February 24th Weekly Market Recap: “No Consensus Post-Consensus”

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DeFi Analytics 20 February 2026

The weekly addition of the Crypto DeFi Analytics, covering chain fee generation, Beacon Chain Balance, Uniswap V3 and Liquidations.

Crypto Risk Appetite Report 19th February 2026

The weekly addition of our Market Sentiment Report.

CME to Launch 24/7 Crypto Futures

Crypto remains rangebound, with BTC near $68K and ETH below $2,000, while majors are slightly higher with SOL leading. Options markets are unchanged, with BTC implied vol below 50%, ETH around 62% to 68%, and a continued premium for puts.

ETF flows are still a drag, with spot Bitcoin ETFs -$165.8M and Ether ETFs -$130.1M, leaving the average BTC ETF holder down about 20% versus an $84K cost basis. Geopolitical risk capped broader risk appetite as CME outlined 24/7 crypto derivatives trading from May 29 pending review.

Hyper Foundation Unstakes 1M HYPE to Launch HPC

BTC is still rangebound between $65k and $70k while ETH has broken below $2,000 and majors like XRP BNB SOL and DOGE are down roughly 3% to 5% as our Risk Appetite Index continues to drift lower toward its late 2025 bounce level. FOMC minutes from the January 27 to 28 meeting skewed hawkish with the vast majority emphasising sticky inflation and several noting rates could even be adjusted higher if inflation stays above target though a smaller group still supports easing if disinflation resumes.

On the crypto development side EVMbench launched with 120 vulnerabilities from 40 audits Coinbase expanded Morpho powered onchain lending collateral to XRP Dogecoin Cardano and Litecoin for up to $100k USDC borrowing Hyper is allocating 1M HYPE to a DeFi policy centre and XRPL activated XLS 81 enabling permissioned DEX venues with controlled access.

Grayscale Sui Staking ETF Will Debut on NYSE Arca

BTC remains rangebound in the $65K to $70K range, while ETH has held near $2,000 since 6 February, as spot ETF flows diverged yesterday between $104.9M of BTC outflows and $48.6M of ETH inflows. Corporate accumulation continues despite softer prices, led by Strategy’s $168M BTC purchase and Bitmine’s $91.3M ETH add, taking its holdings to 4.371M ETH.

Market structure developments remained active, with LMAX adding 24/7 margin-based Gold perps, BlackRock advancing its proposed staked ETH ETF, and Grayscale’s Sui staking ETF set to list on NYSE Arca.

Metaplanet Hits BTC Holdings Goal

BTC’s weekend push to around $71K has faded back below $68K, marking a fourth straight weekly decline and underscoring the lack of near-term catalysts. Since the October liquidation, total crypto market cap is down close to $2T, with volumes subdued amid US and China holidays. Macro conditions eased after a soft CPI print, with headline inflation up 0.2% month-on-month and 2.4% year-on-year, core at 2.5% year-on-year, driving the 2-year yield to about 3.4% and lifting OIS-implied cuts to roughly 64bps.

Headlines were mixed across crypto, with Metaplanet reporting a $619M net loss on a $665.8M non-cash BTC valuation hit while expanding holdings to 35,102 BTC, as Wintermute launched institutional OTC execution for tokenised gold and ZeroLend announced a shutdown after TVL collapsed about 98% from its peak.

No Consensus Post-Consensus

Sentiment coming out of Consensus Hong Kong was surprisingly constructive, even as BTC remains range-bound between $65,000 and $70,000 and the post-selloff narrative remains unclear. The sideways tape has coincided with Block Scholes’ Risk Appetite index reversing sharply lower after nearing the zero line that has historically aligned with broader crypto upside, making current price action a notable outlier.

Derivatives positioning is defensive but unusually complacent, with BTC 30-day implied volatility at 45–46% versus realised near 50%, alongside a persistent put skew, while ETH implied volatility tracks realised more closely. ETF flows reinforce the cautious tone, with $360M in BTC outflows and $161.2M in ETH outflows last week.