OVERVIEW

Roses, Candlesticks, And Regrets: How BTC Performs In February 🧊 

Source: Giphy

Before we dive in, here’s today’s crypto market heatmap:

Source: Santiment

And here’s a look at crypto’s total market cap chart:

Source: TradingView

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
Crypto News 📰

😼 UFC’s Instagram Hacked to Shill Sham Token

Cybercriminals took over the UFC’s IG account, hawking a fake memecoin. Fans were confused if it was real, but the post was definitely a scam. CryptoDNES.

🔗 Zilliqa 2.0 Staking Overhaul

Zilliqa’s moving from PoW to PoS, so those staked seed nodes become real network validators. Minimum 10 million ZIL if you fancy being a validator. So, only $190,000 at today’s prices big shot. Zilliqa blog.

🪙 Tether Caps 2024 With $13B Profit and Mega-Size Treasury Holdings

They just put out their Q4 2024 attestation: a record $13B in profits, $113B in U.S. Treasuries, and a comfy $7B reserve buffer. Basically, Tether’s doubling down on being a top 10 holder of Uncle Sam’s IOUs, plus they minted $45B in new USDT this year—impressive flex. Tether blog.

⚔️ Solana vs. Ethereum: “Not So Fast,” Says Analyst

Solana’s soared in speed and user adoption, but Ethereum’s developer base, DeFi ecosystem, and decentralization keep it on top for now. IntoTheBlock’s Juan Pellicer says SOL has to fix centralization concerns, get more devs, and build real DeFi mojo if it wants to dethrone ETH. BeInCrypto.

🌐 Quboid: Upgraded Loyalty Programs

This is pretty freaking cool. Quboid wants to tokenize brand loyalty points so you don’t juggle 17 different rewards accounts. Built on Avalanche L1, it merges liquidity for brand tokens so Starbucks points can theoretically be swapped for airline miles—or maybe just a worthless alt token. Avalanche network.

⚙️ SDF & OpenZeppelin Join Forces

Stellar Dev Foundation is teaming up with OpenZeppelin for a two-year blitz to overhaul security and dev tools on Soroban. They’re basically dropping “Ethereum best practices” onto Stellar, so devs can copy/paste audited code and pretend they’re experts. The plan? Transform the Stellar ecosystem into a fortress that’s easy to build on and (hopefully) doesn’t break. Stellar blog.

🤖 Genius Group Launches Rights Offering to Pump Its BTC War Chest

The AI-driven edtech outfit wants to push its Bitcoin treasury to $100M. Shareholders can buy extra shares at $0.50, and if that’s maxed out plus a planned $22M loan, they’ll nearly double their BTC stash. This follows Genius’s vow to keep most of its reserves in Bitcoin, because apparently that’s how you do “AI meets FinTech” in 2025. CryptoBriefing.

BITCOIN
February: The “Chill” Month With A Wild Streak 🧊 

Sometimes, February tries to be the calm before the March madness. Other times, it goes off the rails just to keep everyone on their toes. Here’s the data you didn’t know you needed:

Historical Averages

• Avg Increase When Up: 27.76%

• Avg Decrease When Down: −19.46%

• Overall Monthly Change: 17.64%

February is balanced on paper. It goes green more often than red, and it tends not to overshadow bigger rollercoaster months like January or March. When it does drop, though, it can get ugly.

The Wild Rides

• 2011: +80.00%

  • Early Bitcoin euphoria, priced in cents.

• 2013: +63.73%

  • A raging bull cycle in its infancy.

• 2021: +36.42%

  • Fueled by the beginning of institutional FOMO, Bitcoin sailed past $45K.

• 2024: +43.78%

  • Proof Bitcoin can still punch above its weight.

But then there are the bleak Februarys:

• 2014: −38.87%

  • Worst on record, courtesy of Mt. Gox.

• 2012: −10.91%

  • A minor setback that barely dented the overall trend.

• 2020: −8.62%

  • COVID jitters arrived early, pushing crypto down with everything else.

February vs. Other Months

• Avg Increase When Up (27.76%)

  • 6th out of 12 months. Respectable, but overshadowed by all-star months like November.

• Avg Decrease When Down (−19.46%)

  • 11th out of 12. Definitely one of the nastier drops when red.

• Overall Monthly Change (17.64%)

  • 5th out of 12. Generally a good performer if you can stomach the occasional crash.

