Cointelegraph

The Harvard Management Company, which manages the eponymous university’s endowment, has reduced its stake in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund and opened a new position in the asset management company’s Ether ETF.

In a Friday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Harvard’s endowment reported that it had reduced its position in the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin (BTC) Trust ETF to $265.8 million as of Dec. 31 from $442.9 million in Q3 2025. The investments marked the company offloading more than 3 million shares of the ETF, to 5.4 million in Q4 from 6.8 million in Q3.

In addition to the 21% reduction in its Bitcoin position, the Harvard Management Company reported a new investment with exposure to Ether (ETH). According to the SEC filing, the endowment purchased more than 3.8 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust, valued at about $87 million as of Dec. 31. 

The portfolio managers’ decisions occurred during a period of significant price volatility for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The price of BTC dropped to less than $90,000 by January 2026 from more than $120,000 at the beginning of July 2025, while Ether dropped to under $3,000 from more than $4,000 in the same period.

As of June 30, 2025, Harvard reported that its endowment stood at $56.9 billion, making its investments in the BlackRock crypto ETFs 0.62% of the total assets under management. The company similarly increased its position in Google’s parent Alphabet by almost $100 million, while reducing its stake in Amazon by about $80 million in Q4 2025.

AI hedge fund backed by “top university endowments”

Harvard’s moves come as Numerai, an AI hedge fund, reported in November that it had raised $30 million in a funding round led by “top university endowments,” which the AI hedge fund described as “the smartest, most long-term allocators in the world,” without identifying specific endowments. However, the announcement pushed the price of its native NMR token up by more than 40%.

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Demand for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) continued to grow over the past month, even as broader cryptocurrency markets faced heavy selling pressure, underscoring the sector’s resilience and growing institutional footprint.

The total value of onchain RWAs increased 13.5% over the past 30 days, according to data from RWA.xyz. The increase reflects both higher asset issuance, meaning more tokenized securities brought onto public blockchains, and growth in the number of unique wallet addresses holding these assets, signaling expanding participation.

As of Feb. 16, all major blockchain networks tracked by RWA.xyz recorded increases in tokenized asset value, led by Ethereum, with roughly $1.7 billion in net growth, followed by Arbitrum at $880 million and Solana at $530 million. The figures refer to the increase in total onchain value of tokenized assets issued or circulating on those networks.

Excluding stablecoins, net growth in tokenized securities such as Treasurys, private credit and other yield-bearing instruments accelerated over the past 30 days. Source: RWA.xyz.

Tokenized US Treasurys and government debt remain the largest RWA category, with more than $10 billion in outstanding onchain products. Flows into these instruments continued during the period, while tokenized stocks and exchange-traded products also posted gains.

Related: Tokenized gold accounts for 25% of RWA net growth in 2025 after 177% market-cap rise

A sharp contrast with the broader crypto market 

Steady demand for tokenized RWAs points to deeper institutional participation, as asset managers increasingly use public blockchains to issue and settle tokenized versions of traditional financial products.

Tokenized money market funds, for example, are evolving beyond simple yield vehicles and are beginning to serve as collateral in certain trading and lending markets. Major institutions, including BlackRock, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, have become active participants in the space.

BlackRock last week made its first formal move into decentralized finance, bringing its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) tokenized US Treasury fund to Uniswap.

The growth also stands in contrast to the broader cryptocurrency market, which has shed roughly $1 trillion in market value over the past month, highlighting the relative stability of yield-bearing tokenized assets.

The total crypto market has continued to unravel since October, with losses intensifying in January. Source: CoinGecko

Derivatives markets have been a key source of stress, with a large-scale deleveraging event in October triggering broader weakness across digital assets. Conditions have yet to fully recover, and sentiment remains fragile even as equities continue trading near record highs.

Key takeaways

South Korea is transitioning crypto market surveillance to AI-driven systems, in which algorithms automatically detect suspicious trading activity, replacing manual processes.

The new detection model employs a sliding-window grid search technique, scanning overlapping time segments to spot abnormal patterns such as unusual volume surges.

Through 2026, the Financial Supervisory Service plans to enhance AI capabilities with tools to detect coordinated trading account networks and trace manipulation funding sources.

Regulators are exploring proactive intervention measures, such as temporary transaction or payment suspensions, to freeze suspicious activity early and prevent the withdrawal of illicit gains.

South Korea is advancing its cryptocurrency market oversight by shifting to AI-driven surveillance. Algorithms now perform the initial detection of suspicious activities instead of relying solely on human investigators.

As crypto trading grows faster, more decentralized and increasingly difficult to monitor manually, regulators are leveraging artificial intelligence to identify irregularities and anomalies more quickly.

Central to this evolution is the Financial Supervisory Service’s (FSS) enhanced Virtual Assets Intelligence System for Trading Analysis (VISTA). This upgrade reflects the recognition that traditional, manual, case-by-case probes can no longer keep pace with today’s dynamic digital asset markets.

This article explains how South Korea’s financial regulators are using upgraded AI systems to automatically detect crypto market manipulation, improve surveillance, analyze trading patterns and plan advanced tools. It also explores faster intervention and alignment of crypto oversight with broader financial markets.

Why South Korea is enhancing its crypto monitoring tools

Crypto markets produce massive volumes of data across exchanges, tokens and timelines. Manipulative tactics such as pump-and-dump schemes, wash trading or spoofing often create sudden bursts that are difficult to detect. Manually identifying suspicious periods in crypto activity has become increasingly challenging at the current market scale. As interconnected trading patterns grow more intricate, automated systems are designed to continuously scan and flag potential issues.

This automation aligns with Korea’s broader effort to strengthen oversight of digital markets, particularly as crypto has become more deeply integrated with retail investors and the overall financial system.

What VISTA does and how the recent upgrade improves it

VISTA serves as the FSS’s primary platform for examining unfair trading in digital assets. In its earlier version, analysts had to specify suspected manipulation time frames before running analyses, which restricted the detection range.

The recent upgrade adds an automated detection algorithm that can independently pinpoint potential manipulation periods without manual input. The system now searches the entire data set, enabling investigators to review suspicious intervals that might otherwise go unnoticed.

According to the regulator, the system successfully identified all known manipulation periods in internal tests using completed investigation cases. It also flagged additional intervals that had been difficult to detect using traditional methods.

Did you know? Some crypto exchanges process more individual trades in a single hour than traditional stock exchanges handle in an entire trading day, making continuous automated surveillance essential for regulators seeking to monitor real-time risks.

How the automated detection operates

Applying a sliding-window grid search approach, the algorithm divides trading data into overlapping time segments of varying durations. It then assesses these segments for anomalies.

The model scans every possible sub-period, identifying patterns associated with manipulation without requiring investigators to determine where misconduct may have occurred. Examples of such patterns include sharp price spikes followed by rapid reversals or unusual volume surges.

Rather than supplanting human oversight, the model prioritizes high-risk segments, enabling teams to focus on critical windows instead of manually reviewing the entire data set.

Did you know? In crypto markets, price manipulation can sometimes occur in windows lasting less than five minutes, a time frame too short for most human-led monitoring systems to catch reliably.

