Crypto World
Bitcoin Wallets Holding 100 BTC About To Hit 20K: Santiment
Bitcoin is on the verge of surpassing 20,000 wallets with at least 100 Bitcoin, an indicator that could signal healthy market dynamics, according to crypto analytics platform Santiment.
As of Thursday, there were 19,993 unique wallets holding 100 BTC or more, worth roughly $6.71 million per wallet at the time of publication, Santiment said in an X post on Thursday. Santiment anticipates that the milestone could be reached by Friday.
“If the number of 100+ BTC wallets is growing, that suggests distribution across more large holders rather than a small group controlling everything,” Santiment said. It is an important signal for Bitcoiners, as it reduces the perceived risk that a small number of whales can significantly swing prices.
Santiment points to “less extreme consolidation”
“In that sense, it points to less extreme consolidation at the very top,” Santiment said.
The trend also hints at rising confidence in a turnaround for Bitcoin (BTC), which is down around 47% from its October all-time high of $126,100 and is currently trading at $67,260, according to CoinMarketCap.

Santiment explained that an increase in the number of large wallet holders after a Bitcoin price drop can be a bullish signal.
However, it noted that the overall percentage of supply held by this cohort hasn’t changed, suggesting that while new wallets are reaching 100 Bitcoins, some long-term holders are likely selling.
“This is why prices have stayed suppressed,” Santiment said.
Are Bitcoin OGs done “selling aggressively” for now?
Fears that long-term Bitcoin holders are selling have been ramping up over the past three months and are widely seen as a key catalyst behind the recent pullback.
Bitcoin analyst Will Clemente said on Jan. 14 that “it seems like Bitcoin OGs are done selling aggressively for now.”
Related: Bitcoin bear market not ‘over already’ as price rejects at $68K trend line
As for near-term price action, MN Trading Capital founder Michael van de Poppe said in an X post on Thursday that Bitcoin must “find a higher low and we’ll be continuing the trend upwards.”
“So far, so good for Bitcoin,” van de Poppe said.
Magazine: 6 massive challenges Bitcoin faces on the road to quantum security
Crypto World
Bitcoin Goes Mainstream as Morgan Stanley Steps In
Morgan Stanley, a Wall Street bank managing nearly $9 trillion in assets, plans to offer clients Bitcoin (BTC) custody, trading, lending, and yield-generation services.
The firm is one of the largest financial institutions in the United States. In addition, the client base spans retail investors, high-net-worth individuals, and institutional players.
Why it matters:
- Morgan Stanley’s entry into BTC services would give clients direct access to Bitcoin through a regulated, trusted institution.
- Furthermore, adding yield and lending products expands BTC’s utility beyond simple custody, attracting clients seeking returns on digital asset holdings.
- Wall Street adoption at this scale signals Bitcoin’s shift from speculation to structural integration in global finance.
The details:
The big picture:
- In addition, River data shows Fidelity Investments, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley each recommend clients allocate 1–5% of portfolios to BTC.
- Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley’s move follows a broader trend of major banks expanding crypto service offerings to institutional and retail clients.
Crypto World
PACT Announces $PACT Token Support on Kraken, MEXC, and Gate
[PRESS RELEASE – San Francisco, CA, USA, February 26th, 2026]
PACT, the leading on-chain credit and payments infrastructure protocol and #1 RWA protocol on Aptos, today announced that its native token, $PACT, is now supported on the world’s most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges, including Kraken, MEXC, and Gate.
PACT Expands Access as It Builds the Future of On-Chain Finance
PACT enables end-to-end, fully programmable credit infrastructure, supporting origination, servicing, repayments, covenants, waterfalls, and stablecoin settlement entirely on-chain. Unlike traditional RWA protocols that wrap off-chain credit in tokens, PACT embeds the credit system itself into blockchain rails.
Today, PACT technology is used by fintech lenders, asset managers, and financial institutions operating across emerging markets. Its infrastructure supports real-time, cross-border stablecoin flows and high-frequency micro-loan origination at scale. It enables fully automated credit facilities with built-in risk management and end-to-end repayment and settlement pipelines.
PACT runs on Aptos, leveraging its low-latency, high-throughput architecture to deliver real-time financial operations at scale. This allows credit markets – historically fragmented, slow, and opaque – to operate at the speed, automation, and transparency of a modern financial internet.
