BlockBeats will organize the key industry news content of the week (2.17-2.23) in this article, and recommend in-depth articles to help readers better understand the market and learn about industry trends.
Important News Review
Bybit was hacked and more than $1.4 billion of ETH was stolen. The platform's withdrawal system has now returned to normal; a "bounty recovery program" has been launched, with a reward of 10% of the stolen funds
On the evening of February 21, the Bybit exchange was hacked, more than 490,000 ETH were stolen, and the loss exceeded 1.4 billion US dollars. The hacker used a malicious contract to control Bybit's specific ETH cold wallet and dispersed the funds. About an hour and a half later, Bybit CEO started a live broadcast to respond to community doubts. He said that other cold wallets were safe, the platform was still solvent, and normal withdrawal services had been restored. In order to cope with liquidity pressure, Bitget and other exchanges provided financial support. At present, many institutions have intervened in the investigation, and some of the stolen funds have begun to be cleaned through mixers and cross-chain bridges. The incident is suspected to be the work of the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group. It is considered one of the largest thefts in the history of the crypto industry. The relevant parties are working hard to track the flow of funds.
On February 22, Bybit officially launched the "Bounty Recovery Program", and contributors who successfully recovered funds will receive a 10% reward. Regarding the stolen ETH, some community members pointed out that it may be possible to recover it by rolling back Ethereum to before the theft. Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko responded that from a technical point of view, this is almost impossible to achieve. Related reading: "1.5 billion US dollars stolen, the largest hacker attack in the history of encryption, multi-signature has also been cracked?" , "Bybit event timeline | The withdrawal system has returned to normal, and the stolen 490,000 ETH has been transferred"
CZ responds to Binance sale rumors: Will not sell Binance, consider accepting single-digit equity investment
On February 17, Binance founder CZ issued a statement denying the rumors of Binance's sale, "Some low-level, self-righteous Asian competitors are spreading FUD that Binance will be sold. As a shareholder, I will not sell Binance. Top investors have always been interested in Binance. Over time, we may allow some investors to hold single-digit percentages of equity."
Trump: The Biden administration’s war on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency has ended
On February 20, US President Trump said that I have signed an executive order to make the United States a leader in artificial intelligence and end the Biden administration’s war on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, marking the advent of a new era of digital assets.
Kanye will launch the official Meme next week: individuals will receive 70% of the shares, and YEEZY aims to create a real currency
On February 21, according to people familiar with the matter, well-known rapper Kanye West plans to launch the meme token YZY. In the token distribution plan, Kanye will personally receive 70% of the shares, liquidity supply will account for 10%, and investors will account for 20%. The project information was disclosed by Yeezy Chief Financial Officer Hussein Lalani via email. The YZY token will be the official meme coin of the Yeezy brand and can be used for payment on its website.
On the 22nd, Kanye, a well-known trend artist, posted on social media that all Ye-related memes on the current market are fake, and he will launch his own meme coin next week. In the early morning of the 23rd, Kanye retweeted CZ's tweets many times, and briefly followed CZ's account, then unfollowed CZ and followed Polychain founder Olaf Carlson-Wee. Kanye then tweeted about meme coins including JAILSTOOL, and said that "YEEZY aims to create a real currency." According to the analysis of crypto KOL @lokithebird, Kanye may have transferred (or hosted) his X account to BarkMeta Doginals for $17 million. The evidence provided by the KOL includes the two people's account follow-up and interaction records, the two people's emoticon usage habits, and the light and dark settings of Kanye's account.
Programmer HULEZHI destroyed more than 500 ETH and claimed to be "controlled by brain-computer", Kuande Investment responded to the rumor of "brain-computer weapons persecuting employees"
On February 17, a programmer HULEZHI destroyed more than 500 ETH in three transactions to the black hole address through his wallet, and left a message saying, "A new crime model has emerged that uses brain-machines to enslave victims. The victims' desires and senses are gradually deprived until they become complete slaves of digital machines. If one day I become a victim of the final stage, I will choose to leave this world." This move has attracted widespread attention from the community. HULEZHI's eponymous meme token HULEZHI's market value exceeded $15 million three hours after it went online, with a trading volume of $21.8 million. According to on-chain data, HULEZHI also donated a large amount of ETH to charities such as WikiLeaks and Endaoment, but some of the donations were returned.
