Today's top news highlights:

Regulatory news

The Dutch parliament is pushing forward with a controversial 36% tax bill that would cover cryptocurrencies.

According to Cointelegraph, the Dutch House of Representatives passed a legislative proposal on February 13th to impose a 36% capital gains tax on savings and most liquid investments, including cryptocurrencies. The proposal passed with 93 votes, meeting the 75-vote threshold for approval. Under the proposal, gains from savings accounts, cryptocurrencies, most equity investments, and interest-bearing financial instruments will be taxable regardless of whether the assets are sold. Certain assets, such as startup equity and non-investment physical assets, will be exempt. The proposal still needs approval from the Dutch Senate to take effect, and if passed, it will be implemented in the 2028 tax year.

Opponents argue that the bill will drive capital flows to jurisdictions with more favorable tax policies. Investor calculations show that an investor who invests €1,000 per month for 40 years will see their final return drop from €3.32 million to €1.885 million under a 36% tax rate, a difference of €1.435 million.

The Central Bank of Russia plans to conduct a feasibility study in 2026 on creating a Russian stablecoin.

US Treasury Secretary: Advancing the Clarity Act will help boost Bitcoin prices.

In an interview with CNBC, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that advancing long-stalled crypto legislation, such as the Clarity Act, would help stabilize the currently weak market and restore investor confidence. Bessent pointed out that Bitcoin has a history of volatility, but some of the current volatility is "self-inflicted." He noted that a group of Democrats wanted to work with Republicans to advance market structure legislation, but some crypto companies have been obstructing it. He stated that providing clarity for the Clarity Act would be a great comfort to the market during this period of historic volatility and sell-off, and that completing this work as soon as possible is crucial.

The cryptocurrency industry and the banking sector must reach an agreement on the market structure bill by March 1. Bessent stated that there is a great deal of innovation in crypto and its derivative blockchain and DeFi fields, and the bill should be submitted to the president for signature as soon as possible in the spring.

Polish President once again vetoes controversial cryptocurrency bill

According to Cryptopolitan, Polish President Karol Nawrocki has again vetoed the government's proposed "Crypto Asset Markets Act." This bill aimed to incorporate the EU's "Crypto Asset Markets Regulation Act" into Polish domestic law, but has been criticized for imposing stricter regulations on local crypto companies than EU standards. Key points of contention include granting the Polish Financial Supervisory Authority (KNF) excessive supervisory powers, such as the power to suspend or ban the public offering and trading of crypto assets, and sanctions against intermediaries that violate regulations. The bill also stipulates that failure to report token issuances or service offerings to the KNF will result in criminal liability, with the most serious violations punishable by fines of up to 10 million złoty (approximately $2.8 million).

Project Updates

BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and other Wall Street institutions are actively recruiting talent in the crypto space.

According to DL News, based on job postings on various company websites, traditional financial institutions such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup are actively recruiting talent with cryptocurrency knowledge. Sam Wellalage, founder of WorkInCrypto, a recruitment agency specializing in the cryptocurrency field, stated that this is just the beginning of traditional finance's large-scale embrace of digital assets. He noted that traditional financial CEOs generally believe that cryptocurrencies will ultimately be integrated into the traditional financial system, rather than existing independently.

Crypto industry organizations have countered with their own stablecoin principles, responding to Wall Street banks' stance on the legislation.

According to CoinDesk, the US Senate's crypto market structure bill is deadlocked over stablecoin yield provisions. Banking representatives submitted a document titled "Prohibition of Yields and Interest" at a White House meeting this week, insisting on a complete ban on stablecoin yields, arguing that such yields would threaten the core position of banks' deposit business. The Chamber of Digital Commerce released a corresponding position paper on Friday, defending the Senate Banking Committee's draft bill which allows for rewards under certain circumstances. The organization stated it would accept a two-year study proposed by the banking industry regarding the impact of stablecoins on deposits, provided it does not involve automatic rulemaking. Chamber of Digital Commerce CEO Cody Carbone stated that the industry is willing to forgo the static holding yields closest to bank deposits, but should retain reward mechanisms related to customer transactions and on-chain activity, emphasizing that this is already a significant concession.

The White House has asked both sides to reach a compromise by the end of this month. Trump's crypto advisor, Patrick Witt, said talks may be scheduled again next week, adding that the issue of "idle yields" should be addressed "precisely" because it essentially falls under the scope of the already passed GENIUS Act.

