The post Bitwise CIO Names 4 Crypto Assets to Own in 2026 as Bear Market Deepens appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan has picked his four must-own crypto assets for this cycle: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Chainlink. With markets deep in bear territory and Bitcoin trading over 40% below its October 2025 all-time high, Hougan’s call carries weight. Bitwise manages over $15 billion in client assets and already consults with central banks on digital asset strategy.

Speaking on the When Shift Happens podcast, Hougan laid out specific reasoning for each pick rather than broad market hype.

Why Bitcoin Still Leads Hougan’s Crypto Picks

Hougan called Bitcoin the only clear winner in its category.

“I have every confidence that Bitcoin will win the digital gold store of value monetary asset space. I think that game is over and Bitcoin has won it,” he said.

For every other category, including smart contract platforms where Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche compete, Hougan recommends buying a basket instead of betting on a single winner.

Read More: Altcoins Outperform Bitcoin After Supreme Court Tariff Ruling: Altcoin Season Starting?

Bitcoin to $500K? Hougan Says Market Ignores Sovereign Buying

The biggest surprise was Hougan’s take on sovereign Bitcoin purchases. He says markets currently price in roughly a 0% chance that the U.S. government actively buys Bitcoin beyond its seized holdings. Hougan puts that probability at 10-25%.

“If that happens, I think the price goes to half a million dollars or more almost instantly,” he said.

Bitwise is already in conversations with central banks. Sovereign wealth funds in Abu Dhabi and Luxembourg are already buying. The process is real but moves at central-bank speed, which crypto markets consistently discount.

Why Chainlink Could Be the Sleeper Pick of 2026

Hougan’s most interesting pick may be Chainlink. His case rests on one thesis: if stablecoins and tokenization grow as expected, oracles become essential infrastructure, and Chainlink dominates that market.

“There’s hundred trillion dollars of equities. There’s more of that of bonds. There’s even more of that in real estate,” Hougan said, framing tokenization as a far larger opportunity than stablecoins alone.

Major institutions including NYSE, NASDAQ, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs are all signaling a shift to blockchain-based rails. Hougan compared the current moment to early ETF adoption, a trend skeptics consistently underestimated.

Bitwise launched its own Chainlink ETF (CLNK) on NYSE Arca in January 2026, and a Chainlink ETF is seen as a coming catalyst for LINK’s price.

The post Ripple’s Secret Banking Play: $4B in Acquisitions, OCC Charter, and a Feb 26 ETF Deadline appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Ripple is no longer just a payments company. Through a series of aggressive acquisitions in 2025 totaling roughly $4 billion, the company has assembled a full-stack banking infrastructure that positions it as what crypto analysts are now calling “the banker’s bank.”

The argument, laid out by NCashOfficial, is that traditional banks lack the time and expertise to build blockchain infrastructure from scratch. Ripple spent over a decade doing exactly that, and now it’s packaging the finished product for them.

Ripple’s $4 Billion Acquisition Stack

The buying spree started with Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, a prime brokerage clearing roughly $3 trillion annually. That was rebranded as Ripple Prime. Rail came next at $200 million, adding stablecoin payment rails. GTreasury followed at $1 billion, cracking open the corporate treasury market. Palisade rounded it out with institutional custody and wallet technology.

In December 2025, the OCC granted Ripple conditional approval for a national trust bank charter, giving the company direct access to US banking rails.

Brad Garlinghouse has been deliberate about how he frames this.

“Banks are our customers. If we want these technologies to have the biggest impact on the largest number of people, banks are the touch point,” he said.

Asked directly if Ripple would buy a bank, he kept it short: “They’re our customers.”

Also Read: XRP Ledger News Today: AI Agents Can Now Pay With XRP and RLUSD via x402

XRP Supply Squeeze Builds Ahead of Feb 26 ETF Deadline

Separately, Cheeky Crypto highlighted that the SEC faces a February 26 deadline on T. Rowe Price’s active crypto ETF, which lists XRP as a core eligible asset. T. Rowe Price manages $1.8 trillion in assets.

“We believe that blockchain technology and digital assets will play an important role in the future of the financial services industry,” the firm stated in its filing.

US spot XRP ETFs already hold over $1 billion in net asset value, representing more than 1% of circulating supply. Since January, 42 new wallets holding over 1 million XRP each have appeared on-chain.

Ripple’s 2026 roadmap includes native lending and zero-knowledge proofs on the XRP Ledger. But analysts also flag a key risk: enterprise adoption of Ripple’s infrastructure “may not immediately translate into proportional demand for the XRP token itself, creating a lag in price discovery.”

XRP is trading at $1.44 with a market cap of roughly $87 billion.

This Might Interest You: Why Is XRP Price Outperforming Bitcoin After the 2026 Crypto Crash?