Regarding the remarks that "brain-machine weapons persecute employees", Kuande Investment responded on February 18 that the remarks were the personal behavior of a former employee, the content was untrue, and the company was not involved.
HyperEVM mainnet was launched on Tuesday
On February 18, according to Hyperliquid's official Discord, the HyperEVM mainnet is now live, bringing universal programmability to Hyperliquid's high-performance financial system. The initial release of HyperEVM's mainnet includes: HyperEVM blocks are built as part of L1 execution, inheriting all the security of HyperBFT consensus; spot transfers between native spot HYPE and HyperEVM HYPE; a standardized WHYPE system contract suitable for DeFi applications. Related reading: "HyperEVM is online in troubled times, will the "Master of Spotting" win this time?"
Sonic ecosystem rises across the board, reappearing DeFi craze
This week, the meme fever has cooled down, and Sonic has led DeFi to return to the market again. Its top projects have increased by an average of 4-10 times in the past week. The hottest sector is Shadow Exchange, and the market value of its native token $SHADOW has increased from around 5M US dollars to over 31.84M US dollars in a week, an increase of more than 500%. According to the explanation of Andre Cronje, founder of Sonic Labs, SHADOW's project positioning and token model are x (3,3), which is an improvement on ve (3,3). Coin holders do not need to lock positions to obtain fee income, and can get more incentives after locking xSHADOW. Related reading: "The ecosystem has increased by 100%. What other wealth codes are worth paying attention to on Sonic?" , "A 500% surge in one week, understand Sonic's "DeFi engine" Shadow Exchange"
Follow-up to the Argentine "Presidential Coin" LIBRA farce: Jupiter responded that it did not participate in the issuance of LIBRA in any form; Mile forwarded the LIBRA purchase tutorial, and the Argentine regulator stated that it had no right to intervene in the LIBRA incident
On February 17, Jupiter issued a statement in response to the LIBRA controversy: "The Jupiter team was completely unaware of the transactions between Mile and the market maker, and was not involved in any form. In the memecoin circle, rumors about the upcoming issuance of a certain "Argentine currency" have long been an open secret, and many related tweets have been made public. However, due to its adherence to the principle of confidentiality, Jupiter did not discuss the matter in any online or offline occasions. On the same day, KIP Protocol also issued a statement stating that it did not profit from the issuance of LIBRA tokens and only acted according to the direct instructions of Kelsier Ventures.
In the early morning of February 18, Argentine President Milley forwarded a tutorial on buying LIBRA tokens published by Argentine economic and political commentator Dario Epstein on X, and LIBRA rose by more than 130% in 10 minutes. On the same day, Argentine President Milley also responded on a TV show, saying that he was just "acting in good faith" to share cryptocurrency information, and that "the vast majority of investors are Chinese and Americans, who participated voluntarily and understood the risks they took."
On the same day, Jupiter founder Meow posted on social media that no one at Jupiter or Meteora was involved in any insider trading or financial misconduct, or received any tokens inappropriately. An independent third party has been hired to investigate and produce a report that they will release independently.
On February 20, according to Argentine local media Infobae, the National Securities Commission (CNV) "has so far chosen not to intervene" in the LIBRA incident, "because the current regulatory framework does not cover token advertising on decentralized platforms." However, CNV said it would "accelerate measures" aimed at "preventing further cryptocurrency fraud cases that harm investors." In addition, according to crypto lawyer wassielawyer, LIBRA tokens caused 74,698 traders to suffer losses, with a total loss of approximately US$286 million. Related reading: "After the Argentine currency cut 100 million, what inside information did the community dig out within 36 hours?" , "Uncovering Kelsier Ventures, a "Ding Crab Family" that reaped 200 million US dollars"
Insider: Tencent leads Wintermute's latest round of financing
On February 19, Bloomberg reported that cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute Trading Ltd. is seeking to expand its business to the United States, including opening an office in New York and offering new products in the United States. Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy said that as part of the expansion plan, the company plans to provide OTC products to U.S. customers and add about 5 to 10 people to the existing team of 130. According to people familiar with the matter, Wintermute recently raised funds in a round of financing led by Tencent Holdings Ltd.
