The hyper casual gaming market moves faster than almost any other segment in the gaming industry. Trends emerge overnight, player attention shifts quickly, and the games that capture momentum early often dominate downloads and ad revenue. In this environment, speed is not just an advantage, it is a business strategy.

A Flappy Bird–style hyper casual game, built around a simple yet addictive core loop, remains one of the most powerful formats for rapid market entry. Its simplicity allows faster development, faster testing, and faster monetization validation.

However, here is the reality many enterprises tend to overlook. Building a hyper casual game in 2 weeks is not about rushing development. It is all about having the right development team, pipeline, and production discipline.

When executed correctly by a trusted hyper casual game development company, a 2-week MVP can help enterprises test concepts, validate monetization models, and enter the market before competitors react.

Why Flappy Bird–Style Games Are Ideal for Rapid Development

Flappy Bird–style games are often misunderstood as “easy to build.” In reality, they are simple in structure but demanding in execution. Their minimalism is precisely what enables speed but also what exposes poor quality quickly. When a game has only one mechanic, there is nowhere to hide flaws. These games succeed because they:

• Deliver instant engagement
  
• Require zero onboarding time
  
• Encourage repeated play
  
• Generate strong ad impressions per session
  
• Create addictive retry loops
  

However, for enterprises, the appeal is strategic rather than just creative. A Flappy Bird–style game allows businesses to:

• Validate a concept quickly
  
• Test a theme or brand engagement
  
• Trial monetization models
  
• Enter a new market with minimal delay
  
• Gather behavioral data rapidly
  

The short session design also aligns perfectly with ad-driven monetization, making them commercially viable testing tools. However, achieving this requires expert tuning, such as physics, input response, and difficulty curves must feel precise. Otherwise, players churn within minutes. This is exactly the reason why experienced hyper casual game developers matter.

What a Realistic 2-Week Development Timeline Looks Like

A credible 2-week timeline is structured, not chaotic. It follows a clear production plan.

Days 1–2: Concept Finalization & Scope Lock

The team defines:

• Core gameplay loop
  
• Visual direction
  
• Monetization approach
  
• Target platform
  
• Success KPIs
  

This stage prevents scope creep and keeps production focused. Enterprises that skip proper scoping often face delays later.

Days 3–6: Core Development

Developers build:

• Player controls
  
• Physics tuning
  
• Game loop logic
  
• UI framework
  
• Base art assets
  

At this stage, the goal is playability, not perfection. A professional hyper casual game development company uses reusable frameworks to accelerate this phase.

Days 7–10: Polish & Monetization Integration

This includes:

• Ad network integration
  
• Rewarded ad logic
  
• Basic analytics setup
  
• UI polish
  
• Sound and feedback tuning
  

Monetization is integrated early to validate revenue potential.

Days 11–14: Testing & Soft Launch Prep

The focus now shifts to:

• Bug fixes
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Device compatibility
  
• Soft launch build preparation
  

Testing ensures the game feels stable and smooth across devices.

Why the “Right Team” Matters More Than the Timeline

A 2-week build is only realistic when the hyper casual game development team has:

• Proper hyper casual game development experience & expertise
  
• Proven pipelines
  
• Reusable code frameworks
  
• Structured production workflows
  
• Clear communication loops
  

Without these, a 2-week target becomes unrealistic. The right team turns speed into a repeatable process rather than a risky gamble.

Business Benefits of a 2-Week Hyper Casual MVP

A 2-week MVP is not about saving time alone. It is about creating a structured experimentation cycle. For enterprises, this becomes a business strategy.

1. Fast Market Validation

A rapid MVP allows enterprises to test hypotheses instead of relying on assumptions. Rather than debating whether an idea will work, companies can:

• Launch quickly
  
• Measure retention
  
• Track session lengths
  
• Analyze user behavior
  
• Evaluate monetization performance
  

This plays a significant role in replacing guesswork with real data. For decision-makers, this data-driven approach reduces strategic uncertainty and supports smarter investment decisions.

2. Lower Initial Investment Risk

Traditional game development often demands significant upfront budgets. Hyper casual MVPs allow staged investment. Enterprises can:

• Test multiple ideas simultaneously
  
• Scale only the winners
  
• Drop underperforming concepts early
  
• Optimize budget allocation
  

This portfolio-style strategy is widely used by successful publishers. Instead of betting big on one idea, enterprises run controlled experiments.