Trump Media Technology Group has filed two new cryptocurrency ETF applications with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to The Block, Trump Media Technology Group resubmitted its cryptocurrency ETF proposals on Friday, following delays by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last August. The group plans to launch a Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF, as well as an ETF tracking the native token of Crypto.com's blockchain, Cronos. Both funds will offer network staking yields and will be advised by asset management firm Yorkville America Equities. Trump Media stated that if approved, both ETFs will have a management fee of 0.95%, and subscriptions will be made through Crypto.com's proprietary brokerage firm, Foris Capital US LLC.

Tether makes a strategic investment in Supreme Liquid Labs, the parent company of Hyperliquid's front-end Dreamcash.

According to The Block, stablecoin issuer Tether has made a strategic investment in Supreme Liquid Labs, the parent company of Dreamcash, the mobile interface of Hyperliquid. Dreamcash recently deployed 10 USDT0-collateralized real-world asset (RWA) perpetual contract markets through Hyperliquid's HIP-3 permissionless standard. Liquidation for these markets is provided by Selini Capital, and they cover commodities such as the S&P 500, gold, and silver, as well as stocks like Tesla, Nvidia, Google, Amazon, Meta, Robinhood, Intel, and Microsoft.

Tether's investment will support Dreamcash's $200,000 weekly incentive program for its CASH market, distributing rewards based on users' USDT trading volume. Dreamcash did not disclose the specific amount of the investment, stating that the program aims to lower the barrier to entry for users and incentivize early participants.

Doubao Large Model 2.0 Released

According to ByteDance, Doubao's large-scale model has officially entered its 2.0 phase. The Doubao 2.0 series includes three general-purpose Agent models—Pro, Lite, and Mini—and a Code model, flexibly adapting to various business scenarios: Doubao 2.0 Pro is designed for deep inference and long-chain task execution scenarios, fully comparable to GPT 5.2 and Gemini 3 Pro; 2.0 Lite balances performance and cost, with overall capabilities surpassing the previous generation's main model, Doubao 1.8; 2.0 Mini is designed for low-latency, high-concurrency, and cost-sensitive scenarios; and the Code version (Doubao-Seed-2.0-Code) is specifically designed for programming scenarios, with even better results when used in conjunction with TRAE.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) condemned ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 for lacking effective copyright protection measures.

According to Variety, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) condemned Seedance 2.0, a Chinese AI video generation service owned by ByteDance, for its large-scale unauthorized use of US film and television copyright content within a day of its launch, stating that it was "engaging in large-scale copyright infringement" and lacked effective copyright protection measures, demanding that it immediately cease such activities. The MPA had previously issued a similar statement when OpenAI launched Sora 2, after which OpenAI subsequently strengthened copyright protection and reached a licensing agreement with Disney. The report points out that Seedance 2.0 has generated a large number of videos, including "Tom Cruise vs. Brad Pitt rooftop fight," as well as series featuring elements from "Spider-Man," "Titanic," "Stranger Things," "Lord of the Rings," and "Shrek." Copyright holders may pursue legal action through takedown notices and lawsuits.

In addition to the MPA, Disney has also issued a cease and desist letter; SAG-AFTRA, the Human Artistry Campaign, and the Copyright Alliance have all condemned the lack of copyright protection. The Japan Animation Film Culture Alliance (NAFCA) has also issued a copyright inquiry to ByteDance's TikTok company in Japan.

Platform X plans to update its API policy to prevent applications from creating fee pools without user consent.

Nikita Bier, X's product lead and Solana consultant, stated, "X plans to update its API policy to prevent applications from creating fee pools without user consent."

Jupiter's new proposal suggests reducing future net token releases to zero.

Jupiter stated on its X platform that the team has submitted a significant proposal aimed at reducing the net release of JUP tokens to zero for the foreseeable future. Specific measures include: indefinitely suspending the issuance of team reserves; absorbing any sale of team-owned tokens into the Jupiter treasury; indefinitely postponing Jupuary activities; and accelerating and offsetting the Mercurial vesting plan. The final decision on this proposal will be made by the DAO.

Two longtime Trump allies face class-action lawsuit from investors over Patriot Pay tokens.

According to Reuters, Missouri investor Andrew Barr has filed a class-action lawsuit in a Washington federal court, accusing longtime Trump allies Steve Bannon, Boris Epshteyn, and Bannon's media companies War Room, Let's Go Brandon Coin LLC, and Patriot Pay LLC of defrauding thousands of investors by selling unregistered cryptocurrencies.