Vitalik: The Ethereum Foundation pursues "rule by inaction", but it is definitely not doing nothing
On February 19, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik answered the question "Why did you decide to take the helm of the ETH Foundation again?" in a text AMA held on the Tako platform: "Decentralization" does not mean "doing nothing." The "subtraction philosophy" of the Ethereum Foundation does not mean "reducing the foundation to 0", but a way to maintain ecological balance. If there is an imbalance in the ecology in one place (for example, part of the ecology is too centralized), we can help solve it. After solving this problem, the foundation can withdraw from that area. If an imbalance occurs in a new place, we will move resources there. In Chinese culture, the way we pursue may be most like the ideas of the Tao Te Ching, but taking this path requires wisdom and the ability of the foundation to be improved in some areas. It is not a matter of "success by doing nothing." So in the short term, we need to work hard to do some key things. Related reading: "Vitalik Chinese Dialogue Community: Ethereum needs new stories and new users; EF is undergoing internal reforms"
Monad testnet is online; Aptos research director accuses Monad of plagiarism, Monad co-founder denies it
On February 19, the Monad testnet was officially launched, sending test coins to over 8.8 million active Ethereum addresses. The next day, Alexander Spiegelman, director of research at Aptos, posted on X that he didn't understand why Monad spent so much time plagiarizing Aptos' technology. All of this is open source, and there are already many peer-reviewed papers. Instead of hiding it, it's better to plagiarize it directly. In response, James Hunsaker, co-founder of Monad, said: "optimistic concurrency control was discovered in 1979. I have been studying software transactional memory (STM) in the Haskell environment for a long time. BlockSTM is a simple extension of these things. I have never seen any Aptos code. In fact, if you hadn't published this nonsense, I wouldn't have thought of Aptos." Related reading: "Monad testnet is online, how to interact?" "Aptos accuses Monad of plagiarism, stealing technology or traffic?"
Meme project PAIN has completed the refund; Harold's token share accounts for 50%, which will be locked for 20 years
On February 20, the Solana chain meme coin PAIN announced that 80% of the 185,976 SOL raised had been refunded, and all funds sent after block 318346069 (i.e. the end of PAINSALE) had also been refunded. The token share of Harold, the prototype of the meme coin, will be locked for 20 years until it is unlocked in 2045. Its token economic model shows that the total supply of PAIN is 10 million, of which 50% is allocated to Harold himself, 20% for pre-sales, 15% for liquidity, 10% for the community, and 5% for partners. At present, the whale first on the pre-sale list has not sold any tokens yet, with a floating profit of 2.39 million US dollars. Related reading: "Pre-sale income is as high as 5 times, can PAIN save the meme market?"
Canary Litecoin Spot ETF has been listed on the DTCC official website with the code LTCC
On February 21, according to the DTCC official website, the Canary Litecoin spot ETF has been listed on the DTCC official website with the code LTCC and D in the Create/Redemption column. Although this does not mean that the ETF has obtained any regulatory approval or any clear approval process results, listing it on the DTCC website is the "standard process" for launching new ETFs. Related reading: "A review of the progress of the five popular cryptocurrency ETF applications, which one is most likely to be approved?" , "ETF narrative boosts LTC's counter-trend rise, can you still buy Litecoin at $130?"
FTX: Customers from China, Russia and other countries are not eligible for compensation for the time being, and Chinese users account for about 8%
On February 21, Sunil, a representative of FTX creditors, shared in a post that many claims come from jurisdictions that are temporarily ineligible for FTX compensation, including Russia, China, Egypt, Nigeria, and Ukraine. FTX is reviewing possible solutions. Among them, Chinese users account for the largest proportion, accounting for about 8% of the customer base. Related reading: "FTX's first round of repayments starts: 11.2 million SOLs are about to be unlocked, triggering selling pressure anxiety"
SBF changes political stance in latest interview, clearly "standing with" Trump to seek pardon
In an interview with the New York Sun on February 18, FTX founder SBF openly "sided" with Trump: "I've spent a lot of time studying crypto policy and am very frustrated and disappointed with what I've seen and heard from the Biden administration and the Democratic Party. The Biden administration is extremely destructive and difficult to work with. Frankly speaking, the Republicans are much more reasonable." SBF hinted that his rightward tendency began in 2022 because he and Trump have a common enemy, that is, Lewis Kaplan, the judge in charge of the FTX fraud case and Trump's federal defamation case. Related reading: "SBF's latest interview in prison: FTX has never gone bankrupt, it's just a liquidity crisis"
The US SEC decided to drop the lawsuit against Coinbase without any fine
On February 21, Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong shared in a post, “After years of litigation, millions of taxpayer dollars spent, and irreparable harm to the country, we have reached an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to withdraw the lawsuit against Coinbase. Once the commission approves (expected next week), the case will be completely withdrawn, no fines will be paid, and no changes will be made to our business. This is a huge victory for us.”
