Cryptopolitan

The digital asset market in February 2026 is showing a clear change in capital rotation patterns. While established names from previous cycles remain dominant in size, their growth profiles are maturing. Investors are no longer relying solely on large-cap tokens for upside. Instead, attention is shifting toward newer protocols that combine lower entry valuations with active development and practical utility.

This rotation reflects a broader search for asymmetric growth, opportunities that established, highly capitalized networks may struggle to deliver at the same scale. Within this environment, one emerging project has begun to stand out among early-positioning investors preparing for the next major cycle.

Solana (SOL)

Solana (SOL) is currently trading at approximately $80, with a market cap hovering around $45 billion. It has come a long way from its early days, but the path forward is becoming more difficult. While it is known for its incredible speed and low fees, it has struggled recently to stay above key technical levels. 

Technically, Solana is hitting heavy resistance zones. It is currently stuck below the $87 to $95 range, which has turned from a support area into a ceiling. Analysts suggest that unless it can reclaim $100 with strong volume, it may continue to consolidate or even slip toward $70. 

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum (ETH) remains the king of smart contracts, but it is also feeling the pressure of a changing market. It is currently trading near $2,000 with a market cap of about $245 billion. Even with institutional interest and ETFs, the price has failed to hold onto its previous highs. Large holders have been seen moving their ETH into other assets as the network faces a risk-off environment in early 2026.

The technical charts for Ethereum show a clear struggle. It is currently fighting to stay above the psychologically important $2,000 mark. Resistance zones are thick between $2,150 and $2,450, where many sellers are waiting to exit. If ETH cannot break through these levels, it could enter a longer period of capitulation where the price drifts lower while the market looks for a new reason to buy.

Mutuum Finance (MUTM)

As larger tokens consolidate, Mutuum Finance (MUTM) has been building momentum. It is a decentralized lending protocol on the Ethereum network that enables users to supply tokens for yield or borrow against collateral within a transparent, non-custodial framework.

The system is structured around two complementary models. Its Peer-to-Contract (P2C) markets allow users to deposit assets into shared liquidity pools and earn variable yield based on utilization, with interest generated from borrower activity. In parallel, a planned Peer-to-Peer (P2P) layer is designed to facilitate more direct lending arrangements under predefined Loan-to-Value ratios and liquidation thresholds. This dual-market approach positions Mutuum as a functional DeFi infrastructure protocol rather than a narrative-driven token.

The project is currently in its Phase 7 presale stage, with the token priced at just $0.04. This is a significant jump from its starting price of $0.01, but it is still far below its confirmed launch price of $0.06. With over $20.5 million raised and more than 19,000 holders, the project has the kind of early community support that usually precedes a major market breakout.

Why MUTM Is Positioned to Lead the 2026 Rotation

Analysts believe MUTM has a better chance for massive growth in 2026 compared to ETH or SOL. The main reason is the “market cap ceiling.” For ETH or SOL to double in value, they need tens of billions of dollars in new money. For MUTM, a move from $0.04 to $0.40 is a much smaller hurdle. This makes it a high-potential choice for those looking for a 10x opportunity that the larger altcoins can no longer easily provide.

Consider a $450 investment comparison. In Ethereum, $450 buys about 0.22 ETH. If ETH reaches its bullish target of $4,000, that investment becomes $880. In Solana, $450 buys roughly 5.6 SOL. If SOL hits $160, you have $896. However, in the MUTM presale, $450 gets you 11,250 tokens. If MUTM reaches a conservative target of $0.50, that same $450 grows into $5,625. This illustrates the massive gap in growth potential between a mature giant and a fresh utility project.

The strength of Mutuum Finance is not just in its price, but in its technology. The team has already launched the V1 protocol on the Sepolia testnet. This allows anyone to test the lending pools and see how the mtTokens earn yield in a live environment. 

To ensure the code is safe, the project has passed a manual audit by Halborn Security and holds a high 90/100 score from CertiK. With working tech and top-tier security, MUTM is checking every box for investors who are rotating away from stagnant giants and into the future of DeFi.

For more information about Mutuum Finance (MUTM) visit the links below:

Website: https://www.mutuum.com
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mutuumfinance

Grayscale, a prominent digital asset management firm, has submitted a proposal to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to convert its AAVE trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) in a filing dated February 13, 2026. 

The company adopted this decision to stay competitive in the crypto market, just after Bitwise, a major institutional crypto asset manager, outpaced it by submitting the initial proposal for an AAVE ETF approval. 

Notably, this move took place in December of last year. At this particular moment, reports highlighted that Bitwise had filed paperwork covering 11 separate funds.

Grayscale solidifies its position as a leader in the crypto industry 

AAVE is the native governance and utility token for the Aave protocol, a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) platform for lending and borrowing crypto assets. In terms of market capitalization, sources noted that the token has solidified its position in the crypto ecosystem, with a total market cap of about $1.8 billion. Currently, the token is trading at $119.02, up 4.87% over the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

However, even with this rise, reports still acknowledged April 2021 as the period when the token hit an all-time high of $661.69.

Meanwhile, regarding Grayscale’s recent decision, analysts argued that the digital asset management firm seeks to mark a significant milestone with its AAVE token, which has recently drawn the attention of several investors and is increasingly popular as an investment option. 

Some of the investment products currently available in the crypto market include DeFi-focused index funds and standalone options such as the 21Shares AAVE ETP and the Global X AAVE ETP, both tradable in European markets.

It is worth noting that Grayscale has a history of converting closed-ended trusts into ETFs. This move caused the company to engage in a legal battle with the SEC.  After it secured a legal victory against the federal government agency regarding the conversion of its Bitcoin Trust, this accomplishment cleared the path for other US-based spot bitcoin ETFs.

On the other hand, sources noted that the proposed Grayscale AAVE ETF would charge a 2.5% sponsor fee based on net asset value. This percentage would be paid in AAVE. Moreover, the digital asset management company seeks to utilize Coinbase as both a prime broker and custodian. It also intends to secure a listing on the NYSE Arca market. 

Grayscale adopts several changes to its operation 

As competition in the crypto industry intensified, Grayscale announced last month its intention to convert its NEAR-linked closed-end trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The firm made this announcement after filing a Form S-1 with the SEC.

The Grayscale NEAR Trust is an investment product providing institutional and accredited investors with secure, indirect exposure to the NEAR Protocol token. 

When reporters asked Grayscale about its next step regarding the effectiveness of the registration statement, the company shared that it intends to change the trust title to Grayscale NEAR Trust ETF and shift its listing from over-the-counter to NYSE Arca.

Afterwards, the digital asset management company published a statement on its website, disclosing that the trust held roughly $900,000 in assets at that time. The site also noted that, “this product has not met its investment objective and its shares, listed on OTC Markets, have sometimes traded at both higher and lower prices compared to their net asset value, with these differences being quite significant at times.”

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The House of Representatives in the Netherlands has voted in favor of a controversial tax reform, the Actual Return in Box 3 Act. Under this new regulation, a uniform flat rate of 36% shall be imposed on the real returns derived from residents’ savings and investments, including cryptocurrencies, beginning January 1, 2028. 

Under the proposed Act, the Netherlands would overhaul its existing wealth tax system and tax investors on the actual increase in value of assets — even if those assets are not sold. Following this announcement, sources said the legislation passed with 75 votes, with firm support from 93 lawmakers, citing information from the House tally.  The proposal has ignited strong backlash from investors and analysts who warn it could drive capital out of the country.

