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Crypto World

Bitcoin Plunges Under $66,000 as Crypto Sentiment Index Hits Historic Low

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Total market cap is holding steady today, even as sentiment sinks to the weakest level on record.

Crypto markets took a tumble Thursday morning, Feb. 12, pushing Bitcoin below $66,000 and Ethereum below $2,000, as investor sentiment deteriorated to unprecedented lows.

Total crypto market capitalization is flat over the past 24 hours around $2.33 trillion, while large-cap assets are mixed today. At press time, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $65,747 at press time, down marginally on the day and bringing 7-day losses to about 5%.

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BTC 24-hour price chart. Source: CoinGecko

Ethereum (ETH) fell to $1,910 this morning, little changed over the past 24 hours and down 4% on the week.

While BNB gained nearly 2% on the day, it’s still down almost 10% over the past week. Solana (SOL) slipped 0.6% in the past 24 hours, and is down 8% on the week.

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Among the top-10 crypto assets, XRP and Figure Heloc (FIGR_HELOC) stood out on the weekly timeframe, both up about 4%.

Unprecedented Extreme Fear

Market sentiment, however, continues to lag price action. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell today to a reading of 5, its lowest level on record, pushing sentiment deeper into “extreme fear” territory than during any previous bear market.

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Glassnode analysts said in an X post today that the disconnect between prices and sentiment reflects a market under sustained stress rather than a clear capitulation event.

The analysts pointed out that the 30-day simple moving average of net flows for both BTC and ETH spot ETFs has remained negative for most of the past 90 days, showing “no sign of renewed demand.”

the-defiant
Spot Bitcoin ETF net inflows 30d moving average. Source: glassnode

They added in a separate research report that liquidity remains thin, with traders maintaining defensive positioning. Without renewed spot demand or improvement in risk appetite, glassnode warned that price action is likely to remain driven by short-term positioning.

Big Movers and Liquidations

Looking at the top-100 assets by market cap, earlier today, Aster (ASTER) climbed more than 7% after the decentralized exchange confirmed that the mainnet launch of Aster Chain is scheduled for March. Hyperliquid’s HYPE token also rose about 7%, extending its recent rebound.

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On the downside, Uniswap (UNI) led losses among large-caps, down 11.6%, erasing all of its gains from Wednesday’s rally that followed news of a strategic investment by BlackRock.

According to CoinGlass data, over 120,000 traders were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with total liquidations reaching $285 million. Bitcoin accounted for roughly $118 million of that total, followed by Ethereum at about $65 million.

ETFs and Macro Conditions

On Wednesday, Feb. 11, spot Bitcoin ETFs reversed their inflow streak, posting over $276 million in net outflows on the day. Spot Ethereum ETFs also recorded net outflows of more than $129 million, according to data from SoSoValue.

In macro markets, U.S. Treasury yields moved lower today as investors assessed fresh labor data and looked ahead to Friday’s consumer price index report. The 10-year yield slipped to 4.158%, while the 30-year fell to 4.782%, CNBC reported.

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Per a report published today from the U.S. Labor Department, initial jobless claims came in at 227,000 for the week ended Feb. 7, slightly above expectations but lower than the prior week, the report notes, adding that investors continue to digest January’s nonfarm payrolls report, which showed a decline in the unemployment rate to 4.3%.

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Crypto World

Ethereum Economic Zone launches at EthCC to tackle L2 ‘fragmentation problem’

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What wiped out $1.7 billion?

Summary

  • Gnosis, Zisk and the Ethereum Foundation unveiled the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ) at EthCC in Cannes to unify fragmented Ethereum layer-2 networks.
  • The framework targets over 20 L2s securing roughly $40 billion in value, enabling synchronous composability without relying on bridges and standardizing ETH as gas.
  • Early backers include Aave and Centrifuge, with developers calling EEZ a “new era” for on-chain applications as Ethereum grapples with slowing fee revenue and a weaker deflationary narrative.

The Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem took aim at one of its biggest structural weaknesses at EthCC 2026, as Gnosis, Zisk and the Ethereum Foundation publicly launched the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ), a rollup framework designed to knit together an increasingly fractured layer‑2 landscape. Revealed on March 29 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, the initiative seeks to make dozens of Ethereum L2s behave “like one unified system,” in the words of project backers, by restoring synchronous composability between rollups and Ethereum mainnet while keeping security anchored to the base chain.

