Smart Money Steps Back

DAILY MARKET OVERVIEW

The Quiet Risk-Off Shift

👋 Hey, Crypto Enthusiasts! The numbers coming out this week tell a clear story. Smart money is moving, and not in the direction bulls were hoping for.

📉 Goldman Sachs quietly dumped a third of its Bitcoin holdings in Q4.

In its latest filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Goldman Sachs disclosed that it reduced its holdings of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the fourth quarter of 2025. As of Dec. 31, 2025, the firm held about 21.2 million shares across various spot bitcoin ETFs, with a combined value of $1.06 billion, according to its Form 13F filed Tuesday. That represents a 39.4% decline in share holdings compared with the third quarter.

They trimmed Ethereum too, by 27%. The only things they added were small starter positions in the newer XRP and Solana ETFs.

This isn't a full exit. But when one of the world's biggest banks is selling into weakness, it creates more fear.

🔻 Retail appetite has cooled just as much.

Robinhood reported earnings this week. Total revenue hit a record $1.28 billion, but crypto told a different story entirely.

Crypto trading revenue fell 38% year over year. App trading volumes dropped 52%. Options, equities, and subscriptions all grew. Crypto was the only weak spot.

When the platform that introduced millions of first-time buyers to crypto sees its crypto revenue nearly cut in half, that is a real signal. Everyday investor enthusiasm is simply not there right now.

🏢 On the regulatory front, the stablecoin bill hit a wall.

Crypto firms and major banks met at the White House this week to resolve the stablecoin yield debate.

They left without a deal. ❌ 

Banks want a full ban on any yield or reward tied to holding stablecoins. Their concern is simple: stablecoins that pay yield compete directly with savings accounts, and banks are not going to let deposits walk out the door without a fight.

The crypto side pushed back hard and the issue is now back with the Senate Banking Committee however legal experts in the crypto scene remain optimistic.

Until this gets resolved, regulatory uncertainty remains a headwind for crypto.

THIS NEWSLETTER IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
OPENWALLET

Next-level security for your digital assets

Experience top security with Open Wallet. Your wallet blends user-friendliness with strong security.

SOCIAL SENTIMENT

LayerZero Takes Center Stage

The ZRO token has been one of the standout movers this week, posting significant gains and dominating conversation on Crypto X. The catalyst: a major technical announcement that has the community genuinely excited.

So what is Zero, and why does it matter?

• The simplest way to understand it is this. Every blockchain that exists today, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, all of them, makes every computer on its network do the exact same work over and over simultaneously.

• Imagine hiring a thousand accountants to all manually check the same receipt at the same time. It works, but it's incredibly wasteful, slow, and expensive. That's why blockchain fees spike when things get busy, and why these networks struggle to handle everyday apps.

💡 Zero says it has solved this. Instead of every computer re-doing every calculation, their system lets computers simply check that the work was done correctly, which takes milliseconds, rather than doing the work themselves. The analogy is the shift from everyone in an office manually copying documents to one person making copies while everyone else just confirms the copy looks right.

This unlocks something no blockchain has done before: running multiple applications truly in parallel, like a modern computer running many programs at once without them slowing each other down. Zero calls these parallel lanes "Zones." Their target throughput is 2 million transactions per second. For comparison, Visa handles around 24,000 per second at peak.

The announcement also included pointed criticism of Ethereum's current scaling strategy, essentially arguing that Ethereum's Layer 2 solutions are a workaround that quietly sacrifices the decentralization Ethereum was built on. That claim alone has generated significant debate on X.

Why the token pumped: This is the kind of announcement that captures crypto attention. A credible technical vision, a direct challenge to the market leaders, and numbers that dwarf anything currently live. Whether Zero delivers is still to be proven. But right now the market is excited about it.

NEWS OVERVIEW

The Latest Crypto Headlines 📰 

Franklin Templeton and Binance Enable Tokenized Fund Collateral
Franklin Templeton and Binance launched a structure allowing institutions to use tokenized money market funds as trading collateral while keeping assets in regulated custody.

Stripe Rolls Out USDC Agent Payments via x402 on Base
Stripe introduced x402 integration, enabling AI agents to pay in USDC on Base, while CoinGecko launched pay-per-request crypto data endpoints.

Robinhood Launches Arbitrum-Based Blockchain Testnet
Robinhood unveiled a public testnet for its Layer 2 blockchain built on Arbitrum, aiming to power tokenized assets and DeFi integration.

Tether Invests in LayerZero to Expand Cross-Chain USDT
Tether made a strategic investment in LayerZero Labs, the interoperability provider behind USDT0, which has processed over $70 billion in transfers.

YOUTUBE INFLUENCER SUMMARY

Summary From The Top Influencers 📷️ 

Benjamin Cowen – Bitcoin: Dubious Speculation (11.02.2026 Summary)

In this video, Benjamin Cowen says Bitcoin is doing what it usually does in a cycle: it tops in the post-halving year, then slides into a bearish phase where people lose interest and narratives pop up to explain the drop. His main point is that you do not need a dramatic story for why it is falling, cycles and fading attention can be enough.

Key Points

• Benjamin says Bitcoin historically tops in Q4 of the post-halving year (2013, 2017, 2021, and he argues 2025 fits that pattern)

• Every cycle gets a different “reason” for the bear market, but the pattern repeats anyway

• This time, his simple explanation is apathy, fewer people care, social interest is low, and the buying pressure fades

• He expects macro headwinds to keep Bitcoin weak in the first half of 2026, not a quick “supercycle” recovery

• Seasonally, he says bear markets often show weakness into February, a bounce or local high in March, then more weakness in April and May

• He views current levels as a bear market resistance zone until proven otherwise

• Even if Bitcoin bounces above resistance briefly, he thinks a durable recovery likely takes much longer, possibly into 2027

• He warns that late-year surprises often hit in bear markets, usually something people do not expect until it happens

Final Takeaway
Benjamin’s outlook is cautious: Bitcoin is acting cyclical, not broken. He thinks the market is in a low-interest phase where rallies can happen, but real trend changes may take time, and the first half of 2026 could stay rough before conditions improve later on.

Paul Barron – Crypto's Trigger Moment? (11.02.2026 Summary)

In this video, Paul Barron breaks down what he calls a potential “trigger moment” for crypto: the progress of the CLARITY Act. He believes regulation, not price charts alone, could decide whether this market turns around. With Bitcoin stuck between 60K and 70K, Paul argues that timing around regulation may now matter more than anything else.

Key Points

• The White House is hosting meetings between banks and crypto firms, which Paul sees as a sign that movement is happening

• Polymarket odds show roughly a coin-flip chance of the CLARITY Act passing in 2026, still strong but not guaranteed

• There is tension between banks and crypto companies, especially around stablecoin yields

• Paul believes the Trump administration wants this bill signed quickly, possibly within weeks or months

• If passed, it could give the US a leading role in digital assets and spark renewed confidence

• Political pressure is rising, including midterm incentives and heavy pro-crypto funding

• Big players like BlackRock and major banks are positioning for tokenization and broader crypto adoption

• On the risk side, government shutdowns, geopolitical tensions, and partisan fights could delay everything

• Banks are lobbying hard to protect payment revenue, which could slow progress

Final Takeaway
Paul’s outlook is that crypto is at a crossroads. If the CLARITY Act passes soon, it could act as a major catalyst and shift sentiment quickly. If it stalls, the market may stay stuck or even weaken further. For him, regulation is the real trigger that could define crypto’s next big move.

CRYPTO MEMES

HELP US IMPROVE

WE ALSO READ