Golden Weekly is a weekly blockchain industry summary column launched by Golden Finance, covering key news, mining information, project updates, technological advancements, and other industry dynamics. This article is the news segment of the weekly summary, giving you a glimpse into the major events in the blockchain industry this week.
▌Nasdaq is hiring a Crypto Product Manager to lead its tokenization strategy
Frank Chaparro, Project Director of The Block, posted on social media that Nasdaq is hiring a Crypto Product Manager to lead its tokenization strategy. This position will be responsible for the entire tokenization roadmap—from issuance and lifecycle events to interoperability—and will work directly with institutional clients. Key areas include: compliance (KYC/AML), custody, corporate behavior, APIs, and scaling applications.
▌US SEC Commissioner: Supports 2% Capital Haircut for Payment Stablecoins and Will Push for Rule Revision
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce stated that he hopes to revise Rule 15c3-1 to more clearly cover payment stablecoins. The agency has already released a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) clarifying the regulatory treatment of payment stablecoins under the broker-dealer net capital rule framework, mainly including: 1. If broker-dealers apply a 2% haircut to their proprietary payment stablecoin assets when calculating net capital, regulators will not object.
2. Before the GENIUS Act took effect, "payment stablecoins" needed to be denominated in US dollars, issued by state-regulated remittance agencies, state-regulated trust companies, or national trust banks, and meet requirements such as reserve asset requirements, redemption policy disclosure, and monthly audit reports issued by certified public accountants. After the act takes effect, they must comply with the GENIUS Act's definitions and requirements for "payment stablecoins" and "compliant issuers." The White House: New tariffs will take effect on the 24th, exempting certain key minerals, passenger vehicles, and other goods from tariffs. The White House: US President Trump signed a proclamation imposing temporary tariffs. The proclamation stipulates that a 10% import tariff will be imposed on goods imported into the United States for 150 days, effective at 00:01 Eastern Standard Time on February 24. Goods exempt from the new tariffs include certain critical minerals, metals used for currency and gold bars, energy and energy products; natural resources and fertilizers that cannot be grown, mined, or otherwise produced in the United States, or cannot be grown, mined, or otherwise produced in the United States in quantities sufficient to meet domestic demand; certain agricultural products, pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical raw materials, and certain electronic products; passenger cars, certain light trucks, and certain aerospace products. Meanwhile, the White House issued an executive order announcing the termination of certain tariff measures. In light of recent developments, additional tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act will no longer be in effect and will be discontinued as soon as practicable. (Jinshi) KSA has ordered Polymarket to cease operations in the country or face a fine of €420,000 ($462,000) per week, with a maximum fine of €840,000 (approximately $924,000). FTX founder SBF published a lengthy article titled "10 Myths About Me and FTX," addressing ten accusations against him and FTX, including denials of claims that FTX was insolvent, lost $8 billion in customer assets, was involved in multiple relationships, and was forced into bankruptcy due to inability to raise funds. He claimed to have received offers to fill liquidity gaps, but the bankruptcy filing was handled by lawyers. He also addressed controversies surrounding margin trading liquidity, whether bankruptcy constitutes a crime, and the flow of political donations. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected President Trump's global tariffs imposed under a federal law applicable to national emergencies. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Trump's trade tax policy was illegal.▌Aave Labs Team Member: Aave V3 Will Not Be Shut Down for Now, There's No Rush to Replace V3 with V4
Aave Labs team member Kolten posted on the X platform, stating, "Regarding the Aave V3 → Aave V4 timeline: Recently, there has been some conflicting information regarding the transition timeline from Aave V3 to Aave V4. First, it needs to be clarified that Aave V3 will not be shut down for the time being and will continue to operate normally for the foreseeable future—even after Aave V4 is launched. There is currently no urgency to replace V3 with V4. The timeline shown in the 'Aave Will Win Framework' is flexible and adjustable, not fixed. Like the launch of any new DeFi protocol, it requires consideration of multiple factors. Over the past year, Aave…
