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In brief DeFi lending platform ZeroLend said it will wind down operations after three years. Its native token ZERO fell 45%, extending steep monthly and yearly losses. The shutdown follows a string of DeFi closures amid liquidity and revenue pressures. Decentralized finance lending platform ZeroLend said it plans to shut down after three years of operations, citing mounting operational challenges and an unsustainable business model.“We have made the difficult decision to wind down operations. Despite the team’s continued efforts, it has become clear that the protocol is no longer sustainable in its current form,” co-founder and CEO “Ryker” wrote in…

In brief Strategy notched its fourth-largest Bitcoin purchase of the year. The funds largely came from variable rate preferred shares. Questions over Strategy’s debt have gone viral in recent days. Strategy reported its fourth-largest Bitcoin purchase of the year on Tuesday, scooping up the digital asset with proceeds that partly came from preferred shares.The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm purchased 2,500 BTC last week for $168 million, a press release showed. That lifted the company’s holdings to around 717,100 Bitcoin, which was worth about $48 billion as Bitcoin edged down to nearly $67,000, according to CoinGecko.To fund its latest acquisition, Strategy…

A botched home invasion in the Paris suburbs on Feb. 12 marked a tactical shift in crypto’s physical-threat or “wrench attack” landscape.The target, according to French media reports, was the CEO of Binance France. Binance confirmed an employee was targeted and said the employee and family are safe.Two phones were stolen before the suspects were arrested at Lyon Perrache station. The assailants reportedly entered the wrong residence first before moving to their intended target. This detail suggests reconnaissance and intent, not opportunism.The incident is more concerning than the rising baseline of wrench attacks.This was a named executive at a recognizable…

In brief BitMine bought 45,759 Ethereum last week, bringing its total to 4.37 million ETH worth $8.68 billion. Chairman Tom Lee remains bullish, expecting 2026 to be a “defining year for Ethereum” driven by tokenization, AI, and layer-2 adoption. Ethereum is down 60% from its 2025 peak, and Myriad users don’t expect an imminent rebound. Leading Ethereum treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies announced Tuesday that it purchased 45,759 ETH last week—currently valued at nearly $91 million—to boost its total stash to 4.37 million ETH, worth $8.68 billion.While the company has seen the value of its holdings fall substantially in recent…

In brief From January 2028, taxation in the Netherlands will be applied to actual annual returns, including unrealized crypto gains, as opposed to “fictitious returns.” Investors will receive a €1,800 ($2,000) exemption on annual returns, and losses can be carried forward but not refunded. The reform follows Supreme Court rulings that found the previous system of taxing deemed or fictional returns unlawful. Crypto investors in the Netherlands could face changes to their tax bills after lawmakers in the House of Representatives approved reforms that will alter how the country’s existing levy on investment assets is calculated.The idea of paying tax…

In brief Crypto hardware wallet users are receiving fake postal letters posing as Trezor and Ledger, using official branding, holograms, and QR codes to redirect victims to phishing sites. The scam copies security upgrade notices and deadlines, pushing users to scan codes and “activate” fake checks to avoid wallet access limits. Security experts say attackers are using old breach data and expanding beyond email into physical mail, SMS, and spoofed apps to increase success rates. Crypto hardware wallet owners are now receiving fraudulent letters impersonating Trezor and Ledger, complete with holograms, forged executive signatures, and QR codes engineered to steal…

U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig hit back at states trying to challenge the regulator’s jurisdiction over prediction markets in a new op-ed published Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal.”To those who seek to challenge our authority in this space: let me be clear. We will see you in court,” Selig wrote.In the past year, a handful of states have issued cease and desist letters and gone toe-to-toe with prediction market operators in court in a bid to stop what they say is an unfair subversion of their gambling and gaming laws. And in several cases, prediction…

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure A new technical projection is circulating in the crypto market after pseudonymous analyst and XRP Ledger (XRPL) developer Bird forecast a sharp rise in the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization. The analyst predicts that the altcoin could soon reach a valuation of $300 billion, accompanied by a significant price increase from current levels. XRP Market Cap Forecasted To Surge To $300 Billion In a post on X, Bird boldly declared that a “$300 billion XRP market cap is coming very soon.” The assertive forecast clearly shows his strong confidence…

The fiscal mathematics of the United States are drifting toward a threshold that markets can no longer afford to ignore, and a level that, relative to GDP, hasn’t transpired since the last world war.Washington’s latest budgetary outlook suggests the nation is on a trajectory to accumulate nearly $64 trillion in federal debt over the next decade.The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) most recent decade-long outlook indicates a sustained increase in national obligations.US National Debt ProjectionThe CBO projects federal deficits will total approximately $1.9 trillion in fiscal year 2026. That gap is expected to widen toward $3.1 trillion by 2036.These figures would…

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 ahead of weekly open; BTC at $67k Harvard rotates a portion of BTC holdings into ETH Steak ‘n’ Shake says Bitcoin adoption dramatically increased sales Kraken to sponsor Trump Accounts in Wyoming Andre Cronje opens Flying Tulip sale to the public at $1B valuation ? Harvard Just Sold Bitcoin for EthereumThe smartest money in the room is rotating.? What HappenedIn a 13F filing…

In brief A House Republican is urging the DOT to investigate AV companies’ use of foreign-based remote operators following a Senate testimony. Rep. Buddy Carter’s letter flags safety, English proficiency, passenger privacy, and national security risks from overseas operators on U.S. roads. Carter also asking regulators to review whether in-car audio and video data can be accessed by foreign personnel, raising passenger privacy concerns. A House Republican has urged the U.S. transport regulator to investigate autonomous-vehicle companies’ use of foreign-based remote assistance operators, escalating congressional scrutiny after recent Senate testimony revealed overseas human involvement in U.S. robotaxi operations.Rep. Buddy Carter…

February 17th, 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 real-world asset tokenization company, has announced PMT Chain, its own purpose-built Layer 1 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 a correction, but…

On some Ethereum L2s, bots now burn over half the gas just searching for MEV, and they don’t pay proportionally for it. That’s a scaling and market-fairness problem rooted in market structure.The privacy conversation in crypto has finally escaped the “anonymous money” framing that dominated the last cycle. In early 2026, the urgency is economic, not ideological.The industry is confronting a structural problem: on-chain transparency creates extractable value at massive scale, and that extraction is now large enough to be a scaling bottleneck, not just a philosophical complaint.Flashbots has documented how MEV-related “search spam” can consume more than 50% of…