Linera Launches Babbage Testnet

Feb. 20 — Per Onchain Lens monitoring data, BlackRock transferred 2,563 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $172.94 million and 49,852 Ethereum (ETH) worth $97.19 million to Coinbase, with potential for additional transfers going forward.

February 20 — Dozens of Democratic U.S. House members sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday, calling for an investigation into potential conflicts of interest and national security concerns tied to the Trump family’s cryptocurrency project, World Liberty Financial, per CNBC. Led by New York Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks, the letter has 40 additional co-signatories. During a hearing, Meeks referred to Yellen as a “henchman” of Trump’s and questioned a $500 million investment in World Liberty Financial last year from a member of the UAE royal family. In a statement accompanying the letter, Meeks said: “The Trump family’s $500 million transaction with the UAE royal family is not only a matter of national financial stability, but also carries serious national security implications.” At the time of the request, World Liberty Financial was in the process of applying for a national bank charter — a document reviewed and issued by the Office of the Comptroller of t

Per Coinglass data as of February 20th, Ethereum breaking above $2,000 would trigger $423 million in cumulative short liquidations across major centralized exchanges (CEXs). Conversely, a drop below $1,900 would lead to $582 million in cumulative long liquidations for those same major CEXs. BlockBeats Note: Liquidation charts do not show the exact number of contracts pending liquidation or the precise value of contracts being liquidated. Instead, the bars represent how significant each liquidation cluster is compared to nearby clusters—i.e., “intensity.” Thus, these charts indicate the magnitude of impact when a price hits a specific level. A taller “liquidation bar” means the price will react more intensely to a liquidity cascade at that level.

On February 20th, Charles Edwards—founder of Capriole, a Bitcoin and digital asset quantitative fund—said in a post: "Given the statistical likelihood of 'Q-Day' (Quantum Day) arriving, rational investors may have already discounted Bitcoin’s fair value by roughly 20%. If Bitcoin fails to make meaningful progress on quantum resistance, this discount rate will double annually." "If relevant upgrades remain stagnant for more than a year, Bitcoin’s valuation could be marked down to half its current level. The Bitcoin Core development team is urged to address this issue—action must be taken by 2026 to counter the potential threat of quantum computing."

On February 20, 2026, Forbes unveiled its 11th annual Fintech 50 list, forecasting that crypto market platforms Polymarket (which has raised $2.3 billion), Securitize ($425 million), Phantom ($2.68 billion), Ledn ($1.07 billion), and Hyperliquid (no funding raised) will rank among the top five cryptocurrency companies. While crypto industry valuations are viewed as more conservative than those of AI startups, the sector still boasts innovation and strong growth potential. Per CB Insights data, total fintech private funding hit $53 billion in 2025—down from $152 billion in 2021 but marking the first year of growth in four years.

On February 20, Binance Alpha kicked off the second round of its Swarm Network (TRUTH) airdrop. Users with at least 251 Binance Alpha Points can claim 3,333 TRUTH tokens on a first-come, first-served basis. If rewards aren’t fully distributed, the points threshold will automatically drop by 5 points every 5 minutes. Claiming this airdrop costs 15 Binance Alpha Points. Users must confirm their claim on the Alpha event page within 24 hours—otherwise, they’ll forfeit the airdrop.