GM, Readers!

The crypto market is dripping red. Bitcoin has slipped below $68K, and forced liquidations are mounting, marking a prolonged bearish outlook for February. Will Bitcoin bounce back? It's too early to say, but historic predictions suggest it is definitely possible.

Now, let’s dive into this week’s biggest crypto stories…

Top Stories This Week:

Other Headlines:

Breaking: Elon Musk’s social media platform X sparked massive headlines on Saturday after its Product Head, Nikita Bier, spoke about the platform’s upcoming tool, “Smart Cashtags,” which allows users to trade crypto directly from their timeline.

However, after a few hours, Bier walked back from his previous narrative and quickly clarified that the tool will not execute any direct trades or offer brokerage services for its users.

So, what’s really going on? 🤔

On February 14, Bier posted on X, “I genuinely want crypto to proliferate on X.” He added, “Smart Cashtags that will enable you to trade stocks and crypto directly from timeline.”

The news gained massive hype, and there were widespread reports that X’s new in-app tool will now allow direct trading for users.

Hours later, the initial hype, Bier took to his X account and posted and refuted such claims and unverified reports, and said:

Elon Musk envisioned revamping X into a crypto-native platform through the “Everything App” and integrating crypto and payments with the launch of the “X Money,” a peer-to-peer payment app last year, which is currently in beta testing. Smart Cashtags is a part of Musk’s bigger vision of turning X into an all-in-one platform.

So, if not direct trading, what will Smart Cashtags actually do?

The interactive tool will enable users to tag a specific crypto asset or a smart contract address by posting clickable ticker links such as $BTC or $ETH. When users tap a ticker, they can see real-time performance charts, recent posts, market statistics, etc. But no direct crypto trading yet.

According to Bier, the new tool does not allow users to trade directly, but it redirects them to an external exchange or broker through a link.

In short, X is still a few steps behind in areas like custody infrastructure, brokerage licenses, and regulatory compliance, which are crucial for native crypto trading.

👉 Also Read: Coinbase CEO Confident of 'Win-Win-Win' Deal Between White House, Banks, Crypto.

Because you’re a WhaleTales subscriber, you qualify for Founder’s Club pricing on SentimenTracker Pro…  before public release.

👉 Secure your spot as a Founder, before membership offers expire HERE

Last Week’s Quiz Result: Option 3, a 29-year-old Bitcoin Cash evangelist called Joshua Philip Yabut.

Keep playing folks! 🎲

Market Check: The crypto market is bracing for a challenging week as Bitcoin slipped to $68,000 on Monday and failed to reclaim an upward momentum.

Red Monday for the crypto traders as Bitcoin slid to the $68,000 mark, struggling to hold the $70,000 resistance level. Prices of major altcoins, including Ethereum, XRP, and Zcash, declined significantly. Ethereum traded around the $1,937-2000 range, and XRP was at $1.45.

Bitcoin plunged more than 20% since early 2026. Critics are worried whether this could mark the worst Q1 since 2018.

Why the sudden plunge?

Crypto markets saw sharp sell-offs as Bitcoin broke the $69,000 support level. Traders shifted towards stablecoin holdings to mitigate risks.

Reasons?

The market remains cautious, and crypto investors are treading with fear and ambiguity.

Macro uncertainties, regulatory delays, geopolitical tensions, and Trump’s tariff ruling, which is expected on February 20, have impacted investor confidence and triggered a risk-off sentiment, driving traders towards safer assets.

Additionally, the ongoing debates about quantum threats and the AI bubble have challenged the “digital gold” narrative of Bitcoin.

While institutional investors continue to hold Bitcoin, short-term investors are shifting more towards traditional asset-backed coins, such as stablecoins.
What’s next?

Bitcoin is now hovering between $67,000 and $69,000. Bitcoin’s next price movement depends largely on Federal Reserve policies, regulatory developments, and macroeconomic factors. If Bitcoin breaks above $70,000, it could open doors to tactical resistance above $72,000 to $75,000.

