NilChain, a privacy-focused blockchain built with the Cosmos SDK by Nillion, is winding down operations on Cosmos as part of broader shifts across the interoperability-focused ecosystem.

In an X announcement on Feb. 17, the team said the network will halt operations on March 23, urging holders of the NIL token to migrate their assets to Ethereum before the shutdown.

NilChain was designed as a network for secure computation. But the chain has seemingly not been able to reach broad usage inside the Cosmos ecosystem.

Leaving Cosmos, however, doesn’t mark an end to Nillion itself, as the company plans to continue operating on Ethereum. Amid the news, nilChain’s native token NIL briefly jumped over 10% on the day to $0.06 and is currently trading around $0.053, per data from CoinGecko.

It remains unclear why the team decided to migrate away from Cosmos. The Nillion team declined The Defiant’s request to comment on the move for this story.

NilChain may not be widely known compared with larger Layer 1 or Layer 2 networks, but Nillion has raised sizable funding. In December 2022, the company closed a roughly $20 million seed round led by Distributed Global, with participation from GSR Markets and HashKey.

It raised another $25 million in October 2024 in a round led by Hack VC, with backing from the Arbitrum Foundation, Worldcoin, Sei, HashKey Capital, and Animoca Brands.

Exodus from Cosmos

The move comes as Cosmos itself reassesses its direction. In July 2025, the Cosmos Hub scrapped plans to add native smart contract support, citing high costs and weak developer demand. Teams that had planned to deploy applications on the Hub were encouraged to build on other Cosmos-based chains instead.

That shift forced a reset for many teams and coincided with a wave of departures. Since mid-2025, several projects have announced exits or wind-downs across the Cosmos ecosystem.

The stablecoin-focused project Noble said earlier in January of this year it would leave Cosmos to launch its own EVM-compatible L1, saying the team wants to “meet users and developers where they already are.” Others have taken different paths with chains like Pryzm and Quasar announcing shutdowns or significant changes.

Some have publicly said they are leaving Cosmos after years of struggling with liquidity, user distribution, and developer traction following the collapse of Terra in 2022. Others, including infrastructure providers, argue the ecosystem still makes sense for teams focused on interoperability rather than consumer DeFi.

The Cosmos Hub itself has also seen declining activity. Data from DefiLlama shows total value locked on the network falling from about $2.65 million to roughly $131,000 earlier this month, the lowest level on record.

Network fees have also dropped sharply. By January, fees reached an all-time low of around $218,000, with only four of the 11 protocols deployed on the Cosmos Hub generating any revenue.

ATOM, the native token of Cosmos Hub, is down about 4% over the past 24 hours, though it rallied over 18% in the past week, per CoinGecko.

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, has voiced concerns about the traditional financial industry’s perception of his company. In a recent Q&A session, Armstrong argued that Coinbase is undervalued and misunderstood by Wall Street. He attributes this to an ongoing resistance against cryptocurrency disruption, suggesting that the broader financial world has yet to fully recognize the true potential of Coinbase. The CEO highlights this misunderstanding as part of a larger trend where innovations are initially dismissed but later accepted as they prove their value.

“Why is Coinbase always misunderstood or under-appreciated by Wall Street?” – I got asked this today in our AMA with analysts, and it’s an interesting question. Sharing my answer here.

I do think Coinbase is a bit of a misunderstood company. It’s a classic innovator’s dilemma.…

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) February 17, 2026

Armstrong Highlights the Innovator’s Dilemma in Finance

Armstrong attributes Wall Street’s reluctance to embrace Coinbase to what he calls the innovator’s dilemma. He compares the current skepticism toward cryptocurrency to the resistance faced by e-hailing services like Uber when they disrupted the traditional taxi industry.

Armstrong believes that, like the taxi companies of the past, Wall Street views cryptocurrency as a threat rather than a valuable innovation. According to him, traditional financial institutions fail to see that the future of finance is rapidly changing.

Despite these challenges, Armstrong remains confident about Coinbase’s future. He argues that while the financial industry resists the shift toward crypto, progressive institutions are starting to collaborate with Coinbase. Armstrong pointed out that five of the Global Systemically Important Banks (GSIB) have already engaged with Coinbase and begun exploring collaborations. He believes this is a crucial step in the mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrency as a legitimate financial tool.