The post IoTeX Bridge Hacked for $8.8M via Private Key Exploit, IOTX Price Dips appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

IoTeX’s cross-chain bridge was hit by a private key exploit on February 21, draining over $8 million in crypto assets and sending the IOTX token tumbling. The attack, which unfolded between 7 and 9 AM UTC, gave the hacker control over IoTeX’s TokenSafe and MinterPool contracts.

On-chain analyst Specter was among the first to flag the breach, reporting that the attacker drained $4.3 million in tokens including USDC, USDT, IOTX, PAYG, WBTC, and BUSD. The stolen assets were quickly swapped to ETH, with approximately 45 ETH bridged to the Bitcoin network.

But that was only part of the damage.

Attacker Minted Millions in CIOTX and CCS Tokens

Beyond the initial drain, the hacker exploited the compromised contracts to mint $4 million in CIOTX tokens and $4.5 million in CCS, pushing total estimated losses toward $9 million.

Blockchain security firm PeckShield confirmed the exploit on X, writing: “The IoTeX Bridge has been hacked for over $8M worth of crypto due to a compromised private key. The hacker has swapped the stolen funds to $ETH and has started bridging them to BTC via THORChain.”

#PeckShieldAlert The IoTeX[.]io Bridge @iotex_io has been hacked for over $8M worth of crypto due to a compromised private key.

The hacker has swapped the stolen funds to $ETH and has started bridging them to #BTC via #Thorchain. pic.twitter.com/uNWHzahk4F

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) February 21, 2026

Three attacker addresses have been publicly identified so far.

IoTeX Says Actual Losses Are Lower

IoTeX confirmed the breach by 10:30 AM UTC and pushed back on the circulating estimates. The team stated that “initial estimates indicate the potential loss is significantly lower than circulating rumors suggest.”

The company added that it has “already coordinated with major exchanges and security partners, which are actively assisting in tracing and freezing the hacker’s assets.”

We are aware of recent reports regarding suspicious activity involving an IoTeX token safe. Our team is fully engaged, working around the clock to assess and contain the situation.

Initial estimates indicate the potential loss is significantly lower than circulating rumors…

— IoTeX (@iotex_io) February 21, 2026

IOTX Price Reacts to the Exploit

IOTX is currently trading near $0.0049, down 9.2% over the last 24 hours, with daily volume surging over 507%.

This incident follows a rough stretch for cross-chain bridges in 2026. Just three weeks ago, CrossCurve lost $3 million in a separate bridge exploit, and January alone saw nearly $400 million in total crypto thefts industry-wide.

IoTeX says the situation is “under control” and has promised continued updates. Analysts are now watching whether the frozen funds can be recovered before the attacker moves them further.

The post Bitcoin Bear Market Bottom or Another Leg Down? 5 Signals That Will Decide appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Bitcoin is trading near $68,240, down 45% from its October 2025 all-time high of $126,000. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index sits at 14. Five consecutive negative monthly closes are about to print, a streak that has only occurred three times in Bitcoin’s entire history.

The question everyone is asking: is this a bear market bottom or just a pause before another leg down? Five signals are converging right now that could decide the answer.

• Also Read :
•   ‘Bitcoin Going to Zero’ Is Trending, But the Man Who Profited in 2008 Is Buying
•   ,

1. Five Negative Months Have Always Preceded a 100% Rebound

Crypto analyst Lark Davis flagged that the only three times Bitcoin posted five straight negative monthly closes were in 2011 and twice during the 2018 bear market. In each instance, Bitcoin rebounded 100% over the following five months.

2. The Nasdaq 200-Day MA Is the Real Tripwire

Institutional research firm Ecoinometrics warned that Bitcoin is already below its 200-day moving average, but the Nasdaq 100’s 200-day MA is still rising. If equities break down, Bitcoin follows.

“There is no historical example of tech entering a real bear phase while Bitcoin quietly stabilizes,” the firm stated.

The setup is unstable. Bitcoin is weak while equities are still holding. A Nasdaq rollover would turn a grind into a drop.

3. Bitcoin’s Volatility Has Fallen Below Nvidia’s

Ecoinometrics data shows Bitcoin’s 12-month realized volatility has stayed below Nvidia’s since late 2022. ETF flows now dominate trend formation, replacing retail-driven spikes. That makes Bitcoin more durable structurally but more sensitive to equity drawdowns than in prior cycles.

4. The Altcoin MACD Crossover Not Seen Since May 2020

Davis highlighted that the Others/BTC chart has printed its first sustained bullish MACD crossover since the altcoin bleed began in April 2022. A brief crossover in March 2024 failed. This one has now held for two months.

The last time a crossover like this sustained was May 2020, right before the massive altcoin rally into 2021.

5. CLARITY Act Approaching March 1 Deadline

The Crypto CLARITY Act holds roughly 85-90% odds of passing on prediction markets. The White House has set a March 1 deadline for resolving the stablecoin yield dispute between banks and crypto firms.