The US SEC has concluded its investigation into OpenSea
On February 22, Bloomberg reported that OpenSea said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had ended its investigation into the NFT market. Recently, the U.S. SEC has postponed the litigation process against several crypto companies and said that the newly established cryptocurrency working group may resolve a series of lawsuits to save judicial resources.
The pump.fun meme craze has cooled down. For the first time this week, the MEME coin was not fully deployed within 30 minutes.
On February 17, according to monitoring, pump.fun had a situation where the MEME coin was not "full" within 30 minutes of deployment, which may be the first time in history. On February 19, only 4 of the graduated tokens of pump.fun in the past 24 hours had a market value of more than 1 million US dollars, and the speculation craze on the chain has cooled down extremely. Related reading: "99% of Meme transactions are destined to lose money, and the dealer is the big winner" , "Meme retreat, AI rebound, what new developments in projects are worth paying attention to?"
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection discussed the case of Yao Qian using virtual currency to trade power for money, emphasizing the importance of technological supervision in the financial sector
On February 17, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission of China recently published a headline article titled "Preventing and Controlling Integrity Risks in the Construction of Financial Information Systems". The article pointed out: "Yao Qian used his position to accept huge bribes from many companies and provided assistance to others in the procurement of information systems, involving project contracting, project promotion, fund allocation, engineering acceptance and other matters. His case further confirmed the high professional and technical barriers in the field of information system construction and the great integrity risks in procurement and other links that we pay attention to in daily supervision." Relevant responsible comrades of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group of the China Securities Regulatory Commission introduced that in response to the problems exposed by the case, the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group put forward supervision opinions to the Party Committee of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, urging them to be highly vigilant about the integrity risks in the procurement of information systems and strengthen the construction and implementation of relevant systems.
China's Shaoyang County police cracked a "quick money" case involving virtual currency
On February 20, according to Rednet, the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Public Security Bureau of Shaoyang County, Hunan Province, China received a clue about a quick hit of funds. A sum of money involved in fraud was taken out by someone in Wufengpu Town, Shaoyang County. After receiving the clue, the police quickly launched an investigation and arrested a suspect named Wu. After interrogation, Wu confessed to the fact that he contacted the fraudsters for the purpose of profit, provided his bank card to collect the fraudulent funds, and illegally converted them into virtual currency to transfer to the online criminal suspect. At present, Wu has been detained according to law, and the case is under further investigation.
A woman in Anhui was defrauded of 277,000 USDT in an offline transaction. The police filed a case for fraud
On February 22, Guangming.com reported that the Hefei police had filed an investigation into an offline transaction fraud case involving 277,000 USDT. According to the victim, Ms. Cheng, on January 17, she and her boyfriend traded USDT with her old friend Sun and his two companions in a cafe. At that time, the unit price of USDT was about 7 yuan. During the transaction, Ms. Cheng first transferred more than 7,000 USDT as a test, and after confirming that it was correct, she transferred all the remaining USDT to the other party's account. At this time, Sun claimed that he could not transfer USDT to his companion because of "mobile phone virus", and his companion immediately called the police on this ground. After the police arrived, the suitcase containing 2 million cash was taken away from the scene by Sun's companion. Later, through the wallet information tracing, Ms. Cheng found that all the U coins she transferred to Sun had been transferred away.
Michael Saylor Releases "21 Rules of Bitcoin": Never Sell Your Bitcoin
On February 17, Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), released the "21 Rules of Bitcoin" on the X platform, including: respect Bitcoin, otherwise it will make you a clown; never sell your Bitcoin; spread Bitcoin with love, etc. Related reading: "Dialogue with Michael Saylor: Is Strategy at risk of being liquidated?"
