A new analysis from Coin Metrics, authored by Senior Research Associate Tanay 
Ved, finds that January’s record $8 trillion in adjusted stablecoin transfer 
volume was largely driven by USDC activity on Base, with much of the spike 
tied to decentralized finance ( DeFi) mechanics rather than payments. Tanay 
Ved of Coin Metrics Breaks Down USDC’s […]

Report Finds USDC Transfer Growth on Base Fueled by LP Rebalancing

OpenAI has introduced a new system called EVMbench, designed to measure how 
well artificial intelligence agents can find and fix security flaws in crypto 
smart contracts. The company announced on Feb. 18 that it has developed 
EVMbench in partnership with…

OpenAI and Paradigm launch smart contract security evaluation system

Solana failed to stay above $86 and corrected gains. SOL price is now below 
$84 and remains at risk of more losses below $80. SOL price started a downside 
correction below $86 against the US Dollar. The price is now trading below $85 
and the 100-hourly simple moving average. There is a bearish trend line 
forming with resistance at $84 on the hourly chart of the SOL/USD pair (data 
source from Kraken). The pair could extend losses if it dips below the $80 
zone. Solana Price Dips Further Solana price failed to stay above $90 and 
started a downside correction, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. SOL dipped below $88 
and $86 to enter a short-term bearish zone. There was a move below the 61.8% 
Fib retracement level of the upward wave from the $76.55 swing low to the 
$91.20 high. The price even tested the $80 support. Besides, there is a 
bearish trend line forming with resistance at $84 on the hourly chart of the 
SOL/USD pair. Solana is now trading below $84 and the 100-hourly simple moving 
average. On the upside, the price is facing resistance near the $83 level. The 
next major resistance is near the $84 level. The main resistance could be 
$85.60. A successful close above the $85.60 resistance zone could set the pace 
for another steady increase. The next key resistance is $88. Any more gains 
might send the price toward the $92 level. More Losses In SOL? If SOL fails to 
rise above the $85 resistance, it could start another decline. Initial support 
on the downside is near the $80 zone and the 76.4% Fib retracement level of 
the upward wave from the $76.55 swing low to the $91.20 high. The first major 
support is near the $79 level. A break below the $79 level might send the 
price toward the $76.50 support zone. If there is a close below the $76.50 
support, the price could decline toward the $72 support in the near term. 
Technical Indicators Hourly MACD – The MACD for SOL/USD is losing pace in the 
bullish zone. Hourly Hours RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for SOL/USD 
is below the 50 level. Major Support Levels – $80 and $79. Major Resistance 
Levels – $85 and $88.

Solana (SOL) Pressured Below Key Levels, Further Drop Possible?

Coinbase has expanded its crypto-backed lending service to include XRP, 
Dogecoin, Cardano, and Litecoin, allowing eligible users to borrow against 
more assets without selling their holdings. The company announced the update 
on Feb. 18, saying U.S. customers, excluding those in…

Coinbase adds support for XRP, DOGE, ADA, LTC as loan collateral via Morpho

Bitcoin investors hoping for a familiar macro rescue may be reading the room 
wrong. In an interview with Coin Stories host Nathalie Brunell, macro analyst 
Lyn Alden argued that the next policy turn is more likely to resemble a slow 
balance-sheet creep than the kind of “nuclear print” that has historically 
juiced risk assets, leaving bitcoin to compete largely on its own fundamentals 
and narrative pull. Alden framed the current cycle as unusually underwhelming, 
not just in price terms but in participation. She noted that sentiment “is 
worse than 2022,” and attributed the malaise to a missing retail bid, a lack 
of “alt season,” and a broader crypto market that “kind of run out of 
narratives.” Bitcoin, she said, topped out at $126,000, below her own bar for 
a satisfying cycle. “Sometimes they give their time frames so we can just see 
if it hits that time frame or not,” Alden said, pushing back on the reflexive 
call that every drawdown forces the Fed’s hand. “Every kind of down tick in 
stocks or every kind of down tick they say well the […] we’re going to have to 
print soon. But really the Fed only cares mainly about the liquidity of the 
treasury market and the interbank lending market […] even stocks going down 
10, 20, 30% is not really going to be a catalyst.” Related Reading: Is Jane 
Street Manipulating Bitcoin? The Viral Theory Explained Brunell pointed to 
comments she said came from Fed Chair Jerome Powell about “slowly” expanding 
the balance sheet, with purchases starting around $40 billion in short-end 
Treasury bills, far from the trillions some bitcoin bulls anchor on. Alden’s 
response was blunt: the plumbing doesn’t demand a shock-and-awe response right 
now. “Mainly because the conditions are not such that they would need a big 
print in the near future,” she said. “There are scenarios that can absolutely 
result in a big print or a nuclear print […] but when you kind of run the 
numbers of how much debt is coming out, how levered or unlevered banks are, 
they just don’t really need a lot of printing. A little printing gets them a 
long way.” In Alden’s telling, QE1-scale interventions were tied to a very 
specific setup: an overlevered banking system with low cash ratios and acute 
private-sector balance sheet stress. Today, she argued, bank cash ratios are 
“still pretty high,” and absent a COVID-scale disruption or an escalation in 
war or “financial war”, the base case is incrementalism. Bitcoin Still Has To 
Win Attention That matters because, in Alden’s framework, gradual balance- 
sheet expansion is supportive but not decisive for bitcoin. The era where 
“micro doesn’t matter at all” is reserved for true emergency stimulus and she 
doesn’t see that as the near-term setup. “Not a ton, I think,” Alden said when 
asked what gradual QE means for bitcoin. “It’s supportive […] but Bitcoin 
still has to compete on its own merits for investor attention. So, you know, 
basically it has to compete with Nvidia […] with everything out there that 
people can own.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Capitulation Or Buy Zone? What On- 
Chain Data Shows Right Now She tied the muted cycle to “mediocre” topline 
demand and a capital-market landscape where AI-linked equities and even 
precious metals have offered competition for mindshare. Sovereigns “didn’t 
really show up,” she said, and retail largely stayed sidelined, leaving “the 
corporate institutional side” and higher-net-worth brokerage buyers, aided by 
ETFs, as the main marginal bid. Alden also downplayed the idea that 
derivatives and ETFs are the chief culprit behind a capped upside, even if 
they can “inflate” synthetic supply for a time. The bigger issue, she argued, 
is simply that the demand impulse hasn’t been strong enough to overwhelm a 
now-larger, more liquid market. Looking forward, Alden expects bottoms to form 
as “fast money gets out” and coins rotate to “strongly held hands,” with price 
more likely to grind than V-recover. On the upside, she pointed to a potential 
setup where AI trades eventually peak, bitcoin sits “cheap for a while” in 
tight hands, and only “a marginal amount of new demand” is needed to restart 
reflexivity, possibly alongside continued buying from bitcoin treasury 
companies. For now, her core warning is that this cycle may not be saved by 
policy theatrics. If bitcoin is going to reassert itself, Alden suggested, it 
will be less about waiting for a macro bailout and more about whether enough 
investors still want “self-custodial […] undebasable savings,” even when other 
assets are stealing the spotlight. At press time, Bitcoin traded at $67,556. 
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

Cryptocurrency price in BTC