The Cardano price has declined sharply in recent months, reflecting weakening investor participation. This decline did not happen alone. Cardano’s on-chain trading activity has also collapsed during the same period. Decentralized exchange trading volume has dropped by over 94% since August, hitting a six-month low.

Yet despite this collapse in participation, technical charts now show early signs of a possible reversal. This creates a conflict between weakening network activity and improving price structure.

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On-Chain Trading Activity Collapse Confirms Weak Trend

Cardano’s weekly decentralized exchange trading volume has dropped dramatically over the past six months. In August 2025, weekly volume peaked at 19,103,979 ADA. By February 16, 2026, this figure had fallen to just 1,176,723 ADA, highlighted exclusively by BeInCrypto’s Dune Dashboard.

This represents a 94% collapse in on-chain trading. This is also indicative of the low on-chain participation, as aggressively traded coins are often associated with sharp price moves.

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On-chain trading volume measures real buying and selling happening directly on the blockchain. It reflects user participation and demand. When volume falls this sharply, it shows fewer investors are actively trading the asset.

Cardano’s price has mirrored this weakness. ADA has dropped roughly 68% over the same six-month period. This confirms the downtrend was supported by declining participation and demand. However, price structure now shows early signs that this trend may be changing.

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Bullish Price Pattern Emerges, But Profit-Taking Risk Remains

Cardano is currently forming an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern on the daily chart. This is a bullish reversal pattern that appears when selling pressure weakens, and buyers begin slowly regaining control.

The left shoulder formed in January. The head formed in early February. The right shoulder has now formed near similar levels, validating the structure. However, to confirm the breakout, the daily Cardano price candle must close above $0.30.

Momentum indicator, in the form of RSI, supports this formation. The Relative Strength Index, or RSI, has formed a bullish divergence. Between December 31 and February 18, Cardano’s price made a lower low. But during the same period, RSI made a higher low. This shows selling pressure is weakening even as the price tests new lows. It confirms buyers are slowly returning.

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However, another on-chain metric introduces risk. The percentage of Cardano supply in profit dropped sharply from 27% to just 6% during the recent decline, from late January to mid-February. It has now started rising again and currently sits near 10%.

This increase shows more investors are returning to profit. While this can support recovery, it also creates selling risk. When holders return to profit, many choose to sell and secure gains. For example, on February 15, profitable supply rose near 11%. Cardano’s price dropped from $0.29 to $0.27 soon after. This was a 7% decline in a single trading session.

This shows rising profitability can trigger selling pressure even during recovery attempts, making support and resistance levels all the more important.

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Cardano Price Faces Critical Breakout Level at $0.30

Cardano now sits near its most important resistance level. The neckline of the inverse head and shoulders pattern is located at $0.30. This level will decide the next major move.

If Cardano breaks above $0.30 and closes above it, the bullish pattern would be confirmed. Based on the structure, this could push ADA toward $0.40 and $0.41. This would represent a potential 35% to 38% rally from the neckline.

However, failure to break this level would weaken the recovery attempt. If Cardano falls below $0.27 (led by possible profit booking), the bullish structure would begin weakening. A further drop below $0.22 would completely invalidate the pattern and confirm continued downside.

For now, Cardano sits at a critical decision point. On-chain trading confirms participation has collapsed. But technical indicators suggest a possible reversal. The next move above $0.30 or below $0.27 will determine whether Cardano begins a true recovery or resumes its longer-term decline.

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said he owns “very little, but some” bitcoin, although he continues to follow the asset closely as part of a broader interest in how technology is reshaping finance.

“I’m an observer of bitcoin,” Solomon said at the World Liberty Forum on Wednesday, saying he’s still trying to understand how it moves.

While Goldman Sachs has taken a cautious approach to digital assets, the firm’s leadership sees crypto as part of a longer-term shift in financial infrastructure, Solomon noted.

He dismissed the idea that traditional banks and crypto firms are locked in a zero-sum fight. “It’s one system, it’s our system,” he said. “We have to do it the right way … and there’s going to be disagreements and that’s OK.”

Solomon said the evolution of markets is being shaped by large-scale technology platforms, and tokenization will play a central role.

“The evolution of those platforms … there’s obvious impact,” he said. “Tokenization … that I think is super important.”