Understanding $PACT
The $PACT token serves as the core coordination and participation layer of the protocol, enabling users and stakeholders to directly shape the network’s evolution. As the native governance asset for the PACT DAO, $PACT empowers its decentralized community of token holders to propose, vote on, and implement protocol upgrades while guiding the long-term direction of PACT’s on-chain financial infrastructure. It’s used to facilitate ecosystem rewards, support community growth, and ensure transparent management of protocol revenue and treasury resources.
“Being supported by major exchanges opens the door for more people to join PACT’s community governance and contribute to the future of global credit markets. Every step like this brings us closer to a world where credit and financial access are open, transparent, natively on-chain, and available to everyone,” said Zander Rafael, Co-Founder Pact Labs.
The token underpins the system’s economic utility through staking, which strengthens network security, aligns incentives among participants, and distributes governance power based on long-term commitment.
These functions make $PACT an essential component of the protocol’s operation and the foundation for a sustainable, community-driven financial network.
A Year of Breakthrough Momentum
PACT’s ecosystem has expanded rapidly over the past year, achieving several major milestones:
- $1.9B+ total loans originated on-chain through PACT-powered fintech partners
- Hundreds of thousands of embedded wallets created through PACT SDKs
- 2,000+ loans per day originated
- Creation of end-to-end stablecoin payroll and credit flows
These achievements demonstrate the global demand for programmable, on-chain financial systems and the critical role PACT plays in making credit more accessible, transparent, and efficient.
A New Phase of Global Accessibility
Support on these exchanges introduces PACT to a broader global audience, making it easier for users, partners, and developers worldwide to access and interact with the PACT ecosystem.
Kraken, MEXC, and Gate’s listings reinforce PACT’s position as a leading protocol building the foundation for the next generation of blockchain-powered financial systems.
About PACT
PACT develops the core wallet, data, and payment rails that bring asset-based lending fully on-chain. Our infrastructure enables fintechs and asset managers to access stablecoin capital, manage repayment flows, and scale lending operations across borders. Unlike projects focused on wrapping large institutional loans, PACT proves the model with high-frequency lending, facilitating thousands of smaller loans each day through our partners. This approach reduces reliance on traditional intermediaries, lowers the cost of capital, and expands access to credit. By helping fintechs transition into stablecoin-powered financial institutions, PACT is advancing both stablecoin adoption and the modernization of global lending.
Users can follow PACT
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Crypto World
XRPL Foundation fixes critical flaw that nearly reached mainnet
In a security-focused update, the XRP Ledger Foundation (CRYPTO: XRP) confirmed it patched a critical flaw in an upcoming amendment to Ripple’s XRP Ledger, averting a potential on-chain exploit. On February 19, a Cantina security engineer and its AI assistant detected a logic flaw in the signature-validation routine tied to a code batch amendment. The amendment had entered voting but had not activated on mainnet, and officials stressed that no funds were at risk at the time. The incident underscores how on-chain governance, automated discovery, and rapid patching interact in the evolving security landscape of public blockchains.
Key takeaways
- The flaw resided in the signature-validation logic of a code-batch amendment slated for the XRP Ledger, creating a theoretical path to unauthorized transactions if exploited.
- The amendment was still in the voting phase and had not been activated on mainnet, meaning funds were not exposed at the time of discovery.
- Cantina AI’s autonomous vulnerability hunter Apex identified the issue, highlighting the role of AI-powered tooling in proactive security workflows.
- The XRPL Foundation described the potential exploit as capable of eroding confidence in the XRP Ledger and destabilizing the broader ecosystem if left unpatched.
- An emergency patch, rippled 3.1.1, was released on February 23 to block the amendment from activating, reflecting a rapid, coordinated response by the Ripple engineering and validator communities.
Tickers mentioned: $XRP
Market context: The episode arrives amid increasing attention on governance safety, on-chain upgrade processes, and the growing use of AI-driven security tools to identify flaws before they can be exploited. While no funds were at risk in this instance, the incident underscores how rapid disclosure, responsible patching, and a mature validator environment help preserve confidence in public ledgers as the crypto industry navigates ongoing macro and regulatory uncertainties.
Why it matters
The XRPL ecosystem demonstrated a disciplined, defense-forward response to a potential class of vulnerability that could have had outsized consequences. In this case, the vulnerability lay in a signature-validation routine tied to a prospective amendment. Because the amendment had not yet activated on mainnet, the risk remained theoretical, but the XRPL Foundation’s decision to halt its momentum and push for a secure fix illustrates how governance processes can act as a safeguard against mischief or misconfigurations before they ever affect real users or funds.
