[PRESS RELEASE – Las Vegas, Nevada, February 11th, 2026]

Ault Capital Group today announced the public testnet launch of Ault Blockchain, a Layer 1 network designed for trading, settlement, and institutional-grade onchain infrastructure. This launch marks the first public release of the protocol and opens access to developers, infrastructure operators, and early network participants.

Ault Blockchain is built as a Cosmos-based Layer 1 with full Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility, enabling Ethereum-native smart contracts and tooling to run without modification. The network is governed by Ault DAO, which oversees protocol rules, economic parameters, and long-term upgrades through onchain governance.

The public testnet provides a live environment for evaluating core network functionality, validator performance, and infrastructure design. This early access seeks community engagement and feedback by contributors who add value to the network’s development and stability.

In contrast to typical launch models, Ault Blockchain will not conduct a public token sale. Instead, the native AULT token will be distributed exclusively through a protocol-controlled emissions schedule tied to measurable network participation, including consensus security and licensed infrastructure operations rather than speculative activity.

Milton “Todd” Ault III, founder and executive chairman of Ault Capital Group, said: “Ault Blockchain was built the opposite way most networks are built. We started with real financial use cases and then designed the blockchain to support them. Participation is based on defined roles and verifiable work, not speculation, with transparent economics that are meant to support long-term network health from day one.”

The network launch is supported by a group of established infrastructure and development partners. B-Harvest serves as Ault Blockchain’s primary development partner, contributing to protocol engineering and core network architecture. Xangle focuses on development of Ault’s official explorers and relevant hubs.QuickNode provides RPC infrastructure to support network access and reliability. Finally Protofire supports Safe-related tooling across EVM environments.

Ault Blockchain introduces a licensed participation framework for infrastructure operators. Licensed Mining Nodes are authorized to perform defined off-chain services, beginning with cryptographic randomness at launch. In parallel, Proof-of-Stake validators and delegators secure network consensus and collect transaction fees under transparent, DAO-governed economics. After launch, the core team will shift its focus to the core team’s roadmap including spot trading on decentralized exchanges, lending services, perps trading, and other advanced workloads are being explored and may deploy over time as the network evolves.

Ault Blockchain’s testnet launch follows the completion of an initial protocol security audit and precedes further validator onboarding and ecosystem testing. Ault Blockchain’s mainnet launch will occur after additional testing milestones are met. At genesis, the chain will launch with its core protocol modules, EVM compatibility, an initial validator set, and onchain governance in place, marking a new era for institutional finance.

To learn more about Ault Blockchain, visit https://Aultblockchain.com and read project documentation to view the testnet scanner go to the following link . https://ault-evm-testnet.explorer.xangle.io/home

About Ault Blockchain

Ault Blockchain is a finance-first, institutional-grade Layer-1 blockchain designed to support trading, settlement, and data-driven workloads. Built on the Cosmos SDK with full Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility, the network enables unmodified Ethereum smart contracts while providing fast finality and native cross-chain interoperability.

Governed onchain by Ault DAO and supported by a licensed infrastructure framework, Ault Blockchain aligns network economics with verifiable participation rather than speculative token distribution. With real-world financial and analytics applications launching from day one, Ault Blockchain is optimized for next-generation onchain finance.

About Ault DAO

Ault DAO is the decentralized governance body responsible for overseeing the Ault Blockchain protocol. The DAO was created by and is overseen by Ault DAO, LLC, a Wyoming DAO LLC. Through onchain governance, the DAO manages protocol parameters, validator participation, and network upgrades, ensuring transparent and community-driven decision-making aligned with the network’s long-term objectives.

About Ault Capital Group

Ault Capital Group is a diversified investment and holding company focused on technology-driven businesses, digital assets, and financial infrastructure. Through its operating companies and strategic investments, Ault Capital Group supports platforms across blockchain, data infrastructure, and emerging technologies. The firm emphasizes disciplined capital allocation and long-term value creation.