Aave Labs continues to market V3 and leads and participates in various integration developments built on V3. We have not slowed down V3 development because of the upcoming V4 launch; quite the opposite. Secondly, Aave V4 did not emerge from thin air. Aave Labs has accumulated extensive protocol technology experience in Aave V1, V2, V3 (including eMode), GHO, and Safety Module. V4 is the culmination of nearly a decade of experience. It is also the product of thousands of hours of business development communication with partners, fintech companies, institutions, developers, and infrastructure providers over many years. The Ethereum Foundation announced the formation of a Platform Team, aiming to build the most powerful Ethereum platform possible, enabling L1 and L2 layers to better support users, applications, and all organizations built on Ethereum. Improving the relationship between the L1 and L2 layers will create a mutually reinforcing system across all layers. The foundation states that since first proposing a Rollup-centric roadmap five years ago, a chain ecosystem has developed around the Ethereum L1 layer. The early Rollup mindset has been replaced by differentiated L2 layer networks, each with its own unique and valuable economic system, extending Ethereum's core features to millions of users. As Ethereum matures, the foundation believes further steps are needed to build a unified platform that fully leverages the unique strengths of the Ethereum system (L1 + L2). This includes enhancing the value proposition of L2, optimizing L2 adoption mechanisms to create value more broadly for Ethereum, guiding the ecosystem towards a more secure, permissionless architecture, and simplifying the adoption process for users and institutions. More importantly, building a robust Ethereum means driving technological improvements to strengthen and enhance Ethereum's core features and unique advantages. Kraken has announced a new integration with ICE Chat, the instant messaging platform of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). This integration allows institutional traders to connect directly with Kraken's over-the-counter (OTC) trading department through this widely used communication network. This move integrates Kraken's OTC execution capabilities into existing institutional workflows, lowering barriers to entry and improving access to cryptocurrency liquidity in the spot and options markets. Hong Kong Legislative Council member Ng Kit-chung proposed launching "nighttime electronic consumption vouchers" to promote stablecoin adoption, taking advantage of the upcoming issuance of the first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses in Hong Kong next month. These vouchers would be distributed via e-wallets to boost the nighttime economy, support businesses, and promote stablecoins. Ng emphasized that this plan is not a "drop-off" of money to the general public, nor is it funded by government funding; the related administrative costs can be borne by the licensed stablecoin issuers. Analysis: Ethereum is in a "narrative vacuum," with institutional funding and privacy models becoming key variables for the future. A Forbes article points out that industry insiders believe Ethereum is currently in a "narrative vacuum," where the market tends to price uncertainty when a clear long-term value logic is lacking. In the past few years, the mainstream narrative has focused on scaling primarily occurring at Layer 2, with the mainnet maintaining security, decentralization, and a streamlined architecture. This path successfully attracted capital and development resources, but the current market focus is shifting towards zero-knowledge technology and privacy capabilities returning to the base layer, leading to misaligned expectations among some investors who built valuation models based on the old approach. Complete on-chain transparency presents a real obstacle for institutional funding; large enterprises or funds are unwilling to have their trading strategies tracked in real time. If Ethereum hopes to attract trillions of dollars in institutional funding, protocol-level privacy capabilities will become a key competitive variable. Furthermore, the expansion of the options market around spot ETFs is also changing the Ethereum price formation mechanism, including the increasing influence of covered call strategies and market maker hedging behavior. According to Onchain Lens on social media, Vitalik Buterin sold another 428.57 ETH, receiving 850,178 GHO, and is likely to continue selling. Since February 