Beyond the immediate incident, the episode spotlights the balance between improvement and risk in decentralized networks. Amendments that modify validation logic or consensus rules are powerful but carry operational risk; the governance cycle—proposal, testing, voting, and activation—must be coupled with robust security testing to prevent drift between code intent and on-chain behavior. The XRPL Foundation’s emphasis on a clear, auditable patch path reinforces the importance of reliability as developers push new features and optimizations onto a live ledger used by institutions and individuals alike.
On the security tooling front, the event contributes to a broader narrative about AI-enabled defense. Cantina AI’s autonomous discovery tool—Apex—identified the bug through static analysis of the rippled codebase and submitted a disclosure that allowed Ripple’s engineering teams to validate and patch the issue. This incident sits within a growing backdrop where AI-driven scanners and automated auditing are increasingly deployed to detect flaws that human inspectors might miss. Anthropic’s Claude Code Security, unveiled just days earlier, has already become a talking point in security circles, illustrating a trend toward AI-powered reasoning in vulnerability detection and remediation. As AI tools become more integrated into software development and security workflows, the industry may see faster mitigations but also a need to manage the risk of false positives and new threat surfaces introduced by automated processes.
A successful large-scale exploit could have caused substantial loss of confidence in XRPL, with potentially significant disruption for the broader ecosystem.
The investigation also aligns with broader discussions about the economics of security in crypto networks. Cantina’s Hari Mulackal has framed the potential impact in monetized terms, noting that the hypothetical loss could have been dramatic, given the scale of the XRP market capitalization. While the specific asset’s price is subject to broader market dynamics, the emphasis here is on preserving trust and functionality within the ledger’s architecture, rather than on short-term price moves.
In tandem with the technical response, the incident demonstrates how AI-enabled security tooling is reshaping incident response in crypto. The use of automated code analysis, prompt vulnerability disclosure, and rapid patching can shorten the window during which an attacker could act, shifting risk dynamics in favor of users and validators who uphold the network’s integrity. The ripple effect across ecosystems is unlikely to be isolated to one project; as more blockchains integrate similar tools, the bar for secure upgrade processes rises, potentially reducing the frequency and severity of major exploits in the future.
What to watch next
- Monitor updates on the amendment’s voting status and any new disclosures from XRPLF and Ripple’s engineering teams, including patch notes and rollback options if needed.
- Watch validator participation in rippled 3.1.1 adoption and downstream effects on on-chain performance and upgrade timelines.
- Follow Cantina AI’s ongoing research and any subsequent bug disclosures related to XRPL or comparable codebases embedded in other ledgers.
- Assess how AI-driven security tools influence governance and incident response timelines across the broader crypto ecosystem.
Sources & verification
- XRPL Foundation vulnerability disclosure report (xrpl.org/blog/2026/vulnerabilitydisclosurereport-bug-feb2026).
- XRPLF status update confirming the non-activation of the amendment on mainnet and the emergency mitigation (XRPL Foundation).
- Cantina AI and Spearbit leadership statements about the discovery and the Apex autonomous vulnerability hunter (X thread: https://x.com/hrkrshnn/status/2027191844988424343).
- Rippled 3.1.1 emergency patch details and rollout timing (XRPLF status updates).
What the wider story changes: patching a future risk
Crypto World
Bitcoin price holds above $66K support after ETF comeback, can it reclaim $70K next?
Bitcoin bulls managed to defend the $66K support level as the leading crypto asset reversed part of its strong gains yesterday that was partly fueled by a strong uptick in ETF inflows.
Summary
- Bitcoin price rebounded from above $66,000 support as its ETFs resumed an inflow trend.
- A bearish flag pattern has formed on the daily chart.
According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin (BTC) price surged nearly 7% to roughly $70,000 on Thursday as investor sentiment for risk assets was boosted following the release of a bullish Nvidia earnings report that triggered a surge in tech stocks.
Rising equity prices often act as a catalyst for a risk-on rotation. As market confidence strengthens, capital flows out of defensive positions and into high-beta sectors like cryptocurrency.
The bellwether’s rally was also supported by a strong demand seen from institutional investors for spot Bitcoin ETFs. Data from SoSoValue shows that the 12 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs drew in $506 million in net inflows on Feb. 25, nearly double the figure recorded the prior day.
Shortly after its $70K rally, Bitcoin price had retraced nearly 4% to $66,641. This selloff was accompanied by a 2% drop in Nasdaq as investors booked profits after the stock’s notable run higher into the earnings event. The drawdown created a cooling effect across the broader financial landscape.