The Netherlands initiates a significant step in its regulatory framework 

Several individuals expressed mixed reactions to the Dutch House of Representatives’ recent move. Reports indicate that the proposal would subject savings accounts, cryptocurrencies, most stock investments, and earnings from interest-bearing financial products to taxation, regardless of the asset’s disposition.

To further elaborate on this statement for better understanding, sources cited an example: if a Dutch resident holds shares that have appreciated by €10,000 over a year, the tax authority will deem that increase to be taxable income, regardless of whether the shares were sold.

Nonetheless, it is worth noting that real estate and shares in qualifying startups are subject to distinct regulatory frameworks. To support this claim, reports highlighted that the government will implement a capital gains approach for these assets. This meant that taxes on asset appreciation are only payable upon sale or disposal.

Even so, sources with knowledge of the situation who wished to remain anonymous due to the confidential nature of the matter unveiled that any regular income from these assets, such as rent or dividends, remains taxable annually upon receipt.

While this recent news marks a significant step for the country, representatives from parliament noted that the law-making body also passed an amendment to shorten the law’s review period from 5 years to 3 years. This change facilitates rapid adjustments should any issues arise during implementation.

Meanwhile, when reporters reached out to some parties that backed the bill for comments on the tax approach to unrealized gains, they noted that they do not support taxing unrealized gains. According to them, they supported the new legislation after the Dutch Supreme Court rejected the previous system.

This court ruling rendered the government unable to legally tax investment returns, resulting in an estimated annual loss of €2.3 billion in treasury revenue. Notably, for the bill to become law, it must receive the Senate’s approval.

Several individuals express disapproval of the new 36% tax

Several individuals have expressed disapproval of the Netherlands’ proposal. For instance, Denis Payre, CEO of the Belgian Internet logistics company Kiala, stated that “France did this in 1997 and experienced a huge number of entrepreneurs leaving the country.” 

Moreover, well-known crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe perceived the proposal as “the dumbest thing I’ve seen in a long time,” further arguing that “The amount of people ready to leave the country is going to be crazy,” concurring with the sentiment of industry analysts and leaders.

While this discussion continued to gain traction in the country, Investing Visuals pointed out that an investor who starts with 10,000 euros ($11,871) and later decides to top up this amount by 1,000 euros per month for 40 years could have approximately 3,320,000 euros at the end of this period.

However, in light of the new 36% tax policy, this total declines to around 1,885,000 euros after 40 years. This situation implies a difference of 1,435,000 euros, according to reports from Investing Visuals. 

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Amazon just printed its longest losing streak in basically 20 years. The stock has fallen for nine straight trading days. Friday added another 0.4 percent drop. That matches a nine day slide that ended in July 2006.

Over this stretch, Amazon has lost 18 percent. About $463 billion in market value has been erased. Shares closed at their lowest level since May. This month alone, Amazon is down about 17 percent. That puts it on pace for its worst monthly decline since April 2022.

Investors are not confused about what triggered this. The concern is capital spending. Earlier this month, Amazon said it plans to spend $200 billion this year on data centers, advanced chips, and related equipment.

That figure was far above expectations. The scale shocked the market. The question now is simple. Can Amazon spend that much without draining cash or loading up on debt?

Amazon ramps up AI spending and investors react

The $200 billion plan is tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure. CEO Andy Jassy told investors on the Feb. 5 earnings call that heavy investment is required to meet rising demand inside AWS.

Andy said, “This isn’t some sort of quixotic top line grab.” He added, “We have confidence that these investments will yield strong returns on invested capital. We’ve done that with our core AWS business. I think that will very much be true here as well.”

Despite that statement, the stock kept falling. Investors fear that elevated capital expenditures could burn through reserves. They also worry about depreciation. Chips and servers lose value fast. If demand slows, Amazon could be stuck with expensive hardware that weighs on future earnings.

The spending wave is not limited to one company. The four largest tech spenders, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms, have together forecast about $650 billion in capital expenditures for 2026. That number is historic. Investors are questioning whether returns will justify the scale.

AI concerns spread across tech and logistics

Pressure has hit the wider tech sector. The Nasdaq 100 Index is down 3.2 percent in February. Technology shares have sold off this year after new software built on AI models from Anthropic and OpenAI entered the market. Some investors worry that these tools could slow growth at established software firms.

The iShares Expanded Tech Software Sector ETF is down 24 percent so far in 2026. That puts it on pace for its worst year since 2022. Inflation and rising interest rates have pushed companies to trim technology budgets after heavy pandemic era spending.

Analysts have labeled the downturn in software as a service stocks a “SaaS apocalypse.” Software executives have pushed back and said their core metrics remain intact.

AWS generates revenue from long standing clients such as Adobe, Intuit, and Zillow. It has also gained business from AI model developers. In November, AWS disclosed a $38 billion spending commitment from OpenAI, which sells AI models and offers ChatGPT subscriptions.

Growth rates, however, have not accelerated. Two weeks ago, AWS customer ServiceNow reported revenue growth of 20.7 percent year over year in the fourth quarter. Two years earlier, that rate was almost 26 percent. Outside software, AI disruption fears have spread to logistics. Florida based Algorhythm Holdings said its AI product allows clients to quadruple freight volumes without increasing headcount. Shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide were down about 23 percent in midday trading after that development.

Almost two decades after its last nine day losing streak, Amazon is again facing doubts about spending discipline. The stock chart shows the damage. The market is watching whether the $200 billion bet pays off.

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Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, has filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to start a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on Bitcoin and Ethereum. The fund would be called the Truth Social Bitcoin and Ether ETF. 

The company also filed to launch another crypto ETF linked to Cronos (CRO). The filings were made through Truth Social’s ETF arm, known as Truth Social Funds. These new products would expand the company’s growing list of investment offerings built around its “America First” strategy. 

In both filings, Truth Social Funds discloses plans to launch two crypto ETFs. One is the Truth Social Bitcoin & Ether ETF. That fund tracks the growth of two of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization: Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to the fund’s proposal, it would allocate roughly 60% of its assets to Bitcoin and 40% to Ethereum, according to the filing. 

Its second fund is the Truth Social Cronos Yield Maximizer ETF. This product would center on Cronos (CRO), the token linked to the Cronos blockchain, which is associated with Crypto.com. Both ETFs are in development in cooperation with Crypto.com. 

The crypto exchange would act as the digital asset custodian, holding the cryptocurrencies on behalf of the funds and providing staking services, through which cryptocurrency holders may earn rewards by backing certain blockchain networks.

In a public statement, Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said the company is pleased to provide custody, liquidity, and staking services for the new Truth Social Funds ETFs.

Truth Social structures new Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs

The Truth Social Bitcoin and Ether ETF is a joint crypto fund. It holds the two most substantial crypto assets, Bitcoin and Ethereum, in a single product, allowing investors to own both in a single asset. 

In addition to price tracking, the ETF will generate staking rewards from its Ethereum holdings. Ethereum offers staking, and holders can earn more than they would otherwise. The company has indicated that the rewards from staking would then be passed on to ETF investors. 

The Cronos Yield Maximizer ETF, however, is designed to track CRO’s performance. This would also give you access to both native staking and liquid staking of the token. Native staking locks tokens directly on the blockchain to earn rewards; liquid staking allows investors to receive a tokenized version of their staked assets that can still be traded. 

These filings are not the company’s first foray into crypto investment products. In June, Trump Media registered a separate Bitcoin ETF. It also applied in June for a “crypto blue chip” fund of assets that would include Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major tokens like Solana, XRP, and CRO. 

Those already-filed crypto ETFs might start trading in the next few months, depending on regulatory oversight, said Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst at Bloomberg.

