NVIDIA Corp (NVDA) is scheduled to report its fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 earnings today, February 25, 2026, after the market close. As the world’s most valuable company and the undisputed king of the AI revolution, Nvidia’s results serve as a high-stakes referendum on the durability of global AI infrastructure spending.

On 24 February, Kraken announced xStock perpetual futures contracts that provide 24/7 leveraged trading of tokenized equities backed 1:1 by underlying shares in over 110 countries. Coinbase is adding spot stock trading through its Coinbase One app via a partnership with Yahoo Finance and plans tokenized U.S. equity products later this spring. These moves come as crypto market capitalization hovers near $2.24 trillion after a 47.5% drop since the 6 October 2025 crash, while the S&P 500 has gained 17% over the same period.

As February 2026 closes with Bitcoin lingering below $65,000 after its weakest recorded start to a year, market volatility is expected to carry into March. Analysts highlight Shiba Inu, Tron, and Ethereum as particularly vulnerable, citing structural issues, regulatory and governance concerns, and deteriorating performance. With macroeconomic uncertainty and liquidation risks still weighing on sentiment, these assets may face heightened downside pressure in the coming month.

On 25 February 2026, President Vladimir Putin signed a law empowering Russian courts and investigators to seize cryptocurrency, which the act classifies as "intangible property." It takes effect ten days after publication and precedes a July 1, 2026 regime with a 300,000‑ruble annual cap for non‑qualified retail and domestic licensing rules for exchanges.

Stripe is weighing a potential acquisition of PayPal in early-stage talks first reported on February 24, 2026, with no formal bid disclosed. PayPal shares rose about 7% to $47.02, lifting its market value to roughly $43.3 billion, while Stripe's latest employee tender values the private firm at $159 billion, according to the report. Both companies declined to comment.

Bitcoin climbed back above $65,000 after dropping to $62,500 earlier this week, while Solana gained 7% to reach $82. Ethereum hovered near $1,900 and XRP reclaimed the $1.36 support, as total crypto market capitalization added around $80 billion to hit $2.330 trillion on CG. KITE entered the top 100 with a 20% daily surge and a 135% monthly rise.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal opened a PSI inquiry into Binance's sanctions compliance and alleged Iran- and Russia‑linked transactions. His letter claims the exchange processed $1.7 billion in transfers to Iran and cultivated ties to WLFI; detailed records are requested by March 6, 2026.

US federal agents in North Carolina have seized more than $61 million in USDT allegedly tied to a large pig butchering crypto investment scheme that used fake relationships and bogus trading platforms to target victims. Investigators tracked funds across multiple wallets before freezing addresses that still held significant balances, with Tether assisting in transferring the assets. The action comes amid a sharp rise in AI‑driven impersonation and social engineering scams, as crypto‑related fraud losses reportedly reached $17 billion in 2025.