Federal Reserve Governor Jefferson: No Need to Hurry to Further Cut Interest Rates, Strong Economy Makes Caution Appropriate

February 18—Cryptocurrency venture capital firm Dragonfly Capital said Thursday it has closed its $650 million fourth fund, a rare countertrend win amid the crypto market slump and widespread funding pressures. Partner Rob Hadick noted the fund’s success stemmed largely from the firm’s focus on "winner" categories, including early bets on prediction market Polymarket and stablecoin payment card issuer Rain. Founded in 2018 by Alex Pack and Bo Feng, Dragonfly has navigated team adjustments and exited the Chinese market. In recent years, under leaders Haseeb Qureshi and Tom Schmidt, it has built a leading industry position. Adding former traditional finance (TradFi) professional Rob Hadick in 2022 further shifted its focus to crypto-fintech integration. Schmidt highlighted the crypto industry is in the midst of its "largest paradigm shift": tokens will move from application-native assets to tokenized real-world assets (RWA)—including stocks and private equity fund shares. Whi

**Brevan Howard’s Crypto Fund BH Digital Asset Posts 29.5% 2025 Loss—Worst Since 2021 Launch** The well-known asset manager Brevan Howard’s cryptocurrency fund, BH Digital Asset, recorded a 29.5% drop in 2025, marking its worst annual performance since its 2021 inception. As Bitcoin’s bull run lost steam last year, BH Digital Asset faced heavy pressure and underperformed the leading crypto. Data shows Bitcoin declined 6% in 2025 for the full year. BH Digital Asset primarily invests in cryptocurrencies and digital asset-related firms. Previously, during market recovery phases, the fund delivered annual gains of 43% in 2023 and 52% in 2024—when Bitcoin briefly topped $100,000 in December 2024. Some hedge fund investors noted the fund holds a large amount of private equity and venture capital assets, which faced headwinds amid 2025’s broadly weak cryptocurrency market environment. Brevan Howard has not yet publicly commented on the reports.

As of February 18, Coinglass data indicates centralized exchanges (CEXs) saw a net Bitcoin (BTC) outflow of 1,177.57 BTC over the past 24 hours. The top three CEXs by outflow are: - Coinbase Pro: 1,172.97 BTC outflow - Binance: 415.39 BTC outflow - OKX: 220.43 BTC outflow Additionally, Kraken led inflows with 526.76 BTC.

**February 18** Data from the [Coinbob Popular Address Monitor](https://t.me/Coinbob_track_CN) (link opens in new tab) shows the DeFi whale wallet **pension-usdt.eth** closed all its Bitcoin (BTC) long positions over the past 5 hours, netting an approximate profit of $505,000. Earlier today, the address transferred roughly $30 million to the crypto platform Hyperliquid before opening a 1,000 BTC long position at an average price of $67,100 during a brief BTC price dip (valued at ~$67 million at entry). This whale’s typical strategy features low leverage, short holding periods (averaging ~30 hours), and heavy trading of BTC and Ethereum (ETH). Since last October, it has accumulated total profits exceeding $23 million. Recently, the address has consistently moved its substantial profits from Hyperliquid into yield-generating markets. As of now, its total lending amount on the AAVE protocol stands at ~$22 million.

On February 18, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Matt Hougan said the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector is poised to lead the crypto market out of its current bear cycle, citing improving industry fundamentals and ongoing institutional inflows. In a client memo, Hougan noted bear markets often obscure industry progress—but multiple DeFi protocols now boast real-world scale and revenue-generating capabilities. For example, Uniswap’s decentralized trading volume frequently outpaces Coinbase’s, while lending protocol Aave has generated over $1 billion in annual revenue. He emphasized the next bull market may prioritize “real users, real revenue, and real value”—all hallmarks of DeFi. However, most DeFi tokens were historically designed as governance tools with no direct economic rights, so their prices haven’t fully reflected protocol value: Aave has dropped 50% over the past year, and Uniswap has traded relatively flat for the last five years. Hougan flagged a recent gov

**Feb 18: Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest Reverses Coinbase Selloff, Buys ~$6.9M in COIN Shares** Ark Invest—led by Cathie Wood—purchased 41,453 shares of Coinbase (COIN) on Tuesday, valued at approximately $6.9 million, marking a reversal of its early-February selling trend. The firm’s three ETFs executed the buys: - ARKK: 29,689 shares (~$4.9M) - ARKW: 7,525 shares (~$1.2M) - ARKF: 4,239 shares (~$704K) Previously, Ark sold 119,236 COIN shares (worth ~$17.4M) between Feb 5–6, as crypto-related stocks pulled back broadly. During that window, the firm redirected some funds to crypto exchange Bullish and added to its position there for over 10 consecutive trading days. As of Feb 18, Coinbase ranks: - 7th largest holding in ARKK (4% weight) and ARKW (3.7% weight) - 3rd largest holding in ARKF (5.6% weight) **Fundamentals Recap** Coinbase reported Q4 2025 revenue of $1.8 billion (a 5% quarter-over-quarter decline) and a net loss of $667 million. The loss stemmed primar