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XRP has closed the week showing mixed price action while flashing signs of a potential rebound after multiple weeks of severe price corrections.

On Saturday, Feb. 21, data from CoinGlass showed that the XRP derivatives market is making a bullish reversal as futures traders increasingly commit their tokens to active contracts.

XRP OI surges 2.56%

Following the increased activity from XRP futures traders, the data shows that over 1.6 billion XRP has been commuted to its futures market, marking an increase of 2.56% in its open interest over the last 24 hours.

With about 1,660,000,000 XRP currently being committed in unsettled contracts at a time like this, it appears that the leading altcoin is finally regaining momentum.

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More so, the rise in futures activity signals heightened confidence among investors as the broad crypto market appears to be moving toward a potential rebound.

XRP turns green

Following this impressive surge in the XRP derivatives market, XRP has also seen a brief increase in its price over the last day, reclaiming its weekly high around $1.45.

Notably, the asset has surged by 2.45% in its price over the last 24 hours, suggesting a potential price rebound after several days of trading in the deep red territory.

Following the weak price move seen in recent days, the XRP ETFs have also reported poor performance across all existing XRP funds over the past week.

During their last trading session, the funds saw zero inflow and outflow, suggesting that institutional investors are unwilling to participate amid the broad market volatility.

With this weak performance, it is uncertain if XRP will see a major price recovery soon and reclaim levels seen earlier in the year.

Logan Paul's $16 Pokemon card sale sparks critisism

Ripple CTO Emeritus and XRPL architect David Schwartzexplains why Logan Paul's $16.5 million Pokémon card sale was unfair. Logan Paul’s $16.49 million sale of the PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator card at Goldin in February 2026 set a public auction record, but the transaction has triggered legal threats from fractional investors.

Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz criticized the deal’s structure, arguing that it concentrated upside with the sponsor while distributing downside risk to retail participants.

The whole controversy started with Liquid Marketplace, a collectibles platform that Paul cofounded. It lets users buy fractional interests in high-value assets. Investors are now saying that, after the reported $16.5 million sale, they are not getting a fair share of the profits.

The dispute is all about a clause that apparently let Paul buy back shares at their original price before selling them on again.

Supporters of the structure say that the terms of the contract were made clear and that the buyback provision defines the economic limits of participation. Critics counter that this can create imbalance, especially when the valuation goes up a lot after fractionalization.

$2 Billion in Bitcoin scooped up by whales despite price dip

Bitcoin whales are not entirely backing down amid the prolonged market volatility as they have scooped up over 30,000 BTC in the last week. Bitcoin has failed to show any major price recovery, yet recent data shows that whales are still quietly accumulating the leading cryptocurrency.

While this signals strong conviction among large holders despite recent market weakness, it has sparked a wave of confidence among market participants amid hopes for a potential rebound. Per Bitcoin’s average trading price over the past week, which was around the $67,000 level, the notable whale accumulation during the period is worth over $2 billion.

The massive accumulation comes as Bitcoin continues to trade below recent highs, with the broader crypto market facing sustained selling pressure.Following the consistent price downturn faced on the broad crypto market, Bitcoin has plunged significantly in recent weeks, and it is currently trading at levels that mark a more than 50% decline from its ATH.

Deutsche Bank taps Ripple tech for cross-border payments

Deutsche Bank ispushing deep into blockchain infrastructures with big plans for Ripple's technologies.

Ripple Labs Inc. has scored another institutional win as a major traditional bank in Europe, and Deutsche Bank has revealed plans for associated infrastructure adoption. In an update shared by a developer in the community, who goes by Bird on X, Deutsche Bank has announced its willingness to onboard solutions powered by Ripple’s technologies.

Notably, Deutsche Bank will use Ripple’s technology to modernize cross-border payments. It will also rely on Ripple infrastructure to settle transactions in seconds, as opposed to its longer-duration settlement system.

The move is likely to cut transaction costs by up to 30%. The development signals a major win for Ripple and XRP as it could give more exposure to the coin, depending on the arrangements between the two entities.

BTC is breaking 12-year trend against gold

Willy Woowarns of a "Quantum Discount" as Bitcoin breaks a 12-year trend against gold.

The decade-long narrative of Bitcoin as "digital gold" is facing its most significant structural challenge yet. Renowned on-chain analyst Willy Woo, in a recent X post, warned that Bitcoin has broken a 12-year valuation trend relative to gold, citing a looming "Quantum Discount" that could suppress prices for years.

The primary fear is not just Bitcoin network security but a massive liquidity event, as Woo points out that roughly four million "lost" Bitcoins — untouched for years and often belonging to early adopters and even the creator of the cryptocurrency, Satoshi Nakamoto — could become vulnerable. If quantum technology can unlock these wallets, those coins would effectively return to circulation.

Shiba Inu enters low-volatility consolidation phase

SHIB’s volatility ishitting the ground in an unexpected manner, which is the last thing you'd expect now.

The price of Shiba Inu is clearly showing signs of consolidation, as it enters one of its quietest periods in recent months. SHIB has now entered a narrow trading range, where volatility has significantly decreased, following a series of lower highs and ongoing selling pressure throughout the larger cryptocurrency market.

After reaching local lows, SHIB recently tried a brief recovery on the daily chart, but the recovery was short-lived. Buyers were able to move the price up a little, but the momentum quickly stopped, indicating that market players are not yet prepared to invest a sizable sum of money in a long-term recovery.

The idea that traders are waiting, rather than aggressively positioning for the next move, is further supported by the cooling volume.

