Financial giant Jane Street increased its IBIT holdings by 7.1 million shares in Q4 last year, with rumors in the community suggesting that it manipulated Bitcoin's price through high-frequency trading.

On February 18, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart noted that BlackRock has released the latest filing for its Ethereum staking ETF (ticker: ETHB). The filing includes an expense ratio of 0.25%. Additionally, BlackRock will retain 18% of total Ethereum staking rewards as a staking fee.

On February 18, Eric Trump announced on X (formerly Twitter) that American Bitcoin—the Trump family’s cryptocurrency mining firm—has been listed on Nasdaq for under six months, with Bitcoin reserves exceeding 6,000 BTC.

### Official Update: Pump.fun Launches "Cashback Coins" (Feb 17) Per official sources, Pump.fun rolled out its new "Cashback Coins" on February 17. Key rules for the token type: - **Pre-issuance choice mandatory**: Token issuers must pick one option *before* launching the token: 1. Reward traders with cashback, or 2. Cover the issuer’s own fees. - **Cashback mechanics**: Cashback tokens refund *all* issuer fees to traders. Once issued, the chosen option is **permanently locked in**. - **Difference from Creator Fee Tokens**: Cashback Coins cannot undergo a CTO and will permanently reward traders and holders. This format aligns with U.S. English brevity, clear bullet-pointed details, and natural phrasing (e.g., "rolled out" instead of "announced the launch of," "mandatory" for emphasis, "locked in" for clarity).

On February 17th, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Mike Selig told Fox News in an interview that the cryptocurrency market structure bill is “about to” be signed into law. “We aim to ensure the crypto legal framework can adapt to future growth,” he said. “We can’t let another Gary Gensler come in and mess everything up.”

On February 17, The Block reported that StarkWare is integrating Nightfall—an open-source zero-knowledge privacy layer built by Big Four accounting firm EY—into its StarkNet to enable confidential on-chain institutional transactions on public blockchain infrastructure. The integration allows institutions to execute private B2B payments, fund operations, and tokenized asset transfers on public blockchains while keeping sensitive transaction details private. StarkWare noted that Nightfall natively supports transaction privacy, plus selective disclosure and compliance mandates like Know Your Customer (KYC)—features tailored to institutional users’ needs.

On February 17, per a Wintermute report, with spot trading volumes continuing to contract, leverage has emerged as the primary driver of short-term volatility. Without "structural buying"—long-term capital that absorbs selling pressure—to cap volatility, markets are seeing sharp swings in both directions. Technically, Bitcoin (BTC) has found support near its 200-week moving average—a level that’s historically signaled bear market bottoms. Wintermute notes that until clear macro signals emerge, every rebound should be viewed as a risk-reduction opportunity, not a reason to chase rallies. For crypto, a return to an uptrend still hinges on macro clarity. The 200-week moving average continues to hold support, and there’s no structural damage to the market—meaning recovery could outpace current sentiment once macro uncertainty fades. In the short term, markets are range-bound and slightly bearish, driven by leverage; $70,000 remains a key near-term resistance level.