ups

According to DL News citing DefiLlama data, cryptocurrency startups raised nearly $5 billion in the first quarter of 2026, a year-on-year decrease of 16%. However, the investment ecosystem continues to evolve, with funding shifting significantly from speculative tokens to practical sectors such as payments and trading infrastructure. Among them, the prediction market sector leads with over $1.7 billion, while payments and trading infrastructure attracted $735 million and $423 million, respectively. Top non-crypto institutions such as Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, Bain Capital, and Alibaba are also accelerating their entry.The top ten financing projects in Q1 are as follows: • Kalshi: $1 billion, valuation of $22 billion, led by Coatue Management, CFTC-regulated prediction market leader • Polymarket: $600 million, investment from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), leading decentralized prediction market platform • Rain: $250 million Series C, valuation of nearly $2 billion, led by Iconiq Capital, stablecoin payment infrastructure • BitGo: $213 million, NYSE IPO, valuation of over $2 billion, crypto custody institution • Flying Tulip: $206 million, public token sale, led by DeFi architect Andre Cronje, integrating trading/lending/insurance • Whop: $200 million, Tether.

According to official news, YZI Labs has launched the Atlas Scout Program to help college students support Web3, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology startups.Ella Zhang, head of YZi Labs, stated: "During recent meetings with founders, I was impressed by young entrepreneurs aged 16 to 18. In this AI-driven new era, the pace of learning and entrepreneurship is accelerating exponentially. We launched the Atlas Scout Program to empower the next generation of investors, allowing them not only to witness the future but also to identify, fund, and co-create it."It is reported that the Atlas Scout Program is a student-managed $1 million venture capital initiative that will support 5 to 10 top college students as investors, providing funding for founders in the fields of Web3, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology. Atlas Scouts will receive a global travel budget, rewards aligned with incentive mechanisms, and direct access to the ecosystem of over 300 portfolio projects under YZi Labs.

According to the official website of the SEC, Paul Atkins, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, announced new cryptocurrency guidelines at the DC Blockchain Summit, and proposed the concept of a regulatory safe harbor for crypto assets, which includes three exemption pathways:Startup Exemption: A maximum of four years, allowing projects to have a regulatory buffer period before reaching maturity, with a fundraising limit of no more than $5 million within four years, requiring the submission of principal disclosure information.Financing Exemption: Allowing up to $75 million in fundraising within 12 months, requiring the submission of disclosure documents to the SEC that include principal disclosures, financial status, and financial statements.Investment Contract Safe Harbor: When the issuer completes or permanently ceases core management efforts under the investment contract, the relevant crypto assets may be exempt from the definition of securities.Atkins stated that this framework draws on Congress's work in recent years, particularly the CLARITY Act, and proposed rules are expected to be released for public comment in the coming weeks.

As Iran intensifies its strikes on key energy nodes, a large natural gas field in the UAE has been ignited. Meanwhile, U.S. President Trump has called on allies to assist in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.The drone attack on the Shah gas field occurred near the border between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. This marks the first time Iran has damaged the country's oil and gas upstream facilities during the conflict. The UAE government stated that operations at the gas field have been suspended, and there were no casualties on site. The gas field is jointly operated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Texas-based Occidental Petroleum.Due to multiple drone and missile attacks, the UAE closed its airspace at night. Authorities reported that air traffic returned to normal on Tuesday morning. Just a day before the attack, Iran also struck a fuel depot at Dubai's main airport, causing a massive plume of smoke to rise over the world's busiest international transit hub and leading to a brief disruption of flights.

According to The Block, Ethereum researchers demonstrated a proof of concept for "native Rollups" based on the execution client Ethrex, implementing EIP-8079 through the addition of an EXECUTE precompile, which directly replays and verifies Layer 2 block state changes on the Ethereum base layer.This solution does not rely on zero-knowledge proofs or fraud proofs, but instead is executed and confirmed by Ethereum itself to validate Rollup transaction validity. The related contracts are used to track Rollup state, bridge cross-layer messages, and verify withdrawals based on Merkle-Patricia proofs. Developers claim that native Rollups can simplify long-term maintenance of Layer 2, allowing them to directly inherit Ethereum's security and upgrade properties, and they are still in the exploration and proof of concept stage.