3. Competitive Speed Advantage

In hyper casual game development, timing influences success heavily. Launching early allows a company to:

• Capture user attention before trends peak
  
• Establish early app store presence
  
• Gain organic installs
  
• Collect data before competitors enter
  

Even a few weeks can determine whether a concept feels fresh or saturated. Speed becomes a competitive moat.

4. Data-Driven Scaling Decisions

A soft-launched MVP produces valuable metrics such as:

• Day 1 and Day 7 retention
  
• Ad engagement rates
  
• CPI vs LTV performance
  
• Drop-off points
  

This data, in turn, plays a crucial role in informing:

• Whether to invest further
  
• Which features to expand
  
• How to refine monetization
  
• Which markets to target
  

Enterprises that scale based on data outperform those relying on intuition.

Common Factors That Delay Hyper Casual Game Development

Hyper casual game development projects often slow down due to avoidable issues.

1. Changing Scope Midway

Scope creep is the biggest enemy of rapid development. Adding some features all of a sudden, like:

• Extra levels
  
• Complex UI
  
• Narrative elements
  
• Multiplayer modes
  

Quickly breaks the 2-week timeline. Successful teams lock scope early and treat the MVP as a test, not a final product.

2. Overcomplicating Mechanics

Hyper casual games thrive on simplicity. When teams add:

• Multiple controls
  
• Advanced progression
  
• Layered systems
  

The game loses clarity, and development slows. Enterprises must respect the “one core loop” philosophy.

3. Ignoring Analytics Setup

Without analytics, an MVP loses its purpose. Analytics track:

• Retention
  
• User behavior
  
• Monetization efficiency
  

Skipping this step means launching blind. Enterprises should view analytics as essential, not optional.

4. Skipping Early Testing

Unpolished physics or laggy controls ruin user experience. Even some of the simplest games need:

• Device testing
  
• Performance checks
  
• Input responsiveness tuning
  

Quality issues harm retention immediately.

5. Lack of Structured Pipeline

Ad-hoc development wastes time. A structured pipeline, on the other hand, includes:

• Pre-defined frameworks
  
• Asset templates
  
• Clear milestones
  
• Reusable systems
  

Experienced teams rely on repeatable processes.

Why Enterprises Partner with a Hyper Casual Game Development Company

Building internally may seem attractive, but it often slows execution. A specialized hyper casual game development company provides:

1. Speed-Ready Pipelines

They use proven frameworks, reducing setup time. This, in turn, allows faster prototyping and iteration.

2. Monetization Expertise

The revenue model of hyper casual games depends on ads and a retention balance. Experts optimize:

• Ad frequency
  
• Placement strategy
  
• Rewarded formats
  

Poor monetization design hurts revenue.

3. Analytics Integration

Professionals set up tracking from day one. This ensures every launch produces usable insights.

4. Performance Optimization

Players in the hyper casual gaming model expect instant load and smooth play. Developers therefore optimize for:

• Low memory usage
  
• Smooth FPS
  
• Fast loading times
  

5. Rapid Iteration Capability

Experienced teams iterate weekly or even faster. This allows constant improvement post-launch.

Conclusion

In hyper casual gaming, ideas alone do not win. Execution speed does. A Flappy Bird–style hyper casual game built in 2 weeks can become a powerful validation tool, revenue channel, or user acquisition engine when developed correctly.

However, the real question is not whether it can be built quickly. The ideal question is whether it is built by an experienced hyper casual game development team that knows how to make speed work in your favor.

Antier, a top-rated hyper casual game development company, works with enterprises and studios to deliver hyper casual games quickly without compromising quality. The support from the team includes:

• End-to-end hyper casual development
  
• Monetization-ready builds
  
• Analytics integration
  
• Rapid MVP pipelines
  
• Post-launch optimization
  

The focus is not just launching fast; it is launching smart. Get in touch with us today to build your next hyper casual hit.

World Liberty Financial price, or the WLFI price, surged nearly 20% over the past 24 hours, triggering optimism across holders. But three separate metrics now reveal hidden risks beneath the surface strength.

Distribution happening across whale cohorts and mid-term holders preparing exits create consolidation pressure that could derail the pattern entirely. Or, is the WLFI price action planning a plot twist here?

Cup Pattern Needs Controlled Consolidation Above $0.105

The 8-hour chart shows a rounded bottom structure resembling a cup. The cup itself has already completed, given the recent price recovery. Now WLFI needs to form the handle through controlled consolidation before attempting the next breakout.