While other banking giants such as JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have pushed deeper into the digital asset space, Goldman Sachs’ involvement has been limited so far. The main reason, according to Solomon, is regulation.

“Until 10 minutes ago, the regulatory structure was extremely prohibitive,” he jokingly said, but suggested that as regulators begin providing greater latitude for companies to get “more involved” in the sector, Goldman may take another look.

Read more: Goldman Sachs sees regulation driving next wave of institutional crypto adoption

‘Got to get it right’

Solomon criticized the economic effects of overregulation.

“When you burden this system with excessive regulation, you start to extract capital,” he said. “That absolutely happened in the last five years.”

He emphasized getting the approach right. “It’s got to be done thoughtfully, and we’ve got to get it right.”

Solomon previously said that the banking giant is ramping up its research and internal discussions around crypto-adjacent technologies, including tokenization and prediction markets.

Read more: Goldman is ‘spending a lot of time’ on crypto, prediction markets efforts, CEO Solomon says

Crypto prices fell across majors on Thursday, with ether, XRP and Solana leading declines as traders struggled to extend this week’s brief stabilization.

Bitcoin traded near $66,700, down about 1.7% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk market data. Ether slipped a similar amount to around $1,965, while XRP fell nearly 5% and Solana dropped close to 4%. BNB and Dogecoin were also in the red, reflecting broad weakness rather than token-specific moves.

The slide came even as Asian equities pushed higher in thin holiday trading. MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index outside Japan rose about 0.5%, Japan’s Nikkei gained roughly 0.85%, and South Korea’s Kospi jumped around 3% to a record high.

The move followed a rebound in U.S. tech stocks after Nvidia signed a multi-year deal to supply Meta Platforms with AI chips.

Crypto did not participate in that optimism. Instead, price action remains heavy. Recent bounces have been met with steady selling, with gains fading as soon as momentum stalls.

Unlike earlier in the quarter, the market is no longer unraveling on every push lower, but it is also failing to attract sustained spot demand that would shift the tone.

The dollar firmed after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting showed policymakers were in no rush to cut rates. Some officials even flagged the possibility of rate hikes if inflation remains sticky.

A stronger dollar typically tightens global liquidity and weighs on risk assets, and crypto’s pullback tracked that pattern.

Gold has been doing what gold does best, absorbing uncertainty with quiet strength even as risk assets chop around, and that contrast is sharpening the debate over whether bitcoin can still claim “digital gold” status.

Alex Tsepaev, chief strategy officer at B2PRIME Group, said in an email to CoinDesk that he metal’s resilience reflects investors reaching for the simplest hedge in a market still jittery on geopolitics, policy and the Fed.

“I believe that gold will continue to be a default haven and will probably attempt to break through the tough $5,000–$5,100 ceiling. That said, once risk appetite returns, ETF flows stabilize, and U.S. regulations stop dragging, Bitcoin may recover considerably more quickly,” he said.

“After all, Bitcoin attracts liquidity faster than gold, partly because it’s still sometimes referred to as a speculative asset.”

Oil prices held onto recent gains amid lingering U.S.-Iran tensions, keeping geopolitical risk in the background. Against that backdrop, crypto remains caught between periodic relief rallies and a macro environment that is not yet supportive enough to turn them into something more durable.

Key takeaways

• Address poisoning exploits behavior, not private keys. Attackers manipulate transaction history and rely on users mistakenly copying a malicious lookalike address.

• Cases such as the 50-million-USDT loss in 2025 and the 3.5 wBTC drain in February 2026 demonstrate how simple interface deception can lead to massive financial damage.

• Copy buttons, visible transaction history and unfiltered dust transfers make poisoned addresses appear trustworthy within wallet interfaces.

• Because blockchains are permissionless, anyone can send tokens to any address. Wallets typically display all transactions, including spam, which attackers use to plant malicious entries.

Most crypto users believe that their funds stay secure as long as their private keys are protected. However, as a rising number of scams show, this is not always the case. Scammers have been using an insidious tactic, address poisoning, to steal assets without ever accessing the victim’s private key.

In February 2026, a phishing scheme targeted a Phantom Chat feature. Using an address poisoning tactic, attackers successfully drained roughly 3.5 Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), worth more than $264,000.

In 2025, a victim lost $50 million in Tether’s USDt (USDT) after copying a poisoned address. Such incidents have highlighted how poor interface design and everyday user habits can result in massive losses.

