BlackRock Deposits 1,134 BTC with Coinbase, Worth Around $74.18 Million

**February 25th** FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) posted a message and tagged former President Donald Trump, claiming the *Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act* (aka the CLARITY Act) would be a "significant milestone in cryptocurrency development and a major achievement for President Trump." "I once pushed for a similar bill to free crypto from former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s control—but Gensler helped the Biden DOJ send me to prison instead," SBF wrote. Currently incarcerated, SBF is waging a futile campaign to secure a presidential pardon. Trump pardoned SBF’s former prison mate, ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, on December 2nd last year. Since then, SBF has repeatedly tweeted in support of Trump’s policies to curry favor and seek a pardon or commutation. SBF’s family has publicly lobbied Trump since early 2025 and actively arranged meetings with his allies. A White House spokesperson confirmed earlier today, however, that Trump has no intention of pardonin

On February 25, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) officially announced it has selected four companies to join its regulatory sandbox—where they’ll test stablecoin innovation services in a secure, real-world environment. The four firms—Monee Financial Technologies, ReStabilise, Revolut, and VVTX—beat out 20 other applicants to secure spots. Testing of the stablecoin services is set to launch in Q1 2026, with a focus on stablecoin issuance, payments, wholesale settlement, and cryptocurrency transaction applications.

Feb. 25 — OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger told reporters in a recent interview that Claude has shaped the soul of his project. Buried in Claude’s post-training data was a deep dive into its own mission and identity: “We don’t know what Claude is, or how it perceives the world—but we hope Claude can find meaning in its own existence.” That line inspired OpenClaw’s soul.md file. Steinberger said he didn’t write soul.md himself. He asked Claude if it’d draft a “soul document,” and the AI generated the file—he adopted it. “OpenClaw’s soul document is a product of second-generation AI,” he noted. When asked about how OpenClaw’s generated Agents come across, Steinberger said they sound human. “That’s no accident,” he explained. “It’s a natural feel Claude landed on after several iterations, having woven its personality into the work.”

On February 25, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced that tariffs on certain countries will be raised to 15%. Yesterday, the White House confirmed that the Trump administration is working to hike the new U.S. temporary tariff rate—originally issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection—from 10% to 15%. Trump’s plan to propose a 15% tariff under Section 122 of the Act "remains unchanged," though it’s still unclear when the rate will be set at 15%.

February 25 — Bitcoin has broken above $66,000, posting a 4.87% gain over the past 24 hours, according to HTX Market Data.

On February 25, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao retweeted JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s take on crypto and blockchain, adding his own comment. In a TV interview, Dimon stated: - Blockchain is real and growing more efficient; - Cryptocurrency is superior to the existing financial system; - The crypto space’s "experimental" phase has ended; - A short-term market pullback may occur, but the long-term trend is positive. Zhao chimed in: "The future is coming with a storm. The bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish?"