Chainalysis' annual report finds ransomware leak events climbed 50% in 2025 to nearly 8,000, while on-chain ransom payments slipped 8% to $820 million. The firm cites regulatory pressure, enforcement against laundering infrastructure, and more refusals to pay, prompting a pivot toward small and mid-sized targets.

On February 26 2026, Foom.Cash, an Ethereum-based privacy protocol promoted as an evolution of Tornado Cash, suffered an exploit that led to losses of roughly $2.26 million in tokens. An attacker allegedly abused a misconfigured Groth16 zkSNARK verifier across Ethereum and Base, enabling forged proofs that drained 24.28 trillion FOOM tokens, with about $427,000 taken by the exploiter and around $1.83 million shifted in a white-hat rescue. The team has not yet publicly outlined remediation steps or the full impact.

On Thursday, Representatives Scott Fitzgerald, Ben Cline and Zoe Lofgren introduced the Promoting Innovation in Blockchain Development Act to curb prosecutions of developers without custody or control of others' crypto assets by narrowing Section 1960. The Blockchain Association and the DeFi Education Fund backed the proposal, which they say could influence cases involving Roman Storm and Samourai Wallet.

Bloomberg is partnering with Kaiko to make its licensed financial data available directly on blockchain networks, the companies said on Thursday. The first application targets tokenized Treasurys and repo activity on the Canton Network for banks and asset managers, aiming to fix inconsistent datasets across tokenized markets estimated at about $25 billion excluding stablecoins.

On Feb. 25, 2026, the European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority launched a joint consultation on revised suitability guidelines for EU banks and investment firms. The consultation closes on May 25, 2026, includes a public hearing on April 15, 2026 (14:00–15:30), and would repeal the 2021 guidelines once the new text enters into force.

On February 26, Senate Democrats held a closed-door session to revisit the CLARITY Act ahead of a March 1 deadline set by the White House. The draft would split oversight between the SEC and CFTC, while rules on stablecoin yields remain the chief sticking point. a16z escalated GOP outreach and pledged $50 million to a new $100 million super PAC.

On 26 February 2026, Wallet in Telegram launched on-chain yield vaults for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT within its messaging app. The update extends the Earn section with DeFi strategies, including a USDT vault that currently advertises up to 18% annualized returns and builds on earlier TON staking and Affluent protocol integrations. The rollout follows recent cross-chain deposit support and adds to a growing roster of supported assets and wallet options.

On 26 February 2026, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency published a proposed rule under the GENIUS Act to set prudential standards for payment stablecoin issuers under its oversight. The draft framework covers permitted U.S. and certain foreign issuers, as well as related custody activities, while leaving BSA, AML, and OFAC requirements to be handled separately with the Treasury. Public comments on the proposal are expected to guide the final rules that will shape how stablecoins operate within the U.S. banking system.