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The key detail is the upsloping neckline connecting the rim of the cup on both sides. The left rim formed at an earlier high while the right rim sits at a higher level. This upward slope indicates that buyers are willing to pay higher prices over time, creating structural strength. The neckline must be broken upward to complete the pattern and trigger the measured 17% move.

Between February 4 and February 18, a hidden bearish divergence formed on the 8-hour timeframe. WLFI price made a lower high after peaking at $0.119. During that same period, the Relative Strength Index made a higher high. RSI measures momentum strength by comparing the magnitude of recent gains to recent losses.

Want more token insights like this? Sign up for Editor Harsh Notariya’s Daily Crypto Newsletter here.

When price makes lower highs, but RSI makes higher highs, it signals that a pullback could be coming.

The divergence could actually be constructive for the pattern. Cup formations require a handle to complete properly. The handle forms through sideways or slight downward price movement that shakes out weak hands before the next explosive move.

The critical level is $0.105. As long as WLFI consolidates without breaking below this support, the pattern and breakout possibility remain intact. A measured move from the cup’s low to the neckline projects a breakout target of $0.142, representing approximately 17% additional upside from the possible breakout point.

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Mega-Whales Sold 1.1 Billion Tokens as Long Positions Diverged

While new whale cohorts accumulated approximately 25 million WLFI tokens during the past 24 hours, the largest holders moved in the opposite direction.

Mega-whale addresses holding more than 1 billion tokens have been steadily reducing their positions since February 6. On February 17, during the price rally, they dropped holdings dramatically from 9.45 billion to 8.35 billion WLFI. That represents 1.1 billion tokens sold directly into the strength.

The price did not crash because smaller whales and leveraged long positions absorbed the selling.

But the distribution creates overhead pressure.

Data from Hyperliquid derivatives exchange shows diverging behavior across different WLFI trader cohorts over the past 24 hours. General whale addresses increased their long positions by 68%, showing continued optimism.

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But the top 100 addresses (mega whales) by trading volume reduced long positions significantly.

Smart Money, which tracks positioning by experienced traders, shows a net short position over the past 24 hours, hinting at caution.

This creates a dangerous setup where smaller participants are buying and adding leverage while the largest and most sophisticated players distribute and position defensively.

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The rally relied on smaller whale buying and leverage rather than conviction from mega-whales. If consolidation turns into a long squeeze where leveraged longs get forced to sell, the pullback could accelerate beyond the healthy handle formation needed for pattern completion.

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Mid-Term Holders Activate 500 Million Tokens for Exit, Could This Impact the WLFI Price?

The third warning comes from on-chain activity metrics. Spent Coins Age Band tracks coin movement from specific holder cohorts based on how long they held the tokens. The 90-day to 180-day age band represents mid-term holders who acquired WLFI between three and six months ago.

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Before February 17, this cohort showed activity of approximately 949,000 tokens moving. Between February 17 and 18, that number exploded to over 500 million tokens.

This represents a 500-times increase in coin activity from mid-term WLFI holders. When holders who sat through months of price action suddenly activate coins en masse, it typically means preparation for exit. They see the 20% rally as their opportunity to take profits after months of waiting. The 500 million tokens moving creates significant potential selling pressure on top of the 1.1 billion already sold by mega-whales and the cautious positioning by Smart Money.

All three risks point toward consolidation. The 8-hour chart RSI divergence predicts it. Mega-whales selling 1.1 billion confirms it. Mid-term holders activating 500 million validates it. The consolidation is healthy and necessary for handle formation if it stays controlled above $0.105 and respects the upsloping neckline. But the market remains weak broadly.

Fibonacci extension to the downside projects $0.090 or lower if the pattern breaks, invalidating the entire setup.

On the upside, breaking above $0.119 reactivates bullish momentum with first resistance at $0.132 before the main pattern target of $0.142. The $0.105 level decides everything. Controlled consolidation above it allows the cup to complete its handle. Breakdown below it turns the distribution into a cascade.

Cumulative spot selling pressure across altcoins, excluding Bitcoin and Ethereum, has reached a five-year extreme, according to data released by CryptoQuant, marking one of the most persistent distribution phases in recent market cycles.

The cumulative buy-sell difference for altcoins now stands at negative 209 billion, reflecting 13 consecutive months of net selling on centralized exchanges, the data showed.

In January 2025, cumulative buy and sell pressure across altcoins was roughly balanced, marking the last point where demand matched supply, according to the analysis. Since then, altcoins have recorded a cumulative negative 209 billion in net sell pressure over the following 13 months, with limited evidence of sustained buying activity.

