The popular AI framework Virtuals Protocol will host an in-person meet-up in Hong Kong on Friday, January 17.

On February 9, LookOnChain monitoring data shows that a steadfast Ethereum (ETH) bull identified by the address "0xa5B0" closed out his ETH long position after holding it for over 70 days, incurring an $8.8 million loss. Shortly thereafter, he opened a new 20x leveraged long position of 60,000 ETH (valued at $1.22 billion at the time of opening). As of now, this new position is already facing a loss of over $1.4 million.

On February 9th, per Bitget market data, the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) extended its decline, with intraday losses widening to 0.7%.

February 9 — Bitmine announced today that the combined value of its cryptocurrency holdings, cash, and “high-risk, high-return investment projects” has reached $10 billion, per official sources. As of 3:00 PM Eastern Time on February 8, 2026, the company’s assets include: - 4,325,738 ETH - 193 Bitcoin (BTC) - $200 million in Beast Industries equity - $19 million in Eightco Holdings equity (Nasdaq: ORBS) — a “high-risk, high-return investment project” - $595 million in cash Bitmine CEO Thomas “Tom” Lee noted: “ETH has fallen 62% from its 2025 peak, but Ethereum’s daily transaction volume has hit a record 2.5 million, while 2026 daily active addresses have surged to an all-time high of 1 million. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile — in fact, this is the 8th time since 2018 that ETH has dropped 50% or more from a recent high, meaning such declines happen nearly every year. Between January and March 2025, ETH fell 64%, then later that year jumped from $1,600 to $5,00

Feb. 9 — Hassett, Chair of the White House National Economic Council, stated that a modest decline in employment data is expected, emphasizing that softer employment figures should not spark panic. (Golden Ten)

On February 9, decentralized privacy-computing network Nillion announced the launch of a decentralized smart agent verification layer built on the ERC-8004 standard, deployed on its Ethereum Layer 2 network Nillion Blacklight. Initially, Blacklight will focus on smart agent activity attestation: a committee of Blacklight nodes independently calls endpoints provided by smart agents, confirms a 2XX HTTP response, and records the result on-chain via decentralized consensus. The verification process includes five key steps: smart agent registration, verification request initiation, committee assignment, node execution check, and on-chain result reporting. Nillion notes that moving forward, Blacklight will evolve toward programmable verification, supporting decentralized audits of more complex behaviors—including smart agent decision logic consistency, multi-step workflow execution, and secure constraint compliance. ERC-8004 is an Ethereum standard for smart agent registration and ver

**Bitcoin Mining Firm NFN8 Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Seeks Full Asset Sale** Bitcoin mining company NFN8 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 2, 2026, per a court filing submitted to a Texas court on Feb. 9. The firm cited three core drivers for the move: a facility fire, unsustainable lease obligations, and ongoing legal disputes. NFN8 is seeking to sell all its assets during the restructuring process. It has secured $2.75 million in Debtor-in-Possession (DIP) financing from Twelve Bridge Capital to fund operations amid the sale. Key bankruptcy triggers include: - A fire at its main Crystal City, Texas, leasing facility between late 2025 and New Year’s Day 2026, cutting mining capacity and revenue by 50%. - Unsustainable lease payments tied to a sale-leaseback model (involving 250+ counterparties), worsened by a record-low hash price and profit squeeze post-Bitcoin halving. - Ongoing legal arbitration over default, fraud, and securities violations,