Davis called it the potential “spark” for the market.

The Fed isn’t pivoting. Equities haven’t broken. The altcoin signal is flashing. And a regulatory catalyst sits weeks away. Five signals, one decision point. The next few weeks will settle which way this resolves.

FAQs

The post Altcoins Outperform Bitcoin After Supreme Court Tariff Ruling: Altcoin Season Starting? appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

BNB, DOGE, ADA, and SOL each gained 3 to 4% in the last 24 hours while Bitcoin sat still. The total crypto market climbed 1.39% to $2.33 trillion, and the move came from altcoins, not BTC.

What triggered the rotation? The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that President Trump’s global tariffs were illegal. Most traders expected a sell-off. Instead, capital moved out of Bitcoin and into altcoins.

Blockchain advisor Anndy Lian noted that “the outperformance we see today stems from internal momentum that traditional markets cannot replicate.”

Bitcoin dominance held at 58.27%. That means investors aren’t selling BTC. They’re moving money into tokens they think have more room to run in the short term.

Also Read: Why Is XRP Price Outperforming Bitcoin After the 2026 Crypto Crash?

Altcoin MACD Signal Fires for the First Time in 6 Years

Crypto analyst Dan Gambardello pointed to a chart signal that has a strong track record. The MACD on the Others/BTC chart just crossed above the signal line, with two green histogram bars now forming.

The same signal appeared before the 2017 and 2020 altcoin booms. Both times, it showed up right as PMI expansion began. That matters because quantitative tightening ended on December 1, 2025, and PMI expansion is close to starting again.

Gambardello called it “the trigger for the bull for altcoins” in every previous cycle.

Fear and Greed Index at 14, But Prices Are Rising

The Fear and Greed Index is sitting at 14, well inside extreme fear. Yet the market is moving up. That kind of disconnect has historically come right before short-term relief rallies.

Lian said that “this disconnect between sentiment and price action suggests that the market has already priced in significant pessimism, leaving room for upside surprises.”

Key Levels to Watch Next

The total market cap is now testing the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement at $2.35 trillion. A daily close above that level would signal a short-term trend reversal. A rejection could send prices back toward the $2.17 trillion monthly low.

Adding to the pressure, the Clarity Act faces a White House-set March 1 deadline. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has said there’s a 90% chance it passes by end of April. If it does, it could open the door for institutional money that’s been waiting on regulatory clarity before touching altcoins.

The setup is there. Now it comes down to follow-through.

The post Why Is Tether USDT Supply Crashing? Biggest Monthly Drop Since FTX as USDC Surges appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Tether’s USDT just posted a $1.5 billion supply drop in February, marking the largest monthly decline since the aftermath of the FTX collapse in December 2022. The circulating supply slid to roughly $183.7 billion as of February 19, down from a $187 billion peak in early January, according to Artemis Analytics data reported by Bloomberg.

But here’s what makes this interesting. The money isn’t leaving stablecoins. It’s leaving Tether.

The total stablecoin market actually grew to $304.6 billion in February, up from $302.9 billion at the end of January. Circle’s USDC climbed nearly 5% to $75.7 billion during the same stretch. Redemptions are outpacing new USDT issuances, and the capital appears to be rotating rather than exiting.

Why Is USDT Supply Dropping?

Three forces are working against Tether right now.

A broader crypto selloff that erupted in October has wiped out $2 trillion in market value, shrinking demand for stablecoin liquidity. Europe’s MiCA regulations are pressuring exchanges to restrict non-compliant stablecoins.

And Bitcoin’s decline this year is reducing the leverage and trading activity that drives USDT demand.

USDC Gains Ground While Tether Contracts

In 2025, total stablecoin transaction volumes hit $33 trillion. USDC accounted for $18.3 trillion of that total, while USDT recorded $13.3 trillion. Circle’s stablecoin is now processing more volume than Tether despite having less than half the market cap.

U.S. support for stablecoins has also fueled new competition. World Liberty Financial, one of the Trump family’s crypto ventures, launched its USD1 stablecoin in March 2025 and has rapidly scaled.

Should USDT Holders Worry?

Context matters. The February decline is a 0.8% drop. In 2022, USDT saw contractions of 13%, 9%, and 6% in consecutive months. USDT’s $1 peg remains stable and reserves appear intact.

Still, the stablecoin landscape is shifting. Tether’s dominance, once unquestioned, is now being tested on multiple fronts.

Whether this is a temporary liquidity adjustment or the start of a structural rotation will depend on how aggressively MiCA enforcement tightens and whether institutional capital continues favoring regulated alternatives.

The post XRP Ledger News Today: AI Agents Can Now Pay With XRP and RLUSD via x402 appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

AI agents can now pay for services using XRP and RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, thanks to the x402 facilitator going live. The integration, announced by t54.ai, removes the need for API keys or accounts. This makes XRPL the latest chain to support machine-native payments alongside Coinbase and BNB Chain.

