Abstract

• BTC continued its decline this week, breaking a low of around $82,500, while ETH broke support and entered a downtrend.
• The market correction triggered liquidations, with $770 million wiped out in the past 24 hours.
• Oklahoma’s “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill” (HB 1203) passed a House committee and moved to a full vote.
• StakeStone officially released its whitepaper on February 26.
• MetaMask partnered with Transak to expand fiat on/off-ramp services, adding support for 10 major blockchains.
• Ondo Finance’s TVL rose 14.42% over the past week, reaching $921 million.
• Bitcoin NFT protocol Ordinals surpassed 80 million inscriptions.

Market Analysis

Review and Insights

• BTC — BTC remained in a downtrend this week, reaching a low of $82,300. While it briefly rebounded near $86,000, the recovery lacked strong support due to low trading volume. Overall, trading volume increased compared to previous weeks but was concentrated during declines, reflecting bearish sentiment. [1] BTC’s current market capitalization stands at $1.709 trillion, dropping out of the global top ten assets and ranking 11th. [2]

• ETH — ETH followed a similar downtrend, hitting a weekly low of $2,250. A recent hack attack pushed ETH below its previous upward channel, with a key support level near $2,100. In the short term, ETH may retest the $2,100 support; a successful hold could trigger a rebound. [3]

• Altcoins — Over the past seven days, altcoins saw significant declines around February 24, with the market showing overall weakness. However, leading altcoins outperformed last week’s gains. The Analytics, Modular Blockchain, and Gaming Marketplace sectors led the market, with weekly capitalization increases of approximately 15.8%, 11.7%, and 4.4%, respectively. Several tokens in these sectors recorded notable gains. [4]
• Option Market — As of February 27, 2025 (08:00 AM UTC+8), BTC options open interest stands at $31.815 billion, down 3% from last week ($32.767 billion). The nominal value of options expiring on February 28 is $5.868 billion, which could impact market movements. Currently, there is significant open interest between $82,000 and $97,000, indicating potential price movement toward $90,000. However, if BTC fails to break above the $85,000–$90,000 range, selling pressure may increase, limiting further upside. In the short term, market volatility could rise, and traders should monitor BTC’s performance near $90,000 to assess market direction. [5]
• Macro Data — On February 21, the U.S. preliminary S&P Global Services PMI for February was reported at 49.7, down 6% from the previous 52.9, missing the 53.0 forecast. The weaker-than-expected data was bearish for the U.S. dollar and bullish for crypto assets. [6]
• Stablecoins — The total stablecoin market cap declined 0.15% this week to $224.8 billion, with minimal net capital movement. [7]
• Fear & Greed Index — The Fear & Greed Index dropped to 10 (Extreme Fear) on February 27, marking its lowest level since June 2022. [8]
• Gas Fee — Ethereum’s 7-day average gas gee fell to 0.78 Gwei, with a peak of 15.94 Gwei, reflecting lower network activity. [9]

Trending Concepts

This week, Bitcoin continued its downtrend, while altcoin sectors showed mixed performance. According to CoinGecko, the Analytics, Modular Blockchain, and Gaming Marketplace sectors led the market, with weekly gains of 15.8%, 11.7%, and 4.4%, respectively. [10]

Analytics — This sector includes projects that provide advanced insights and charting tools, tracking historical token prices, real-time transactions, trading volumes, and more.

With global privacy regulations such as the EU Data Governance Act 2.0 and the U.S. Federal AI Transparency Act taking effect in Q1 2025, companies are now required to implement real-time data stream monitoring. Many Analytics tools have been upgrading dynamic de-identification engines and compliance audit tracking modules to align with regulatory standards. This shift toward blockchain compliance has attracted investor interest, driving the sector’s growth.

The sector surged 15.8% over 7 days, reaching a market cap of $3 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $2.32 billion. Leading performers included SOSO with a 15.2% gain, CGPT with a 9.3% increase, and KAITO with an 80.7% over the 7-day period. [11]

Modular Blockchain — The Modular Blockchain sector consists of blockchain architectures that separate core functionalities into different modules or layers. Recent growth in this sector has been fueled by expectations surrounding Celestia’s CIP253 and CIP249 proposals. If approved, these proposals would reduce the token inflation rate by 33% and limit the staking reward sell-off from locked accounts, positively impacting the sector’s tokenomics.

