The current mainstream CEX and DEX funding rate displays market bearish sentiment on BTC and ETH stronger than on altcoins

**February 2, 2026** BitMine announced today that its combined holdings of cryptocurrency, cash, and "potential projects" are valued at $10.7 billion, including 41,788 additional ETH acquired in the past week, per official sources. As of 6:00 PM Eastern Time on February 1, 2026, the company’s assets include: - 4,285,125 ETH - 193 BTC - A $200 million equity stake in Beast Industries - A $20 million equity investment in Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: ORBS), labeled a "potential project" - $5.86 billion in cash BitMine CEO Thomas "Tom" Lee noted: “ETH has dropped sharply from ~$3,000 to ~$2,300 over the past month. At the same time, Ethereum’s daily transaction volume hit an all-time high of 2.5 million, and 2026 daily active addresses surged to a record 1 million. In short, Ethereum’s on-chain activity and fundamentals have strengthened significantly in recent months—yet ETH’s price has fallen. During past crypto winters (2021-2022, 2018-2019), transaction activity and ac

February 2nd — Three Arrows Capital co-founder Zhu Su retweeted a post from Liquid Capital co-founder Yi Lihua titled “It’s a Mistake to Buy Back in Too Early After Top Clearance” and added this comment: “In my experience, selling at the peak is often riskier than selling as prices decline. That’s because the thrill of ‘nailing the top’ easily lures people back into the market too soon and breeds overconfidence. I suspect Garrett (the 1011 Insider Whale) — who pocketed a seven-figure profit on October 10th — also fell into the same arrogant headspace.”

February 2nd: BlackRock deposited 6,918 BTC (~$538.6M) and 58,327 ETH (~$133.6M) into Coinbase Prime within one hour, per LookIntoBitcoin data.

**February 2 News Flash** Analysts at Wall Street firm Bernstein predicted on February 2 that the current cryptocurrency market downturn will reverse into a recovery by 2026—this despite Bitcoin trading around $75,000 earlier Monday, a 40% drop from its all-time high. In a client report, analyst Gautam Chhugani and his team noted crypto could still be in a "short-term bear market cycle" but expect that trend to flip this year. Bitcoin may bottom out in the first half of 2024 near "the prior cycle’s peak of ~$60,000" before building a stronger base. The pullback was framed against Bitcoin’s underperformance relative to gold, timed with a year of large-scale gold buying by central banks worldwide. Bernstein noted that as countries like China and India ramped up gold reserve accumulation (with gold’s share of global reserves set to hit ~29% by end-2025), Bitcoin’s market cap has fallen to roughly 4% of gold’s—approaching a two-year low. Despite this weakness, Bernstein argues

On February 2, per official sources, Binance Alpha is set to list Echelon (ELON). Eligible users will be able to claim the airdrop via Alpha Points on the Alpha Events page once trading commences.

On February 2, Bitget market data shows gold’s spot price briefly topped $4,800 per ounce and is now trading at $4,785 per ounce.