Upcoming AI enhancements through 2026

The FSS has secured funding for phased AI improvements through 2026. Key planned features include:

Tools designed to identify networks of coordinated trading accounts: These systems aim to detect clusters of accounts acting in sync, a common feature of organized manipulation schemes.

Large-scale analysis of trading-related text across thousands of crypto assets: By examining abnormal promotional activity or narrative spikes alongside market data, regulators hope to better understand how attention shocks and price movements interact.

Tracing the origin of funds used in manipulation: Linking suspicious trades to funding sources could strengthen enforcement cases and reduce the ability of bad actors to obscure their tracks.

Did you know? Early market surveillance algorithms in traditional finance were originally designed to detect insider trading in equities, not crypto. Many of today’s tools are adaptations of models built decades ago for stock exchanges.

Shift toward proactive intervention in South Korea

South Korea’s AI surveillance push seeks quicker responses. The Financial Services Commission is considering a payment suspension mechanism that could temporarily block transactions linked to suspected manipulation.

This approach aims to prevent gains from being withdrawn or laundered early. While not yet finalized, it suggests a shift by regulators from reactive to preventive enforcement.

Preemptive actions raise important governance questions around thresholds, oversight and the risk of false positives, issues regulators will need to address carefully.

This crypto-focused initiative parallels efforts in conventional capital markets. The Korea Exchange is implementing an AI-based monitoring system to identify stock manipulation earlier. The idea is to create a unified approach across asset classes, combining trading data, behavioral cues and automated risk assessment.

Strengths and limitations of AI surveillance

AI-based systems are adept at spotting repetitive, pattern-driven misconduct such as wash trading or coordinated price spikes. They enhance consistency by flagging suspicious behavior even when it occurs in small or short-lived windows.

For exchanges, AI-driven oversight raises expectations around data quality and monitoring capabilities. It also increases cooperation with regulators. With AI models, surveillance becomes continuous rather than episodic.

Traders and issuers should expect greater scrutiny of subtle manipulative patterns that previously evaded attention. While detection begins algorithmically, real-world penalties remain significant.

But automated surveillance has certain limitations. Cross-venue manipulation, off-platform coordination and subtle narrative engineering remain difficult to detect. AI models also require regular evaluation to avoid bias, drift or the flagging of legitimate activity.

AI tools support, not replace, human investigators.

Shaping of a new enforcement framework

South Korea’s strategy involves AI models built around continuous monitoring, automated prioritization and swifter action. As these systems evolve, balancing efficiency with transparency, due process and accountability will be key.

The implementation of these models will shape not only Korea’s crypto markets but also how other jurisdictions approach regulating digital assets in an era of algorithmic trading and mass participation.

Nexo is set to relaunch its digital asset services and crypto exchange platform in the US on Monday, more than three years after it left the market following battles with federal and state regulators.

Now, citing improved regulatory clarity for digital assets in the US, the rebooted Nexo platform will offer flexible and fixed-term yield programs, a spot cryptocurrency exchange, crypto-backed credit lines and a loyalty program for US users, Nexo head of communications Eleonor Genova told Cointelegraph.

The platform’s trading infrastructure will be provided by Bakkt, a US-based digital asset platform focused on serving institutional clients. Genova said:

“Nexo’s US offering is structured through partnerships with appropriately licensed US service providers. Certain services are made available via a third-party Securities and Exchange Commission-registered (SEC) investment adviser, which provides advisory services under applicable US securities laws.”

Current SEC Chair Paul Atkins testifies to Congress. The SEC has made a pro-crypto regulatory pivot under Atkins’ leadership. Source: US House Committee on Financial Services

The new US operations will be based in Florida and run by a management team to be announced soon, according to the company.

Nexo first announced plans to re-enter the US during an exclusive event in April 2025, which featured Donald Trump Jr., the son of US President Donald Trump, as a keynote speaker. At the event, Trump Jr. described crypto as the future of finance.

2022 exit cited regulatory uncertainty under Gensler regime

Nexo left the US market in December 2022 during the depths of the crypto bear market, citing the hostile regulatory posture toward the crypto industry under the leadership of former SEC chair Gary Gensler.

Source: Nexo

The company said it had decided to exit the US out of necessity after engaging in “good faith” conversations with US state and federal regulators over 18 months that did not move the needle.

“It is now unfortunately clear to us that despite rhetoric to the contrary, the US refuses to provide a path forward for enabling blockchain businesses,” the company said at the time.

Nexo’s “Crypto Earn” program, which allowed users to earn compounding interest on select cryptocurrencies loaned to the platform, was a major point of contention between the SEC and the company.

In January 2023, Nexo agreed to a $45 million settlement with the SEC over failing to register its interest-bearing crypto rewards program with the regulator. The company also settled a $22.5 million multi-state securities settlement related to the earn interest program.

The company shuttered its Crypto Earn program for US users one month later.

Washington mulls crypto “clarity”

Nexo’s market reentry comes amid efforts in Washington to pass a bill defining how US market regulators will police crypto. The House passed a similar bill, the CLARITY Act, in July, but the effort has stalled as the Senate Banking Committee has yet to gather enough bipartisan support to advance it.

White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt said on Friday that both sides must compromise on the issue and push for passage before November’s midterm elections. Contributing to the stalemate are concerns voiced by crypto industry executives, which US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent believes have negatively impacted the industry, he told CNBC on Friday.

A White House-brokered meeting last week between crypto and banking industry representatives to reach an agreement on stablecoin provisions in the market structure bill was described as “productive,” but remains unresolved. 

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Ray Dalio warned that the post-World War II order has “officially broken down,” with the world now sliding into what he bluntly calls a “law of the jungle” phase, where power, not rules, decides outcomes, and crypto investors are using the moment to renew the case for assets designed to operate outside state control.

In his latest article on X describing both internal and external disorder, the Bridgewater Associates founder wrote that great powers are now locked in a persistent “prisoner’s dilemma.” They must either escalate or look weak across trade, technology, capital flows and, increasingly, military flashpoints, making what he calls “stupid wars” frighteningly easy to trigger. 

That external disorder tends to collide with internal stress, Dalio said. When economies are under strain and wealth gaps are wide, governments reliably reach for higher taxes and “big increases in the supply of money” that devalue existing claims rather than pushing explicit defaults.

That combination is exactly the type of environment in which apolitical assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and gold have typically thrived. The pitch from crypto advocates is straightforward: as governments lean more heavily on sanctions, asset freezes and money creation, investors will look harder at assets that can be held and transferred without relying on a bank or a state-backed payments system.

Liquidity data fuels hard assets

Data from Econovis found that global broad money climbed from $26 trillion in 2000 to an estimated $142 trillion in 2025.

Global money supply. Source: Visual Capitalist

According to ex-fund manager Asymmetry, every major BTC rally has coincided with M2 expansion and “the next wave is building.”

M2 vs BTC price. Source: Asymmetry

Gold prices have also generally tracked the US M2 money supply, reflecting the precious metal’s status as a traditional hedge against monetary expansion.

Gold price vs M2 expansion. Source: Visual Capitalist

Related: ‘No privacy’ CBDCs will come, warns billionaire Ray Dalio

A bull case for neutral money

Dalio’s framework also emphasizes how states use asset freezes, capital market bans, and embargoes as standard tactics, showing how dependent traditional savings and payments are on political discretion and jurisdictional risk, and placing the case for an apolitical, borderless money front and center.

Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley captured the crypto community’s thoughts in a single comment, saying, “Is anyone working on global, permissionless, apolitical monetary assets and financial rails?? Could be important.” 

Asymmetry made a similar point from the portfolio side, arguing that the setup Dalio is describing, a fracturing world order layered on top of what macro analysts such as Lyn Alden or Luke Gromen call fiscal dominance, where government borrowing needs effectively dictate central bank policy, is among the “most structurally bullish backdrop for hard assets in 80 years.” 

Still, Dalio’s warning is not a direct forecast for Bitcoin, and the investment case for crypto remains sensitive to a wide range of factors, including interest rates, regulation, market liquidity and risk appetite. What his latest comments do provide is a clear macro narrative that many in the crypto market are using to argue that demand for “neutral money” could increase as the world becomes more fractured.

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The crypto industry and investors are awaiting the completion of the US CLARITY Act, which has been delayed amid partisan politics and industry concerns.

The bill would rewrite the rules of the road for the crypto industry, from which agency oversees it to regulations for decentralized finance (DeFi).

Currently, lawmakers in the US Senate are hammering out the details, with significant points of contention. Democrats want a bipartisan bill with ethics provisions and a bailout prohibition that Republicans roundly rejected.

The crypto industry itself has taken issue with some of the provisions. Namely, Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US, doesn’t want a bill that prevents it from offering stablecoin yields. The US bank lobby opposes such yields, saying they threaten deposits and the stability of the financial system.

The bill has gone through several iterations. Here’s a look at how far it’s come:

May 2025: CLARITY comes to Washington

House Committee on Financial Services Chairman French Hill first introduced the CLARITY Act on May 29, 2025.

The goal of the bill, according to the committee, was to establish “clear, functional requirements for digital asset market participants, prioritizing consumer protection while fostering innovation.”

The committee said the bill was needed for several reasons, mainly that digital assets represented the next step in digital financial innovation and that the regulatory status quo was stifling possibilities.

June-July 2025: House passes crypto bill

The House of Representatives moved with uncharacteristic speed on the CLARITY Act. In June, the bill moved through markup sessions in the House committees on agriculture and financial services and was placed on the calendar for a vote on the floor by June 23.

On July 17, the House of Representatives passed the bill, 294-134. The vote found more support among Republicans. Some 216 Republicans supported the bill, none opposed, while four abstained from voting.

There was some bipartisan support: 78 Democrats joined in voting “Yay,” while most of them, 134 Democratic Representatives, voted “Nay.” No Democrats abstained from voting.

The CLARITY Act had some bipartisan support: Source: US Congress

With the vote, the bill moved to the upper house, the US Senate, where it has since been under debate.

July-September 2025: Senate starts work

The Senate quickly got underway with work on CLARITY. On July 22, Republican leaders on the US Senate Banking Committee released a draft version of the bill.

The discussion draft would “establish clear distinctions between digital asset securities and commodities, modernize our regulatory framework, and position the United States as the global leader in digital asset innovation.”

Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott was optimistic about the Senate moving just as quickly as the House, giving an initial deadline of Sept. 30, 2025.

October-December 2025: Senators at odds during government shutdown

Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee, including noted cryptocurrency skeptic Senator Elizabeth Warren, were opposed to several parts of the discussion draft.

Warren took issue with how taxes would be treated under the law, saying in a statement that “proposals to clarify crypto’s tax treatment could ultimately give crypto an unfair advantage over other financial products.”

She also said that the proposals “make it harder to track what’s happening in crypto transactions if they are being used for illegal purposes.”

Senate Democrats also came up with their own proposals on how the bill would regulate DeFi. According to partners at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, these DeFi rules sought to “leverage existing regulatory frameworks to create a crypto market structure and show Congress’ instinct to retrofit the current system rather than design one built for crypto.”

This was diametrically opposed to Republicans’ and the crypto industry’s vision, which was to create a new, bespoke system for the digital asset industry.

On Nov. 11, 2025, the Senate Agricultural Committee released its own discussion draft of CLARITY. The draft noted that lawmakers were still discussing the idea of which federal agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), would regulate the industry.

Further hindering progress was the US federal government shutdown from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12 — the longest in history after the previous one that occurred in President Donald Trump’s first term. It only ended after a small group of Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to pass a resolution to temporarily fund the government.

December 2025-January 2026: Markup session, crypto industry gets impatient

Senator Cynthia Lummis predicted in the autumn that the crypto framework law would reach Trump’s desk by New Year’s Eve. As the year 2025 drew to a close, this seemed less likely.

On Dec. 19, the White House’s crypto and AI czar, David Sacks, said that, after a meeting with top senators working on CLARITY, there would be a markup session in January.

Source: David Sacks

However, the planned markup session in the Senate Banking Committee was postponed amid substantive disagreements about the bill from the crypto industry lobby and the banking industry.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said they couldn’t support the bill due to its provisions banning interest-bearing stablecoins, as well as positioning the SEC as the main crypto industry regulator.

The move reportedly infuriated the White House, which was eager to complete work on the framework law.

Other financial bigwigs like David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, agreed with Armstrong, saying that the bill “has a long way to go.”

Work on the law did not stop completely. The Senate Agriculture Committee announced that it would have its own markup session on Jan. 27. Committee Democrats attempted to make amendments to the bill, including an ethics provision banning Congress from trading crypto, as well as ruling out any possibility of the government bailing out crypto.

These votes failed along party lines, and the Republican majority advanced the bill to the Senate floor.

February 2026: High-level talks at the White House, political maneuvers

Crypto industry executives, lawmakers and bankers are now meeting frequently at the White House and in the halls of Congress to figure out a solution to their differences. The Digital Chamber of Commerce said that a meeting on Feb. 3 focused on stablecoin yields.

Source: The Digital Chamber

These talks have continued. On Tuesday, more executives, including Ripple chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty, met for what was a “productive session.”

“Clear, bipartisan momentum remains behind sensible crypto market structure legislation. We should move now — while the window is still open,” he said.

Still, there’s been no deal. Delays have reportedly led to nearly $1 billion in outflows from the crypto market, according to data from CoinShares. Some observers believe that the delays are ultimately good in the long run, as it gives the industry a chance to bargain for more favorable terms.

Market analyst Michaël van de Poppe said, “I think if the bill were approved in its current form, it would have had a very bad impact on the markets in general. So, now, all the parties are aligned to continue the discussion. It reminds me a lot of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations in Europe.”

Many are eager to seal the deal before the midterm elections. The crypto lobby has been building its political machine through donations to political action committees (PACs). Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress are reportedly eager to pass something favorable before the 2026 campaign cycle begins and crypto PACs decide who to support.

Crypto’s strong support in the Republican Party could also prove a liability as the party loses popularity. Midterm elections historically go against the sitting president’s party, and in one year, the crypto lobby could be stuck with a lame-duck president and lukewarm support among a Democrat majority.

The success of CLARITY could end up being a race against the clock.