The sector increased 11.7% over 7 days, with market cap reaching $2.28 billion and 24-hour trading volume of $356 million. Within the sector, TIA saw a 22.5% increase over 7 days. [12]

Gaming Marketplace — This sector includes platforms where players can buy, sell, or trade in-game assets, currencies, and digital items. Recent sector momentum has been driven by a series of events from games like Seraph and Undeads Games, along with continued expansion of the TON blockchain ecosystem. As a result, several GameFi projects have regained investor interest, pushing sector growth.

The Gaming Marketplace sector achieved a 4.4% market cap increase this week, reaching approximately $9.07 billion with 24-hour trading volume of $1.19 billion. Within the sector, UDS rose 73.3% over 7 days. [13]

Top Performers

According to CoinGecko data, the top-performing tokens over the past 7 days are as follows: [14]

IP (Story) - 7-day increase of approximately 141.4%, with a circulating market cap of $1.678 billion.

Story is a Layer 1 blockchain designed for intelligent tokenization of intellectual property (IP). By bringing $61 million worth of scientific, creative, and brand IP on-chain, Story allows users to programmatically define and automate monetization terms for IP usage.

Recently, Story released an updated roadmap, outlining plans for an IP portal and certification service in Q2, aimed at simplifying on-chain IP registration. In Q3, the network will undergo a mainnet upgrade, launch IPKit, and introduce developer tools for integrating IP functionalities. Additionally, Story has partnered with Stanford FDCI and joined the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), strengthening its ecosystem. These developments have fueled investor interest, driving the price surge. [15]

MKR (Maker) - 7-day increase of approximately 38.8%, with a circulating market cap of $1.384 billion.

MakerDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and smart contract system on Ethereum that introduced Dai (DAI), the first decentralized stablecoin backed by digital assets and pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar. The MKR token serves as both a governance and utility token, allowing holders to participate in system governance and pay stability fees when borrowing DAI.

Recently, Sky (formerly MakerDAO) co-founder Rune announced the launch of the Sky Smart Burn Engine on X, committing to burning 1 million USDS of SKY tokens daily to reduce token supply and support ecosystem value. Additionally, in response to potential hostile acquisitions of MKR, the system plans to buy back approximately 1 million MKR per day over a 50-day period, totaling over $50 million in buybacks. These two strategies—reducing token supply and increasing scarcity—have driven MKR’s price surge. [16]

TIA (Celestia) - 7-day increase of approximately 24%, with a circulating market cap of $2.092 billion.

Celestia is a modular blockchain network providing a plug-and-play data availability (DA) layer that allows Web3 developers to seamlessly integrate DA solutions into their ecosystems. Data Availability Sampling (DAS) and Namespace Merkle Trees (NMT) are two new mechanisms adopted by Celestia’s DA layer. DAS allows lightweight nodes to verify data availability without downloading the entire block.

Recently, the Celestia community proposed CIP-253 and CIP-249, aiming to reduce TIA’s inflation rate by 33% and adjust staking reward unlock schedules to align with original lock-up periods. To prevent validators from bypassing these restrictions via 100% commission nodes, the proposal also sets a 25% validator commission cap to ensure fairness and network security. These measures reduce sell pressure, enhance long-term token value, and have driven increased investor interest in TIA. [17]

Weekly Spotlights

Hot Topic Review

Oklahoma’s “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill” (HB 1203) Advances to Full House Vote

On February 26, 2025, the Oklahoma House Finance Committee approved the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill (HB 1203), which allows state funds to allocate up to 10% of fiscal reserves into Bitcoin (BTC). The proposal has now moved to a full House vote and, if passed, will take effect in FY 2026.