Japan-based SBI Holdings, Inc. has announced the official release of a blockchain-based security token bond that rewards investors in XRP.

The development, which has sparked excitement across the XRP community, marks another milestone in XRP’s growing adoption and integration with traditional finance.

On Friday, Feb. 20, SBI Holdings released an official report that revealed that the company is issuing Security Token (ST) Bonds for individual investors with the total value worth about $64.6 million.

According to the company, the bonds are digitally registered and managed on blockchain infrastructure, allowing for electronic issuance, administration and redemption.

Bondholders to receive XRP rewards

Per the announcement, the bond was designed in a way that allows eligible investors to receive XRP benefits tied to their subscription amounts.

While the payments will be strictly issued in XRP, they will be distributed following respective interest payment dates, including in 2027, 2028 and at final maturity in 2029.

Furthermore, the bonds carry an indicative interest rate range of 1.85% to 2.45% per annum, with the final rate to be determined before issuance. Interest payments are set to occur twice annually, while the bonds have a three-year term, maturing in March 2029.

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Nonetheless, the official statement revealed by the firm shows that the bonds are issued using the “ibet for Fin” blockchain platform developed by BOOSTRY Co., Ltd.

This move further establishes SBI’s relentless push into tokenized securities and on-chain financial products.

While the bonds will be issued in Japan, the issuance will be handled through SBI Securities, with Mizuho Bank serving as bond administrator.

According to Santiment, XRP MVRV indicator stays in the negative as the majority of cryptocurrencies remain undervalued heading into the weekend.

In a recent tweet, Santiment analyzed the 30-day MVRVs of major cryptocurrencies, including XRP. Based on this indicator, XRP is slightly undervalued with its 30-day MVRV being in the negative at -4.1%.

📊 According to the 30-day MVRV's of crypto's large caps, which identifies overvalued and undervalued assets based on average trader returns, here are where things stand:Undervalued:📌 Ethereum $ETH: -14.3%Slightly Undervalued:📌 Bitcoin $BTC: -6.9%📌 Chainlink $LINK:… pic.twitter.com/Qu08RBaw1S

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) February 20, 2026

At the time of writing, XRP was trading sideways near $1.44, up 2.43% in the last 24 hours, with analysts signaling that a major move might be brewing.

XRP volatility has dropped to levels last seen before a major 2024 rally, with technical traders highlighting a compression setup.

This price setup has $1.39 as key support and $1.44 as near-term resistance that could open a move toward $1.50 to $1.62 if reclaimed.

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With volatility near prior cycle lows, analysts indicate that the timing and direction of the next breakout might depend on how long this low volatility consolidation phase might last.

XRP expands in RWA tokenization

In a recent tweet, Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla highlighted XRP's growth in the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market. He added that this signifies that institutional blockchain adoption is accelerating on XRPL.

The RWA activity growth is significant as it suggests that XRP Ledger is seeing meaningful traction from institutions that value guardrails mirroring existing market infrastructure.

The Evernorth CEO also highlighted RLUSD’s growth as another major signal for XRP Ledger. RLUSD rose to over $1 billion in issuance within months last year, and its distribution keeps expanding, including a full integration on Binance in the past week.

Decentralized exchange growth on XRP Ledger also indicates increasing on-chain participation. DEX activity on XRPL hit a 13-month high in terms of transactions per day at the start of 2026. Increased trading volume implies deeper liquidity, tighter spreads and more capital efficiency.

XRP's price movement has left short position traders leading a liquidation imbalance of 1,190% within the last four hours. As perCoinGlass data, traders betting short on XRP were wiped out, losing $112,260 within this period as XRP recorded an uptick in price.

XRP bearish positioning backfires after prolonged downtrend

XRP has been on a downward spiral in the last 30 days, losing over 25.90% as the cryptocurrency market sentiment falls. Within the last seven days, the coin has shed over 2.05% of its value as well. This likely prompted the bearish bet on XRP by traders in the space.

However, the slight upsurge witnessed in the price of XRP triggered the mild losses that short position traders suffered in the last four hours.

Long position traders were not spared as they suffered an almost negligible loss of $8,700 within the same time frame. The price volatility of the coin has left both short and long position traders with varying degrees of losses.

With XRP still trading below the key price level of $1.5 and its major resistance of $1.89 and $2, the coin’s volatility risk remains a huge source of concern to investors. The current slight upward movement came asinstitutional interest pushed XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows to $4.05 million.

This reflected an over 80% jump in inflows, reversing its previous decline. If the institutional demand continues, XRP might sustain its price rebound move in the crypto market.

As of this writing, XRP waschanging hands at $1.43, which is a 2.38% increase in the last 24 hours. Earlier, XRP jumped from $1.38 to a peak at $1.44 before a slight drop. Its trading volume has also climbed by 3.91% to $2.32 billion within this period.

The development suggests a possible rebound amid renewed interest in the coin. How this can sustain its upward journey would depend on sustained interest from market participants.

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Ripple executive lauds XRP's performance

XRP’s chances of a continued bullish climb face stiff opposition from itsBollinger Bands signal. Notably, the current setup suggests pressure is building at crucial levels.

The bearish outlook remains, and it would require a strong rally to maintain its upward climb.

Despite the outlook of XRP, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has picked the asset as thebest-performing crypto amid the current market correction. Garlinghouse claimed XRP has been able to weather the crypto storm better than other leading coins in the ecosystem.

Bitcoin (BTC) is generating massive interest as the leading digital asset continues to change hands below the $70,000 price level. Amid this bearish outlook, Solid Intel, an independent on-chain platform, hasobserved a spike in searches on Google Trends.

