Today's news highlights:
Trump: Raising global tariffs from 10% to 15%
Bitdeer liquidates its Bitcoin holdings, selling all mining output this week
Macro outlook for next week: The Trump tariff storm rises again, tensions escalate in the U.S.-Iran situation, Nvidia's earnings report will face a big test
In the U.S., the search volume for 'Bitcoin zero' has soared, reaching an all-time high
Product Manager for X: The advertising disclosure feature targeting Kalshi-type soft ads will be launched next week
Data: Major Ethereum whales have collectively turned to a state of unrealized loss for the first time
Vitalik advocates using personal LLM to enhance the efficiency of decentralized governance
Caixin: Document No. 42 emphasizes 'strict management of offshore RWA', CICC Hong Kong has discussed cooperation with public chains and exchanges
A user mentioned 'Bitcoin' in the OpenClaw Discord and was banned; the founder stated: mentioning cryptocurrencies is prohibited.
Regulation & Macro
Next week macro outlook: Trump tariff turmoil resurfaces, U.S.-Iran tensions rise, Nvidia's earnings report will face a major test.
With the uncertainty surrounding Trump's tariff policy potentially triggering a new wave of chaos, coupled with increasing signs that the U.S. may take military action against Iran, the world's largest company, Nvidia, will release its earnings report next Wednesday, and investors may face a new round of market volatility driven by news headlines.
Trump: Increase global tariffs from 10% to 15%.
Trump stated on social media that based on a comprehensive, detailed, and complete review of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on tariffs made on the 20th, I hereby declare that as President of the United States, I will immediately raise the global tariffs imposed on many countries from 10% to a fully legal and legally tested level of 15%. Many of these countries have been 'exploiting' the United States for decades without any punishment (until I took office!). In the coming months, the Trump administration will identify and announce new legal tariffs, continuing the extraordinary process that will make America great again.
Caixin: Document No. 42 sets the tone for 'strict management of overseas RWA,' CICC Hong Kong has discussed cooperation with public chains and exchanges.
According to Caixin, over the weekend when Document No. 42 (Notice on Further Preventing and Handling Risks Related to Virtual Assets) was released, a team from China International Capital Corporation (CICC) in Hong Kong was already in contact with major public chains and exchanges to explore business cooperation opportunities. Some public chain leaders expressed the hope to collaborate with relevant investment banks and intermediaries to explore business opportunities, and both Ant Group and JD.com have shown high concern for policy changes.
Related reports indicate that Hong Kong is one of the overseas issuance locations for RWA. Familiar regulatory officials stated that RWA based on assets from Hong Kong is not within the regulatory scope of Document No. 42 and is not under the jurisdiction of domestic regulatory authorities. Currently, there are no underlying assets of securities or funds based in China for overseas RWA. If there are, they are under the responsibility of the institutional department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Furthermore, 'originally all could not be allowed. Now it does not say 'none are allowed,' but strictly regulates the outbound RWA of domestic assets. There is no 'encouraging' intention here; it should not be interpreted as 'promoting development,' nor is it 'to rush ahead,' but rather 'strict regulation.'
Project Dynamics
Bitdeer liquidated its Bitcoin holdings, selling all mining output this week.
According to official news, Bitcoin mining company Bitdeer (BTDR) released the latest data on BTC holdings, stating that as of February 20, its total Bitcoin holdings (pure self-owned holdings, excluding customer deposits) have dropped to zero. This week, its Bitcoin mining output was 189.8 BTC, with the same amount sold, resulting in a weekly net outflow of 943.1 BTC.
A user mentioned 'Bitcoin' in the OpenClaw Discord and was banned; the founder stated: mentioning cryptocurrencies is prohibited.
OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger responded on social media to a user who was banned for mentioning 'Bitcoin' in the OpenClaw Discord server and requested unbanning. He stated that the server has strict rules that users agree to upon entering, which clearly prohibit mentioning any content related to cryptocurrencies.
The Meme coin TRUMP will allocate less than 5% of its tokens for growth plans and launch a $10 million incentive program.
The Meme coin $TRUMP team announced that it has entered a new development stage, focusing on liquidity depth, additional utility, and long-term value creation. To this end, the team will implement three initiatives: yield and liquidity plans, institutional market structure, and strategic inventory management and ecological investment. Additionally, the first entertainment game project 'TRUMP Billionaires Club' mobile/Web3 game is about to be launched, with more details to be announced.
X product leader: Regarding the Kalshi soft advertising issue, a disclosure feature will be launched next week.
X product leader Nikita Bier questioned the list of the most valuable startups of 2025 released by Infodex on Twitter, specifically pointing out issues with the fintech company Kalshi (valued at $1.1 billion) mentioned in the list. He stated that the information in the list is 'obviously false' and that the account belongs to or is associated with that brand. He also questioned whether the purpose was to place a female photo next to the logo to increase click-through rates. Additionally, he requested the publisher to disclose whether this was paid promotional content from Kalshi, or the account might be suspended.
In response to the issue of undisclosed advertisements, Nikita Bier stated that relevant disclosure features will be launched next week.
