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Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.GM!Today’s top news: Crypto majors slightly red despite Iran escalation; BTC at $67.3k Dragonfly raises $650M for 4th crypto venture fund Sigil Wen introduces Web 4.0 as AI agents that power themselves via crypto Pump.fun launches Cashback Coins, routing fees to traders vs creators Zora announces launch on Solana for its attention markets ? Web 4.0: Autonomous AI Agents Powered by CryptoA Thiel Fellow just published what might be the…

Bitwise’s February announcement arrived as two moves packaged as one. The crypto asset manager announced a partnership with Morpho to launch curated yield vaults and simultaneously acquired Chorus One’s institutional staking business.It looks like a deliberate assembly: curation mechanisms to filter protocol risk, infrastructure to deliver returns, and enough operational scaffolding to make the whole stack recognizable to allocators who think in basis points rather than memes.That combination of yield products using DeFi rails wrapped in institutional controls is becoming a category of offerings that yield on tokenized products.Assets such as tokenized Treasuries, money market funds, and permissioned lending protocols…

In brief Trump-family linked World Liberty Financial’s recent move was a short squeeze: whale buys amid negative funding, and a 40% OI spike, Decrypt was told. The DeFi project has announced a February 18 “World Liberty Forum” at the president’s Florida residence Mar-a-Lago. Its $500 million deal with a UAE firm has sparked scrutiny, with experts split on how the political heat affects the token and its meme premium. World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token surged double digits ahead of a high-profile gathering at Mar-a-Lago, though experts remain divided on whether the move signals genuine momentum or a short squeeze fueled…

In brief Grok is Elon Musk’s irreverent answer to ChatGPT—designed to be edgy, real-time, and politically incorrect. Built into X, Grok has rapidly evolved through multiple versions, with Grok 4 powered by xAI’s Colossus supercomputer. Despite its growth, Grok has faced backlash for offensive response, accuracy issues and the creation of sexualized imagery. Created to be a more irreverent, politically incorrect, and “truthful” AI, Grok is Elon Musk’s frequently controversial answer to ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI—the company he co-founded in 2015.Who Created Grok AI?Launched in 2023, Grok was developed by xAI, Elon Musk’s rival to AI powerhouse OpenAI. Since its…

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure A new, organized push is under way to shape how crypto prediction markets are treated in the US. A blockchain advocacy group has launched a unit aimed at guiding policy, pressing regulators, and backing industry players through legal fights and public research. Industry Sets Legal Strategy According to the group’s announcement, the first move was a letter praising the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and its chair for arguing that federal oversight should cover many event contracts. The Prediction Markets Working Group, created by the blockchain advocacy group,…

The Bitcoin “buy zone” meme just got real again, here’s what it means in the ETF eraA certain kind of Bitcoin post shows up right on schedule. It usually arrives right after price stops feeling fun.This week it came from PricedinBTC, dressed up as a neat table titled “Forward Returns by Drawdown Level.”The headline numbers do the heavy lifting, buying at a 50% drawdown supposedly delivers around a 90% win rate over the next year, with average returns near 125%. The caption ends with “LOCK IN,” the kind of line that sounds like advice and reads like a challenge.Bitcoin returns…

Milo, a Miami-based financial technology firm focused on crypto-backed lending, announced it has originated more than $100 million in crypto mortgages, marking a milestone in the use of digital assets as collateral for home financing and purchasing. The company said the total includes its largest single transaction to date, a $12 million crypto mortgage, as demand grows among institutional and high net worth borrowers seeking alternatives to traditional mortgage structures. Milo’s crypto mortgage product allows clients to pledge Bitcoin to secure financing for home purchases without selling their holdings. The company said it offers up to 100% financing with loan…

BlackRock has sharpened the staking posture for its iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB), outlining a plan to keep most of the fund’s ETH staked and earning rewards rather than held in custody.In its latest amended filing, the sponsor said that under normal market circumstances, it would seek to keep 70% to 95% of the fund’s ETH staked.The remainder would sit in what it calls a Liquidity Sleeve, an unstaked buffer designed to handle day-to-day creations, redemptions, and expenses.The change clarifies the product’s intent. ETHB packages spot ETH exposure into an exchange-traded fund while also incorporating Ethereum staking within the…

