Vitalik: Industry Needs Better Decentralized Stablecoins, Still Three Key Issues to Solve

February 15th — Bitcoin News reports Lightning Labs has officially launched an open-source toolkit that enables AI agents to autonomously send and receive Bitcoin payments via the Bitcoin Lightning Network, with no human approval, user accounts, login credentials, or API keys required. The toolkit leverages the L402 protocol, built on the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" standard. Websites can issue Lightning Network invoices to AI agents; upon payment, the agents receive a digital payment credential that acts as an access key to unlock services or data. Included in the toolkit is the "lnget" tool, which automatically processes requests for paywalled content access in the background. Additional capabilities include support for AI agents running Lightning nodes, managing permissions, hosting paid services, facilitating inter-agent transactions, plus built-in spending limits and remote signature protection.

Feb 15: Per onchainschool.pro, a whale address that offloaded some AZTEC holdings during yesterday’s (Feb 14) pump has been buying back on dips over the past two days, with $200k worth of AZTEC purchased so far. The address now holds a total of $1.1 million in AZTEC.

On February 15, per market reports, a senior Iranian official has confirmed the second round of indirect talks with the U.S. will take place in Geneva on Tuesday. (FX Street)

February 15 — Per The Fintech Times, UAE digital bank Zand has expanded its partnership with Ripple. Specific moves include: supporting RLUSD in Zand’s regulated digital asset custody service; exploring a regulated Dirham stablecoin (AEDZ) and RLUSD direct liquidity solution; and exploring AEDZ issuance on the XRPL.

As of Feb. 15, HyperInsight monitoring shows that the entity "Pal" ramped up positions ahead of the Spring Festival, capitalized on the ETH rebound, and continues to add to its ETH long positions today. As of press time, its 25x-leveraged ETH long position is now valued at $6.06 million. Additionally, "Pal" has added a 3x-leveraged VVV long position, with a current size of 5,500 tokens.

**February 15th: Tom Lee’s Crypto Insights & Predictions** In an interview with Rug Radio founder Farokh Sarmad, Tom Lee said the current crypto market is in a “mini winter” — not a prolonged bear market — but will take time to digest. He advised investors against waiting for the “perfect bottom”; instead, start buying in batches at current lows now. The downturn could last 3–6 months, he noted, but a major turning point is on the horizon for 2026. Lee added he has no regrets about buying ETH early. ETH is currently near its bottom (with potential brief dips below $1800 or $1890), and there have been 8 historical V-shaped rebounds for the asset. Long-term, he views ETH as a “15-year story” — the backbone of stablecoins, AI, and the creator economy. Finally, Lee reaffirmed his predictions: Bitcoin will hit $200,000–$250,000 by 2026, while Ethereum is set to reach $12,000–$22,000 (aligning with historical ratios).