Open interest on major prediction markets has climbed to $1.066B, with $564M locked in trading pairs, marking the first time the sector exceeds the $1B threshold. Polymarket still leads by daily user activity and wallet inflows, while Kalshi and Opinion show strong but more concentrated volumes across sports and other categories. Recent growth has been driven by new wallets, diversified markets, and event-focused contracts around the Super Bowl, the winter Olympics, and politics.

On February 6, 2026, the CFTC staff updated its no‑action stance to let futures commission merchants accept payment stablecoins and other non‑securities as margin under defined risk controls. Commentators point to RLUSD and XRP at Bitnomial as immediate examples, while a December 12, 2025 conditional OCC approval for Ripple’s national trust bank is cited as part of a broader institutional thesis.

In the week referenced by CoinShares, institutional products tied to Bitcoin recorded $264,000,000 in outflows, while several major altcoins attracted fresh capital. XRP led inflows with $63,100,000, followed by Solana with $8,200,000 and Ethereum with $5,300,000, as total assets under management fell to $129,800,000,000 and exchange-traded product volumes hit a record $63,100,000,000. CoinShares says the slowdown in outflows under price pressure may indicate a potential sentiment turning point.

On 9 February 2026, Tether outlined plans to grow its workforce from about 300 to 450 employees over the next 18 months, marking a shift from a lean stablecoin issuer to a diversified global group. The company is using more than $10 billion in 2025 net income and roughly $193 billion in reserves, including U.S. Treasuries, gold, and Bitcoin, to back new ventures in AI, energy, education, and regulated dollar-pegged products such as USA₮.

Cardano's futures trading volume on BitMEX surged 32,399.85% to $106.53 million in the last 24 hours while its open interest dropped to $422.75 million. During the same period, ADA fell 2.65% to $0.2666 and remains 8% lower on the week after failing to extend a brief recovery rally.

Chinese-language crypto marketplace Xinbi has facilitated $17.9 billion in transactions and received $8.9 billion in crypto, despite being removed from Telegram in May 2025 and facing U.S. regulatory action. After the crackdown, operators shifted activity to the SafeW messaging app and its XinbiPay wallet, while rival services Huione, Haowang, and Tudou saw their operations collapse. Since 2022, Xinbi has processed at least $16.4 billion in trades and remains a key hub for illicit services.

On February 9, 2026, Workday, Inc. shares fell more than 8% after the company said cofounder and executive chairman Aneel Bhusri would return as CEO, with Carl Eschenbach stepping down from the role and the board. The stock hit a new 52-week low even as Workday reaffirmed that its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter and full-year results are expected to match prior guidance, ahead of its scheduled report on February 24, 2026. The leadership transition comes as the enterprise software provider prepares for what it characterizes as a crucial phase in the AI era.

XRP’s near-term setup hinges on a daily close above $1.40, opening room for $1.9365 and potentially up to $3 under Fibonacci Circle projections. Following China’s February 9, 2026 move to curb banks’ U.S. Treasuries exposure, the dollar hovered near 0.84:1 versus the euro, adding a macro backdrop that could influence crypto risk.