Aptos [APT] jumped 13% and briefly reclaimed $1 before easing, as plans for the Decibel upgrade and broad altcoin rotation supported the move. The rally extended more than 37% from near $0.80, with RSI and MFI signaling strong inflows. Network usage also spiked, reaching 8.679 million weekly transactions and 10.4 million monthly active accounts.

On February 23, ZachXBT alleged Axiom Exchange staff misused internal data for insider trading. Roughly three hours before his report, two newly created wallets staked a combined $59,800 on a prediction market and netted about $109,000. According to Lookonchain, twelve addresses collectively gained approximately $1.02 million; Axiom said on February 26 it revoked access and began an internal probe.

TRM Labs reports that AI‑enabled crypto fraud activity rose about 500% over the past year, with generative tools accelerating phishing, identity theft, and laundering. Chainalysis says these operations earn 4.5 times more per scheme and generate 9 times more daily transactions than non‑AI scams. Recent incidents include large holder losses and U.S. seizures linked to pig‑butchering rings.

On February 26 2026, Foom.Cash, an Ethereum-based privacy protocol promoted as an evolution of Tornado Cash, suffered an exploit that led to losses of roughly $2.26 million in tokens. An attacker allegedly abused a misconfigured Groth16 zkSNARK verifier across Ethereum and Base, enabling forged proofs that drained 24.28 trillion FOOM tokens, with about $427,000 taken by the exploiter and around $1.83 million shifted in a white-hat rescue. The team has not yet publicly outlined remediation steps or the full impact.

On 26 February, Bitcoin traded at $68,006 while holding above the $60K–$72K range floor, with technical indicators showing recovering momentum. U.S. spot BTC ETFs saw over $500M in net inflows on 25 February, as large holders and derivatives flows reinforced expectations for a potential breakout toward higher resistance.

MARA Holdings reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $1.7 billion, driven by a $1.5 billion fair-value hit as bitcoin fell around 30%, while revenue declined 6% to $202.3 million. The company also announced a joint venture with Starwood Capital Group to build AI-focused data centers, and its shares rose more than 15% on Thursday.

Google Gemini AI projects new highs for XRP, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu by the end of 2026, outlining targets of $13 for XRP, about $1.50 for DOGE and near $0.0001 for SHIB. Its outlook highlights XRP’s RSI near 43 with price around the 30‑day average, and flags key resistance at $0.20 and $0.40 for DOGE and $0.000025–$0.00003 for SHIB.

Bitcoin retested $70,000 on Wednesday after Tuesday's dip to $62,500, but derivatives gauges stayed cautious into Thursday. US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $764 million of net inflows across two sessions, while the 2-month futures basis held near 2% and the 30-day options skew showed puts priced at a 14% premium to calls.