Новини

Joachim Nagel, member of the European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council and President of the Bundesbank, has confirmed his support for euro stablecoins, asserting they are a key tool for modernizing digital payments. During an event at the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany, Nagel highlighted that stablecoins facilitate low-cost international transfers for companies and individuals, complementing current efforts to develop an official digital euro.

This shift in stance reflects a growing need for independence in European payment systems against the hegemony of dollar-linked assets. The Trump administration’s push toward cryptocurrencies has increased fears of a potential digital “dollarization” that could threaten the region’s monetary sovereignty, positioning tokenized deposits and local stablecoins as strategic shields for the bloc’s financial stability.

From now on, the market must monitor how the Eurosystem will integrate these instruments based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) without compromising central bank control. The evolution of this institutional support will be decisive for the mass adoption of private euro payment solutions and their coexistence with traditional financial infrastructure in the coming years.

Source:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-16/ecb-s-nagel-touts-euro-denominated-stablecoins-for-payments

Disclaimer: Crypto Economy Flash News is prepared from official and public sources verified by our editorial team. Its purpose is to quickly inform about relevant facts in the crypto and blockchain ecosystem. This information does not constitute financial advice or investment recommendations. We recommend always verifying the official channels of each project before making related decisions.

BlockBeats News, February 17th, DeFi architect Andre Cronje's launched on-chain financial system Flying Tulip (FT) officially kicked off its public token sale. Prior to this, the project had completed a $200 million seed round of financing, oversubscribed in a presale conducted on CoinList, raising nearly $10 million. The fundraising cap for this public sale is set at $1 billion, and the project's fully diluted valuation (FDV) also reached $1 billion, making it one of the larger protocol launches in the 2026 market cycle.Flying Tulip is designed as a native yield-bearing ecosystem, integrating spot trading, margin lending, and its own stablecoin ftUSD. The protocol will deposit 100% of the funds into low-risk, high liquidity yield strategies (such as Aave, Lido), only capturing the excess yield spread for operations and token buyback, distinguishing it from the traditional DeFi model relying on inflation incentives.The core innovation of this public sale is the "ftPUT" model, namely the on-chain "perpetual put option" mechanism. All FT tokens issued in the public sale come with the right to redemption at the initial investment value (supporting BTC, ETH, SOL, and stablecoin subscriptions), forming an on-chain "floor price" protection of $0.10. When the secondary market price falls below this threshold, the automatic buyback mechanism will be triggered. Cronje stated that this structure aims to emphasize the "refundable" attribute, prioritizing the security of user principal.The Token Generation Event (TGE) is scheduled for February 23rd. Flying Tulip is currently deployed on Ethereum, Base, and Avalanche, with plans to expand to MegaETH and Hyperliquid, positioning itself as a low-latency, cross-chain liquidity infrastructure for the "Agentic Economy." The market is watching to see if it can continue to deliver on the "principal protection" commitment while expanding TVI (Total Value Invested).

YouTube star Logan Paul has set a new Guinness World Record, selling his rare Pokémon card for nearly $16.5 million on Monday — the most expensive card sale in history — though the new record sale didn’t come without controversy.

The auction for the Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card — one of 39 created in a competition in the 1990s — was won by AJ Scaramucci, the son of American financier Anthony Scaramucci, outbidding several others who made offers in the seven- and eight-figure range.

Paul is believed to have made an $8 million profit after auction fees on Monday. He bought the card for $5.3 million in July 2021.

.@LoganPaul's rare @Pokemon card becomes most expensive ever sold in record-setting auction.

The PSA-10 Pikachu Illustrator went on sale via @GoldinCo and eventually sold for $16,492,000.https://t.co/B1YBUIqhbx

— Guinness World Records (@GWR) February 16, 2026

However, the record sale reignited criticism over Paul’s move to fractionalize ownership of the card on Liquid Marketplace in 2022 before the platform went offline, leaving investors scrambling for returns and prompting a lawsuit in Canada.

In a post to X on Monday, Delphi Labs general counsel Gabriel Shapiro said Paul’s “Pikachu NFT fractionalization fiasco” is a “classic case of ‘slop tokenization.’”

“The token is basically just ‘juxtaposed’ with property but has no rights to it,” Shapiro said, urging investors to read the terms of service and to stop rushing into “legal scams.”

