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- 📉 Crypto stocks are breaking first
📉 Crypto stocks are breaking first
PLUS: Coinbase and miners slide faster than Bitcoin, ETFs bleed $2.6B in two months, volume spikes on fear, tariffs rise to 15%, Ethereum doubles down on DeFi, and USD1 briefly loses its peg.
Cryptopolitan News
February 24, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
Bitcoin strains crypto equities as price sinks.
The weakness showed up in the stocks.
On Monday, crypto-linked stocks were hit hard in a sell off, extending a month-long drop that’s starting to look structural rather than incidental. Coinbase fell over 6% for the session. The stock is down about 25% in the last month and trading around $161
Strategy was down almost 6% too. This is despite having already purchased 592 BTC at a price above $67,000 only days before. MSTR is currently about 24% lower in a month.
Miners followed. Riot, Hut 8 and MARA all fell back as the unwind continued in a big way in that sector.
When crypto stocks lag their underlying asset, the markets tend to take notice.
Bitcoin dumps but volume is booming
Bitcoin fell below $64,500 to extend its monthly drop to about 27%. Ether has dropped even more, down about 38 percent during the same stretch, one of its weakest starts to a year ever.
The wider digital asset market capitalization fell over 3% to $2.23 trillion.
But the more revealing number was volume.
Trading volume soared 107% over 24 hours to $102 billion. That’s repositioning - funds moving, and the sentiment reflects it. The Fear & Greed Index is currently at Extreme Fear.
ETFs slaughtered as institutions pull away
Bitcoin-linked ETFs continued to soften.
Both IBIT and BITO were down over 4% in the session. February has already witnessed about $1 billion of outflows, following roughly $1.6 billion that escaped in January.
The slow drip is more significant than a big print. Institutions are not rushing in to buy the dips.
At the same time, the wider equity market isn’t lending a hand. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both slid more than 1%, with software names at the forefront of selling. The tech-software ETF is nearly 35% lower since October.
Crypto is trading with risk assets, not away from them.
Tariffs add to the strain
On the weekend, Donald Trump verified that the planet tariff rate would boost from 10% to 15%, after the Supreme Court’s action to blockade most of this framework.
Policy uncertainty returned to center stage just as inflation data and earnings season bring new variables.
Markets dislike shifting rules. Especially when they arrive mid-cycle.
Crypto stocks are underperforming bitcoin. ETFs are seeing consistent withdrawals. Volume spikes on down days. Risk appetite looks thinner.
And when stocks associated to crypto begin leading lower, traders tend to pay attention.
POLL: Are crypto-linked stocks part of your portfolio? |
📊 Market Watch
🏗️ ETH is sliding. The Foundation is doubling down.
The Ethereum Foundation is deepening its DeFi push within the App Relations team, hiring a Maker governance architect and a Gearbox core contributor to lead protocol work.
The goal isn’t “better TradFi.”
It’s permissionless, privacy-first DeFi: on-chain futures, ZK-backed interest-bearing lending, tools that only make sense to see in action and out there on Ethereum.
🏛️ SEC taps Chainlink insider. Grayscale builds 5M LINK.
The SEC hired Taylor Lindman to aid in guiding crypto policy: she previously worked as the Deputy General Counsel at Chainlink Labs.
Simultaneously, Grayscale expanded its LINK holdings to more than 5.25 million tokens purchasing as the price dropped from ~$15 to around $8.
LINK remains over 70% down from last year’s all time highs. But accumulation hasn’t stopped.
Chainlink powers price feeds, DeFi systems, and prediction markets behind the scenes, even on Polymarket and they just surpassed a $7B month.
🇺🇸 USD1 dips. World Liberty attributes it to a coordinated attack.
Speculation then turned to Trump-backed World Liberty Financial, after ZachXBT teased a “major investigation” into one of the crypto’s most profitable business.
USD1 briefly slipped below $1. WLFI dropped toward $0.10. Both stabilized.
World Liberty accuses hacked accounts, paid FUD and coordinated shorts doesn’t provide on-chain evidence
Now USD1 returns back to peg with 4.8B tokens circulating.
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