On February 18, 2026, altcoin markets were described as facing record-level selling pressure, with little evidence of dip buying. Funds rotated toward BTC, meme tokens, and RWA assets, while altcoin participation on Binance fell from over 59% in November to 33.6% by February. Derivatives activity on centralized venues also waned amid higher liquidation risk.

Quantoz Payments has joined Visa as a principal member, adding BIN-sponsor capabilities to issue cards for third-party fintechs. The partnership enables virtual Visa cards that can be funded with digital assets and stablecoins, with a focus on serving the European market.

On February 17, 2026, ORCA, the native token of Orca DEX on Solana, jumped more than 62% in a day, briefly exceeding $1.62 and marking its strongest trading volumes since December. The move was fueled by a short squeeze, over $23M in open interest, and heavy activity on South Korean exchanges, with more than half of spot volume on Upbit and over 75% of trades against the Korean won.

Binance’s stablecoin holdings have declined for nearly three months, dropping from $43.6B to about $36B as of February 16, 2026, according to Cryptoquant. February saw an additional $3B leave in two weeks, while BNB Chain posted a $219M net liquidity outflow and still counts 4.4M daily active users.

On February 16 2026, an analysis examined whether current crypto infrastructure can adequately support neobanks and bank-like services. The discussion highlighted unresolved conflicts around stablecoin issuers paying interest, the dominance of card-based products, and the risks of DeFi lending and fake platforms. It also noted that despite user-friendly crypto cards and wallets, complexity, regulation, privacy exposure on public chains, and intense competition still hinder fully fledged crypto neobanks.

Following the February 15 difficulty recalculation, Bitcoin recorded its largest six-month decline in mining difficulty, reverting toward August 2025 levels. The shift, linked to seasonal and elective shutdowns, eases pressure on miners as BTC trades near $68,841.76 and below estimated production costs.

Huione Guarantee has been disposing of its remaining Telegram channels, including through an auction that requires a 10,000 USDT deposit, after winding down activity and closing Huione Pay in late 2025. Research indicates that while its operations have been scaled back and rebranded, USDT-based laundering risks have migrated to smaller P2P markets and alternative payment services.

Strategy's preferred dividend stock STRC traded above $100 again after two weeks of inactivity, opening room for fresh issuance and renewed Bitcoin exposure. At these levels, Strategy processed STRC volumes large enough to potentially fund the acquisition of up to 1,557 BTC while still servicing its 11.25% monthly dividend obligations. The long-term sustainability of this approach remains closely tied to a continued Bitcoin bull market and stable performance of related equity such as MSTR.

In January and February 2026, Ethereum whale wallets holding more than 1,000 ETH reduced their balances by up to 1.5% while the broader crypto market weakened. ETH dropped to $1,949.35 and open interest fell to $10.19B, leaving some recent buyers in unrealized loss territory as leverage declined and accumulation shifted toward smaller wallets.