Apple and Google have agreed to modify their UK mobile app stores after the UK regulator classified them as holding strategic market status in October last year. The companies plan to introduce clearer and more transparent rules for developers, with changes due to start as soon as April this year. Apple also faces a separate antitrust lawsuit in a Dutch court, linked to alleged unfair practices in its app store.

On February 10, 2026, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said the central bank plans to offer restricted "skinny master accounts" that give eligible fintech and crypto firms limited access to its payment system by year‑end. Reports indicated the accounts would pay no interest and bar discount‑window borrowing amid divisions between crypto companies and community banks and delays to a broader market‑structure bill.

On February 9, Ripple said it enhanced its institutional custody platform through integrations with Securosys and Figment, building on its Palisade acquisition and Chainalysis tools. The update lets regulated banks and custodians manage keys via on site or cloud HSMs and offer staking on networks such as Ethereum and Solana with integrated, real time compliance checks.

In the latest reporting week, Bitcoin investment products saw $264.4 million in outflows, marking a third straight week of withdrawals but at a much slower pace. Over the same period, altcoin funds led by XRP, Ethereum and Solana attracted fresh inflows, while Bitcoin’s price rebounded from a sharp selloff to trade around $70,437. Despite the price recovery, total crypto fund assets under management slipped to $129.8 billion amid divided analyst outlooks on near-term risks and long-term upside.

On February 9, 2026, a Bitcoin Genesis address associated with Satoshi Nakamoto received 2.565 BTC, valued at more than $150,000. Community members on X offered theories ranging from a symbolic tribute or burn to speculation about Satoshi's possible activity. The address now holds about 57 BTC as past on-chain records show multiple sizeable deposits sent there in recent years.

As of February 9 2026, worldwide Google searches for "crypto" have slipped to 30 out of 100 while total market capitalization has fallen 43% from $4.2 trillion to about $2.4 trillion. Bitcoin has dropped below $64,000, trading volumes are sharply lower and key sentiment gauges indicate extreme fear, though US search interest has partially rebounded since January.

On Friday, February 6, CoinShares said fears about Bitcoin's quantum vulnerability are overstated. The firm's analysis focuses on legacy P2PK exposure, estimating roughly 1.6 million BTC there but only about 10,200 BTC in large accounts that could disrupt markets, while stressing today's quantum machines lack the 13 million physical qubits needed to break keys quickly.

In a February 8 newsletter, Lyn Alden said the Federal Reserve is likely to expand liquidity in a measured way by growing its balance sheet broadly in line with bank assets or nominal GDP. She expects this backdrop to favor scarce, high-quality assets while cautioning against overheated segments, and she does not foresee large-scale stimulus in the near term.

On February 6, 2026, South Korean exchange Bithumb mistakenly credited around 620,000 BTC to users during a promotional event before recovering 99.7% of the excess. The platform used its own funds to cover roughly 1,788 BTC that had already been sold, and introduced compensation including cash payouts, trade refunds with a 10% bonus, and a seven‑day fee waiver. The firm attributed the incident to a technical malfunction rather than hacking and said its total crypto holdings still match or exceed user deposits.