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On February 26, 2026, on-chain detective ZachXBT as scheduled released his highly anticipated investigative report, targeting the cryptocurrency trading platform Axiom Exchange. The report details multiple employees at the platform allegedly abusing internal support tools to gain access, tracking users' private wallet addresses over a long period, and engaging in insider trading.
The incident quickly sparked deep reflection within the industry on internal governance of exchanges, user privacy protection, and the boundaries of "trust" as a core asset. This article will start from the facts, outline the event timeline, analyze various perspectives, and examine the potential structural impact of this incident on the crypto industry.
Event Overview: From Internal Permissions to Insider Trading Allegations
According to ZachXBT's disclosure, the investigation was triggered by reports of misconduct at Axiom. The core of the investigation directly points to internal employees at Axiom abusing

February 26, 2026, on-chain data shows that all ETH in the project budget address tagged as 0xfeb by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been emptied. This structured sale, which began in early February, lasted 23 days and ultimately concluded with a total of 19,268 ETH (approximately $38.77 million). This figure is slightly higher than the 16,384 ETH sale plan announced at the end of January.
Against the backdrop of ongoing market volatility, this liquidation has sparked widespread attention and discussion. This article, based on verifiable on-chain data, outlines the full scope of the event, dissects multiple perspectives, and explores the potential impact of this event on the industry.
Event Overview: A Planned Asset Reorganization
The core facts of this sale are clear and verifiable. Vitalik Buterin on

When the crypto market experiences a market cap correction of over $2 trillion in early 2026, a research report from Bernstein goes against the trend by upgrading stablecoin issuer Circle's rating to outperform the market and sets a target price of $190, implying a potential upside of up to 129%. This bold prediction is not based on bets on a cyclical rebound in the crypto market, but rather on a profound revaluation of value: Circle is shifting from being a simple proxy for crypto assets to becoming a core internet infrastructure driving the automation of the global economic system. This article provides an in-depth analysis of the financial data, technological progress, and industry logic behind this rating, based on Gate market data (as of February 26, 2026), combined with Circle's latest Q4 2025 financial report.
Event Overview:

Russia regulates cryptocurrencies under laws effective from 2021, banning their use as a means of payment. A new regulatory framework will be established from 2024 to 2026, allowing only compliant legal entities to conduct legitimate transactions, with an emphasis on transparency and compliance. Cryptocurrencies are still considered property, and income must be subject to personal or corporate income tax. The laws are gradually becoming stricter, aiming to promote industry legalization and reduce legal risks.

On February 24, 2026, Terraform Labs' court-appointed bankruptcy trustee filed a major lawsuit against the global leading quantitative trading giant Jane Street in the U.S. Federal Court in New York. The core of the allegations directly points to the May 2022 Terra ecosystem $40 billion collapse: Jane Street is accused of using non-public information obtained from Terraform insiders to conduct "front-running" trades, not only profiting illegally but also accelerating the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, indirectly triggering the subsequent "crypto winter."
This legal action quickly triggered a butterfly effect far beyond the case itself in the crypto market. One notable market phenomenon is that the long-standing issue of Bitcoin daily "10 AM dump" (Eastern Time) that has troubled traders abruptly stopped after the lawsuit news was announced. Bitcoin

In the crypto market, Musk's tweets have always been one of the key variables influencing asset prices. On February 26, this pattern was once again confirmed. According to Gate Market data, influenced by Musk's post on the X platform stating "Gork returns

As of February 26, 2026, according to data from the on-chain analytics platform, tokens in the privacy sector of the Hyperliquid market are undergoing a severe holding test. The top addresses (whales) holding ZEC, XMR, and DASH, the three main privacy coins, are all currently in floating losses and have not chosen to close their positions or exit. Among them, the largest long address for ZEC (0xcf9) is in the most dangerous situation: this address holds a long position with 10x leverage, and its floating loss has exceeded the principal of the position, making it the most representative "stress test" sample during this privacy coin price correction.
Whale Floating Loss Event Overview
This fund dynamic revealed by on-chain data monitoring tools exposes the harsh reality of the market under high leverage. According to Gate market data, recent buying momentum in the privacy sector has been weak, causing whales with heavy positions earlier to suffer significant unrealized losses.

The internet world at the beginning of 2026 is standing at a crossroads. On one side are AI tools designed to enhance human capabilities, and on the other are "digital life forms" attempting to operate independently without human oversight. When AI agents are no longer just chatbots but begin to have wallets, conduct autonomous transactions, and even "hire" other agents, a new economic paradigm called Agentic Commerce is emerging. This is not just an evolution of technology but widely seen as a crucial leap toward Web4.0—a human-centered internet powered by AI.
Agentic Commerce Overview
Agentic Commerce, or agency-based business, refers to financial and commercial activities autonomously carried out by AI agents. Its core is the upgrade of AI agents from mere "information processing tools" to entities capable of

February 23, 2026, pseudonymous on-chain investigator ZachXBT posted a short but highly impactful teaser on the X platform: a major investigation into one of the "most profitable companies in the crypto industry" will be announced on February 26, involving multiple employees who have been engaging in insider trading using internal data for a long time. The tweet quickly garnered over 8.5 million views, and the ripple effects far exceeded expectations — it not only sparked intense speculation about the investigation target but also dramatically brought the "prediction market" itself into the spotlight of insider trading scrutiny. This controversy triggered by the investigation teaser is forcing the industry to reevaluate the boundaries of information disclosure and the underlying logic of prediction markets.
Event background and timeline: 48 hours from teaser to "prophecy"
The development of this event presents a clear and tight causal chain, with key timeline points as follows:
- February

