Entropy, a decentralized custody startup led by a16z, has announced its closure and will return remaining funds to investors. Entropy founder and CEO Tux Pacific stated on the X platform that the decision was made after four years of product development, multiple business adjustments, and two rounds of layoffs. Entropy positioned itself as an alternative to centralized crypto custody institutions, utilizing technologies such as multi-party computation, threshold cryptography, and trusted execution environments to provide users with cross-chain asset management and automated signature services. The company completed a $25 million seed round in 2022 led by a16z, with participation from investors including Dragonfly, Variant, and Coinbase Ventures, bringing its total funding to approximately $27 million. Pacific stated that recent research revealed the business model was unsustainable for venture capital-level growth, leading to the decision to cease operations and return capital. This event also reflects the increasingly challenging environment for crypto startups since 2025. (TheBlock)

Vitalik Buterin recently expressed a shift in his perspective on the blockchain concept of recording only transaction sequences without committing to state. According to ChainCatcher, Buterin explained the reasons behind this change in viewpoint. Initially, Buterin opposed the idea because if a blockchain does not commit to state, users would either need to verify all transactions from the genesis block or rely on a single third-party service, both of which are not ideal. In contrast, designs like Ethereum's, which commit to state roots in block headers, allow for state verification under the assumption of a majority honest consensus using Merkle proofs, making it more feasible. Buterin highlighted that the development of zero-knowledge technologies such as ZK-SNARKs has been pivotal. These technologies enable the verification of blockchain correctness without re-executing all transactions, thus achieving both security and scalability. Additionally, Buterin reflected on real-world uncertainties such as network disruptions, service provider shutdowns, consensus centralization, and censorship risks. He emphasized that blockchain systems must always retain a self-verifiable option that does not rely on others. In his view, the concept of a "mountain cabin" is not for everyday use but serves as a safety net in extreme situations and as leverage against intermediaries and service providers. Maintaining this minimal viable, self-sufficient path is an essential part of Ethereum's long-term evolution.

Vitalik Buterin recently published an article stating that he no longer fully agrees with the old view from 2017 that blockchain "only records the order of transactions and does not commit to state," and explained the reasons for this shift. Vitalik pointed out that his early opposition to this idea stemmed from the fact that if the on-chain state is not committed to, ordinary users either have to fully verify all transactions from the genesis block or are forced to trust a single third-party service provider—neither of which is ideal. In contrast, designs like Ethereum, which commit to the state root in the block header, allow for the verification of arbitrary states through Merkle proofs under the "majority honesty" consensus assumption, making it more feasible. He emphasized that the real change in this trade-off is the development of zero-knowledge technologies such as ZK-SNARKs, which make it possible to verify on-chain correctness without re-executing all transactions, thus "achieving both security and scalability." Furthermore, Vitalik also reflected on the uncertainties of the real world: network outages, service provider shutdowns, consensus centralization, and censorship risks can occur at any time; therefore, the blockchain system must always retain a "self-verifiable" fallback mechanism that does not rely on others. In his view, the "mountain cabin" is not a model for everyone's daily living, but rather a safety net in extreme situations, and also an important bargaining chip to constrain intermediaries and service providers. Maintaining such a minimum viable and autonomously usable path is an indispensable part of Ethereum's long-term evolution.

a16z-backed crypto custody startup Entropy is shutting down after four years, with founder Tux Pacific saying remaining capital will be returned to investors. source: https://cryptonews.com/news/a16z-backed-crypto-custody-startup-shut-down-return-capital/

null source: https://x.com/cointelegraph/status/2015598223063171412

1. CZ: Memoir may be published in late February or early March; 2. International gold prices break through $5,000/ounce, continuing to set new historical highs; 3. Japan may lift the ban on spot crypto ETFs in 2028, SBI and Nomura have already advanced product preparation; 4. Entropy, a decentralized custody startup invested in by a16z, announces closure and returns funds to investors; 5. OCC responds to US senator's question: WLFI's banking license application will be strictly reviewed according to current regulatory standards; 6. The Polymarket bet on "Gold or ETH: Which will rise to $5,000 first" has settled, with a total bet of nearly $1.62 million; 7. The agent of the "1011 insider whale" added $20 million USDC to Hyperliquid to avoid liquidation, and the overall floating loss has expanded to approximately $83.4 million; 8. The US is entering a period of clear regulation for crypto assets, and the passage of the market structure bill may improve industry predictability and benefit retail investors; 9. a16z Crypto: The security focus of public chains such as BTC and ETH should be on protocols and governance, without blindly switching to quantum attack-resistant solutions; 10. Analysis: If the Crypto Market Structure Act restricts stablecoin yields, it may lead to capital outflows from the United States.

According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin, three hours ago, Trend Research withdrew 30 million USDT from Binance back onto the blockchain to repay loans. Trend Research currently holds a total of 651,300 ETH, worth $1.85 billion, with an average cost of approximately $3,180, and is currently experiencing a paper loss of approximately $215 million. The institution borrowed 1.03 billion USDT on Aave, with a leverage ratio of approximately 2.2x.

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A lawyer in his 40s who had a cooperation agreement with the Chungcheongbuk-do Police Agency and had long represented police officers in damage compensation lawsuits was convicted of embezzling settlement funds and using them for cryptocurrency investments. On January 24, the Cheongju District Court's criminal judge ruled that the lawyer, in representing three police officers in a civil lawsuit against a suspect accused of obstructing official duties, misappropriated 6 million won in settlement funds paid by the opposing party after the case was settled through court mediation in April 2021. He deposited the money into his personal account for cryptocurrency investments, constituting embezzlement, and was fined 10 million won. The court noted that the defendant's act of embezzling client funds was egregious, but given his confession, remorse, and lack of prior criminal record, the sentencing was appropriate.

Jia Yueting released "Dual-List Company Structure Weekly Report 039" on the X platform, disclosing the latest progress of EAI Robotics and the crypto business. He stated that Faraday Future's first EAI robot product has completed US regulatory certification and can be commercialized using a "release = sales = delivery" model, with the goal of completing delivery within the release month. The company is advancing its real-demand-driven EAI robot strategy, integrating Web3 and blockchain technologies, striving to achieve positive profit contributions from humanoid robots in the US market. In the capital markets, BlackRock increased its FFAI holdings to approximately 9.5 million shares in Q4 2025, a sequential increase of approximately 40%, while a Wall Street research institution reiterated its "buy" rating on FFAI with a target price of $5. Furthermore, the crypto flywheel project AIXC launched a global accelerated talent recruitment drive and officially launched the X Space series of events, showing positive initial interaction and participation.

Meteora's head, Soju, cited data analysis from MeteoraInside on X. The data shows that the MET airdrop claim has closed, with approximately 98.9 million MET (about 9.8% of the total supply) unclaimed. All unclaimed tokens will be transferred to the Meteora ecosystem reserve to support future growth plans.

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Jinse Finance launches its daily cryptocurrency and blockchain news bulletin, "Jinse at 8 AM," issue 2948, providing you with the latest and fastest news on the digital currency and blockchain industry.

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Jinse Finance launches its daily cryptocurrency and blockchain news bulletin, "Jinse at 8 AM," issue 2947, providing you with the latest and fastest news on the digital currency and blockchain industry.

We believe that under the DAT model, interest rate cut cycle, crypto policies, and the globalization of stablecoins, the four-year cycle pattern has become invalid. Now is the best time to buy crypto, especially ETH, which will be the biggest beneficiary of this bull market.

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