Bitcoin currently trades well below its October 2025 all-time high. While Bitcoin has retraced from peak levels, altcoins have experienced stronger structural pressure, the data indicated. The absence of net positive inflows suggests retail participation has declined, with capital rotation toward major cryptocurrencies occurring earlier in the cycle, according to market observers. Institutional accumulation in altcoins remains limited, the data showed.

Bitcoin trading as alt-coin difference expands

A cumulative negative 209 billion reading signals that supply has consistently exceeded demand, though it does not automatically indicate a market bottom, analysts noted. Extended net selling phases can persist until liquidity conditions improve or new capital enters the market, according to historical patterns.

Durable market reversals have historically occurred only after sustained buying activity replaces directional selling, market data shows. Altcoin spot markets remain under pressure and demand recovery has not yet materialized, according to the CryptoQuant analysis.

In the summer of 2016, the Decentralized Autonomous Organization, known as the DAO, became the defining crisis of Ethereum’s early years. A smart contract exploit siphoned millions of dollars’ worth of ether (ETH) from that initial project, and the community’s response — a contentious hard fork to recover those funds, splintered the original chain from the current one, leaving the old chain behind, known as Ethereum Classic.

The DAO was once the largest crowdfunding effort in crypto’s history, but faded into a cautionary tale of governance, security, and the limits of “code is law.”

Now, nearly a decade later, that story has taken an unexpected turn. What was lost, or rather, left untouched, is being repurposed as a ~$150 million (at today’s prices) security endowment for the Ethereum ecosystem.

The endowment, known now as the DAO Security Fund, will stake some of the 75,000 dormant ether (ETH) and deploy the yield through community-driven funding rounds to support Ethereum security research, tooling and rapid-response efforts, while keeping claims open for any remaining eligible token holders.

At the center of this story is Griff Green, one of the original DAO curators and a veteran of Ethereum decentralized governance.

“When the DAO hack happened [in 2016], obviously, I jumped into action and basically led everything but the hard fork,” Green said of assembling the white hat group that rescued funds on the original Ethereum chain. “We hacked all these hackers. It was straight up DAO wars”.

That effort, alongside others, helped salvage funds that might otherwise have been lost forever.

At the time, the hard fork restored roughly 97% of the DAO’s funds to token holders, but left a small fraction, roughly 3%, in limbo. These “edge case” funds came from quirks of the original smart contracts: people who paid more than expected, those who burned tokens to form sub-DAOs, and other anomalies that didn’t cleanly map back.

Over time, that leftover balance, once only worth a few million, ballooned into something far more significant due to ether’s [ETH] appreciation. “The value of the funds we control has grown dramatically… well over 75,000 ETH,” a blog post for the new DAO fund states.

Green and his fellow curators have spent the last decade quietly helping people recover funds and managing these residual balances. But as he tells it, the landscape has shifted. “Six volunteers were securing $300 million with decade keys. It didn’t make sense,” he told CoinDesk in an interview. “With all these AI hacks and stuff, we just got kind of scared.” Their old security model simply is no longer fit to guard nine-figure sums, Green shared.

Rather than let these funds sit idle in perpetuity, the team has decided to stake the ETH and use the yield to fund Ethereum security initiatives, honor claims indefinitely, and professionalize governance and key management. “We can stake these funds, keep claims open forever, and use the staking rewards to fund Ethereum security projects,” Green explained.

The fund will distribute capital through decentralized mechanisms such as quadratic funding, retroactive public goods funding, and ranked-choice voting for proposals.

‘Financial backbone of the world’

For Green, the revival is also personal.

The DAO hack was Ethereum’s first existential test, exposing how experimental the ecosystem still was. Nearly a decade later, he argues, the industry remains vulnerable in different ways.

“MetaMask, hot wallet keys, just any kind of private keys on your daily driver computer is probably the main fuel for a whole cyber crime industry,” Green said. “The fact that we have hot keys with billions of dollars sitting on like 10,000 laptops spread out throughout the world has an industry of cybercrime.”

The persistence of hacks, phishing schemes and smart contract exploits frustrates him. “Not only amazes me, it disappoints me and frustrates me,” he said, describing the state of Ethereum security today.

That urgency is shaping how the new fund will operate. Unlike the Ethereum Foundation’s more top-down grantmaking process, the DAO Security Fund is designed as a bottom-up experiment, allowing participants in the DAO to decide how to distribute funds. Round operators will apply to distribute funds, security experts will help set eligibility standards, and staking rewards will provide a renewable pool of capital.

