TLDR

• Russia is exploring ways to aid Cuba, which is facing a severe fuel shortage.
• Russia emphasizes “constructive dialogue” with the U.S. over the situation in Cuba.
• The U.S. threatens sanctions on countries supplying oil to Cuba, escalating tensions.
• U.S. tariff revenue has surged by over 300%, reaching $124 billion for the year.
• The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on tariffs could impact the country’s fiscal health.

On Thursday, the Kremlin expressed its willingness to provide assistance to Cuba, which is grappling with a severe fuel shortage. In response to the growing crisis, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, stating that Moscow had limited trade with Cuba. Tensions continue to rise, as the U.S. threatens sanctions on any country supplying oil to the Caribbean island.

Kremlin Addresses Oil Supply for Cuba

The Kremlin confirmed that it was exploring options to aid Cuba with its escalating energy crisis. According to a local media report, Peskov acknowledged the strained relationship but assured that the Kremlin would not seek to escalate tensions.

Peskov emphasized the need for constructive dialogue between Russia and the U.S. regarding the situation. Cuba, already struggling under a 60-year U.S. trade embargo, is facing a deepening economic crisis exacerbated by a fuel shortage. Moscow’s support could play a pivotal role in alleviating some of Cuba’s immediate challenges.

Despite this, Russia has refrained from making any public commitments, citing the sensitivity of the matter. Peskov further added that such issues must be discussed discreetly due to their delicate nature. As Cuba’s energy crisis worsens, international airlines, including Air Canada, have already canceled flights to the island, underscoring the extent of the fuel shortage.

U.S. Tariff Revenue Surges Amid Ongoing Disputes

Meanwhile, U.S. tariff revenue has surged by over 300% in recent months, bringing in $30 billion in January alone. This sharp increase follows President Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on a wide range of goods.  The tariff revenue for the year has already reached $124 billion, reflecting the aggressive trade policies pursued by the White House.

However, this rise in revenue comes as the U.S. waits for a crucial Supreme Court ruling on the legality of these tariffs. The Supreme Court has yet to issue its decision on the justification for the tariffs, with oral arguments held last November.

A ruling is expected soon, and a negative verdict could have implications for the U.S. economy. If the court finds the tariffs unjustified, the U.S. could be required to reimburse the duties collected, which would affect the country’s fiscal health.

As the U.S. faces this legal uncertainty, the tariff policy remains a key factor in shaping the nation’s economic outlook. Although tariff revenue has helped reduce the budget deficit by 26% compared to last year, the U.S. continues to struggle with its national debt. In January alone, interest payments on the debt totaled $76 billion, highlighting the ongoing financial strain.

The United States National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has laid out its first proposed rules under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, detailing how subsidiaries of federally insured credit unions could apply to become federally supervised payment stablecoin issuers. This marks a tangible step toward setting a licensing and oversight framework for a niche of digital assets that regulators view as both a payments solution and a potential systemic risk. The proposal aligns with the NCUA’s broader mandate to supervise credit unions that collectively serve roughly 144 million members and manage about $2.38 trillion in assets as of mid-2025. If the rulemaking proceeds, issuers would need an NCUA-permitted payment stablecoin issuer (PPSI) license before issuing coins, and federally insured credit unions would face investment and lending restrictions related to PPSIs. The agency has also signaled that a forthcoming rule will implement GENIUS Act standards for PPSIs, addressing reserves, capital, liquidity, illicit finance controls, and information technology risk management.

The agency’s stance reflects a cautious yet orderly approach to stabilizing the regulatory ground for stablecoins issued through bank-like affiliates. The NPRM focuses on licensing architecture and investment limits, laying the groundwork for a regulated path to potential stablecoin services for credit union members. The policy landscape around stablecoins in the U.S. has evolved alongside ongoing discussions about the GENIUS Act’s broader technical standards, including soundness provisions and risk controls that would govern PPSIs. Notably, the draft emphasizes that any licensing framework would be built around separate supervised subsidiaries rather than direct issuance by insured depository institutions themselves. This structural choice mirrors a recurring policy design across U.S. banking and payments regulation, seeking to isolate stablecoin activities within regulated, auditable entities while preserving the safety and soundness of the parent institutions.

