Bitcoin Taps $66k as Stock Divergence Hints at a BTC Price Rally

Bitcoin (BTC) rallied toward $66,000 after Tuesday’s gains in the US stock market, as cryptocurrencies sought to halt their 2026 slump.   Key takeaways: Bitcoin rallied above $66,000 on Wednesday, recovering alongside US stocks. Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index flipped positive amid $258 million in ETF inflows. While BTC’s correlation with stocks and gold is at…

Hong Kong to Launch HKMA Digital Bond Platform in 2026

Hong Kong will set up a new digital asset platform this year to support the issuance and settlement of tokenized bonds, as the city pushes to move tokenization from pilot deals into core market infrastructure. In his 2026-27 budget speech delivered on Wednesday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said CMU OmniClear Holdings, a subsidiary of the…

Entities Offering Crypto Derivatives Likely Fall under Specific Rules: ESMA

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the financial markets regulator and supervisor in the European Union, issued a notice to remind entities to assess investment vehicles providing leverage exposure to cryptocurrencies. In a Tuesday notice, ESMA said that derivatives products, including those marketed as “perpetual futures or perpetual contracts” tied to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin…

Austria’s Regulator Slaps New Business Ban on KuCoin EU

Austria’s financial regulator has prohibited KuCoin EU Exchange from conducting new business, citing breaches of internal organizational requirements around Anti-Money Laundering (AML), counter-terrorist financing (CTF) and the observance of financial sanctions. The Thursday decision by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) means KuCoin’s Vienna-based entity cannot onboard new customers or conclude new contracts or products…

Bitcoin Rebound To $65K Holds As US Stocks Recover From AI Meltdown

Bitcoin’s (BTC) bleed slowed on Tuesday as US markets recovered from Monday’s AI and software-stocks-driven selloff. At the US market closing bell, the DOW locked in a 370-point gain, while the S&P 500 held on to a 0.77% rally. The swift recovery of US equity markets appears to have played a role in easing negative…

Ether Whale Orders Shrink as $2B Short Cluster Sits Near $2K

Ether (ETH) whale activity on a major exchange has slowed since the start of 2026, with roughly 2 million ETH traded in large-sized transactions over the past 45 days. ETH is currently in the midst of its worst weekly losing streak since 2022, with exchange flow trends and futures market liquidation data impacting investor expectations…

Bitcoin Adoption Hit Record Highs in 2025, Says River

Bitcoin’s adoption by institutions, banks, merchants, public companies, and nation-states has boomed in 2025, despite the recent price drawdown, says the financial services company River. “There is no bear market in Bitcoin adoption,” River said in a report published on Tuesday, which noted that while Bitcoin (BTC) is down 50% from its all-time high, “adoption…

Hashgraph Group Launches Hedera Tool for EU Digital Product Passports

Update Feb. 24, 1:28 pm UTC: This article has been updated to include a comment from a spokesperson for the Hashgraph Group. The Hashgraph Group, a Swiss technology company building on the Hedera network, launched TrackTrace, a platform designed to help companies prepare for upcoming European Union product-compliance requirements tied to digital product passports. TrackTrace…

crypto wallets for AI agents are creating a new legal frontier

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Crypto isn’t just building faster payments rails. It may be building the financial system for non-humans. As AI agents grow more autonomous, developers are already giving them crypto wallets, allowing software to hold assets, pay for services, trade tokens and even hire other agents. The technical pieces are falling into place….

ETH Falls To $1.8K As Bearish Data Spooks Investors

Key takeaways: ETH futures liquidations reached $224 million after a 9% price drop, while the network’s onchain activity fell to a 12-month low. ETH’s high correlation with Bitcoin and massive outflows from exchange-traded funds suggest further downside risk for Ether price. Ether (ETH) plunged to $1,800 on Tuesday, wiping out $224 million in leveraged bullish…