If Ethereum is to become what many believe it is, the core infrastructure for global finance, Green says security must come first.

“Ethereum is at the cusp of being the financial backbone of the world, if it fixes security,” he said.

The DAO Security Fund, in Green’s view, is therefore both a continuation of unfinished work and a forward-looking vehicle for safeguarding Ethereum as it scales.

Read more: Ethereum OGs revive the DAO with $220 million security fund, Unchained reports

Base, the Ethereum Layer-2 network incubated by Coinbase, has seen its total value locked (TVL) fall by $1.4 billion in the past few weeks.

The decline comes as public debate over the chain’s strategy and product direction intensifies.

Base TVL Slides as Builders, Critics, & Coinbase Leadership Clash Over the Chain’s Direction

Base TVL has dropped from about $5.3 billion in January to roughly $3.9 billion as of this writing.

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The drop matters because TVL remains one of the most closely watched indicators of capital activity and developer confidence in blockchain ecosystems.

However, TVL fluctuations are common across L2 networks, particularly during broader market rotations or liquidity shifts.

As liquidity tightens, Base is also facing unusually open criticism (and responses) from founders, investors, and Coinbase leadership.

Base creator Jesse Pollak framed the moment as part of a typical growth cycle for fast-scaling ecosystems.

“Base went from not existing to one of the most important chains in the world in two years, which happened because of the builders. And as with all fast growth, along the way, some left, some pivoted, some gave up. The builders who remain are the ones who define the next era,” Pollak wrote.

His comments reflect a view held by many infrastructure teams: that early surges often attract speculative capital and short-term projects, followed by periods of consolidation before the next phase of development.

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Critics Argue Base Lost Focus

Some founders and investors say Base’s recent challenges are strategic rather than cyclical. A builder and Coinbase shareholder known as Hish on X publicly criticized the rollout of the Base App, arguing it was marketed as a “super app” but delivered features users did not request.

Investor Mike Dudas echoed similar concerns, saying Coinbase Wallet had previously been positioned as a broad on-chain hub, only to have its priorities shifted by strategic pivots.

Coinbase Leadership Acknowledges Missteps

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong responded directly to criticism and accepted responsibility for earlier decisions.

“I’ll take ownership of that if you want to fire someone,” Armstrong wrote, adding that the Base App is now focused on being “the self-custodial version of Coinbase, and trading focused.”

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He emphasized that self-custody is becoming increasingly important as more financial activity moves on-chain. However, the Coinbase executive also articulated that most company resources remain directed toward the main retail platform.

In separate remarks about Coinbase’s broader strategy, Armstrong also noted rising institutional engagement with crypto and highlighted growth in:

• Trading volumes
• Assets on the platform, and
• Product revenue streams,

According to Armstrong, the company remains well-positioned as the financial system grows.

Debate Expands to Ecosystem Design

The discussion has extended beyond immediate product changes to larger questions about how crypto ecosystems grow.

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Uniswap founder Hayden Adams suggested that combining managed accounts and self-custody into a unified interface could improve usability. His remarks reflect ongoing industry efforts to simplify onboarding without sacrificing decentralization.

At the same time, some community commentators argue that Base must strengthen incentives and culture to retain developers and users.

Meanwhile, others counter that long-term adoption depends more on infrastructure, compliance, and institutional partnerships.

If Base can translate its infrastructure advantages and Coinbase distribution into sustained user growth, the current pullback may prove temporary.

If not, competition among Layer-2 ecosystems is likely to intensify as liquidity and developer attention remain highly mobile.

The crypto market continues to trade within a tight range on Wednesday, with bitcoin BTC$68,168.18 rising by 0.9% to around $68,000 since midnight UTC.

The largest cryptocurrency has held between $65,100 and $72,000 since Feb. 6 as market volatility has reduced following a Feb. 5 selloff that took BTC to its lowest point since October 2024.

The altcoin market is running its own race. Monero (XMR) and ADA$0.2849 are posting gains of 3% and 1.7%, respectively, since midnight, while zcash (ZEC) and hyperliquid (HYPE) lost 3.5% and 1.1% over the same period.

The muted performance across the crypto market comes as U.S. equities begin to claw their way out of trouble — S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 index futures are up 0.57% and 0.66% since midnight UTC as investors await hints on monetary policy when the Fed releases its meeting minutes later on Wednesday.