The x402 facilitator is now live on the XRPL.

AI agents can now pay for services using $XRP and $RLUSD – no API keys, no accounts, no friction.

Get started at https://t.co/WMR8ac4Z5h pic.twitter.com/SRPAaYBnbV

— t54.ai (@t54ai) February 19, 2026

The x402 standard works like this: when an AI agent requests a resource, the server responds with HTTP 402 “Payment Required.” The agent pays instantly, and the transaction settles on-chain through the XRP Ledger.

Coinbase originally launched x402 in May 2025 as an open standard for internet-native payments. It allows agents to pay per request, with volume settling directly on whichever blockchain supports it. XRPL now joins that list.

Also Read: Why Is XRP Price Outperforming Bitcoin After the 2026 Crypto Crash?

Dubai Tokenized Real Estate Trading Goes Live on XRPL

The same week, Ctrl Alt and the Dubai Land Department (DLD) launched Phase Two of their Real Estate Tokenization Project on February 20. During the pilot, 10 properties were tokenized, representing over $5 million (AED 18.5 million) in value. Around 7.8 million tokens from that phase are now eligible for resale in a controlled secondary market.

All transactions in this phase run on the XRP Ledger and are secured by Ripple Custody.

Ripple’s Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa, Reece Merrick, called the launch “massive” for real-world asset adoption in Dubai.

Thrilled to see Phase Two launch for Dubai @Land_Department Real Estate Tokenization Project! Building on the pilot, controlled secondary market trading is now live for tokenized properties on the XRP Ledger, secured by @Ripple Custody via our partner @CtrlAltCo

This is massive…

— Reece Merrick (@reece_merrick) February 20, 2026

Broader XRP Ledger Adoption in the UAE

Dubai’s push into digital assets is accelerating. The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) recently defined stablecoins as “fiat crypto tokens.” Over 65% of UAE citizens currently own crypto, and more than 1,800 crypto companies now operate in the region.

Ctrl Alt is also working with Billiton to tokenize $280 million worth of diamonds on the XRP Ledger, expanding the chain’s real-world asset pipeline beyond property.

XRP is currently trading near $1.40, with a market cap of around $85.72 billion.

FAQs

The post Won’t Deny It: Metaplanet CEO Admits Buying Bitcoin at the Peak, Defends Strategy appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich has directly addressed anonymous claims that the company hid Bitcoin purchases, failed at options trading, and kept borrowing details from shareholders. Bitcoin is down 45% from its October high and now trades around $68,000.

Metaplanet shares have dropped roughly 85% from their 2025 peak.

Gerovich posted a point-by-point response on X, saying, “It’s easy to hide behind anonymous accounts, criticize others, and incite outrage without taking any responsibility.”

Did Metaplanet Buy Bitcoin at the Top and Stay Silent?

One of the biggest claims was that Metaplanet bought Bitcoin at the September peak using money from a public offering and then went quiet until the price recovered.

Gerovich confirmed the company made four Bitcoin purchases in September and said each one was announced when it happened. All wallet addresses are public, and shareholders can check holdings in real time through the company’s live dashboard.

“September marked a local peak. I have no intention of denying that,” he said. “However, our strategy is not about timing the market. It is about accumulating Bitcoin long-term and systematically.”

• Also Read :
•   How Much Bitcoin Is Left to Buy? Real Supply Is Below 21 Million
•   ,

Metaplanet’s Options Strategy Explained

Critics said selling put options was a directional bet on Bitcoin going up, and that it failed. Gerovich disagreed.

He explained that if Bitcoin’s spot price is $80,000 and the company sells a put at that level with a $10,000 premium, the effective purchase cost drops to $70,000. That gives Metaplanet better terms than buying on the open market.

Bitcoin per share, the company’s primary KPI, rose over 500% in 2025.

What About the Financial Results?

Gerovich said net profit is not the right way to evaluate a Bitcoin treasury company. He pointed to operating profit of 6.2 billion yen, up 1,694% year-over-year. The net loss comes from unrealized price changes on Bitcoin the company does not plan to sell.

He also shut down claims that Metaplanet’s hotel business is “in ruins,” noting it recorded 437 million yen in revenue and 169 million yen in operating profit in FY2025.

On borrowing, the company disclosed terms, collateral, and amounts across three separate announcements. Lender names and exact interest rates were kept private at the lender’s request, not Metaplanet’s.

Metaplanet holds 35,102 BTC. Shares trade at 307 yen. Gerovich, a major shareholder himself, said every yen raised has been used exactly as the company disclosed.

FAQs

The post Pi Network Turns One: Milestones, Migration Gaps, and What’s Next for Pi Coin appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Pi Network’s open mainnet just turned one. From exchange listings and protocol upgrades to over 16 million migrated users, the past year reads like a highlight reel. But behind the milestones, a different story is playing out.