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Japanese public company Metaplanet has reported explosive revenue growth after pivoting its business around Bitcoin, with the cryptocurrency now accounting for nearly all of its operating activity.

According to the firm’s fiscal year 2025 earnings report, revenue climbed to 8.9 billion Japanese yen ($58 million) from 1.06 billion yen ($7 million) a year earlier, a 738% year-over-year increase. The surge followed the launch of the company’s Bitcoin (BTC) income operations.

“We launched the Bitcoin Income business in Q4 2024. Since then, this strategy has become our primary revenue source and is expected to remain a core driver of profit growth,” the company wrote.

A revenue breakdown shows roughly 95% of total income came from Bitcoin-related operations, largely generated through premium income from BTC options transactions. The company only began the segment in late 2024, replacing traditional business lines such as hotel and media activities as the core of its financial model.

Metaplanet revenue surge. Source: Metaplanet

Related: Metaplanet sticks to Bitcoin buying plan as crypto sentiment hits 2022 lows

Bitcoin price drop pushes Metaplanet into loss

Operating profit reached about $40 million, but the company still posted a net loss of roughly $619 million. The loss stemmed from accounting rules. Since Metaplanet holds large Bitcoin reserves, it must reflect price swings on its financial statements, and a more than $664 million valuation drop erased the year’s operating income.

The company has aggressively accumulated Bitcoin alongside the business shift. Holdings increased from 1,762 BTC at the end of 2024 to 35,102 BTC by the end of 2025, making it the largest corporate Bitcoin holder in Japan. The firm has also raised more than $3.2 billion in capital since adopting its treasury strategy.

Metaplanet described its model as a long-term Bitcoin treasury approach, aiming to “acquire and hold Bitcoin permanently to hedge against fiat currency dilution and benefit from long-term value appreciation.”

The company expects growth to continue next year, forecasting revenue of about $104 million and operating profit of roughly $74 million.

Related: Metaplanet lifts 2026 revenue outlook despite $680M Bitcoin impairment

Metaplanet CEO reaffirms Bitcoin strategy despite market selloff

Earlier this month, Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich said the company will stick with its Bitcoin-focused approach even as the broader crypto market undergoes a sharp downturn. In a post on X, he stated there would be no shift in direction despite recent volatility.

Last month, the company also approved an overseas capital raise of as much as $137 million to expand its Bitcoin holdings and reduce debt.

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Crypto exchange Binance has pushed back on a recent report by Fortune, rejecting allegations that it enabled sanctions-violating transactions tied to Iran and fired compliance investigators who raised concerns.

Fortune reported Friday that internal investigators at Binance discovered more than $1 billion in transfers linked to Iranian entities moving through the platform between March 2024 and August 2025. The transactions were said to involve Tether’s USDt (USDT) stablecoin on the Tron blockchain.

Citing unnamed sources, the report claimed that at least five investigators, several with law-enforcement backgrounds, were later fired after documenting the activity. The outlet also reported that additional senior compliance staff departed the company in recent months.

However, Binance disputed the characterization in a formal response. “This is categorically false. No investigator was dismissed for raising compliance concerns or for reporting potential sanctions issues as there are no violations,” the exchange wrote in an email shared by CEO Richard Teng.

Binance’s response to Fortune report. Source: Richard Teng

Binance denies sanctions violations after internal review

Binance said it conducted a full internal review with outside legal advice and found no evidence it violated applicable sanctions laws in connection with the referenced activity. It also rejected the suggestion that the exchange failed to meet its regulatory obligations under ongoing oversight.

The dispute lands as Binance remains under heightened scrutiny after its 2023 settlement with US authorities, in which the firm agreed to pay $4.3 billion for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and sanctions violations. Founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down as CEO and later served a four-month prison sentence. Binance also agreed to a monitorship and pledged to strengthen compliance controls.

Binance also denied claims it is failing to meet regulatory obligations, saying it continues to cooperate with its monitorship and oversight requirements. “The article suggests that Binance is “reneging” on its regulatory obligations. This assertion is false,” the exchange said.

Binance acknowledged Cointelegraph’s request for comment, but had not responded by publication.

Related: Binance completes $1B Bitcoin conversion for SAFU emergency fund

FT report questions Binance compliance controls

A December report by the Financial Times also claimed that Binance allowed a group of suspicious accounts to move significant sums through the exchange even after its US criminal settlement in 2023, which required tighter controls. Internal data reviewed by the publication showed 13 user accounts processed roughly $1.7 billion in transactions since 2021, including about $144 million after the plea agreement.

“We take compliance seriously and reject the framing of the Financial Times report,” a Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph at the time, adding that all transactions are assessed “based on information available at the time,” and that none of the wallets referenced were sanctioned when the activity referenced occurred.

Magazine: Bitget’s Gracy Chen is looking for ‘entrepreneurs, not wantrepreneurs’

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week at an important crossroads as analysis sees the chance for a new short squeeze.

Bitcoin closes the week above a key 200-week trend line, leading to fresh belief in a trip to $75,000.

Liquidations stay elevated, with a trader noting that longs should be in the driving seat going forward.

US inflation data piles up, saving risk-asset volatility for later in the week.

Bitcoin onchain profitability data paints a dangerous picture, with the net unrealized profit and loss ratio hitting three-year highs.

Loss-making UTXOs suggest that Bitcoin may be at the start of a new bear market.

Bitcoin faces 2024 range and “a lot of uncertainty”

Bitcoin saw a surprisingly calm weekly candle close Sunday, but traders know the significance of the current price range.

At around $68,800 on Bitstamp, per data from TradingView, the weekly close came in above a key long-term trend line that will be key to future upside.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Currently at $68,343, the 200-week exponential moving average (EMA) forms one of two nearby lines in the sand for market participants. The other is Bitcoin’s old all-time high from 2021 at just over $69,000.

BTC/USD one-day chart with 200-week EMA. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

“We're back inside an old important range that kept price for 7 months!” trader CrypNuevo wrote in his latest X analysis.

CrypNuevo referenced the extended rangebound construction focused around the $69,000 mark that BTC/USD formed in 2024.

He noted that last week, the pair filled almost half of its wick to 15-month lows from earlier in February — something that could have significance for the broader price trend.

“So Bitcoin might range here for some time, meaning that price could test the range lows,” the analysis continued. 

“Only if: 1. Bitcoin drops back to the 50% wick-fill level (signal for 100% wick-fill). 2. Acceptance below 100% wick.”

BTC/USDT one-week chart. Source: CrypNuevo/X

CrypNuevo flagged a rebound to $75,000 as the move that could trigger a “surprise recovery,” adding that Bitcoin “tends to do the opposite of the market sentiment.”

“A lot of uncertainty for the upcoming week. Also, Monday is bank holiday in the US so expecting irregular volatility (probably low volatility that day),” he concluded.

BTC/USDT one-week chart. Source: CrypNuevo/X

Crypto liquidations run high around $70,000 BTC

Despite the relative lack of BTC price volatility since the recovery from $59,000 lows, the market remains highly sensitive to even smaller moves.

This is reflected in elevated liquidations across crypto, with both long and short positions close to spot price being repeatedly erased.

