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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has fined cryptocurrency platform Paxful $4 million in connection with illegal sex trafficking and money laundering cases, CoinDesk reported. Paxful had previously pleaded guilty to three criminal charges for aiding illegal activities, including sex trafficking, fraud, and sanctions violations.

Soaring housing costs and the collapse of traditional wealth-building methods are fundamentally changing how Gen Z invests, fueling rapid growth in the crypto derivatives market, Cointelegraph reported. Speaking at Consensus Hong Kong, David Pakman, head of venture investments at crypto investment firm CoinFund, noted that while Gen X and baby boomers faced average home prices around 4.5 times their annual salary, this ratio has surged to about 7.5 times for Gen Z. He argued this has effectively blocked the traditional middle-class path to wealth through homeownership, highlighting that only 13% of 25-year-olds own homes, whereas over half of Gen Z investors hold cryptocurrency. In this environment, it is not an irrational choice for Gen Z to invest in high-risk products like memecoins, zero-day-to-expiration perpetual futures, and prediction markets, Pakman added. He explained that when long-term wealth creation seems unattainable, a low-probability, high-return bet is perceived as a more rational alternative to a "certain, slow decline." Pakman pointed out that the perpetual futures market has reached a scale of approximately $100 trillion. He also noted that prediction markets have seen their trading volume explode from $100 million to $44 billion in just three years, with sports betting accounting for about 80% of this activity.

Democratic members of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee have demanded a detailed explanation from SEC Chairman Paul Atkins regarding the suspension of enforcement action against Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun. According to CoinDesk, the committee's ranking Democrat, Maxine Waters, stated that the regulator has abandoned nearly all ongoing crypto enforcement cases since President Trump took office and appointed a new SEC chair. Atkins responded that while he could not comment on individual cases, he was willing to hold a private briefing on the matter as permitted by regulations. The lawmakers also asserted that the agency is neglecting crypto-related issues connected to President Trump, claiming this has severely damaged the SEC's reputation.

Johnny Ng, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Hong Kong Legislative Council, said that Hong Kong could learn from South Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) regarding cryptocurrency regulation. Speaking at a panel discussion at Consensus Hong Kong, he noted that while Hong Kong has long been committed to crypto and blockchain technology, it now faces a competitive challenge from the UAE. He explained that the UAE has built a robust regulatory framework with a single dedicated regulator for each region. Ng also pointed out that South Korea, which has millions of crypto users and investors, operates a government agency responsible for crypto-related matters.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $67,000. BTC is trading at $67,002.27 on the Binance USDT market.

Whale Alert reported that 250 million USDC has been minted at the USDC Treasury.

U.S. Democratic lawmakers criticized U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins during a House hearing, accusing him of neglecting cryptocurrency issues linked to President Donald Trump and thereby damaging market confidence. According to Decrypt, Representative Stephen Lynch stated that the SEC is dropping key lawsuits against several crypto companies, including Binance. He argued that the agency's reputation has been severely damaged and that public trust is rapidly eroding, a situation he described as detrimental to both the crypto industry and consumers.

JPMorgan has projected that an increase in institutional capital and greater regulatory clarity could bolster cryptocurrency prices, CoinDesk reported. In a report, JPMorgan strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou stated that he expects crypto fund inflows to grow further this year, driven by institutional investors rather than retail traders or crypto-accumulating firms (DATs). He added that this shift could be accelerated by the potential passage of additional U.S. crypto legislation, particularly the market structure bill (CLARITY). Panigirtzoglou expressed a positive outlook for the crypto market this year.

Digital asset management firm BlockFills has suspended deposit and withdrawal services and implemented trading restrictions amid heightened cryptocurrency market volatility, CoinDesk reported. The company began temporarily halting customer deposits and withdrawals and limiting the scope of trading on its platform last week. BlockFills explained that the move was made to protect both its customers and the company, citing a comprehensive review of market volatility and the current financial environment.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has fallen below $66,000. BTC is trading at $65,957.94 on the Binance USDT market.

Bitcoin skeptic and gold bull Peter Schiff argued on X that the biased and ill-informed mainstream financial media are portraying Bitcoin's "unexpected" 50% drop as another buying opportunity. He asserted that the real opportunity is to sell before incurring further losses.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $67,000. BTC is trading at $67,013.76 on the Binance USDT market.

