Well That Is Just Rude 😶
OVERVIEW
Well That Is Just Rude 😶
Before we dive in, here’s today’s crypto market heatmap:
Source: finviz
And here’s a look at crypto’s total market and altcoin market cap charts:
Source: TradingView
You’re overpaying for crypto.
Every exchange has different prices for the same crypto. Most people stick with one and pay whatever it costs.
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NEWS
Banks VS. the CLARITY Act: The Railroad Trying To Stop The Truckers 🚚
In 1935, railroads were losing freight business to truckers, so instead of competing, they lobbied Congress to put trucking under the Interstate Commerce Commission. 🧠
The Motor Carrier Act of 1935 required new trucking companies to get a “certificate of public convenience and necessity” from the ICC – and the ICC made those certificates nearly impossible to get.
I’m getting to my point.
From 1940 to 1980, new authority to haul goods was almost impossible to obtain unless the application was completely unopposed. Even if no existing carrier was serving a route, the ICC would give the opportunity to an already-certified trucker first. Competitors could inspect your filed rates and protest them, triggering an investigation that froze your business.
The railroads got exactly what they wanted: a government-enforced cartel that strangled competition for 45 years until the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 finally deregulated trucking.
Pretty Much What Banks Are Trying To Do Now: Keep Their Rigged Game Going
Now banks are running the exact same play. The banking industry has one real problem with the CLARITY Act: stablecoins might pay people yield on their money. You know, the thing banks have done since literally ancient Mesopotamia. Stablecoins are offering around 4% while bank deposits sit at 0.5%, and instead of competing, banks ran to Washington asking for legislative protection from having to actually try.
The GENIUS Act already banned stablecoin issuers from paying interest directly. Not enough. Banks want Congress to close every possible workaround – third-party rewards, activity-based incentives, promotional programs – anything that might give a consumer a reason to move their dollars somewhere that respects them.
The ABA and community banking groups are waving around Standard Chartered estimates that $500 billion in deposits could migrate to stablecoins, framing it as systemic risk rather than what it actually is: customers leaving for a better deal.
The January Senate draft tried to split the difference – banning passive yield on stablecoin holdings while allowing activity-based rewards. Banks want even that closed. Rather than innovate, adapt, or – god forbid – raise deposit rates, the banking lobby wants lawmakers to kneecap the competition before it scales.
The result? The entire CLARITY Act is frozen in the Senate. A January markup got canceled. Two White House meetings (Feb. 2 and today, Feb. 10) ended or are ending without resolution (I mean, maybe a miracle happens near the end of the day here).
Coinbase pulled support. Citi analysts say passage could slip past 2026 entirely. The bill that was supposed to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world” is now hostage to an industry that would rather lobby than compete. 😡
STOCKTWITS
Retail Edge 🏪
NEWS
Blockchain.com Finally Gets Its FCA Card Punched ✊
After what can only be described as a leisurely stroll through regulatory purgatory, Blockchain.com announced today that it has officially secured FCA registration to operate as a crypto asset business in the UK. ⌛️
The company – this is kind of funny, they’re founded in York and headquartered in London – just now got permission to legally operate in its own backyard. Better late than never, I suppose.
To put the timeline in perspective, the FCA’s temporary registration regime for crypto firms kicked off back in 2020. Since then, more than 80% of applicants were rejected or withdrew. Blockchain.com, one of the oldest names in crypto (founded 2011, $1.2 trillion in processed transactions, 90 million+ wallets), apparently needed until February 2026 to cross the finish line.
The press release frames this as “getting this right.” Another way to frame it: it took a company with over a decade of UK roots almost half a decade to register in a temporary regime that’s being replaced by a permanent one starting in 2027 – which they’ll need to apply for again!
Credit where it’s due: this does follow their MiCA license from last year covering 30 EEA countries, and the registration unlocks brokerage, custody, and institutional services for UK customers.
But let’s not pop champagne over a company getting a hall pass to operate where it already lives. The real test comes when the permanent regime arrives next year. 📆
NEWS
Stonkmarket New – Let It RIP 📰
NEWS
SBFS Mom Really Wants Him Out Of Jail 👵
SBFs mom, on behalf of her son, is asking for a new trial. 🤦
Source: Inner City Press
Oh, and incase you weren’t sure how important she is based on her massive signature, she’s used to be a professor of law at Stanford. Sorry, Saunders Professor of Law, Emerita. At Stanford Law.
