Ethereum's proof-of-stake contract has locked more than half of the total ETH supply, signaling strong long-term confidence even as the asset's price trades under $2,000. Institutional activity and tokenized real-world assets on Ethereum have grown sharply, but short-term market sentiment remains weak.

Ethereum is attempting to stabilize close to the $2,000 zone after a sharp correction from above $2,700, while Bitcoin trades in a tight band between roughly $66,000 and $70,000. XRP has rebounded toward the $1.45–$1.50 area but remains below key moving averages, leaving the token vulnerable to a prolonged low‑volatility range if support fails. Technical signals across all three assets point to fragile recoveries and the potential for extended consolidation phases.

At Cointelegraph's LONGITUDE conference in Hong Kong on Feb. 12, industry leaders focused on Bitcoin's exposure to quantum computing, looming US regulation and the path to trillion-dollar crypto infrastructure. Tron founder Justin Sun urged the sector to get ready for artificial general intelligence, while investors and executives debated how to price quantum risk into Bitcoin and how far the US CLARITY Act could reshape the regulatory landscape.

Coinbase plans to migrate Base onto a unified, internally managed software stack that replaces its prior dependence on Optimism's core technology and external tooling. The move will let Base package its own client binary, target up to six hard forks per year, and introduce Base-specific governance, security council signers, and fee systems. As Base gains more control over upgrades and infrastructure, Optimism faces reduced influence over one of its largest Layer 2 ecosystem partners.

On Monday, market analyst Crypto Patel said on X that Ethereum sits just below $2,000 at a key decision zone, with $1,800 the critical support. He cited two failed bullish patterns that flipped $3,100–$3,500 into resistance. A hold above $1,800 could target $2,650, while a break lower may expose $1,300.

OpenAI launched EVMbench to benchmark how AI agents detect, patch, and exploit security issues in crypto smart contracts. On Wednesday, the firm published a paper with Paradigm and OtterSec covering 120 vulnerabilities, where Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 led with a $37,824 detect award, ahead of OC-GPT-5.2 and Gemini 3 Pro.

On February 18, 2026, it was reported that SunTrust Bank, now operating as Truist Bank, agreed to a settlement of up to $240,000,000 over allegedly unlawful overdraft fees charged to Georgia customers. After an estimated $84,200,000 is allocated for legal and administrative costs, about $155,800,000 from the class-action case filed in 2010 will be distributed on a claims-based, pro rata basis to eligible account holders who paid overdraft fees between July 12, 2006, and April 15, 2014.

The official TRUMP team moved 9.089 million TRUMP tokens worth $31.45 million to BitGo while the token traded around $3.51 after a 4.67% daily rise. Price remains inside a long-term descending channel between support at $3.18 and resistance at $4.27 and $5.68, as modest exchange outflows and a 6.10% jump in open interest to $109.41 million point to building leverage and possible volatility.