Bitcoin search spike mirrors market capitulation signals

As per a chart shared by Solid Intel, the number of people searching "Bitcoin is dead" has pushed this query to close to its all-time high (ATH). Notably, the search has hit an ATH of 100 this February, coinciding with Bitcoin trading around $68,000.

This metric usually happens when the price crashes or during a big market dip, as it is currently. In essence, Solid Intel is affirming that the Bitcoin market is very bearish right now, hence the spike in "Bitcoin is dead" searches.

INTEL: Google searches for "Bitcoin is dead" are nearly at ATH pic.twitter.com/autPbKVr4c

— Solid Intel 📡 (@solidintel_x) February 21, 2026

Historical precedence shows that this lingering fear, which is triggering the searches, often occurs near market bottoms. With Google Trends already hitting an all-time high in this search query, it could mean that Bitcoin might be inching closer to itsprice recovery.

The leading digital asset has, in the last 30 days, shed over 24% of its value amid broader market volatility. Ever since the last week of January 2026, when Bitcoin traded above $88,000, the coin has continued on a downward path.

As per a report from VanEck, Bitcoin’s recent brutal drawdown of about 29% signals that one of the worst selling pressures might soon blow over. According to the report, the plunge has flushed out market speculators andleft sellers exhausted.

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BTC whale accumulation signals diverging smart money behavior

The coin has fluctuated between a low of $66,452.48 and an intraday peak of $68,260.47. As of this writing, Bitcoin waschanging hands at $68,175.67, which is a 0.48% increase in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin’s trading volume has surged by 23.88% to $41.93 billion within the same time frame.

Bitcoin's technical signals suggest "Extreme Fear" at 14 near its yearly low of five. As per past cycles, such broad-based fear has set the stage for sharper rallies once sentiments shift. At the moment, though, institutional interest has not picked up as these large holders remain cautious amid volatility.

However, not all Bitcoin whales are backing down from accumulating the asset amid the prolonged market volatility. As spotted by renowned on-chain analyst Ali Martinez,whales accumulated over 30,000 BTC within seven days. This suggests confidence in a potential price rebound on the part of these large holders.

This week, the SHIB team announced the launch of the much-awaited SOU (Shib Owes You), a good faith effort by the Shiba Inu ecosystem to assist impacted users of last September's Shibarium hack.

However, this initiative is drawing questions after K9 Finance alleged an omission from the Shib Owes You (SOU) NFT claim.

KNINE claims to be the largest impacted community in the Shibarium hack and cited Shiba Inu developer Kaal Dhairya's statement in a 2025 end-of-year message, hinting at a desire to make all affected users whole.

The @shibtoken team has chosen not to include $KNINE in their Shib Owes You (SOU) NFT claim, despite KNINE being the largest impacted community in the hack of their Shibarium infrastructure Please read the terms of their SOU NFT here: https://t.co/YQo8zUFzyaIn Kaal's specific… pic.twitter.com/Oj9BFYaKWL

— K9 Finance DAO (@K9finance) February 20, 2026

The reason for K9 Finance exclusion has not been revealed at press time, however, K9 urges users affected by the Shibarium hack to contact the SHIB team.

K9 Finance's exclusion follows its decision to sunset all its Shibarium products later this February, but this has not yet been confirmed as a reason for its exclusion from the SOU system.

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In late January, K9 Finance announced that its DAO had approved an orderly and permanent sunset of all products deployed on Shibarium, effective Feb. 25, 2026, following the September bridge exploit.

As part of these efforts, K9 sent a reminder this week to users to withdraw all their assets from Bonecrusher before the sunset date of Feb. 25, 2026.

Warning issued

Shiba Inu SOU has gone live as part of efforts to restore users impacted by the Shibarium hack incident last September. The initiative will support impacted Shibarium users with payouts, donations and occasional rewards.

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SOU is a cryptographic proof that users own a claim, recorded permanently on the Ethereum blockchain.

As the Shiba Inu SOU takes off, Lucie, a Shiba Inu team member, issues a crucial scam warning about fake SOU portals.

Lucie added that these scams intend to drain user wallets, warning users to only use the official portal.

Bitfinex, a leading digital asset trading platform, has reassured the community that thequantum computing threat does not pose any immediate risk to Bitcoin. In anupdate shared on X, Bitfinex noted that the quantum computing threat is a long-term solvable challenge.

Hardware limitations keep quantum risk theoretical

Notably, Bitfinex maintains that breaking Bitcoin’s cryptography would require a very powerful quantum computer. It insists that such a computer would need to have millions of stable qubits and can run Shor’s algorithm at a large scale.

Additionally, the quantum computer must operate long enough and consistently without error to crack Bitcoin’s cryptography. However, the existing quantum machines are nowhere near that level of sophistication.

Quantum computing is not an imminent threat to Bitcoin.But it is a long-horizon engineering problem the ecosystem is already preparing for.Today’s blog looks at real exposure, hardware gaps, and proposals like BIP 360.Full breakdown 👇 pic.twitter.com/6Zp0TWCCmw

— Bitfinex (@bitfinex) February 20, 2026

The hardware barriers required to affect it remain steep and far beyond the capacity of today’s computing. Hence, before that level of advancement can be achieved, it would allow time for upgrades to reduce public key revelations on-chain.

Generally, addresses that have spent Bitcoin before are theoretically more exposed in a quantum scenario. This gap in capacity gives Bitfinex the confidence that Bitcoin is safe from quantum computing threats. It would allow developers enough time to plan and combat quantum threats.

