Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès has outlined a draft plan for a Bitcoin hard fork to recover nearly 80,000 BTC tied to the exchange’s 2011 hack, currently valued at over $5.2 billion. The proposal would redirect coins from a long-dormant theft address to a recovery wallet for court-supervised creditor repayments, reigniting debate over whether such changes undermine Bitcoin’s immutability.

World Liberty Financial has introduced a governance proposal that requires unlocked WLFI holders to stake their tokens for at least 6 months before gaining voting rights. Participants who vote at least twice during the lock period can earn 2% annual WLFI rewards, while large holders who stake 10 million or 50 million WLFI can qualify for Node and Super Node tiers, gaining special access to USD1 stablecoin services and extra incentives. The phased rollout will proceed after token holders approve the plan and a quorum of 1 billion eligible WLFI participates over a seven-day voting window.

Baidu's market value dropped by about $11 billion after its share price fell nearly 20% amid weak core advertising revenue and slower-than-expected AI monetization. In 2024, Baidu Core online marketing revenue declined 18% to RMB 15.3 billion, while total company revenue slipped 7% year over year to RMB 31.2 billion and earnings per share contracted 56.75%. Although AI Cloud, AI-native marketing and AI applications posted strong growth, investors questioned whether these units can offset the shrinking ad business and asset impairments of RMB 16.2 billion. Some shareholders, including HHLR Advisors, exited large positions, and Baidu's efforts to restore confidence with a first dividend and a three-year stock buyback plan of up to $5 billion have yet to reverse sentiment.

On Feb 26, 2026, Bitcoin’s derivatives metrics showed deeply negative funding as traders added short exposure, according to CryptoQuant. Despite the bearish futures tilt, spot price action continued to defend the $68,000–$69,000 area, with a broader range between $62,000 and $69,000 and a key support reference near $60,000.

On February 25, 2026, Coinbase criticized proposed UK stablecoin caps, saying the limits threaten $1.35 billion of its business. The Bank of England's draft would cap individual holdings at £20,000 and corporate holdings at £10 million and require issuers to keep most reserves in short-term government debt and central banks.

On February 25, 2026, Senator Richard Blumenthal initiated a Senate inquiry into Binance after reports alleged the exchange permitted roughly $1.7 billion in transfers tied to Iran and Russia. Investigators cited compliance warnings and said crypto money laundering reached about $82 billion in 2025, prompting broader regulatory scrutiny.

On February 24, ESMA said all leveraged crypto instruments must meet EU rules on leverage caps, risk warnings, and investor protections, regardless of how they are labeled. The agency treats perpetual futures like CFDs, requiring position limits, auto-close, negative balance protection, and access controls. Kraken said its new tokenized-stock perpetuals will not launch for EU users.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought on former Chainlink lawyer Taylor Lindman to advise on digital asset policy. According to Arkham Intelligence, Grayscale's LINK holdings climbed past 5.25 million tokens in February 2026 even as Chainlink traded more than 70% below last year's high, highlighting institutional interest amid weak prices.

After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a core element of Donald Trump's tariff program, about $8.2 billion in imported goods have been left in legal uncertainty as customs systems have yet to adjust. Importers are facing delays, potential overpayment of duties, and confusion over refunds, while the White House has moved to impose a new 15% global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.