This week's hot articles
On February 21, Bybit suffered the largest crypto theft in history, with hackers stealing about $1.5 billion worth of ETH. The hackers successfully transferred funds to multiple addresses by tampering with the smart contract of the multi-signature cold wallet. The incident caused market panic and ETH prices fluctuated briefly. Although other wallets were not affected, the incident revealed potential security vulnerabilities in multi-signature wallets. Investigations showed that the attack method was similar to that of previous North Korean hackers, and the front end of the Safe multi-signature wallet may have been manipulated. Despite the huge losses, Bybit said it is still solvent and customer assets remain 1:1 supported.
"How does North Korea train its hacker experts to succeed so often?"
On February 21, the Bybit exchange suffered a $1.5 billion hacker attack, which was suspected to be the work of the North Korean hacker organization Lazarus Group. North Korea has made up for its disadvantages in traditional military through cyber warfare, and has long invested resources in cultivating hacker talents and implemented a plan code-named "Secret War". North Korea's hacker training began in the 1980s. The goal is to train elite hackers. They receive rigorous 9 years of training, specializing in programming, operating systems and virus development, aiming to launch cyber attacks on enemy countries. These hackers are not only technically proficient, but also need to have a deep understanding of the language and culture of the target country to ensure the concealment of the mission. Successful hackers can obtain privileges such as high salaries and luxury apartments, and become the top elites of the country.
"Are the non-cryptocurrency speculators attracted by Trump still making money now?"
On January 18, the meme coin $TRUMP launched by Trump quickly attracted market attention. Within 24 hours of its release, the trading volume exceeded $10 billion, far exceeding Bitcoin, and quickly became a mainstream trading platform. Although early speculators made a lot of money, as the popularity declined and the price of the coin plummeted, many new investors suffered losses. The volatility of the crypto market is extremely high, and many newcomers over-trusted Trump's business model and blindly followed the trend of investment, and were eventually trapped. The drastic market fluctuations and lack of supervision make traditional investment experience often unable to adapt to the high-risk game of cryptocurrency.
The LIBRA project exposed multiple participants and the conflicts of interest behind them, including Argentine President Milei, KIP Protocol, and market maker Kelsier Ventures. After the project was launched, internal disagreements and chaotic fund flows led to many project parties such as Photon, Jupiter, and Meteora being involved and facing public pressure. Solayer developer Chaofan Shou raised questions about the connection between LIBRA and other tokens and the manipulation of funds. There were also reports in the community that there may be foreign VCs and intermediaries behind the project, and some members of the Milei government were suspected of being involved.
"Uncovering Kelsier Ventures, a "Ding Hai Family" that reaped $200 million"
Kelsier Ventures is a venture capital firm that ostensibly focuses on Web3 investments, but in reality deeply manipulates a variety of memecoin projects, including $LIBRA and $MELANIA. Its behind-the-scenes team is led by the Davis family, including CEO Hayden, his father Tom, and his brother Gideon. The agency has attempted to replicate similar token issuance models in multiple countries, and has political connections, such as with the Argentine president and the Trump family. Kelsier manipulated the market through platforms such as M3M3 Launchpad, engaged in insider trading, and made huge profits, which ultimately led to the collapse of multiple projects and sparked doubts in the crypto community.
"If LIBRA and MELANIA did not appear, would the crypto world really be better?"
This article reviews the birth of PumpFun, the Bitcoin halving, the differences between scams in 2021 and today, and how to adapt to the new market cycle, and reminds investors in the current market environment to pay attention to limited liquidity, have a clear selling strategy, and follow the narrative in the market rotation to avoid excessive FOMO. At the same time, always keep some profits in stablecoins and continue to accumulate long-term high-quality assets like BTC.
《YouTuber interview with LIBRA creator: I am also a victim》
Hayden Davis, a member of Kelsier Ventures, is one of the four main creators of LIBRA, the other three being Julian Peh, a member of Kip Protocol, Mauricio Novelli, and Manuel Godoy, members of the Argentine Technology Forum. The project was supported by Javier Milei on February 14, 2025. Coffeezilla, the creator of this video, interviewed Hayden to try to figure out what happened to LIBRA. During the interview, Hayden admitted that the LIBRA team sniped LIBRA's coin issuance, and the MELANIA team also sniped MELANIA's coin issuance.
"The Solana Meme market has been "drained", is Ethereum expected to see a turnaround?"
