RWA

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.

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.

On February 18, 2026, Coin Bureau said the World Uncertainty Index hit a record high as tariff tensions escalate, while ADA compressed near the $0.28 demand zone. Bitcoinsensus projected expansion targets from $3, and a side-chain mainnet expected by March 2026 plus the Midnight token could influence liquidity. Midnight (NIGHT) has a 24 billion supply and $10 million Wednesday volume, versus ADA’s $346 million daily turnover.

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.

Peter Thiel has exited ETHZilla, cutting his roughly 7.5% position to 0% by the end of 2025, according to an SEC filing. In December 2025, ETHZilla sold 24,291 ETH for $74.5 million to repay debt and pivot toward real-world asset tokenization, after which its stock fell 8.7% to $6.30 and Pomerantz LLP opened a securities probe.

On February 18, 2026, World Liberty Financial (WLFI) advanced about 20% to trade near $0.118, challenging the $0.12 resistance. On-chain data indicated a new wallet withdrew 25 million tokens (~$2.75M) ahead of the Mar‑a‑Lago World Liberty Forum. According to Onchain Lens, 313.31M WLFI worth $33.76M moved off Binance within 11 hours, alongside volume surging over 120%.

On February 18, 2026, the full exit of Founders Fund from ETHZilla was confirmed. ETHZilla shares traded near $3.20 in premarket, almost 7% lower and 97% below the $107 peak. The firm sold $40 million in ETH for buybacks and $74.5 million to manage debt, and is shifting toward tokenized real‑world assets.

On 18 February 2026, Peter Thiel and Founders Fund exited ETHZilla, moving their stake from 7.5% to 0% according to U.S. SEC filings. The shares fell more than 5% in overnight trading and are down roughly 97% from 2025 highs as the firm shifts from an Ethereum treasury strategy to tokenizing jet engines with projected yields near 11%.

BNB Chain introduced support for ERC-8004 and BAP-578 to advance agent identity and application standards amid weak market sentiment. Earlier this month, it deployed ERC-8004 on BSC Mainnet and Testnet, and by February 17 the AI Agent ecosystem counted 58 projects. The initiative has also drawn over 200 builders in an ongoing hackathon focused on AI and on-chain actions.

Wintermute said it has enabled OTC trading for tokenized gold products Tether Gold and Paxos Gold for institutional clients. The firm reported $126 billion in tokenized gold volume in Q4 2025 and, per CEO Evgeny Gaevoy, projects the market could reach $15 billion in 2026, amid debate over what this means for Bitcoin.