Huobi HTX has launched AERGO perpetual contracts and kicked off a contract trading party.

Bitcoin extended its rally on February 7th, briefly topping $70k, per HTX market data. It now trades at $69,986, with a nearly 1.5% gain over the last 24 hours.

On February 7th, Bitget market data shows MicroStrategy (MSTR.O) extended its upward momentum, with gains climbing to 20%.

On February 7, Bitget market data shows most U.S. artificial intelligence-related stocks advanced, with Super Micro Computer (SMCI.O) and Arm (ARM.O) surging 10%, AMD (AMD.O) gaining over 8%, and Nvidia (NVDA.O) rising over 7%.

Feb 7 Shielded Labs—the independent core development team led by Zcash (ZEC) founder Zooko—announced it has received a donation from Vitalik Buterin to support the development of Crosslink. Per reports, Crosslink enhances Zcash’s existing Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism by adding a parallel finality layer. This layer prevents chain reorganizations and rollback attacks. Block generation and all economic activity will still take place on the PoW chain, while the finality layer anchors blocks and offers stronger settlement guarantees. By making confirmed transactions irreversible, Crosslink cuts down on double-spending risks and boosts the reliability of transaction settlements. Commenting on the donation, Vitalik said: “Zcash is one of the most trusted cryptocurrency projects, with privacy at its core from day one. Shielded Labs’ Crosslink project will make Zcash more secure while lowering its security budget—supporting the network’s long-term sustainability.”

On February 7, Federal Reserve official Daly noted businesses are cautiously optimistic about the economy: the outlook is positive, consumer spending remains solid, job openings are plentiful, and productivity gains are helping keep costs in check. But workers are less upbeat—latest surveys show Americans expect fewer job opportunities and higher unemployment. This disconnect makes sense in many ways, she said. We’re already in a period of relatively low hiring and firing (a trend that’s persisted for some time), and it may continue. But workers know things could shift fast, leaving them in a market with less hiring and more firing. With inflation above the FOMC’s 2% target, the situation feels precarious. On policy: We must balance our dual mandate. Americans need both price stability and full employment—and we can’t take either for granted. (Source: FXStreet)

On February 7, Bitwise said the market’s current high anxiety could signal it’s nearing a bottom—sentiment reminiscent of the 2018 and 2022 cycle lows, both of which proved to be "excellent buying opportunities." Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan noted investors who bought at the 2018 low saw ~2000% returns, while those entering at the 2022 low have gained ~300% over just over three years. He added the disconnect between current prices and industry progress mirrors these cyclical patterns. Hougan emphasized stablecoins, asset tokenization, and "AI + Finance" trends show the ecosystem is still maturing, with fundamentals unchanged. Regarding a market turn, Bitwise believes crypto bear markets typically end not with sudden excitement, but emotional exhaustion. Potential upside catalysts include passage of the Clear Act, a shift in market risk sentiment, rising rate-cut expectations, and tech breakthroughs at the AI-crypto intersection. Without a sudden positive shock, the market may "grad