Noteworthy Highlights

• Best Year Ever: 2011 (+80.00%). Prices moved in pennies, but the adrenaline was real.

• Worst Year Ever: 2014 (−38.87%). The fall from grace after 2013’s hype.

• Most Forgettable: 2023 (+0.03%). You probably blinked and missed it.

February In A Nutshell

• 10 out of 14 years ended in the green (71%).

• Solid odds, but steep drops can happen without warning.

• It’s neither the hero nor the villain of Q1—just the wildcard that keeps you guessing.

Q1’s Balancing Act

• Strength: Highest probability of gains in Q1.

• Weakness: Big losses during bear markets, so it can still sting.

February: The Verdict

It’s the most balanced month in Q1, with a solid track record of gains. Don’t expect the same level of fireworks you might get in January or March. Still, underestimating February is a rookie move. You never know when this “chill” month might swing for the fences. 🧱 

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
Metaverse, NFT, & Gaming News 🎮️

☁️ PurpleDog Embraces The Cloud With Storj

PurpleDog’s post-production studio was drowning in on-prem servers at 90% capacity—like a Tetris game gone wrong. Then they hopped to Storj’s decentralized storage and said “Bye, pricey hardware upgrades.” Now giant video files get distributed globally with S3 compatibility, so big clients don’t freak about leaks. The best part? No more rummaging for old tapes in the server closet. Storj blog.

🤖 Injective’s On-Chain AI Index

Injective’s smushing together big AI stocks (hello, NVIDIA) with top AI crypto tokens (like Bittensor, Virtuals, etc.) into a single on-chain “AIX” product. So you can bet on the entire AI fad in one shot—no separate accounts needed. If it works, you’ll own part of an unstoppable wave of AI hype—and possibly meltdown tweets. Injective Protocol blog.

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
DeFi, DEX, and Lending Protocol News 🏦

💳 Alchemy Pay Integrates $MOVE

Movement Network’s $MOVE token is now a few clicks away with Alchemy Pay’s on-ramp. You can snag it using normal payment methods—Visa, MasterCard, or the leftover gift cards from your birthday. Alchemy Pay blog.

📈 Band Protocol Hits Sonic Mainnet

Band is offering up price feeds for Sonic’s chain so dApps get real-time data for all your DeFi, gaming, or “tokenizing your cat” needs. They handle DAI, ETH, USDT, WBTC, plus the new $S token, letting you swap seamlessly and cut gas fees. Band Protocol blog.

🚀 Solenoid & Internet Computer’s Decentralized Edge

They’re rewriting how “boundary nodes” work so you can talk to canisters on the IC without memorizing subnets. Now there are API boundary nodes for routing and HTTP gateways for turning your normal browser visits into fancy canister calls. The Discovery library helps you pick the best node so you’re not stuck with a dying server. Internet Computer Protocol blog.

🐍 Cyfrin Updraft’s Vyper & Stableswap Courses

Curve’s stable AMMs changed DeFi by letting you trade stablecoins without feeling scammed, and now Cyfrin’s giving you free classes on it. The course covers everything from pegged-asset math to advanced Vyper quirks—if you actually want to code for a living. If stablecoins and python-laced code is your jam, sign up and try not to rage-quit. Curve Finance blog.

🏠 1inch On RWA Tokenization

Real-world asset tokenization is basically slicing and dicing houses, art, or gold bars into little digital shards on a blockchain. You can invest in 0.0001% of an office building so you can brag “I’m a real estate tycoon!” at parties. The market’s apparently going from billions to trillions if we believe the hype. Legal disclaimers aside, it might beat the excitement of watch-paint-dry “traditional finance.” 1inch blog.

LINKS
Links That Don’t Suck 🔗

🐇 That’s all folks – another Warner Bros. live-service bites the dust

🦵 China firm to deploy 1,000 humanoid robot workers to address labor shortage

🧝 World’s first Bitcoin nation rushes to trim BTC law to comply with IMF loan deal

🤖 AI-driven genius group plans $100 million Bitcoin treasury expansion through rights offering

💀 Visitors flock to New York botanic garden for a whiff of a flower that smells like a rotting corpse

💪 MicroStrategy sees strong demand for preferred stock plan, raises $563.4 million to fuel more bitcoin purchases

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