Trump Media expands its “America First” investment strategy

The new crypto ETFs are part of a larger investment push by Trump Media. The company advertises the funds as “America First” products. Its existing ETF holdings comprise a red-state-focused real estate fund, an American security and defense fund, and an “American Icons” ETF. 

The American Icons ETF invests in popular U.S. companies, including Walmart, McDonald’s, and Home Depot. Both the newly registered crypto funds will be advised by Yorkville America Equities, which specializes in America-first investment themes. 

Shares of the Trump Media & Technology Group, which is trading under the ticker DJT, finished up roughly 0.9% at $10.98 on Friday. Still, the stock has fallen nearly 39% over the past six months. 

The new Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF would join the ranks of crypto-related funds looking to lure mainstream investors, provided that it is approved by the SEC. Trump Media is also working to link its political branding to financial products tied to digital assets.

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A senior White House crypto policy adviser said this week that the ability of cryptocurrency platforms to offer yield on stablecoins does not pose a fundamental threat to the U.S. banking system, comments that come amid a tense standoff over digital‑asset legislation in Congress.

Patrick Witt, a crypto policy adviser, said banks and crypto firms can coexist and even benefit from each other as digital finance evolves. He emphasized that stablecoin yields—rewards paid to holders—should not be viewed as a threat to banks. Instead, Witt noted that both sectors have opportunities to innovate and offer comparable services.

Witt said in an interview that the debate has become more heated than necessary. “Unfortunately,” he said, “that stablecoin yields have become a major point of disagreement between crypto firms and banks.” 

Banks can offer similar products and remain competitive

The debate sits at the heart of Congress’s ongoing effort to pass the CLARITY Act, a high‑profile bill aimed at defining regulatory jurisdiction over cryptocurrencies between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The measure would also establish clearer market definitions for digital assets — including stablecoins.

Banks already have the tools and regulatory pathways to produce similar products, Witt said. Banks can offer stablecoin services like crypto platforms do, meaning they are not at a disadvantage. Many banks are already turning that way, he said. Others are seeking charters with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to offer services related to digital assets. 

Such charters give banks the legal authority to provide financial products and services, including stablecoins and their derivatives. Banks have been challenged more than ever to get out of the market, and thus, this proves they aren’t being forced out. Instead, they are adapting to new technology and exploring new ways to expand their services.

Witt is convinced that stablecoins may enable banks to reach new customers and develop novel financial products. He said that tomorrow is more about cooperation than conflict and remains optimistic that stablecoins will help banks find solutions to improve payments, cut costs, and provide faster services. He added that banks would use stablecoins as a competitive advantage rather than treating them as competitors. As much as Witt sees stablecoins as a game on tap, the same can be said for stablecoin yields. 

Stablecoin yields have become one of the most contentious issues in crypto regulation, introducing new complexities that Witt describes as a “twist on an open road.” Crypto firms typically share earnings from reserve assets with stablecoin holders, effectively paying interest. This practice has raised concerns among regulators and traditional financial institutions. The debate over these rewards has also slowed progress on new legislation, including the proposed CLARITY Act.

Political uncertainty threatens crypto legislation progress

The CLARITY Act is expected to establish the rules for controlling digital assets in the U.S. It would clarify which regulator is responsible for each type of crypto asset. Under the legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission would have clearly defined roles. 

Scott Bessent, the head of the U.S. Treasury, said there is only a short period to finalize a deal. He cautioned that if political power changes hands in Congress, crypto legislation might be held up or undone. The crypto regulatory framework that’s in development is one element of a broader financial strategy under President Donald Trump’s administration. 

At the start of election season, lawmakers may have their sights set more on campaigning than they do new legislation. Observers caution that the current opening to develop clear crypto rules will not be open forever. Delaying action might make the process far more challenging. Still, Witt remains optimistic about reaching a consensus.

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Anchorage Digital, Kamino and Solana Company have announced a collaboration that has been described as a first-of-its-kind tri-party custody model. 

It unlocks an efficient strategy for onchain borrowing on Solana without moving assets out of Anchorage Digital Bank, which means that staked SOL can now be used as collateral for loans within a regulated environment.

Why are Anchorage Digital, Kamino, and Solana Company working together? 

The joint institutional capital venture aims to bring united institutional capital to Solana’s DeFi ecosystem. It plans to do this by enabling regulated institutions to productively use their SOL holdings without compromising on compliance. 

Institutions will be able to borrow against natively staked SOL while keeping assets in qualified custody at Anchorage Bank. Anchorage will act as the collateral manager using its Atlas platform for automated risk controls, loan-to-value monitoring, margin calls and liquidations. 

“Institutions want access to the most efficient sources of on-chain liquidity, but they aren’t willing to compromise on custody, compliance, or operational control. Atlas collateral management allows institutions to keep natively staked SOL held with a qualified custodian while using it productively, bringing institutional-grade risk management to Solana’s lending markets,” said Nathan McCauley, CEO and Co-Founder of Anchorage Digital.

Kamino will oversee the onchain lending markets and borrowing access, but assets will remain in segregated accounts at Anchorage. This way, there is no need to move them into smart contracts, which eliminates a major barrier. 

The collaboration builds on Anchorage’s existing support for Solana and ultimately aims to bridge Solana’s high-performance DeFi with TradFi. 

As for why this is all going down on Solana, it has something to do with its reputation as the fastest-growing blockchain, which leads the industry in transaction revenue and processes more than 3,500 transactions per second. 

It also happens to be the most widely adopted, with an average of around 3.7 million daily active wallets and surpassing 23 billion transactions year-to-date. 

One of the companies that make up the joint venture, Solana Company, also has a Solana treasury. Its mission is to support the growth and security of tokenized networks by serving as a long-term holder of $SOL, in addition to continuing the development of its neurotech and medical device operations.

Anchorage Digital’s upcoming IPO

Anchorage Digital, one of the companies that make up the recently announced tri-party custody model, is getting ready for a major capital raise as it positions itself for a potential public listing.

According to reports, the company seeks between $200 million and $400 million in fresh funding, with an initial public offering under consideration for sometime next year. 

Anchorage’s ambitions have been linked to its regulatory standing. Its affiliate, Anchorage Digital Bank National Association, is the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States, and the status has set Anchorage apart from rivals, particularly as Washington gets ready to formalize rules around stablecoins and digital asset infrastructure.

Since the passage of the GENIUS Act in July, Anchorage has been positioning itself to play a central role in stablecoin issuance and related services. 

Last September, Chief Executive Nathan McCauley revealed plans to double the size of the firm’s stablecoin team over the next year, in anticipation of a surge in demand for dollar-backed digital tokens from banks, fintech firms and global institutions.

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The race toward the one-dollar mark is becoming one of the most closely watched narratives in the 2026 crypto market. Investors are searching for the next project capable of delivering outsized returns, but the criteria for selection are changing.

While meme coins continue to attract attention, a clearer pattern is forming beneath the surface. More sophisticated capital is rotating away from purely social-driven trends and toward protocols that provide functional financial infrastructure. In this cycle, the next breakout candidate is increasingly expected to be a working system—one that addresses practical user needs through verifiable technology rather than momentum alone.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin (DOGE) is currently trading around $0.09, with a market capitalization near $14 billion. Despite remaining one of the most recognized cryptocurrencies, it has had a difficult start to 2026, declining nearly 35% in just over a month. 

The token now needs to establish a stronger support base after this sharp correction. Its inflationary supply model, combined with periodic reliance on social-driven catalysts, has made consistent long-term growth more challenging in a maturing market environment.

From a technical standpoint, DOGE faces significant resistance near the $0.12 and $0.15 levels. Clearing these zones would be necessary before any sustained move toward the $1 target could be considered. 