A significant portion of the Pi community still can’t touch their coins. KYC remains incomplete for millions. Tokens sit unmigrated. Balances show zero.

As crypto creator Crypto Boy highlighted in a recent breakdown, “Although one year is completed but still people are facing problems, are waiting, waiting for their Pi coin.”

The gap between what’s been announced and what users have actually experienced has become a recurring theme across the Pi ecosystem.

2FA Is Now a Hard Blocker

Users who haven’t completed two-factor authentication are stuck. The mainnet checklist requires Facebook verification, phone number, and email before any tokens can migrate.

This isn’t optional. As Crypto Boy put it, “It is one of the most important thing to migrate your Pi coin to the mainnet wallet.”

Without it, Pi stays locked regardless of how long someone has been mining.

• Also Read :
•   Pi Network News Today: Pi Network Activate Mainnet V19.6 Update
•   ,

Pi Node Upgrade Roadmap: Five Versions Still to Go

The v19.6 protocol upgrade completed successfully on February 15. But the road ahead is long.

Next up: v19.9 is targeted for February 27. Version 20.2 follows on March 12. After that, the network still needs to push through to version 23. That’s five more upgrades after the one that just shipped.

Every step is sequential. All nodes must complete each upgrade before the network moves forward.

Pi nodes run on the Stellar Consensus Protocol, validating transactions and maintaining the blockchain’s decentralized backbone. Node operators earn additional Pi rewards for their role.

Pi Coin Price Dropped 11% Before Anniversary

Pi coin saw an 11% price drop in the day before the anniversary despite the week-long rally that preceded it. It is now trading at $0.1761.

Year one is done. The question now: can Pi Network close the gap between its roadmap and its reality before year two runs out?

FAQs

The post ‘Bitcoin Going to Zero’ Is Trending, But the Man Who Profited in 2008 Is Buying appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Google searches for “Bitcoin going to zero” hit an all-time high score of 100 on February 13, according to Google Trends data. The reading marks the highest level in over 3.5 years, surpassing the previous peak of 72 during June 2022’s market crash.

But while retail panic hits historic levels, some of the sharpest minds in macro finance are making the opposite bet.

How Bad Is Bitcoin Fear Right Now?

The search spike comes with Bitcoin trading roughly 47% below its all-time high of above $126,000, set in October, 2025. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index sits at 11.

For context, when the previous “Bitcoin going to zero” search peak hit 72 in June 2022, BTC fell 37% in a single month. Retail sentiment tends to accelerate sharply during extended drawdowns, with panic-driven searches rising as prices decline.

Why Is a 2008 Crisis Veteran Loading Bitcoin?

In a post published today, Bitcoin investor and entrepreneur Lark Davis highlighted the case of Hugh Hendry, the Scottish hedge fund veteran who returned 31.2% during the 2008 financial crisis.

Hendry founded Eclectica Asset Management and famously told BBC viewers to “panic” during the Greek debt crisis. He was right.

According to Davis, Hendry is now running what he calls a barbell strategy: long BTC and positioned for rate cuts. He sees Bitcoin potentially reaching $1 million while acknowledging it could halve first. In May 2025, Hendry sold property and put $10 million into Bitcoin.

His thesis is simple. Bitcoin at roughly $2 trillion versus gold at over $20 trillion represents a gap that either closes or doesn’t. Hendry thinks it closes.

Saylor and Trump Double Down After Strong Jobs Data

Michael Saylor posted “Never been more bullish” on X today, minutes after U.S. jobless claims came in at 206,000, beating the 223,000 forecast and the previous reading of 227,000.

Never Been More ₿ullish.

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) February 19, 2026

Eric Trump echoed the sentiment on CNBC yesterday, calling Bitcoin “one of the greatest performing asset classes” and predicting it hits $1 million.

Is Retail Fear Already Too Late?

Crypto intelligence platform Perception, found that professional media sentiment bottomed on February 5 and has been recovering for two weeks.

Retail fear, measured by Google search spikes, peaks with a 10-14 day delay. By the time the public is most scared, the professional narrative has already started to stabilize.

Bitcoin is trading at $65,948 at press time. The gap between who is searching “zero” and who is buying has not been this wide all cycle.

The post Crypto Fear Index Hits 11: What Happens if Bitcoin Loses $66K Next? appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

The crypto market slipped 1.1% over the past 24 hours, dropping to a total cap of $2.3 trillion. Bitcoin led the decline, and with its dominance sitting at 58.1%, the rest of the market followed.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is back at 11, its lowest reading since February 6. Blockchain advisor and investor Anddy Lian says the $66,000 level is where things get decided.

Bitcoin Falls While Stocks Rally and Gold Diverges

What makes this drop unusual is what’s happening around it. The Nasdaq gained 0.78% on Wednesday, boosted by NVIDIA’s 1.6% rise after Meta announced a long-term AI data centre partnership. In Asia, the Nikkei advanced 0.8% and South Korea’s Kospi surged 3% to a record high.