Data from monitoring resource CoinGlass puts the total liquidation tally for the 24 hours to the time of writing at over $250 million. During that time, BTC/USD acted within a range of less than $3,000.

Crypto liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass

CoinGlass now shows traders doubling down on long BTC positions immediately below $68,000 as the week begins.

Commenting, trader CW said that these would now become the next target for whales.

CW had some potential good news for bulls, with longs still prevailing in the current market setup.

“Despite significant liquidation of $BTC long positions, longs remain dominant. Expectations for a bullish trend remain intact,” they told X followers.

On Friday, as BTC/USD spiked past $70,000 around the Wall Street open, short liquidations even beat recent records. At 10,700 BTC, the short liquidation tally reached its highest daily reading since September 2024.

“If spot demand follows, this squeeze could be the first sign the downside trend is running out of steam,” crypto exchange Bitfinex wrote in an X reaction.

Crypto liquidation history (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

PCE and GDP lead volatile macro week

With US markets closed for the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday, key economic data — and any associated risk-asset volatility — will come later in the week.

Chief among the upcoming releases is the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index, known as the Federal Reserve’s “preferred” inflation gauge. Q4 GDP data is due the same day, Friday.

PCE is due out at a key moment for Fed policy — recent inflation numbers have given a mixed picture of economic conditions, leading to uncertainty in the markets. Expectations of the Fed returning to policy loosening at its March meeting remain low, despite last week’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) coming in below expectations.

According to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, the odds that officials will hold interest rates at current levels next month remain over 90%.

“Expect more volatility this week,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter told X followers while summarizing the upcoming macro events.

“Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions remain and macroeconomic uncertainty is elevated.”

Fed target rate probabilities for March FOMC meeting (screenshot). Source: CME Group

In the latest edition of its regular newsletter, The Market Mosaic, analytics resource Mosaic Asset Company additionally focused on last week’s US employment report as a potential headache for the Fed.

“The report is clouding the outlook for further rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, with market-implied odds pointing to two quarter-point rate cuts later this year. However, the 2-year Treasury yield that leads changes in the fed funds rate is near the low end of the current fed funds range and suggests no cuts at all,” it noted.

Analysis puts spotlight on mid-$50,000 zone

In fresh market research issued on Monday, onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant said that future BTC price bottoms will increasingly rely on “investor resilience.”

Looking back at the first half of February, contributor GugaOnChain warned that a showdown could occur at the confluence of two key price points below $60,000.

Here, Bitcoin’s 200-week simple moving average (SMA) meets its overall realized price — the aggregate level at which the supply last moved onchain.

“Bitcoin's 50% collapse toward the 200-period moving average on the weekly timeframe — which converge with the region of its realized price at $55,800 — will be a significant test, besides being seen by analysts as a region conducive to accumulation,” GugaOnChain wrote in a Quicktake blog post. 

“However, the turn toward recovery now depends on investor resilience.”

Bitcoin realized price. Source: CryptoQuant

The research also pointed to comparatively low values on the net unrealized profit/loss (NUPL) indicator — a yardstick for overall BTC holdings’ profitability.

NUPL currently measures 0.201, having bounced from lows of 0.11 seen on Feb. 6. The latter reading represents the indicator’s lowest since March 2023.

GugaOnChain described NUPL as being “in the fear region.”

Bitcoin NUPL. Source: CryptoQuant

Bitcoin may still lack “real bottom”

Other onchain profitability data goes further, and warns that the current BTC price dip may be just the start of a “regime change.”

Here, CryptoQuant leveraged the adjusted spent output profit ratio (aSOPR) — a metric that measures the proportion of coins moving onchain at higher levels compared to their previous transaction.

aSOPR discards coins that moved more than once in a one-hour time frame, helping to remove “noise” from transactions that do not necessarily imply a loss for the holder.

On Feb. 6, the metric dropped below its breakeven level of 1, implying realized losses on a scale not seen since 2023 and the end of Bitcoin’s last bear market.

“In 2019 and 2023, similar readings occurred during deep corrective phases where coins were being spent at a loss,” contributor Woo Minkyu commented in another Quicktake post. 

“Each time, this zone represented capitulation pressure and structural reset. Now, aSOPR is again pressing into that same region.”

Bitcoin aSOPR chart (screenshot). Source: CryptoQuant

Woo described current market structure as one that “resembles prior bear transition phases.”

“Unlike mid-cycle pullbacks where aSOPR quickly reclaims 1.0, this move shows sustained weakness and loss realization. If aSOPR fails to reclaim 1.0 soon, this increases the probability that we are not in a simple correction — but transitioning into a broader bear phase,” he warned.

aSOPR currently measures 0.996, having managed only brief spikes above breakeven over the past month.

“aSOPR is signaling structural deterioration. This looks less like a dip, and more like a regime shift,” Woo concluded.

“The real bottom may still require deeper compression before a durable reversal forms.”

Crypto investment products failed to attract enough inflows last week to reverse negative sentiment, clocking a fourth consecutive week of outflows.

Crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) recorded another $173 million in outflows last week, following the previous week’s $187 million, according to a CoinShares fund flows update on Monday.

Although the last two weeks brought relatively minor losses, total outflows over the past four weeks now amount to around $3.8 billion, while total assets under management (AUM) sit near $133 billion, the lowest since April 2025.

CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill, attributed last week’s outflows to broad market negativity and ongoing price weakness. After starting last week at $70,000, Bitcoin (BTC) briefly dropped to as low as $65,000 last Thursday, according to Coinbase data.

Bitcoin leads outflows, while XRP and Solana buck the trend

Bitcoin ETPs drove last week’s negative sentiment, with outflows totaling $133.3 million and AUM declining to around $106 billion.

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) painted an even bleaker picture, with outflows approaching $360 million last week, according to SoSoValue data.

Weekly crypto ETP flows by asset as of Friday (in millions of US dollars). Source: CoinShares

Echoing Bitcoin’s trend, Ether (ETH) funds recorded $85 million in outflows, though US spot Ether ETFs saw modest inflows of $10 million.

XRP (XRP) and Solana (SOL) ETPs bucked the trend, emerging as the top performers with inflows of $33.4 million and $31 million, respectively.

US crypto products saw more than $400 million in outflows

Butterfill highlighted a significant divergence in sentiment between the US and other regions.

While US crypto investment products saw $403 million in outflows, all other regions recorded sizable inflows totaling $230 million.

Weekly crypto ETP flows by country as of Friday (in millions of US dollars). Source: CoinShares

Germany, Canada and Switzerland saw the largest gains, with inflows of $115 million, $46 million and around $37 million, respectively.

The outflows came amid Standard Chartered analysts officially lowering their 2026 Bitcoin target from $150,000 to $100,000 last week, forecasting the crypto asset to drop to $50,000 before recovering.

Magazine: Did a Hong Kong fund kill Bitcoin? Bithumb’s ‘phantom’ BTC: Asia Express

Onchain analyst and early Bitcoin adopter Willy Woo is warning that growing attention to quantum computing risks is starting to weigh on Bitcoin’s long-term valuation case against gold.

Woo argued in a Monday X post that markets had begun to price in the risk of a future “Q‑Day” breakthrough — shorthand for the moment when a powerful enough quantum computer exists to break today’s public key cryptography.