Without a major catalyst or renewed volume expansion, analysts suggest the token may remain range-bound throughout much of 2026. Additionally, the scale of capital required to push an asset with billions of new tokens entering circulation each year toward the one-dollar mark represents a structural hurdle for bullish projections.

Mutuum Finance (MUTM)

While Dogecoin works to stabilize, Mutuum Finance (MUTM) has been gaining momentum. It is a decentralized lending and borrowing protocol built on the Ethereum network and is currently in Phase 7 of its presale, with the token priced at $0.04. Since launching at $0.01 in early 2025, MUTM has increased by 300%. The project has raised over $20.5 million to date and grown its community to more than 19,000 holders.

Security has been a central focus as the team prepares for broader rollout. The protocol has undergone a manual code audit conducted by Halborn, and it has received a 90/100 trust score from CertiK. By prioritizing audits and transparent infrastructure before full market entry, Mutuum Finance is positioning itself as a structured alternative to purely speculative tokens. That emphasis on verification and risk controls is typically a prerequisite for larger investors before allocating significant capital.

DOGE vs MUTM

The distinction between these two assets is evident when consideration is made on the growth mechanics. The major weakness of Dogecoin is that it is not useful. It does not provide the opportunity to earn passive income and get involved in a financial ecosystem. In comparison, MUTM is a utility-based engine. It applies a buy-and-distribute structure in which tokens in the open market are purchased using platform fees and reward stakers. This generates a continuous demand which is associated with the utilization of the protocol.

Suppose they had an investment of $800 each. That money allows approximately 10,000 tokens to be purchased in Dogecoin. In order to turn that $800 into $8,000, DOGE would have to get to $0.80, which involves billions of new money which is more than extremely unrealistic in the DOGE scenario. 

At MUTM presale at $0.04, 20,000 tokens are equal to an investment of $800. At the conservative conclusion of MUTM analysts of $0.50, the $800 becomes $10,000. Overall, due to its lower valuation (MUTM is valued at a significantly smaller amount), its 10x return can be much more feasible during the 2026-2027 period.

Phase 7 and the V1 Launch

Mutuum Finance is building momentum following several recent technical milestones. The project has successfully deployed its V1 protocol on the Sepolia testnet, allowing users to interact with the system in a live environment. 

Participants can test liquidity pools featuring assets like ETH, WBTC, USDT, and LINK, mint mtTokens that represent their deposits, monitor real-time debt balances, and observe automated liquidation mechanisms when collateral thresholds are triggered. These are not simulations—they are functional smart contract mechanics running in a public test setting.

This level of visible progress has added urgency around the current presale phase. Phase 7 is advancing steadily, with the token priced at $0.04. According to the structured distribution model, the confirmed next pricing benchmark is $0.06. As more tokens are allocated and technical rollout continues, the remaining window at the current level is narrowing, particularly for participants seeking early positioning ahead of mainnet expansion.

For more information about Mutuum Finance (MUTM) visit the links below:

Website: https://www.mutuum.com
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mutuumfinance

FedEx Corp has formally joined the Hedera Council, becoming a governing member of the decentralized network to digitize global supply chains and move operations “on-chain.”

FedEx Corp. can now make governance decisions for the Hedera council after it joined the decentralized network. 

Since the announcement of the partnership, Hedera’s native utility token, HBAR, has climbed over 7%. The HBAR token now trades around $0.097 per unit at the time of publication.

HBAR token price. Source: CoinMarketCap

How does FedEx plan to use Hedera’s technology?

FedEx Corp has officially joined the Hedera Council in order to integrate enterprise-grade blockchain technology into the world’s most complex supply chains. As part of the agreement, FedEx will not only use the technology but will also play an active role in the governance of the Hedera network.

Hedera’s native utility token, HBAR climbed over 7% within a 24-hour period, with price hovering around $0.097. The token’s market cap is also up 7.4% to $4.19 billion.

It is also seeing renewed interest from institutional and retail investors. 

Currently, shipping goods across borders involves multiple jurisdictions, various sets of paperwork, and manual verification processes, but now with Hedera’s public distributed ledger, FedEx is creating a shared, trusted platform where data can be verified instantly by all parties without a central authority controlling the information.

Under this system, every time a package moves or a document is signed, a digital fingerprint of that action is recorded on the Hedera ledger. Because the ledger is decentralized and immutable, no single party can change the records, providing a high level of trust for customs officials, partners, and customers.

Vishal Talwar, the Chief Digital and Information Officer of FedEx Corp, said that the digital transformation of supply chains is “inevitable.” He stated that logistics operations require a way to share data across many parties without increasing security risks as they become digital-native. 

Hedera’s architecture allows FedEx to keep its sensitive operational data private within its own systems while only posting the necessary “verification” data to the public ledger.

FedEx will provide the computer hardware necessary to help run and secure the blockchain. 

As a Council member, FedEx holds an equal vote alongside other global giants like Google, IBM, Dell, and Deutsche Telekom. They will participate in decisions regarding software updates, treasury management, and the overall strategic direction of the Hedera network.

Institutional adoption of digital assets

Rather than real-world use cases, Hedera has focused almost exclusively on enterprise adoption. The positive market reaction to the news appears to have been sparked by the FedEx announcement, especially because it is outperforming the modest recovery that the top cryptos by market cap are staging today after a prolonged period under intense pressure. 

Meanwhile, major corporations continue to actually implement Hedera’s blockchain technology in their businesses.

The Lloyds Banking Group and Aberdeen Investments successfully executed the UK’s first foreign exchange trades using tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) as collateral on the Hedera network.

Avery Dennison, another Hedera Council member, has been using the network for its atma.io platform to track billions of unique items in the supply chain. The integration of FedEx creates a more “interoperable” ecosystem.

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In 2026, the digital asset market is approaching a critical inflection point. Many high-priced tokens are offering limited asymmetric upside, prompting investors to search for lower-entry projects with stronger growth foundations. Attention is increasingly shifting toward protocols that combine early-stage valuation with tangible development progress.

One project is now entering the final stages before a broader rollout, positioning itself around practical financial infrastructure rather than social media-driven momentum. With pricing still below the $0.05 level during its current phase, the window for early positioning is narrowing as the next milestone approaches.

Mutuum Finance (MUTM)

Mutuum Finance (MUTM) is creating a decentralized finance ecosystem. The protocol’s whitepaper employs a dual market strategy in order to provide the users with the most ideal terms. Peer-to-Contract (P2C) model enables the lenders to invest assets directly to a pool to receive high APY. 

These pools may then be withdrawn by the borrowers, by offering collateral. The protocol employs stringent Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratios to make the system safe. This will make sure that all loans will be secured with a larger value than the loan borrowed.

In case of more distinct needs, the project develops a Peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace. In this case, the users are able to make their own negotiated terms. This is the flexibility that differentiates the project among the aged lending applications. The project is in Phase 7 of its presale at the moment. MUTM token sells at only $0.04. The package fund has raised more than $20.5 million; there are 19,000 holders, the momentum is building towards the confirmed launch price of $0.06.

Technical Evidence and Market Forecasts

The project is being translated to reality as a working concept. The group has recently introduced the V1 protocol on the Sepolia testnet. This enables the community to experiment with the lending cycles and automated liquidations. Elite security supports this technical delivery. The manual audit by Halborn Security was passed and has a high 90/100 trust score with CertiK.

It is assumed that due to the fact that the tech has already been made operational, analysts are exceptionally optimistic. Most market analysts are of the opinion that the project will undergo a drastic repricing once it makes it to the mainnet. Primarily, the analyst models indicate that MUTM could shift towards $0.25 to $0.35 at the end of 2026. This objective is pegged on the platform being in a position to draw liquidity of bigger and costlier competitors.