As the hype in the memecoin market gradually cools down, more and more memecoin projects have caused controversy, such as the Argentine President's $LIBRA. Due to the influence of memecoins, Solana (SOL) has seen large price fluctuations, market sentiment has turned bearish, and the ratio of short orders to long orders has increased significantly. At the same time, many trading robots, arbitrageurs, and insiders have made billions of dollars in profits through Solana's memecoin market, exposing the high speculation of the market. Some analysts believe that Ethereum (ETH) may have bottomed out and will attract more capital inflows.
The U.S. wholesale price index (PPI) and consumer price index (CPI) both rebounded beyond expectations in January, indicating that inflationary pressures still exist, especially against the backdrop of rising food and energy prices. Powell said the Fed will maintain its tight policy until inflation has fallen significantly. The market expects that the rate cut may be postponed until the end of the year, and the stubborn points of inflation are mainly concentrated in core non-housing services. The U.S. debt crisis is also becoming more severe. The surge in debt may prompt the Federal Reserve to take interest rate cuts, which in turn will affect the crypto market, especially the possibility that Bitcoin will be included in the strategic reserve, further reducing market liquidity and stimulating price increases.
"SBF's latest interview in prison: FTX has never gone bankrupt, it's just a liquidity crisis"
In his latest interview, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) expressed his deep views on FTX bankruptcy, the US judicial system, and the political situation. He insisted that FTX was not bankrupt, but suffered a liquidity crisis, and criticized the bankruptcy administrator and the judicial system for their handling. He believed that his case was politicized, that the judicial department had tried him unfairly, and even mentioned that President Trump might grant him a pardon. SBF also shared his personal feelings after losing his wealth, emphasizing that freedom is more important than money, and said that if the appeal is successful, he plans to return to the technology and financial fields and continue to do meaningful work.
On the evening of February 19, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin conducted a special flash text AMA in the "Flash Interview Circle" in the Tako App. The interview solicited anonymous questions from the community in advance, aiming to respond to the community's concerns and confusion about the future development of Ethereum. The content of this interview involved the future adoption and ultimate narrative of ETH, how to view the relationship between L2 and the Ethereum main chain, and the centralized sequencer solution. Vitalik even answered the question from community users asking him whether he was a communist. It is worth noting that this is also the first time in recent years that Vitalik has conducted an AMA in Chinese.
"Dialogue with Michael Saylor: Is Strategy at risk of being liquidated?"
In this interview, Saylor emphasized that MicroStrategy will continue to acquire Bitcoin, treat it as a digital asset, and plans to issue collateralized securities through Bitcoin rather than directly lending Bitcoin to earn interest. He believes that Bitcoin has great long-term growth potential and predicts that the price of Bitcoin will reach $13 million by 2045. He also discussed the decentralized characteristics of Bitcoin, believing that it is the most decentralized crypto asset in the world, and expressed optimism about the policy changes that Trump may bring to the crypto industry. Saylor believes that Bitcoin is suitable for long-term investment, emphasizing that it does not take a whole Bitcoin to buy it, and that it is more liquid and value-storing than assets such as real estate. He also expressed a balanced view on self-custody and institutional custody of Bitcoin.
"HyperEVM is launched in the midst of chaos. Will the "master of spotting" win this time?"
The crypto market has experienced many shocks recently. Meme coins endorsed by celebrities and governments have sparked heated discussions, but retail investors have suffered losses. In this context, the launch of HyperEVM has become a ray of hope and attracted a lot of attention. Hyperliquid has become a new favorite among investors by accurately grasping market changes and benefiting from Solana's capital outflow. Its EVM compatibility, low latency characteristics, and integration of DeFi projects make it an ideal platform for high-frequency trading and AI-driven strategies. As new projects are launched one after another, Hyperliquid's influence in the DeFi ecosystem continues to expand, bringing more investment opportunities.
"A 500% surge in one week, understand Sonic's "DeFi engine" Shadow Exchange"
Shadow Exchange in the Sonic ecosystem has attracted widespread attention recently. The market value of its native token $SHADOW has risen sharply in just one week, and the liquidity pool and trading volume have continued to grow. Shadow Exchange is based on the x(3,3) incentive model, which improves the traditional ve(3,3) model, reduces lock-up friction, and provides a flexible exit mechanism, attracting a large number of investors and liquidity providers. Through the xSHADOW token, users can not only participate in governance and voting, but also share protocol fees and rewards, enhancing long-term participation incentives within the ecosystem. With the rapid growth of Sonic chain TVL, Shadow Exchange is expected to become a benchmark for the next generation of DeFi trading protocols.
