February 18 — U.S. crypto exchange Kraken announced its over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk has officially integrated with ICE Chat, a messaging platform owned by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). This means more than 120,000 banks, brokers, and trading firms across global financial markets can now directly connect with Kraken’s OTC team and access crypto liquidity through their existing trading workflows. Kraken noted this makes it the first crypto platform granted access to ICE Chat, marking deeper integration of digital asset trading into traditional financial market infrastructure. ICE—owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)—delivers data, clearing, and technology services to global financial markets. Over the past year, the firm has expanded its digital asset footprint: investing in prediction market Polymarket and crypto payment provider MoonPay, plus partnering with Chainlink to bring forex and precious metals data onto blockchain networks. Post-integration, Krake

February 18th — Decentralized SocialFi platform Zora has launched its new Attention Markets platform on the Solana blockchain, letting traders speculate on hot network keywords, topics, tags, and trends. Users can create "Trends" before they go viral and track real-time gains and losses on the platform. Zora co-founder Jacob Horne noted that creating a Trend currently requires staking 1 SOL to discourage spam. Trends themselves don’t reward creators, but Pairs linked to Trends are eligible for creator incentives. Additionally, Zora has posted a job opening for an “Attention Economist,” tasked with tracking cultural trends across platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts to spot the next big cultural movement.

On February 18, the Associated Press reported that the Trump administration has officially sided with prediction market operators Kalshi and Polymarket in their federal legal fight against state governments seeking to ban the platforms. Newly appointed U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Michael Selig wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the CFTC "will no longer stand idly by" and let state governments undermine the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction over these markets. He added in a video message: "We’ll see you in court." Lawsuits in states including Nevada have alleged Kalshi and Polymarket are effectively unlicensed sports betting operations, violating state laws. Selig, however, argues prediction market operations are no different from other futures contracts and fall under federal regulation. Notably, former President Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. has invested in Polymarket through his venture capital firm and serves as a strategic advisor to K

**Elemental Royalty to Offer Dividends in Tether’s XAUT Gold Stablecoin** Colorado mining royalty firm Elemental Royalty announced Tuesday (Feb. 18) it will let investors receive dividends in Tether-issued gold stablecoin XAUT, per an Associated Press report. The industry views the move as the first practical use of tokenized gold in traditional corporate finance. Elemental plans to distribute a total 12 cents per share in dividends via multiple quarterly installments. Investors may still opt for traditional cash dividends, but CEO David Cole said, “Offering dividends in Tether Gold physical tokens further underscores Elemental’s standing as a forward-thinking investment company.” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino noted the announcement marks a major milestone for the gold sector, showing how tokenized assets can unlock previously inaccessible new financial models. At press time, XAUT has a market capitalization of roughly $2.2 billion. Amid ongoing gold price increases, the token h

February 18: Bitget market data shows U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday, with all three major indices posting gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.07%, the S&P 500 added 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.14%. Crypto-related stocks had mixed performance: - Coinbase (COIN): +1.03% - Circle (CRCL): +2.63% - MicroStrategy (MSTR): -3.89% - Gemini (GEMI): -12.9% - Bit Digital (BTBT): -2.84% - SharpLink Gaming (SBET): -2.77% - Bit Mining (BMNR): -3.86% - ETHZilla (ETHZ): +0.86% - ALT5 Sigma (ALTS): -4.03% - American Bitcoin (ABTC): -3.54% - Kindly MD (NAKA): -7.83% - Solana Co (HSDT): -8.6%

On February 18, Onchain Lens monitoring indicates the TRUMP team’s allocation wallet transferred 9.089 million TRUMP tokens (valued at $31.45 million) to a BitGo custody wallet.