Bitcoin has since bounced back above $67,500 after bulls lodged another attempt to reclaim the $70K threshold. The momentum was supported by the $254 million inflows recorded by spot BTC ETFs on Thursday.
Despite today’s bounce, some analysts believe Bitcoin could continue its larger downtrend that began in early January before any meaningful trend reversal takes shape.
According to analyst Ted Pillows, Bitcoin price appears to be forming a recurring fractal pattern that has historically preceded downturns.

“Once more people are convinced $60,000 was the bottom, the next dump to a new low will start,” said Pillows in a Feb. 26 X post.
Bitcoin has formed a bearish flag pattern on the daily chart. This pattern consists of a sharp price decline followed by a period of steady, upward consolidation within two parallel lines.

Historically, Bearish flags have confirmed the continuation of an ongoing downtrend after short periods of consolidation.
At press time, other technical indicators also seem to show bears are currently at an advantage. Notably, the Aroon Down was at 78.55, which is significantly higher than the Aroon Up, suggesting bears were still dominating the market trend.
The Relative Strength Index, which has moved closer toward the neutral thresholds, also indicates that there is potential room for more downside pressure before the asset hits oversold levels.
For now, $65,000 remains the key support level to watch. The level has acted as a psychological defensive line for nearly three weeks and seems to be holding strong for now, as a large cluster of buy orders and long positions was seen accumulating in this range.
A sharp drop under the $65K mark could lead bears to target $60K, a psychological level bears tried to penetrate during the Feb. 6 crash.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Crypto World
Ethereum Price Analysis: $220M Short Squeeze Drives ETH Rally Amid Rising Volatility
TLDR
- Ethereum touched $2,150 this week before encountering resistance across several technical indicators
- The $2,100 level represents a critical threshold, matching the realized price for wallets containing 100,000+ ETH
- The 30-day realized volatility for ETH approaches 0.97, marking the highest point since March 2025
- Liquidations of short positions exceeded $220M across 48 hours, while funding rates shifted into positive territory
- ETF outflow pressure shows signs of weakening, although definitive accumulation trends remain absent
Ethereum surged to $2,150 during Thursday’s trading session before experiencing a retracement. The cryptocurrency continues navigating a narrow trading corridor, with $2,000 serving as crucial support and $2,100 emerging as the next significant barrier.

Closing above $2,100 on the daily timeframe carries particular significance as this price point corresponds to the realized price for addresses holding 100,000 ETH or greater. The realized price metric represents the average acquisition cost based on the last on-chain movement, providing insight into whether major stakeholders maintain profitable positions.
Historical data from 2020 onward reveals ETH has rarely traded beneath this whale cohort’s cost basis, with the most notable exception occurring throughout 2022’s bear cycle. Previous tests of this threshold have typically preceded price recoveries.
Futures and Funding Rates
The derivatives market witnessed short position liquidations exceeding $220 million during the previous 48-hour period, eliminating substantial leveraged positions. Binance funding rates, which plunged deeply negative in early May as bearish positions accumulated, have reversed course to reach positive 0.23%.

This reversal indicates that traders who opened shorts late in the cycle faced forced liquidations. Nevertheless, with funding rates now trading at elevated positive levels, the market structure favors long positions, creating potential vulnerability for a long squeeze toward $1,800 should upward momentum weaken.
Approximately $2.66 billion in long position liquidation exposure clusters around the $1,800 price zone, establishing a substantial liquidity pocket beneath current trading levels.
Volatility and ETF Flows
Ethereum’s 30-day realized volatility measured on Binance has climbed to approximately 0.97, representing the highest measurement recorded since March 2025. Heightened volatility during this phase may indicate market uncertainty and directional indecision rather than establishing a clear trend.
Price action continues trading beneath the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day moving averages. Following the rejection near $4,800 in late 2025, each subsequent recovery attempt has established lower peaks, suggesting persistent distribution pressure.
Regarding ETF activity, selling pressure appears to be diminishing. Following substantial outflows throughout mid-2025, recent flow statistics indicate reduced movement in either direction. Institutional distribution seems to be decelerating, although convincing accumulation signals have yet to materialize.
Market analyst Leon Waidmann observed that retail participants with low conviction have predominantly exited their positions. Short interest continues declining, while highly leveraged long positions have been slow to establish meaningful presence.
Technical strategist IncomeSharks identified three overhead resistance zones, including multiple SuperTrend rejections and channel resistance positioned near $2,250. The analyst additionally highlighted April’s lows around $1,500 as a critical downside level should demand weaken once more.
