Stocks

On February 24, 2026, Bitwise filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to launch exchange-traded funds linked to 2028 US presidential election contracts. The PredictionShares products would bundle event-driven contracts into an ETF wrapper amid regulatory scrutiny of prediction markets. The SEC has not indicated whether the proposals will be approved.

Jane Street significantly raised its IBIT and MSTR shareholdings in Q4 and February 2026, including a 53.78% jump to 20.3M IBIT shares valued at $1B. These stakes may primarily serve as market maker inventory tied to derivative strategies, rather than reflecting a simple long-term bullish bet on BTC.

Shares of leading United States cybersecurity firms fell sharply after Anthropic launched its Claude Code Security vulnerability scanner on Feb. 20. Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike and Fortinet posted declines of up to 18% in the days following the debut of the AI-powered tool, which is built on Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 model.

On Monday, a report from Citrini Research was partly blamed for a sell-off in software and payments stocks, with IBM falling 13.1% to $223.35 and several tech and card networks also lower. The "Global Intelligence Crisis" report warned AI agents could upend the economy, threaten the $13 trillion US mortgage market, and create "Ghost GDP" that appears in national data but bypasses the real economy.

Canaan agreed to acquire Cipher Mining's 49% interest across three West Texas bitcoin projects, the company said Monday in a press release. The deal was funded by issuing 806,439,900 Class A shares, equal to 53,762,660 ADS at $0.7394 per ADS, for approximately $39.75 million and a six‑month lock‑up. The ABC sites have 120 MW and around 4.4 EH/s.

Digital asset treasury companies are publicly listed firms that accumulate crypto on their balance sheets, offering stockholders indirect exposure. The model began in 2020 with Strategy (formerly known as MicroStrategy) and has since expanded to 200+ companies holding assets like BTC, ETH, and SOL. These vehicles differ from ETFs, use leverage, and trade at premiums or discounts to NAV.

Crypto markets opened under pressure after President Trump imposed 15% global tariffs, with US 30 down 0.55% to 49,354.5 and US Tech 100 off 0.89% to 24,790.9. Bitcoin climbed back above $66,000 toward $68,000 as Ethereum slipped 1.72%, while new SEC staff guidance applies a 2% haircut (98% recognition) to qualifying USD stablecoins.

Between February 17 and February 22, Strategy acquired 592 BTC for about $39.8 million, as noted in a Monday SEC filing. The company now holds 717,722 BTC, valued at roughly $47.5 billion at current prices, and funded the latest purchases through at the market MSTR share sales.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs are set for a fourth straight month of net withdrawals in February as BTC approaches a fifth negative monthly close. According to checkonchain, ETF net assets fell from nearly $170 billion in October 2025 to $84.3 billion, while flows tracked by Axel Adler Jr. showed 11,042 BTC in outflows between Feb. 12 and Feb. 19.

On February 23, 2026, Chinese AI lab DeepSeek prepared to roll out its V4 model, raising concerns for U.S. tech and semiconductor stocks. The move came as markets were already unsettled by tariffs, geopolitical risks, and Nvidia's upcoming earnings. Some investors fear that if DeepSeek can deliver powerful models at lower cost, large-scale AI spending in the U.S. could be questioned, while others see cheaper AI as a catalyst for broader adoption and infrastructure demand.