $619 million net loss for fiscal year 2025, primarily due to a $665.8 million unrealized valuation loss on its Bitcoin holdings. The loss stems from Japan’s mark-to-market accounting standards, which require companies to value crypto assets at prevailing market prices. As a result, fluctuations in Bitcoin directly impact reported earnings even when …