Growth and mtTokens

Mutuum Finance’s official roadmap has an exclusive buy and distribute mechanism that supports the value of the MUTM. Upon lending assets, the users are granted mtTokens. They are interest bearing receipts, which increase in value with the borrowers paying their debt. As a bonus to the price, a portion of the platform fee is spent purchasing MUTM in the open market and rewarding stakers. This generates a form of unremitting purchasing.

The protocol employs Chainlink oracles to obtain the real-time price feed in order to make all trades fair. These premium tools have seen analysts make a second and more aggressive price forecast. They indicate that it is possible that the current presale price will increase by 15x to 20x in case adoption remains the same rate at present. This would put this token in the $0.60-$0.80 as the token matures.

Building the Next Solana?

Mutuum Finance is being compared to the early stages of Solana by analysts. Similar to Solana, Mutuum Finance is and will be concentrating in developing high-speed, utility-based infrastructure prior to the rest of the market taking notice of it. The project aims at establishing an international ecosystem centre. It is meant to ensure that borrowing is as easy as sending an email. 

By concentrating on security and working code, as well as available access points, Mutuum Finance is precisely where the other blue-chip coins have been in the past to be taken up to the top. This less than a $0.05 opportunity is already proving to be the most discussed crypto breakout case in the 2027 cycle as Phase 7 sells out.

For more information about Mutuum Finance (MUTM) visit the links below:

Website: https://www.mutuum.com
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mutuumfinance

IREN has announced that it will be added to the MSCI USA Index, a major benchmark that tracks the performance of large and mid-cap US stocks, by the end of February. 

The inclusion is expected to boost IREN’s visibility among institutional investors and index-tracking funds, which may support the company’s long-term price and capital-raising plans. 

Many ETFs and funds track the MSCI, and a new addition is unlikely to go unnoticed, as a new addition typically triggers automatic buying by entities that track the benchmark. 

This may trigger a short-term surge in the stock. It also enhances the stock’s visibility among institutional investors, which may support the company’s long-term price and capital-raising plans.

IREN’s stock is in the green since it announced its MSCI inclusion. Source: Google Finance

Why an MSCI inclusion is a big deal for IREN 

Daniel Roberts, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of IREN, says that the privilege of being added to the MSCI USA Index is a reflection of the scale and liquidity the company has built in the business. 

“We believe this milestone will broaden institutional access to IREN as we continue to execute on our AI Cloud strategy,” he said. 

The announcement comes as IREN continues its transformation from a company focused purely on BTC mining to a dual-purpose player offering mining services and AI cloud services. 

Notably, the firm is now more invested in AI-centric assets rather than BTC mining operations. In fact, reports claim its current spending on equipment and data centers far outpaces what it earmarked for Bitcoin mining, and this has reportedly gone on since its IPO. 

How the IREN stock responded to the announcement 

Since the announcement, IREN’s stock has been in the green, showing a positive bounce that saw it gain roughly 7%. However, the stock is still struggling between institutional optimism and volatility. 

Concerns about its earnings stem from IREN’s weaker-than-expected fiscal quarterly results, which saw revenue falling to $184.7 million and losses widening. The performance has Wall Street divided, with some analysts focused on near-term earnings pressure while others point to longer-term upside.

Many will continue to monitor the stock in the days leading up to February 27, when it is supposed to be included in the MSCI, which is expected to attract institutions and ETFs tracking the index. 

IREN’s Microsoft deal

IREN secured a five-year, $9.7 billion agreement with Microsoft in a deal that accounted for only 200 megawatts, while it wrapped up 2025 with about 3 gigawatts in its pipeline.

Since it revealed the contract agreement, investors have been expecting similar deals and expressed initial disappointment when the company didn’t announce a new deal.

Fortunately, CEO Daniel Roberts has informed investors that the company is negotiating multiple contracts, including a multibillion-dollar deal, which has put people at ease as it signals that the long-term AI thesis remains intact.

Iren has also secured a 1.6 gigawatt data center campus in Oklahoma

IREN has been positioning itself as a solution to one of the major bottlenecks affecting tech giants today — energy. The company boasts a capacity to support multiple big deals thanks to its 1.4 gigawatt Sweetwater 1 facility, scheduled to be energized in April.

It has also secured a new 1.6 gigawatt data center campus in Oklahoma, and power scheduling for the data center is set to ramp up in 2028, bringing Iren’s total secured, grid-connected power to 4.5 gigawatts.

As AI infrastructure keeps scaling and demand for energy rises, IREN is expected to land more deals similar to its Microsoft arrangement. The company already turned 200 megawatts into $1.94 billion in annual recurring revenue, and if it can achieve that same rate with its 4.5 gigawatts (4,500 megawatts), it can raise its annual recurring revenue to billions. 

This is one of the reasons why Roberts called IREN’s projected $3.4 billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2026 “an early stage of monetization relative to the size of our secured power portfolio.”

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The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance is proposing that a clear taxonomy be developed for crypto assets in order to determine when they are no longer to be considered investment contracts. 

Division of Corporation Finance Director Moloney is attempting to create clear regulations for crypto assets in order to provide companies with information that keeps them from breaking the law. 

SEC to redefine crypto assets as ‘non-securities’ under new taxonomy

Director Moloney of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance, in a statement titled “Coming Attractions,” detailed his plans for crypto asset reform, reducing disclosure burdens, and modernizing reporting cycles. 

Project Crypto is an initiative that was first outlined by Chairman Atkins in late 2025 is an important part of the plan as it provides the market with a clear way to navigate what has previously been described as a “securities-law minefield.”

The SEC is developing a regulation that allows crypto assets to shed their status as an investment contract. Under this theory, a token might initially be sold as a security but could become a non-security once the issuer’s “essential managerial efforts” stop or the network becomes sufficiently decentralized.

The Divisions of Corporation Finance, Investment Management, and Trading and Markets issued a joint statement on January 28, splitting digital assets into four categories: 

Digital commodities

Digital collectibles

Digital tools 

Tokenized securities 

Moloney emphasized that the division will also propose a “rational regulatory structure” for the offer and sale of tokens that remain classified as securities. 

Will semi-annual reporting hurt market transparency for everyday investors?

The proposal to end mandatory quarterly reporting is one of the most debated items on the division’s agenda. President Trump said to reconsider the frequency of financial filings in September 2025. 

Proponents, including Chairman Atkins, argue that the current 90-day reporting cycle forces companies to focus on short-term earnings targets at the expense of long-term growth.

Director Moloney compared the rigid system of quarterly reporting to being stuck in “The Terminal,” referencing the Spielberg film. This then prompted the division to work on formal rules to offer companies the option of reporting semi-annually instead. 

Various academic and shareholder advocacy groups have raised concerns about “information vacuums” arguing that less frequent reporting could increase market volatility and provide insiders with longer windows to trade on non-public information. 

The division is also working through a significant backlog in its Disclosure Review Program. Following a government shutdown in the fall of 2025, the SEC received nearly 1,000 registration statements. 

While processing times are “trending downward,” the division, under Rule 430A, has allowed some offerings to become effective automatically after 20 days. 

The Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act (HFIAA) also mandates that directors and officers of Foreign Private Issuers (FPIs) must report their stock trades to the SEC, just like U.S. insiders do. 

The rule is “self-executing,” meaning it becomes law on March 18, 2026, regardless of whether the SEC has finished writing its own internal guidelines. Moloney’s office has urged these foreign directors to get their identification numbers early to avoid a massive logjam in the EDGAR filing system.

