By Jacob Joseph (All times ET unless otherwise noted)
Even though the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) has changed little since midnight UTC, cryptocurrency markets remain under pressure. All but one member dropped out, and the outlier, Bitcoin is less than 0.1% in the green.
The index lost 2% in 24 hours and Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund flows were negative for the second straight session, with $133 million in net outflows on Wednesday. Spot Ether (ETH) ETFs also saw net outflows. The second largest cryptocurrency has lost another 0.2% since midnight.
The key development overnight was Coinbase’s (COIN) announcement that its Layer 2 network, Base, will move away from OP Stack, the open source modular stacking framework developed by Optimism that currently powers it. The OP stack allows chains like Base and Unichain to operate as low-cost, Ethereum-secured Layer 2s, fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and aligned with Optimism’s broader superchain vision.
Rather than relying on multiple external contributors for core upgrades and protocol changes, Base intends to consolidate development into a self-managed codebase, giving the team greater control over the infrastructure, roadmap, and technical evolution.
This decision has significant implications for optimism. Base has historically accounted for the vast majority of revenue generated by the Superchain – often exceeding 90% – going to the Optimism Collective. The announcement represents a significant potential hurdle to Optimism’s revenue outlook, with the OP token down 24% since Wednesday following the news.
In a more positive development, ether.fi announced that it would be migrating its Cash product to Optimism’s OP Mainnet. The move will leave some 70,000 active cards, 300,000 accounts and millions of dollars in total value frozen. The non-custodial payment card allows users to spend ETH, BTC, and stablecoins at over 100 million Visa merchants, offers 3% crypto cashback, and processes approximately $2 million in daily transaction volume.
In another notable layer 2 development, Robinhood’s testnet saw 4 million transactions in its first week, according to CEO Vlad Tenev. The Arbitrum-based Robinhood Chain is designed to support real-world tokenized assets and a broader suite of on-chain financial services, signaling the company’s continued push toward blockchain-based infrastructure.
While these ecosystem developments remain constructive, broader markets continue to trade within a broader downtrend. The latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes, released yesterday, highlight a growing divergence among policymakers on the direction of interest rates.
Several officials have indicated that further rate cuts should be put on hold for now, with the possibility of resuming easing later in the year only if inflation continues to fall. Stay vigilant!
Read more: For analysis of current altcoin and derivatives activity, see Crypto Markets Today
What to watch
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Cryptocurrency
- February 19, 8 a.m.: Zama will host a live presentation of its 2026 roadmap.
- Macro
- February 19: Raphael Bostic, Michelle Bowman and Neel Kashkari of the US Fed deliver speeches throughout the day.
- February 19, 8:30 a.m.: first unemployment claims in the United States for February 14, estimated at 225,000 (previous 227,000)
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
- February 19: Riot Platforms (RIOT), post-market, -$0.32
Token Events
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Votes and calls on governance
- ENS DAO votes to register the name on.eth and establish it as an onchain ledger for blockchain metadata. Voting closes on February 19.
- Unlocks
- Token Launches
- February 19: Resolv Completes Rollout of Updated USR/RLP Yield Distribution Metrics
- February 19: Injective to launch the community buyout cycle INJ #226
Conferences
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
Market movements
- BTC is up 0.87% from 4 p.m. ET Wednesday at $66,896.68 (24 hours: -1.31%)
- ETH is up 1.29% at $1,966.13 (24 hours: -1.49%)
- CoinDesk 20 is up 0.39% at 1,932.97 (24h: -2.57%)
- Ether CESR composite staking rate unchanged at 2.81%
- BTC funding rate is 0.0056% (6.1747% annualized) on Binance
- The DXY is unchanged at 97.67
- Gold futures unchanged at $5,009.90
- Silver futures are up 1.13% at $78.47
- The Nikkei 225 closed up 0.57% at 57,467.83
- Hang Seng closed 0.52% higher at 26,705.94
- The FTSE is down 0.63% at 10,618.95
- The Euro Stoxx 50 is down 0.81% at 6,054.02
- DJIA closed Wednesday up 0.26% at 49,662.66
- The S&P 500 closed up 0.56% at 6,881.31
- The Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.78% at 22,753.63
- The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 1.5% at 33,389.73
- The S&P 40 Latin America closed up 0.37% at 3,707.85
- The 10-year US Treasury yield is up 1.3 bps to 4.094%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures are down 0.3% at 6,873.25
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are down 0.39% at 24,857.50
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down 0.35% at 49,549.00
Bitcoin Statistics
- BTC dominance: 58.74% (0.26%)
- Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.0294 (-0.09%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,057 EH/s
- Hash price (spot): $33.63
- Total fees: 2.31 BTC / $155,155
- Open Interest on CME Futures: 118,610 BTC
- BTC valued in gold: 13.4 oz.
- Market capitalization BTC vs gold: 4.47%
Technical analysis
- The ratio of altcoins (excluding the top 10) to bitcoin price continues to rise from key weekly support and is currently testing the 50-week exponential moving average.
- A breakout above this level would imply continued resilience of altcoins relative to bitcoin, which is likely due to their extreme oversold.
Crypto Stocks
- Coinbase Global (COIN): Closed Monday at $164.05 (-1.19%), +0.24% to $164.45 in pre-market
- Circle Internet (CRCL): closed at $63.15 (+2.48%), +0.19% to $63.27
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $21.73 (+2.02%), +0.74% to $21.89
- Bullish (BLSH): closed at $31.85 (-0.47%), unchanged in pre-market
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $7.50 (-0.13%), +0.40% at $7.53
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): close at $15.49 (+5.73%), +0.19% to $15.52
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $17.27 (+0.23%)
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.27 (-0.11%), unchanged in pre-market
- CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): Closed at $40.04 (+0.10%)
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $9.88 (-2.08%)
Crypto Cash Companies
- Strategy (MSTR): closed at $125.20 (-2.70%), unchanged in pre-market
- Strive (ASST): closed at $8.05 (-1.59%)
- SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $6.60 (-0.90%)
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $0.69 (-4.17%)
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.10 (+0.00%)
ETF Feed
Spot BTC ETF
- Daily net flows: -$133.3 million
- Cumulative net flows: $54.07 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~1.26 million
ETH Spot ETF
- Daily net flows: -$41.8 million
- Cumulative net flows: $11.68 billion
- Total ETH holdings ~5.74 million
Source: Farside Investors
While you were sleeping
- Bitcoin Eliminates U.S. Session Losses as Trump Announces 78% Trade Deficit Cut (CoinDesk): Bitcoin trading remained volatile on Thursday, rising to around $67,000 after briefly falling to near $65,900 as traders digested President Trump’s claims that the U.S. trade deficit had been reduced by 78%.
- Bitcoin, Ether, and SOL ETFs saw net inflows of $2.4 million, bringing cumulative inflows to nearly $880 million.
- Gold Reclaims $5,000 as Focus on Fed Rate Path (Bloomberg): Gold returned to around $5,000 an ounce after jumping 2% on Wednesday, as traders focused on the Fed’s next interest rate decision. Bullion rose up to 0.9% on Thursday, silver 3%.
- European stocks fall as Airbus and Rio Tinto plunge; Nestlé Gains (Reuters): European shares fell on Thursday as investors scrutinized a mix of profits from Airbus, Rio Tinto and Nestlé.