Paul addressed the criticism, stating that Liquid Marketplace went offline for reasons beyond his control and that, once aware of the issue, he paid to restore the site so users could withdraw their funds. 

Only 5.4% of the card was fractionalized to owners who paid about $270,000, Paul noted.

Source: Logan Paul

Paul isn’t named in the Liquid Marketplace lawsuit brought by the Ontario Securities Commission, Canada’s top securities regulator, in June 2024. A hearing is scheduled for June.

Logan Paul’s past NFT drama 

It isn’t the first time Paul has had to defend himself over his involvement in NFTs. His CryptoZoo NFT project failed to deliver its promised play-to-earn game, drawing investor backlash and a class-action suit in 2023. 

Related: US prosecutors drop OpenSea NFT fraud case after appeals court reversal

He set up a buyback program and eventually paid investors back after they agreed to waive legal claims, and the class-action fraud lawsuit was ultimately dismissed in 2025.

Other NFT investments by Paul have also flopped, including an anime-style digital avatar from the 0N1 Force collection he bought for around $635,000 in 2021 that is now valued at under $2,000.

NFT market continues to slide

The record Pokémon card sale also stands in contrast to the struggling NFT market, which deals in digital collectibles. 

While the NFT market started strong in the first two weeks of 2026, the total NFT market cap has since fallen by more than 50%, from $3.2 billion to $1.55 billion amid a broader market pullback.

Change in NFT market cap over the last three months. Source: CoinGecko

Last month, NFT marketplace Rodeo and Nifty Gateway announced in the last week of January that they would wind down operations, adding to the sector’s string of high-profile closures.

Magazine: Chinese New Year boosts interest, TradFi buying crypto exchanges: Asia Express

ME News 消息，2 月 17 日（UTC+8），中国春节休市期间，贵金属延续跌势。现货黄金一度下探 4860 美元/盎司关口，日内跌约 2.6%，此前一交易日已跌 1%；现货白银盘中跌超 4%，失守 73 美元关口。 市场情绪受到地缘政治谈判预期影响。美国总统特朗普表示将「间接」参与在日内瓦举行的美伊核问题会谈，并称伊朗有意达成协议；同时，俄美乌第三轮会谈或将聚焦领土议题。分析人士指出，若外交局势缓和，资金或流向风险资产，抑制避险需求。 DHF Capital 首席执行官 Bas Kooijman 表示，谈判带来的谨慎乐观情绪削弱了避险买盘。City Index 分析师 Fawad Razaqzada 指出，若金价持续运行于 5000 美元下方，短期下行风险将上升，并可能进一步打击多头情绪。KCM 分析师 Tim Waterer 则认为，在全球流动性偏紧背景下，黄金短期缺乏强力催化剂，或需等待美元进一步走软。 此前，投机性买盘曾将金价推升至接近 5600 美元的历史高位，但随后两日急跌至 4400 美元附近，近期维持震荡。 多家投行仍维持中长期看多立场。包括法国巴黎银行、德意志银行和高盛在内的机构认为，地缘政治风险、美联储独立性争议及全球去美元化趋势将持续支撑金价。杰富瑞分析师将 2026 年金价预期由 4200 美元上调至 5000 美元，认为通胀与美元贬值仍是核心宏观驱动。（来源：ME）

Decentralized lending protocol ZeroLend says it is shutting down completely after the blockchains it operates on have suffered from low user numbers and liquidity.

“After three years of building and operating the protocol, we have made the difficult decision to wind down operations,” ZeroLend’s founder, known only as “Ryker,” said in a post the protocol shared to X on Monday.

“Despite the team’s continued efforts, it has become clear that the protocol is no longer sustainable in its current form,” he added.

ZeroLend focused its services on Ethereum layer-2 blockchains, once touted by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin as a central part of the network’s plan to scale and remain competitive.

However, Buterin said earlier this month that his vision for scaling with layer 2s “no longer makes sense,” that many have failed to properly adopt Ethereum’s security, and that scaling should increasingly come from the mainnet and native rollups.

ZeroLend operated at loss due to illiquid chains, says Ryker

ZeroLend’s Ryker said the reason for the shutdown is that several blockchains the protocol supported “have become inactive or significantly less liquid.”