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The start of 2026 has brought renewed volatility to the cryptocurrency market. Within weeks, overall crypto capitalization has dropped sharply, erasing hundreds of billions in value and putting pressure on major altcoins that once appeared structurally strong. Large-cap tokens are struggling to hold key support levels as risk appetite weakens and investor sentiment turns cautious.

Yet amid this broader contraction, a different narrative is emerging. While established names face declining valuations, one new crypto project has posted triple-digit growth during the same period. This divergence suggests a capital rotation underway—away from saturated, high-supply tokens and toward protocols positioned around functional utility and active development rather than pure speculation.

Mutuum Finance (MUTM)

One of the projects that are getting traction during the current rally is Mutuum Finance (MUTM). It is a decentralized lending and borrowing protocol and is modeled to work based on automated smart contracts, as opposed to regular intermediaries. Users through the platform plans could lend out their tokens to receive yield or borrow against collateral in a non-custodial system.

One significant development to the project is that its V1 protocol was activated on the Sepolia testnet. This roll-out proves that this is not a theoretical system but one that is working. Within the live environment, users can provide assets to liquidity pools in order to earn passive yield, get mtTokens replying to their deposit status and collect interest on them, and create collateralized borrow positions. 

The protocol manages the accounting of outstanding loans on-chain and liquidates loans with automated mechanisms to ensure that predetermined risk parameters are adhered to in order to maintain the stability of an overall pool.

Presale Milestones: The Road to $0.06

Mutuum Finance (MUTM) is in the structured presale distribution stage. Ever since its initiation, the demand of the project has been huge. The project has been able to raise above $20.5 million so far. The community is also expanding rapidly and has over 19, 000 individual holders.

MUTM is still at Phase 7 and is valued at $0.04. This is a 300% rise in its original price of $0.01 in the early part of 2025. This gradual growth is what contributed to the 3x rise of the token when the rest of the market has declined. 

The project has verified a formal launch value of $0.06. This does not imply that the fight is finally over. The current investors who are still joining are still achieving a road to the public mainnet launch at a considerable 50% discount.

2026-2027 Price Forecast 

The future of MUTM appears very bright amongst several analysts. They mention a number of drivers that might spur the price up after the launch. The plan of a native stablecoin is one of the biggest ones. This would enable the users to borrow on their holdings even more securely. The second reason is the transition to Layer-2 networks. This would make transactions quicker and very cheap.

Through these tools, analysts have expressed their thoughts of the 2026-2027 cycle. They are optimistic that since the platform will be gaining users, the price may increase by 1,000%-1,500% of its current price. This would put the token under the $0.40-$0.60 range. The fact that the protocol aims to make real fees out of lending activity and not merely social media hype supports this growth.

Security and the Final Discount

Mutuum Finance is the most concerned with security. The team contracted Halborn Security to conduct a manual audit in order to secure users. This company is credited to safeguarding the largest in the blockchain ecosystem. Mutuum Finance also has a high trust score 90/100 of CertiK. These safety nets make the investors comfortable even when there is a crash in the market.

MUTM is now doing 50% off as compared to its official price of $0.06. This is the final window to go into Phase 7 at the price of $0.04 since it is selling off. When the rest of the crypto sphere is losing billions of dollars in value, Mutuum Finance is building its status as a frontrunner in the new generation of decentralized finance.

For more information about Mutuum Finance (MUTM) visit the links below:

Website: https://www.mutuum.com
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mutuumfinance

A lead safety researcher from Anthropic, Mrinank Sharma, announced his resignation from the company this week in a post on X. This decision by Sharma seems to be driven by his concerns surrounding the current state of AI and the world

Mrinank Sharma led the Safeguards Research Team at Anthropic, a prominent AI company whose large language model (LLM), Claude, is widely regarded as a top competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Sharma’s departure was rather abrupt, as the Safeguards Research Team was only officially launched in February of last year. The team’s primary focus was to identify, understand, and help mitigate the risks associated with Anthropic’s deployed AI systems, like Claude.

This sudden departure of a top safety researcher at one of the largest U.S. AI companies has caused a great deal of controversy on social media. Perhaps the most notable part of the resignation letter was when Sharma cryptically warned that “the world is in peril.” He attributed this “not just to AI, or bioweapons,” but to “a whole series of interconnected crises unfolding in this very moment.” This was interpreted by many people as a warning about the existential risks that come with AI advancements. Sharma’s resignation is part of a larger, concerning, and accelerating trend of resignations by high-profile employees at AI companies recently.

Interpreting Sharma’s resignation letter

Mrinank Sharma began the letter by briefly addressing his background and what inspires him, most notably “a willingness to make difficult decisions and stand for what is good.” He also spoke on his contributions to Anthropic, including developing and deploying defenses “to reduce risks from AI assisted bioterrorism,” and writing one of the first AI safety cases. His final project was “understanding how AI assistants could make us less human or distort our humanity.”

However, the part of his letter that caused the most concern was the third paragraph. While he did not directly accuse Anthropic of any wrongdoing or blatantly say AI is going to kill us all, he did use a lot of philosophical language to explain his resignation. He stated that “we appear to be reaching a threshold where our wisdom must grow in equal measure to our capacity to affect the world, less we face the consequences.” This was followed up by him writing, “I’ve repeatedly seen how hard it is to truly let our values govern our actions.” He also described the world being in peril from a series of interconnected crises, which he described in a footnote as a “poly-crisis” underpinned by a “meta-crisis.”

This language alludes that his departure from Anthropic was triggered by more of a philosophical divergence as opposed to any type of internal dispute at the company. By describing the current moment as a “poly-crisis” underpinned by a “meta-crisis” Sharma seems to be pointing to a much larger structural problem facing society and AI development by extension. Technology is advancing faster than collective wisdom, and the current systems and powers that manage and influence its development are not properly equipped to do so in the current state of the world.

The larger takeaway from Sharma’s letter

The larger takeaway from Sharma’s resignation letter is multifaceted and existential. On one hand, he seems to believe there is a fundamental problem with how technology companies are navigating the acceleration of AI development inside a competitive system. Global powers are in an arms race to surpass each other in AI and other technological advancements, with global tech spending set to hit $5.6 trillion in 2026. This means that AI companies are not just innovating and building products, but are a crucial component of geopolitical conflict. Additionally, these companies have a fiduciary responsibility to perform well for shareholders, creating an incentive to outperform their rivals in technological advancement.

This fosters an environment where safety principles and procedures must also align with market pressures, national competitiveness, and the expectations of investors. Still, as AI companies rapidly expand and advance their capabilities, they need to identify, understand, and mitigate the risks that come with them. The problem Sharma appears to be addressing is that the current system in which AI companies operate naturally prioritizes growth over safety and ethical considerations. The implications of this dynamic are existentially profound and a great cause for concern. A man like Sharma, who appears to be of good integrity, simply could not continue to operate within this system without compromising on his values, leading him to withdraw from it entirely.

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Binance fired an investigator team that may have uncovered over $1B in flows to sanctioned Iranian wallets. The dismissal of the investigators raised questions about Binance’s readiness to remain compliant with sanctioned regions. 

Binance fired investigators on its internal compliance team after reporting key findings on over $1B received through entities tied to Iran. The discovery was made by multiple sources and internal documents shared with Fortune. 

Binance’s founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao claimed the article held contradictions and was not clear enough on the link between the fired investigators and the discovery of sanctioned transactions.

I don't know any details or who, but just reading the article, it's self contradicting 👇.