Roughly 4 million “lost” Bitcoin (BTC) — coins whose private keys are presumed gone — could be dragged back into play, Woo argued, if a powerful quantum computer could derive private keys from exposed public keys, undermining part of Bitcoin’s core scarcity narratives.

He estimated only about a 25% chance that the network would agree to freeze those coins via a hard fork, one of the most contentious issues in Bitcoin governance today.

Q‑day risk and “lost” coins

According to blockchain researchers, the 4 million exposed coins represent around 25%-30% of the Bitcoin supply and are held in addresses whose public keys are already visible onchain, making them among the first at risk in a quantum attack scenario.

Yet any move to freeze these coins would upend long‑standing norms around fungibility, immutability and property rights.

Freezing the coins could provoke deep splits between those prioritizing backward‑compatible fixes (upgrades that preserve existing rules and coins without invalidating past transactions or requiring a contentious hard fork), and those willing to rewrite rules to protect early balances.

With a 75% likelihood of the coins remaining untouched, investors should assume, Woo said, a non‑trivial probability that an amount of BTC equivalent to roughly “8 years of enterprise accumulation” becomes spendable again.

It’s a prospect that is already being priced in as a structural discount on BTC’s valuation versus gold for the next five to 15 years, Woo argued, meaning that Bitcoin’s long‑term tendency to gain purchasing power when measured in ounces of gold is no longer in play.

BTC vs Gold Chart Price and Ratio. Source: Bitbo

Bitcoin’s post‑quantum migration path

Many core developers and cryptographers stress that Bitcoin does not face an imminent “doomsday” situation and has time to adapt.

The emerging roadmap for a post‑quantum migration is not a single emergency hard fork, they argue, but a phased process, eventually steering the network toward new address formats and key management practices over a multi‑year transition. 

Even if quantum did arrive sooner than expected and the coins were recirculated, other Bitcoiners, such as Human Rights Foundation chief strategy officer Alex Gladstein, argue that it is unlikely they would be dumped onto the market. 

Gladstein sees a more likely scenario where the coins are accumulated by a nation-state rather than immediately sold.

Quantum risk goes mainstream in macro

Still, Woo’s warning lands in a market where Bitcoin is trading almost 50% off its all-time high, and quantum has already moved from a niche concern to a mainstream risk factor in institutional portfolios.

In January, Jefferies’ longtime “Greed & Fear” strategist Christopher Wood cut Bitcoin from his flagship model portfolio and rotated the position into gold, explicitly citing the possibility that “cryptographically relevant” quantum machines could weaken Bitcoin’s store of value case for pension‑style investors. 

Magazine: Kevin O’Leary says quantum attacking Bitcoin would be a waste of time

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Cryptocurrency exchange OKX expanded its regulatory footprint in Europe, securing a new license for stablecoin payments.

OKX has obtained a Payment Institution (PI) license in Malta, the company told Cointelegraph on Monday. The authorization is issued under the European Union’s payments framework and is designed to bring OKX’s payment products into line with requirements under the bloc’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2).

Under these rules, crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) offering payment services involving stablecoins must hold either a PI or Electronic Money Institution (EMI) authorization. OKX’s PI license comes more than a year after the exchange received a MiCA license from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in January 2025.

“Securing a Payment Institution license ensures that these products operate on a fully compliant footing,” OKX Europe CEO Erald Ghoos said, adding:

“Europe has chosen clarity over ambiguity when it comes to digital asset regulation [...] Stablecoins can meaningfully modernize money, improving cross-border efficiency and reducing friction in payments, but only if built within strong regulatory guardrails.”

License supports OKX Pay and OKX Card rollout

The exchange said the license will cover products including OKX Pay and the OKX Card, which allow users to spend crypto assets and stablecoins.

Officially launched in late January, OKX Card supports spending in stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC (USDC) and the Paxos-issued Global Dollar (USDG).

Source: OKX

Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026

Animoca Brands has secured a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), clearing the way for the company to broaden its crypto operations across the Middle East.

The license allows the Hong Kong-founded Web3 investor and platform developer to offer broker-dealer services and investment management related to virtual assets in and from Dubai, excluding the Dubai International Financial Centre, according to a Monday announcement. The services are aimed primarily at institutional and qualified investors worldwide.

“This licence enhances our ability to engage with Web3 foundations as well as global institutional and qualified investors within a well-regulated framework,” Omar Elassar, managing director for the Middle East and head of global strategic partnerships at Animoca Brands, said.

VARA, established in March 2022, is responsible for regulating and overseeing the provision, use, and exchange of digital assets across Dubai's mainland and free zones.

Related: Dubai and UAE move to align crypto frameworks under new partnership

Animoca to serve institutional investors in Dubai

VARA’s public register shows that the license was issued on Feb. 5. It permits the firm to serve institutional and qualified investors under the oversight of Dubai’s VARA.

Animoca wins VASP license. Source: VARA

Animoca Brands develops blockchain platforms and supports Web3 ecosystems, including The Sandbox, Open Campus and Moca Network, while also backing early-stage projects. The company says its investment portfolio spans more than 600 companies and digital-asset initiatives.

In January, Animoca Brands acquired gaming and digital collectibles company Somo, adding Somo’s playable and tradable collectibles to its broader portfolio of blockchain-based projects.

Related: What Dubai’s ban on Monero and Zcash signals for regulated crypto

Crypto firms expand crypto operations in Dubai

The move adds to a growing list of crypto firms establishing regulated operations in Dubai. In October 2025, digital asset infrastructure firm BitGo also obtained a broker-dealer license from Dubai’s VARA, allowing its Middle East and North Africa unit to provide regulated digital-asset trading and intermediation services to institutional clients in the emirate.

The approval came after VARA said it had issued financial penalties against 19 companies for “unlicensed” Virtual Asset activities and “breaches of VARA’s Marketing Regulations.”

Magazine: Bitget’s Gracy Chen is looking for ‘entrepreneurs, not wantrepreneurs’

Bitcoin may be headed for its worst first quarter in eight years, with data showing Bitcoin is already down 22.3% since the start of the year.

The asset began the year trading around $87,700 and has declined by around $20,000 to current lows of around $68,000, putting it on track for its worst first quarter since the 2018 bear market — which fell almost 50%, according to CoinGlass. 

Bitcoin (BTC) has declined in seven of the past thirteen Q1s, with the most recent being 2025 when it lost 11.8%, 2020 when it shed 10.8%, and the largest ever, 2018, when it dumped 49.7% in just three months. 

“The first quarter of the year is known for its volatile nature,” observed analyst Daan Trades Crypto on Sunday.

“So it’s safe to say, whatever happens in Q1 does not generally translate over further down the line, according to the historical price action,” he added.

Bitcoin on track for its worst Q1 since 2018. Source: CoinGlass

First-ever red Jan and Feb?

BTC has only ever seen two consecutive first quarters of losses in the bear market years of 2018 and 2022.

Comparatively, Ether (ETH) has only seen red in three of the past nine first quarters, with the current period shaping up to be its third-worst historically, with 34.3% losses so far.  