He added that in some cases, oracle providers — services that fetch data and are often crucial to running protocols — have stopped support on some networks, making it “increasingly difficult to operate markets reliably or generate sustainable revenue.”

Source: ZeroLend

“At the same time, as the protocol grew, it attracted greater attention from malicious actors, including hackers and scammers,” Ryker said. “Combined with the inherently thin margins and high risk profile of lending protocols, this resulted in prolonged periods where the protocol operated at a loss.”

He added that the protocol will ensure users can withdraw their assets, adding, “We strongly encourage all users to withdraw any remaining funds from the platform.”

Ryker said some user funds may be locked on blockchains that have seen “significantly deteriorated” liquidity, and ZeroLend will upgrade the protocol’s smart contracts with the aim of redistributing stuck assets.

He added that ZeroLend has also been working to trace and recover funds tied to an exploit in February last year, where protocol users of a Bitcoin (BTC) product on the Base blockchain were exploited after an attacker drained lending pools.

Ryker said that suppliers of the product affected by the incident will receive a partial refund funded by an airdrop allocation received by the ZeroLend team.

At its height in November 2024, ZeroLend commanded a total value locked of nearly $359 million, but that has since sunk to $6.6 million, according to DefiLlama.

The ZeroLend (ZERO) token has fallen by 34% in the last 24 hours in reaction to the protocol’s shutdown and has also lost nearly all its value since hitting a peak of one-tenth of a cent in May 2024, according to CoinGecko.

Magazine: Ethereum’s Fusaka fork explained for dummies — What the hell is PeerDAS?

BlockBeats News, February 17: Japanese financial group SBI Holdings plans to acquire a majority stake in the Singaporean crypto CEX Coinhako to further deepen its presence in the cryptocurrency field.The announcement states that SBI Holdings' wholly-owned subsidiary, SBI Ventures Asset, has signed a letter of intent with Coinhako's parent company, Holdbuild, to invest in Coinhako and acquire shares from existing investors. If the transaction is completed, SBI Holdings will obtain a majority stake in Coinhako and make Coinhako its consolidated subsidiary, subject to regulatory approval.The financial terms of the acquisition and ownership details have not been disclosed yet, and the investment structure and share purchase scheme are still under discussion. This non-binding transaction will enable SBI to obtain a legal license in Singapore, one of Asia's major regulated cryptocurrency centers. (Cointelegraph)

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin hastaken aim at the "pretend neutrality" of the corporate world, arguing its creators should not be afraid to voice their own cultural and political principles despite the fact that the protocol is open for all.

One of those principles is a firm belief that "suits and ties should be expunged from our culture."

Permissionless, not opinionless

Buterin has made it clear that Ethereum’s core value proposition is its "permissionlessness."

Users do not need to align with his personal views on a plethora of topics to use the blockchain, Buterin says.

card

"You do not have to agree with my view that Berlin has the best food in Europe, suits and ties should be expunged from our culture, and YYYY-MM-DD is the best date format to use Ethereum," Buterin wrote.

He stressed that he does not claim to represent the entire ecosystem, noting that the "whole concept" of censorship resistance is that users are free to ignore him, the Ethereum Foundation, or client developers entirely.

The "grand bargain" of free speech

However, Buterin drew a sharp distinction between the neutrality of the code and the neutrality of the people building it. He has stressed that he can criticize projects he finds objectionable.

"If I say that your application is corposlop, I am not 'censoring' you," Buterin explained. "This has always been the flip side of the grand bargain of free speech: I am not free to shut you down, but I am free to criticize you, much as you are free to criticize me."

Buterin directed his sharpest critique at the "modern world" and its tendency toward sanitized, corporate neutrality. He argued that true neutrality is for protocols (HTTP, Bitcoin, and Ethereum), but that individuals should have the "courage to clearly state one's principles."

He juxtaposed this courage against the image of the corporate executive:

"The modern world does not call out for pretend neutrality, where a person puts on a suit and claims to be equally open to all perspectives from all of humanity and not have their own opinions."

Instead, Buterin advocated for building a "metaverse" where specific principles are taken as a baseline, arguing that valuing concepts like freedom ultimately requires making technology choices that reflect those values.