Prominent crypto figures like Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao have publicly urged wallets to add stronger safeguards following address poisoning incidents.

This article explains how address poisoning scams exploit user behavior rather than private key theft. It details how attackers manipulate transaction history, why the tactic succeeds on transparent blockchains and what practical steps users and wallet developers can take to reduce the risk.

What address poisoning really involves

Unlike traditional hacks that target private keys or exploit code flaws, address poisoning manipulates a user’s transaction history to deceive them into sending funds to the wrong address.

Usually, the attack proceeds in the following way:

1. Scammers identify high-value wallets via public blockchain data.

2. They create a wallet address that closely resembles one the victim often uses. For example, the attacker may match the first and last few characters.

3. They send a small or zero-value transaction to the victim’s wallet from this fake address.

4. They rely on the victim copying the attacker’s address from their recent transaction list later.

5. They collect the funds when the victim accidentally pastes and sends them to the malicious address.

The victim’s wallet and private keys remain untouched, and blockchain cryptography stays unbroken. The scam thrives purely on human error and trust in familiar patterns.

Did you know? Address poisoning scams surged alongside the rise of Ethereum layer-2 networks, where lower fees make it cheaper for attackers to mass-send dust transactions to thousands of wallets at once.

How attackers craft deceptive addresses

Crypto addresses are lengthy hexadecimal strings, often 42 characters on Ethereum-compatible chains. Wallets usually show only a truncated version, such as “0x85c…4b7,” which scammers take advantage of. Fake addresses have identical beginnings and endings, while the middle portion differs.

Legitimate address (example format):

0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc454e4438f44e

Poisoned lookalike address:

0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc454e4438f4Ae

Scammers use vanity address generators to craft these near-identical strings. The fake one appears in the victim’s transaction history thanks to the dusting transfer. To users, it looks trustworthy at a glance, especially since they rarely verify the full address string.

Did you know? Some blockchain explorers now automatically label suspicious dusting transactions, helping users spot potential poisoning attempts before interacting with their transaction history.

Why this scam succeeds so well

There are several intertwined factors that make address poisoning devastatingly effective:

1. Human limitations in handling long strings: Because addresses are not human-friendly, users rely on quick visual checks at the beginning and end. Scammers exploit this tendency.

2. Convenient but risky wallet features: Many wallets offer easy copy buttons next to recent transactions. While this feature is helpful for legitimate use, it becomes risky when spam entries sneak in. Investigators such as ZachXBT have pointed to cases where victims copied poisoned addresses directly from their wallet UI.

3. No need for technical exploits: Because blockchains are public and permissionless, anyone can send tokens to any address. Wallets usually display all incoming transactions, including spam, and users tend to trust their own history.

The vulnerability lies in behavior and UX, not in encryption or key security.

Why keys aren’t enough protection

Private keys control authorization, meaning they ensure only you can sign transactions. However, they cannot verify whether the destination address is correct. Blockchain’s core traits — permissionless access, irreversibility of transactions and trust minimization — mean malicious transactions get permanently recorded.

In these scams, the user willingly signs the transfer. The system functions exactly as designed, and the flaw lies in human judgment.

Underlying psychological and design issues involve:

• Routine habits: People tend to repeatedly send funds to the same addresses, so they copy from their transaction history instead of reentering addresses.

• Cognitive strain: Transactions involve multiple steps, such as addresses, fees, networks and approvals. Many users find scrutinizing every character tedious.

• Truncated displays: Wallet UIs hide most of the address, leading to partial checks.

Did you know? In certain cases, attackers automate address lookalike generation using GPU-powered vanity tools, allowing them to produce thousands of near-identical wallet addresses within minutes.

Practical ways to stay safer

While address poisoning exploits user behavior rather than technical vulnerabilities, small changes in transaction habits can significantly reduce the risk. Understanding a few practical safety measures can help crypto users avoid costly mistakes without requiring advanced technical knowledge.

For users

Simple verification habits and transaction discipline can significantly reduce your chances of falling victim to address poisoning scams.

• Build and use a verified address book or whitelist for frequent recipients.

• Verify the full address. Use a checker or compare it character by character before making payments.

• Never copy addresses from recent transaction history. Instead, reenter addresses or use bookmarks.

• Ignore or report unsolicited small transfers as potential poisoning attempts.

