prices

According to Jinshi, Federal Reserve's Bostic stated that a strong economy does indeed mean that the Fed still needs to pay attention to prices.

Due to the Layer 2 solution Base announcing its transition from the OP Stack to its independently operated unified tech stack base/base, the native token OP of Optimism has dropped over 20% in price in the past 24 hours.Base stated that this move aims to improve development speed and reduce system complexity. In the future, node operators will need to migrate to the Base client to align with the hard fork. Base went live in 2023 as an OP Stack chain, and according to previous agreements, a portion of its sequencer revenue was to be submitted to the Optimism treasury. With Base transitioning to an independent architecture, this revenue stream will be retained by Base itself. Currently, the trading price of OP is $0.1436, down about 97% from its historical high of $4.84 set in 2024. In contrast, Base has not yet issued any tokens.

According to CNBC, Wells Fargo stated that some taxpayers may receive larger refunds this year compared to previous years, which could drive funds into risk assets such as stocks and Bitcoin. This is due to provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act passed last summer that are favorable to taxpayers in 2025.Additionally, the IRS did not update its withholding tax tables last year, so wage earners are less likely to face surprises from adjustments to taxes already withheld.Wells Fargo noted in its latest analyst report that these factors could lead to as much as $150 billion flowing into the market by the end of March, as over 60% of refunds are issued.The bank's analysts added that the expected liquidity injection could boost Bitcoin as well as stocks favored by retail investors, such as Boeing and Robinhood. Wells Fargo analyst Ohsung Kwon stated in a report on Sunday, "We believe the additional savings from tax refunds—especially for high-income consumers—will flow back into the stock market.""Increased savings will drive speculative sentiment... We expect the 'YOLO' mentality to return." The analysts pointed out that Bitcoin could serve as a proxy indicator for liquidity, signaling a shift in investment patterns. According to Wells Fargo data, domestic liquidity has decreased by $105 billion over the past four weeks, while Bitcoin has retraced about 29% in the past month.

According to quiverquant data, financial giant Jane Street increased its holdings by 7,105,206 shares of IBIT in Q4 last year, valued at $276 million. The company currently holds 20,315,780 shares of IBIT, valued at $790 million.There were previous community rumors that Jane Street was allegedly suppressing Bitcoin prices through high-frequency trading at 10 AM Eastern Time every morning. Additionally, BlackRock and Morgan Stanley increased their holdings by over 2.37 million shares of IBIT in Q4 last year.

According to DL News, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated in an interview with CNBC that advancing long-stalled cryptocurrency legislation such as the "Clarity Act" will help stabilize the currently weak market and restore investor confidence.Bessent pointed out that Bitcoin has a history of volatility, but some of the current fluctuations are "self-inflicted." He mentioned that a group of Democrats wishes to collaborate with Republicans to advance market structure legislation, but some cryptocurrency companies have been obstructing this.He stated that providing clarity for the "Clarity Act" during a time of historic market volatility and sell-offs would bring great comfort to the market, and it is crucial to complete this work as soon as possible. The cryptocurrency industry and the banking sector must reach an agreement on the market structure legislation before March 1.Bessent indicated that there is a wealth of innovation in the cryptocurrency and its derivative fields like blockchain and DeFi, and the legislation should be pushed for submission to the President for signing in the spring.

According to the weekly report released by Matrix on Target, the price of Bitcoin has fallen below the key level indicated by analysts, confirming the downward trend. The current retracement of Bitcoin in both magnitude and pace is quite similar to the downward phases of historical cycles. The market's focus has shifted from "Has the trend reversed?" to "When will the next more favorable allocation window arrive?"Looking back, analysts successfully identified the starting point of the Bitcoin bull market and predicted that the peak of this cycle could reach $125,000. Between the end of 2024 and October 2025, Bitcoin has repeatedly shown characteristics of the fifth round of the bull market nearing its end, indicating that the bullish momentum is gradually waning. As the price has fallen below key levels, the market has entered the confirmation phase of a bear market.

