On Feb. 18, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse avoided giving a direct answer on whether the company plans to buy a bank, instead reiterating Ripple's focus on serving institutional clients and collaborating with existing financial players. He highlighted the growth of Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin, its New York trust license and conditional OCC charter, and argued that clearer US legislation has already boosted demand for stablecoins and XRP Ledger-based payments.

Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs reported that illicit entities received roughly $141 billion in stablecoins in 2025, the highest level in five years, driven mainly by sanctions-linked networks and large-scale money laundering. Sanctions-related activity made up 86% of all illicit crypto flows, with around $72 billion tied to the Russian ruble-pegged A7A5 token, while overall illicit use represented about 1% of an estimated $12 trillion in annual stablecoin transactions.

MemeCore fell 9.5% in the past 24 hours, with sentiment leaning bearish and its CoinMarketCap ranking under pressure. Spot volume shifted just 0.3% to roughly $5.82 million and holder counts dipped from 6,710 to 6,700, according to CoinMarketCap. CoinGlass flagged a 14.7% capital outflow and funding near neutral.

Ethereum price recently slipped below $1,950 and then rebounded from support near $1,905, with the recovery capped under $1,980. ETH is now moving below the 100-hourly Simple Moving Average and facing resistance around $1,985 and the $2,000 level. A break above $2,000 could open the way toward $2,050, while failure to clear $1,985 may trigger another drop toward $1,880 or even $1,840.

XRP, Shiba Inu and Dogecoin are showing signs of weakness after recent attempts at recovery. XRP is in a cooling phase amid an 85% collapse in trading activity from its sell-off peak, while DOGE hovers just below $0.10 and SHIB remains trapped in a bearish structure. Overall price action points to consolidation and limited upside potential for these assets in the near term.

Bitcoin developer Matt Carallo told the Unchained podcast on Thursday that quantum-computing fears are not behind Bitcoin's latest slide, arguing Ether would be outperforming if they were. He noted Ether is down 58% since early October and around $1,957, while Bitcoin has fallen 46% from its October high of $126,100 to about $67,162.

Bitcoin slipped to a $65,650 low and is holding beneath $67,500 and the 100‑hour simple moving average. A push above the $67,400–$68,000 resistance zone could open $68,800 and $69,500, while failure risks revisiting $66,000, $65,650 and potentially $65,050–$64,500. Hourly MACD is losing bearish momentum as RSI stays above 50.

Ethereum slipped firmly below $2,100, shifting short-term momentum to the downside. The $2,300–$2,100 daily band has turned into resistance after failed reclaim attempts, with $1,700–$1,500 highlighted as the next support area. A higher timeframe fractal points to potential upside if price compresses and then breaks above the current range.