By Bitfinex’s estimate, the quantum computing threat remains a distant risk, not an emergency. If anything, the threat could begin to manifest around the mid-2030s to 2040s.

Meanwhile, the Bitcoin community is not just idle. Bitfinex stated thatdevelopers in the community are planning a gradual migration to new wallet types that would avoid exposing public keys for long periods. Another solution to the threat might involve using lattice-based signatures.

The Bitcoin community is also considering the BIP 360 proposal. This is a safer structure that eliminates one of the main quantum attack surfaces. It would serve as a safe environment for Bitcoin to operate in without fear of any threat.

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Stakeholders optimistic Bitcoin quantum computing risk poses no threat

Bitfinex is therefore assuring Bitcoin users that while the quantum computing threat remains a distant risk, the community is preparing to counter it. As such, there is no need to panic about this theoretical threat.

Strategy’s co-founder, Michael Saylor, also believes thatquantum computing will not break the leading digital asset but make it stronger. According to Saylor, before the threat becomes real, the Bitcoin network consensus would likely agree to freeze the old protocol.

Overall, the sentiment in the larger part of the Bitcoin community remains positive and free of panic as it concerns quantum threats.

Leading dog-themed meme token Shiba Inu has continued to fail every attempt to recover as selling pressure continues to increase amid the prolonged crypto market volatility.

Over the past weeks, Shiba Inu has consistently flashed bearish signals amid the stalled demand highlighted by the steady netflow increases recorded recently.

Shiba Inu netflow surges

As of Feb. 21, data from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant shows that the Shiba Inu exchange netflow has surged by over 6%, hitting a massive 138,022,600,000 SHIB.

This notable increase in the SHIB netflow is a strong indication of heightening selling pressure as netflows are used to represent the difference between tokens purchased and sold across all supported exchanges.

The massive surge in the SHIB exchange netflow over the last 24 hours means that the amount of SHIB returned to exchanges for selling purposes during the period is massively larger than the amount of tokens scooped out of the exchanges for purchase by over 138 billion tokens.

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With this bearish signal, it appears that investors have continued to lose interest and optimism for SHIB amid the prolonged price downturn. Hence, they are becoming unwilling to hold the asset for longer.

What's next for SHIB?

The bearish Shiba Inu on-chain movement has continued to weaken investors' confidence on the future price prospects of the asset, triggering fear and doubts among retail and institutional traders.

Amid the steady price downturn, Shiba Inu has continued to hover around $0.0000065, dashing the hopes of removing a zero anytime soon.

It remains uncertain how long SHIB will remain on the downside, but traders are optimistic about a major recovery after the bear phase finally wraps up.

Plutus, the native smart contract language for Cardano, has welcomed a new release as the network prepares for its intra-era hard fork.

According to Cardano updates, an X handle dedicated to Cardano releases and updates, a new version of Plutus, 1.58.0.0, has been released.

This follows efforts by Cardano's core technology teams to expand Plutus built-in functionality scheduled for activation in protocol version 11 alongside stability improvements across networking and mempool handling.

New Release: plutus 1.58.0.0Check it out here: https://t.co/1ZXyy5p92KReleased by zliu41 - input-output-hk#Cardano $ADA #Koios #API

— Cardano Updates (@cardano_updates) February 21, 2026

Cardano's next protocol upgrade is an intra-era hard fork to protocol version 11, introducing targeted improvements across Plutus performance, ledger consistency and node-level security. All these will occur without changing transaction shape or transitioning to a new ledger era.

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This week, node v.10.6.2 was released in preparation for the intra-era hard fork. Additionally, foundational work was added to support the upcoming intra-era hard fork (protocol version 11) and the future Dijkstra era (protocol version 12), preparing the node for the next phase of protocol evolution.

Cardano hard fork update

Cardano's intra-era hard fork to protocol 11 has been officially confirmed as van Rossem hard fork, Intersect stated this in a Feb. 19 update.

Over the past week, the hard fork naming info action ended voting with final tallies putting the DRep support at over 80% of all active DRep stake. This represents overwhelming support, officially confirming the protocol version 11 hard fork as the van Rossem hard fork.

Cardano node version 10.6.2 was released this week (promoted from the 10.6.2 pre-release containing hard fork functionality, which can be tested on SanchoNet). This release contains improvements that strengthen node stability and networking.

The 10.6.2 release is not intended to be the mainnet hard fork candidate release; 10.7 will have further improvements, making it the target for the hard fork.

SanchoNet has been upgraded using the newly-released Cardano node 10.6.2 and is now running protocol version 11. There is also an accompanying DB-Sync pre-release available, which supports hard forking to protocol version 11.

The Cardano node 10.7.0 release is targeted for within the next two weeks. This node release will be used for fork preview, preprod and then the Cardano mainnet.

XRP holders, builders and creators hosted a community night event at the ongoing ETHDenver event, one that has attracted the attention of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse on X.

The ETHDenver event marks a Web3 BUIDLathon and Innovation Festival convening over 25,000 builders and creators in the crypto industry, scheduled from Feb. 18 to 21, 2026.

Reacting to an X user's post about the XRP community night Denver gathering, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse tweeted: "love to see it."

love to see it https://t.co/E66vikTH8m

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) February 20, 2026

Speaking about the XRP community night Denver gathering, RippleX describes it as a "great evening with the community" while appreciating everyone who joined the event.

Earlier this month, Ripple hosted a successful XRP community day event that convened builders, creators and partners in the XRP Ledger ecosystem.