Bitcoin mining has entered a severe phase, with unit hash rate revenue dropping to a historical low of about $35/PH. Affected by a significant market correction, the price of Bitcoin has fallen over 50% from its 2025 peak of $126,000, currently hovering around the $60,000 range. Against this backdrop, the average production cost of a single Bitcoin across the network is approximately $87,000, about 45% higher than the current market price, marking the first large-scale "underwater operation" since the bear market of 2022.CryptoQuant defines the current phase as the "surrender phase," characterized by the accelerated shutdown of old mining machines and a noticeable contraction in overall network hash rate. As a result, the stock prices of listed mining companies such as MARA Holdings and Riot Platforms have dropped over 20% this week, with funds flowing towards more stable traditional assets like gold.Meanwhile, North America's mining hubs (especially Texas) are facing severe winter storms, forcing some mining farms to limit power usage to ensure the stability of the civilian power grid. Coupled with miner exits, the network experienced a historic difficulty adjustment of about 11% on February 9. However, due to the significant drop in coin prices, the profitability recovery effect from the difficulty adjustment is limited.The industry's "Miner Profitability Sustainability Index" has fallen to 21, indicating that, except for a few operators with low electricity costs and high efficiency, most miners have completely compressed profit margins. For companies with electricity prices above $0.05 per kilowatt-hour or those still using older model mining machines, this difficulty adjustment is unlikely to reverse the risk of total shutdown.To cope with the "2026 mining winter," leading companies are accelerating their transition to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC). IREN and Core Scientific have redirected some of their data center power capacity to support generative AI businesses to secure more stable long-term contract revenues. Recently, Bitfarms announced a complete exit from Bitcoin mining to focus on its AI strategic transformation.

JPMorgan has lowered Coinbase's target price from $399 to $290, citing factors such as a decline in cryptocurrency market trading volume, weakening asset prices, and a slowdown in USDC growth. However, the firm maintains an "Overweight" rating on Coinbase.Analysts expect Coinbase's adjusted EBITDA for the quarter to drop to approximately $734 million, a significant decline from the previous quarter, primarily impacted by reduced spot trading volume and weakened stablecoin-related revenue. JPMorgan anticipates spot trading volume for the quarter to be around $263 billion, with stablecoin-related revenue of about $312 million. Although the acquisition of the derivatives exchange Deribit by Coinbase brings additional revenue contributions, the overall market downturn continues to exert pressure on performance.In addition to JPMorgan, institutions such as Barclays and Compass Point also hold a more cautious stance, believing that retail trading, blockchain rewards, and subscription and service revenue may fall short of expectations, and continue to be highly dependent on the overall trend of the cryptocurrency market.

According to market news, some long-dormant wallets are waking up and buying Ethereum at a low. Address 0x55C1 was dormant for 2 years and withdrew 10,000 ETH (worth $19.24 million) from Binance 6 hours ago. Address 0x1342, after being dormant for 1 year, withdrew 1,892 ETH (worth $3.75 million) from Binance 30 minutes ago.

According to Jinshi reports, under the spillover effect of the cryptocurrency sell-off, gold prices fell during the Asian early trading session. IG Chief Market Analyst Chris Beauchamp pointed out that the cryptocurrency bear market has evolved into a full-blown market collapse, with widespread selling sweeping across various assets, and commodities are also deeply entrenched in a downward trend.

According to CoinDesk, based on limited historical trading activity and on-chain supply, the BTC price may further consolidate or retest lower ranges. Since the drop over the weekend, the price of Bitcoin has been confined between $70,000 and $79,999 for five consecutive days. Bitcoin has spent a total of about 35 days within this $10,000 price range, making it one of the shortest durations, indicating that the price tends to move quickly through this area rather than establishing sustained support or resistance.The price is more likely to consolidate within this range or move down again before establishing a more solid foundation. In April of last year, Bitcoin rebounded after spending only a few weeks below $80,000. Similarly, when it reached a high near $73,000 in March 2024, it spent a short time at that level before starting to decline. A notable example occurred in November 2024, when the price surged from about $68,000 to $100,000 within weeks, with almost no consolidation in the $70,000 to $80,000 range.MicroStrategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, made only one purchase within this price range. On November 11, 2024, the company acquired 27,200 BTC for approximately $2 billion, at an average price of $74,463. Data shows that there is a supply gap between $70,000 and $80,000, indicating that this area remains structurally weak.