The draft is notable for its clock and openness provisions. A key feature is a 120‑day deadline to approve or deny an application once it has been deemed substantially complete. If the agency does not act within that period, the application would be deemed approved by default. The rule also ensures a level playing field by stating that an issuer’s choice to operate on an open, public, or decentralized network cannot be used as the sole reason to deny a PPSI application. In addition, the NPRM reiterates a core GENIUS Act design principle: insured depository institutions, including credit unions, would not issue payment stablecoins directly; rather, they would channel activities through separately supervised subsidiaries that meet uniform federal standards.

Stakeholders now have a 60‑day window from the Federal Register publication to comment on the proposed rule before the NCUA moves to finalize or revise the licensing framework. The proposal, in its current form, serves as a narrow but important first step in shaping licensing, oversight, and investment parameters for PPSIs. A second wave of rulemaking is anticipated to implement the GENIUS Act’s broader standards for PPSIs, including risk management and anti‑money‑laundering controls.

​​Public chain neutral and 120‑day clock

Two features stand out for the broader crypto market. First, the NCUA would be barred from denying a substantially complete application solely because a stablecoin is issued “on an open, public, or decentralized network,” language that explicitly prevents public blockchain issuance from being rejected on that basis alone. Second, once an application is deemed “substantially complete,” the agency would have 120 days to approve or deny it, and if the NCUA fails to act within that window, the application would be “deemed approved” by default.

The draft also implements a central GENIUS Act design choice: insured depository institutions, including credit unions, cannot issue payment stablecoins directly and must instead use separately supervised subsidiaries that meet uniform federal standards. For credit unions, that generally means routing activity through credit union service organizations and other qualifying entities that fall under NCUA’s jurisdiction as “subsidiaries of an insured credit union.” The document, however, is only a notice of proposed rulemaking. Stakeholders have 60 days from Federal Register publication to comment before the NCUA can finalize or revise the licensing regime.

The NPRM signals a cautious but deliberate approach to how traditional financial institutions might intersect with digital assets through regulated vehicles. While the GENIUS Act has been a focal point of debate among policymakers, this initial draft concentrates on licensing mechanics and investment boundaries, deliberately deferring the detailed standards to a forthcoming proposal. The NCUA’s posture suggests an intent to create a controlled pathway for any PPSI that seeks to serve members, rather than open the door to a broad, unregulated stablecoin issuance environment.

As the public comment period opens, market participants and industry observers will be watching for how the agency delineates eligibility criteria for PPSIs, how it defines “substantial completeness,” and how the licensing process interacts with other federal regulators. The regulatory cadence around stablecoins remains a dynamic frontier in U.S. financial policy, particularly as other jurisdictions pursue their own approaches to stablecoin governance and payments infrastructure.

For now, the rulemaking is narrowly scoped to licensing and investment limits. A forthcoming proposal will implement GENIUS Act standards and restrictions for PPSIs, including reserves, capital, liquidity, illicit finance safeguards, and IT risk management. The NCUA indicated in the notice that the GENIUS Act’s standards would provide a cohesive framework for the prudential oversight of PPSIs operating via insured credit unions’ subsidiaries.

What to watch next

• 60‑day comment period following Federal Register publication to shape the final rule.
• Release of the final PPSI licensing framework, including application procedures and eligibility criteria.
• Publication of the GENIUS Act–driven standards for PPSIs, covering reserves, capital, liquidity, and IT risk management.
• Any regulatory guidance on investments by credit unions in PPSIs and related vehicle structures through subsidiaries.
• Potential pilot programs or demonstrations of PPSI services within insured credit unions, subject to approvals.

