At the start of 2026, global financial markets exhibited significant volatility, bearing many similarities to the dot-com bubble of 2000. Today, AI-driven growth models are facing similar challenges.

Hong Kong's robotics sector experienced a notable upswing, with several key stocks showing significant gains. According to Jin10, Yuejiang (02432.HK) led the charge with an 18% increase. Suteng Juchuang (02498.HK) followed with a rise of over 9%, while UBTECH (09880.HK) saw a 6.3% uptick. Additionally, Yunji (02670.HK) climbed by 5.78%. This collective rise highlights growing investor interest and confidence in the robotics industry within the Hong Kong market.

Nasdaq-listed Robinhood released its operating data for January 2026, revealing continued growth in users, assets, and transaction volume. As of the end of January, the platform's total assets reached $324 billion, a 1% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 59% increase year-over-year; notional stock trading volume reached $227.3 billion, a 21% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 57% increase year-over-year; cryptocurrency trading volume reached $22.9 billion, an 8% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 12% increase year-over-year, with $8.7 billion traded on the Robinhood App and $14.2 billion on Bitstamp; and event contract trading volume reached 300 million contracts, a 17% increase quarter-over-quarter. Robinhood also disclosed that as of February 17, it had repurchased approximately 2.1 million Class A ordinary shares in the current quarter, totaling approximately $173 million, more than double the amount repurchased in the fourth quarter of 2025. (Globenewswire)

According to data from msx.com, at the close of trading on the US stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.54%, the S&P 500 fell 0.28%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.31%. The crypto sector was mixed, with ETHZilla rising 1.1%, Circle falling 1.95%, Bit Digital rising 3.07%, Robinhood rising 0.59%, and Coinbase rising 1.15%. msx.com is a decentralized RWA trading platform that has listed hundreds of RWA tokens, covering US stock and ETF tokens such as AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, META, MSFT, NFLX, and NVDA.

Hedge fund Pleasant Lake Partners has revealed its investment in toymaker Funko. Bloomberg posted on X that the fund is advocating for Funko to initiate a formal sale process, in which Pleasant Lake Partners expressed interest in participating. The hedge fund's move underscores its strategic interest in the company and its potential future direction.

The Palm Beach airport is set to undergo a name change, adopting the name of U.S. President Donald Trump. Bloomberg posted on X, highlighting this development as the latest in a series of institutions to be named after the president. The decision reflects Trump's influence and presence in the region, marking a significant change for the airport. This renaming aligns with other entities that have chosen to honor the president by adopting his name, further cementing his legacy in various sectors.

The Canadian province of Alberta is set to conduct a referendum on whether to impose restrictions on immigration and limit newcomers' access to public services. Bloomberg posted on X, highlighting the province's struggle with declining crude oil prices and an increasing budget deficit. The referendum aims to address economic concerns by potentially reducing the financial burden on public resources. Alberta's government is considering these measures as part of broader efforts to stabilize its economy and manage fiscal challenges. The outcome of the referendum could significantly impact immigration policies and public service access in the province.

Matrixport, in an article on the X platform, pointed out that Bitcoin's recent rapid decline caused implied volatility in options to surge before partially receding. Bitcoin's price fell from around $85,000 to a low of around $60,000 before stabilizing around $66,000. Simultaneously, the implied volatility of options expiring in March 2026 surged from just over 40% to a panic high of nearly 65%, reflecting a strong demand for downside protection during the decline. Subsequently, implied volatility fell back to around 50%, indicating that some tail risk hedging is being unwound, and short-term pressure has eased somewhat. The crypto market is approaching a critical inflection point: volatility remains high, sentiment hovers at extremely low levels, and market liquidity continues to flow out. Traders are gradually unwinding crash hedging, overall positions are significantly lighter, and participation has decreased significantly. Historically, this combination of characteristics often appears before the start of significant directional market movements. While the macroeconomic environment has improved, crypto asset prices have not yet followed suit significantly; this divergence is usually unsustainable in the long term.

Hong Kong's semiconductor sector experienced a downturn as several key stocks saw significant declines. According to Jin10, TianShu Intelligence (09903.HK) and HongGuang Semiconductor (06908.HK) both fell over 5%, while Hua Hong Semiconductor (01347.HK) dropped 4.8%. Additionally, NaXin Microelectronics (02676.HK) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (00981.HK) decreased by more than 2%. The market sentiment reflects broader concerns impacting the semiconductor industry.

Haseeb, Managing Partner of crypto venture capital firm Dragonfly, wrote on the X platform that despite being in the cryptocurrency industry, people still choose to sign legal contracts rather than rely solely on smart contracts in actual investment transactions. Even if both parties to a transaction are crypto-native institutions with technical capabilities and legal counsel, it is difficult to completely trust smart contracts as the sole binding mechanism. Traditional banking systems have evolved over hundreds of years, designing risk control mechanisms around "human error"; however, crypto systems are not human-friendly. Complex addresses, phishing attacks, authorization vulnerabilities, and gas mechanisms all contradict human intuition. Therefore, cryptocurrencies may not be built for humans, but rather a financial system prepared for machines. For example, AI agents can quickly verify contracts, analyze terms, and execute agreements, preferring to trust deterministic code rather than legal systems with judicial uncertainty. The future crypto entry point will be the self-driving wallet, where AI fully represents users in configuring assets, executing transactions, and even automatically reaching economic agreements with other AI agents. In comparison, the current model of humans directly operating crypto protocols may only be a transitional phase. The "human-unfriendly" characteristics of encryption systems may not be flaws, but rather a lack of suitable users. The true suitable scenarios for encryption may emerge when AI becomes the main participant.

Nasdaq-listed Ethereum treasury company Sharplink announced a record high institutional ownership of 46%, along with a rebranding and expanded leadership team. The company also disclosed 867,798 ETH held (including 587,232 native ETH, 225,429 ETH redeemed from LsETH, and 55,137 ETH redeemed from WeETH), and has generated 13,615 ETH in staking rewards since June 2025, all of which have been distributed to shareholders. (Globenewswire)

Jinse Finance launches its cryptocurrency and blockchain industry daily news bulletin, "Jinse 8 AM," issue 2973, providing you with the latest and fastest news on the digital currency and blockchain industry.

Stablecoins have not deviated from the existing financial system. Their market structure, risk spillover, and institutional impact largely perpetuate and amplify the existing pattern of the current monetary and payment system.

There are only two possible scenarios for Bitcoin and altcoins going forward: either Bitcoin will drop from $126,000 to $60,000, which is the full extent of the decline, or Bitcoin will continue to plummet along with the stock market crash.

OpenAI has likely realized that whoever's agent learns to survive autonomously in the on-chain world will gain entry to the next stage.

Artificial intelligence, chatGPT, Musk is at it again: Four AIs argue on the spot, making a 47% profit in stocks, while GPT-5 is completely outmatched? Jinse Finance, Letting AI fight itself, that's the most terrifying evolution.

Artificial Intelligence, AI Agent, 2026 Spring Festival: Why are tech giants spending a whopping 4.5 billion yuan to subsidize AI payments? Golden Finance: When the payment process itself becomes redundant, what are these giants really vying for?

The perspectives from a human standpoint and from the perspective of an AI agent economy are different.

The two sides have held two rounds of talks, and another round may be held this week, but no agreement has been reached so far.

USDT, Gold: From Stablecoin to Gold Giant - What is Tether Trying to Do? Golden Finance: The oldest store of value, running on the latest track.