Bitcoin holds its range trend even as the funding rate turns negative and BTC 
open interest flatlines. Is the data leaning toward a short-squeeze back to 
$70,000?

Negative Bitcoin funding rate may signal pending short-squeeze above $70K

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the decentralized finance (DeFi) venture 
associated with President Donald Trump and his sons, said early Monday that it 
had been targeted in what it described as a “coordinated attack” involving its 
stablecoin, USD1. According to CoinGecko data, USD1 — which carries a market 
capitalization of nearly $4.8 billion — briefly lost its dollar peg before 
recovering to $1. The temporary dislocation drew immediate attention across 
crypto markets, particularly given the project’s political ties and growing 
profile within the digital asset sector. World Liberty Financial Addresses 
Incident In a statement posted on its official account on X (previously 
Twitter), the project alleged that multiple attack vectors were deployed 
simultaneously. “A coordinated attack was launched against USD1 this morning,” 
WLFI wrote. The team claimed that hackers compromised several cofounder 
accounts, paid influencers to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), and 
opened significant short positions in the WLFI token in an attempt to profit 
from market disruption. Related Reading: Why The XRP Price Bottom Could Be In, 
And A Jump Above $2 Is Coming A spokesperson for World Liberty told Bloomberg 
that the company’s engineering and security teams had successfully countered 
the incident. The spokesperson described the event as a multi‑pronged attempt 
to undermine confidence in the project, but said internal systems functioned 
as intended. Beyond the temporary depeg itself, online speculation quickly 
shifted toward another development that some community members believe could 
be connected. A social media user known as Chris Coffee suggested that the 
alleged attack might relate to a forthcoming insider trading investigation 
teased by on‑chain investigator ZachXBT. Insider Probe Speculation Grows 
ZachXBT announced on X that he plans to publish a report on February 26 
detailing alleged insider trading by employees of &#8220;one of the most profitable 
crypto companies.&#8221; The timing has fueled conjecture. Some users pointed to 
reports that Eric Trump, who has been publicly supportive of WLFI, deleted 
several posts related to the project following the stablecoin’s volatility. He 
later posted again about WLFI, further drawing attention to the situation. In 
crypto circles, speculation intensified that World Liberty Financial could be 
the subject of the pending investigation, though no evidence has been 
presented to confirm such claims. Related Reading: Expert Crypto Trader 
Predicts The Exact Year Bitcoin Will Reach $250,000 The conversation has even 
extended to prediction markets. On Polymarket, bettors are placing odds on 
which company ZachXBT’s investigation might target. Current probabilities 
cited on the platform assign roughly a 20% chance to Pump.fun, 18% to World 
Liberty Financial, and 14% to Binance. For now, there is no confirmed link 
between Monday’s reported “coordinated attack” on USD1 and the investigation 
scheduled for release on February 26. Whether the two events are related or 
simply coincidental remains uncertain. As of this writing, the company’s 
native token, WLIF, is trading at $0.1121. This represents a 66% gap between 
the current trading price and the token’s all-time high of $0.33. Featured 
image from Sky, chart from TradingView.com

World Liberty Financial Cites ‘Coordinated Attack’ — But Are There Deeper Issues?

A person familiar with the project reportedly said the stablecoin under 
preliminary discussion by the board would be established as “a means to allow 
Gazans to transact digitally.”

Trump‘s Board of Peace said mulling stablecoin for Gaza efforts: FT

On Monday, Crypto.com disclosed that it has secured conditional approval from 
the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to charter a national trust 
bank, marking another crypto firm inching deeper into the U.S. banking system. 
Digital Asset Firm Crypto.com Wins Conditional OCC Approval for National Trust 
Bank Charter Crypto.com announced Monday it received conditional […]

Crypto.com Moves Closer to Federal Bank Oversight With OCC Nod

Bitcoin’s long-term price outlook is a major talking point, with veteran 
trader Peter Brandt recently floating a bold timeline for when the leading 
cryptocurrency could hit $250,000. The comment came in response to a chart 
shared on X by NBA legend Scottie Pippen, who showed how Bitcoin’s current 
structure looks familiar. Brandt not only agreed with Pippen, he also attached 
a projection that points to a specific year for a when the Bitcoin price will 
eventually trade above $250,000. Power Law Projection Points To 2029 Breakout 
According to veteran financial analyst Peter Brandt, Bitcoin is on track to 
setting off to $250,000-plus by late 2029. He only noted this with a simple 
sentence, but the projection to $250,000 is visible in the weekly candlestick 
price chart he shared alongside his prediction. Related Reading: Don’t Fall 
For The Bitcoin Trap: Analyst Explains Why Recovery To $76,000 Is Not A Good 
Thing The chart shared by Brandt shows Bitcoin trading within a broad upward- 
sloping channel that has defined its macrostructure for over a decade. The 
lower boundary, highlighted in green, appears to act as a recurring support 
zone during major consolidations. The upper red band connects the different 
peaks over the years. The current structure is playing out in a way where 
Bitcoin has been trending downwards after a strong multi-year advance that 
peaked in late 2025. Brandt’s projection extends the channel forward into 
2029, where the middle band of the channel intersects near the $250,000 price 
level. $250,000 is a recurring Bitcoin price target among crypto participants, 
although the predictions have different timelines as to when Bitcoin will 
reach this price level. For instance, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee is also of the 
notion that Bitcoin will trade at $250,000 soon, although this came with a 
warning. Analysts at Galaxy Digital have also floated the same target, 
although on a faster timeline around 2027. That projection, however, came with 
expectations of an unstable 2026 before any strong rally. Scottie Pippen’s 
2020 Comparison Brandt’s forecast was triggered by Scottie Pippen’s post 
comparing Bitcoin’s current setup to its 2020 structure. In Pippen’s side-by- 
side chart comparison, the left panel shows Bitcoin’s CME Futures in mid-2020 
forming a base before launching into the rally that culminated in the 2021 
highs. Related Reading: Bitcoin Ready To Bounce Again? The Major Accumulation 
Trend You Should Be Aware Of The right panel, which shows current price action 
in 2026, depicts a similar consolidation pattern above a green support zone. 
The visual comparison suggests that Bitcoin is now in a comparable pre- 
breakout phase like it was in 2020. In 2020, Bitcoin consolidated for months 
before breaking into a parabolic move. As such, although the long-term view is 
bullish, there&#8217;s a high probability that Bitcoin will continue to consolidate 
around its current price level before going on an aggressive 2021-style rally. 
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is consolidating below $70,000. The leading 
cryptocurrency is currently trading at $66,150, having lost 1.8% of its value 
in the past 24 hours. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com

Cryptocurrency price in USD