👉 Also Read: Harvard trims bitcoin ETF holdings by 21%, builds $87 million ether position.

Imagine this. You open your phone to an alert. It says, “you spent $236,000,000 more this month than you did last month.”

If you were the top bidder at Sotheby’s fall auctions, it could be reality.

Sounds crazy, right? But when the ultra-wealthy spend staggering amounts on blue-chip art, it’s not just for decoration.

The scarcity of these treasured artworks has helped drive their prices, in exceptional cases, to thin-air heights, without moving in lockstep with other asset classes.

The contemporary and post war segments have even outpaced the S&P 500 overall since 1995.*

Now, over 70,000 people have invested $1.2 billion+ across 500 iconic artworks featuring Banksy, Basquiat, Picasso, and more.

How? You don’t need Medici money to invest in multimillion dollar artworks with Masterworks.

Thousands of members have gotten annualized net returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8% from 26 sales to date.

Explore offerings

_{*Based on Masterworks data. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd}

LayerZero, the decentralized interoperable protocol, announces the debut of its new layer-1 public blockchain “Zero.”

By leveraging the fundamentals of Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) and introducing a heterogeneous architecture, Zero claims to achieve 2 million transactions per second (TPS) with a cost of less than a cent.

Zero is backed by institutional investments from industry stalwarts like Citadel Securities and Ark Invest, who have earlier made strategic investments in LayerZero’s native token ZRO.

LayerZero is also partnering with Google Cloud and The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).

Zero is still in a testing phase, and the full mainnet launch is anticipated in the fall of this year.

👉 Read More At LayerZero Announcements.

Coinbase, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, formally submitted a letter to the Federal Reserve this month to grant direct access to the U.S. Federal Reserve Payment System for certain non-bank institutions.

Coinbase has formally requested the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System to approve special-purpose Reserve Bank payment accounts for eligible non-bank institutions, like fintech and crypto firms.

At present, only regulated traditional banks have access to the Federal Reserve System, such as FedNow or Fedwire. Non-banks must rely on intermediaries to access such systems, which can be time-consuming, costly, and complex.

Faryar Shirzad, Chief Policy Officer at Coinbase, said, “The Payment Account represents an important step toward modernizing the U.S. payment system and ensuring that the United States remains globally competitive in financial services innovation. Many jurisdictions — such as the UK, EU, Brazil, and India — already permit certain non-bank financial institutions to access central bank payment infrastructure.”

He argued that bridging qualifying non-bank financial institutions with the central bank payment infrastructure will:

What This Means: If approved, the framework could simplify banking settlements for non-bank firms like Coinbase or Ripple by removing intermediaries, reducing operational friction and counterparty risks, and streamlining faster settlements with regulatory oversight.
The proposal is still in its early stages. The Federal Reserve has closed the comments on February 6 and is currently reviewing the submissions.

👉 Also Read: Coinbase Launches AI Agent Wallets for Crypto Trading..

Polymarket, the crypto-focused prediction platform, has launched a 5-minute Bitcoin betting feature supported by the decentralized oracle network Chainlink.

The high-frequency prediction market opens a 5-minute window, allowing users to bet on the short-term price volatility of Bitcoin price movements.

Based on Chainlink’s real-time price data, users can predict whether the Bitcoin price will go up or down and earn rewards. The entire approach is bot-driven and automated, which reduces the risks of human errors.

👉 Read More At CoinMarketCap.

Yorkville America Equities, the asset manager firm that handles Truth Social-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), announced on Friday that it has filed with the SEC to launch two ETFs, namely, the Truth Social Cronos Yield Maximizer ETF and the Truth Social Bitcoin and Ether ETF.

Truth Social Funds has partnered with Crypto.com to debut the new ETFs and will also provide custody, staking, and liquidity services.

👉 Read More At CoinDesk.

Based on CoinMarketCap data, February 18, 2026, 9:15 AM, ET.