"Meme is out, AI is back: a detailed explanation of 8 popular AI Agents on BNB Chain"
BNB Chain has recently launched several AI Agent projects, covering a wide range of fields, from intelligent investment research assistants, personalized education, to the use of AI to transform on-chain data capture. These projects include SIREN, ANDY, Tagger AI, etc., reflecting BNB Chain's exploration of the combination of AI and blockchain. Although these projects still face product implementation and technical challenges in the early stages, their innovation and application potential make BNB Chain's layout in the field of AI Agents attractive.
TVL increased fivefold in one month, sorting out the most profitable revenue strategies on Sonic
After AC Ge's return, Sonic Labs refocused on DeFi and released a series of incentives, successfully attracting a large amount of capital inflows, and TVL increased by 500% in just one month. Sonic Chain promoted the liquidity of assets such as BTC through stablecoin access, cooperation with DeFi protocols such as Lombard Finance and Ether.fi, and launched a variety of airdrop incentive strategies to attract a large number of users to participate. In addition to continuing to strengthen DeFi, Sonic also attracted AI and MeMe users through Hackathon and Meme competitions, trying to build a new DeFi ecosystem. As the market gradually returns to DeFi, Sonic hopes to innovate and stand out in the fiercely competitive market.
Since its establishment, the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) led by Musk has drastically cut government spending through layoffs and contract cancellations, sparking widespread controversy. On February 17, Musk satirized the erroneous data in the U.S. Social Security database and exposed waste in multiple government departments. At the same time, the government's layoff plan has caused more than 9,500 employees to lose their jobs, especially in key areas such as public health and environmental protection, increasing the pressure on social services. DOGE also requested access to taxpayer data, raising privacy concerns. Although the reform has brought short-term benefits, its radical approach has sparked deep controversy about efficiency, credibility and safety, and the future direction remains unclear.
As the largest custodian of staked ETH, Coinbase manages about 21% of the staked ETH, but has not disclosed the information of staked ETH for five consecutive quarters. Data shows that its stake ratio has dropped from 15%, which may be related to address rotation. Although Coinbase emphasizes transparency, it has not disclosed the amount of staked ETH and the support of cbETH. More than 75% of the cbETH circulation supply is unused, and investors should pay attention to the underlying staked ETH rather than the LST circulation. Coinbase chose to inflate cbETH through unused supply rather than transparent operation.
Aptos accuses Monad of plagiarism, is it stealing technology or traffic?
L1 project Monad launched its testnet this week. But at the time of the launch, the research director of one of its competitors, Aptos, accused Monad of plagiarism. Monad's founder hit back, saying that its technology was derived from earlier research results. This incident occurred at a critical moment in the release of Monad's testnet, which attracted a lot of attention. Aptos may have launched the accusation at this time to attract market attention and drive up the price of its token. This dispute over the originality of the technology once again highlights the complexity of the open source culture and the fierce market competition in the crypto industry.
"Broccoli Plate" is launched on Binance Alpha, reviewing the "Broccoli War" caused by donations
On February 18, the $BROCCOLI token surged in a short period of time, with a market value exceeding $50M. The popularity of the token is related to CZ's "Broccoli Night" and charity activities. CZ publicly donated 150 BNB to support a charity project initiated by a college student, but it also accidentally triggered a hype of Meme coins. After that, multiple Broccoli series tokens appeared, with drastic price fluctuations, and the problems of whale manipulation and community division were exposed. This Meme coin hype revealed the fragility of the crypto market, as well as the capital game and trust crisis in the decentralized community, and emphasized the need for the industry to improve the ecology from the technical, governance and regulatory levels.
"99% of Meme transactions are doomed to lose money, and the dealer is the big winner"
In this article, the author reflects on his losses in Memecoin investment and compares it to casino gambling, pointing out that the expected return of Meme speculation is worse than traditional gambling. The main reasons include high transaction fees, slippage losses and market manipulation. Although there is no clear "house advantage", insider trading and market manipulation make it difficult for retail investors to make a profit.