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A third stablecoin yield meeting took place at the White House this week with a small group representing crypto and banks attending, with Ripple represented at the event by its chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty.

Ripple and XRPL news

In recent news, SBI Ripple Asia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on a technical support partnership with Asia Web3 Alliance Japan. This partnership will establish a framework in which SBI Ripple Asia will provide technical support to startups and businesses aiming to implement financial services using blockchain technology in society.

The XRP Ledger repository key has been updated ahead of a fix release. According to a recent notice on the XRPL blog, Ripple has rotated the GPG key used to sign rippled packages. Users are urged to download to prevent issues upgrading in the future, as automatic upgrades might not work until they have trusted the new key.

XRP Ledger users should add Ripple's package-signing GPG key and then verify the fingerprint of the newly-added key.

The XRPL Foundation stated that a fix is underway for the batch amendment bug and is undergoing additional validation before being included in a new XRP software update. It is currently preparing a release to formally deprecate the current batch amendments.

Robert Kiyosaki, a renowned financial author, famous for his best-selling book “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” has announced that he has recently bought more Bitcoin on the dip. Once again, he has provided his reasons for his long-term bullish BTC vision.

Meanwhile, the world’s largest cryptocurrency continues to trade below the $68,000 level after two recent failed attempts to break and hold above it.

Kiyosaki's reasons for buying Bitcoin recently

Robert Kiyosaki, whom many believe to be a financial guru, has taken to his account on X to share with the millions of his followers some bullish news — a recent purchase of BTC.

According to the tweet, the entrepreneur and investor bought one whole Bitcoin at approximately $67,000 recently. He did it despite Bitcoin continuing to crash, as he emphasized, showing his firm belief in Bitcoin’s bullish global future.

Although Bitcoin is crashing I bought one more whole Bitcoinfor $67k.Why? Two reasons: # 1: Because the Big Print will begin when the US debt crashes the dollar and “The Marxist Fed” begins printing trillions in fake dollars.#2: The magical 21 millionth Bitcoin is…

— Robert Kiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) February 20, 2026

Kiyosaki said that there were two reasons for his acquisition this time. In fact, he has been tweeting about those quite often recently, so he has just repeated them once again. The first reason is that he expects the Federal Reserve to start printing money again “when the US debt crashes the dollar.” Trillions in “fake dollars” will be printed then, Kiyosaki believes.

The second reason is related to Bitcoin’s unique features — its ultimate scarcity. The Bitcoin supply is programmed to be only 21 million coins, and this number of BTC “is getting close to be mined,” Kiyosaki said, reminding the community that more than 19 million coins out of 21 million have already been produced from the digital space by miners.

Once all the 21 million is mined, “Bitcoin becomes better than gold,” Kiyosaki tweeted. However, thanks to a halving every four years, this event will happen only in 2140.

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"The giant crash is now imminent," Kiyosaki says

In a tweet published earlier this week, Robert Kiyosaki reminded the community about his prediction made in the “Rich Dad’s Prophecy” book published in 2013. In that book, he stated that a giant stock market crash was coming soon.

I Am Warning You: In Rich Dad’s Prophecy published 2013 I warned of the biggest stock market crash in history still coming.That giant crash is now imminent.The good news is those of you who followed my rich dad’s warning and prepared….the coming crash will make you richer…

— Robert Kiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) February 17, 2026

Now, he tweeted, this crash is imminent. However, those who are prepared for it can get richer “beyond their wildest dreams.” Kiyosaki says he will profit from this crash, since he has made big bets on Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold and silver, which he expects to skyrocket.

XRP enters the weekend quoted below $1.45, and the weekly Bollinger Bands are beginning to open up while the price leans against the lower boundary at $1.32, as visible on the TradingView chart. That combination does not guarantee a breakdown, but it does show pressure building at a critical level. Considering that it is a weekly time frame, this kind of structure rarely resolves with a minor move.

XRP’s bearish grip: Why the 20-week MA remains "unclimbable wall"

The bigger issue is context as the 20-week average, which forms the center of the Bollinger Bands, is sitting near $2 and still pointing lower. SinceXRP topped above $3 in late 2025, every rally has failed beneath that line.

That is what keeps the generally "bearish" structure in play: lower highs, lower closes and no sustained reclamation of trend support at the 20-week MA.

The current setup is even more uncomfortable because of how the price is behaving at the lower band. Instead of bouncing aggressively after tagging it, theXRP price is printing smaller weekly candles close to the floor around $1.30. That suggests sellers are not exhausted, but the supply is still meeting demand at each attempt to stabilize.

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Historically, when XRP has “walked” the lower band on a weekly chart, the next decisive move has not been small. Either buyers step in with conviction and force a reclaim of the midband, or the market extends lower before any real base forms.

This is where the $1.274 price point, 10% below, comes to light, as it is where the lower Bollinger Band on a daily chart is stretching at the time of writing.

The latest on-chain data adds an unavoidable layer of pressure to Shiba Inu, which is at a technically delicate moment. The amount of SHIB that entered trading platforms increased by about 152 billion over the past day. Large exchange inflows have historically been seen as an indication of possible sell pressure, as tokens shift from long-term storage to liquidity zones where they can be promptly sold.

Things are not getting better for SHIB

The price chart illustrates this precarious equilibrium. Declining moving averages and recurrent failures to hold recovery attempts indicate that SHIB is still in a bearish overall structure. A short-term rising trendline was formed by the recent bounce, indicating that buyers are attempting to build a local base. But this structure is still in its infancy and is susceptible. Since the price action is still below significant resistance levels, bulls are acting against the prevailing trend rather than in tandem with it.

