Crypto Weekly 2/15/26
Coinbase Posts a $667M Loss as Crypto Revenue Slides, Banks Move to Kill Stablecoin Yield in the CLARITY Act, and Bitcoin Whales Scoop Up $4 Billion in BTC
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.42T): -2% / -21%
- BTC ($68,566): -3% / -22%
- ETH ($1,968): -6% / -34%
- SOL ($86): -1% / -31%
- UNI ($3.45): -1% / -39%
- OP ($0.19): -2% / -30%
- COIN ($164): 0% / -27%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($184B): -1% / -2%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($74B): +1% / -3%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 57% / 10%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Bitcoin fell below $67,000 while US equities remained mostly flat after a stronger-than-anticipated US jobs report. Link.
- US crypto and banking executives met at the White House for a second closed-door session on stablecoin yield for the upcoming CLARITY Act, but left without resolving the dispute. Banks including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan took a hard line on stablecoin yields, calling for a broad ban on any financial or non-financial benefits tied to holding, owning, or using payment stablecoins. Link. Tweet.
- Tomasz Stanczak is stepping down from his role as co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, with Bastian Aue taking over on an interim basis alongside Hsiao-Wei Wang. Link. Blog Post.
- Decentralized perpetual exchange Hyperliquid recorded $5.2 billion in daily trading volume, its highest single-day volume since launching in October 2025. Silver and gold were among the top five most-traded instruments on the exchange.Link.
- Crypto exchange Coinbase announced Q4 revenue of $1.8 billion, down 20% year-over-year, and a net loss of $667 million. Futures tumbled on the news before rising 20% during market hours the next day. Link. Link.
- Social media platform X will roll out Smart Cashtags in the coming weeks, enabling users to view data on stocks and cryptocurrencies directly from their timeline. Link.
- Robinhood reported revenue of $1.28 billion for Q4, with crypto trading dropping 38% to $221 million. Shares fell 10% on the news. Link.
- Bitcoin whales accumulated 53,000 Bitcoins, the biggest buying spree since November, after weeks of heavy selling. Wallets holding more than 1,000 BItcoin added more than $4 billion worth of the token. Link.
- Privacy cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) is increasingly becoming the cryptocurrency of choice on darknet sites dealing in drugs and stolen data, and is popular among ransomware groups. Nearly half of all new darknet markets launched in 2025 supported XMR exclusively. Link. Report.
- The FDIC agreed to pay Coinbase $188k in legal fees and drop its fight to withhold crypto-related “pause letters”, settling a FOIA lawsuit tied to Operation Choke Point 2.0 debanking tactics related to crypto activity. Link.
- US spot bitcoin ETFs saw withdrawals totaling $686 million, though the ETFs still manage almost $100 billion in assets. Link.
- Aave Labs, founder of the DeFi lending protocol Aave, has submitted a proposal to transfer 100% of product revenue to the Aave DAO, in exchange for covering its $25 million in annual operating expenses. Link.
- Lightning Labs released an open-source toolkit designed to give AI agents native access to the Bitcoin Lightning Network without requiring identity, API keys, or signup flows. Link. Blog Post.
- Goldman Sachs reduced its holdings of spot bitcoin and ether ETFs by 40% and 27% respectively in Q4. Link.
- The CFTC named 35 crypto and fintech executives to the “Innovation Advisory Committee”, which will weigh in on how the regulator should oversee the role of “breakthrough” technologies like AI and blockchain. Link.
- Trump Media Corporation filed to list a Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF. Link.
- Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong has sold approximately $545 million worth of company shares in the past 9 months. Link.
- Coinbase is rolling out “Agentic Wallets” built on the x402 protocol that enable AI agents to independently hold funds, send payments, trade tokens, earn yield, and transact onchain. Link. Blog Post.
- Stripe is integrating the x402 open payment standard to enable developers to charge AI agents directly using the USDC stablecoin on the Base network. Link
- Robinhood launched the public testnet for its own blockchain built on Ethereum Layer-2 Arbitrum. Link.
- Coinbase launches an independent formal advisory board to assess quantum computing threat to crypto. Link.
- Per an SEC filing, blockchain company Figure Technology is making up to $30 million of its shares available as blockchain-native shares, which will be convertible into common shares on a one-for-one basis. Link.
- The biggest cluster of bets in Bitcoin’s options market are contracts that pay off if the price falls below $60,000, potentially forcing deleveraging and creating a cascade effect of liquidations. Link.