On 20 February 2026, Deutsche Bank said it is expanding Ripple-based infrastructure across cross-border payments, foreign exchange and digital asset custody. The bank targets near-instant settlement and lower costs, with internal projections pointing to up to 30% operational savings; the rollout focuses on enterprise messaging and routing rather than direct XRP usage.

On-chain analytics platform Parsec confirmed in an X post on a Thursday that it will shut down after operating for five years, with CEO Will Sheehan citing a misalignment with the industry's evolving focus. The firm, backed by Uniswap, Polychain Capital and Galaxy Digital, had concentrated on DeFi and NFTs, segments that have seen lower leverage and weaker sales volumes compared with prior peaks.

The European Central Bank plans to choose payment service providers for its digital euro project in early 2026, with a 12‑month pilot starting in the second half of 2027. The first issuance is aimed for 2029, and the currency is designed to work with existing cards and wallets while capping merchant fees. Officials expect it to strengthen European payment systems and reduce reliance on stablecoins and global card networks.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the US CLARITY Act could pass by April and pegged the odds at 80%. Prediction market pricing shows an 85% chance of enactment in 2026, up from about 60% earlier this year. He described April as a realistic window if negotiations keep moving.

February 2026’s roundup spotlights 12 Telegram games across tap‑to‑earn, RPG, farming and runner genres, all playable within the app. Several offer token rewards including HMSTR, CATI, $PIXFI, $GOLD, RBTC and RCC, with extras via referrals, PvP, battle passes and airdrops. Most focus on quick sessions and require no additional downloads.

Robinhood's new Layer-2 testnet built on Arbitrum processed 4 million transactions in its first seven days, as confirmed by CEO Vlad Tenev. The network is positioned as infrastructure for tokenized stocks, ETFs, and onchain financial services, following six months of private testing. Despite a 38% year-over-year decline in Q4 2025 crypto revenue, the company is expanding its tokenization and 24/7 trading stack with partners such as LayerZero, Chainlink, and Alchemy.

An Ethereum developer detailed how ERC-5564 enables native stealth addresses using public meta-addresses and one-time destinations to keep wallets and histories private. The design introduces viewing and spending keys, plus optional delegation for payment scanning. He also noted gas requirements for fresh addresses and potential spam-triggered scans, with sender-included ETH and filters proposed as mitigations.

In February 2026, Polymarket filed a federal lawsuit in Massachusetts arguing that its event contracts fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the CFTC rather than state gambling laws. The outcome could determine whether prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi face a single national regulatory framework or a patchwork of state-level rules governing activity across the United States.