Crypto Weekly 2/22/26
The SEC Puts Stablecoins on Par With Money Market Funds, Base Breaks Away From Optimism, and Stripe's Bridge Gets a Federal Bank Charter
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.38T): -2% / -22%
- BTC ($67,415): -2% / -23%
- ETH ($1,942): -1% / -35%
- SOL ($83): -4% / -33%
- UNI ($3.44): 0% / -39%
- OP ($0.12): -35% / -55%
- COIN ($171): +4% / -24%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($184B): 0% / -2%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($74B): +1% / -2%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 57% / 10%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- The SEC issued guidance allowing broker-dealers to apply a 2% haircut, rather than 100%, on stablecoin values when calculating net capital, putting stablecoins on par with money market funds. Link. Guidance. Statement.
- The Coinbase-incubated Ethereum Layer 2 network, Base, is moving away from Optimism’s Superchain ecosystem to a “unified, Base-operated stack” to reduce coordination overhead and speed up upgrades. Link. Link.
- Ethereum developers plan to include the Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists (FOCIL) mechanism in the Glamsterdam hard fork scheduled for late 2026. FOCIL, entered as EIP-7805, ensures Ethereum remains censorship resistant by forcing validators to include all transactions in blocks via fork-choice rules and inclusion lists. Critics argue FOCIL could create legal liabilities for Ethereum validators, as it would force the chain to include transactions that may violate OFAC sanctions. Link. EIP-7805.
- CME Group plans to launch 24/7 crypto futures trading on its Globex platform starting in May. Trades placed over the weekend or after hours will settle on the following business day. Link. Link. Link.
- The CFTC has claimed exclusive federal authority over prediction markets, clashing with states that have attempted to regulate them as gambling or gaming activities that follow under state jurisdiction. Link.
- The White House, banks, and crypto industry groups resumed talks to discuss how stablecoin rewards could be treated under pending digital-asset market-structure legislation called the CLARITY Act, but no final deal has been reached as the core dispute over stablecoin rewards remains unresolved. Link. Link.
- The Robinhood Chain built on Arbitrum saw 4 million transactions on its testnet in its first week. Link.
- Crypto perps platform Hyperliquid has launched a DeFi-focused policy shop in Washington DC with the goal of creating a legal framework for widespread DeFi and perps adoption in the US. Link. Link.
- Harvard University sold roughly $72 million of Bitcoin at the end of the year, and purchased roughly $87M of Ethereum. The endowment has $350 million invested in crypto ETFs. Link.
- Uniswap’s governance is considering a proposal to activate protocol fees on all remaining v3 pools and expanding fees to eight additional chains. Link.
- Ethereum’s tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market cap surpassed $17 billion on its mainnet, representing a 315% increase from the previous year. Link.
- A YouGov survey of 4,658 adults across 15 countries found that more than $300 billion in stablecoin market cap is increasingly used for payments, payroll, and savings alongside trading activity. More than half of respondents said they have held stablecoins over the past 12 months, with ownership rates higher for those in low- and middle-income economies especially in Africa. Stablecoins account for about 35% of annual earnings for cross-border freelancers, gig workers, and marketplace sellers. Link.
- Stripe-owned stablecoin platform Bridge received conditional approval from the OCC to become a federally chartered national bank that can custody crypto, issue stablecoins, and manage stablecoins reserves. Link.
- The SEC outlined an ‘incremental’ path forward for tokenized securities, including a proposed innovation exemption that would facilitate limited trading of certain tokenized securities on novel platforms as part of a longer-term regulatory framework. Link.
- Russia will block citizens from trading crypto on overseas exchanges starting this summer, as the Kremlin aims to tighten regulation and censorship over crypto trading platforms that are not registered in Russia. Link.
- Steak ‘n Shake says accepting Bitcoin significantly boosted its same-store sales over the past 9 months. Bitcoin payments are funneled to the company’s corporate reserve, which currently holds 161 BTC (roughly $10 million). Link.
- Crypto venture fund Dragonfly closed $650 million for its fourth fund. Link.
- Crypto investment firm DBA raised $68 million for its second venture fund. Link.
- Coinbase adds XRP, Dogecoin, Cardano, and Litecoin as collateral for its on-chain crypto-backed loans product, which allows customers to borrow up to $100,000 in USDC against cryptocurrencies. Link.
- The first ETFs for the Sui blockchain, offered by Canary Capital and Grayscale, debuted in the US. Link.
- Bitcoin ETF outflows hit $3.8 billion over the past five weeks, the most since the $5.4 billion of outflows seen in March 2025 after President Trump’s surprise tariff announcements. Link. Link.
- Two of Abu Dhabi’s largest sovereign wealth funds have increased their Bitcoin ETF holdings to over $1 billion. Link.