One could also make a narrative "maybe they were fired because they didn't prevent it?" IF it were even true. It would also mean the 3rd party tools (the same used by law enforcement)… https://t.co/VzwvKwmAd4 pic.twitter.com/3JSdGGMcsV

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) February 13, 2026

According to the magazine, the investigators tracked the flows between March 2024 and August 2025, flagging potential violations of sanctions laws. According to Fortune’s sources, the team members were fired at the end of 2025. 

Binance still handled USDT on TRON from sanctioned sources

Despite the listing of Iran as a banned country, there were still transactions routed through Binance. The findings follow a known pattern of crypto usage in Iran, which utilizes USDT on the TRON network. This version of the token is carried by Binance, turning it into a major liquidity hub for TRC-20 stablecoins. 

So far, investigators have tracked USDT as a way to circumvent sanctions, but mostly ended up with idle wallets. The internal investigation points to Binance’s ongoing problems with compliance. In 2023, the exchange pleaded guilty to AML and KYC violations, and the exchange’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, was sentenced to four months in prison. 

Binance agreed to increased government monitoring, widely advertising its new phase of full compliance. 

Why did Binance fire a batch of employees?

According to Fortune, Binance fired at least three investigators with a law enforcement background, focused on the European and Asian markets. 

The information on the dismissals coincides with a previous cut to Binance’s team. As Cryptopolitan reported, toward the end of 2025, Binance dismissed several team members for alleged insider trading. 

Around that time, several Binance team members also announced their departures through LinkedIn, without specifying the circumstances. Beyond the firings in the special investigator team, at least four of the top compliance experts left Binance, or were pushed out, according to Fortune’s information. 

The compliance experts were fired at a time when Binance and Zhao enjoyed peak acceptance for their crypto business, while helping the Trump family World Liberty Fi project and adopting its stablecoin, USD1.

Binance USDT flows slow down 

Binance registered peak USDT flows from the TRON network during the 2021 bull market. Since then, there have been fewer dramatic spikes of inflows. 

USDT on TRON slowed down its activity on Binance, with fewer record inflows. | Source: Dune Analytics

In the past year, USDT on TRON was much less active on Binance. The token’s supply is growing, but it still has a niche use compared to the ERC-20 version. 

Binance has also been known to swap TRC-20 USDT for its Ethereum version, potentially swaying the available liquidity in the crypto space. TRC-20 USDT is much more rarely used in lending and DeFi, as well as centralized exchanges, and is linked to usage for P2P payments  in Southeast Asia.

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The holders of XRP are observing the thinning of support levels. The crypto is currently trading at $1.36, having declined from its peak of $3.66 last July. Analysts have identified levels of $1.16 and even as low as $0.70 as potential support levels if the downward trend persists. Institutional investment into XRP is still favorable, with Goldman Sachs holding XRP ETFs valued at $153 million, but the trend is still going lower. 

What is the best crypto to invest in, especially when other assets are undergoing a correction? The answer is increasingly pointing investors away from payment assets and into assets with revenue generation, revenue distribution, and fixed supply. A project is currently testing its full suite of lending products, and it matches this description perfectly.

XRP Continues Correction, Now Seeks Floor

XRP has extended its correction by a further 4%. According to Chart Nerd, a technical analyst, the crypto is displaying a Gaussian Channel, a formation whose support is identified at $1.16. If this is breached, a further correction to levels of $0.70 is possible.

The defi crypto saw a surge in its ETFs valued at $51.3 million last week, but it still cannot stay above levels of $1.40. This is because, structurally, XRP is a payment asset but does not generate revenue for its holders. It is a payment token but does not earn a fee for its holders. None of the payment volume processed by Ripple is going into the pockets of XRP holders. There is no staking reward or revenue distribution for XRP holders. They have to rely on speculation for price appreciation. This is a model that is becoming increasingly untenable when other assets have a revenue flow attached to them. XRP is a good investment, but it is not the best crypto to invest in.

What Mutuum Finance Actually Delivers

Mutuum Finance (MUTM) delivers a working non-custodial lending system where both lenders and borrowers create value. People put their money into the liquidity pools and get rewarded with mtTokens. A lender putting $7,500 into the USDT pool will get 7,500 mtUSDT. The more the pool makes through the APY, the more money the lender will get. The $7,500 could earn a 12% APY and turn into $8,400 in one year without the lender doing anything.

A borrower also benefits from the system. A person who wants $3,000 USDC for a short-term expense but only has $4,000 ETH, which he doesn’t wish to sell, can use the ETH and get the $3,000 he needs. They keep the upside of the ETH and get the quick funds they need. The user who lends the ETH gets the interest paid on the loan.

Fixed Supply and the Presale Window

Mutuum Finance has a fixed supply of 4 billion tokens. There will be no more tokens minted. The amount allocated for the presale is 45.5%, and more than 850 million tokens have already been sold. More than 19,000 holders are already in the system with a total raised amount of more than $20,500,000.

MUTM is priced at $0.04 in Phase 7 of its presale. The token’s exchange debut happens when the entire presale allocation of 1.82 billion tokens is out, and the price will increase to $0.06 during listings. But the fixed supply model shows a rapid price increase in the near future. The price of MUTM could increase to $1.32 as adoption spikes demand and the supply remains capped. For an investor who is coming in at $0.04, this represents a 22x return. More importantly, however, this is a return driven by actual revenue, not speculation.

Daily Incentives and Participation Rewards

Mutuum Finance has various participation incentives, apart from the price appreciation. The 24-hour leaderboard ranks the top buyers of the day. The #1 buyer gets a $500 MUTM bonus, with a reset at 00:00 UTC. The user should have made a transaction within the window. 

There is also a 24-hour $100,000 giveaway, with ten users set to receive a share of $10,000. Users can now buy MUTM with cards, eliminating the need to make exchange swaps. These incentives have increased the allure of Mutuum Finance as the best cryptocurrency to invest in today. 

Why Long-Term Capital Chooses Yield

The price of XRP is awaiting support at $1.16. It hopes that the price will hold at $0.70. MUTM offers a distribution of yield, a fixed supply, and rewards those who provide liquidity. Investors who want to know which cryptocurrency to buy today, with a plan to hold it in the long term, MUTM is the clear choice.

For more information about Mutuum Finance (MUTM) visit the links below:

Website: https://mutuum.com/ 
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mutuumfinance

Ramil Ventura Palafox just got 20 years in federal prison. He ran a fake crypto company called Praetorian and scammed over 90,000 people across the world. A judge in Alexandria, Virginia, sentenced him after he got hit with wire fraud and money laundering charges.

Ramil is 61 and holds passports from both the United States and the Philippines. He ran Praetorian Group International, also called PGI, where he called himself CEO, chairman, and the face of the whole thing. He told people PGI made money by trading bitcoin.

He said they’d earn daily profits between 0.5% and 3%. That was a lie. PGI wasn’t trading enough bitcoin to even come close to those returns. Instead, Ramil paid early investors with new investors’ money.

Ramil spent investor money on cars, homes, clothes, and fake websites

Between December 2019 and October 2021, more than $201 million flowed into Praetorian. Over $30 million came in as fiat cash, and more than 8,000 bitcoin came in too, worth around $171 million back then.

Out of that, at least $62.6 million is now confirmed as actual losses.

Ramil didn’t spend that money on trading. He spent it on himself. He bought 20 luxury cars for about $3 million. That included Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, BMWs, Porsches, McLarens, and more. He booked penthouse suites at fancy hotels and spent $329,000 doing that. He also bought four houses in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, worth over $6 million.

Ramil also spent $3 million shopping at stores like Cartier, Gucci, Rolex, Versace, Neiman Marcus, Louboutin, and Hermès. He bought expensive clothes, watches, jewelry, and furniture. He also sent $800,000 and 100 bitcoin, worth $3.3 million, to one of his family members.