2nd, he has sold a total of 7,386 ETH, with a total value of approximately $15.51 million, at an average price of approximately $2,100 per ETH. According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale deposited 1,000 BTC into Bitfinex after five years of inactivity, worth $67.64 million. Coinbase CEO: Platform Now Custodys Over 80% of US Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF Assets Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated on the X platform that Coinbase currently custody over 80% of US Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF assets, with peak ETF inflows reaching $31 billion in 2025. Coinbase is also the designated custody partner for many ETF issuers, including some of the world's largest financial institutions and government agencies, emphasizing that this is an extremely important responsibility. Regarding security, Brian Armstrong pointed out that Coinbase highly values its ongoing security review mechanism, will continue to promote innovation, regularly conduct penetration tests with leading global cryptography experts, and already holds numerous related technology patents. According to on-chain analyst Specter, IoTeX's private key may have been compromised, resulting in the emptying of its token vault and a total loss of approximately $4.3 million. The attackers transferred multiple contract assets, including USDC, USDT, IOTX, PAYG, WBTC, and BUSD. The stolen assets were subsequently exchanged for ETH, with 45 ETH already transferred across-chain to the Bitcoin network.▌Polymarket, Hyperliquid, and others selected for Forbes 2026 Fintech 50
On February 20th, Forbes released its 11th annual list of the 2026 Fintech 50, featuring five cryptocurrency companies: prediction market platform Polymarket (US$2.3 billion raised), Securitize (US$425 million raised), Phantom (US$268 million raised), Ledn (US$107 million raised), and Hyperliquid (US$0 raised). While cryptocurrency industry valuations are relatively conservative compared to AI startups, they still demonstrate innovation and rapid growth potential.
According to CB Insights data, total private equity funding for fintech reached $53 billion in 2025, a decrease from $152 billion in 2021, but the first increase in four consecutive years.
▌Federal Reserve's Bostic: I think the neutral interest rate could be 0.25 to 0.5 percentage points lower than the current policy rate
Federal Reserve's Bostic: I think the neutral interest rate could be 0.25 to 0.5 percentage points lower than the current policy rate. If inflation "goes astray" and starts to rise, the Federal Reserve will have to put the option of raising interest rates on the table.
▌Fed's Bostic: Lowering the inflation rate to 2% will allow for a reduction in policy rates
Fed's Bostic: Lowering the inflation rate to 2% will allow for a reduction in policy rates. It's difficult to know the impact of the Supreme Court's tariff ruling, as it depends on whether tax refunds are needed, how businesses react, and other issues.
▌Traders now believe the Fed will wait until July to cut rates
Traders now believe the Fed will wait until July to cut rates.
Traders now believe the Fed will wait until July to cut rates.
▌US Core PCE Price Index YoY Higher Than Expected▌US Core PCE Price Index YoY Higher Than ExpectedThe US December core PCE price index YoY was 3%, higher than the expected 2.9% and the previous value of 2.8%. In addition, the US December core PCE price index MoM was 0.4%, a new high since February 2025, while the market expected 0.3%. (Jinshi)
▌Fed Meeting Minutes: Almost all participants supported pausing interest rate action in January
Fed Meeting Minutes: Almost all participants supported pausing interest rate action in January.
Fed Meeting Minutes: Almost all participants supported pausing interest rate action in January.
The Fed meeting minutes: Almost all participants supported pausing interest rate action in January.
The Fed meeting minutes: Almost all participants supported pausing interest rate action in January.
Several participants indicated that if inflation falls as expected, further interest rate cuts would likely be appropriate.
Jinse Finance launches its cryptocurrency and blockchain industry daily news bulletin, "Jinse at 8 AM," issue 2883, providing you with the latest and fastest news on the digital currency and blockchain industry.
JinseFinanceJohn Glover, chief investment officer at Ledn, gave some key indicators to watch for Bitcoin price movements.
JinseFinanceCryptocurrency lending will undergo a fundamental shift in 2024 – simply holding digital assets is not enough.
JinseFinanceJinseFinanceCointelegraph spoke to CeFi leaders to understand where interest rates are going and what the future holds for CeFi.
Cointelegraph