• Arbitrum price hovered near $0.10 as cryptocurrencies saw fresh declines.
• The token was down nearly 20% in the past week and 45% over the past month.
• Robinhood Chain has launched its public testnet on Arbitrum.

Arbitrum (ARB) traded around $0.10 at the time of writing on Wednesday, with bulls looking to break above $0.11 following an intraday dip amid broader market weakness.

Ethereum and XRP prices were all down on the day as Bitcoin dropped under $65k again.

The slight dip for ARB as of early US trading hours came as the latest network developments saw Robinhood announce the public testnet launch of its real-world asset platform on Arbitrum.

Arbitrum price hovers near $0.10

The ARB token traded at highs of $0.22 on January 14, 2026. However, as bearish sentiment that has carried from Q4, 2025 decimated crypto bulls, ARB steadily fell and hit lows of $0.099 on Feb 5.

Despite a bounce to $0.12, prices are back near this critical level.

On Wednesday, broader weakness remained a key factor across crypto.

However, Arbitrum shared news that the Robinhood Chain was now live in public testnet, and developers can tap into its infrastructure to support tokenized real-world and digital assets.

Robinhood Chain testnet is now live on the Arbitrum platform.

Phase 1 focuses on developer onboarding and infrastructure testing:

Testnet gas + Stock Tokens
Contract deployment
Bridging + explorer visibility

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This allows tokenized asset flows to be tested without production… pic.twitter.com/gtLvKDxVVH

— Arbitrum (@arbitrum) February 11, 2026

From a network growth viewpoint, this is hugely positive news for Arbitrum.

But can bulls ride it as a fresh catalyst for a rebound? The altcoin is down more than 20% in the past week and by over 45% in the past month.

Arbitrum price forecast

As noted, the ARB token has experienced a sharp decline since peaking at highs of $0.62 in August 2025.

The October 10 crash saw it plummet to lows of $0.10.

Prices briefly steadied to $0.36, but the overall downtrend resumed and ARB broke to $0.094 amid the February 5, 2026, crypto market route.

That crash below the critical support level of $0.10 accelerated the weakness, and an extended downtrend of five months saw the token hit its all-time low.

ARB price is up 13% from that low, but in terms of technical analysis, the daily chart shows ARB continues to trend with an entrenched bearish structure.

For instance, the current price is below the 20-day EMA, which offers upside resistance around $0.13.

Meanwhile, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovers in oversold territory at 24, signaling potential exhaustion.

However, there’s no immediate reversal formation yet, and the Supertrend indicator is flashing bearish signals.

The price trajectory points lower, and short-term bearish continuation could see ARB dip to a new all-time low under $0.09.

On the flipside, if oversold conditions trigger a bounce, the further strength above $0.13-$0.15 highlights the next targets at $0.22 and $0.35.

Amid sharp, mostly downward volatility in crypto markets, BlockFills has halted withdrawals and restricted trading on its platform, according to reports in Mining Mag and the Financial Times.

Based in Chicago and backed in part by market-making giant Susquehanna Investment Group, BlockFills saw $60 billion in trading volume last year, according to the FT.

“In light of recent market and financial conditions, and to further the protection of clients and the firm, BlockFills took the action last week of temporarily suspending client deposits and withdrawals,” a spokesperson told the newspaper.

“Clients have been able to continue trading with BlockFills for the purpose of opening and closing positions in spot and derivatives trading and select other circumstances,” the spokesperson said.

BlockFills’ moves come as the months-long slide in crypto prices accelerated into a full-blown crash last week. Bitcoin BTC$66,944.44 plunged to as low as $60,000 before bouncing to its current $67,000, still down about 50% from its record high last October.

The action is reminiscent of 2022’s crypto winter, which saw numerous platforms forced to suspend withdrawals as the bear market deepened, with many of them ultimately collapsing.

As indicated by today’s ATR reading on the XAG/USD chart, trading activity has returned to the more normal levels seen prior to the third week of January, when:

→ silver entered a phase of exuberant growth towards its record high around the $120 mark;
→ this was followed by a dramatic collapse towards the $75 area.

