The crypto market today has shown a decent uptrend, with the global crypto market cap climbing by 1.61% to $3.24 tn. The 24h volume increased 8.46% to $91.14bn.
Bitcoin is up 1.30% over the past day, with the 24h volume increasing 15.06% to $31.46bn. Ether is up 2.29% with the 24h volume increasing 18.51% to $16.29bn.
Over the past 24 hours, crypto derivatives markets have seen a total of $253.5 million in liquidations across 145,800 trades. BTC led with $50.44 million in liquidations, followed by several tokens such as IP ($40.68 million) which was launched on Feb 13 2025 and KAITO ($23.86 million), launched 2 days ago. Short positions were hit harder, accounting for $173.17 million of the $253.5 million liquidated (over 68%) , overall suggesting an upward market move that primarily affected short positions.
US BTC and ETH spot ETFs both recorded daily net outflows on Feb 20 with $-365m and $-13.1m respectively. For BTC, this represents the largest daily net outflow since Jan 27.
On Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled Majorana 1, the world’s first quantum chip powered by a new Topological Core architecture that it expects will show quantum computing is "years, not decades" away. It leverages what Microsoft calls "topoconductor"— a hybrid material combining indium arsenide and aluminum, to produce more error resistant and stable qubits, which are the building blocks for quantum computers.
The SEC announced yesterday the creation of the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit (CETU), led by Laura D’Allaird, to safeguard retail investors and combat fraud in emerging technologies. The new unit, which replaces the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, will complement the work of the Crypto Task Force led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, focusing on fraud involving artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cybersecurity breaches.
On Feb 19 2025, US President Donald Trump addressed the FII PRIORITY Summit in Miami Beach, highlighting significant shifts in the government's stance on cryptocurrencies. He stated that he “signed Executive Orders to end Joe Biden’s war on Bitcoin and Crypto. They were so hostile until the very end. Just before the end the SEC was indicting everyone for no reason whatsoever. They were a very political group of people.”
Publicly traded South African fim Altvest Capital bought one Bitcoin and has applied to regulators for permission to raise $10 million by selling shares to increase its treasury stockpile, following a strategy similar to Michael Saylor's with Strategy (previously Microstrategy).
VanEck, the investment management firm headquartered in New York City, said in their VanEck Mid-February 2025 Bitcoin ChainCheck report that a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve could help offset national debt and made available a US Debt to Bitcoin Reserve Tool to visualize how a national Bitcoin reserve could impact US national debt.
On Wednesday, court documents showed Nigeria has filed a lawsuit against Binance, demanding $79.5 billion in economic losses and an additional $2 billion in back taxes, blaming Binance's operations for the Nigerian naira currency issues. Authorities claim Binance has a significant economic presence in Nigeria, and the suit comes amid ongoing tax evasion charges and previous detentions of Binance executives in the country.
Coinbase's chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad is urging Congress to grant the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) full authority over spot cryptocurrency markets, which would reduce the SEC's role in regulating digital assets.