"Corposlop is soulless: trend-following homogeneity that is both evil and lame," Buterin wrote.

The Linux analogy

To illustrate his point, Buterin compared Ethereum to Linux. He noted that Linux is a tool for user empowerment, but it also serves as the "base layer of a lot of the world's corposlop."

"If you care about Linux because you care about user empowerment and freedom, it is not enough to just build the kernel, we must also build a full-stack ecosystem compatible with those values," he wrote.

For Buterin, the goal is to ensure that a values-aligned ecosystem exists as an option.

"Explicitly accept that this is not the only way that people will use Linux, but it is one way that must be built and must be available. Ethereum is similar."

專精另類資產管理、掌管 9,380 億美元資產的華爾街機構 —— 阿波羅全球管理公司（Apollo Global Management）持續深化加密貨幣、 DeFi 布局。最新消息指出，Apollo 已與 DeFi 借貸協議 Morpho 達成合作，未來 4 年最多可以購買 9,000 萬枚 MORPHO 代幣。

根據雙方簽署的合作協議， Apollo 及其關聯企業可透過公開市場買入、場外交易（OTC）等多種方式取得 MORPHO 代幣，但仍須遵守持幣上限與轉讓限制等條款。

文件亦指出，Galaxy Digital UK 在本次交易中擔任 Morpho 的獨家財務顧問。

9,000 萬枚代幣相當於 MORPHO 代幣總供應量的 9%，若全數完成配置，意味著 Apollo 將在該協議治理層面具備實質影響力。

這項合作不僅止於代幣投資。 Apollo 與 Morpho 也同步宣布，雙方將攜手支持基於 Morpho 協議打造的鏈上借貸市場。

事實上，這筆交易只是 Apollo 近年擴大區塊鏈布局的其中一環。去年，Apollo 已對主打將傳統金融產品上鏈的項目 PLUME 進行了七位數美元的投資。

Apollo 此舉正值全球資產管理業者加速探索 DeFi 基礎設施之際。就在上周，貝萊德（BlackRock）才宣布將透過與 Uniswap Labs 及數位資產發行平台 Securitize 的合作，正式開放旗下代幣化美債基金「BUIDL」進行鏈上交易。

〈布局 DeFi 借貸！華爾街巨頭 Apollo 、 Morpho 達成合作，擬買 9 千萬枚代幣〉這篇文章最早發佈於《區塊客》。

物理 AI 的領頭新創 Waabi 獲得十億美元 C 輪融資，由 Khosla Ventures 和 G2 Venture Partners 領投，Uber、NVIDIA 旗下風險投資機構 NVentures 和貝萊德等機構跟投。此外，Waabi 還獲得了來自 Uber 的策略性投資，成為獨家合作夥伴，在 Uber 平台上獨家部署由 Waabi Driver 驅動的自動駕駛計程車，展開人工智慧驅動自駕車新篇章。

Waabi 完成加拿大史上最大規模融資

Waabi 吸引了許多人工智慧、運輸以及加拿大生態系領域的全球領導者參與。除領投方 Khosla Ventures 和 G2 Venture Partners 外，Waabi 的 C 輪融資參與者還包括 Uber、NVIDIA 旗下風險投資機構 NVentures、Volvo 集團創投公司和保時捷汽車控股公司等策略投資者，以及貝萊德、Radical Ventures、阿布達比投資局 (ADIA) 全資投資局 (ADIA) 企業和金融公司。此外，加拿大頂尖投資者也參與了本輪融資，包括 BDC Capital 旗下的 Thrive Venture Fund、加拿大出口發展局 (EDC)、TELUS Global Ventures 和 BMO Global Asset Management 等。Waabi 此次融資為加拿大史上最大規模融資，獲得的 C 輪資金將用於推動 Waabi 物理 AI 平台的發展，加速公司在自動駕駛卡車的進程與無人駕駛計程車業務。

Waabi 發明業界首創自駕卡車和計程車共享 AI 模型

Waabi 的平台結合了可驗證的端到端人工智慧模型和全球最先進的神經模擬器，該模型具備神經推理能力，這種方法首次在業界實現了自動駕駛卡車和自動駕駛計程車共享大腦，由同個 AI 模型驅動兩個應用。 