At press time, ETH was changing hands at $2,034.
Crypto World
Quantum Fears, Not Jane Street, Behind Bitcoin Drop
Bitcoin’s (BTC) downturn has spurred conspiracy theories around alleged market manipulation by firms. However, Bitwise’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Matt Hougan, argues that the primary reasons are more straightforward.
This narrative highlights the ongoing debate about what drives major crypto market moves, whether it’s institutional strategies, technological threats, or fundamental market cycles.
Why is Bitcoin’s Price Dropping?
Hougan addressed widespread speculation on social media that Bitcoin’s drop was the result of coordinated moves. BeInCrypto previously reported that some users made allegations against Binance.
More recently, some community members pointed to recurring patterns such as the alleged “10 AM Bitcoin dump” by Jane Street. The executive dismissed these narratives directly, calling the actual explanation “far more boring” than the theories suggest.
“The conspiracy theories are wild. First it was Binance and then it was Wintermute and then it was an unknown offshore macro hedge fund and then it was paper bitcoin and. today it is Jane Street and next week it will be someone else,” he said.
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Hougan said the “real reason Bitcoin is down” is that long-term holders have been reducing exposure. According to him, investors cut positions by selling spot Bitcoin, closing leveraged trades, and writing covered calls, creating downward pressure on the price.
The Bitwise CIO attributed selling behavior to three factors:
- The four-year market cycle theory.
- Concerns surrounding quantum computing.
- Capital rotation from crypto into artificial intelligence (AI) startups.
The quantum computing discussion has gained traction in the crypto community recently. While MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor recently downplayed concerns about quantum risks, some investors remain cautious.
Kevin O’Leary, the Canadian businessman and Shark Tank investor, has warned that institutional investors are capping Bitcoin allocations at around 3% until the industry demonstrates a credible solution to quantum vulnerabilities. Jefferies’ global head of equity strategy, Christopher Wood, went further, removing a 10% Bitcoin allocation from the model portfolio over the same concerns.
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Crypto Winter’s Timeline and Prospects for Recovery
Meanwhile, Hougan added that most of the selling is likely complete. He claimed that Bitcoin is in the “process of bottoming” and could eventually reach new all-time highs. According to him,
“This is a classic crypto winter and there will be a classic crypto spring.”
Hougan previously stated that the current crypto winter began in January 2025, and given the 13-month historical duration, the end could be near.
On-chain analyst Willy Woo offered a more nuanced view. He said the recent sell-off appears exhausted but cautioned that deteriorating spot and futures liquidity could cap any near-term rebound.
Woo’s timeline places the end of bearish conditions in Q4 2026, with bullish momentum potentially returning in Q1 or Q2 2027.
“~45k would be a typical bear market bottom. BTC has only ever existed in a secular global macro bull market 2009-2026. If global macro breaks down, then 30k is the fall back level of support, 16k as the final line to maintain BTC’s bull trend,” Woo wrote.
The distance between these timelines reflects a broader uncertainty about where exactly the market sits in its cycle. What analysts broadly agree on is that Bitcoin’s current weakness reflects structural and psychological forces, not manipulation.
Crypto World
Australian Crypto Executives Signal Crypto Growth Despite Challenges
Australia’s crypto market is making progress in user growth and regulatory reforms, but there are still a range of issues to iron out in the sector, crypto executives told Cointelegraph.
On the sidelines of the XRP Australia 2026 event in Sydney on Friday, Coinbase APAC managing director John O’Loghlen said the country has seen positive regulatory momentum and growing expertise among those tasked with policing the industry.
“Multiple arms of government, mainly Treasury, who are writing the draft regulation and ASIC have thoroughly upskilled their teams and have pretty deep digital asset domain expertise internally. So I think there’s been pretty positive movement.”
O’Loghlen also said institutional interest and access are growing through products like crypto exchange-traded funds. Australia’s first ETF, which holds Bitcoin (BTC) directly, went live in June 2024, followed by an ETF that holds Ether (ETH) in October 2024.
He also noted that Coinbase Global’s inclusion in the Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) index offers Australian institutions a means to access crypto-related stocks, allowing them to learn “about the industry in a very passive way.”
A 2025 report from crypto exchange Independent Reserve found that crypto adoption among Australians reached 31%, up from 28% in 2024. Additionally, 29% said they planned to invest in the next 12 months.

Self-managed super fund investors eye crypto
OKX Australia CEO Kate Cooper noted that a significant area of growth for the exchange has come from sophisticated traders, self-managed super fund (SMSF) trustees and high-net-worth individuals.