If enacted, Oklahoma would become the first U.S. state to allow large-scale government allocation into digital assets, potentially setting a precedent for other states. Arizona and other states have already introduced similar proposals. Additionally, government-backed Bitcoin investment could boost BTC’s legitimacy and mainstream adoption, attracting more institutional and retail investors. [18]

MetaMask Expands Fiat On/Off-Ramp with Transak, Adding Support for 10 Major Blockchains

MetaMask has partnered with payment provider Transak to expand fiat on/off-ramp services, adding support for 10 blockchains, including Arbitrum, Avalanche C-Chain, Base, BNB Chain, Optimism, and Polygon. This upgrade simplifies fiat-to-crypto conversion, allowing more users to seamlessly buy and sell crypto assets on these networks.

By lowering entry barriers to DeFi, this partnership accelerates crypto’s integration into mainstream finance while enhancing DeFi ecosystem liquidity. Although challenges remain—such as compliance, fees, and user adoption—this move is expected to have a long-term positive impact on Web3 adoption. [19]

StakeStone Releases Whitepaper on February 26

On February 26, StakeStone officially released its whitepaper, detailing its approach to yield-bearing assets via STONE (ETH staking derivative) and SBTC/STONEBTC (cross-chain BTC liquidity tokens). By integrating LiquidityPad, a liquidity aggregation tool, the protocol enables seamless asset transfers and yield maximization across 30+ blockchains. The governance token STO follows a veSTO (vote-escrowed) model, allowing locked STO holders to participate in governance and receive 25% of protocol revenue from ETH staking rewards. Additionally, StakeStone has designed a three-layer token burn mechanism: 20% of STO from cross-chain fees is burned, dynamic burning of liquidity mining rewards, and 50% of protocol surplus used for open market buybacks.

StakeStone’s cross-chain liquidity model could reshape DeFi competition, as its standardized yield-bearing assets for ETH/BTC enable cross-chain compounding for the first time. The veSTO model, which ties governance to yield rights, could challenge centralized staking providers like Lido. Additionally, the triple burn mechanism may lead to a highly deflationary STO supply. However, risks include unverified cross-chain bridge security and protocol TVL reliance on LayerZero and Wormhole infrastructure stability. [20]

Security Incident

Bybit Hack Linked to Safe{Wallet} Exploit, $1.5 Billion in ETH Stolen

On February 21, 2025, crypto exchange Bybit suffered a hack resulting in the theft of 499,000 ETH (~$1.5 billion)—the largest single theft in crypto history. Investigations suggest the attack was orchestrated by the North Korean Lazarus Group, which manipulated Safe{Wallet}’s front-end code and forged a fake signature interface, bypassing Bybit’s multi-signature mechanism and gaining control over its Ethereum cold wallet. Following the breach, Safe{Wallet} conducted a full security audit and has since begun phased recovery on Ethereum mainnet.[21]

The attack triggered a 7% drop in ETH, briefly touching $2,618, while panic spread across the market. Within 24 hours, users withdrew $2 billion from exchanges. Bybit responded swiftly, collaborating with Gate.io and other exchanges to track the stolen funds. The exploit also impacted Aave, Ethena Labs, and USDe stablecoin, with USDe/USDT dropping to $0.96. [22]

This incident exposes supply chain vulnerabilities in Web3 infrastructure and highlights major flaws in crypto transaction security, smart contract auditing, and multi-signature protections. The event may prompt a shift toward more secure wallet architectures and stricter multi-layer verification for high-value transactions to prevent future supply chain attacks.

Project Highlights

daos.fun Launches Founder DAOs to Enable On-Chain Fundraising and Governance

On February 26, daos.fun announced the launch of Founder DAOs, a modular governance framework designed to support on-chain fundraising for artistic creation, AI development, and fintech projects. By leveraging a tokenized community governance model, the protocol allows creators to set fundraising goals, define tokenomics, and establish team equity distribution, enabling decentralized project lifecycle management.

