In February 2026, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia sentenced Praetorian Group International founder Ramil Ventura Palafox to 20 years for wire fraud and concealment money laundering linked to a Bitcoin Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors said the operation raised more than $201 million, took in at least 8,198 BTC, and drew over 90,000 investors, with confirmed losses of at least $62.7 million.

On 13 February 2026, Israeli authorities indicted an IDF reservist and a civilian for allegedly using classified military information to place trades on Polymarket. The pair are accused of exploiting intelligence related to Israel’s June 2025 strikes on Iran to earn an estimated $150,000–$152,000, with prosecutors framing the case as a serious security and ethical breach despite no reported operational damage.

On 13 February 2026, tokenized gold’s market value surpassed $6 billion, adding more than $2 billion since the start of 2026. XAUT and PAXG together account for roughly 96%–97% of the segment, with over 1.2 million ounces of vaulted bullion backing on-chain supply. Trading activity and liquidity have expanded alongside gold’s price rally.

On 12 February 2026, HM Treasury appointed HSBC's Orion digital asset platform to support the UK's Digital Gilt Instrument pilot within the Digital Securities Sandbox. The program will issue a short-dated, digitally native UK government bond to test blockchain-based issuance, settlement, and secondary trading without altering the existing gilt auction framework. The initiative aims to gather data on efficiency, costs, and risk management as part of wider sovereign debt tokenization trends.

On 12 February 2026, Binance announced it had finalized the integration of Ripple USD (RLUSD) on the XRP Ledger and opened deposits via the XRP network. Withdrawals will only be activated once the platform observes sufficient RLUSD liquidity, reflecting a phased rollout that initially emphasizes deposit infrastructure and custody flows. The move adds a new stablecoin rail within the XRP Ledger ecosystem at a time when the stablecoin market cap is around $1.52 billion, while XRP Ledger processes roughly 1.38 million daily transactions.

On 12 February 2026, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz told an audience at the CNBC Digital Finance Forum in New York that the phase of extreme, retail-led crypto speculation is largely fading. He argued that institutional capital, tighter leverage, and the rise of tokenized real-world assets are pushing digital asset markets toward more stable, utility-focused growth.

On 11 February 2026, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission set out a framework allowing licensed virtual asset platforms and brokers to provide margin financing and structured perpetual contracts. These leveraged crypto products are restricted to professional investors and must follow strict collateral, risk management, and governance standards aligned with traditional finance. The measures aim to expand regulated derivatives activity while maintaining controls on leverage and retail investor exposure.

On 9 February 2026, a U.S. federal court in California sentenced fugitive defendant Daren Li to 20 years in prison for laundering more than $73.6 million tied to cryptocurrency investment scams. The 42-year-old dual national of China and St. Kitts and Nevis was found to have used U.S. shell companies and bank accounts to move victim funds into digital assets. Li, who removed his ankle monitor and absconded in December 2025, will also face three years of supervised release if taken into custody.

On 10 February 2026, CME Group rolled out regulated futures contracts linked to Cardano, Chainlink and Stellar, extending its crypto derivatives suite beyond existing offerings. The launch introduces both standard and micro-sized contracts, giving institutional and active retail traders more options for hedging and portfolio positioning. These products are framed as market infrastructure designed to support risk transfer and liquidity rather than direct short-term price drivers.