Related: Bitcoin loses $2.3B in biggest crash since 2021 as capitulation intensifies: Analyst

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is also on track to see its first-ever consecutive January and February in the red. The asset lost 10.2% in January and is down 13.4% so far this month. It needs to reclaim $80,000 to prevent a red February. 

Bitcoin is in a correctional phase

Nick Ruck, the director of LVRG Research, told Cointelegraph that the ongoing decline in BTC price amid persistent global economic uncertainty “reflects a regular correctional phase rather than a structural breakdown in the asset’s long-term trajectory.” 

“While short-term pressures could intensify if macroeconomic headwinds persist, historical patterns show Bitcoin’s resilience often leads to strong recoveries in later months, particularly as institutional adoption and halving cycle dynamics continue to strengthen its potential,” he added. 

Meanwhile, BTC has entered its fifth consecutive week of losses, falling back 2.3% over the past 24 hours to trade at $68,670 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko. 

Magazine: Coinbase misses Q4 earnings, Ethereum eyes ‘V-shaped recovery’: Hodler’s Digest

Russia’s finance ministry and central bank are reportedly calling on the government to speed up the rollout of crypto market regulations amid booming adoption of digital assets, claiming citizens are spending almost 50 billion Russian rubles ($648 million) on crypto daily. 

According to a report from Russian news outlet RBC on Thursday, Russia’s deputy finance minister, Ivan Chebeskov, emphasized the importance of regulating the market, as most crypto spending is happening primarily through unregulated channels.  

“We have always said that millions of citizens are involved in this activity, these are trillions of rubles from the point of view of citizens in use, in savings,” he said as part of a panel discussion on digital assets at the Alfa Talk conference, adding: 

“Also, for example, one of the figures, about 50 billion rubles per day is the turnover of crypto in our country. That is a turnover of more than 10 trillion rubles per year, which is now happening outside the regulated zone, outside our attention.” 

Russia’s deputy finance minister Ivan Chebeskov. Source: The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation

The daily volume of 50 billion rubles cited by Chebeskov equates to roughly $648 million, with the yearly figure equating to $129.4 billion. It marks strong crypto adoption within the country as it tangles with economic sanctions slapped on the country by the US and Europe.

The European Union, in particular, has recently raised concerns over Russia’s use of crypto to bypass sanctions, and is pushing to “ban all cryptocurrency transactions with Russia” as part of a new sanctions package, according to a report from the Financial Times on Feb. 10. 

In late December, Russia’s central bank released a policy proposal looking to enable both qualified and non-qualified investors to buy certain crypto assets, marking a stark contrast to its earlier push for an outright ban on crypto.

The proposal seeks to provide a strict limit on non-qualified investors, allowing them to hold up to 300,000 rubles ($3,834) worth of crypto a year, while allowing broad access to the market, excluding privacy coins, for qualified investors. 

Related: Russia is blocking WhatsApp to push ‘surveillance’ app, company says

Speaking on the same panel as Chebeskov, the first deputy chairman of Russia’s central bank, Vladimir Chistyukhin, said he hopes to see crypto market regulation adopted by the government in the spring session of the State Duma, the first of two annual legislative periods in Russia.  

“We would very much like the government to see the law adopted in the spring session. I hope that this is a possible consensus decision and this will provide an opportunity for a transition period for market participants to obtain the necessary licenses, to develop appropriate internal documents to start work, as I said, to legalize this segment of the market,” he said.

Magazine: Is China hoarding gold so yuan becomes global reserve instead of USD?

Businessman and TV personality Kevin O’Leary has won a multi-million-dollar defamation lawsuit against crypto influencer Ben Armstrong, also known as “Bitboy.”

Miami federal judge Beth Bloom on Friday ordered Armstrong to pay almost $2.83 million in damages to O’Leary over a series of social media posts accusing the Shark Tank star of being a murderer.

O’Leary and his wife, Linda, were in a boating accident in 2019 that resulted in two deaths when their boat struck another. Armstrong accused O’Leary of murder in multiple X posts in March 2025 and claimed he paid millions to cover up the incident.

Kevin O’Leary, pictured on stage at a conference last year. Source: YouTube

In her order, Judge Bloom said that O’Leary wasn’t operating the boat at the time and was never charged, and while Linda O’Leary was charged with careless operation of a vehicle, she was exonerated after a 13-day trial had found the other boat was operating without its lights on.

Armstrong posted O’Leary’s phone number in X outburst

Judge Bloom said Armstrong had “escalated his harassment campaign” by sharing O’Leary’s private phone number and “urging his followers to ‘call a real life murderer,’” which saw him suspended from X for 12 hours.

O’Leary had said his phone was “lighting up” after the post, and the sharing of his number “significantly affected him, both in his professional and personal life,” according to the order.

Ben Armstrong appeared in a YouTube video on his own channel in October. Source: YouTube

Judge Bloom made a default judgment in the case as Armstrong failed to respond to the complaint or appear in court and was ordered to pay $750,000 in mental anguish damages, $78,000 in reputational damages, and $2 million in punitive damages.

The decision is the latest legal blow to Armstrong, who has been embroiled in public legal controversies over the past few years after being removed from the Bitboy Crypto brand in 2023, once one of the most-watched crypto-related YouTube channels.

He was arrested in March in Florida over emails he had sent to Georgia Superior Court Judge Kimberly Childs while acting as his own attorney. He was also arrested again in July in Georgia on charges of making harassing phone calls.

Armstrong was also arrested years earlier, in 2023, while livestreaming outside a former associate’s house whom he had alleged was in possession of his Lamborghini.

Magazine: Kevin O’Leary says quantum attacking Bitcoin would be a waste of time

Stani Kulechov, the founder of decentralized lending platform Aave, said DeFi could benefit from $50 trillion worth of “abundance assets” such as solar through tokenization by 2050, opening a new class of onchain collateral.

Data from RWA.xyz shows that nearly $25 billion worth of real-world assets have been tokenized onchain, but they are mostly in the form of US Treasury bonds, stocks, commodities, private credit and real estate.

In a post to X on Sunday, Kulechov said he expects these scarce assets to continue growing but that the “biggest impact from tokenization can be achieved by tokenizing abundance assets.”

“Capital is hungry for new collateral, and the world is ready for a transformation that onchain lending can capture and accelerate,” the Aave Labs boss said, while adding that solar could account for $15-$30 trillion of the $50 trillion “abundance asset” market by 2050.

Source: Meltem Demirors

Kulechov said solar debt financiers could tokenize a $100 million solar project while borrowing $70 million to redeploy into new projects, while onchain depositors would have “access to enormously scalable, low-risk yield that is well diversified.”

“An investor might buy tokenized solar, hold for three years, sell at a profit, and immediately redeploy into new development,” Kulechov added, arguing that such a model could significantly increase capital efficiency.

“Traditional infrastructure capital locks up for decades. Tokenized assets allow continuous trading, meaning the same dollar can finance multiple projects over time.”

Kulechov said the same idea extends to batteries for energy storage, robotics for labor, vertical farming and lab-grown food for nutrition, semiconductors for computation and 3D printing for materials.

Abundance assets could offer better returns

Kulechov said these abundance assets could offer higher returns than scarce assets, which he said are heading down “a road toward low, thin margins and diminished profitability.”

