Nexo has become the Official Cryptocurrency Partner of the Australian Open, with the two parties signing a multi-year sponsorship agreement.

February 9 – Market sources report Strategy boosted its Bitcoin holdings by 1,142 coins last week, spending $90 million at an average price of $78,815 per coin.

February 9 — Erebor Bank, a crypto-focused financial institution, became the first to secure a national banking charter during the Trump administration’s second term, officially launching today. Chartered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Erebor is tailored for the innovation economy, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI), defense technology, and digital assets. Its name, drawn from the Dwarven kingdom in *The Lord of the Rings*, symbolizes long-term development of crypto financial infrastructure. Unlike consumer-focused banks, Erebor operates as an enterprise infrastructure bank. It plans to offer GPU equipment financing for AI data centers, contract guarantee loans for defense tech startups, and a functional stablecoin business. The bank will integrate an internal fiat-to-stablecoin exchange to enable true 24/7 operations. Erebor also aims to fill the gap left by the 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). SVB was a critical funding source fo

Official sources confirm that Matrixdock’s gold-backed token XAUm is now live on the Solana network as of February 9. The LBMA-certified token is fully backed, audited, and redeemable.

February 9th – South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) chief Eun Sung-soo has labeled the Bithumb mistaken transfer incident a “disaster,” vowing a wide-ranging investigation into so-called “book transactions” involving unbacked virtual assets and the development of countermeasures. He noted that if Bithumb is found to have engaged in illegal conduct, all available legal measures will be taken. Moreover, he warned that once the upcoming Digital Assets Basic Law passes, licensing-based regulatory actions could be implemented—posing a direct threat to the virtual asset trading platform industry. Speaking at the “2026 Major Business Plan Briefing” at FSS headquarters in Seoul, Eun said: “After receiving reports of the Bithumb incident, we’ve launched an on-site inspection and plan to escalate it to a formal investigation if illegal activity is suspected. This is a serious situation that undermines the credibility of virtual asset trading platforms.” Eun emphasized the c

On February 9, even as Bitcoin rebounded to nearly $70,000, its derivatives market continues to send a warning signal. Traders are still holding defensive positions, with little to no sign of fresh long bets. Bitcoin’s perpetual contract funding rate — the fee exchanged between long and short holders — remains negative, a bearish sign indicating traders are still positioning for downside moves or only willing to hold long positions if compensated. Meanwhile, Bitcoin perpetual futures open interest has failed to recover since dropping from its October peak, underscoring a lack of confidence in the recent rebound. Data from Coinglass shows current open interest is 51% below the October high. Despite Bitcoin bouncing back from nearly $60,000 to around $70,000, open interest showed no sign of recovery on Monday. “Since the October 10 market crash, liquidity and market depth have plunged significantly, pushing people to cut leveraged bets and adopt more conservative strategies,” sa