Crypto moved in the opposite direction.

Lian pointed to a -66% correlation between Bitcoin and Gold, meaning capital isn’t rotating between the two. It’s leaving risk assets altogether.

Also Read: Willy Woo: Bitcoin vs Gold 12-Year Trend Broken, Quantum Risk to Blame

Altcoins are getting hit even harder. Cyber token dropped 21.1% and Optimism fell 11.9%, with leveraged positions being unwound fast in thin liquidity.

Fed Minutes Add More Pressure

Minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed officials are in no hurry to cut interest rates. Some even suggested potential hikes if inflation stays above target. Traders currently price in a 50% chance of a rate cut by June.

Lian noted that higher-for-longer rates raise the cost of holding non-yielding assets like Bitcoin while tightening the flow of speculative capital into crypto.

What Happens if Bitcoin Loses $66K?

According to Lian, $66,000 is the line to watch. A break below could open the door to a test of the yearly low at a market cap of $2.17 trillion.

A reclaim of $68,000 would signal that buyers are stepping in and could spark a short-term recovery across altcoins.

Two Catalysts That Could Shift Sentiment

Lian flagged two things that could break the current stalemate. First, daily spot Bitcoin ETF flow data. Persistent outflows reinforce the risk-off tone, but a return to net inflows could stabilize the market quickly.

Second, progress on the Clarity Act. Clear regulatory rules could unlock capital that has been sitting on the sidelines.

For now, Bitcoin trades at $66,519 with a market cap near $1.33 trillion. Fear is running the show. The question is whether the catalysts show up before the support breaks.

FAQs

The post Bitcoin Long-Term Holders Stop Selling and Start Buying, Data Reveals appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Bitcoin’s long-term holders spent six months selling, but that pattern is changing. On-chain data highlighted by Coin Bureau shows that around January 12, 2026, these investors stopped taking profits and started buying again, even as Bitcoin was still trading well above $80,000.

That accumulation has continued as BTC dropped to its current level near $66,800.

What Triggered the Shift in Long-Term Holder Behavior?

Long-term holders are wallets that have held Bitcoin for more than 155 days. They are typically the last to sell and the first to signal where the market is headed next.

From mid-2025 through early January, this group had been steadily offloading BTC at higher prices. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $126,000 in October 2025, giving them plenty of reason to take profits.

But CryptoQuant’s Long-Term Holder Net Position Change metric tells a different story now. The 30-day sum flipped from red to green around mid-January, meaning net selling turned into net buying. That accumulation held even as price fell from $90,000 to below $67,000.

• Also Read :
•   Altcoins Face Worst Sell Pressure in Crypto History With $209B in Outflows
•   ,

Accumulation Picking Up Despite Extreme Fear

The timing is worth noting. Bitcoin is down 47% from its October high. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen roughly $8.5 billion in outflows since then. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index sits at 11, deep in extreme fear territory.

And yet, the most experienced holders in the market are adding to their positions, not exiting them.

When long-term holders buy, coins typically move off exchanges and into cold storage. That reduces the amount of BTC available for active trading. In past cycles, this kind of supply tightening has set the stage for price recoveries when demand picked back up.

What’s Next for Bitcoin Price?

Whether this accumulation holds depends on a few things. Fed policy direction, any reversal in ETF flows, and broader risk appetite across markets will all play a role.

For now, Bitcoin sits at $66,866. The smart money is buying at these levels. The rest of the market hasn’t caught on yet.

FAQs

The post Goldman Sachs, Coinbase, CFTC Chair Join Trump’s World Liberty Forum as CLARITY Act Eyes April Deadline appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Bitcoin is down 23% this year and crypto sentiment is at extreme fear. Yet nearly 400 of the biggest names in global finance just showed up at Mar-a-Lago for the Trump family’s World Liberty Forum, according to a CNBC Crypto World weekly recap.

Wall Street Meets Crypto at Mar-a-Lago

The event, hosted by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump through World Liberty Financial, pulled in Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and Nicki Minaj.

The Trump brothers positioned the forum as a collision point for crypto and traditional finance.

“To be able to come back and now work with the best in crypto as well as the best in tradfi, get these people together to create efficiencies in a system that’s otherwise been totally undemocratized and broken and inefficient and slow,” they said.

Stablecoin Bill Could Hit the Finish Line by April

Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) said the CLARITY Act could become law by April. The bill passed the House last July but has been stuck in the Senate over one big fight: whether crypto platforms can offer yield on stablecoins. Banks want that blocked. The crypto industry says it should stay.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong pushed back on reports that the industry killed the Senate Banking Committee’s earlier draft.

He said there’s now a clear path to a “win-win-win” for crypto, banks, and consumers.