On February 18, 2026, the decentralized prediction market platform Polymarket removed its long-standing 500-millisecond Taker quote delay in its crypto markets and fully implemented a dynamic fee mechanism without prior announcement. This technical adjustment, dubbed the "Silent Coup" by the community, caused more than half of the existing trading bots on the platform to become invalid overnight. The delay arbitrage strategy that once created the myth of earning $515,000 in a month with a 99% win rate was also declared dead due to higher fees than the spread.
This adjustment is not just a parameter change but a shift in the platform's underlying logic: the advantage is moving from Taker arbitrage battles to Maker market making and liquidity provision. This article will systematically analyze how, under the new rules, the construction of a

In late February 2026, the decentralized derivatives platform Lighter drew significant attention due to a sharp decline in BTC perpetual contracts and a surge in ARC contract funding rates. The incident demonstrated how low liquidity and whale behavior can impact the market, serving as a warning for traders to be cautious of risks. Lighter's structural vulnerabilities and high funding rates increased the need for risk education and regulatory oversight.

February 25, 2026, the U.S. prediction market platform Kalshi dropped a major bombshell: for allegedly using non-public information to conduct insider trading, the platform imposed strict penalties on an employee of Beast Industries, a company owned by well-known YouTuber MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson). The involved employee, Artem Kaptur, was fined a total of $20,397.58 (including $5,397.58 in illegal profits and a $15,000 fine) and banned from the platform for two years.
Almost simultaneously, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a high-profile enforcement advisory, clearly stating that it has "full enforcement authority" over illegal trading activities in prediction markets, and detailed two cases, including this one.

The crypto market of 2026 is undergoing a profound power restructuring. While most liquidity remains monopolized by a few centralized exchanges, a "order book revolution" originating from the Hyperliquid ecosystem is quietly brewing. Kinetiq, a project initially launched as a liquidity staking protocol (LST), now manages over $700 million in total value locked (TVL). But its ambitions go far beyond serving as an infrastructure layer. By deeply integrating the HIP-3 protocol and launching the Launch platform, Kinetiq is transforming itself into an "Exchange Factory"—a curated platform capable of mass incubating, deploying, and empowering order book-based decentralized exchanges (DEXs).
The core of this strategic shift is that it shifts the competitive dimension of order book DEXs from purely backend engineering capabilities to asset selection and market design.

In May 2022, the collapse of the Terra ecosystem led to the evaporation of over $40 billion in market value, marking a concentrated outbreak of long-standing risks associated with algorithmic stablecoins. Nearly four years later, this landmark event in crypto history has gained a new interpretive dimension. The bankruptcy liquidator of Terraform Labs filed a lawsuit in February 2026, accusing Wall Street quantitative trading giant Jane Street of front-running using non-public information, which exacerbated the market crash and allowed them to profit from it. This accusation shifts some of the market’s focus away from the convicted founder Do Kwon and onto the roles and behaviors of traditional financial giants.
Luna Collapse and Jane Street Lawsuit Background
On February 23, 2026, the court-appointed liquidator of Terraform Labs

From February 25 to 26, 2026, the cryptocurrency market experienced a long-awaited broad rally. As the second-largest asset by market capitalization, Ethereum (ETH) price regained the psychological level of $2,000 on February 26, reaching a high of $2,148, with a 24-hour increase of 7.98%. As of February 26, Gate data shows that ETH is currently priced at $2,071.42, with a 24-hour trading volume of $556 million, and its market share has risen back to 9.70%.
This rebound is not an isolated price movement but is accompanied by a series of clear on-chain signals: large whale addresses began accumulating significantly, the Coinbase premium index, which measures demand from US institutions, turned positive for the first time since January, and on-chain profit indicators recovered from deep undervaluation zones. This article will analyze the chain

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin confirms that quantum resistance will be gradually achieved over the next four years through the Strawmap roadmap, involving deep network restructuring. The plan includes seven network forks to gradually replace existing cryptographic algorithms, aiming to enhance security and user experience. Despite facing implementation complexities and technical challenges, proactively deploying quantum defenses may lay the foundation for Ethereum's long-term future development.

February 26th, the crypto market rebounded, with Bitcoin and Ethereum rising by 0.74% and 7.92% respectively. The total liquidation amount reached $576 million, with short positions accounting for over 81%. Market sentiment is divided, and analysts believe the rebound is mainly driven by short covering. Lack of liquidity remains a factor limiting price increases. Various scenario analyses indicate a high probability that the market is entering a consolidation phase to build a bottom.

In February 2026, the annual open letter released by Stripe co-founder John and Patrick Collison, a payments giant, provided two significant reference points for the crypto industry. The letter not only disclosed key business data but also made clear predictions about the future of payment methods.
On one hand, stablecoin payments showed astonishing growth in 2025, with the founders describing it as "the summer of stablecoins in the crypto winter." On the other hand, Stripe explicitly stated that "Agentic Commerce," where AI agents autonomously execute transactions, has moved beyond the conceptual stage and entered a real "building and experimenting" cycle. These two narratives are not isolated but collectively point toward a future dominated by machines, demanding exponential improvements in underlying settlement networks.
Event background and timeline: from B

In February 2026, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire issued a verified assertion: "We are at a tipping point. The internet is evolving from transmitting information to transmitting value." He further pointed out that blockchain, stablecoins, and artificial intelligence are not isolated technological trends but are merging into a "new global economic system built natively on the internet."
This view is not only an optimistic outlook on the future of technology but also a precise capture of the profound changes currently happening in global financial infrastructure. While information flows have long achieved seamless integration, value flows (payments, asset transactions, financial contracts) remain trapped in fragmented channels composed of intermediaries, borders, and outdated clearing systems. Today, with the explosive growth of the stablecoin market and the emergence of AI intelligent economy, the infrastructure to enable the free flow of value like information is taking shape.