Stocks

On February 17, 2026, Brian Armstrong said in an analyst AMA and a post on X that Wall Street undervalues Coinbase and misreads its strategy. He cited operating data, including 156% year‑over‑year trading volume, market share doubling in 2025, and 12 products each generating over $100 million annually, and noted that five GSIBs have begun collaborating with Coinbase.

On February 18, 2026, minutes from the Federal Reserve's January FOMC meeting showed broad support for keeping the federal funds rate in the 3.50%–3.75% range, with only a few officials favoring a cut. Policymakers cited persistent inflation, steady economic growth and stabilizing job gains for the pause, while markets now expect a 25 basis point reduction in June.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon disclosed he owns a small amount of bitcoin while speaking at the first day of World Liberty Forum 2026 in Mar-a-Lago. He has supported blockchain but described crypto as speculative, and in July 2024 said bitcoin might have a "store of value" case. In January 2025, he reiterated Goldman's restrictions on direct crypto involvement.

Starboard Value estimates Riot Platforms’ AI/HPC plan could create $9–$21 billion in equity value, pointing to the miner’s large Texas power assets. In a letter sent Wednesday, the investor urged faster deal execution, noted AMD’s initial 25 megawatt lease with options up to 200 MW, and said about 1.4 gigawatts remain to monetize.

According to Canary Capital and Grayscale, two spot SUI ETFs launched on Wednesday, with SUIS listing on Nasdaq and GSUI on NYSE Arca. Both provide direct price exposure to SUI, and Canary's product adds net staking rewards via the network's proof-of-stake design. Sui is a Layer 1 developed by Mysten Labs.

HYLQ Strategy Corp completed an OTC acquisition of 18,333,334 qONE from the Quantum Labs Foundation, totaling $100,000 inclusive of bonus tokens, per a company press release. The USDC-settled deal backs qLABS’ quantum-resistant stack on Hyperliquid; qONE launched on February 6, 2026, and qLABS highlighted the announcement on February 18, 2026.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted net outflows of $104.9 million during Tuesday's session, alongside trading volume just above $3 billion. That compares with the February 5 record of $14.7 billion, as fourth-quarter filings showed major reallocations among institutions. New entrants like Laurore and shifts by Brevan Howard, Mubadala and Goldman Sachs underscore ongoing portfolio adjustments.

Nvidia said Tuesday after the market close it signed a multiyear agreement to deliver millions of AI chips to Meta, spanning Blackwell GPUs, forthcoming Rubin parts, and Grace/Vera CPUs. By 5:25 AM EST Wednesday, NVDA traded at $188.40 in premarket, up 1.85% after a 1.20% regular-session gain, as investors assessed the expanded data center footprint.

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%.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $104.9 million in net outflows on Tuesday, while total trading volume slipped to just over $3 billion from the $14.7 billion peak on Feb. 5. In Q4 2025, Hong Kong-based Laurore disclosed a $436.2 million single purchase of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF, alongside major position changes by institutions such as Jane Street, Brevan Howard and Mubadala Investment.