Coinbase’s Growth Metrics Challenge Traditional Valuation

Armstrong underscores Coinbase’s impressive growth in an attempt to shift Wall Street’s perception. He highlights significant increases in key metrics, such as a 156% year-on-year rise in trading volume. Additionally, Coinbase’s market share has doubled, and its asset growth has tripled over the past three years. Armstrong stresses that these metrics should challenge Wall Street’s view of Coinbase as an undervalued asset.

The CEO also noted that Coinbase is no longer just a trading platform but a comprehensive financial infrastructure company. With 12 products currently generating over $100 million annually, Armstrong believes this diversification underscores Coinbase’s potential for long-term growth. He urges investors and financial institutions to recognize these achievements rather than relying on outdated perceptions of the company as merely a crypto exchange.

A Shift in Global Financial Systems with Crypto at the Core

According to Armstrong, the future of global finance is increasingly centered around cryptocurrency. He insists that Coinbase is not simply a digital asset exchange but an integral player in the evolving financial infrastructure.

Armstrong believes that banks and financial institutions must adapt to this new reality to stay competitive. He argues that those who embrace cryptocurrency infrastructure will benefit greatly, while those who resist will struggle to remain relevant in the future financial landscape.

Coinbase’s role in this transformation is becoming clearer with its partnerships with leading global financial institutions. As blockchain technology continues to disrupt traditional financial systems, Armstrong predicts that the companies most willing to embrace crypto will be the ones that thrive in the future. He encourages Wall Street to move beyond its initial skepticism and adopt a more forward-thinking approach, recognizing Coinbase as a key player in reshaping the financial world.

“Borrowing up to $100K in USDC against your tokens, instantly, without selling,” the announcement reads.

The US-based exchange Coinbase expanded its crypto-backed loan offerings to include additional tokens, such as Ripple’s XRP and Cardano’s ADA.

For the moment, the new service is available across the USA, except for residents of New York State.

Further Support for These Assets

The company rolled out its lending product, called Coinbase Borrow, in 2021. Two years later, it discontinued the service, only to bring it back at the start of 2025.

Coinbase Borrow lets users take a loan using their cryptocurrency possessions as collateral instead of selling them. Until recently, clients were able to borrow up to $5 million in USDC against their Bitcoin (BTC) holdings and as much as $1 million in the stablecoin against Ethereum (ETH). The exchange, though, decided to expand the service by adding Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Litecoin (LTC).

“Now you can unlock the value of your portfolio without giving up your position. Borrowing up to $100K in USDC against your tokens, instantly, without selling. Available now in the US (ex. NY),” the official announcement reads.

Backing from a major exchange like Coinbase can positively influence the prices of the involved cryptocurrencies by boosting their reputation and accessibility. In this case, however, XRP, ADA, DOGE, and LTC continued trading lower, reflecting the broader market’s bearish conditions.

It is important to note that the strongest price pumps typically occur right after Coinbase lists a token or reveals its intentions to do so. Last summer, for instance,  the company added SPX6900 (SPX), AWE Network (AWE), Dolomite (DOLO), Flock (FLOCK), and Solayer (LAYER) to its roadmap. Some of the involved assets headed north by double digits following the disclosure.

It’s a completely different story when Coinbase terminates services with certain coins. Towards the end of last year, Muse Dao (MUSE), League of Kingdoms Arena (LOKA), and Wrapped Centrifuge (WCFG) tumbled substantially after they were removed from the trading venue.

You may also like:

What Else is New on Coinbase?

The exchange has been quite active lately, enabling additional trading options for its clients. Earlier this month, it announced that users can buy, sell, convert, send, receive, or store RaveDAO (RAVE), Walrus (WAL), AZTEC (AZTEC), and Espresso (ESP). All assets are live on Coinbase’s official website and application.

WAL, AZTEC, and ESP experienced an initial price upswing after the news but then headed south. RAVE, on the other hand, has kept pumping and currently trades around $0.44 (per CoinGecko), representing a 25% weekly increase.

TLDR:

• ZRO becomes the only gas, staking, and fee asset across Zero, LayerZero, and Stargate infrastructure layers.
• Protocol revenue from priority fees, MEV tips, markets, and payments will all route directly into ZRO.
• Institutional buyouts removed 19.77 percent of total ZRO supply from future unlock circulation schedules.
• Public dashboards currently overstate ZRO unlock pressure by nearly twofold due to outdated supply data.

LayerZero has clarified how its ZRO token will function inside the upcoming Zero network after days of market speculation. 

