The Head of Product at X, Nikita Bier, stressed that this measure was taken to 
enable content creators to be transparent with their followers. The potential 
enforcement measures to be taken against users running undisclosed promotions 
were not clarified. Crypto Twitter Hurts as X Announces Paid Partnership 
Disclosure Label X is moving to enhance transparency […]

The Death of Crypto Twitter? X Announces ‘Paid Partnership’ Label Program

February was unusually quiet for crypto thieves. After months of eye-watering 
losses, the industry recorded just $26.5 million in total hack and scam- 
related damages last month — the smallest monthly figure in 11 months, 
according to blockchain security firm PeckShield. Related Reading: Bitcoin In 
The Line Of Fire: Price Dips To $63k As US, Israel Launch Strikes On Iran It&#8217;s 
a number that stands in sharp contrast to the carnage seen in early 2025, when 
a single breach wiped out $1.5 billion from crypto exchange Bybit. 2 Attacks 
Did Most Of The Damage Out of 15 recorded incidents in February, two attacks 
were behind much of the losses. The bigger of the two hit YieldBlox, a DAO- 
managed lending pool, on Feb. 21. Attackers manipulated token prices to drain 
$10 million from the protocol. That same day, decentralized identity platform 
IoTeX was also struck — clos to $9 million was taken through a private key 
exploit. Together, those two incidents alone made up over 70% of the month&#8217;s 
total losses. Compared to January, the drop is hard to ignore. Reports from 
PeckShield show that February&#8217;s $26.5 million total represents a 69% decline 
from the $86 million recorded just a month earlier. #PeckShieldAlert In Feb. 
2026, the crypto space saw 15 main hacks totaling $26.5M, representing a 98.2% 
YoY decrease compared to Feb. 2025 ($1.5B, including the $1.4B #Bybit drain) 
and a notable 69.2% MoM decrease from Jan. 2026 ($86.01M in losses).#Top5 
Hacks :… pic.twitter.com/Svp7SZWp5w — PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) March 
1, 2026 Part of the explanation, according to a PeckShield spokesperson, is 
simply the absence of a headline-grabbing, billion-dollar breach. When no 
single attack dominates the numbers, the totals look far more manageable. 
Market conditions also played a role. Bitcoin dipped below $70,000 in early 
February, triggering a broad market correction that appeared to shift the 
focus away from protocol attacks. During turbulent stretches, traders and 
institutions are preoccupied with managing losses and moving liquidity. That 
kind of environment, reports suggest, tends to suppress exploit activity 
rather than encourage it. Crypto Security Standards Are Getting Stricter The 
improvement may not be entirely down to luck or timing. Analysts say that 
tighter risk controls, stronger vetting of counterparties, and better real- 
time monitoring across major platforms have all contributed to a more secure 
environment. Artificial intelligence is being credited as a rising force in 
the fight against vulnerabilities. Automated code checks, anomaly detection 
tools, and pre-deployment attack simulations are catching problems earlier — 
before they can be exploited. Experts say that if security standards keep pace 
with the rate of innovation, losses could continue to shrink through the rest 
of the year. Phishing Stays A Stubborn Threat Not everything is trending in 
the right direction. Phishing attacks — where criminals pose as trusted 
contacts or platforms to steal login credentials and private keys — remain a 
serious and ongoing problem. Related Reading: Say What You Want — XRP’s Chart 
Is Screaming $50 — Analyst Losses tied to wallet-draining phishing schemes 
fell sharply in 2025, dropping from $494 million down to $83 million. But the 
threat has not disappeared. According to PeckShield, bad actors are 
increasingly shifting their attention away from targeting code and toward 
targeting people. Tricking a user into handing over access is often easier 
than cracking a well-audited smart contract. The firm urged both institutions 
and large holders to rely on multi-signature cold storage solutions and to 
treat private key security as non-negotiable. Featured image from Unsplash, 
chart from TradingView

Crypto’s Quietest Month In Nearly A Year — But Hackers Haven’t Gone Away

Bitcoin trades flat as Hong Kong readies March stablecoin licenses and 2026 
dealer–custodian rules to boost tokenized finance. Hong Kong is set to grant 
its first stablecoin issuer licenses in March and introduce legislation for 
crypto asset dealers and custodians…

Hong Kong to license fiat stablecoins, tighten VA dealers and custody

Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks, is reportedly in talks with crypto 
exchanges ahead of its euro stablecoin launch in the second half of 2026.

European banks line up exchange partners for 2026 stablecoin launch

The XRP market is undergoing a structural shift as trading dynamics move from 
spot accumulation to a derivatives-led environment. Recent Coinglass data 
reveals a significant uptick in XRP futures volume relative to spot trading, 
signaling that speculative interest is once…

Cryptocurrency price in LKR