Tech investor and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan is floating a stark proposition: in a world racing toward advanced artificial intelligence (AI), private keys — not just prompts — may determine who, or what, stays in control.

Bitcoin traded at $68,729 at 4:30 p.m. EST on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, and the derivatives market is anything but sleepy. With $43.81 billion in futures open interest (OI) and call-heavy options positioning, traders appear to be bracing for movement — just not all in the same direction.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Congress to pass the Clarity Act this spring, arguing the legislation would calm crypto markets rattled by sharp bitcoin price swings.

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio declared that “the world order as it has stood for decades no longer exists,” warning that the post-1945 framework has given way to a new era defined by raw power and intensifying great-power rivalry.

Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) has long promised secure computation on encrypted data, but was too slow for real-world finance. Fhenix’s Decomposed BFV changes this by breaking ciphertexts into smaller “limbs,” reducing noise growth and delaying costly bootstraps.

While bitcoin just posted its steepest difficulty decline since China’s 2021 mining purge, the network has already found its footing, and the next adjustment cycle is shaping up to be a sizable one, with roughly 34% of blocks still left to be mined before the epoch closes.

Bitcoin price stands at $69,397, commanding a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, with $42.58 billion in 24-hour trading volume. Over the past day, bitcoin has traded within a tight intraday range of $69,286 to $70,897, pointing to a market that is active, liquid, and carefully positioning itself.

Lightning Labs releases open‑source L402 tools enabling artificial intelligence (AI) agents to transact natively on the Lightning Network.

Boerse Stuttgart Digital and Tradias plan a fully regulated merger to create a one‑stop European crypto infrastructure champion.

The rumors of discussions on Russia’s return to the dollar system sparked speculation about the strength of the financial alternatives deployed to bypass sanctions. While the central bank denies being involved in such talks, the Kremlin clarified that Russia never left the dollar: it was excluded.

The ECB updates the Eurosystem repo facility for central banks (EUREP) to provide standing access against euro collateral, extending reach and flexibility. This lets foreign central banks more easily obtain euro funding during stress, part of Europe’s push to boost the euro’s global role and counter U.S. and Chinese influence.

Traders on Polymarket, Myriad, and Kalshi are putting real money behind their expectations for bitcoin’s price trajectory in 2026. Across seven active contracts with over $84 million in volume, the crowd is signaling cautious optimism — with plenty of hedging along the way.

X is preparing to roll out Smart Cashtags, a feature that embeds live market data and trading links for stocks and cryptocurrencies directly into users’ timelines, signaling another step toward its push into financial services.

Comprehensive U.S. crypto legislation is advancing in Congress, with the Clarity Act poised to unlock trillions in sidelined institutional capital as lawmakers confront stablecoin regulation, SEC oversight, and CFTC authority in a high-stakes policy battle.

Binance has fully integrated Ripple USD (RLUSD) on the XRP Ledger, unlocking deposits and expanding access across Earn, Convert, Margin, and VIP Loan products, deepening stablecoin utility and accelerating RLUSD’s reach across global crypto markets.