輝達執行長黃仁勳為 Waabi 背書

NVIDIA 創辦人兼執行長黃仁勳表示全球每年行駛里程高達兆英里，自動駕駛是當今人工智慧領域規模最大、最重要的機會之一。 Waabi 讓自動駕駛實現了真正的突破。Waabi 基於輝達 DRIVE AGX Thor 和 Hyperion 建構，正展開部署，輝達很榮幸能夠支援他們，因為他們是未來人工智慧的巨頭之一。

Waabi 與 Uber 達成獨家合作，加速部署自動駕駛計程車

Waabi 基於自動駕駛卡車業務的進展和成熟，將推出物理 AI 的第二個應用領域：自動駕駛計程車。Waabi 與 Uber 達成獨家合作，將在Uber平台上部署由Waabi Driver 驅動的自動駕駛計程車，作為策略合作的一部分，Uber 將根據專案進度追加投資，以支持 Waabi 自動駕駛的研發、預計最終部署 25,000 輛或更多由 Waabi Driver 驅動的自動駕駛計程車，大幅加速自動駕駛計程車的產量規模

 

 

這篇文章 Waabi 獲得十億美元融資，簽署 UBER 獨家合作、投資方包括輝達 最早出現於 鏈新聞 ABMedia。

The Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index has recorded 33 consecutive days of negative premium, the longest stretch since May 2023. This index measures the price difference between Bitcoin on Coinbase and the global market average. Persistent negative premium suggests increased selling pressure in the US market, decreased investor risk appetite, and potential capital outflows.

BlockBeats News, February 17th, according to HTX market data, RPL's 24-hour price surge has expanded to 62%, with a market cap of $62 million and a current price of $2.80.On the news front, Rocket Pool's largest-ever protocol upgrade, Saturn One, is set to be officially deployed on the Ethereum mainnet on February 18, 2026, at 00:00 UTC (8:00 AM Beijing Time, 00:00 AM UK Time). The upgrade is seen by the community as a "turning point".Key highlights of the Saturn One upgrade (directly benefiting RPL holders and protocol growth):· RPL Fee Switch officially activated: Protocol revenue (ETH fees) will be partially allocated to users staking RPL, achieving true value capture, shifting from pure governance/staking to a "dividend" model.· Node operator minimum ETH requirement halved to 4 ETH (from 8 ETH): Significantly reducing the entry barrier, expected to attract more nodes, driving TVL and rETH adoption rates to surge.· Introduction of Megapools: Allows node operators to create larger pools, improving capital efficiency, reducing gas costs, and supporting adjustable commission controls.· rETH Optimization + Subsequent Inflation Reduction: Enhanced experience for the liquid staking token rETH, gradual reduction in RPL inflation, further bolstering long-term value.