Exchange metrics back up the cautious approach. Positive netflow and growing exchange reserves suggest that more tokens are being positioned for possible sale. Even if not all of these tokens are dumped right away, the increased liquidity serves as a burden. Such circumstances frequently restrict upside momentum and cap early rallies on markets like SHIB, where sentiment fluctuates rapidly.

However, there are subtleties to be aware of. It appears that some market participants are still accumulating or repositioning rather than simply exiting, as evidenced by the elevated exchange outflows and withdrawal activity. Instead of a clear directional consensus, this inconsistent behavior suggests uncertainty.

Higher lows forming

In terms of technical analysis, the main query is whether the new rising trendline will hold. In the event that SHIB stays above it and progressively moves into higher lows, the market might enter a stabilization phase. The asset runs the risk of reverting to a low-volatility grind, which has historically suppressed speculative demand, if the price moves sideways and falls below that support.

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The simple next step for investors is to keep an eye on sustained volume and whether inflows are still increasing. Without significant buying interest, another wave of exchange deposits would probably make the current structure an unsuccessful attempt at recovery.

A long stretch of quiet price action seems to be coming to an end for Shiba Inu, as volatility slowly makes a comeback to the market and modifies short-term expectations.

SHIB is starting to exhibit sharper directional movements after spending weeks in a comparatively compressed range. This change typically denotes the conclusion of a price hiatus and the beginning of a more active phase.

The current chart structure indicates that price action is once again becoming more responsive. In contrast to the quiet consolidation phase that dominated recent sessions, local swings are widening, candles are getting bigger, and trading volume is starting to increase. Longer-term moving averages overhead continue to put pressure on the overall trend, but the behavior shift itself is significant.

Assets such as SHIB are often dependent on volatility. In the absence of it, momentum and speculative inflows diminish. A discernible change in the mindset of the market could be the cause of this renewed activity. Appetite for riskier assets typically rises as broader cryptocurrency markets stabilize and traders regain confidence.

In search of quicker upside potential, investors who had previously shied away from volatile meme assets during uncertain times might now be open to reentering. Often that dynamic works in favor of tokens like SHIB, which have historically done best when market risk tolerance increases.

Technically, SHIB is trying to construct a structure for a short-term recovery, with higher lows forming close to local support. Although a complete reversal has not yet been confirmed, this indicates that buyers are beginning to react more forcefully to dips. A wider recovery phase may be possible if momentum keeps up, and local resistance levels quickly become apparent.

However, traders should maintain reasonable expectations. Returning volatility cuts both ways: if resistance holds or macro conditions deteriorate, greater swings raise the risk of a quick upside but also a downside. It is likely that SHIB would revert to range-bound behavior if the newly created support area were not maintained.

Ethereum is draining both sides

Ethereum may be about to enter a frustrating phase for both bulls and bears, according to its recent price behavior.

This local sideways channel could define trading conditions for a longer period of time than many investors anticipate. Ethereum has halted its aggressive bleeding after a steep drop and the clear loss of important support levels, but the recovery that followed was noticeably weak, leaving price action compressed close to local lows.

Strength is not indicated by the current structure, but rather stabilization. The market is now printing shorter candles with less directional conviction, and volatility has decreased in comparison to the previous selloff. Instead of showing a definite reversal or breakdown, this type of behavior frequently suggests that big players are waiting rather than actively accumulating, leading to a slow sideways grind.

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The fact that Ethereum is certainly in a trend that is still sloping downward, indicates that the general trend has not changed. Although the market has temporarily stabilized, neither a strong breakout attempt nor a significant change in momentum have been seen. Both buyers and sellers seem hesitant to aggressively raise prices, and sellers are also reluctant to drive another sharp leg down.

As a result, prices drift rather than trend in a neutral zone. If this sideways channel keeps growing, Ethereum may find itself trading in this range for a long time. In the past, these stages have functioned as market resets: leverage drops, speculation cools, and focus moves away from rapid gains.

The drawback is clear: extended consolidation seldom facilitates sharp upward movements, and observers must exercise patience. However, sideways periods are not always a sign of bearishness. Eventually, they can act as accumulation zones that lead to recovery, but only if resistance levels and volume returns begin to break with conviction.

Bitcoin stays pressured

The recent price movement of bitcoin indicates that despite a significant correction and strong selling pressure, the market is unwilling to give up the $70,000 region entirely.

BTC has formed a tight recovery structure and stabilized just below that psychological threshold, indicating that buyers are still actively defending the zone rather than continuing a straight decline. Given the current situation, it appears that the market is unwilling to give up on this level without a significant struggle.

The response to the drop has been noteworthy. A classic indication that market participants are trying to regain control is when selling momentum rapidly slowed, volatility compressed, and the price started to build higher local lows. Instead of continuing panic selling, this type of consolidation usually occurs when traders are getting ready for a big move, even though the overall trend is still brittle.

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The liquidation landscape is one important element that lends credence to the notion of a renewed push toward $70,000. The price is drawn to the $69,000 region by a noticeable concentration of liquidity. Since high-liquidity zones fuel short-term momentum, markets frequently gravitate toward them.

The series of liquidations could hasten movement through the level considerably more quickly than most people anticipate if Bitcoin approaches that area with even modest buying power.

However, this does not imply that a new rally will break out cleanly. Bitcoin is still trading below major moving averages according to the larger structure, and macro sentiment is still cautious.