Sources & verification

• NCUA press release: NC UA proposes rule permitting payment stablecoin issuer applications — https://ncua.gov/newsroom/press-release/2026/ncua-proposes-rule-permitted-payment-stablecoin-issuer-applications
• NCUA press release: NC UA releases second quarter 2025 credit union system performance data — https://ncua.gov/newsroom/press-release/2025/ncua-releases-second-quarter-2025-credit-union-system-performance-data
• GENIUS Act overview and implications — https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/genius-act-how-it-could-reshape-us-stablecoin-regulation
• Magazine coverage: Bitcoin stablecoins showdown looms as GENIUS Act nears — https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/bitcoin-stablecoins-showdown-looms-genius-act-nears/

Are SHIB bulls about to face another massive setback?

Shiba Inu (SHIB) has lately been a pale shadow of its former self, with its valuation tumbling by double digits in a matter of weeks.

According to some analysts, the bad days for the bulls might be just starting.

Devastating Crash Ahead?

As of press time, SHIB trades at around $0.000006127, representing a 20% decline on a 14-day scale. Its market cap slipped to around $3.6 billion, making it the 30th-biggest cryptocurrency. Recall that it ranked much higher in the spring of last year when the capitalization neared $10 billion.

One popular analyst who touched upon the meme coin’s downfall is Ali Martinez. He claimed that the recent drop below $0.00000667 could have opened the door to a much deeper collapse to as low as $0.00000138. Such a move south would represent a whopping 77% crash from current levels.

Several key indicators also suggest that SHIB’s price could be headed for a further plunge. Over the past 24 hours, the Shiba Inu team and community have burned a negligible 483 coins, representing a 99% decline from yesterday’s figure.

The ultimate goal of the mechanism, adopted in 2022, is to reduce the meme coin’s overall supply, potentially making it more valuable in time (assuming demand remains constant or heads north). Data shows that the current circulating supply is roughly 585.46 trillion tokens after more than 410.7 trillion SHIB have been scorched over the years.

Meanwhile, Shibburn – the X account spreading information about the recent token burns – has been inactive lately. The last update on the matter, from January 9, showed that the daily and weekly burn rates have been unimpressive.

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Shiba Inu’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) supports the bearish scenario. Over the past few hours, the metric’s ratio exceeded 70, indicating the asset is overbought and could be gearing up for a pullback. The technical analysis tool ranges from 0 to 100, where readings between 30 and 70 are considered neutral, whereas anything below 30 may be viewed as a buying opportunity.

Can the Bulls Return?

Contrary to Martinez’s grim prediction, the analyst who goes by the X moniker Vuori Trading argued that SHIB may explode in the foreseeable future.

They claimed that the asset remains in the “bear trap” stage, characterizing the setup as “pure manipulation before shooting higher.” The analyst set a target of “at least” $0.00014, which would be an all-time high and represent a staggering 2,200% increase from the ongoing valuation.

Despite the recent price plunge, SHIB investors don’t appear to be rushing to sell. In fact, CryptoQuant’s data shows that the number of coins stored on exchanges has declined over the past month. This trend signals a shift toward self-custody and reduces immediate selling pressure.

Key Takeaways

• Bitcoin trades near $67,000, down 47% from peaks, while wider crypto markets suffer a $2 trillion rout.
• Hong Kong officials reaffirmed support at Consensus 2026, citing $3.71 billion in tokenized deposits.
• Institutional focus in HK contrasts sharply with South Korean retail traders currently fleeing the market.

Following the aggressive sell-off toward the $1.8K demand region, Ethereum stabilised and produced a corrective rebound. However, this recovery lacks strong momentum and is unfolding within a broader bearish structure. The current price behaviour indicates a potential consolidation between a well-defined demand zone below and an overhead supply area that continues to cap upside attempts.

Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, ETH remains within a descending channel, with the price trading below both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, which are now sloping downward and serving as dynamic resistance. The recent breakdown below the prior major swing low around $2.4K accelerated the sell-off, confirming bearish continuation and triggering a move toward the $1.8K demand zone.

The rebound from this crucial zone shows that buyers are defending this key historical support, which previously acted as an accumulation area. However, the price is currently trading at approximately $2K and remains below the internal resistance near $2.2K.

As long as Ethereum remains between $1.8K and $2.2K, the market is likely to consolidate within this range. A daily close below $1.8K would expose the next lower liquidity pocket toward $1.6K, while a reclaim of $2.2K could open the path toward the $2.6K supply region.

ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart

Zooming into the 4-hour timeframe, the price action reveals a compression structure following the sharp decline. Ethereum formed a local bottom near $1.8K and then produced a higher low, creating a short-term ascending trendline against the broader downtrend. At the same time, a descending resistance line from the recent swing high continues to cap price, forming a tightening range.

The immediate supply lies around $2.2K, where the previous breakdown occurred, while the nearest demand remains at $1.8K. With price hovering near $1,960, Ethereum appears to be consolidating between these two zones. A breakout above $2.2K on the 4-hour chart would signal short-term bullish continuation toward $2.4K, whereas a breakdown below $1.8K would likely invalidate the consolidation scenario and resume the dominant bearish trend.

Overall, the structure remains bearish on higher timeframes, but in the short term, Ethereum is compressing between $1.8K demand and $2.8K supply, and the next impulsive move will likely emerge from a decisive break of this range.

Sentiment Analysis

The ETH liquidation heatmap over the last 6 months provides critical confirmation of the bearish technical structure. A significant concentration of liquidity has been built around and just below the $2K level, which has recently acted as a strong magnet for price. The sharp sell-off into this area confirms that downside liquidity was actively targeted, resulting in a large flush of leveraged long positions.

Despite this liquidation event, the heatmap still reveals residual liquidity pockets extending slightly below current price levels, indicating that the market may not have fully exhausted its downside objectives yet. These remaining clusters continue to exert gravitational pull on price, especially if spot demand remains weak and derivatives positioning rebuilds on the long side too quickly.

That said, the intensity of liquidations around the $2K zone suggests that a meaningful portion of forced selling has already occurred. This reduces immediate liquidation pressure and explains the short-term stabilization seen after the drop. However, from an on-chain perspective, this behavior supports consolidation or corrective rebounds, not a confirmed trend reversal, unless liquidity interest decisively shifts back above current levels.

In summary, on-chain data aligns closely with the technical picture: Ethereum is still operating in a bearish liquidity-driven environment, with downside risks remaining active as long as price fails to reclaim key supply zones and attract sustained spot demand.

In a market where crypto cycles rise and fall while AI feels inevitable and biotech plays out over decades, YZi Labs is deliberately positioning itself across multiple technological frontiers.

The unifying thesis is “to focus on the things haven’t happened yet, and to focus on the people who are there to dream them up and to make it happen,” head of YZi Labs Ella Zhang said at Consensus Hong Kong 2026 on Thursday.

YZi, formerly Binance Labs, invests across AI, biotech and Web3, balancing time horizons, particularly as crypto “feels very cyclical at the moment,” while AI adoption accelerates, Zhang said.

“Focus on user demand. Is there real demand happen or the demand is imagined?” she said. Instead of chasing narratives, the firm pressures founders on product fundamentals: what pain point is being solved, how distribution works, and whether there are early signals that the problem truly matters.

That philosophy also shapes capital deployment. “We’re not obligated to deploy all the capital we have,” Zhang said, emphasizing that checks follow conviction, not the other way around. YZi aims to be an early backer but continues supporting companies across multiple rounds, offering mentorship and strategic resources alongside funding.

On infrastructure, Zhang pointed to BNB Chain’s scale as a natural distribution layer, with “thousands of protocols” and “hundreds of millions of users” forming a ready ecosystem for new applications. At the same time, YZi is “very, very open for the founders to fail and welcome them to come back,” she said, framing failure as part of long-term founder development.

As for product trends, Zhang called stablecoins the first true mass-market application beyond trading. “Stablecoins are currently a very good application for crypto to go to mass adoption,” she said, citing improving compliance frameworks globally. Still, she sees further work ahead in custody, exchange infrastructure and on-chain FX before stablecoins fully mature.

Editor’s note: In crypto and fintech security, email remains a critical attack vector. The 2025 Kaspersky findings show a sharp rise in malicious and potentially unwanted emails, with spam accounting for nearly half of global traffic and millions of dangerous attachments hitting users. For crypto firms and investors, these trends mean more phishing, more BEC attempts, and combined-channel scams that blend email with messaging apps and even legitimate-looking services. This editorial summarizes the implications and directs attention to the press release’s key points, which detail where threats are coming from, how attackers adapt, and practical defenses for the year ahead.