Ethereum is discussing whether to increase the L1 gas limit, which was recently increased from 30 million to 36 million, increasing network capacity by 20%. Supporters believe that this limit can be further expanded in the future, especially in the context of L1 expansion combined with upcoming technical improvements. However, increasing the L1 gas limit may bring centralization risks, especially in the development path centered on rollups, and whether it is worth continuing to expand L1 in the long run still needs to be carefully considered. Despite this, increasing L1 capacity is still of great value in the short term, and can enhance anti-censorship capabilities, optimize asset transfers between L2s, and respond to key issues such as large-scale L2 withdrawals.
Realized Price (RPC) is an important indicator used to measure the capital flow and chip structure of the cryptocurrency market. It is calculated by realized market value (RC) and circulating supply, reflecting the average turnover cost of tokens. When RPC is lower than the current price, it means that the market is losing money and attracting more buy the dips funds; higher than the current price means that the market is relatively healthy. The RPC performance of different currencies is obviously different. For example, the RPC of Bitcoin (BTC) is higher, and most holders are profitable and stable; while Ethereum (ETH) performs weaker, holders have lower floating profits, and price fluctuations may be larger.
Solana's decentralized exchange (DEX) ecosystem shows a change in the competitive landscape from Q4 2024 to early 2025, manifested in the evolution of aggregators, user experience improvements, integration cooperation, and token economic standards. Raydium continues to dominate the market with deep liquidity and active buyback strategies; Jupiter, as a major aggregator, faces inflation risks from supply growth, but still leads the Solana ecosystem; Meteora shows strong development potential through liquidity aggregation and upcoming tokens; Orca faces challenges in liquidity and capital efficiency, making it difficult to maintain long-term competitiveness.
"ETF narrative boosts LTC's rise against the trend. Can you still buy Litecoin at $130?"
Litecoin has high potential in the cryptocurrency market, with a current price of about $130. Its technological advantages are reflected in its innovations based on Bitcoin, especially in the field of payment, improving privacy protection through the MimbleWimble protocol, and enabling low-cost high-frequency transactions through the Lightning Network. In addition, Litecoin's spot ETF expectations have increased market attention and may attract more institutional investors. With its scarcity and hedging properties against inflation, Litecoin is also seen as a safe-haven asset. In the future, with the approval of ETFs and changes in market sentiment, Litecoin is expected to usher in a new upward cycle.
In the second episode of Base Builder Talk, Julie shared her experience in building the Tako social platform in the field of social product growth, emphasizing the construction of a solid user base through sincere communication, precise invitations, and fission of high-quality social relationships. Tako's growth strategy is not in a hurry to pursue rapid expansion, but focuses on ensuring the social atmosphere and user quality of the platform through an invitation system. In terms of user growth, Julie uses deep screening and personalized contact to closely bind core users to the platform, while exploring the application of AI in social networks, and believes that AI may become an important participant in social platforms in the future.
《Inventory of 8 innovative projects at Cookie DeFAI hackathon》
The Cookie DeFAI hackathon attracted many high-quality teams. Although projects with tokens were disqualified, many innovative products still emerged. The winning projects demonstrated a variety of applications from smart contract auditing to market analysis, including AI-based copy trading agents and agents that help preserve digital heritage. Although some mature token projects failed to participate, the overall event showed the great potential of DeFAI technology and demonstrated the innovative prospects of combining blockchain, AI and social sentiment data.
"a16z: How crypto startups "self-recommend"
Founders need to clearly communicate the company's vision and mission, especially in the early stages, to help rally the team and establish a brand image. An effective mission statement can clarify the company's goals and values, help differentiate the company from competitors, and provide direction for market changes. In addition, clear ideal customer profiles and benefit statements can further support sales and marketing, helping founders to succinctly explain the core value of the product to different audiences. As the company grows, these core messages should remain flexible and can be adjusted at any time to respond to market changes.
Forbes Interview with Gavin Wood: Five Criteria for Determining the Long-term Success of Blockchain
Gavin Wood proposed five criteria for evaluating the success of blockchain: resilience, performance, versatility, accessibility, and consistency. He emphasized that the resilience of blockchain is the most critical, and decentralization and the ability to resist attacks cannot be compromised. Regarding performance, Wood pointed out that blockchain needs to find a balance between decentralization and efficiency, and Ethereum and Solana have their own advantages and disadvantages. In terms of versatility, Polkadot provides stronger computing power through parallel chains, while consistency issues plague multiple projects. Although no blockchain can perfectly meet all standards, successful blockchains in the future will continue to adapt to changes under the core principles of Web3.
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