Linera Launches Babbage Testnet

**February 10 Update: Star (OKX) Pushes Back on CZ’s DEX-CEX Framing** On February 10, Star (associated with OKX) responded to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) on X, rejecting his earlier take on decentralized (DEX) vs. centralized (CEX) exchanges: “At first glance, [CZ’s statement] seems plausible, but it’s a flawed analogy. DEX and CEX serve fundamentally different roles: DEX offers open, permissionless access as a purely self-custodial tool—service providers aren’t intermediaries and don’t control user funds. Users interacting with DEXs should (and presumably do) understand they’re using a tool and bear full responsibility for their actions.” Star cited former U.S. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins: *“The right to self-custody private property is one of America’s foundational values, and this right should not disappear when logging onto the internet.”* By contrast, Star noted, CEXs hold custody of user funds (similar to banks) and thus must uphold explicit obligations: anti-money

On February 10, Coinglass data showed Bitcoin dropped below $69,000. Funding rate metrics reveal the market remains broadly bearish: BTC and ETH funding rates are negative across multiple exchanges, meaning shorts are paying longs to maintain their positions. Bearish sentiment toward major altcoins SOL and XRP is stronger than toward Bitcoin. BlockBeats Note: A funding rate is a fee set by crypto exchanges to align perpetual contract prices with the underlying asset’s spot price. It facilitates fund transfers between long and short traders—exchanges do not collect this fee. The mechanism adjusts the cost or profit of traders holding contracts to keep contract prices close to the underlying asset’s price. **Funding Rate Baselines**: - 0.01% = baseline rate - Above 0.01% = generally bullish market - Below 0.005% = generally bearish market

On February 10, per monitoring from HyperInsight, as Ethereum briefly dropped below $2,000, the entity known as "Pal" partially closed its ETH long positions. It currently holds 3,500 ETH in long positions, with an unrealized loss of $180,000 and a liquidation price of $1,991.01.

February 10th — Basechain AI project Bankr announced today that its token issuance platform is now live. Key updates from the announcement: - New tokens issued via Bankr will generate higher fees for delegates. - Third-party service fees have been scrapped, with that portion of revenue reinvested into the ecosystem. - Developers will earn roughly 14% more per transaction fee, plus additional revenue flowing to the BNKR ecosystem. - Total transaction fees remain 1.2%; existing tokens will not migrate to the new mechanism. - Bankr’s LLM key is launching soon: using just one line of code, delegates’ transaction fees will automatically cover API costs. Per GMGN monitoring (link: https://gmgn.ai/base/token/i_m4TE56o8_0x22af33fe49fd1fa80c7149773dde5890d3c76f3b), the Base ecosystem AI Agent token BNKR briefly topped $120 million in market cap (an all-time high). It currently holds a $108 million market cap with a 24-hour growth rate of 19.8%.

**Wintermute Comment (Feb 10): Bitcoin Dips to $60k, Erases Trump-Era Gains** Bitcoin fell to $60,000 last week, wiping out all gains since the Trump election. Spot flows signal **significant structural pressure**: Coinbase’s premium has stayed in negative territory (persisting since December 2023), pointing to long-term U.S. selling pressure. Internal OTC data confirms U.S. counterparties were the dominant sellers last week—trend amplified by ongoing ETF redemptions. Over recent months, AI-linked assets have steadily absorbed market capital, crowding out other asset classes. The correlation is clear: crypto underperforms as AI stocks rise, and crypto losses are amplified—nearly all tied to capital rotating into AI. For crypto to regain outperformance, AI trading must cool first. Microsoft’s soft earnings report kickstarted this shift, but it’s far from sufficient. Last week’s market saw a **“surrender-style” liquidation**: volatility spiked, and buy orders emerged at $60k. Wi

On Feb 10, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said, "Binance users hold a larger share of stablecoins (including USDT, USDC, USD1, etc.) than users of any other centralized exchange."