As a result, any upward movement may at first appear to be more of a liquidity sweep than the start of a complete bullish trend reversal. However, recovering $70,000 would be a significant psychological victory and might temporarily change people's perceptions to encourage taking risks again.

Deutsche Bank taps Ripple tech for cross-border payments

Deutsche Bank ispushing deep into blockchain infrastructures with big plans for Ripple's technologies.

Institutional adoption. Ripple Labs has secured another institutional milestone as Deutsche Bank signals plans to adopt infrastructure powered by Ripple’s technology.

Ripple Labs Inc. has scored another institutional win as a major traditional bank in Europe, and Deutsche Bank has revealed plans for associated infrastructure adoption. In an update shared by a developer in the community, who goes by Bird on X, Deutsche Bank has announced its willingness to onboard solutions powered by Ripple’s technologies.

Notably, Deutsche Bank will use Ripple’s technology to modernize cross-border payments. It will also rely on Ripple infrastructure to settle transactions in seconds, as opposed to its longer-duration settlement system.

Down 30%. The move represents a significant institutional endorsement and may increase exposure for XRP.

The move is likely to cut transaction costs by up to 30%. The development signals a major win for Ripple and XRP as it could give more exposure to the coin, depending on the arrangements between the two entities.

According to Bird, nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) are starting to lift, and with them, more banks could join in the institutional adoption of Ripple’s blockchain infrastructure. This suggests that conversations might already be on for more banks to integrate their system with Ripple’s blockchain infrastructure.

XRP breaks below 200-week moving average ahead of key GDP data

XRPloses key support at $1.42 for the first time since 2024.

Benchmark. XRP fell below its 200-week moving average (~$1.419) for the first time since reclaiming it in November 2024.

On Thursday, Feb. 19, XRP slipped below its 200-week moving average for the first time since breaking above it in November 2024. The breakdown took place just a day before the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes its advance estimate for Q4, 2025, GDP.

On the weekly chart of Bitfinex presented by TradingView, XRP breached the 200-week moving average around $1.419, a level that had acted as benchmark for the price since late 2024. The loss of that floor "turns the switch" for the price of XRP from rally/consolidation to prolonged correction.

Downtrend. Losing this level shifts XRP from a rally/consolidation phase into a prolonged correction setup.

Relative Strength Index readings hover in the low 30s — persistent selling pressure rather than panic liquidation. The next reference points for the price of XRP are at $1.1211 (early February sell-off) and $1. The latter is the level where XRP found a technical bottom after the "Black Friday" liquidation event worth $40 billion in different estimates.

Immediate resistance remains clustered at $1.49 to $1.50, the area where recent relief rallies stalled this month.

CZ highlights role in UAE's rise as major Bitcoin miner

UAE hasmined over $450 million in Bitcoin, a shift CZ said he played a role in.

BTC advocacy. Changpeng Zhao said he advocated for the United Arab Emirates’ push into Bitcoin mining, aligning with his broader pro-adoption efforts in the region.

Binance Founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao has revealed the role he played in the positive shift of the United Arab Emirates as a Bitcoin miner. Reacting to a post detailing the region’s success as a BTC miner, CZ said he has advocated for the venture, a statement that aligns with his business interests in the region.

The conversations around the UAE pivot into gold started with Arkham. The data platform said the UAE has so far mined $453.6 million in Bitcoin through its partner Citadel. As confirmed, the country appears to be holding onto the majority of the Bitcoin they produce, with its most recent outflows recorded about four months ago.

$1 billion in BTC. UAE is reportedly sitting on $344 million in profit on its Bitcoin holdings, excluding energy costs.

Arkham said the UAE is currently in profit of $344 million on its Bitcoin holdings, when energy costs are excluded.

These conversations were compounded when Pete Rizzo said the UAE now considers Bitcoin as a store of value. According to him, the country now owns over $1 billion worth of BTC.

Known for his engagements with world leaders, CZ has been promoting Bitcoin adoption for a while. From signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kazakhstan while serving as Binance CEO to policy advocacy in the United States, his noted role in the UAE has a precedent.

Bitcoin has suffered a brutal 29% drawdown over the last 30 days, but a new report from VanEck indicates that the worst of the selling pressure may finally be behind us.

The recent market flush has successfully reset leverage and driven sentiment into "fear" territory.

Resilient on-chain fundamentals and tightening miner supply indicate a much stronger market setup than current prices imply.

"Fear takes over"

Bitcoin’s slide toward the $67,000 level has thoroughly flushed out market speculators. Over the past month, Bitcoin's Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) indicator dropped sharply into the "optimism/anxiety" zone, and even briefly breached into pure "fear" during the dramatic price plunge on Feb. 2.

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Futures open interest has dropped to its lowest dollar level since September 2024. Yet, despite the pessimism, VanEck points out that network usage remains remarkably robust. Daily transactions, for instance, sit in the 90th percentile of all-time history.

Exhausted sellers

The report confirms that the bulk of the cyclical selling pressure has come from "mid-cycle" holders (investors who acquired their coins between one and five years ago).

Many of these holders likely pulled their sales forward to capitalize on the early 2024 ETF launches and the post-election rally.

However, the data now shows a massive deceleration in distribution.

Over the past month, selling from coins older than one year has fallen significantly. With sellers absorbing roughly $22.5 billion in realized losses over the last 30 days, the lack of continued distribution indicates deep seller exhaustion.

A bottom?

Plunging Bitcoin prices and static electricity costs have severely compressed mining margins. Older machines like the Antminer S19 XP have now become entirely unprofitable for operators paying more than $0.07/kWh.