The update outlines a single-asset economic design that ties protocol activity directly to ZRO. It also revises assumptions about future supply pressure from token unlocks. The disclosure arrives ahead of Zero’s planned mainnet launch later this year.

ZRO Tokenomics Anchors Zero Network Fee Structure

Bryan Pellegrino published the clarification in a post on X, addressing questions around Zero’s economic design. He stated that the project will not issue a new token for the network. ZRO will serve as the only asset across all Zero functions.

ZRO will act as both the staking and gas token inside Zero. Every transaction and message will rely on the same asset for settlement. This approach removes the need for parallel fee tokens across zones.

According to the statement, all excess fees generated from priority fees linked to state contention will route to ZRO. Tips and MEV-related revenue will also accrue to the token. The design connects congestion and execution demand directly to token value flows.

Trading fees from the markets zone and payment fees from the payments zone will follow the same model. 

Once LayerZero activates its fee switch, every protocol message will include a ZRO-denominated charge. This makes ZRO the financial endpoint for Zero, LayerZero, and Stargate activity.

Institutional Buybacks Cut ZRO Unlock Pressure in Half

Pellegrino also disclosed updated figures on institutional participation and internal buybacks. 

He said institutional purchases and early investor buyouts now represent 19.77 percent of the total ZRO supply. Most of this came from absorbing future unlock allocations.

The update challenges assumptions shown on public token dashboards. Pellegrino noted that many trackers still treat those tokens as pending unlocks. That misclassification, he said, nearly doubles the projected supply pressure.

Community members amplified the data point after the post circulated. X user Zuuu highlighted the reduction in effective unlock risk as a key takeaway. The comment gained traction as traders reassessed ZRO’s circulating supply outlook.

LayerZero confirmed that the buyouts focused mainly on early investors and upcoming vesting schedules. The move shifts a portion of expected emissions into long-term holdings. It also reshapes how market participants model future dilution.

Zero aims to launch with permissionless infrastructure for payments, markets, and messaging. By assigning all economic flows to ZRO, the protocol links network usage with a single asset. The team said mainnet remains scheduled for this fall.

Update (Feb. 19 at 7:21 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from the Crypto Council for Innovation.

The White House has held another meeting between representatives from the cryptocurrency and banking industries on a market structure bill under consideration in the US Senate, seeking to iron-out differences on stablecoin yield provisions, among other issues.

In a Thursday Fox News interview, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that the company’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, attended the meeting with White House officials earlier in the day. The CEO’s comments came after unconfirmed reports that the Trump administration would follow its Feb. 10 meeting on the CLARITY Act, a bill to establish digital asset market structure. That meeting did not result in a deal on stablecoins. 

Passed by the US House of Representatives in July, the CLARITY Act has seen several delays while moving through the Senate and its relevant committees. These included two government shutdowns — the longest one in the country’s history spanned 43 days in 2025 — concerns from Democratic lawmakers on conflicts of interest, and groups pushing for provisions on decentralized finance, tokenized equities and stablecoin yield.

The meeting occurred a day after policymakers, including CFTC Chair Michael Selig and two US senators, and representatives from the crypto industry met at US President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club to attend a forum hosted by World Liberty Financial, the company founded by the president’s sons and others. Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno said at the event that he expected the CLARITY Act to make it through Congress and be ready to be signed into law “by April.”

Related: US CLARITY Act to pass ‘hopefully by April’: Senator Bernie Moreno

Cointelegraph reached out to Ripple for comment on Alderoty’s presence at the meeting, but had not received a response at the time of publication. White House crypto advisers Patrick Witt and David Sacks had not publicly commented on the event at the time of publication.

In a statement shared with Cointelegraph, Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Hun Kim said the Thursday discussion “built upon previous meetings to establish a framework that serves American consumers while reinforcing US competitiveness,” describing it as “constructive.”

Market structure bill awaits markup by Senate Banking panel

Although the Senate Agriculture Committee voted to advance its version of a digital asset market structure bill in January, another committee crucial to the legislation’s passage has stalled following stated opposition from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

Armstrong has objected to provisions that would restrict rewards paid on stablecoin holdings and warned the bill could weaken the CFTC’s role in favor of broader SEC authority.

The Senate Banking Committee had been scheduled to mark up its market structure bill in January, but delayed the event indefinitely after Armstrong said the exchange could not support the legislation as written, citing concerns about tokenized equities. As of Thursday, the committee had not rescheduled the markup.