Dragonfly Capital Just Raised $650M in a Bear Market

While retail traders pull back, Dragonfly Capital closed a $650 million fourth fund. The backers include JP Morgan, Harvard, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Stablecoins are the firm’s number one bet. Portfolio company Rain went from near-zero last April to $4B+ annualized in stablecoin settlement with Visa.

“2025, 2026, we’re going to see a real acceleration of this sort of financial revolution and they wanted exposure to that,” general partner Rob Hadick said.

Bitcoin Drops While Altcoins Show Life

Bitcoin lost about 1.26% over the week and is now trading at $66,883. Ether slipped roughly 1% to $1,963, while XRP edged up 1.26% to $1.41.

• Also Read :
•   Why Is XRP Price Outperforming Bitcoin After the 2026 Crypto Crash?
•   ,

Coinbase Institutional’s John D’Agostino offered a long-term bullish take, calling $100K a psychological turning point.

“There are emotional break points. 100,000 I think was an emotional break point on the upside where a lot of people who’ve been holding it since a thousand bucks, two thousand bucks said okay now I can kind of delever and take some risk off,” he said.

The legislation push, institutional bets like Dragonfly’s, and the sheer weight of the World Liberty Forum guest list all point in one direction. The money is moving, even if the price hasn’t caught up yet.

The post Hyperliquid News Today: $29M DeFi Policy Center Launches in Washington, CEO Named appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Hyperliquid has launched the Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC), a nonprofit research and advocacy group based in Washington D.C. The Hyper Foundation is backing the initiative with 1 million HYPE tokens, currently worth around $29 million.

Crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky has been named the founding CEO. Chervinsky previously served as Chief Legal Officer at both the Blockchain Association and venture firm Variant.

He announced on X, “HPC is an independent research and advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that DeFi can flourish in the United States. The future of finance will be decentralized.”

Why Does Hyperliquid Need a Policy Center?

Hyperliquid processed over $250 billion in perpetual futures volume last month alone, making it one of the largest decentralized exchanges in crypto. But perpetual derivatives, while hugely popular in offshore markets, are still largely absent from regulated U.S. finance.

Chervinsky pointed out that current U.S. financial regulations were not written for decentralized technology like Hyperliquid. HPC will focus on working with lawmakers and regulators to build clear rules for DeFi and on-chain market infrastructure.

The Hyper Foundation said it is “confident that under Chervinsky’s leadership, the Hyperliquid Policy Center will have a meaningful impact in favor of clear regulations for decentralized finance.”

HPC Founding Team and Open Roles

Chervinsky is joined by Policy Counsel Brad Bourque, formerly of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and Policy Director Salah Ghazzal, who previously served as Policy Lead at Variant.

HPC is currently hiring for Chief of Staff, Head of Communications, and Head of Government Relations.

HYPE Token Price and Recent Moves

HYPE is trading at around $29.20 with a market cap of approximately $7.5 billion. The token is down roughly 51% from its all-time high of $59.39, which it hit in September 2025.

The policy center launch comes just a week after Hyperliquid Strategies Inc. spent $129.5 million to buy 5 million more HYPE tokens at an average price of $25.9 per token.

With Congress currently working through the CLARITY Act and DeFi regulation still a major sticking point in the Senate, the timing of HPC’s launch lines up directly with one of the most active periods for crypto policy in Washington.

Also Read: Paxos Warns Banks Are Wrong About Stablecoins After GENIUS Act

The post How Much Bitcoin Is Left to Buy? Real Supply Is Below 21 Million appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Arkham Intelligence released new on-chain data showing that six entities control a combined 4.25 million Bitcoin. That’s roughly 21% of all BTC that will ever exist, and most of it isn’t going anywhere.

Satoshi Nakamoto still tops the list with 1,096,358 BTC, worth around $75 billion. Arkham traced these coins using a known mining pattern called the Patoshi Pattern, linking them to 22,000 mined blocks. None of it has moved since 2010.

Coinbase comes in second with 993,069 BTC ($68 billion) on-chain, held on behalf of itself and its custody clients. BlackRock follows at 761,801 BTC ($52 billion), most of it tied to its spot Bitcoin ETF.

Strategy’s Real Bitcoin Holdings Are Bigger Than They Look

Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, reports total holdings of 714,644 BTC ($54 billion). But only 415,230 BTC shows up under its name on-chain. The rest gets attributed to Fidelity Custody because of how its custodial system groups wallets together.

The U.S. Government holds 328,372 BTC ($22 billion). Almost all of it came from law enforcement seizures, including the Bitfinex hack recovery, the Silk Road marketplace shutdown, and the LuBian Hacker address.

Tether holds 96,369 BTC ($6.5 billion) as part of its reserve management, making it the top private company holder.