To keep the fraud going, Ramil set up a fake PGI website. From 2020 to 2021, the portal showed fake profits. People would log in and see their investments “growing.” The numbers were all made up. No bitcoin was being traded like that.

Investigators from the FBI Washington Field Office and the IRS Criminal Investigation team in D.C. followed the money trail, tracked the bitcoin, and connected every dollar back to Ramil and Praetorian.

Ramil lied to tens of thousands of people. He promised returns that never existed. He used fake dashboards and flashy events to make it look real. But the cash went to his garage, his closet, and his houses. There was never any plan to make people money.

Now, with Ramil behind bars for 20 years, the name Praetorian is going down in history for all the wrong reasons.

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In December 2025, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) shared its updated Crypto token regulatory framework, allowing DFSA-regulated entities to choose which crypto tokens to work with, eliminating the need for DFSA approval. The update was supposed to come into effect in January 2026.

This is why today, the DFSA has published a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document to support firms in understanding and implementing its updated Crypto Token regulatory framework. The FAQs are intended to provide practical clarification on the application of the DFSA Rulebook to financial services and activities involving Crypto Tokens in or from the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

According to DFSA, the updated framework strengthens its approach to crypto regulation as it offers greater regulatory clarity for firms, while reinforcing market integrity and investor protection.

Updated framework will grow crypto asset volumes in the financial freezone

On January 12th, 2026, in an interview with Bloomberg, Elisabeth Wallace, Associate Director of Policy & Legal at the Dubai Financial Services Authority, had noted that the decision to give onus to DFIC firms as opposed to regulators was based on three things: alignment to international standards, alignment to international regulatory standards, and, most importantly in response to market feedback.

Wallace noted that while crypto asset volumes in DIFC have not been large, she believes that after this update, these volumes will grow, and “We will see more in 2026 in response to our framework.”

The updated framework shows maturity and brings a competitive advantage

Kokila Alagh, Founder of KARM Legal Consultants, gave her legal perspective to Cryptopolitan, noting that the previously recognized framework had an important role in the early stages of DIFC’s crypto token framework because it had provided firms with regulatory certainty in a high-risk, fast-evolving market. She believes that the shift away from a regulator-led list reflects “maturity of the ecosystem” and “aligns DFSA with regulator peers.”

She asserts that giving DIFC firms responsibility for choosing the crypto assets signals that DIFC is offering more flexibility in structuring their crypto token activities within a well-defined compliance framework.

As for the firms, Alagh states, “Firms now assume primary responsibility for assessing token suitability, which increases accountability and compliance expectations. This requires firms to implement a robust internal framework in relation to, among others, documentation, ongoing monitoring, reporting, transparency, and disclosure obligations, making a sound compliance culture essential to managing compliance and regulatory risks.”

From the perspective of firms interested in setting up in DIFC, Andrew Forson, President of DeFi Technologies, told Cryptopolitan that “ a list of recognized crypto tokens was not really a relevant factor in determining which tokens to work with. The token landscape moves so quickly that, as an asset manager, the most relevant factor tends to be market interest and market demand.”

He believes that removing the list is recognition by Dubai’s crypto regulations that this industry is technology- and demand-driven above all else. He stated, “This is the appropriate approach because it is individual firms who have the closest view of what tokens are worth, how their underlying projects impact their business model, and therefore the associated risk. Attempting to regulate tokens as eligible centrally may, in many instances, kill the competitive advantage a firm has.”

The DFSA FAQ is built on feedback from 600 participants

The latest FAQs are a result of market engagement and a recent DFSA webinar that brought together more than 600 participants from across the financial services and digital assets ecosystem.

One of the most important information is that the FAQ states that crypto token covers tokens that are used as a medium of exchange for payment or investment purposes, and not NFTs, utility tokens, or investment tokens such as security tokens and stablecoins. Stablecoins can only be used to make payments by an asset manager.

The FAQ document notes that a licensed DFSA firm providing financial services can offer products with exposure to a crypto token if it follows the crypto token regime and complies with relevant requirements, such as suitability assessments under GEN Rule 3A.2.1.

A Crypto Token may be assessed as suitable based on several criteria, such as its characteristics, including its purpose, governance arrangements, and founders.

Secondly is the regulatory status of the Crypto Token in other jurisdictions, including whether it has been assessed or approved for use by a financial services regulator, as well as the size, liquidity, and trading history of the market for the Crypto Token globally and finally the technology used in connection with the Crypto Token; and whether the use of the Crypto Token could prevent the person from complying with legislation administered by the DFSA.

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Binance France CEO David Prinçay was the victim of a poorly executed house invasion in Val-de-Marne on Thursday. 

Local police reports said that three masked men who were allegedly armed broke into a residential building early on February 12, around seven o’clock, in an attempt to find Binance’s local CEO.

The reports revealed that the robbers first forced their way into another resident’s home to get directions to the correct apartment. According to police, the suspects took two cell phones and fled after failing to find him.

Amateur kidnappers arrested in France following train chase

The trio did not stop there. A Vaucresson resident who had just been hit on the head with a gun butts by multiple masked guys contacted police in the Hauts-de-Seine department at 9:15 a.m. The Vaucresson resident reported hearing them say, “The address isn’t right,” and “Stéphane lives at number 41.” Later, checks would verify that a cryptocurrency entrepreneur actually lived at number 41. Then the three men ran away.

The exact address was used to track down the two pilfered cell phones. CCTV footage also showed that the identical vehicle seen in the Val-de-Marne department that morning was being used by the criminals. 

French outlet RTL reported that Police units from Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Yvelines, and the transport police were called in, along with the Parisian BRB (Brigade de Répression du Banditisme, or Organized Crime Unit). 

According to the report, the track revealed the trio boarded a train to Lyon after being readily followed on public transit. Later, the suspects were captured at Lyon Perrache train station after the Lyon BRI received an urgent alert, and they were placed under arrest.

France has faced a steady increase in so-called “wrench attacks,” where attackers employ threats or physical force to get access to cryptocurrency holdings. On September 5 of last year, Cryptopolitan reported that French authorities detained seven suspects in relation to the abduction of a Swiss man, aged 20. 

The report revealed that the victim was rescued by 150 military police officers who reportedly carried out a special operation in Valence. The military police officers found him in a residence close to the city’s high-speed train station.

In another Cryptopolitan report dated June 20, 2025, David Baland, a co-founder of Ledger, was abducted, had a finger amputated, and was held hostage before being freed. 

The same month,  a young man was kidnapped while his girlfriend was out shopping. She later received a video call from his phone. Instead of him, a man appeared on the screen and told her to wait outside the house with a bag containing 5,000 euros ($5,750) in cash and a Ledger wallet that had an undetermined amount of cryptocurrencies for his release.

France leads global surge in wrench attacks 

CertiK reported earlier this month that the 2025 Wrench assault resulted in confirmed losses of $40.9 million. According to CertiK, many victims choose not to disclose attacks because the ransom amount is not visible on the public blockchain, or because the attacker promised a private settlement.

France had the most attacks, with 19 reported in 2025. Europe was the hardest-hit region last year, with over 40% of all reported ranch assaults occurring there.

Although CertiK did not name the precise locations of all the attacks, it did mention that they occurred across several continents. Individual investors and participants in cryptocurrency marketplaces were among the targets. This subject has attracted international attention due to several noteworthy incidents.

Certik and other members of the cryptocurrency community advised crypto holders to keep their holdings private to avoid flaunting their wealth online and to restrict information that connects their real identities to their blockchain addresses.

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