According to CoinDesk, analysts at brokerage firm Bernstein maintain an "outperform" rating on USDC issuer Circle's stock, with a target price of $190, representing about a 60% upside from the current level of $120.The report notes that the adoption of stablecoins is increasingly decoupling from the cryptocurrency market cycle. Despite the market being in a bear phase, the supply of USDC has rebounded to nearly a record $78 billion, and the total market capitalization of dollar-pegged stablecoins remains stable at around $270 billion. Adjusted stablecoin trading volume has increased by over 90% year-on-year, with trading turnover rising, indicating that stablecoins are being used more frequently in scenarios outside of cryptocurrency trading.Payment adoption is the main driver, as stablecoins are gradually being integrated into traditional card networks. Visa currently supports over 130 stablecoin-linked cards across more than 50 countries, with an annual settlement volume of approximately $4.6 billion. AI-driven "proxy finance" could become a new growth theme, as machine-to-machine micropayments between autonomous software agents will require stablecoins as a natural payment rail.

According to Jinshi, U.S. President Trump announced the establishment of a new military alliance to eliminate drug trafficking groups.

According to market news, Bitcoin's recovery today is closely related to a similar rebound in the U.S. stock market, with artificial intelligence and tech stocks leading the market higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index led the gains, rising by 1.05%, while the S&P 500 index increased by 0.68%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 421 points, closing up 0.86% on Tuesday. Analysts point out that the correlation between Bitcoin and gold, as well as U.S. stocks, is currently at its lowest level since the FTX incident in 2022.Despite gold rising 51% over the past six months while Bitcoin has fallen 43%, on-chain data firms believe that this extreme divergence historically indicates significant upside potential. Additionally, the Coinbase premium index turned positive for the first time since January 15, accompanied by a net inflow of $258 million into spot ETFs on Tuesday, indicating that U.S. institutional buying is returning. QCP Capital founder Darius Sit stated that this divergence reflects changes in liquidity driven by position liquidations and leverage, rather than a failure of Bitcoin's long-term narrative.

According to Cointelegraph, cryptocurrency economist Timothy Peterson's latest analysis indicates that Bitcoin still has structural upside potential during the current bear market correction: 50% of the months in the past 24 months recorded positive returns, suggesting a higher probability of a positive return turning point in any 24-month period.Based on this, Peterson estimates that the probability of Bitcoin being above the current level in the next 10 months is 88%. He emphasizes that this statistical model shows the market may be approaching a turning point rather than continuing to decline.The current Bitcoin price is approximately $68,173, down nearly 25% from the year's high, erasing most of the gains after the 2024-2025 U.S. elections; the Crypto Fear & Greed Index has fallen to "Extreme Fear" at 9 points, and social media interest in Bitcoin predictions has dried up, with sentiment trending neutral.

According to analyst Darkfost, Ethereum's continued pullback has put immense pressure on holders, with the unrealized profit margins of all categories of whale groups now turning negative. Historically, this state of pressure often signals a mid-term bottom. Among them: the unrealized profit margin for whales holding 1k - 10k ETH is -0.21; for whales holding 10k - 100k ETH, it is -0.18; and for whales holding 100k+ ETH, it is -0.08. Darkfost stated that considering Ethereum's price has not even dropped back to last April's low, this is indeed a rather surprising development. If Ethereum's price continues to decline, these whales may find themselves in serious trouble and could even be forced to capitulate and sell off their large holdings of Ethereum.

According to The Block, despite BitGo's stock price dropping on Tuesday, Mizuho Bank has given a positive outlook on the institutional-grade crypto custody platform in its first research report.Mizuho Bank analysts Dan Dolev and Alexander Jenkins described BitGo as a "military-grade custodian," believing that its long-term security record and focus on institutional clients constitute a core advantage in the increasingly competitive custody market.The report noted that over 80% of BitGo's revenue comes from recurring businesses such as custody and staking, rather than volatile trading activities, which sets it apart among crypto infrastructure companies. The analysts assigned BitGo a "buy" rating with a target price of $17, implying nearly 70% upside from the current trading price of about $10.15.Mizuho Bank expects that as stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets drive institutional adoption, the company's revenue growth will accelerate. Nevertheless, BitGo's stock price has fallen about 44% since its NYSE debut at an issuance price of $18 in January, reflecting the overall cautious sentiment in the market towards crypto-related stocks.