At the same time, she said across the industry there are a growing number of new self-managed super funds being set up specifically so trustees can invest in digital assets, “because they currently can’t invest via the big super funds.”
SMSFs are retirement funds set up and managed by individuals, rather than conventional funds managed by large institutions on behalf of users.
In a yet-to-be-released OKX report on SMSFs, Cooper said many respondents were interested in digital assets to diversify their holdings.
“That’s the feedback that we got through the research: a significant number of people wanting a diversified portfolio, wanting not just crypto, but digital assets more broadly, to be held as part of their portfolio. And SMSF is one of the main ways to do that.”
Lingering issues remain in Australia’s crypto scene
Last September industry executives, including Cooper, told Cointelegraph that users in Australia still face banking barriers when engaging with exchanges and other crypto businesses.
“It’s absolutely still a challenge in the industry,” Cooper said. “I don’t think there’s been any improvements. And we’re working hard with governments to encourage them to set some standards around it.”
O’Loghlen also called for solutions to debanking, stronger protections for blockchain payments innovation and greater support for Australian stablecoins.
“Regulatory settings must support innovation rather than inadvertently constrain it,” he said.
Related: Crypto lobby slams Australian broadcaster’s ‘sensational’ Bitcoin article
“As the Regulation of Payment Service Providers reforms are developed, it will be important to ensure that non-custodial wallet developers and public blockchain infrastructure providers are not unintentionally captured within licensing regimes designed for intermediaries,” O’Loghlen added.
Australian legal and regulatory landscape in limbo
Meanwhile, Australian crypto lawyer Bill Morgan said the Australian legal and regulatory crypto landscape appears to be in “wait and see” mode at the moment, following the ongoing court case between the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and fintech firm Block Earner.
ASIC is appealing a Federal Court decision siding with Block Earner about whether it was required to hold a financial services license for its crypto-related products.
He also pointed to a change in government that could be slowing legislation down.
“I think to some extent it’s a function of having three-year terms. There was some momentum under the former Liberal National Party coalition government, but then, when Labor won its first term four years ago, it took a while for it to get going again.”
Magazine: 6 massive challenges Bitcoin faces on the road to quantum security
Crypto World
Bitcoin ETF holders and treasury firms stack protection against price crash below $60,000, options exchange says
Bitcoin ETF holders and corporate treasuries – the players everyone praises for their long-term vision – are stacking insurance against price crash below $60,000, cryptocurrency exchange Deribit told CoinDesk.
“ETF holders and corporate treasuries are buying 6-month and 1-year puts at $60k or below ($60,000 put, a derivative contract offering protection against potential price slide below that level) as portfolio insurance,” Jean-David Péquignot, chief commercial officer of derivatives exchange Deribit.
This put option works like insurance: It lets buyers sell bitcoin at $60,000 even if the price crashes lower, shielding ETF investors and corporate treasuries with BTC from steeper losses while they hold for the long haul.
Péquignot was responding to questions about surging interest in the $60,000 put. At the time of writing, those contracts had $1.50 billion in open interest – the highest across all strikes and expiries on Deribit. On the exchange, one contract represents one BTC. The platform accounts for nearly 80% of the global crypto options activity.
The surge in interest in $60,000 puts expiring in six months or longer signals deep fears that any price bounce could fizzle fast, paving the way for a sharper drop.
What makes this hedging even more noteworthy is that ETF holders and corporate treasuries own a significant supply of bitcoin.
Investors have poured billions into U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs and similar products worldwide in recent years. The U.S. funds alone have seen inflows of 1.26 million BTC, roughly 6% of bitcoin’s total circulating supply. Meanwhile, publicly listed firms hold about 1.14 million BTC, or 5.7% of BTC’s supply.
Bitcoin has been trading choppy below $70,000, having hit lows near $60,000 early this month, CoinDesk data show. The cryptocurrency has gained nearly 5% since Wednesday to trade near $67,500, but the options market remains unimpressed, with puts continuing to trade at a significant premium to calls or bullish bets.
“While spot price climbed, the 25-delta risk reversal remained stubborn. 30-day puts are still trading at a ~7% volatility premium over calls, signaling that smart money is still paying up for downside protection rather than chasing the pump,” Péquignot said.
He added that volatility may pick up as prices drop below $63,000. That’s because dealers and market makers who create order-book liquidity are “short gamma” at $60,000 or lower.
This means that as prices approach $60,000, these entities may sell more to rebalance their overall exposure to neutral, inadvertently adding to downside volatility.