PayPal 斥資近 2 億美元收購 AI 商務平台 Cymbio，搶入「代理型商業」（Agentic Commerce）賽道。當 Google + Shopify（UCP）、OpenAI + Stripe（ACP）與 PayPal 三方角力白熱化之際，加密支付在三大協議中幾乎完全缺席——是被忽略，還是被刻意排除？本文源自 LUKE SPILL 文章《AI: PayPal’s $200M Wake-Up Call in AI Commerce》，由動區編譯、撰寫而成。 （前情提要：Stripe 官宣超過 40 項新升級，合作 OpenAI 發佈 ACP 協議） （背景補充：Google 推出支援穩定幣與加密貨幣的「代理支付協議 AP2」）   對 PayPal、Stripe 等金融科技公司而言，是否能嵌入 AI 商業的底層協議，將決定它們還能否繼續坐在牌桌上；而對銀行與加密行業來說，視窗期同樣短暫。 上週，PayPal 收購了 Cymbio，一家幫助商家在多種 AI 介面上完成銷售的平台，其支援的渠道包括 Microsoft Copilot 和 Perplexity。市場訊息人士估計，這筆交易的金額在 1.5 億至 2 億美元 之間。業界普遍解讀，此舉是 PayPal 為了在 Agentic Commerce（代理型商業）領域站穩腳步所下的一步關鍵棋。 因此，隨著 AI 代理不斷改寫並重塑傳統電商漏斗，PayPal 正在從一個典型的 Web2 支付工具，轉向商品發現、商品目錄分發以及訂單編排等更上游、更核心的商業環節。這一轉向，幾乎高度吻合原作者在今年 1 月關於指數式增長、冪律效應以及 Agentic Commerce 中規模回報遞增的分析。 與此同時，行業的基礎設施正在快速成型： Google 與 Shopify 正在推動 Universal Commerce Protocol（UCP）； OpenAI 與 Stripe 聯手推進 Agentic Commerce Protocol（ACP）； 微軟則將結算能力直接嵌入 Copilot 之中。 圍繞「機器」而非「人類使用者」的購物基礎設施，正以飛快節奏重新搭建。Agentic Commerce 正在以現實世界的方式，實現指數型成長的願景。各大機構給出的預測數字驚人，而且正逐漸收斂： 麥肯錫（McKinsey）預測：到本十年末，Agentic Commerce 可望在美國零售市場帶動 1 萬億美元 的收入，約佔全部線上零售銷售額的 三分之一。 Morgan Stanley 預測：到 2030 年，Agentic Commerce 將帶動美國電商消費升至 1900 億至 3850 億美元，對應 10%–20% 的市場滲透率。 Bain 預測：到 2030 年，Agentic Commerce 的市場規模將達到 3000 億至 5000 億美元，約佔線上零售總額的 15%–25%。 現有采用資料表明，我們正處在指數增長曲線的拐點：2025 年 11 月，已有 23% 的美國消費者使用 AI 完成過一次購買。 Cymbio 可能成為 PayPal 在 AI 商業中的「中間層」 對 PayPal 而言，Cymbio 的潛在定位，是 AI 商業體系中的中間基礎設施層。其核心賣點包括： 在不同市場與渠道之間同步商品目錄 實時管理庫存可用性 將訂單路由至商家既有的 OMS（訂單管理系統）與履約系統 允許商家繼續作為交易的法律主體（Merchant of Record） 其中，Store Sync 產品可讓商家的商品目錄直接被 Microsoft Copilot、Perplexity 等 AI 代理發現，預計下一步還將接入 ChatGPT 與 Google Gemini。 而 AI 代理之所以能夠完成交易，前提在於：商品資料、價格、庫存與履約資訊必須是機器可讀、且高度可靠的。 從「結賬」到「Agentic Commerce 工作流」 PayPal 每年處理的支付總額超過 1.7 萬億美元，月活躍賬戶數超過 1.42 億。在傳統模式下，PayPal 的核心槓桿點位於支付發生的那一刻。 而在 Agentic Commerce 體系中，AI 系統可以代使用者完成商品發現、方案比較，甚至直接下單，而 PayPal 則負責身份驗證與支付授權。 在整合 Cymbio 之後，PayPal 串起了完整鏈路： 發現（Discovery）：商品在 AI 代理中被推薦與呈現 決策（Decisioning）：透過對話式互動不斷收斂選項 結賬（Checkout）：由 PayPal 完成身份驗證與支付 履約（Fulfilment）：訂單直接注入商家系統執行 協議之爭：服務 vs 標準 當 PayPal 以「產品與服務」的形式推進 Agentic Commerce 時，Google 與 Shopify 正在打造一套跨功能、標準化的 Agentic Commerce 協議體系。 關鍵在於： Google 正將 UCP（Universal Commerce Protocol）直接嵌入 搜尋 與 Gemini Shopify 則確保其數百萬商家只需整合一次，就能觸達多個 AI 代理 這意味著，AI 商業的底層基礎設施，正在從「單點能力」演進為「協議化網路」。 UCP 的目標，是掌控 AI 商業的「路由層」，而不是直接擁有或經營商業本身。 這更像是一種防禦性布局：透過將這一層做成「免費」的公共協議，並引入強網路效應，防止任何單一對手壟斷 AI 商業體系的核心控制權。 因此，PayPal 並非在與 UCP 正面競爭，而是在主動嵌入這一體系之中。 Google 已明確表示，基於 UCP 的結賬能力將支援多種支付服務商，其中就包括 PayPal 與 Google Pay。 換言之，UCP 試圖成為「中立的高速公路」，而 PayPal 則希望成為這條高速路上不可或缺的收費站與支付節點。 Open...