Ethereum Economic Zone launches

More than 20 operational Ethereum L2s currently secure about $40 billion in assets, yet function largely as isolated ecosystems, each with its own liquidity pools, deployments and bridge infrastructure. “Ethereum doesn’t have a scaling problem. It has a fragmentation problem,” Gnosis co‑founder Friederike Ernst said in comments shared with crypto media, arguing that “every new L2 that goes live has its own liquidity pool and bridging, creating another isolated walled garden.” The EEZ framework instead allows smart contracts on participating rollups to perform synchronous calls with each other and with Ethereum mainnet in a single atomic transaction, using ETH as the default gas token and removing the need for separate bridge protocols.

At EthCC, Ernst and Zisk developer Jordi Baylina presented the EEZ as an explicitly Ethereum‑aligned answer to the user‑experience and capital‑efficiency frictions created by the network’s L2‑centric scaling roadmap. According to coverage from outlets such as The Block and CoinDesk, the collaboration is co‑funded by the Ethereum Foundation and launches with Aave, Centrifuge and a Swiss‑based EEZ Alliance among its early partners, underscoring that DeFi blue chips see value in shared liquidity and cross‑rollup settlement. “The zone will facilitate a new era of blockchain innovation,” Zisk’s CEO Maria Roberts told conference attendees, adding that developers will be able to plug existing applications into the framework “pretty easily.”

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The timing is not accidental. Ethereum’s shift of activity toward cheaper L2s has reduced fee revenue on mainnet and softened the narrative of ether as a strongly deflationary asset, with ETH trading near $2,000 even as the network still secures roughly $53 billion in DeFi total value locked and about $163 billion in stablecoins, according to recent market data cited by Phemex. By unifying L2 liquidity and simplifying cross‑network flows, EEZ’s architects are betting that a more cohesive Ethereum stack can keep capital and users inside the ecosystem, even as competing smart contract platforms and modular architectures fight for market share.

Kaiko reports Alameda gap still existsIn separate reporting on EthCC, organizers have described 2026 as “the year of professionalisation of Ethereum and the wider crypto ecosystem,” with the conference’s move to Cannes and the launch of institutional‑focused forums like Kaiko’s Agora strengthening the sense that Ethereum’s next phase will be defined as much by market structure and infrastructure as by new token launches.

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CFTC Chair Says Agency is Ready to Oversee Entire Crypto Market

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CFTC Chair Says Agency is Ready to Oversee Entire Crypto Market

Michael Selig, US President Donald Trump’s nominee leading the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said the agency was prepared to oversee the entire $3 trillion crypto industry, with no timeline for Congress to pass a crucial market structure bill.

In a Wednesday statement about his first 100 days as CFTC chair, Selig said that the commission was “ready to take responsibility” for the crypto market and reiterated his claim that it was the sole regulator to oversee prediction markets.

His comments come as the US Senate considers the CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill that has been effectively stalled in committee amid discussions over stablecoin yield and other issues.

“The same regulatory clarity being delivered to the crypto industry is being developed for prediction markets, which can serve as powerful tools for information discovery and are regulated by the CFTC under the Commodity Exchange Act,” said Selig.

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Under Selig, who was confirmed by the Senate in December, the CFTC has adopted many policies signaling that the agency would soften its enforcement and regulation of digital assets compared to previous administrations. In March, the agency announced a memorandum of understanding with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as part of efforts to coordinate on regulation, including digital assets.

Related: Crypto exchange KuCoin agrees to $500K settlement, ending CFTC case

Although early drafts of the market structure bill suggested the legislation could give the CFTC additional authority to oversee digital assets, the SEC is expected to continue regulating cryptocurrencies it considers to be securities.

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Lawmakers pressing CFTC on insider trading claims over prediction markets

US state authorities and federal lawmakers have been targeting prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket over alleged violations of gaming laws and claims of politicians using insider information to profit.

While many of the state-level actions continue to be litigated in court, Selig has claimed that the CFTC has “exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets and threatened legal action against any challenges to its authority.

In a Tuesday event, CFTC enforcement director David Miller said that the agency’s position was that event contracts on prediction markets were not “gaming” but rather “swaps” that fall under its purview.

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Some lawmakers have also proposed legislation to ban elected officials with insider information from profiting from event contracts after suspicious trades on military actions involving Iran and Venezuela.

Magazine: A newbie’s guide to surviving crypto winter