“Abundance-backed products offer better returns, better risk characteristics, and better values alignment. They win in the market because they are superior products.”

Aave is the largest DeFi protocol by total value locked, at $27 billion for borrowing and lending, DeFiLlama data shows.

The Tether-issued USDt (USDT) stablecoin, Ether (ETH) and wrapped Ether (wETH) are the most lent and borrowed assets on the platform.

AAVE down 15.2% in 2026

Aave’s native token Aave (AAVE) has not managed to stave off the recent crypto market slump, falling another 1.6% over the last 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows.

Related: Aave winds down Avara, phases out Family wallet in DeFi refocus

AAVE has fallen 15.2% so far in 2026 to $125.98 and is now 81% off its $661.70 all-time high set in May 2021.

AAVE key metrics and price changes over the last month. Source: CoinGecko

Magazine: A ‘tsunami’ of wealth is headed for crypto: Nansen’s Alex Svanevik

Strategy founder Michael Saylor has revealed the firm plans to convert its $6 billion in bond debt into equity — a move that reduces debt on the balance sheet.

“Strategy can withstand a drawdown in BTC price to $8,000 and still have sufficient assets to fully cover our debt,” stated the firm on X on Sunday, prompting Saylor’s response. 

The Bitcoin (BTC) treasury company currently holds $49 billion in Bitcoin reserves with a stash of 714,644 BTC. 

Its convertible debt is around $6 billion, so BTC would need to fall around 88% for the two to be equal, and it still has enough to cover the debt, the firm explained. 

Equitizing convertible debt means converting the bond debt into equity as stock shares rather than repaying it in cash, essentially turning bondholders into shareholders.

The move would reduce debt pressure on the company, but it can also dilute existing shareholders because new stock is issued.

The firm claims convertible debt notes are fully covered even if Bitcoin tanks 88%. Source: Strategy

Strategy down 10% on average BTC purchase price

The average Bitcoin purchase price for Strategy is around $76,000, which means the firm is currently down around 10% on its investment with the asset trading at $68,400.

Related: Michael Saylor signals another Bitcoin buy amid market rout

Meanwhile, Saylor signaled another Bitcoin buy as he posted the Strategy accumulation chart on X on Sunday, a typical sign of a purchase. 

The purchase would mark 12 consecutive weeks of buying as the company continues to accumulate despite a sharp decline in the underlying asset and its stock price.

Strategy stock down 70% from ATH

Strategy stock (MSTR) climbed 8.8% on Friday to end the week trading at $133.88, according to Google Finance.

The move came as Bitcoin recovered the $70,000 level again in late trading on Friday, but that recovery was short-lived as it lost some of those gains in early trading on Monday morning, falling to $68,400, according to CoinGecko. 

Meanwhile, shares in the company are down 70% from their mid-July all-time high of $456, as BTC prices have fallen 50% from their peak in early October.

Magazine: Coinbase misses Q4 earnings, Ethereum eyes ‘V-shaped recovery’: Hodler’s Digest

Crypto asset manager Grayscale filed for regulatory approval to convert its trust tracking the token of the decentralized lending protocol Aave into an exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The company filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, saying it intends to convert the trust and rename it the Grayscale Aave Trust ETF.

Grayscale added that it is looking to launch the fund on NYSE Arca, one of the most popular exchanges for trading ETFs, under the ticker “GAVE.” It will have a fee of 2.5%, and Coinbase will serve as both its custodian and prime broker.

Source: Henry Jim

Grayscale’s filing is one of multiple ETFs that seek to be tied to altcoins, suggesting that Wall Street still has an appetite for crypto exposure even amid a market downturn.

Aave is the largest decentralized finance protocol, with over $27 billion in total value locked, according to DefiLlama. The platform allows users to lend and borrow crypto across multiple blockchains, and the AAVE token can be staked to earn yield.

Grayscale joins Bitwise in Aave ETF race

With its filing, Grayscale is the second to seek US regulatory approval for an ETF tied to Aave (AAVE), currently joining only Bitwise in looking to launch a similar fund.

Bitwise filed with the SEC in December to launch the Bitwise AAVE Strategy ETF, among a slew of filings that sought to create ETFs tied to popular altcoins, including Uniswap (UNI) and Zcash (ZEC).

Bitwise’s ETF plans to hold up to 60% of its assets directly in AAVE tokens and at least 40% in securities, like other ETFs, that are exposed to AAVE, while Grayscale’s would directly hold AAVE tokens.

The two ETFs are set to be the first in the US to offer exposure to Aave on its own, joining a short list of overseas products that have launched to track the token.

In Europe, 21Shares launched an Aave exchange-traded product on the Nasdaq Stockholm in November, coming years after Global X launched a similar Aave product in early 2023 in Germany.

The AAVE token has traded down 1.6% over the past day to $126 and is more than 80% down from its all-time high of nearly $662, which it reached in May 2021 amid a bull market for altcoins at the time, according to CoinGecko.

Magazine: Getting scammed for 100 Bitcoin led Sunny Lu to create VeChain

Traditional finance giant Apollo Global Management Inc. has signed a partnership agreement with decentralized lending platform Morpho to take a significant stake in the project and help support its blockchain lending infrastructure. 

The move was announced on Friday by the Morpho Association, the nonprofit organization behind the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform. 

The partnership, or “cooperation agreement,” will see Apollo or its affiliates buy up to 90 million Morpho (MORPHO) governance tokens over the next four years, representing 9% of the total 1 billion-token supply of MORPHO. 

“Under the Agreement, Apollo or its affiliates may acquire MORPHO tokens through a combination of open-market purchases, OTC transactions, and other contractual arrangements, subject to an overall ownership cap of 90 million MORPHO tokens over a 48-month period as well as transfer and trading restrictions,” the Morpho Association said.

The Morpho Association added that they will also be working together to “support onchain lending markets on Morpho’s protocol,” without providing further specifics. 

The move saw a 17.8% bump in the price of MORPHO over the weekend, rising from around $1.12 on Friday to $1.32 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko data.

However, the asset is down 38% over the past 12 months amid a broader crypto market slump.

MORPHO price increased over the weekend. Source: CoinGecko

Morpho is the sixth-largest DeFi protocol on the market, with $5.8 billion worth of total value locked, according to DeFi Llama. The project primarily provides lending markets and curated investment vaults for investors to earn yield.  

The deal with Apollo, a multinational asset manager with nearly $940 billion worth of assets on its books, marks another significant partnership secured by Morpho in recent months. 

In late January, Cointelegraph reported that digital asset manager Bitwise had jumped on board to provide curated vaults offering a 6% annual yield on Morpho. Last week, Bitcoin DeFi project Lombard also announced that Morpho had signed on as an initial liquidity partner as part of its launch of Bitcoin Smart Accounts. 

Meanwhile, Apollo has been gradually upping its exposure to crypto and blockchain. Last year, the firm partnered with Coinbase to develop stablecoin credit strategies and made an undisclosed investment in Plume to support its real-world-asset tokenization infrastructure. 

Magazine: Coinbase misses Q4 earnings, Ethereum eyes ‘V-shaped recovery’: Hodler’s Digest, Feb. 8 – 14