For wallet developers

Thoughtful interface design and built-in safeguards can minimize user error and make address poisoning attacks far less effective.

• Filtering or hiding low-value spam transactions

• Similarity detection for recipient addresses

• Pre-signing simulations and risk warnings

• Built-in poisoned address checks via onchain queries or shared blacklists.

The $40,000 put option has emerged as one of the most significant positions in bitcoin’s market ahead of the Feb. 27 expiry, highlighting strong demand for downside protection after a bruising selloff.

Options are derivatives that give holders the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell bitcoin at a predetermined price before expiry. Put options act as insurance against price declines, paying out if BTC falls below a set strike.

The $40,000 put is the second-largest strike by open interest, with roughly $490 million in notional value tied to that level, underscoring appetite for deep tail-risk hedges. BTC has declined by up to 50% from its October highs and is now trading around $66,000, reshaping positioning across the board as traders hedge against further losses.

Data from Deribit, the Dubai-based exchange owned by Coinbase, shows that roughly $7.3 billion in bitcoin options notional value is set to expire at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, $566 million sits at the $75,000 strike, which also represents the max pain level. Max pain refers to the price at which the greatest number of options expire worthless, minimizing payouts to buyers. With the spot price trading below $75,000, a move higher into expiry could reduce losses for call sellers.

Although calls outweigh puts overall, with 63,547 call contracts versus 45,914 puts, positioning is not purely bullish. The put-to-call ratio of 0.72 indicates that upside bets still dominate, but the concentration of sizeable put open interest at lower strikes highlights clear demand for downside insurance.

Traders retain exposure to a rebound, but are simultaneously hedging against the risk of another sharp leg lower.

Bitcoin BTC$67,121.29 can’t seem to pick a direction, wildly swinging in the early hours of the Wednesday U.S. session with dips quickly bought and bounces erased just as fast.

Losing its overnight push above $68,500, BTC dumped below $67,000 at the start of U.S. trading. Buyers quickly stepped in, driving a sharp rebound to $68,300, but the bounce proved fleeting with prices quickly falling back to $67,000. Ether (ETH) followed a similar path, dipping back below $2,000 and down roughly 1% over the past 24 hours.

Part of the crosscurrents came from traditional markets. On one hand, a steadier tone in risk assets came as concerns around artificial intelligence disruption in the tech sector cooled. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV), a proxy for the software sector that had been under pressure over the past weeks, bounced 1.9% in morning trading, suggesting some relief.

The broader Nasdaq was higher by 1.3% and the S&P 500 by 0.85%>

On the other hand, geopolitical jitters are back as traders increasingly brace for potential escalation between the U.S. and Iran. Traders on the prediction market Polymarket now assign more than 50% odds that the U.S. will launch strikes against Iran before March 15, up from about 30% just a day ago.

Gold climbed 2.5% to reclaim the $5,000 level, while silver surged 6%. U.S. crude oil jumped more than 3% to above $64 a barrel, underscoring heightened supply risks.

Despite the choppy crypto price action, crypto-related equities were bouncing. Exchange giant Coinbase (COIN), stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) and digital asset investment firm Galaxy (GLXY) were all 3%-5% higher.

Miners and AI-linked data center plays such as Riot Platforms (RIOT) and IREN (IREN) outperformed further, with each posting gains of 5.5%.

Bitcoin is on course to print its fifth consecutive weekly loss, which would mark the first such streak since March to May 2022, when bitcoin went down for nine consecutive weeks.

As of Thursday Asia time, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap is already down roughly 3% on the week, below $67,000, according to CoinDesk market data, and leaving it vulnerable to another weekly red close.

Macro pressures are adding to the technical weakness. According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. has amassed its largest concentration of air power in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq invasion. While Washington is reportedly prepared to launch strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump has not made a final decision, with Polymarket bettors giving a 27% chance of strikes occurring by the end of the month.

The geopolitical uncertainty has lifted the dollar index to 97.7, its highest level since Feb. 6, while WTI crude oil has climbed to $65 from Wednesday’s $62 low. A stronger dollar and rising oil prices typically weigh on risk assets, creating additional headwinds for bitcoin, reinforcing a negative weekly close.

Bitcoin has declined by more than 50% from its October all-time high near $126,500 to levels as low as $60,000.