According to Cointelegraph, Mandiant, a U.S. cybersecurity company affiliated with Google Cloud, has discovered that a North Korea-linked threat organization is intensifying social engineering attacks against cryptocurrency and fintech companies.The threat group, codenamed UNC1069, has deployed seven malware families, including the newly discovered SILENCELIFT, DEEPBREATH, and CHROMEPUSH, aimed at obtaining sensitive data and stealing digital assets. The attackers exploit compromised Telegram accounts and use AI-generated deepfake videos to lure victims into fake Zoom meetings.Mandiant has been tracking this organization since 2018, but advancements in artificial intelligence have helped the group expand its malicious activities since November 2025. In one intrusion incident, the attackers used a stolen Telegram account of a cryptocurrency founder to initiate contact, inducing victims to execute "troubleshooting" commands containing hidden instructions through a so-called ClickFix attack.

According to Cointelegraph, Mandiant, a U.S. cybersecurity company affiliated with Google Cloud, has discovered that a North Korea-linked threat organization is intensifying social engineering attacks against cryptocurrency and fintech companies.The threat group, codenamed UNC1069, has deployed seven malware families, including the newly discovered SILENCELIFT, DEEPBREATH, and CHROMEPUSH, aimed at obtaining sensitive data and stealing digital assets. The attackers exploit compromised Telegram accounts and use AI-generated deepfake videos to lure victims into fake Zoom meetings.Mandiant has been tracking this organization since 2018, but advancements in artificial intelligence have helped the group scale up its malicious activities since November 2025. In one intrusion incident, the attackers used a stolen Telegram account of a cryptocurrency founder to initiate contact, inducing victims to execute "troubleshooting" commands containing hidden instructions through a so-called ClickFix attack.

According to The Block, Robinhood's stock price fell on Tuesday after the company reported a year-over-year decline in cryptocurrency business revenue for the fourth quarter. However, analysts from research and brokerage firm Bernstein stated that this weakness reflects a temporary "crypto market tension" and reiterated their target price of $160.Robinhood's total revenue reached an all-time high, but cryptocurrency trading revenue fell 38% year-over-year to $221 million. Bernstein analysts noted that the revenue weakness due to decreased crypto trading activity was "expected" and stated that "there is no need to turn bearish when the stock price is approaching a cyclical low." Despite the "crypto market tension," several business metrics for the company remained "robust" in the fourth quarter. Additionally, Robinhood Banking, launched at the end of 2025, has attracted over 25,000 funded customers, with total account balances exceeding $400 million.Analysts pointed out that Robinhood's prediction market set a new record, accounting for about 14% of trading revenue and 8% of total revenue. The platform traded 8.5 billion contracts in the fourth quarter, far exceeding previous expectations. The report indicated that trading volume at the beginning of 2026 reached $4 billion, while the previously forecasted trading volume for 2026 was $27 billion.

JPMorgan analyst Ken Worthington significantly lowered his target price for Coinbase stock from $399 to $290 ahead of the company's fourth-quarter earnings report, which is set to be released this Thursday. Worthington remains optimistic about the stock, noting that the revised target price still implies a 75% upside from Coinbase's current price of $165.5.He expects adjusted EBITDA to be $734 million, down from $801 million in the third quarter. He stated that this would represent a sharp decline compared to previous quarters, primarily driven by decreased trading volumes, weakening cryptocurrency prices, and a slowdown in the growth of USDC stablecoin balances. Worthington anticipates that the spot cryptocurrency trading volume for the quarter will be $263 billion.He also pointed out the reduction in circulating USDC and predicted stablecoin-related revenue to be $312 million. These adverse factors are partially offset by the total quarterly revenue contributed by Deribit (the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange acquired by Coinbase last August). Including Deribit, JPMorgan's model forecasts total trading revenue of $1.06 billion, with Deribit contributing approximately $117 million based on an estimated trading volume of about $586 billion.In the previous quarter, the trading platform reported trading revenue of $1 billion. In terms of subscription and services revenue, the bank expects revenue to be $670 million, down from Coinbase's prior guidance range of $710 million to $790 million, reflecting weak cryptocurrency prices, declining staking yields, and a slowdown in USDC growth. Worthington also expects operating expenses to be below guidance due to the company's cost control measures.

According to market news, despite Galaxy Digital's stock price plummeting due to a $482 million loss in the fourth quarter, the market may be overlooking its potential in long-term catalysts such as AI data centers and U.S. cryptocurrency regulatory legislation.Galaxy's current stock price is around $21, and Benchmark maintains its "buy" rating with a target price of $57, anticipating a 170% upside. Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz stated during the earnings call that there is a 75%-80% probability of passing U.S. cryptocurrency market structure legislation, which could attract more institutional capital into the market. Additionally, the company plans to announce more institutional partnerships and infrastructure expansion plans in the coming quarters, including the expansion of on-chain credit markets.Benchmark also mentioned that Galaxy's Helios data center in Texas is an undervalued asset, with over 1.6 gigawatts of approved power capacity, and plans to start generating revenue this year through a leasing agreement with AI cloud service provider CoreWeave. Analysts believe that the valuation of the Helios data center alone could exceed Galaxy's current market value.Despite the decline in fourth-quarter performance, Galaxy's lending business continues to grow, with total loans reaching $1.8 billion, while the company has $2.6 billion in cash and stablecoin reserves, providing ample financial support for its expansion in cryptocurrency infrastructure and AI.