Projects must initialize 10 billion governance tokens, of which 4 billion (40%) will be publicly sold via a Bonding Curve mechanism with progressive pricing to stabilize market fluctuations. Once the public sale concludes, liquidity will migrate to Raydium and DAOS pools. Team and fundraising allocations will vest over three months, though some tokens may be sold early to long-term holders. This protocol aims to provide a flexible decentralized fundraising and governance tool, fostering Web3 innovation. [23][24]

Data Highlights

Ondo Finance TVL Surges 14.42% in 7 Days, Reaching $921 Million

According to DefiLlama, Ondo Finance’s total value locked (TVL) grew 14.42% over the past 7 days, reaching $921 million, reflecting its strong growth in tokenized treasury bonds. Additionally, on February 6, Ondo Finance announced the launch of Ondo Chain, a Layer 1 blockchain focused on tokenizing real-world assets (RWA) to drive mainstream adoption of on-chain financial instruments. [25]

Ondo Finance is solidifying its leadership in the RWA sector through a strategic partnership with Mastercard, making its tokenized treasuries (OUSG) more accessible to traditional financial markets. This collaboration increases institutional interest in on-chain RWAs, contributing to Ondo’s TVL growth and accelerating RWA adoption and mainstream integration. As more traditional financial institutions enter the RWA space, Ondo Finance is well-positioned to become a key player in bridging DeFi and TradFi (traditional finance). [26]

Bitcoin NFT Protocol Ordinals Surpasses 80 Million Inscriptions

The total number of Ordinals inscriptions on the Bitcoin network has exceeded 80 million, reaching 80,991,331. The cumulative fees generated from Ordinals minting now stand at 7,016.4858 BTC, valued at approximately $628 million. This surge highlights the growing adoption of the Ordinals protocol, which allows users to embed data onto individual satoshis, creating unique digital assets on Bitcoin’s blockchain.

By enabling on-chain data inscription, Ordinals expands Bitcoin’s utility beyond a store of value, turning it into a platform for NFTs and on-chain content. This trend has driven higher transaction volumes but also led to network congestion and increased transaction fees. While miners benefit from higher demand, ordinary BTC transactions have become more expensive.

Despite introducing new use cases, Ordinals remain a controversial topic within the Bitcoin community. Some developers argue that inscriptions consume excessive block space, potentially impacting Bitcoin’s core functionality. As the Ordinals ecosystem evolves, potential protocol adjustments and community discussions remain key areas to watch. [27]

Market Correction Triggers $770 Million in Liquidations Over 24 Hours

The crypto derivatives market has seen a spike in liquidations, particularly in long positions, as the latest market downturn forced highly leveraged traders to close positions. Over the past 24 hours, total liquidation reached $770 million, with $606 million from long positions, marking the highest long liquidation levels in recent weeks. This reflects how rapid market declines trigger forced liquidations in overleveraged positions, further amplifying the downtrend.

This wave of forced liquidations has led to a short-term deleveraging, reducing market liquidity and lowering overall trading activity. If the market fails to hold key support levels, additional cascade liquidations could follow. Given the current environment, traders should remain cautious of high volatility, manage leverage wisely, and avoid forced liquidations due to short-term price corrections. [28]

Market Opportunities

Project Airdrops

Sonus Exchange

Sonus Exchange serves as the primary liquidity hub within the Soneium ecosystem, built on advanced Automated Market Maker (AMM) technology. Designed to provide a secure and verified trading environment, the platform integrates Uniswap’s key advantages to offer efficient liquidity services. As the first native ve(3,3)-model decentralized exchange (DEX) on Soneium, Sonus Exchange utilizes an innovative tokenomics design to incentivize long-term holding and governance participation, ultimately enhancing platform stability and engagement.

The Sonus Exchange airdrop consists of 200 million SONUS tokens, distributed in the form of vote-escrowed positions (veSONUS) with a maximum lock-up period of two years. The airdrop is divided into two main phases, testnet and mainnet stages, including a phased implementation of a points-based reward system, with the completed testnet phase accounting for 30% of the points allocation and the active mainnet phase accounting for 70%. [29]

How to Participate:

• Connect an EVM wallet to the Soneium mainnet.
• Visit Sonus Exchange and link your wallet. [30]
• Provide liquidity by depositing assets into eligible liquidity pools.
• Stake LP tokens through the Sonus interface.

Note:
The airdrop program and participation methods are subject to change. Users are advised to follow Sonus Exchange’s official channels for the latest updates. Additionally, users should exercise caution, be aware of potential risks, and conduct thorough research before participating. Gate.io does not guarantee the distribution of future airdrop rewards.