IoTeX: Approximately $2 million in assets stolen, expected to resume operations within 48 hours.
The IoTeX team announced that it has controlled a recent security incident and has reinforced security for the IoTeX chain. Preliminary data indicates that the losses from this attack are around $2 million, including USDC, USDT, IOTX, and WBTC.
Surveys show that this incident was a complex attack planned by professional hackers targeting multiple chains. The team is working with exchanges and law enforcement agencies to freeze stolen funds and conduct investigations and recovery efforts. On-chain operations and deposit functions are expected to resume within 24-48 hours, and the team will continue to provide transparent follow-up updates.
Opinions & Analysis
Vitalik advocates using personal LLMs to enhance decentralized governance efficiency.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published an article proposing several ideas for using AI and personal LLMs (large language models) to optimize democracy and decentralized governance. He believes that 'AI directly acting as government' is dystopian, but mechanisms like personal governance agents, public dialogue agents, and AI-enhanced recommendation/prediction markets can alleviate issues of insufficient human attention and expertise in governance such as DAOs. Vitalik also proposed introducing multi-party secure computing, TEE, or encrypted circuits in decentralized decision-making scenarios involving confidential information, allowing personal LLMs to participate in judgments within 'black boxes,' while emphasizing the need to enhance participant anonymity and content privacy protection using zero-knowledge proofs and multi-party privacy computing tools.
Elliptic: 5 cryptocurrency exchanges assist Russia in evading sanctions, ABCeX transaction volume exceeds $11 billion.
Blockchain analysis company Elliptic's latest report indicates that a cryptocurrency exchange related to Russia's 'Shadow Network' is assisting in evading international sanctions through large-scale cryptocurrency transactions and names five platforms, most of which have not yet been sanctioned and still provide Russian entities with a funding channel to bypass traditional banking regulations, among which ABCeX is identified as the largest, having processed at least $11 billion in cryptocurrency transactions. The report also points out that Exmo, although claiming to have exited the Russian market, still shares custodial wallet infrastructure according to on-chain data; Rapira, registered in Georgia and with an office in Moscow, has been indicated to have direct transactions exceeding $72 million with the sanctioned exchange Grinex; Bitpapa is said to evade monitoring by frequently changing wallet addresses; and Aifory Pro provides cash exchange for cryptocurrencies in Moscow, Dubai, and Turkey. Analysis indicates that the previous infrastructure for circumventing sanctions related to cryptocurrencies for Russia has not disappeared but has dispersed across more platforms.
Important Data
Data: Major Ethereum whales have collectively turned into a state of floating losses for the first time.
According to data cited by Coin Bureau, all ETH whales are now 'underwater.' In this cycle, all major Ethereum holder groups are, for the first time, in a state of floating losses, including wallets holding over 100,000 ETH. When strong hands (steadfast holders) feel pain, weak hands (insecure retail investors) have already left the market.
The search volume for 'Bitcoin zero' in the United States has surged, reaching a historic high.
According to Google Trends data, the search popularity for 'Bitcoin zero' in the United States reached a historic high in February, coinciding with Bitcoin's price dropping over 50% from its historical peak in October last year, approaching $60,000.
However, the global search term's popularity has gradually declined since reaching a peak of 100 in August last year, dropping to only 38 this month, indicating that panic sentiment is mainly concentrated in the United States. Analysis suggests that the surge in searches in the U.S. may reflect widespread panic among retail investors and could serve as a contrarian buy signal.
CryptoQuant: The exchange whale ratio has risen to 0.64, with large holders dominating selling activities.
According to on-chain analysis company CryptoQuant, the Bitcoin market is currently in the mid-stage of a bear market, with large Bitcoin holders dominating the deposit activities on exchanges. Data shows that the exchange whale ratio (the proportion of deposits from the top ten) has risen to 0.64, the highest level since October 2015, indicating that large holders are leading the selling activities. Meanwhile, the average single deposit amount on exchanges in February rose to 1.58 BTC, the highest since June 2022, which was the midpoint of the previous bear market.
Despite this, CryptoQuant noted that the overall Bitcoin exchange inflow has decreased from a peak of 60,000 BTC on February 6 to about 23,000 BTC on a 7-day average, indicating that the phase of sharp selling has eased, but the current inflow level is still higher than in previous months.
Meanwhile, the inflow of stablecoins has significantly decreased. The daily net inflow of USDT plummeted from a peak of $616 million in November 2025 to a recent $27 million, with a net outflow of $469 million observed on January 25, 2026. CryptoQuant pointed out that the decrease in stablecoin inflows or negative values indicates a decline in market marginal purchasing power.
Additionally, altcoins are also facing widespread selling pressure, with the daily average inflow for 2026 rising to about 49,000 transactions, a 22% increase from about 40,000 transactions in the fourth quarter of 2025. CryptoQuant believes that an increase in altcoin inflows typically indicates weakened market confidence and may trigger greater volatility.
In summary, CryptoQuant indicated that the selling pressure of Bitcoin is mainly concentrated among large holders, while altcoins are experiencing a decentralized sell-off, and the outflow of stablecoins suggests limited market demand support. These factors may exacerbate market volatility during the current bear market phase.