In a report on February 23, 2026, the Bank of Korea urged that only licensed commercial banks be allowed to issue won-backed stablecoins at the outset. Options under debate include a bank-led consortium with at least 51% equity control and 100% reserves in high-quality liquid assets, following a February Bithumb error involving $40 billion that heightened stability concerns.

On 22 February 2026, Laurore Ltd., a little-known firm registered in Hong Kong, reported holding 8,786,279 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) worth about $436.2 million as of the quarter ending 31 December 2025. The filing shows IBIT as its sole reported asset, while other major institutional investors either increased, rotated, or trimmed their Bitcoin ETF exposure during a quarter in which BTC fell roughly 23%.

On 22 February 2026 at 15:14, weekly activity on spot decentralized exchanges reached a record 38.1 million transactions over the past seven days, largely propelled by prediction markets. Polymarket registered 19.6 million weekly transactions by mid‑February 2026, ahead of Kalshi at 17.4 million, while sector volumes have grown more than 130x since 2024 and surpassed $13 billion.

BlackRock has filed the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust, expected to trade as ETHB, which plans to stake 70–95% of its Ether and distribute 82% of staking rewards to investors while charging a 0.25% sponsor fee. A December 17 regulatory document noted a seed purchase of 4,000 shares at $0.25 each, and market participants expect a first‑half 2026 rollout.

On 21 February 2026, Russian authorities reported that more than 5,500 crypto miners had registered with the Federal Tax Service after mining was legalized on 1 November 2024. From 2025, cryptocurrency is taxed as property, with income from mining subject to personal and corporate profit tax while remaining exempt from VAT. Individuals may mine without registration only below a 6,000 kWh monthly electricity threshold, and draft 2026 rules could introduce fines up to 2.5 million rubles and prison terms of up to five years for large-scale unregistered operations.

On 20 February 2026, Tether announced it will discontinue its offshore yuan-pegged stablecoin CNH₦ as part of a broader product reshuffle. New token issuance has already been halted, and holders have until February 2027 to redeem, while the company shifts resources toward USD₦, USA₦ and its Hadron tokenization platform and continues liquidating EUR₦.

On 21 February 2026, Bitwise Asset Management CIO Matt Hougan reaffirmed Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Chainlink as the firm's core crypto assets for the current market cycle. He argues these networks form the backbone of a maturing digital asset economy, with Bitcoin and Ethereum dominating and Solana and Chainlink positioned as high-upside infrastructure plays. Bitwise's index fund allocations and planned products mirror this focus, concentrating heavily on BTC and ETH while maintaining smaller positions in SOL and LINK.

On 20 February 2026, BNP Paribas launched a pilot that tokenizes a share class of a French money market fund on the public Ethereum network using the ERC-3643 standard and a permissioned, regulated framework. The bank is also spearheading Qivalis, a euro-pegged stablecoin backed by a consortium of 12 European banks, which aims for a commercial rollout in the second half of 2026. Together these initiatives indicate a wider move toward on-chain finance focused on institutional payments and compliant access to blockchain infrastructure.

On 21 February 2026, Capriole Fund founder Charles Edwards argued that Bitcoin's fair value should already be marked down by about 20% to reflect the rising threat from quantum computing. He warns that if the network fails to transition to quantum-resistant cryptography, a future "Q-Day" could expose 20–30% of the supply to theft and forced selling, potentially driving much steeper valuation discounts in the coming years.