I’m going to assume that this post from SBF on his X account at 0513 AM EST this morning has something to do with the filing.
Twitter tweet
Make it stop. 🛑
NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
AI, Stablecoins, & Privacy News 🕵️
💳 Lisk Profiles Five Stablecoin Card Providers Actually Solving the Last Mile
Lisk wrote up Kast, Rain, Yellow Card, RedotPay, and Bitnob as stablecoin card providers turning USDC and USDT into money you can actually spend at ATMs and merchants. The common thread: none of them are trying to reinvent payments – they’re just connecting on-chain balances to existing Visa and Mastercard rails. Yellow Card and Bitnob focus on Africa where dollar banking is expensive or inaccessible, while Kast integrates with crypto payroll so remote workers can go straight from USDC salary to grocery store. Lisk.
🧠 FLock.io Figured Out How to Make DeAI Token Prices 66% Less Volatile
FLock.io published research showing that dynamic buyback-and-burn mechanisms reduce token price volatility by 66% compared to static models. The Dynamic-Control Buyback Mechanism works like a thermostat – adjusting buyback pressure based on deviation from target price rather than burning a fixed percentage regardless of market conditions. They tested it against bull markets, bear markets, black swan events, and adversarial attacks, and it outperformed alternatives across every scenario. Flock.io.
NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
DeFi, DEX, & Lending News 🏦
🏠 ENS Kills Its L2, Ethereum Got Cheap While They Weren’t Looking
ENS announced it’s staying on Ethereum L1 and canceling Namechain after gas costs dropped 99% over the past year – registrations now cost under 5 cents instead of $5. When they started building their own L2 two years ago, L1 was “prohibitively expensive,” but Ethereum’s gas limit went from 30M to 60M and now they’re targeting 200M in 2026. Ethereum Naming Service.
🔗 Band’s Membit Staking Guide Explains Why You Need to Stake to Prove You’re Not a Bot
Membit requires 10 BAND staking to prevent bots from farming points, because apparently the only way to prove you’re human is to have money on the line. The guide walks complete beginners through setting up a wallet, buying BAND on exchanges, delegating to validators, and pairing everything to the Membit dashboard – with screenshots for people who need screenshots. Stake enough and you get bonus points. Band.
NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
Protocol News 🏦
⚡ Mina’s Mesa Upgrade Passed Unanimously
Mina Protocol’s Mesa hard fork got 100% approval across all four proposed MIPs, reducing slot times to 90 seconds and expanding on-chain state limits for more expressive zkApps. The testnet revealed some RAM spikes that could crash nodes, so they’re temporarily capping zkApp transactions at 12 per block – but since slots are half as long, throughput stays the same with faster confirmations. Mina Protocol.
🔴 Polkadot Tells Solidity Devs They Don’t Have to Learn Anything New
Polkadot Hub now supports Ethereum-compatible Solidity execution with your existing Foundry, Hardhat, and MetaMask setup – no new language required, which removes the main excuse developers had for not switching. Fees run $0.03-$0.10 per transaction versus L2s at $0.05-$0.30. The Revive dual-engine lets EVM contracts call PVM contracts seamlessly, so you can write performance-critical logic in Rust while your frontend stays in Solidity. Polkadot.
LINKS
Links That Don’t Suck 🔗
👛 Ledger adds OKX DEX integration for on-device token swaps
🪙 Strategy Will Buy Bitcoin ‘Forever’, Says Michael Saylor—Even With $5 Billion Paper Loss
🏦 Wall Street Ogles Crypto’s Single Stock Leverage Advantage
🤔 CZ Makes a Subtle Post Following Goldman Sachs’ Announcement of Its Cryptocurrency Portfolio
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Author Disclosure: The author of this newsletter holds positions in AVAX, ADA, PUDGY, WLC, IMX, XTZ, NEAR, HBAR, ALGO, INJ, LTC, LINK, ZEC, XLM, and FET. 📋