Also Read: Where to Invest When Bitcoin Is Falling? Arca CIO Reveals 3 Sectors to Watch in 2026

The Biggest Bitcoin Wallets All Belong to Exchanges

The top four individual Bitcoin wallets are all exchange cold wallets. Binance owns the two largest, holding 249K and 157K BTC. Robinhood holds 141K BTC and Bitfinex holds 130K BTC.

These wallets store client funds, not the exchanges’ own Bitcoin.

How Much Bitcoin Is Actually Left to Buy?

An estimated 3.7 million BTC is permanently lost in wallets that can never be accessed. That brings the real supply well below the 21 million cap. Factor in Satoshi’s dormant coins, government holdings, ETF reserves, and corporate treasuries, and the amount of BTC that is actually available to trade keeps getting smaller.

Also Read: Should Satoshi’s Bitcoin Be Frozen? CryptoQuant CEO Warns 6.89M BTC Face Quantum Risk

Bitcoin is currently trading near $67,249, down 1% over the last 24 hours.

The post Altcoins Face Worst Sell Pressure in Crypto History With $209B in Outflows appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

The altcoin market just set a new record that no one wanted. Crypto assets outside Bitcoin and Ethereum have now closed five consecutive months in the red, a streak that has no precedent in crypto history.

Michaël van de Poppe, CIO and Founder of MN Fund, highlighted this on X, calling it a first for the market.

“For the 5th month in a row, a red candle on #Altcoins. Interestingly enough; this has never happened before. Not once,” he wrote.

He also pointed out that social media interest in crypto has dropped to extremely low levels, reflecting just how far retail enthusiasm has fallen.

Also Read: Strategy’s Michael Saylor Admits Bitcoin Crypto Winter After Saying It Would ‘Never Return’

$209 Billion in Altcoin Selling

The selling pressure behind this streak is even more alarming. Crypto analyst Ash Crypto shared CryptoQuant data revealing that altcoins have faced nonstop dumping for over a year.

“For 13 consecutive months, alts have been sold non-stop, with net sell volume hitting $209 billion,” Ash Crypto said.

That figure is worse than anything recorded during the 2022 bear market or the FTX collapse. The buy/sell difference for altcoins sat near zero in January 2025. Since then, selling has moved in one direction only.

So Is the Bottom Close?

Despite the brutal data, van de Poppe is not writing altcoins off. His chart marks the current altcoin market cap zone around $714 billion as a “Dip buying” area.

He said that a slight recovery in the current monthly candle over the next few weeks could signal the correction is nearing its end.

“If this monthly candle can climb up slightly more over the course of the next few weeks, the chances of this correction to be over have significantly increased,” van de Poppe added.

The next two weeks will be telling. February’s candle close will either break the five-month losing streak or push the altcoin market deeper into bearish territory.

This Might Interest You: Where to Invest When Bitcoin Is Falling? Arca CIO Reveals 3 Sectors to Watch in 2026

The post Should Satoshi’s Bitcoin Be Frozen? CryptoQuant CEO Warns 6.89M BTC Face Quantum Risk appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju warned on X that roughly 6.89 million BTC are currently vulnerable to quantum attacks. That figure includes an estimated 1 million BTC linked to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

According to Ki Young Ju, 1.91 million BTC sit in old P2PK addresses where public keys are permanently visible on the blockchain. Another 4.98 million BTC may have had their public keys exposed through past transactions. Once a public key is visible on-chain, the risk does not go away.

“Coins that appear perfectly safe today could become spendable by an attacker tomorrow,” he said.

3.4 Million BTC Dormant for Over a Decade

Ki Young Ju noted that about 3.4 million BTC has not moved in over 10 years. Around 1 million of that is tied to Satoshi. At current prices, that is hundreds of billions of dollars sitting in addresses that quantum computers could eventually crack.

He framed the situation as binary. Either Bitcoin upgrades its protocol and freezes these coins, or quantum attackers eventually drain them. Anyone using old address types faces the same outcome: coins frozen by design or stolen by force.

Will the Crypto Community Agree?

This is where Ki Young Ju’s argument gets interesting. He said developers can build quantum-resistant solutions.

The problem is getting the Bitcoin community to actually agree on freezing coins, something that goes against Bitcoin’s core principle of immutability.

He pointed to past disputes as evidence. The block size debate lasted over three years and caused hard forks. SegWit2x failed to get enough community support. Freezing dormant coins would face similar, if not stronger, pushback.

“Technical fixes move fast. Social consensus does not,” he said. “Developers are not the bottleneck. Social consensus is.”

Also Read: Willy Woo: Bitcoin vs Gold 12-Year Trend Broken, Quantum Risk to Blame

Should Satoshi’s Coins Be Frozen?

Ki Young Ju ended with a direct question to the community: Would you support freezing dormant coins, including Satoshi’s, to protect Bitcoin from quantum attacks? Or does that go against everything Bitcoin stands for?

If that question alone already divides the community, he said, the quantum debate needs to start now.