Crypto flows to suspected human trafficking networks climbed 85% during 2025, according to a Chainalysis report released Thursday. The firm said volumes reached hundreds of millions of dollars, with networks concentrated in Southeast Asia and closely linked to scam compounds, online casinos and Chinese-language laundering groups. It added that blockchain transparency could help investigators track patterns and intervene.

An analyst said Bitcoin's seven-day average realized net losses reached $2.3 billion, framing the sell-off as one of the largest capitulation episodes since 2021. The asset briefly moved above $70,000 on Tuesday and later hovered near $66,600 after rebounding from a Feb. 6 low around $60,000, with a $55,000 realized price highlighted.

At a conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Fundstrat head of research Tom Lee said Ether is nearing a market bottom and predicted another rapid V-shaped rebound similar to past cycles. He pointed to eight prior drawdowns of more than 50% since 2018, all followed by swift recoveries, while on-chain data shows record-high staking queues and over 30% of ETH supply locked, despite prices sliding to $1,760 this month.

At xAI's "All Hands" on Wednesday, Elon Musk said X Money will move from a closed company beta to a limited external beta in 1–2 months, ahead of a worldwide rollout on X. He described payments as central to X's everything-app vision and indicated an initial fiat focus, with crypto support to follow per the Blockchain Council.

According to CryptoQuant analyst Joao Wedson, Ether's MVRV Z-Score has dropped to -0.42, a level often linked to capitulation. Ether fell 30% over the past fortnight, hitting $1,825 on Friday before rebounding to $2,100 on Monday, while the worst historical reading was -0.76 in December 2018. Analysts remain divided on near-term downside.

According to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost on Saturday, Bitcoin's Sharpe ratio dropped to -10, its lowest since March 2023 and near zones observed in 2018 and 2022. The analyst warned this does not confirm a bear-market end. 10x Research on Monday noted sentiment is extreme while a broader downtrend persists, as BTC rebounded from $60,000 to $71,000 but remains 44% below its October peak of $126,000.

Bitcoin dropped to a low near $60,000 on Coinbase, with its price down 38% from the 2026 peak of $97,000 and roughly 50% below the all-time high of $126,000. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to 9 out of 100 on Friday, its weakest reading since June 2022, while more than 588,000 traders saw $2.7 billion in positions liquidated in 24 hours, mostly leveraged Bitcoin longs.

According to CryptoQuant, the Coinbase Premium Gap for Bitcoin has fallen to -167.8, its lowest reading since December 2024, suggesting intensifying selling from institutional traders. The metric has been trending down since the mid-October market pullback, while U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have turned net sellers in 2026, unloading 10,600 BTC and recording $1.2 billion in outflows over the past week.

Coin Metrics reported that stablecoin dust activity on Ethereum rose 2–3x after the Fusaka upgrade in December, based on an analysis spanning November 2025 through January 2026. Across 227 million USDC and USDT balance updates, 43% were under $1 and 38% were under a penny, while dusting was estimated to be 11% of transactions and 26% of active addresses on an average day.