On February 12, 2026, Aave Labs proposed the "Aave Will Win Framework", seeking $25 million in stablecoins and 75,000 AAVE tokens while pledging to direct all product revenue to the Aave DAO treasury. The move has intensified an ongoing conflict over governance, transparency, and ownership within Aave, as the DAO simultaneously reviews a conflict-of-interest policy and community members question funding size, token allocation, and bundled voting items.

In an update dated February 13, 2026, Pi Network confirmed that all Mainnet node operators must upgrade to version 19.6 by February 15, 2026 or risk disconnection. The project reports that more than 16 million users have already migrated to Mainnet, while new KYC fixes, palm-print authentication tests, and validator reward trials are underway alongside a 2026 asset review placement on Kraken's roadmap. PI is trading around $0.1462 with a market capitalization near $1.31 billion as the network advances through a broader multi-stage upgrade cycle toward version 23.0 by Q2 2026.

Bitcoin climbed above $69,000 after the latest US CPI data, with traders watching resistance between $68,000 and $70,000 as a trigger for a potential V-shaped recovery toward $72,000. Analysts warn that holding support around $65,000–$66,000 is critical, while a break of $72,000 could lead to a liquidation squeeze targeting liquidity near $80,000.

On Feb. 11, Bitcoin contributors merged BIP-0360, introducing the Pay-to-Merkle-Root output to the BIPs repository. The draft neither upgrades nodes nor sets activation, but proposes removing Taproot's key-path to limit long-exposure risk from on-chain public keys. P2MR would raise spend size (minimum 103 bytes vs 66) and reduce privacy, making any future shift strictly opt-in.

Santiment's data indicates that Bitcoin's aggregated funding rates across major exchanges have fallen to their most negative levels since August 2024, reflecting a heavy build-up of short positions. Following long liquidations on Binance on October 10, 2025, traders increasingly moved into leveraged shorts, creating one-sided bearish positioning that could set the stage for a potential short squeeze.

On February 12, three masked men allegedly broke into a residential building in Val-de-Marne looking for Binance France CEO David Prinçay but left after failing to locate him and stealing two phones. The suspects were later traced via the stolen devices and CCTV, arrested at Lyon’s Perrache train station, while separate incidents helped highlight France’s growing share of global crypto-related “wrench attacks”, which caused $40.9 million in confirmed losses in 2025.

President Karol Nawrocki issued a second veto of Poland's Crypto‑Asset Market Act and returned the draft to parliament on Thursday. The bill, intended to transpose MiCA, would grant the KNF broad oversight and introduce criminal liability, including fines up to 10 million złoty ($2.8 million), while the regulator warned platforms could become illegal on July 1 without passage.

On 13 February 2026, the crypto market rebounded, lifting total capitalization above $2.36 trillion, up over 2% in 24 hours. Bitcoin gained about 2.8% to trade near $68,800 and approached $69,000, while Ethereum rose more than 4% to roughly $2,034; the Fear & Greed Index printed 8 and the Altcoin Season Index read 30/100.