Key points

• 44.99% of global email traffic was spam in 2025.
• Over 144 million malicious and potentially unwanted email attachments.
• APAC led detections at 30%, Europe 21%, with China 14% among top countries.
• Detections peaked in June, July and November.
• Trends include cross-channel scams, evasion techniques, platform abuse, and refined BEC tactics.

Why this matters

Kaspersky’s 2025 telemetry shows 44.99% of global email traffic was spam, with 144 million malicious attachments and APAC leading detections, underscoring rising phishing risks.

Attackers increasingly blend email with other channels, employ advanced disguises, and imitate legitimate services, creating risk for crypto platforms and users alike. Staying ahead requires awareness, user training, and layered security measures.

What to watch next

• Monitor cross-channel phishing and fraudulent outreach patterns.
• Watch for increased use of legitimate platforms to send spam and scams.
• Be vigilant for refined BEC tactics and fake email threads.
• Strengthen phishing awareness and security controls across organizations.

Disclosure: The content below is a press release provided by the company/PR representative. It is published for informational purposes.

Kaspersky reports 15% growth in malicious email attacks in 2025

12 February 2026

According to Kaspersky telemetry, almost every second email – 44.99% of global traffic – was spam in 2025. Spam consists not only of unsolicited emails, but can also include various email threats such as scam, phishing and malware. In 2025, individuals and corporate users encountered over 144 million malicious and potentially unwanted email attachments, representing a 15% increase compared to the previous year figures.

In 2025, APAC had the largest share of email antivirus detections: it reached 30%, followed by Europe with 21%. Next came Latin America (16%) and the Middle East (15%), Russia and CIS (12%) and Africa (6%). As for individual countries, China had the highest rate of malicious and potentially unwanted email attachments, with the share of email antivirus detections of 14%. Russia ranked second (11%), followed by Mexico (8%), Spain (8%) and Turkey (5%).

Email antivirus detections peaked moderately in June, July and November.

Key trends in email spam and phishing

Kaspersky’s annual analysis has also identified several persistent trends in the email spam and phishing threat landscape that are expected to continue into 2026:

• Combination of various communication channels. Attackers lure email users into switching to messengers or calling fraudulent phone numbers. For instance, scam investment mailings may redirect victims to fake websites, where they are asked to provide their contact information, and then cybercriminals will follow up with a phone call.
• Usage of diverse evasion techniques in phishing and malicious emails. Threat actors frequently try to disguise phishing URLs, for example, with the help of link protection services and QR codes. These QR codes are often embedded directly in email bodies or within PDF attachments, which not only conceals phishing links but also encourages users to scan them on mobile devices, potentially exploiting weaker security measures than corporate PCs.
• Mailings exploiting diverse legitimate platforms. For example, Kaspersky experts discovered a fraudulent tactic that abuses OpenAI’s organization creation and team invitation features to send spam emails from legitimate OpenAI addresses, potentially tricking users into clicking scam links or dialing fraudulent phone numbers. Additionally, a calendar-based phishing scheme, which originated in the late 2010s, resurfaced last year with a focus on corporate users.
• Refining tactics in business email compromise (BEC) attacks. In 2025 attackers attempted to become even more persuasive by incorporating fake forwarded emails into their correspondence. These emails lacked thread-index headers or other headers, making it difficult to verify their legitimacy within an email conversation.

Email phishing shouldn’t be underestimated. Our report reveals that one in ten business attacks starts with phishing, with a significant proportion being Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). In 2025, we saw an increase in the sophistication of targeted email attacks. Even the smallest details are meticulously crafted in these malicious campaigns, including the composition of sender addresses and the tailoring of content to real corporate events and processes. The commodification of generative AI has significantly amplified this threat, enabling attackers to craft convincing, personalized phishing messages at scale with minimal effort, automatically adapting tone, language and context to specific targets,

To learn more about spam and phishing threat landscape, visit securelist.com.

