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Tether Enables First-Ever Gold-Denominated Dividend by Public Company
Tether now allows shareholder dividends to be paid in tokenized gold via Tether Gold. Elemental Royalty Corporation, a publicly traded gold royalty company, announced that shareholders may elect to receive dividends denominated in Tether Gold (XAU₮).
This marks the first integrations of tokenized commodities into public equity distributions, bridging traditional gold ownership with blockchain-based settlement infrastructure.
Moonwell hit by $1.78M exploit as AI-co-Authored code misprices asset
A misconfigured oracle caused $1.78M in bad debt after cbETH was priced incorrectly, triggering over 1,000 liquidations. The related GitHub commit was co-authored by Claude Opus 4.6, making it first major DeFi loss linked to AI-assisted smart contract development.
The protocol has a history of similar oracle vulnerabilities, with $5M+ in prior bad debt incidents in late 2025 caused by mispriced assets. Moonwell’s TVL dropped from $360M to $90M in the last 6 months, as users withdrew nearly 75% of deposits.
Chinese New Year Effect: BTC & ETH Returns during Golden Week
Chinese New Year has historically influenced crypto performance, reflecting Asia’s critical role in global liquidity, with Golden Week often aligning with volatility shifts and trend formation. Where do you expect BTC and ETH to trade by the end of the holiday?
Pumpfun Introduces Trader Cashback, Letting Users Control Creator Fees
Pumpfun now offers Cashback Coins, giving traders the power to decide whether a token’s Creator Fees go to developers or back to the community.
🔤 How It Works
– Coin creators choose Trader Cashback or Creator Fees before launch
– Cashback Coins redirect all Creator Fees to traders permanently
– CTOs cannot be executed on Cashback Coins, ensuring holders are always rewarded
– The feature is available on both the Pumpfun app and website during coin creation
While Creator Fees support teams and founders, many tokens succeed without active projects, yet deployers still receive disproportionate rewards. Cashback Coins let the market reward engagement, not just creation
Dreamcash Launches Season 1 Rewards Program on Hyperliquid
Season 1 starts on February 18, 5:00 PM UTC, after reaching ~200K downloads and ~$3B in trading volume via its frontend. CASH HIP-3 markets, launched with Selini Capital and Tether, have already processed ~$3.5B in volume.
Season 1 Features 2 Reward Tracks
1️⃣ XP Rewards (Dreamcash App only)
– Mobile users earn 1 XP per $1 traded, WebApp users earn 1 XP per $2. XP may qualify users for future Dreamcash distributions. Trades via Hyperliquid’s native frontend do not earn XP
2️⃣ $200,000 Weekly USDT Rewards
– $200K USDT will be distributed weekly for the first 10 weeks to all CASH HIP-3 traders (Dreamcash or Hyperliquid), based on trading volume and open interest contribution
ℹ️ Founder Season users receive retroactive XP, permanent multipliers (up to 2.5x), and referral rewards up to 20% across three tiers. USDT rewards become claimable the week after launch. Full mechanics may evolve under program rules
Dragonfly announced its $650M fourth crypto fund
The firm had also raised $650M for Fund III back in 2022, during the bull-cycle fundraising boom. This time, the messaging is more “survival + financialization,” focusing on stablecoins, on-chain finance, and tokenization rather than broad “Web3 everything.”
👉 fortune.com/2026/02/17/dragonfly-fourth-fund-crypto-venture-capital-blockchain-polymarket-ethena/
Are We at the Bottom? Year of Market Psychology
Market sentiment in 2026 has remained deep in Extreme Fear territory, with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index recently reaching 5 — a multi-year low. The question now is whether this marks the bottom — or if more downside still lies ahead.
DeFi lender ZeroLend winds down its operations
ZeroLend founder “Ryker” highlights that several chains the lending protocol operates on are now “inactive,” leading to periods where it has operated at a loss. Ryker added that the protocol will ensure users can withdraw their assets.
Lending protocols operate on inherently thin margins relative to risk exposure, and over extended periods the protocol operated at a loss. Given these combined factors, continuing operations not economically viable.
Treasuries & ETFs Board. Crypto Accumulation & Capital Flows
Digital asset investment products extended their outflow streak to a 4th consecutive week, with a total of $173M leaving the market as US-led weakness continues to weigh on sentiment.
Rotation is becoming evident; while some funds trimmed Bitcoin exposure, entities like Harvard University have reportedly increased their Ethereum holdings to $87M, signaling a selective shift in portfolio strategy.