Crypto World
AI Tool Helps Avert Critical XRP Ledger Security Flaw
XRP Ledger Foundation has confirmed it has patched a critical vulnerability found in an yet-to-be-enabled amendment of Ripple’s XRP Ledger, averting a potentially major exploit.
On February 19, a security engineer at cybersecurity firm Cantina, Pranamya Keshkamat, and the Cantina AI security bot identified a “critical logic flaw” in the signature-validation logic of Ripple’s blockchain, XRP Ledger, reported the XRP Ledger Foundation on Thursday.
The vulnerability in the signature validation code batch amendment would have allowed an attacker to execute transactions from victim accounts, including draining funds, without ever having the victim’s private keys.
“The amendment was in its voting phase and had not been activated on mainnet; no funds were at risk,” stated the XRPLF.

Exploitation may have destabilized the ecosystem
In addition to the potential theft of funds and modification of the ledger state, the vulnerability could have “destabilized the ecosystem,” the XRPLF said.
“A successful large-scale exploit could have caused substantial loss of confidence in XRPL, with potentially significant disruption for the broader ecosystem.”
Related: Cybersecurity stocks fall after Anthropic unveils Claude Code Security
Cantina and Spearbit CEO Hari Mulackal said, “our autonomous bug hunter, Apex, found this critical bug.”
“Had this been exploited, it would have been the largest security hack by dollar value in the world, with nearly $80 billion at direct risk,” he added, possibly referring to XRP (XRP) market capitalization.
Emergence of AI cybersecurity scanners
The autonomous AI security tool developed by Cantina AI identified the vulnerability via “static analysis of the rippled codebase,” and submitted a disclosure report allowing the Ripple engineering teams to validate it and begin patching the code.
Validators were advised to vote against the amendment, and an emergency release (rippled 3.1.1) was published on Feb. 23 to block the amendment from activating, stated the XRPLF.
AI is increasingly being deployed for cybersecurity purposes to sniff out code bugs that may be overlooked by human eyes.
Anthropic released Claude Code Security, its AI cybersecurity vulnerability scanner, which it claims “can reason like a skilled security researcher” on Feb. 20, causing a slide in public IT security company shares.
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Crypto World
Agentic AI Elevates CISOs in Digital Resilience
Editor’s note: Splunk’s new CISO Report highlights a shifting security landscape where CISOs are expanding AI governance and risk management as a core mandate. The study surveys 650 CISOs globally and underscores AI’s role in speeding threat detection, improving data correlation, and shaping security strategy—while leaders weigh social engineering risks and deployment pace in an era of rising threat sophistication. The findings emphasize that AI is a business enablement tool and that talent remains essential to translating technology into resilient outcomes.
Key points
- 95% cite threat actor sophistication as the greatest risk; 92% prioritize threat detection and response; 78% strengthen identity and access management; 68% invest in AI cybersecurity capabilities.
- 92% say AI enables reviewing more security events.
- 89% report improved data correlation with AI.
- 39% of CISOs who have partially or fully adopted agentic AI say it has increased their teams’ reporting speed by more than double.
- 82% believe agentic AI will increase the amount of data reviewed and speed up correlation and response.
Why this matters
AI is a strategic driver of resilience as CISOs take broader AI governance and risk duties while balancing speed and security. Talent, collaboration, and business-focused metrics will shape outcomes in an AI-enabled era.
What to watch next
- Adoption of agentic AI and its impact on detection speed and decision-making.
- Expansion of AI governance and DevSecOps responsibilities within security leadership.
- Ongoing concerns about social engineering and the need for robust threat models.
- Workforce burnout and data-sharing challenges as CISOs consolidate data and seek cross-department insights.
Disclosure: The content below is a press release provided by the company/PR representative. It is published for informational purposes.
Splunk Report: Agentic AI Takes Center Stage in CISOs’ Path to Digital Resilience
- Nearly all CISOs Report They Are Now Responsible for AI Governance and Risk Management, Cite the Growing Sophistication of Threat Actor Capabilities as Their Greatest Risk
- Vast Majority Say AI Enables More Security Events to be Reviewed
SAN JOSE, Calif. – February 25, 2026 – Cisco today announced the release of Splunk’s annual report, The CISO Report: From Risk to Resilience in the AI Era, surveying 650 global Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs). The report highlights CISOs’ rapidly expanding role, their strategic approach to AI adoption, and a steadfast commitment to human talent as they confront an increasingly complex landscape.