Derivatives

• Market dynamics have shifted toward stabilization as open interest holds firm at $15.5 billion, marking a transition from leverage cleanup to a steady floor.
• While retail sentiment has cooled with funding rates turning flat to slightly negative (Binance at -0.11%), institutional conviction remains anchored, the three-month annualized basis persists at 3%.
• The BTC options market has reached a state of relative equilibrium, with 24-hour volume split 49/51 between calls and puts.
• While the one-week 25-delta skew has eased further to 11%, the implied volatility (IV) term structure remains in short-term backwardation, as evidenced by the sharp front-end spike in the IV curve before leveling off near 49% for longer dated tenors.
• Coinglass data shows $193 million in 24-hour liquidations, with a 62-38 split between longs and shorts. BTC ($72 million), ETH ($52 million) and others ($12 million) were the leaders in terms of notional liquidations.
• The Binance liquidation heatmap indicates $68,800 as a core liquidation level to monitor in case of a price rise.

Token talk

• The “altcoin season” indicator has risen to 34/100, up from lows of 22/100 on Feb. 8, indicating relative strength across the altcoin market despite relatively low levels of volatility.
• The top performing asset on Wednesday has been WLFI$0.1235, the Trump family-backed DeFi token, which is up 8.8% since midnight and 18.52% over the past 24 hours.
• Investors are betting on WLFI ahead of the projects’s crypto forum at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday, which will be attended by executives from Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq and Franklin Templeton, among others.
• It should be noted that rallies leading up to real-world events or announcements often result in a “sell the news” scenario as those “buying the rumor” race to secure profits.
• Lending platform Morpho’s native MORPHO token has also been on a bullish run of late, rising by 36% in the past week and 7% in the past 24 hours as traders attempt to capitalize on an otherwise unmoving market.

By Jacob Joseph (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

Bitcoin BTC$67,408.90 remains within the tight $66,000-$70,000 range we’ve seen in the past few days. At the time of writing, the BTC price was about 1.04% higher over 24 hours. Ether was changing hands at $2,020, up 1.43% on the day.

Institutional positioning remains a central theme.

Digital asset treasury companies and public institutions were among the strongest sources of demand in mid-2025, helping propel prices to record highs. But with bitcoin down more than 50% from its October peak, the landscape has shifted. Many treasury-focused firms are now feeling the strain. Metaplanet reported a $619 million net loss earlier this week, while Harvard Management Company trimmed its exposure to bitcoin ETFs.

Ether treasury firms are also recalibrating. ETHZilla disclosed last evening that tech billionaire Peter Thiel and affiliated Founders Fund entities have exited their entire 7.5% stake in the company. The firm also reduced its ether holdings through multiple sales since October.

Still, not everyone is pulling back.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy continued to build its bitcoin position, adding 2,486 BTC earlier this week and bringing total holdings to 717,131 BTC. Meanwhile, two Abu Dhabi-based funds — Mubadala Investment Company and Al Warda Investments — disclosed yesterday that they collectively held more than $1 billion in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF at the end of last year.

BitMine Immersion Technologies announced yesterday that it continues to lean in, adding 45,759 ETH over the past week and bringing its total holdings to 4.4 million ETH. About 3 million of that is currently staked, generating additional yield on top of its core position.

Meanwhile, in a separate development disclosed yesterday, BlackRock advanced its plans for a U.S.-listed yield-generating ether product. An amended S-1 filing signaled further progress toward the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, with a BlackRock affiliate purchasing 4,000 seed shares at $25 each, providing $100,000 in initial capital for the trust.

While these developments provide constructive long-term signals, it may be premature to call an end to the recent drawdown even with bitcoin and ether trading roughly 50% and 60% below their all-time highs, respectively.

At the same time, TradFi indexes are beginning to show signs of fatigue, as rising AI-related capital expenditures outpace earlier estimates and place increasing pressure on corporate cash flows. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today

What to Watch

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead“.

• Crypto
  • Feb. 18, 1 p.m.: Hedera to undergo a mainnet upgrade expected to take about 40 minutes to complete.
• Macro
  • Feb. 18, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. durable goods orders MoM for December (Prev. 5.3%)
  • Feb. 18, 9:15 a.m.: U.S. industrial production MoM for January est. 0.3% (Prev. 0.4%)
  • Feb. 18, 2:00 p.m.: U.S. FOMC Minutes
• Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
  • Feb. 18: Figma (FIG), post-market, $0.45

Token Events

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead“.

• Governance votes & calls
• Unlocks
• Token Launches

Conferences

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead“.