An analysis suggests Bitcoin (BTC) is following a trajectory similar to the 2022 bear market. Cryptocurrency trader Jelle said that BTC is currently replicating the 2022 downturn. He noted that if this scenario continues, the price could see a short-term correction to the low $50,000s before entering a full-fledged bull run. Jelle also questioned whether investors would actually buy at that level, despite many claiming they would.

Traders are pricing in a 94.1% probability that the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at its March meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. The probability of a 0.25 percentage point cut stands at just 5.9%. This represents a significant increase from the 78.3% chance of a hold seen before the release of January's employment data. The shift in expectations follows a stronger-than-expected jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which showed non-farm payrolls increased by 130,000, well above the market forecast of 66,000. The unemployment rate came in at 4.3%, slightly below the expected 4.4%. The next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting is scheduled for March 17-18.

Whale Alert reported that 250 million USDC has been minted at the USDC Treasury.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has fallen below $66,000. BTC is trading at $65,964.2 on the Binance USDT market.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has fallen below $67,000. BTC is trading at $66,952 on the Binance USDT market.

The three major U.S. stock indices opened higher today. - S&P 500: +0.56% - Nasdaq: +0.76% - Dow Jones: +0.46%

BlackRock plans to list its U.S. Treasury-backed tokenized fund, BUIDL, on Uniswap to facilitate trading among institutional investors, Fortune reported. The asset manager has also reportedly purchased an undisclosed amount of Uniswap's native token, UNI. This initiative is being carried out in collaboration with the security token platform Securitize. According to CoinMarketCap, UNI is currently trading at $4.18, up 24.79%.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $68,000. BTC is trading at $68,007.7 on the Binance USDT market.

SuiUSDe, a synthetic dollar stablecoin backed by Ethena, has officially launched on the Sui mainnet, CoinDesk reported. The launch includes the activation of a $10 million yield-bearing vault, strengthening the stablecoin and on-chain yield structure within the Sui ecosystem. SuiUSDe is the first synthetic dollar on the Sui network and is designed for direct use in on-chain transactions and yield structures.

Non-farm payrolls in the U.S. increased by 130,000 in January, beating the market forecast of 66,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced. The unemployment rate came in at 4.3%, below the market expectation of 4.4%. The non-farm payrolls report, an official indicator covering both private and government sector employment, is a key dataset the U.S. Federal Reserve considers when making interest rate decisions. Strong employment figures, such as high job growth and low unemployment, may lead the Fed to consider raising or holding interest rates to prevent economic overheating. Conversely, weak data could prompt considerations for a rate cut to stimulate the economy.

Traders are pricing in a 78.3% probability that the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at its March Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool. This market sentiment comes ahead of the release of the U.S. unemployment rate and non-farm payroll data for January. The March FOMC meeting is scheduled for March 17-18.

Bitcoin has become more sensitive to changes in actual market liquidity than to potential interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve in recent months, Cointelegraph reported. For years, Fed rate decisions were a key macroeconomic driver for the crypto market, with lower rates typically leading to rallies by reducing borrowing costs and improving risk appetite. However, the analysis suggests BTC is now more directly influenced by the level of liquidity within the financial system. The report notes two main reasons why rate cuts no longer significantly move BTC prices: markets have already priced in the possibility of cuts, and a rate cut could signal economic weakness, prompting risk-aversion and a crypto sell-off. As the crypto market's sensitivity to liquidity grows, investors should also monitor indicators such as the Fed's quantitative tightening (QT) program, increased Treasury bond issuance, and declining bank reserves. BTC is now being evaluated less as a simple bet on interest rates and more as a barometer for liquidity in the global financial environment, the report added.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has sued cryptocurrency exchange HTX in the High Court for conducting illegal financial promotions aimed at British consumers, Decrypt reported. According to the regulator, HTX ignored multiple warnings and continued to run unapproved advertisements on platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, all while its ownership and operational structure remained opaque. The FCA has now requested that Google and Apple remove the HTX application from their app stores and has asked major social media networks to block the exchange's accounts. Access to HTX is reportedly already restricted on some platforms within the UK.