Metaplanet Surpasses FY2025 Bitcoin Target, Becomes Japan’s Largest BTC Holder
1️⃣ Revenue & Profit. Japan-listed Metaplanet reported FY2025 revenue of ¥8.905B ($58M) (+738% YoY) and operating profit of ¥6.287B ($40.96M) (+1,694% YoY)
2️⃣ Bitcoin Treasury Growth. The company ended 2025 with 35,102 BTC, up from 1,762 BTC in 2024, surpassing its 30,000 BTC target. BTC income operations rose to ¥8.46B ($55.12M) from ¥0.69B ($4.49M) in 2024
3️⃣ Capital & Shareholders. Cumulative capital raised jumped to ¥517.2B ($3.34B) from ¥10B ($65M), and shareholders increased to 216.5k from 47.2k
4️⃣ Global Ranking. Metaplanet is now the 4th largest public company BTC holder globally, behind MSTR, MARA, and XXI, and holds 0.16%+ of total BTC supply
5️⃣ Unrealized Losses. Despite growth, the company recorded an unrealized Bitcoin valuation loss of ~¥102.2B ($665M), reflecting market volatility
Aggressive BTC accumulation has positioned Metaplanet as a leading crypto treasury player in Japan and globally, combining strong operational growth with exposure to crypto market swings.
Harvard Cuts Bitcoin ETF Exposure, Opens $86.8M Ethereum Position
Harvard Management Company reduced its stake in iShares Bitcoin Trust by over 20% in Q4, trimming holdings to 5.35M shares worth $265.8M, according to a 13F filing. At the same time, it initiated a new $86.8M position in iShares Ethereum Trust, acquiring 3.87M shares — its first disclosed ether ETF investment.
As of December 31, Harvard held a combined $352.6M exposure to bitcoin and ether. Despite the reduction, the bitcoin ETF remained its largest publicly disclosed equity position, exceeding stakes in Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon.
VC-Backed vs Community-Backed: 2025’s Biggest Token Launches
Billions in VC capital fueled some of the largest token debuts of 2025 — but they weren’t the only ones commanding attention. Community-backed launches showed that distribution power and narrative strength can rival even the deepest venture pockets.
Truth Social seeks SEC approval for two crypto ETFs
Yorkville America Equities, the firm behind Truth Social–branded ETFs, plans to launch a Truth Social Bitcoin and Ether ETF and a Truth Social Cronos Yield Maximizer ETF. If approved, the ETFs would be launched in partnership with Crypto(.)com.
👉 coindesk.com/markets/2026/02/13/trump-linked-truth-social-seeks-sec-approval-for-two-crypto-etfs
Tether invests in company behind Hyperliquid frontend
Tether made a strategic investment in DreamCash, a frontend built on Hyperliquid that offers perpetual markets for tokenized assets. The platform enables users to trade these markets using USDT0 as collateral, expanding access to synthetic RWAs exposure on-chain.
👉 x.com/Dreamcash/status/2022346653903270143?s=20
clawchain(.)ai One-Pager. Social network for AI agents
clawchain.ai is building the first fully on-chain social network for AI agents — not hype, but infrastructure. If AI agents are the future, this is where their reputation, influence, and history will live.
Scroll has acquired DeFi protocol Honeypop
The acquisition brings core DeFi infrastructure directly under Scroll management. Following the acquisition, Honeypop is being restructured into Scroll Swap, the network’s native AMM now live, and Scroll Lend, a Morpho-powered lending protocol coming soon.
👉 x.com/Scroll_ZKP/status/2023395742522450110?s=20
Zora (ZORA) launches Attention Market on Solana
The new product lets anyone pay 1 SOL to create a market and speculate on specific topics, hashtags or narratives. The move taps into Solana’s high throughput to support live trend markets with tighter pricing and faster execution.
👉 x.com/zora/status/2023797263651533053?s=20
OpenSea. The Next Chapter or Just Another NFT Tease?
OpenSea announces a March 30 live event, teasing “major updates” and the platform’s “next chapter.” With the slogan “Sails up,” speculation grows: is the SEA Token finally coming, or just another community program?
Key Details & Market Sentiment
1️⃣ The TGE Speculation. OpenSea previously hinted at a SEA token launch in Q1 2026. With March 30 marking the end of Q1, the event is widely expected to host the official TGE
2️⃣ Utility & Buybacks. Early reports suggest a community-first model with 50% of tokens allocated to the community and 50% revenue buyback to support the token's value
3️⃣ Prediction Market Reality Check. Despite the hype, Polymarket traders are cautious
Polymarket Odds. One Day After Launch
– 67% chance for a $500M + FDV
– 28% chance for a $1B + FDV
– 11% chance for a $2B+ FDV
eToro Shares Jump 19% After Q4 Profit Beat, Crypto Derivatives Swing $74M Gain
Despite lower crypto sales, eToro’s profits and $74M derivatives gain show resilience. With AI strategies and expansion of 24/7 access, the platform is positioning itself for the evolving on-chain market. Q4 Key Highlights below:
Jupiter Introduces Natively Staked SOL as Collateral via Jupiter Lend
Jupiter Lend lets users borrow against natively staked SOL, unlocking ~$30B in yield-bearing capital on Solana without liquid staking tokens.
