US Stock Crypto-Related Stocks Surge in Pre-market Trading

Feb. 19 (CoinDesk) — Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon told the World Liberty Forum he holds “a very small amount, but some” of bitcoin, while emphasizing he’s still closely tracking the asset as part of the broader trend of technology reshaping the financial system. He believes traditional finance and the crypto industry are forging an evolving integrated system, with tokenization poised to play a key role in future market infrastructure. “I’m an observer of bitcoin and still trying to understand how it operates and its volatility mechanisms,” Solomon said. Solomon noted Goldman Sachs currently has limited crypto exposure, citing what he described as “restrictive regulation.” He warned excessive regulation could drain capital from the financial system, but also called for a cautious, rational approach to oversight.

On February 19th, LookOnChain data shows that as WLFI’s price rose, whale wallet 0x9b3b—holding 42.47 million WLFI (valued at $5.33 million) in a long position—has flipped losses to gains, swinging from an over-$1 million deficit to a current $65,000 profit.

On February 19th, WLFI broke above $0.12 and is currently trading at $0.1251, posting a 22.39% 24-hour gain, per HTX market data.

Whale Alert founder Frank S said in a post on February 19th that BTC’s potential profit-taking threshold has fallen to late 2023 levels—with total unrealized gains across all holders now at roughly $300 billion. He noted that if history repeats, the next few months could be challenging: data shows the typical "uninterrupted profit streak" lasts around 3 years, and this cycle has just hit exactly 3 years.

February 18th: Bitcoin has surpassed $68,000 and Ethereum has broken above $2,000, per HTX market data. Bitcoin’s 24-hour gain stands at 1.34%, while Ethereum’s 24h increase is 2.24%.

Feb. 18 — Crypto exchange Kraken announced Wednesday it has acquired token custodian platform Magna, per a Fortune report. The firm declined to disclose specific terms of the deal, which closed last Friday. This marks Kraken’s sixth acquisition in the past year, including its $1.5 billion purchase of U.S. futures platform NinjaTrader in March of this year.