To stay safe, Kaspersky recommends:

• Treat unsolicited invitations from any platform with suspicion, even if they appear to come from trusted sources.
• Carefully inspect URLs before clicking.
• Do not call any phone numbers indicated in suspicious emails – if you need to call support of a certain service, it is best to find the phone number on the official webpage of this service.
• For corporate users, Kaspersky Security for Mail Server with its multi-layered defense mechanisms powered by machine learning algorithms provides robust protection against a wide range of evolving threats and offers peace of mind to businesses in the face of evolving cyber risks.
• Ensure all employee devices, including smartphones, are equipped with robust security software.
• Conduct regular training on modern phishing tactics.

About Kaspersky

Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. With over a billion devices protected to date from emerging cyberthreats and targeted attacks, Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative solutions and services to protect individuals, businesses, critical infrastructure, and governments around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading digital life protection for personal devices, specialized security products and services for companies, as well as Cyber Immune solutions to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. We help millions of individuals and nearly 200,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

TLDR

• Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest bought $33.8 million in Robinhood shares after the stock dropped 9% on Q4 earnings miss
• Robinhood now represents ARK’s largest crypto holding at $248 million, a 4.1% portfolio weighting
• CEO Vlad Tenev predicts prediction markets will enter a “supercycle” with trillions in annual volume potential
• The company launched Robinhood Chain testnet, a Layer 2 blockchain for tokenized assets
• Bitcoin ETFs saw $276 million in outflows Wednesday as crypto trading volumes declined

Cathie Wood made a bold move Wednesday, buying the dip on Robinhood shares while most investors headed for the exits. ARK Invest purchased $33.8 million worth of stock as shares plunged nearly 9% following a disappointing Q4 earnings report.

Robinhood Markets, Inc., HOOD

The buying spree wasn’t limited to Robinhood. ARK also added $16 million in other crypto-related stocks including Bullish and Circle as the broader digital asset market sold off.

Robinhood missed revenue estimates in Q4 as cryptocurrency trading volumes collapsed during Bitcoin’s recent weakness. The digital currency briefly dropped below $66,000, triggering a wave of selling across crypto-linked equities.

But Wood saw opportunity where others saw risk. The purchases pushed Robinhood to become ARK’s largest crypto-related position, with total holdings now worth approximately $248 million.

Blockchain Infrastructure Play

The timing coincided with Robinhood’s testnet launch of Robinhood Chain. This Layer 2 blockchain targets tokenized real-world assets and institutional financial services.

ARK appears to be betting on Robinhood’s transformation from a retail trading platform into a blockchain infrastructure provider. The quarterly earnings miss seems less important than the long-term strategic positioning.

Bitcoin ETFs recorded $276.3 million in net outflows Wednesday, nearly erasing weekly gains. Total assets under management dropped to $85.7 billion, the lowest level since late 2024.

While Bitcoin has stabilized around $67,200, institutional appetite remains muted. Many large investors are waiting for clearer market direction before deploying capital.

Prediction Markets Opportunity

CEO Vlad Tenev offered a different perspective during the earnings call. He described prediction markets as entering a “supercycle” that could eventually generate trillions in annual trading volume.

The data supports his optimism. Prediction markets volume more than doubled in Q4, reaching $12 billion in total contracts for 2025. The company has already processed $4 billion in 2026.

Robinhood is building its own prediction market platform through a joint venture with Susquehanna International Group. The move would give the company greater control over product offerings and potentially stronger margins.

Launch is expected later this year. The platform will compete with Kalshi and Polymarket in a rapidly expanding market.

Tenev told CNBC he remains bullish on crypto despite recent volatility. The company plans to continue expanding both digital asset offerings and prediction markets.

More details are expected at Robinhood’s “Take Flight” event on March 4. Tenev is scheduled to unveil new products and strategic initiatives.

Wall Street maintains a Strong Buy rating on the stock. Analysts have issued 14 Buy ratings, three Holds, and zero Sells over the past three months. The average price target of $135.79 suggests 56.9% upside potential.

Shares have declined nearly one-third year-to-date following Wednesday’s selloff.