The Netherlands Gambling Authority has ordered Polymarket’s Dutch affiliate Adventure One to immediately halt unlicensed prediction market betting for local users or face penalties of up to $990,000. The action targets wagers on events such as national elections and comes amid broader Dutch debates on stricter crypto taxation and growing indirect exposure to digital assets.

On Friday, cryptocurrency markets remained steady as US President Donald Trump announced a new universal 10% tariff on imports following a Supreme Court ruling against his earlier emergency powers strategy. Bitcoin hovered near $67,800 and Ether traded around $1,960, while the broader digital asset market capitalization stayed close to $2.33 trillion with traders showing caution rather than panic. Over the past year, the number of Bitcoin addresses holding at least $1 million fell about 16%, even as the policy environment in Washington became more crypto-friendly.

Vitalik Buterin set 2026 as a target to reclaim computing self-sovereignty, detailing moves to privacy tools and trials of running language models on a personal laptop. The article argues local-only hosting cannot meet training and persistent inference needs at scale, and instead points to decentralized compute networks as a way to combine independence with elastic capacity.

In episode 516, Head of BD Xenia Soborova shares how Solana's builder-heavy culture and capital-preserving reward models aim to reengage idle wallets. She outlines Tramplin's randomized redistribution of staking yields and its non-custodial setup on Solana nodes, positioning on-chain businesses as more sustainable than high-risk speculation.

In a post on February 14, 2026, X's product lead Nikita Bier said Smart Cashtags will arrive within weeks, enabling stock and crypto trades directly from the timeline. The rollout pairs with X Money, a peer-to-peer payments tool in limited beta, and follows recent restrictions on engagement-reward apps.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Friday that passing the proposed Clarity Act, a digital asset market structure bill, could help reduce uncertainty and support more stable crypto markets. He linked part of Bitcoin's roughly 29% monthly decline to industry pushback against regulation and warned that shifting political dynamics and opposition from some firms may still derail the legislation, which prediction markets currently see as having a 62% chance of becoming law by the end of 2026.

ApeBond has launched its DeFi bond product on HyperEVM with $qONE as the first integrated token, enabling discounted token purchases in exchange for liquidity provision. The partnership introduces protocol-owned liquidity for $qONE on Hyperliquid, where the token has climbed to $0.021 with a fully diluted valuation of $21.56M. $qONE has risen 114% from its $0.01 public sale price and 168% from its $0.008 community round as it secures a series of ecosystem "firsts" across HyperEVM and centralized data platforms.

LiquidChain has launched its LIQUID token presale with a focus on infrastructure, aiming to unify liquidity and execution across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana without relying on bridges or synthetic assets. The protocol operates as a Layer 3 settlement and execution layer, while its 11.8 billion LIQUID supply is allocated to development, Liquid Labs, AquaVault, rewards, and growth to support long-term operations. Token utility includes liquidity staking, transaction fees, and developer incentives, aligning demand with actual network usage in a market that increasingly values verifiable, compliant DeFi systems.

During a period when the crypto Fear & Greed Index reportedly fell to 6 out of 100 and market sentiment was extremely weak, the $qONE presale sold out its entire $950,000 allocation in less than 24 hours. Backed by 01 Quantum Inc., the token is preparing for its Token Generation Event on Hyperliquid, with public round buyers set to receive full token unlock at launch. Community round and Hypio NFT airdrop participants will have different vesting and distribution terms once trading begins.