BitMine Chairman Tom Lee recently responded to market doubts, denying that the company's substantial unrealized losses in Ethereum reserves would create a "ceiling" on future ETH prices. He stated that experiencing unrealized losses during a market downturn is an "intrinsic characteristic of the Ethereum reserve strategy, not a design flaw."Previously, some commentators claimed that BitMine's holdings of ETH had incurred approximately $6.6 billion in unrealized losses and believed that these ETH would eventually be sold off, thereby suppressing prices, even describing Lee as the "exit liquidity" for early ETH holders. In response, Lee countered that such views "misunderstand the operational logic of Ethereum reserve companies," emphasizing that BitMine's goal is to track and outperform ETH performance over complete market cycles, rather than engage in short-term trading.Data shows that over the past month, ETH prices have dropped nearly 30%, and BitMine's stock price has also fallen by about 30% during the same period. Currently, BitMine holds approximately 4.285 million ETH, accounting for about 3.5% of the circulating supply, making it the largest publicly listed Ethereum reserve company by known scale. Its holdings' market value had approached $14 billion at the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, before declining to below $10 billion with the market correction.Lee compared the current situation to an index ETF, stating that experiencing unrealized losses during a systemic downturn is a normal phenomenon, not a strategic failure. The debate surrounding Ethereum reserve companies has also intensified: critics argue that large reserve companies could become a potential source of selling pressure, while supporters emphasize that they are closer to long-term, index-like exposure tools.From a valuation perspective, as the market weakens, most ETH reserve companies' stock prices have fallen below their crypto asset net value (mNAV), which objectively suppresses the motivation for low-priced capital raises and limits dilution risk. Supporters believe that this mechanism acts as a "natural circuit breaker," reserving ammunition for the next cycle.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the first case of violation of the "Virtual Asset User Protection Act" in South Korea has been sentenced. The Seoul Southern District Court sentenced the CEO of a cryptocurrency trading company to 3 years in prison for manipulating coin prices, along with a fine of 500 million won (approximately 385,000 USD) and the recovery of about 846 million won (approximately 650,000 USD). However, considering Mr. Lee's active cooperation during the trial and his prior detention, the court decided not to revoke his bail and did not detain him.The court found that between July and October 2024, he used an automated trading program to inflate trading volume and repeatedly placed false buy orders to manipulate prices, with improper gains amounting to about 7.1 billion won (approximately 5.46 million USD). This case is the first to be transferred by the prosecution through the financial regulatory "fast track" since the law took effect in July 2024.

According to Antpool data, as the price of Bitcoin recently dipped to around $78,500, currently, the vast majority of Bitcoin miners, except for the latest generation of mining machines, are either operating at a loss or close to breakeven.Data shows that only the latest models, such as the Antminer S23 series, are still profitable, with the Antminer S23 Hydro generating a daily revenue of about $18.53 per unit; meanwhile, the earlier Antminer S21 series has seen its daily revenue drop to around $0.12, and the Whatsminer M63S is experiencing a daily loss of approximately $0.47.

According to Gate market data, the spot gold price briefly broke through 4800 USD/ounce, currently reported at 4785 USD/ounce.

Recently, gold prices have retreated from their highs, with short-term volatility increasing, but overall participation from funds remains strong. A large number of investors are choosing to actively enter the market during the pullback phase to position themselves for long-term value, with continued attention on the pullback market driving significant volume in related contracts.According to CoinGlass data, the trading volume of XAUT (gold) contracts has increased over the past 24 hours, with the Gate platform's XAUT contract achieving a 24-hour trading volume of $240 million, ranking third in the industry, with a growth rate of 268.40%, placing it second. This indicates that funds are concentrating on high liquidity platforms during volatile market conditions.Currently, Gate has fully laid out its core gold assets, covering spot, contracts, ETFs, flash exchanges, copy trading, and trading bots, among others. Among them, Gate TradFi has officially ended its public beta today and opened access on the App and Web platforms, offering trading of traditional financial asset contracts for difference (CFD) including metals, forex, indices, commodities, and some popular stocks, covering mainstream varieties such as gold, silver, NASDAQ (NAS100), and S&P 500 (SPX500), with a maximum leverage of 500 times. In addition, the platform will officially launch the TradFi launch celebration event from February 2 to 22, where participants can share a total prize pool of $150,000 by engaging in trading.

According to crypto analyst Ai Yi @ai_9684xtpa's monitoring, as ETH continues to decline, Trend Research's current main ETH collateral positions, without additional margin or reduction, have liquidation price ranges concentrated between $1781.09 and $1862.02.Data shows that Trend Research currently holds a total of 618,245.96 ETH, distributed across 6 addresses, with a total collateral of approximately $1.33 billion in WETH and borrowing stablecoins of about $939 million.Among them, the largest single position is collateralized with 169,891 ETH, with a liquidation price of approximately $1833.84; another major position is collateralized with 175,843 ETH, with a liquidation price of approximately $1862.02; the remaining positions have liquidation prices of approximately $1808.05, $1781.09, $1855.18, and $1856.57, respectively. Overall, if the ETH price further falls to the aforementioned range, the related positions will face concentrated liquidation risks.

According to Jinshi reports, analysts have stated that gold and silver prices have fallen due to news that Kevin Warsh will be chosen by Trump as the next Federal Reserve Chairman. Analysts from Malaysia Bank mentioned in a foreign exchange research and strategy report, "Warsh has long criticized extremely loose monetary policy and has served as a Federal Reserve governor, so the market may be pricing in the potential impact of his appointment on future policy paths."

According to Jinshi data, spot gold and silver opened higher on Friday, currently quoted at 5450 USD/ounce and 118.3 USD/ounce, respectively.