JPMorgan stated that investors should not sell gold. After Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to head the Federal Reserve, gold prices plummeted last Friday. They experienced significant volatility on Monday and rebounded slightly on Tuesday. JPMorgan believes this is merely a stumble on the way to higher year-end targets for gold prices.The investment bank updated its gold price target for 2026 to $6,300 per ounce, an increase of about 34% from the approximately $4,700 price on Monday evening. Given what happened last Friday, this forecast may seem overly optimistic, but the bank's Gregory Shearer insists that a rebound is imminent. However, according to Shearer, investors need not worry about further declines in gold prices. In the report, he emphasized that gold demand remains strong, exceeding his team's expectations.

VanEck's Head of Digital Asset Research, Matthew Sigel, stated in a post on X that VanEck will participate in BitGo's public offering. He believes that BitGo is one of the few publicly traded cryptocurrency-related companies that may see revenue growth exceeding 50% in the disappointing cryptocurrency market of 2025.At the same time, they expect BitGo's growth momentum to be less robust than Coinbase's, but revenue is still projected to grow by 26% by 2028. This could position the company to achieve over $400 million in revenue and over $120 million in EBITDA by 2028. Therefore, they estimate BitGo's fair market value at $2.4 billion (approximately $21 per share), which represents a 30% upside from the midpoint of the offering price range.In a more optimistic scenario, they believe BitGo's reasonable market value should exceed $3 billion, with a 12-month target price reaching $26.50 per share, about 65% higher than the midpoint of the price range.

Vitalik Buterin stated that he is "significantly more inclined to support native rollups" compared to the past. Vitalik recalled that a major reason for opposing native rollups previously was that their precompiled solutions had to choose between ZK mode or Optimistic mode, and at that time, ZK-EVM was not mature. L2 often chose the latter, which involved "fast withdrawals but self-proving risks" versus "relying on Ethereum's security but needing to wait 2-7 days for withdrawals," thereby weakening Ethereum's composability and promoting the prevalence of multi-signature bridges and other solutions.Vitalik pointed out that the situation is changing: Ethereum's timeline for fully adopting ZK at the L1 level is gradually aligning with the realistic progress of introducing native rollup precompiles, and the aforementioned core obstacles are expected to be eliminated. He also mentioned that the community is increasingly viewing "synchronous composability" as one of the core values of L2 and is exploring the combination of rollup-based solutions with low-latency pre-confirmation mechanisms.In addition, Vitalik emphasized that the design of native rollup precompiles should not be rushed in its implementation. He expressed a hope that in the future, there would be a property such that if developers build a rollup that is "EVM plus a small amount of extended functionality," they could directly reuse the EVM part of the native rollup precompiles and only introduce a custom proof system for the new features, connecting the two in a standardized way.

Vitalik Buterin stated that he is "significantly more inclined to support native rollups" compared to the past. Vitalik reflected that a key reason for opposing native rollups previously was that their precompiled solutions had to choose between ZK mode or Optimistic mode, and at that time, ZK-EVM was not mature. L2 often chose the latter option, which involved "fast withdrawals but self-bear proof risks" versus "relying on Ethereum's security but needing to wait 2-7 days for withdrawals," thereby weakening Ethereum's composability and promoting the proliferation of multi-signature bridge solutions.Vitalik pointed out that the situation is changing: Ethereum's timeline for fully adopting ZK at the L1 level is gradually aligning with the realistic progress of introducing native rollup precompiles, and the aforementioned core obstacles are expected to be eliminated. He also mentioned that the community is increasingly viewing "synchronous composability" as one of the core values of L2 and is exploring the combination of rollup-based solutions with low-latency pre-confirmation mechanisms.Additionally, Vitalik emphasized that the design of native rollup precompiles should not be rushed in its specific implementation. He expressed a hope that in the future, there would be a property such that if developers build a rollup that is "EVM with a small amount of extended functionality," they can directly reuse the EVM part of the native rollup precompiles and only introduce a custom proof system for the new features, connecting the two in a standardized way.