Arthur Hayes argues that the recent divergence between Bitcoin and the tech‑heavy Nasdaq 100 signals an approaching AI‑driven credit crunch that could force central banks to expand fiat liquidity and send BTC to fresh record highs. He estimates that a 20% reduction in the United States' 72 million knowledge workers could translate into roughly $557 billion in consumer credit and mortgage losses, pressuring regional banks and prompting renewed money printing. Hayes adds that his firm Maelstrom plans to rotate surplus stablecoins into Bitcoin, Zcash and Hyperliquid once the Federal Reserve eases policy.

Bitwise and GraniteShares filed prospectuses with the U.S. SEC on Tuesday for six prediction market-style ETFs, according to the filings. The funds would track binary event contracts on CFTC-regulated exchanges, settling at $1 or $0, with exposure to outcomes across the 2026 congressional races and the U.S. presidential election on November 7, 2028.

On Tuesday, Matrixport reported that its Bitcoin sentiment gauge has sunk to extremely depressed levels, with its fear and greed index indicating a potential durable bottom as the 21-day moving average turns higher from below zero. The firm noted that similar readings in June 2024 and November 2025 followed sharp market declines, while Alternative.me's index now shows extreme fear at 10 out of 100 and Bitcoin trades roughly two standard deviations below its 20-day norm, a setup some analysts say has historically preceded short-term bounces.

On Feb. 13, cybersecurity expert Dmitry Smilyanets reported receiving a fake Trezor-branded letter demanding an "Authentication Check" by Feb. 15 or risk device restrictions, with a QR code leading to a phishing site. The scam, which mislabels Trezor CEO Matěj Žák as "Ledger CEO," targets hardware wallet users whose postal data was exposed in past breaches and attempts to trick them into entering seed recovery phrases. Similar physical letters and QR-based attacks have been reported against Ledger users since at least October last year, following multiple data leaks impacting both Ledger and Trezor customers.

Bitcoin has fallen 22.3% year-to-date and could be heading for its weakest first quarter since 2018. The asset opened the year near $87,700 and slid to lows around $68,000. January dropped 10.2% and February is down 13.4% so far, with $80,000 needed to avoid a second straight red month.

MicroStrategy plans to gradually convert around $6 billion of its convertible bond debt into equity over a three‑to‑six‑year period, aiming to lessen leverage on its balance sheet. The firm says its Bitcoin reserves of roughly $49 billion, or 714,644 BTC, would still fully cover its debt even if BTC fell about 88% to $8,000, while its share price remains 70% below a mid‑July all‑time high.

Crypto flows to suspected human trafficking networks climbed 85% during 2025, according to a Chainalysis report released Thursday. The firm said volumes reached hundreds of millions of dollars, with networks concentrated in Southeast Asia and closely linked to scam compounds, online casinos and Chinese-language laundering groups. It added that blockchain transparency could help investigators track patterns and intervene.

An analyst said Bitcoin's seven-day average realized net losses reached $2.3 billion, framing the sell-off as one of the largest capitulation episodes since 2021. The asset briefly moved above $70,000 on Tuesday and later hovered near $66,600 after rebounding from a Feb. 6 low around $60,000, with a $55,000 realized price highlighted.

At a conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Fundstrat head of research Tom Lee said Ether is nearing a market bottom and predicted another rapid V-shaped rebound similar to past cycles. He pointed to eight prior drawdowns of more than 50% since 2018, all followed by swift recoveries, while on-chain data shows record-high staking queues and over 30% of ETH supply locked, despite prices sliding to $1,760 this month.