Bitcoin is currently showing a surprising level of stability compared to traditional assets.
Price Action: BTC is trading near $66,500. After a period of minor weekend fluctuations, it has consolidated above the $66,000 level, showing resilience despite the geopolitical "storm" affecting other markets.
Institutional Adoption: A major milestone occurs today in Europe. BNP Paribas is officially launching six Bitcoin and Ether ETNs (Exchange-Traded Notes) in France. This allows retail and institutional investors to gain regulated exposure to Bitcoin without the need to manage private keys or digital wallets.
Market Sentiment: Investors are treating Bitcoin with a "cautious but consistent" approach. While it hasn't surged as a pure safe haven during the recent Iran-Israel-US tensions, it hasn't collapsed either, maintaining its status as a core part of modern diversified portfolios.
Gold (The "Safe Haven")
Ironically, the "ultimate" safe haven has had a very difficult month, on track for its worst monthly performance since 2008.
Price Action: Spot gold is trading around $4,470 per ounce, down roughly 15% from its early March peaks of over $5,200.
The "Energy Trap": The primary reason for gold's decline is the surge in oil prices (Brent crude is currently over $110/barrel). High energy costs have reignited inflation fears, which has pushed the US Federal Reserve to signal that interest rate cuts are unlikely in 2026. Higher interest rates typically make non-yielding gold less attractive.
Central Bank Selling: Adding to the downward pressure, the Turkish Central Bank reportedly liquidated about 60 tonnes of gold recently to stabilize the Lira, adding significant supply to the market during a period of low demand.
Long-Term Outlook: Despite the current slump, analysts at JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank remain bullish, maintaining long-term targets of $6,000+, citing gold's strategic importance if the Strait of Hormuz crisis escalates further
Detained Binance executive drags EFCC, NSA to court
The detained Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan, has accused the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission of violating his fundamental human rights.
Gambaryan, in an originating motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/356/24 sought a declaration that his detention and seizure of his international travel passport, contravened Section 35 (1) and (4) of 1999 Constitution.
He urged the court to order the NSA and the EFCC to release him from their custody and return his international travel passport with immediate effect.
Gambaryan also sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents and their agents from further detaining him in relation to any investigation into or demands from Binance.
The Memecoin industry has successfully regained momentum as major altcoins of this category have added massive valuations in their portfolios. Considering the present market sentiments, this category is prepared to record significant volatility in the upcoming weeks/months.
tokens such as Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Pepe, and Floki have added over 103%, 266%, 814%, and 780% to their valuation over the past 30 days, highlighting an ongoing massive price action in the industry, hopefully things remain this way #HotTrends #Write2Erarn #memecoin
CBN says $26bn passed through Binance from unknown sources
Mr Cardoso expressed worry over the significant volume of transactions passing through Binance Nigeria, emphasizing that the origins and beneficiaries of these funds are yet to be adequately identified
The Tuesday raised concerns over the sum of $26 billion that flowed through Binance Nigeria over the past year from “unidentified sources”.
The Nigerian government recently blocked the online platforms of Binance and other crypto firms to avert what it considers continuous manipulation of the forex market and illicit movement of funds.
Addressing journalists during a question and answer session at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, expressed worry over the significant volume of transactions passing through Binance Nigeria, emphasizing that the origins and beneficiaries of these funds are yet to be adequately identified.
Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase is denying reports that it is being blocked in Nigeria.
Last week saw a report by the Financial Times (FT) that the Nigerian government had gotten the country’s telecoms to block platforms including Coinbase, Binance and Kraken.
However, a spokesperson for Coinbase told Coindesk on Thursday (Feb. 22) that it was still in operation in Africa’s largest nation.
“We are continuing to investigate these reports, but based on an initial investigation, it appears that Coinbase.com remains accessible from Nigeria,” the spokesperson told the news outlet.
This is a Reminder that the OpenEx is Still ongoing.
The OpenEx (OEX) airdrop is currently ongoing, and it is a great opportunity to get your hands on some free OEX tokens. OEX is a new cryptocurrency that is being developed by the OpenEx team, and it has the potential to be a major player in the crypto space.