Market Movements

• BTC is up 0.86% from 4 p.m. ET Tuesday at $68,227.58 (24hrs: -0.09%)
• ETH is up 1.03% at $2,019.54 (+2.24%)
• CoinDesk 20 is up 0.55% at 1,994.39 (+0.54%)
• Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is down 3 bps at 2.81%
• BTC funding rate is at 0.0018% (1.9425% annualized) on Binance

• DXY is up 0.13% at 97.28
• Gold futures are up 0.58% at $4,934.20
• Silver futures are up 2.92% at $75.68
• Nikkei 225 closed up 1.02% at 57,143.84
• Hang Seng closed up 0.52% at 26,705.94
• FTSE is up 1.03% at 10,664.40
• Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.93% at 6,077.76
• DJIA closed on Tuesday unchanged at 49,533.19
• S&P 500 closed up 0.1% at 6,843.22
• Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.14% at 22,578.38
• S&P/TSX Composite closed down 0.54% at 32,896.55
• S&P 40 Latin America closed down 0.62% at 3,694.06
• U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is up 1.9 bps at 4.073%
• E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.52% at 6,896.50
• E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.59% at 24,914.00
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are up 0.47% at 49,844.00

Bitcoin Stats

• BTC Dominance: 58.56% (-0.01%)
• Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.02947 (-0.11%)
• Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,062 EH/s
• Hashprice (spot): $34.12
• Total fees: 2.29 BTC / $155,681
• CME Futures Open Interest: 116,675 BTC
• BTC priced in gold: 13.7 oz.
• BTC vs gold market cap: 4.5%

Technical Analysis

• The chart shows bitcoin’s price against the dollar in one-week candles.
• The latest reading shows the price remains below the 200-week exponential moving average (EMA).
• Historically, breaks below the EMA have established a “bottom” in a bear market. Whether that’s the case now remains to be seen.
• The lack of divergences in the RSI suggests we are unlikely to see a sustained rebound in the short term.

Crypto Equities

• Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Tuesday at $166.02 (+1.03%), +1.37% at $168.29 in pre-market
• Circle Internet (CRCL): closed at $61.62 (+2.63%), +2.21% at $62.98
• Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $21.30 (-1.66%), +0.80% at $21.47
• Bullish (BLSH): closed at $32.00 (+0.85%), unchanged in pre-market
• MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $7.51 (-5.18%), +1.33% at $7.61
• Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $14.65 (-3.75%), +1.43% at $14.86
• Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $17.23 (-3.42%)
• CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.28 (-5.79%), +0.86% at $9.36
• CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $40.00 (-3.24%)
• Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $10.09 (-10.47%)

Crypto Treasury Companies

• Strategy (MSTR): closed at $128.67 (-3.89%), +1.27% at $130.30
• Strive (ASST): closed at $8.18 (-1.80%), +0.86% at $8.25
• SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $6.66 (-2.77%), +0.30% at $6.68
• Upexi (UPXI): closed at $0.72 (-6.37%)
• Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.10 (-1.79%)

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs

• Daily net flows: -$104.9 million
• Cumulative net flows: $54.21 billion
• Total BTC holdings ~1.27 million

Spot ETH ETFs

• Daily net flows: $48.6 million
• Cumulative net flows: $11.73 billion
• Total ETH holdings ~5.73 million

Source: Farside Investors

While You Were Sleeping

Milo, a U.S. cryptocurrency lending business that specializes in crypto-backed mortgages, has originated over $100 million in home loans, including the company’s largest single transaction to date, a $12 million crypto mortgage.

The firm, which holds mortgage provider licenses in ten U.S. states with more to follow, has a perfect track record of zero margin calls across its mortgage portfolio, despite enduring consistently choppy periods of volatility for bitcoin and other cryptos, Milo said in a press release on Wednesday.

The firm allows crypto holders to pledge their bitcoin or ether as collateral for loan amounts up to $25 million without having to sell their digital assets, eliminating the need for cash down payments and avoiding costly taxable events.

Stepping back, Milo founder Josip Rupena said people who were perhaps advised by a friend to buy some Bitcoin 10 years ago say, and had the courage to hold on to it through recurring cycles of volatility, may find that today maybe 95% of their net worth is in crypto.

Such people will typically be aged between 30 and 55, have a job, and perhaps a retirement account, but they don’t have enough income to buy the home they would like to, Rupena said.

