Author: NBTC

Step Finance, a popular Solana-based DeFi portfolio tracker, is shutting down following a major security breach. The company announced today that it will cease operations, along with SolanaFloor and Remora Markets, after a hack in January 2026 drained around $30 million in assets. Unlike smart contract vulnerabilities, the hack targeted compromised devices, exposing endpoint security risks in crypto infrastructure. 🚨 UPDATE: Step Finance, SolanaFloor, and Remora Markets confirms shutdown following its Jan. hack, with a buyback planned for STEP holders. pic.twitter.com/S6s6DKPP82 — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) February 24, 2026 Step Finance Faces Major Loss After Hack The breach involved the theft of…

The Ethereum price action has not inspired much confidence recently. It has stayed mostly flat over the past 24 hours and remains down over 5% in the past seven days. Yet a small recovery attempt is underway. Since February 19, Ethereum has rebounded about 4.5%, helped by a bullish divergence on the daily chart. This signal usually suggests that selling pressure is weakening. But at the same time, a sharp drop in staking demand is raising a new question. Is returning liquidity quietly building pressure against this recovery? Bullish Divergence Appears, Yet Falling Staking Demand May Be Returning Supply Ethereum’s…

Broker-dealers regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can treat their stablecoin holdings as regulatory capital, according to a tweak this week to a frequently-asked-questions document maintained by the agency. That’s a seismic shift offered in the form of a minor addition to the SEC’s “Broker Dealer Financial Responsibilities” FAQ. It’s on-brand for a regulator that has made a steady series of changes to its crypto approach through informal guidance, industry correspondence and staff statements ever since its Crypto Task Force began work during the administration of President Donald Trump. In this case, a new question No. 5…

Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken all announced tokenized products on Tuesday as the trend takes hold among crypto exchanges amid a depressed market and capital rotation into more structured products. Coinbase has teamed up with Yahoo Finance to link crypto tickers and equities on the news site directly to the San Francisco-based crypto exchange, where users can trade them, either the digital asset or a tokenized stock. The companies said in a joint press release that it’s the first step to integrating Coinbase data more deeply into Yahoo Finance. Tokenized real-world assets have continued to grow even as the broader crypto…

Bitcoin mining difficulty has climbed to 144.4 trillion (T), up 15%, the largest percentage increase since 2021, when the China mining ban led to a major disruption, which followed a 22% upward adjustment as the network stabilized. Difficulty adjustments measure how hard it is to mine a new block on the network. It recalibrates every 2,016 blocks, roughly every two weeks, to ensure blocks continue to be produced about every 10 minutes, regardless of changes in the hashrate. The adjustment follows a 12% decline in difficulty after a drop in the bitcoin hashrate, which is the total computational power securing…

Fluid DAO is considering a proposal to transfer all of the DeFi platform’s intellectual property into a Cayman Islands foundation, and to approve a $250,000 monthly grant to fund development and operations. The proposal was submitted on Monday, Feb. 23, by DMH, the COO of Instadapp, the firm behind Fluid. It calls for the creation of the Fluid Foundation governed by DAO votes, a familiar corporate setup for crypto organizations. Under the plan, “all Fluid Protocol smart contract code,” front-end interfaces, domains, trademarks and related assets would be transferred to the foundation. Once completed, the assets would “belong to the…

Ethereum’s higher time frame charts now show two competing reads of the same move. One view tracks repeat rebounds from long term support, while another says the latest bounce still lacks structural confirmation. Ethereum weekly chart maps past 200% rebounds from trendline as price retests long-term support Donald Dean said Ethereum’s recent structure fits a broader “bottoming process,” noting that prior runs lifted more than 200% from a rising trendline. His post points to two past advance phases on the weekly ETHUSD chart, each measured from a long-term ascending support line to the cycle highs. In both cases, price respected…

Exodus CEO JP Richardson said that the recent statement from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding stablecoins is one of the most important developments of the year for the cryptocurrency sector. According to Richardson, although this decision hasn’t received enough public attention, it represents a critical milestone in the integration of corporate finance and crypto assets. Brokerage firms are required to set aside a certain percentage of capital based on the risk level of the assets they hold on their balance sheets. This practice, known as “haircut,” means that the higher the risk level of the asset, the…

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the financial markets regulator and supervisor in the European Union, issued a notice to remind entities to assess investment vehicles providing leverage exposure to cryptocurrencies. In a Tuesday notice, ESMA said that derivatives products, including those marketed as “perpetual futures or perpetual contracts” tied to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH), likely fell within the scope of intervention measures applied to contracts for differences, or CFDs. The EU Authority warned companies to “take appropriate steps to identify, prevent, or manage conflicts of interest that may arise from the offering of these products.”…

Bitcoin’s hashrate — a key metric that measures the network’s total computational power — recorded a sharp V-shaped recovery in February. This sudden turnaround has raised hopes that Bitcoin may end its five-month losing streak and make a strong recovery. Hashrate–Price Correlation Points to a Potential Upside Scenario A previous report by BeInCrypto noted that Bitcoin’s hashrate suffered a major shock in early 2026. An extreme Arctic cold wave swept across the United States. Freezing temperatures, heavy snowfall, and surging heating demand strained the national power grid. Authorities issued energy-saving requests, and several regions experienced localized blackouts. As a result,…