BNB

Eleven Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee, led by Elizabeth Warren, sent a letter urging Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to examine Binance's operations. The request cites reports of illicit finance linked to Iran and potential conflicts with the exchange's 2023 settlement. Separately, Richard Blumenthal's February 24 letter flagged possible $1.7 billion Iran-related transactions; Binance denies sanctions violations.

On February 23, 2026, Empery Digital shareholder Tice P. Brown demanded the removal of CEO Ryan Lane and the entire board after the firm's Bitcoin holdings fell about 46%, cutting the treasury value to roughly $258.40 million. Empery Digital's market cap has dropped to around $147 million, below the value of its BTC, while Brown also criticized a $105 million margin loan and alleged day trading in Bitcoin derivatives. Similar governance clashes have emerged at CEA Industries and YZi Labs over large crypto reserves in BNB and other assets.

CryptoQuant data shows that over the past 13 months, centralized exchanges have recorded a cumulative $209 billion imbalance favoring altcoin sell orders, while Bitcoin trades around 68.8K. An analyst argues this persistent pressure, despite spot ETFs for assets like XRP and SOL, signals structural weakness and a lack of institutional accumulation rather than a brief market dip.

BNB Chain introduced support for ERC-8004 and BAP-578 to advance agent identity and application standards amid weak market sentiment. Earlier this month, it deployed ERC-8004 on BSC Mainnet and Testnet, and by February 17 the AI Agent ecosystem counted 58 projects. The initiative has also drawn over 200 builders in an ongoing hackathon focused on AI and on-chain actions.

Binance’s stablecoin holdings have declined for nearly three months, dropping from $43.6B to about $36B as of February 16, 2026, according to Cryptoquant. February saw an additional $3B leave in two weeks, while BNB Chain posted a $219M net liquidity outflow and still counts 4.4M daily active users.

Standard Chartered has reduced its short-term and end-2026 price projections for major cryptocurrencies, warning that persistent spot Bitcoin ETF outflows and macroeconomic uncertainty could keep the market under pressure. The bank now sees Bitcoin potentially dropping toward $50,000 in the near term and finishing 2026 at $100,000, with Ethereum's outlook also lowered alongside revised targets for Solana, BNB and Avalanche.

During a Wednesday House Financial Services Committee hearing, Democratic lawmakers criticized SEC Chair Paul Atkins for a perceived softening of crypto enforcement, saying it undermines investor confidence. They cited dropped or paused cases, including Binance, and questioned the halt in the Justin Sun lawsuit, linking the climate to a market drawdown exceeding $1 trillion.

Prediction markets saw trading volume jump from $15.8 billion in 2024 to $63.5 billion in 2025, with activity staying strong into January 2026 as three platforms captured over 95% of global flow. A CertiK report warns that this growth relies heavily on centralized Web2-style authentication, creating critical single points of failure even as on-chain settlement and oracle designs continue to evolve.

On January 28, bitcoin reached $90,000, then on Friday fell about $17,000 to a $60,000 low before rebounding to $72,000 and spending the weekend in a $68,000–$72,000 range. It has now slipped below $67,000 as altcoins extend losses: ETH under $2,000 (−3.2%), XRP below $1.40 (−4.1%), BNB at $600 (−5%), while ZRO surged 20% into the top 100.

The week saw mixed performance across tokens: M rebounded about 23% to near $1.58 and MYX advanced roughly 18% around $6.44. On the downside, BNB fell toward $600 for a ~15% drawdown and ZEC hit close to $200, off just over 30% at its worst.