According to a public OCC filing, Morgan Stanley submitted a de novo national trust bank application on Feb. 18 under "Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association." Reports on Friday said the unit would safeguard selected digital assets and handle trades, transfers, and staking, aligning with the bank's January ETF registrations and its appointment of Amy Oldenburg to lead a new crypto unit.

Internet Computer's ICP climbed to a three-week peak of $2.7 before easing to $2.5, marking a 10.7% daily gain and breaking a prior downtrend. Whale buying around $2.4 and $2.3 has formed a strong demand zone, with ICP now challenging the EMA50 near $2.7 and eyeing a potential move toward $3 if bullish momentum persists.

Ari Paul, founder of BlockTower and former Wall Street market maker, has pushed back on claims that Jane Street has been holding down Bitcoin’s price, arguing that recent weakness is better explained by spot selling. He acknowledges that market makers can influence intraday moves and add small costs to BTC ETF investors, but says they rarely keep an asset below fair value for long. Paul and on-chain analyst James Check instead point to large Bitcoin holders selling tens of thousands of coins, while BTC currently trades around $66,090.

Cardano launched USDCx, a native stablecoin collateralized 1:1 with Circle's USDC via the xReserve smart contract. On February 27, 2026, Circle said USDCx on Cardano is available via xReserve. IOG will cover bridge fees for the first 10 days. ADA traded at $0.2775, down 2.87% over the past day.

In mid-January, Ethereum peaked near $3,400 before a liquidation-led slide toward the $1,850 area in recent weeks, according to a CryptoQuant analyst. In February, the 30‑day Net Taker Volume fell to its most negative level since last November. Price action is attempting to stabilize around $2,000 while remaining below the 50-, 100- and 200-day moving averages.

In the first week of February, Bitcoin’s MVRV Z-score dropped to -3.38, far below the roughly -1.6 and -1.4 readings seen at the December 2018 and November 2022 cycle lows. Around 24-25 February, BTC swung between $62.5k and $70k before retracing to about $66k, while on-chain indicators such as NUPL and long-term holder MVRV suggested that a full capitulation phase and durable reaccumulation could still be some distance away.

On February 18, 2026, Morgan Stanley filed for a national trust bank charter in the United States to provide federally supervised custody, safekeeping, and transfer services for digital assets. If approved, the structure would let the firm segregate client crypto holdings under OCC oversight and expand its wealth management offering into regulated token storage and related infrastructure.

Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès has outlined a draft plan for a Bitcoin hard fork to recover nearly 80,000 BTC tied to the exchange’s 2011 hack, currently valued at over $5.2 billion. The proposal would redirect coins from a long-dormant theft address to a recovery wallet for court-supervised creditor repayments, reigniting debate over whether such changes undermine Bitcoin’s immutability.