In brief California has set a July 1 deadline for crypto firms serving residents to hold a DFAL license, file an application, or qualify for an exemption. The law, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2023, creates a BitLicense-style state crypto regime and adds oversight for many digital asset businesses and kiosks. CBAC’s Joe Ciccolo says the rules could drive national compliance standards and attract stronger firms, but may push smaller players out if enforcement is too heavy. California has set a firm licensing clock for digital asset firms that want to keep serving residents of the state.The California…

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure With the end of the month approaching and negotiations still ongoing, the long-debated crypto market structure legislation known as the CLARITY Act is facing a critical moment in Washington.  The bill, which aims to establish clear rules for digital asset markets in the United States, has encountered significant obstacles in recent weeks as lawmakers, regulators, banks and crypto industry representatives continue to debate key provisions. Despite the hurdles, newly appointed Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Mike Selig has expressed strong confidence that the legislation is close…

In brief A misconfigured oracle priced cbETH at about $1 instead of roughly $2,200. Liquidations seized 1,096.317 cbETH and wiped out borrower collateral. The protocol was left with $1.78 million in bad debt pending a governance fix. A Sunday morning pricing glitch turned into a multimillion-dollar headache for the DeFi lending platform Moonwell, after a “misconfigured oracle” briefly valued Coinbase Wrapped ETH (cbETH) at just $1.The pricing error effected caused a 99.9% discount from the asset’s actual market value of roughly $2,200. The error triggered a wave of liquidations, ultimately leaving the platform with approximately $1.78 million in bad debt.“Once…

In brief Bitwise, Roundhill, and GraniteShares have filed for election-linked prediction market ETFs. Experts say demand and liquidity could be strong from hedge funds, but warn that political event markets also raise manipulation and insider information risks. The filings land as U.S. midterms approach and the CFTC moves to assert federal authority over prediction markets. Wall Street’s latest push into political prediction markets is drawing both strong liquidity expectations and warnings of manipulation from industry experts, as major ETF issuers race to launch election-linked funds ahead of the U.S. midterms.Fund managers Bitwise Asset Management, Roundhill Investments, and GraniteShares are seeking…

February 17, 2026 – Karavas, Cyprus At a time when much of the blockchain industry is still recovering from one of its harshest downturns, a small number of companies are quietly moving in the opposite direction – expanding, building and positioning themselves for the next era of adoption. Public Masterpiece, a Cyprus-based RWA (real-world asset) tokenization company, has announced PMT Chain, its own purpose-built layer one blockchain. Alongside the announcement, the company confirmed a strategic repositioning – PMT, once short for ‘Public Masterpiece Token,’ will now stand for ‘Public Masterpiece Technology.’ The timing is notable. Crypto did not simply experience…

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure MicroStrategy, now operating as Strategy, has become synonymous with corporate Bitcoin accumulation. However, the company’s returns on BTC are currently negative, and there are concerns about how it would fare in a more severe downturn and when its Bitcoin position would be finally wiped out.  Michael Saylor has now responded directly, reposting a statement from Strategy claiming the company can withstand a drop in BTC to $8,000 and still fully cover its debt. Strategy Says It Can Survive An 88% Bitcoin Crash Michael Saylor is still bullish on…

In brief Bitcoin’s decline is diverging from Nasdaq’s sideways movement, flashing a warning signal according to Maelstrom fund’s Arthur Hayes. Hayes estimates $330 billion in consumer credit losses if 20% of knowledge workers lose jobs to AI While experts agree with the idea, they disagree on the timeline, suggesting that disruption of that scale takes quarters, not weeks Bitcoin is signaling a warning that traditional equities have yet to acknowledge, according to BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes.The leading crypto has been on a downtrend since its October 2025 all-time high of $126,080, while the Nasdaq 100 Index has remained largely flat.…

In brief The Ninth Circuit has denied Kalshi’s emergency request for an administrative stay Nevada can now file a civil enforcement action and seek a TRO Kalshi may turn to the Supreme Court’s emergency docket to block enforcement Federal appeals judges have rejected Kalshi’s emergency request to pause enforcement in its legal fight with Nevada regulators, a procedural setback that could allow the state to move swiftly to shut down the prediction-market operator’s activities.The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied Kalshi’s motion for an administrative stay, according to posts on X by sports-betting and gaming attorney Daniel Wallach. The…