Vitalik Buterin sold 1,869 ETH valued at about $3.67 million over the past two days while ether fell from roughly $1,980 to $1,850. He previously moved 3,500 ETH from Aave and earlier disposals totaled 6,958 ETH. Despite recent sales, his holdings remain above 224,000 ETH.

On February 23, 2026, Bitwise Invest CIO Matt Hougan countered Sevens Reporter founder Tom Essaye's criticism of Bitcoin, arguing it is still in an early store-of-value phase. Hougan projected that by around 2050, every central bank could own Bitcoin much like gold, even as BTC currently trades about 40% below its October all-time high of $126,000. Essaye, by contrast, dismissed Bitcoin as a speculative asset that neither replaces gold nor serves as a reliable hedge against inflation or market turmoil.

Crypto exchange Backpack said it will allocate 20% of its equity to users who stake its token for at least one year. The plan offers a fixed token-to-equity swap ratio and seeks to address incentive misalignment, according to founder Armani Ferrante. The exchange flagged the initiative in an X post on Monday.

Stablecoin issuers are poised to become major buyers of short‑dated U.S. Treasuries, potentially adding $0.8T–$1T of demand by 2028. Market capitalization is projected to approach $2T, with reserve requirements under the July 2025 GENIUS Act concentrating assets in 0–3 month T‑bills. Emerging‑market adoption is expected to drive most of the expansion.

On Thursday, Austria's Financial Market Authority barred KuCoin EU from onboarding new clients or signing new products, citing shortcomings in AML, CTF and sanctions oversight. The action comes months after Austria granted the exchange a MiCA licence, and KuCoin says it has already paused onboarding and begun recruiting to restore key compliance roles.

Strategy executed its 100th Bitcoin purchase, adding 592 BTC for about $39.8 million and lifting its holdings to 717,722 BTC. The transaction, disclosed in a US SEC filing on Monday, was funded by selling 297,940 Class A shares via an at-the-market program, with the new coins bought at an average $67,286 per BTC.

On February 23, 2026, SBI Holdings launched a 10 billion yen ($64.5 million) three-year bond fully managed on-chain and offering semiannual coupons of 1.85%–2.45% plus XRP-based rewards. The minimum subscription is 100,000 yen, and trading is scheduled to start on March 25, 2026, via the Osaka Digital Exchange's START platform, aiming to attract retail and SME investors to regulated tokenized securities.

Solana's SOL has dropped nearly 40% over the past month, briefly hitting about $77 before rebounding above $80. Analysts including Ali Martinez and Sjuul warn that resistance near $110 and a January 2022 sell signal raise downside risks, with key support at $76 and potential paths toward $53, $35, $23 or even around $4.