Weekly Fundraising Report

Several projects successfully completed fundraising rounds this week across DeFi, infrastructure, and other sectors. According to RootData, between February 22 and February 28, 16 projects collectively raised over $260 million. Here are the top three largest funding rounds: [31]

Ethena completed a $100 million strategic funding round on February 24, with investors including Franklin Templeton and F-Prime Capital, a venture capital firm affiliated with Fidelity Investments. Ethena is building derivatives infrastructure that enables Ethereum to transform into a global internet bond through Delta-neutral positions on stETH. The funding will be used to launch USDe, a new stablecoin product targeting traditional financial institutions.

USDe is an Ethereum-based stablecoin backed by derivatives, employing a “delta-neutral” strategy that hedges staked Ethereum to provide a stable native cryptocurrency solution. The product launch aims to offer traditional financial institutions a safer, more transparent digital dollar alternative, promoting the integration of DeFi, CeFi, and traditional finance while driving innovation and development in the stablecoin market.

Bitwise completed a $70 million strategic funding round on February 25, led by Electric Capital with participation from MassMutual, MIT Investment Management Company, and others. Bitwise is a crypto asset management company known for managing the world’s largest crypto index fund (OTCQX: BITW) and pioneering products covering Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi, and crypto-focused stock indices. Bitwise collaborates with financial advisors and investment professionals to provide high-quality education and research.

The team stated that the funding will strengthen the company’s balance sheet and expand its investment capabilities and investor solutions. The success of this funding round demonstrates the confidence and recognition of mainstream financial institutions and technology investors in the crypto asset management sector.

Raise completed a $63 million funding round on February 26, led by Haun Ventures. Raise is an innovative platform focused on crypto gift cards, aiming to enhance gift card circulation and user experience through blockchain technology. It also provides a more secure, transparent, and efficient gift card trading environment, promoting the application of cryptocurrency in daily consumption.

The funding will help Raise expand its crypto business, further develop its blockchain-based gift card platform, and strengthen the company’s technological development and market expansion. The success of this funding round reflects investors’ confidence in the potential of the crypto gift card market and recognition of Raise’s innovation capabilities in this field.

What to Watch Next Week

Token Unlock

According to Tokenomist, several significant token unlock events are scheduled for next week (February 28 - March 6, 2025), with a total unlocked value exceeding $141 million.[32]

Here are the top 3 token unlock events for next week:

SUI is scheduled to unlock approximately 22.97 million tokens at 12:00 AM UTC+0 on March 1, 2025, representing 0.74% of its circulating supply, valued at approximately $66.83 million. With SUI’s recent average daily trading volume around $1.41 billion, this unlock is expected to have minimal impact on SUI’s market price.

OP is scheduled to unlock approximately 31.34 million tokens at 12:00 AM UTC+0 on February 28, 2025, representing 1.93% of its circulating supply, valued at approximately $37.61 million. With OP’s recent average daily trading volume around $253 million, this unlock is expected to have minimal impact on OP’s market price.

ENA is scheduled to unlock approximately 40.63 million tokens at 7:00 AM UTC+0 on March 2, 2025, representing 1.30% of its circulating supply, valued at approximately $17.70 million. With ENA’s recent average daily trading volume around $282 million, this may have minimal impact on the token price.

Crypto Calendar

Next week (Feb 28-Mar 6, 2025) brings several key events with significant implications for crypto markets, global economy, and energy markets. Metaplanet will be officially included in the MSCI Japan Index after market close on February 28, 2025. [33][34] Ethereum’s Sepolia testnet plans to activate the Pectra upgrade on March 5, with mainnet implementation targeted for April 8 if testnet upgrades proceed successfully. [35] Economic indicators to watch include: U.S. January Core PCE Price Index (YoY) on February 28 [36], U.S. February ISM Manufacturing PMI on March 3 [37], and U.S. February ADP Employment Change (10,000s) on March 5. [38]

References:

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21. X,https://x.com/benbybit/status/1894768736084885929
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