“Our typical transaction is a million and a half dollar home,” Rupena said in an interview. “A customer might make $100k a year and their crypto net worth might be anywhere from three to seven million. If you were to replace Bitcoin with Apple stock, a product like ours would probably not need to exist. But because the consumer owns an asset that is not widely accepted, plus its concerns around the volatility, means that products like ours do need to exist to help them buy a home.”

Milo asks for 100% of the value of the property in crypto collateral, which can be held with qualified custodians like Coinbase or BitGo, or there is a self-custodial option for those who want to keep complete control of their assets. The loans, which start at 8.25%, can also be used for things like acquiring land, funding home improvements, and business investments.

Unlike regular crypto loans which can have margin calls at 25% drops, Milo designed the product to be more conservative and accommodate 65% drawdowns.

Even in turbulent times like the past few months, if a drawdown situation were to cross the necessary threshold, Milo would reduce the value of the loan, Rupena said, so that the customer could continue to have the mortgage.

“We would just essentially derisk the 100% and bring it down to a 65% or 70%, like a regular mortgage, and then they could continue to make payments. We designed it in a way that as long as a person can continue to make payments, they’re going to be able to continue to have this home. They’re not going to lose their home, because Bitcoin goes down,” he said.

So far Milo has done several transactions in the property hotspot of Miami and more in other parts of Florida, as well as Texas, California, Colorado, Connecticut and Arizona. The $12 million transaction mentioned in the press release was in Tennessee, Rupena said.

The product has been given the blessing of bitcoin pioneer and CEO of Blockstream, Adam Back.

“Milo’s product is a game changer in bitcoin lending and unlocks real world use cases for so many bitcoiners,” said Back in a statement. “While bitcoin continues to appreciate, buyers are able to build equity in real estate and don’t have to sell their long term conviction, bitcoin.”

Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun has rolled out a new feature that shifts rewards toward memecoin traders rather than its deployers — a tweak to its fee model that once generated over $15 million in a single day at its peak.

In a post to X on Tuesday, Pump.fun said the platform’s memecoin creators can now decide whether a token “truly deserves” Creator Fees, or whether it’s best to redirect rewards to traders engaging with the token through “Cashback Coins.” 

Pump.fun’s original model features Creator Fees, giving token creators 0.3% of all fees generated by the tokens they launch.

However, Pump.fun said not all tokens deserve Creator Fees because many tokens achieve success without a team or project lead, thereby disproportionately rewarding token deployers.

Creator Fees need change. Not every token deserves Creator Fees.

Now, users have the ability to decide whether a token truly deserves Creator Fees, or whether it makes more sense to reward the traders engaging with the token.

Cashback Coins are now live. Learn more 👇 pic.twitter.com/UbYoAbQ1Ya

— Pump.fun (@Pumpfun) February 17, 2026

“Now, traders can choose to engage with tokens they feel the most aligned with, ultimately letting the market decide who gets rewarded and where the bar is set.”

Pump.fun said coin creators must choose between the Creator Fees or Trader Cashback model before launching. Once chosen, the decision is irreversible.

Terminal, a crypto trading platform built into Pump.fun, said Cashback Coins are generated on every trade made and are only accessible through Terminal.

It comes as analysts from onchain analytics firm Santiment said on Friday that memecoins are showing signs of a potential bottom.

“This collective acceptance of the ‘end of the meme era’ is a classic capitulation signal,” Santiment said, explaining that when a sector of the market is completely written off, it is often the “contrarian time” to start paying attention.

Pump.fun fees have fallen over the last year

Pump.fun’s new rewards feature comes as it recorded $31.8 million worth of fees in January, marking a 75.6% fall from the $148.1 million posted in January 2025 — the platform’s best-performing month to date.

Pump.fun has brought in $15.6 million so far in February, putting it on track to fall short of its January total.

The change to the rewards model also follows months of criticism that only a small number of traders were profiting on Pump.fun, while the vast majority of retail traders were incurring losses. 

Data from Dune Analytics shows that of the 58.7 million crypto wallets that have interacted with Pump.fun, only 4.76 million have profited between $1,000 and $10,000, while 969,780 wallets have posted winnings between $10,000 and $100,000.

Less than 13,700 Pump.fun wallets have reached millionaire status on the platform.

The new feature was received well by many in the Pump.fun community, while others, such as X user Coos, pondered whether the rewards model could reduce incentives for developers to launch new coins:

“So devs have less reasons to push coins longer, as the most lucrative time is when coins are still on pf, and have just graduated where there is the most volume.”

Coinbase’s Base shut down its Creator Rewards offering

While Pump.fun has changed its rewards model, others have shut down their rewards programs entirely.