The lawsuit alleges that Bannon and Epshteyn used their public platforms and political influence to promote a token initially named "Let's Go Brandon Coin" ($FJB), later renamed "Patriot Pay" ($PPY), inducing investors to purchase "unregistered and highly speculative assets." The plaintiff claims personal losses exceeding $58,000 and accuses the defendants of concealing token risks and governance issues, violating securities and consumer protection laws. The complaint states that the defendants completely suspended trading in early 2025, announced the project's closure, and promised to distribute remaining liquidity, but this distribution has not yet occurred. The plaintiffs are seeking damages on behalf of thousands of retail investors nationwide.

Opinions & Analysis

Santiment: "Classic surrender signal" emerges in the Meme coin market.

On-chain data analytics platform Santiment stated that with traders widely believing that "the era of Meme is over," the market is showing "classic capitulation signals," which is often a good time to look in the opposite direction. Santiment pointed out that when a sector of the market is completely viewed negatively, it often indicates that the bottom is near. Data shows that Meme's total market capitalization has fallen by 34.04% to $31.02 billion in the past 30 days.

Multicoin responds to the "Aave Will Win" proposal: Provides directional support and suggests optimizing the funding structure and revenue definition.

Vishal Kankani, head of the investment team at Multicoin Capital, posted on the X platform that the firm supports the “Aave Will Win Framework” proposed by Aave Labs, believing that transferring 100% of the revenue from Aave branded products to the DAO is a meaningful strategic shift that will help build a cleaner token-centric economic model and, if implemented properly, could set an important precedent for the DeFi industry.

Multicoin also offered several suggestions for improvement to the proposal. Regarding the funding request totaling approximately $25 million in stablecoins plus 75,000 AAVE (worth approximately $40-50 million, representing 25-30% of the DAO treasury), Multicoin believes more detailed financial data and underwriting information should be provided to support the scale, and suggests allocating funds in stages according to launch milestones and measurable revenue targets. Regarding the definition of "100% revenue," Multicoin points out the need for a clear deduction framework, transparent product-level reporting, and independent profit and loss statement verification to ensure that revenue transfers have economic substance and are free from conflicts of interest. Variable grants should be based on actual economic value generated rather than product launch milestones, and an incremental net revenue sharing model is recommended. Multicoin also requires clarification on whether Aave Labs plans to develop non-Aave branded products and independent revenue streams to prevent ambiguity and ensure long-term strategic consistency.

Important data

Morpho announced a partnership with Apollo, under which the latter will purchase up to 90 million Morpho tokens over 48 months.

According to an official announcement, Morpho Association has entered into a partnership agreement with an affiliate of Apollo Global Management. Under the agreement, Apollo and its affiliates can acquire MORPHO tokens through open market purchases, over-the-counter trading, and other contractual arrangements, but a cumulative holding limit of 90 million tokens is set for 48 months, subject to transfer and trading restrictions. Apollo and Morpho will collaborate to support the on-chain lending market on the Morpho protocol. Galaxy Digital UK Limited is serving as Morpho's exclusive financial advisor in this partnership.

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko's current net worth is estimated to be between $500 million and $1.2 billion.

According to Arkham's 2026 analysis report on the net worth and on-chain holdings of Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Yakovenko's personal wealth is estimated to be between $500 million and $1.2 billion, mainly derived from his holdings of SOL tokens and equity in Solana Labs. His wealth is closely related to the market price of Solana.

Solana minted 500 million SOL at its inception, with 12.5% allocated to the founding team. It is widely speculated that the address 9QgXq is linked to Yakovenko, holding over 136,000 SOL (approximately $11 million). Between August and November 2024, this account unstaking and transferred over 3 million SOL, with over 1.5 million restaking to new addresses. If these addresses also belong to Yakovenko, its SOL holdings are worth approximately $122 million. Additionally, the address associated with the domain toly.sol, linked to the username "Toly," holds approximately $16,500 in liquid assets.

Yakovenko holds approximately 5-10% of the equity in Solana Labs. Solana Labs has received investment from institutions such as a16z, Polychain Capital, and Multicoin Capital, and its valuation is estimated to be between $5 billion and $8 billion, with its equity valued at approximately $250 million to $800 million. He has also invested as an angel investor in over 40 Solana ecosystem projects, including Jito Labs, Drift Protocol, and Helius.

Alt5 Sigma transferred 75.8 million WLFI tokens, worth approximately $8.02 million, to the official WLFI address in the early hours of the morning.

A whale that went long on 105,000 ETH has turned a profit, after previously incurring a paper loss of over $10 million.

Gemini Launches "Solana Version" Credit Card: Spending Returns SOL and Can Be Staking

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