The White House held a third closed-door session on Thursday to assess rules for rewards tied to stablecoin balances, a key element of a broader US crypto market-structure bill. The meeting began at 9 a.m. ET and included Ripple, Coinbase, bank trade groups, and industry associations; participants called it constructive, but no agreement emerged.

On February 18, 2026, Grayscale Investments submitted a filing to US regulators to transform its existing AAVE trust into an exchange-traded fund intended for listing on NYSE Arca. The proposed ETF would track the AAVE token, apply a 2.5% sponsor fee paid in AAVE, and use Coinbase as custodian and prime broker.

On February 18, 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission submitted an amicus brief to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals asserting that it holds sole federal authority over prediction markets. The filing supports Crypto.com in a dispute with the Nevada Gaming Control Board over sports event contracts and argues that event contracts are commodity derivatives governed by the Dodd-Frank Act rather than gambling products. The clash with multiple US states, where nearly 50 cases target firms offering event contracts, has turned federal versus state control into a central issue for the rapidly growing prediction market sector.

On February 16, 2026, Tokyo-based bitcoin treasury firm Metaplanet reported a 95 billion yen ($619 million) net loss for the fiscal year ended December 31 due to a substantial markdown on its bitcoin holdings, while revenue jumped 738% to 8.91 billion yen ($58 million). The company finished 2025 with 35,102 BTC and maintained an equity ratio of 90.7%, and it is targeting a long-term bitcoin position of 210,000 BTC.

On February 12, 2026, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission created a 35-member Innovation Advisory Committee made up of leaders from cryptocurrency, venture capital and traditional finance. The group will periodically advise the regulator on how to oversee blockchain, digital assets and artificial intelligence as they transform trading and derivatives markets.

On February 13, 2026, JPMorgan and Standard Chartered outlined contrasting short-term paths but broadly constructive longer-term outlooks for bitcoin. JPMorgan highlighted an estimated $77,000 production cost as a key support level, while Standard Chartered cautioned that BTC could slide toward $50,000 before rebounding toward $100,000 by the end of 2026.

On February 03, 2026, Michael Burry cautioned that Bitcoin's slide could strain hedge funds with direct and indirect crypto exposure. Bitcoin dipped below $74,000 over the weekend and later hovered near $76,400, and he added that another 10% decline might intensify losses for funds connected to large corporate Bitcoin treasuries.

On February 3, 2026, Tether Holdings revealed it has built a gold position of about 140 tons worth $23 billion, placing it among the world's largest private bullion holders. The company bought over 70 tons last year for reserves and its XAUT gold-backed stablecoin and is currently adding more than a ton per week, while XAUT has climbed nearly 4% in 24 hours and posted strong weekly and monthly gains.

On February 1, 2026, Ark Invest projected that tokenized real-world assets may surpass $11 trillion in value by 2030, up from an estimated $19–22 billion today. The firm expects growth to be driven by institutional adoption, clearer regulation and tokenization of assets such as sovereign debt, bank deposits and public equities.