“CISOs operate in the eye of the storm, at the center of constant transformation. Role responsibilities expand, threats evolve, and AI accelerates everything,” said Michael Fanning, CISO, Splunk. “This expanded mandate brings an exceptional level of pressure and personal accountability. We are not just managing technology. We are managing risk, talent, and the digital resilience that drives critical business outcomes.”
The AI Imperative
AI is recognized as a powerful business imperative and productivity powerhouse for security teams, including agentic AI. The survey highlights:
- 95% of CISOs cite the growing sophistication of threat actor capabilities as their greatest risk. Ninety-two percent of CISOs say that improving threat detection and response capabilities is a top priority, followed by strengthening identity and access management (78%), and investing in AI cybersecurity capabilities (68%).
- 92% of CISOs say AI enables their teams to review more security events.
- 89% report improved data correlation with AI.
- 39% of CISOs who have partially or fully adopted agentic AI strongly agree it has increased their teams’ reporting speed by more than double the rate of those who are still exploring (18%).
- 82% of CISOs believe agentic AI will increase the amount of data reviewed and 82% say it will increase correlation and response speeds.
While CISOs’ approach AI with cautious optimism, 86% fear agentic AI will increase the sophistication of social engineering attacks, and 82% worry it will increase deployment speed and complexity of persistence mechanisms. Ultimately, AI is seen as essential for combating advanced threats and delivering significant business advantages.
Expanded Mandate and Personal Stakes
CISOs are operating at the leading edge of digital transformation, with nearly four out of five reporting their role has become significantly more complex. More than three quarters of CISOs are now worried about personal liability for security incidents, a sharp jump from last year, when just over half expressed similar fears, underscoring the high stakes involved. Nearly all respondents now report that CISOs responsibilities include AI governance and risk management, with more than four out of five also overseeing secure software development (DevSecOps).
Talent Over Tech in Closing Gaps
Despite the rise of AI, CISOs are prioritizing human capital to address critical skills gaps. Their main strategies include upskilling current workforces, hiring new full-time employees, and engaging contractors. This reflects a belief that human intelligence and creativity remain security’s most powerful tools, especially for nuanced tasks like threat hunting.
Security is a Team Sport
Shared ownership is proving critical for stronger cybersecurity outcomes. Joint accountability drives the most value for key security initiatives (62%), security budget and funding (55%), and access to security-relevant data (49%), indicating that collaboration across the C-suite is a force multiplier for resilience.
Burnout and the Quest for Clarity
The report reveals a significant challenge in workforce retention, with nearly two-thirds of security teams experiencing moderate to significant burnout. Leading stressors include:
- High alert volumes (98%)
- False alerts (94%)
- Tool fatigue (79%)
To address these issues, CISOs are consolidating security data into a single view and using data-driven narratives to translate technical nuances into clear business imperatives for non-technical leadership. However, challenges to improving cross-departmental data sharing persist, such as:
- Data privacy concerns (91%)
- High storage costs (76%)
- Lack of shared data views (70%)
Reframing Security as a Business Enabler
CISOs are increasingly focused on translating cybersecurity’s value into clear business outcomes. Incident reduction, improved Mean Time to Detect (MTTD), and Mean Time to Respond (MTTR) are the top metrics used to communicate ROI to leadership. Collaboration with C-suite peers, especially on budgeting and key initiatives, is crucial for success.
The CISO Report highlights the transformation of the CISO role into a strategic leader. The report demonstrates how these executives are effectively navigating complex challenges by championing data-driven strategies, fostering human-centric leadership, and thoughtfully integrating AI. Through these approaches, CISOs are strengthening digital resilience and empowering their organizations to thrive in an ever-evolving threat landscape.
To download the 2026 CISO Report, please visit the Splunk website.
Methodology
Oxford Economics researchers surveyed 650 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) in July and August of 2025. Respondents resided in Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They represented nine industry groups: manufacturing, telecommunications, media and communications, financial services, public sector, energy and utilities, transportation and logistics, retail and consumer goods, healthcare and life sciences, and information services and technology.
About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that is revolutionizing the way organizations connect and protect in the AI era. For more than 40 years, Cisco has securely connected the world. With its industry leading AI-powered solutions and services, Cisco enables its customers, partners and communities to unlock innovation, enhance productivity and strengthen digital resilience. With purpose at its core, Cisco remains committed to creating a more connected and inclusive future for all.
Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco’s trademarks can be found at http://www.cisco.com/go/trademarks“>http://www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word ‘partner’ does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.
Media Contact
Gabrielle Jasinski
Splunk LLC
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