On a monthly basis, bitcoin has recorded five straight declines since October, the second-longest losing streak on record, surpassed only by the six-month slide from 2018 to 2019.

Against gold, bitcoin is down seven consecutive months relative to the precious metal, its longest stretch of underperformance in that pairing.

World Liberty Financial has unveiled plans to roll out an institutional-grade real-world asset product, starting with a tokenized investment linked to Trump International Hotel & Resort, Maldives.

The goal of the project, which is being developed in partnership with Securitize and DarGlobal PLC, is to tokenize loan revenue interests tied to the upscale resort. 

According to WLFI’s Feb. 18 statement, the offering is designed for accredited and eligible investors, providing access to fixed yield and revenue streams within a regulated framework.

How the tokenized product is structured

The initial offering will provide investors with fixed returns and access to loan-related income generated by the resort. Revenue from interest payments will be distributed through the token structure, allowing holders to gain exposure to the asset’s performance without direct property ownership.

The company noted that the product will operate within a regulated securities framework under Regulation D and Regulation S. Tokens will not be registered for public sale in the United States and may only be offered through approved exemptions.

Eric Trump, co-founder of WLFI, said the initiative aims to bring tokenized real estate to decentralized finance in a compliant way. He described the Maldives project as a flagship example of how high-end property can move on-chain.

“We built World Liberty Financial to open up decentralized finance to the world. With today’s announcement, we are now extending that access to tokenized real estate.”

— Eric Trump, co-founder of World Liberty Financial.

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Securitize chief executive officer Carlos Domingo said scalable and compliant real estate tokens could see strong global demand, while DarGlobal CEO Ziad El Chaar called the partnership a step toward improving liquidity in private real estate markets.

The announcement clarified that The Trump Organization is not directly involved in issuing or promoting the tokens, and that branding is used under a licensing agreement.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) also noted that the tokens may later be supported on multiple public blockchains and could be used as collateral through its WLFI Markets platform, where permitted by law.

Broader expansion strategy

The real estate launch follows a series of recent efforts by WLFI to position itself in institutional digital finance. On the same day as the announcement, the company hosted the World Liberty Forum at Mar-a-Lago, bringing together executives from firms including Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq, and Franklin Templeton.

The private event focused on digital assets, stablecoins, artificial intelligence, and monetary policy, according to people familiar with the gathering.

WLFI also announced a separate partnership with Apex Group to pilot its USD1 stablecoin for settlements in tokenized fund operations. The agreement will help integrate blockchain-based payments into traditional fund administration.

In a letter sent on February 18 activist investor Starboard Value LP called on Riot Platforms to urgently execute its transition from bitcoin mining to a premier artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (AI/HPC) data center provider.

Starboard: Riot Platforms sitting on a multi-billion dollar AI payday

“We believe Riot is on its way to a transformation from a bitcoin miner to a best-in-class AI/HPC
data center company,” Starboard said in the letter.

While praising recent governance improvements, Starboard warned that “time is of the essence” as the company continues to underperform its peers.

Starboard highlighted Riot Platform’s “massive” opportunity, centered on its 1.7GW of available power across two flagship sites in Corsicana and Rockdale, Texas. As the AI industry faces severe power constraints and multi-year grid interconnection delays, Starboard contends that Riot’s already-powered sites are among the most attractive in the nation.

The investor pointed to Riot’s January 2026 deal with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) as a “positive signal” and proof of concept. Under the agreement, AMD committed to 25MW which is expected to generate $311 million in revenue over a 10-year term with an 80% EBITDA margin.

Starboard’s analysis suggests Riot is also significantly undervalued. If Riot successfully monetizes its remaining 1.4GW of capacity in line with recent industry transactions, it could generate over $1.6 billion in annual EBITDA. Using valuation multiples of 12.5x to 20x, Starboard estimates the AI/HPC business alone could contribute between $9 billion and $21 billion in equity value, implying a share price of $23 to $53.

Despite these prospects, Starboard Managing Member Peter Feld noted that Riot’s stock has materially lagged behind peers who signed larger AI deals earlier. The letter urged Riot to focus on “highest-quality” investment-grade tenants and warned that if management cannot execute quickly, the company should consider itself a candidate for consolidation due to the scarcity of its power assets.

“Riot is now positioned to focus on executing its AI/HPC strategy,” Feld wrote, “but it must execute with excellence and urgency”^.