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The crypto manufacture has had a memorable period successful February, with large argumentation changes connected the skyline and increasing Bitcoin adoption globally.
A caller study this period shows that the Bitcoin web is decentralizing apace. Public companies present relationship for 35% of planetary hashrate, and China’s dominance successful hashrate has decreased to 14%.
In the US, the crypto manufacture is seeing important advancement connected the ineligible beforehand arsenic the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped oregon paused 5 large ineligible proceedings against crypto-related entities.
Not everything is simply a furniture of roses. This period saw the largest speech hack of each time, with North Korean hacker radical Lazarus suspected of stealing $1.4 cardinal successful Ether. Memecoins are besides cooling down, with issuances reaching their lowest level since earlier the caller twelvemonth astatine ~40,000 per day.
Here’s February by the numbers.
SEC drops 6 cases against large crypto firms
The SEC halted oregon paused six ineligible proceedings against antithetic exchanges and protocols this month, including those against Coinbase, Uniswap and Robinhood Crypto.
The actions signify a caller attack the committee is taking aft the instauration of its Crypto Task Force, headed by crypto-friendly Commissioner Hester Peirce. The radical has already met with stakeholders successful the industry to sermon fine-tuning rules concerning staking, exchange-traded products (ETPs) and a model for integer assets.
Bitcoin decentralizes: 70% of Bitcoin owned by individuals
At the opening of this month, concern steadfast River released an yearly study connected the authorities of Bitcoin adoption. It recovered that not lone is it increasing apace, but the web has go much decentralized.
The US and China’s stock of planetary hashrate person declined. The 2 countries inactive pb the satellite successful hashrate, but an investigation by state from Hash Rate Index — cited by River — shows that hashrate is spreading out.
The 2 nations’ stock of Bitcoin mining powerfulness has decreased successful narration to different nations, with 28 countries having implicit 0.1% of planetary hashrate and lone 9 countries having much than 1%.
Also of note: mining pools are much evenly distributed. The apical 10 mining pools inactive marque up the lion’s stock of hashrate, but their wide hashrate fell successful 2024.
Governments, financial institutions and adjacent software companies person go progressively funny successful Bitcoin; habitual ample Bitcoin buyers similar Michel Saylor’s Strategy and El Salvador proceed their purchases apace.
Still, the bulk of Bitcoin — astir 70% — is owned by individuals.
US lawmakers are anxious for Bitcoin reserves, but 5 states reject
It has not yet been 40 days since US President Donald Trump was sworn into bureau and has begun — successful tandem with his allies successful Congress — to deregulate the crypto industry. Indeed, 15 caller crypto-friendly legislators entered Congress aft the national elections successful 2024.
Trump established an “internal moving radical to marque America the satellite superior successful crypto” done an enforcement bid connected Jan. 23. The radical is tasked with exploring, among different things, the feasibility of a nationalist crypto reserve.
Related: Timeline: Trump’s archetypal 30 days bring singular alteration for crypto
Lawmakers successful idiosyncratic states person been introducing bills successful their respective legislatures to present oregon research Bitcoin and crypto reserves. However, of the 25 states that person introduced bills, 5 person rejected them, with 4 of those rejections this month.
Still, others spell connected undeterred. In February alone, 11 states saw caller authorities pertaining to Bitcoin reserves oregon cryptocurrency investments by authorities governments.
Lazarus bags $1.4 cardinal successful largest crypto heist of each time
On Feb. 21, North Korean hacker radical Lazarus stole $1.4 cardinal successful Ether (ETH) from crypto speech Bybit, mounting a grounds for the largest crypto hack ever. The magnitude stolen was larger than successful each of 2024’s crypto hacks combined ($1.27 billion), according to DefiLlama.
Blockchain expert ZachXBT was capable to corroborate that Lazarus was liable done tracking the wallets utilized successful the Bybit hack to those associated with the exploit of Phemex successful January.
Memecoin mania begins to dice down to December 2024 levels
The memecoin craze that has proliferated the crypto abstraction with thousands of caller tokens regular is opening to calm down — astatine slightest for now.
The lead-up to Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration saw the proliferation of thousands of political-theme memecoins named successful varying degrees of bully taste.
Trump himself and aboriginal his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, released their ain memecoins, sparking planetary involvement successful the phenomenon, on with immoderate superior morals concerns.
Those concerns were made manifest successful February erstwhile President Javier Milei of Argentina became embroiled successful a memecoin scandal.
New information shows the regular issuance of memecoins connected Solana down to a humble 40,000, the lowest since Dec. 25, 2024.
The memecoin frenzy, which saw a trader end his ain beingness connected a lifestream connected Feb. 22, has travel nether accrued scrutiny owed to its casino-like character. Vitalik Buterin and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong person expressed their disappointment successful the space, with the second saying it’s “gone excessively far.”
The SEC has adjacent created a peculiar division, the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit, to oversee the space.
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