The volatility indicator has now fallen back to customary levels, suggesting that supply and demand are gradually moving into balance.

Yesterday’s release of weaker US retail sales data could have served as a bullish catalyst for gold and silver, as signs of slowing economic activity ahead of key employment figures tend to increase demand for safe-haven assets. However, this did not occur, reinforcing the view that the market is stabilising.

On 2 February, when analysing the XAG/USD chart, we wrote:

“Even if silver attempts to turn higher under the current conditions of extreme oversold territory, it may encounter a strong resistance zone in the $87.5–95 range, where bears previously demonstrated clear dominance by breaking the long-term ascending channel.”

Indeed, the highlighted area not only halted the recovery impulse but also — after forming a head and shoulders reversal pattern — pushed silver down to a lower low.

Price action analysis allows for several important observations:

→ the V-shaped rebound below the psychological $70 level appears to reflect the liquidation of a cascade of buyers’ stop-loss orders, followed by a wave of buying that signals aggressive demand;
→ the bullish gap around $78 now appears to be acting as support.

In light of the above, it is reasonable to conclude that the XAG/USD market may continue developing a consolidation phase, fluctuating between two key zones:

→ resistance near $95;
→ support around $70.

For a long-term outlook on silver prices, see this article.

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Bitcoin (BTC) saw flash volatility around Wednesday’s Wall Street open as US jobs data came in well above expectations.

Key points:

• Bitcoin attempts to rescue the day’s losses on the back of stronger US nonfarm payrolls data.

• Mixed signals result in risk assets diverging in their reactions to the numbers.

• Bitcoin traders stay wary of a deeper BTC price dip to come.

Analysis: Fed interest-rate pause to “continue”

Data from TradingView tracked a BTC price spike to nearly $69,000 which quickly retraced, extending daily losses past 4% at the time of writing.

US nonfarm payrolls outperformed considerably on the day, with 130,000 jobs added in January versus the anticipated 55,000.

Strong labor-market numbers tend to imply less need to lower interest rates — typically a headwind for crypto and risk assets. At the same time, the reduced likelihood of recession creates a nuanced picture for risk-asset performance.

As such, the S&P 500 initially gained 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.6% before both retraced their moves.

Precious metals also saw uncertain price action, with gold hitting new February highs before giving back gains to target $5,000 support.

Reacting, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter additionally referenced cooling unemployment in predicting that the Federal Reserve would hold rates steady at its March meeting.

“The unemployment rate FELL to 4.3%, below expectations of 4.4%. This was a much stronger than expected jobs report, all around the board,” it wrote in a post on X. 

“The Fed pause will continue.”

The latest data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool put the odds of a March rate pause at over 90%.

Attention now focused on Friday’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) print for further cues as to the path of inflation.

Trader eyes BTC price “slow bleed” toward $50,000

Commenting on recent BTC price action, traders remained unimpressed and skewed toward fresh downside.

Related: BTC traders wait for $50K bottom: Five things to know in Bitcoin this week

Daan Crypto Trades brought in Fibonacci retracement levels at $64,569, $62,474 and $59,805 while eyeing the potential for a deeper retracement.

“Pretty weak showing overall after the initial bounce. Bulls failed to push higher past that $72K+ mark and instead saw price break down again,” he summarized. 

“Unless ~$68k is retaken, the fib retracement levels are the ones to watch in the short term.”

Earlier, Cointelegraph reported on $69,000 having key long-term significance, with the risk of an extended rangebound environment developing around that level now higher.

$50,000 BTC price bottom targets also persisted, with trader Jelle arguing that BTC/USD was copying 2022 bear market trajectory “closely.”

“Would see a relatively slow bleed towards the low $50ks from here – before bouncing back up; if it keeps playing out the same,” he told X followers.

“Lots of people talk about buying there. I wonder if they will if price gets there.”