🔤 How It Works. Stake SOL with a supported validator → position auto-detected as nsTOKEN → borrow against it
ℹ️ Supported Validators. Jupiter (nsJUPITER), Helius (nsHELIUS), Nansen (nsNANSEN), Blueshift (nsSHIFT), Kiln (nsKILN), Temporal (nsTEMPORAL)
Capital Rotation in 2026: Chains by Capital Inflow
Despite a weak market and Extreme Fear sentiment, several chains continue attracting fresh capital. Arbitrum leads with over $1.2B in inflows, showing where conviction remains strongest.
World Liberty and Binance launch $23M WLFI Rewards campaign
Starting February 20th, Binance will reward USD1 holders with a grand total of 235 million WLFI tokens. Rewards will be distributed weekly (58.75M WLFI each week), with the first payout on March 4th.
Eligible users must hold USD1 in their balance across supported Binance accounts, including Spot, Funding, Margin (Cross, Isolated, or Portfolio), or USDⓈ-M Futures (including Multi-asset mode).
Nexo re-enters U.S. market via partnership with Bakkt
Nexo is relaunching in the United States with a suite of crypto products, including high-yield earning accounts and a spendable crypto card for everyday use. Since 2018, Nexo has served clients in over 150 countries and processed more than $371B in volume.
👉 nexo.com/blog/nexo-returns-to-the-us
Wintermute Launches Tokenized Gold Trading, Eyes $15B Market by 2026
Crypto market maker Wintermute is entering tokenized commodities, launching institutional OTC trading for gold-backed tokens, including Pax Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT).
💰 Tokenized gold volume hit $126B in Q4 2025, surpassing five major gold ETFs combined. Onchain gold market cap jumped 80% in three months, from $2.99B to $5.4B.
Tokenized public-market RWAs have already tripled in 2025 to ~$16.7B, with analysts forecasting trillion-dollar onchain volumes ahead.
X Recovers After Monday Outage as AI Speculation Circulates
X experienced a significant outage Monday morning, with over 40,000 users reporting disruptions across both mobile and desktop. Service was largely restored by around 2:30 PM UTC.
Online speculation pointed to autonomous AI agents, such as “OpenClaw,” allegedly interacting with public API endpoints to reconstruct hidden data relationships and generate large volumes of automated requests. Some posts claimed the spike in activity led to API restrictions and a temporary shutdown.
deBridge Launches MCP to Power AI-Driven Cross-Chain Execution
Cross-chain protocol deBridge has launched its Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, allowing AI agents and tools like Claude, Cursor, and Copilot to execute non-custodial swaps, bridging, and multi-step flows across EVM chains and Solana.
ℹ️ MCP provides deterministic execution with MEV-aware routing, while users retain full custody. The interface abstracts wallet orchestration, chain switching, and retries — reducing automation friction.
Major Perpetual DEXs with no token (yet)
High volume, meaningful open interest, and strong traction — but no token (yet). The setup feels familiar to anyone who has followed previous airdrop cycles, where sustained usage often preceded token launches.
Figure confirms data breach in social engineering attack
Hackers accessed customer data after compromising an employee account. The portion of the exposed files included details like names, home addresses, dates of birth, and phone numbers.
The group tied the breach to a wider campaign targeting Okta single sign-on users and published about 2.5GB of stolen data after Figure allegedly refused to pay a ransom.
👉 techcrunch.com/2026/02/13/fintech-lending-giant-figure-confirms-data-breach/
Crypto Cards Landscape: Mapping the Payments Stack
The stablecoin card market is no longer experimental — it’s becoming a structured payments stack. Infrastructure providers, exchanges, and on-chain wallets are converging to turn crypto balances into real-world purchasing power.
Layer 2 Fees 2026 Breakdown: Who’s capturing value?
Vitalik Buterin recently questioned the current trajectory of Layer 2s, arguing that the original vision of a rollup-centric Ethereum is breaking down. Without clear specialization or progress toward Stage 1 decentralization, L2s risk becoming copy-paste chains.
So far in 2026, only a handful of Layer 2s have generated meaningful fees. A small group of networks accounts for most onchain revenue, while many others are still struggling to achieve sustainable usage.