As a result, the Bitcoin network hash rate has contracted by roughly 14% over the past 90 days.

VanEck notes that sustained 90-day hash rate drawdowns are relatively rare. Historically, these periods of capitulation and network contraction have preceded incredibly strong forward returns for Bitcoin over the subsequent three months.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin haspushed back against suggestions that the original Ethereum blockchain should be left to wither away in favor of a new, from-scratch network.

Instead, Buterin has unveiled a highly ambitious strategy to rebuild the network from the inside out with the help of radical upgrades while keeping the existing system fully operational.

An X user has argued that Buterin should allow the current iteration of Ethereum to "die a slow and painful death by fragmentation" with a highly sophisticated web of layer-2 rollups (L2s), app chains, and institutional involvement.

The user claimed that Buterin should start over and rebuild a purely "cypherpunk chain" from first principles using RISC-V architecture just to "show who was the boss."

The bolt-on strategy

Buterin swiftly rejected the idea of abandoning the network. In his response, he outlined an ambitious plan to transform the network.

Buterin envisions creating a "cypherpunk principled non-ugly Ethereum" as a tightly integrated "bolt-on" to the present-day system.

The goal is to grow this new infrastructure alongside the current chain while aggressively injecting core cypherpunk principles into Ethereum's base layer.

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Buterin compared Ethereum’s ongoing evolution to replacing parts of an airplane while it is still flying. "Ethereum has already made jet engine changes in-flight once," Buterin stated. "We can do it ~4 times more!"

AI acceleration

The ambitious transformation could be achieved within five years, according to Buterin.

Interestingly, Buterin noted that this timeline could be drastically shortened "with AI coding and verification."

"Then, in 5 years (or maybe way sooner with AI coding and verification, who knows), we have an open pathway to turn the existing system into smart contracts written in the language of the new system if/when we want," he said.

Michael Saylor, Strategy's executive chairman, hasposted yet another stunningly bullish Bitcoin (BTC) price prediction. In a recent social media post, Saylor confidently stated that the flagship cryptocurrency is going to $1 million if it does not hit zero.

"If it’s not going to zero, it’s going to a million" Saylor posted, doubling down on his thesis despite the current macroeconomic turbulence shaking the digital asset market.

He previously stated that he expected BTC to reach seven figures by the end of 2033.

History of Saylor's predictions

Saylor’s Bitcoin price predictions have grown increasingly bold over the years.

Saylor forecasted that Bitcoin would cross the $100,000 mark by the end of 2024. He confidently stated he was "planning the $100,000 party" for New Year's Eve.

When it comes to long-term predictions, Saylor forecasted a 29% annualized rate of return over 21 years.

The Strategy executivepredicted Bitcoin would hit $13 million per coin by 2045.

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At this price, he estimated Bitcoin would capture roughly 7% of total global capital.

The target was during a CNBC Squawk Box interview in September 2024, and reiterated in another CNBC appearance on Nov. 22.

He has argued that retail investors must front-run institutions. By the time financial advisors tell clients it is "safe" to buy Bitcoin, the price will already be $1 million. By the time they call it a "smart choice," the price will be $10 million, according to Saylor.

Last May, Saylor predicted that Bitcoin would hit $21 million in 21 years (by 2046). He attributed this elevated target to shifting geopolitical winds, particularly the U.S. government's changing regulatory stance and the prospect of an American strategic Bitcoin reserve.

In a Fridayannouncement, Coinbase has delisted 25 perpetual futures contracts, and the pattern is sector-driven rather than random. The exchange settled all open positions using a 60-minute average index price before suspension, removing exposure to a cluster of tokens concentrated in high-volatility narratives.

Coinbase’s massive derivatives cleanup: Who got cut?

A lot of the affected contracts are in theAI and data economy segment. IO, GRASS, PROVE and PROMPT are all connected to decentralized computing, data labeling and AI infrastructure. These tokens did well during the 2025 AI rally because of speculation, but derivatives liquidity has gotten thin as capital moved to larger caps.

Another visible block comes from DePIN and infrastructure plays. HNT is all about decentralized wireless networks, and AR is for permanent data storage. Both sectors are still active, but it looks like their markets have not had a lot of open interest over time.

Gaming and meme exposure is also reduced. HMSTR, DEGEN, MEW and GIGA are high-beta community or gaming-driven categories, where derivatives volume tends to spike briefly and fade. Exchanges usually reassess these contracts when there is less funding activity.

As previously announced, we have suspended trading for the following perpetual futures. Any remaining open positions have been settled automatically using the final settlement noted.• EDGE-PERP - $0.092411 USDC• PROMPT-PERP - $0.04328 USDC• 1000SATS-PERP - $0.000011 USDC…

— Coinbase Markets 🛡️ (@CoinbaseMarkets) February 20, 2026

Layer-2 and modular ecosystem tokens were also affected. BLAST, DYM, ZETA, Layer and MANTLE reflect scaling and interoperability narratives. As these ecosystems keep growing, their perpetual pairs did not meet Coinbase's liquidity requirements.

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Finally, smaller infrastructure names like FLOW, CRO, CGLD, and RSR were removed, showing that even well-known brands need to show that they have enough demand for derivatives, even if they do not have much of a spot presence.

The changes suggestCoinbase is focusing its derivatives business on contracts with long-term institutional participation instead of on short-term, news-driven surges. When it comes to sectors, the exchange is reducing its exposure to AI microcaps, DePIN infrastructure, gaming memes and some L2 ecosystems, while maintaining a strong presence in larger, consistently traded markets.