Morning Crypto Wrap — 25 February 2026

Executive brief

The digital asset market has entered a period of heightened volatility, with Bitcoin recently testing levels near $63,000 amid a significant spike in liquidations totaling over $615 million. This price action reflects a broader environment of extreme fear, a sentiment level not seen since 2019, as traders grapple with the dual pressures of macroeconomic uncertainty and internal liquidity shifts. A primary driver of recent instability has been the tariff whiplash originating from the US Supreme Court striking down previous trade policies, followed immediately by the Trump administration’s implementation of a new 15% import surcharge. This policy unpredictability has caused a notable rotation into defensive assets, while risk-on vehicles like Bitcoin have faced selling pressure.

Despite the immediate price pain, significant institutional and regulatory developments continue to reshape the landscape. The Federal Reserve has proposed a new rule to curb crypto debanking by removing reputation risk from supervisory guidelines, potentially offering a major reprieve for industry firms. Meanwhile, the SEC granted WisdomTree exemptive relief for 24/7 trading of a tokenized money market fund, signaling Wall Street’s continued push into on-chain finance. On the corporate side, contrasting strategies have emerged; while MicroStrategy completed its 100th Bitcoin purchase to bring its total holdings to 717,722 BTC, Bitdeer liquidated its entire 1,132.9 BTC treasury to fund operations and AI infrastructure. Investors should view the current capitulation signals, such as 59% of Bitcoin supply sitting in unrealised loss, as a potential risk cue for further time pain even if the immediate price floor stabilises. Conversely, the arrival of $7.7 trillion in sidelined money market funds provides a significant directional cue for a potential rebound as rate cuts continue to compress traditional yields.

1) Top 20 news headlines

• Fed proposes rule to scrap reputation risk; the proposal aims to end the practice of supervisors pushing banks to cut off crypto businesses;.
• SEC approves WisdomTree 24/7 tokenized fund trading; the move adds momentum to the $10b tokenized Treasury market;.
• Strategy completes 100th Bitcoin purchase; the firm added 592 tokens to reach a total treasury of 717,722 BTC;.
• Bitdeer liquidates entire Bitcoin treasury; the largest US miner sold 1,132.9 BTC to fund operations and AI expansion;.
• Meta plans stablecoin integration for late 2026; the Facebook owner is reportedly eyeing a second half comeback for its stablecoin payments;.
• Coinbase rolls out stock and ETF trading; the exchange is expanding beyond crypto to become an everything exchange for US users;.
• RedotPay explores $1b New York IPO; the Hong Kong based payments firm is seeking a valuation of over $4b;.
• Kraken launches 24/7 perpetuals for tokenized stocks; the platform offers 20x leverage on derivatives of major US equities for non-US clients;.
• Ethereum Foundation begins staking treasury; the foundation plans to deploy 70,000 ETH to generate yield for network operations;.
• Brazil reduces Bitcoin miner import duty to zero; high efficiency hardware will be exempt from federal duties through January 2028;.
• Bitcoin retakes $64,000 as software rout eases; the recovery follows a plunge in the Fear and Greed Index to record lows;.
• Bitcoin supply in profit falls to 51.78%; roughly 9.64 million BTC are currently held at a loss according to on-chain gauges;.
• Stripe valuation jumps to $159b; the payments giant reported generating $1.9 trillion in total volume during 2025;.
• Bitwise acquires Chorus One for institutional staking; the acquisition aims to expand services across more than 30 proof of stake chains;.
• S&P 500 concentration peaks at 41% for top ten; the dominance of mega cap stocks creates a structural risk that may impact Bitcoin beta;.
• Ethereum drops to $1,800 as bear pressure remains; on-chain signals suggest continued downside risk as ETF outflows persist;.
• Better and Framework partner on $500m credit plan; the deal utilizes the Sky stablecoin ecosystem for mortgage tokenization;.
• Binance revives tokenized stock trading; the exchange partnered with Ondo Finance to list US equities on its Alpha platform;.
• Step Finance shuts down following $27m hack; the project is working on a token buyback after a treasury breach in January;.
• Prediction markets eye $10b future; current volumes have reached a $3b run rate as the sector moves beyond gambling roots;.

2) BTC and ETH ETF flows

3) X trending news

• Market liquidations spike; over $615m has been liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the past 24 hours.
• Crypto.com banking approval; the platform received conditional approval to operate as a national US crypto bank.
• Hedge funds dump equities; global equities were sold at the fastest pace since April 2025, recording a 1.54 standard deviation move.
• Strategy unrealised losses; Michael Saylor’s company currently sits on a $9.5b unrealised loss on its Bitcoin investment.
• Bitcoin falls 50% from ATH; price dropped below $63,000 to mark a official 50% decline from the October all time high.
• Jane Street sued; Terraform Labs has sued the trading firm for alleged insider trading during the collapse of UST and LUNA.
• IBM stock tumbles; shares fell over 10% after Anthropic announced that Claude can now streamline legacy COBOL code.