Lightning Labs releases tools for working with AI agents
Lightning Labs has unveiled a set of open-source tools that allow AI agents to directly interact with the Lightning Network. According to Head of Product Michael Levin, these solutions enable users to work with the Bitcoin payment infrastructure without registration, API keys, or identification. The published repository implements seven modules for automated operations, ranging from node management and isolated key storage to performing limited payments and monitoring node health.
The team also released a CLI client, lnget, with support for the L402 protocol. It automatically recognizes payment requests, processes the payment via Lightning, and returns a cryptographic confirmation. L402 is designed as the foundation for an automated machine-settled infrastructure, enabling services to pay each other without human intervention.
Buterin supports algostablecoins
Vitalik Buterin stated that algorithmic stablecoins are closest to the idea of "true" DeFi. He believes the industry should gradually move away from a rigid peg to the dollar and toward models oriented toward market indices.
He outlined two paths. The simpler option is the issuance of stablecoins backed by ETH, where market makers shoulder some of the risks, and the system remains stable even with the dominance of CDP positions. The more complex path involves the use of RWAs with strict diversification, overcollateralization, and caps on the share of each asset—this should increase resilience to failures. Buterin does not consider models that merely redistribute the returns of centralized coins through lending protocols to be a full-fledged evolution of DeFi.
Crypto.com CEO purchases AI.com domain
Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek purchased the AI.com domain for $70 million, paid for in digital assets, and used it to launch an AI platform aimed at the masses. The address was initially offered for $100 million, and the deal closed in April 2025, with Arsyan Ismail acting as the seller. The purchase was hailed as a record-breaking domain name.
By comparison, CarInsurance.com was sold for $49.7 million in 2010, and OpenAI acquired Chat.com for $15.5 million in late 2024. Previously, the most expensive domain asset was Cars.com, valued at $872.3 million in a 2014 corporate deal.
After completing the purchase, the team focused on product development. AI.com was publicly released on February 8, 2026, the day of the Super Bowl.
Tether's gold reserves reach 148 tons
Tether, which issues the USDT stablecoin, has entered the top 30 largest gold holders in the world, CoinDesk reports, citing Jefferies. By the end of January, the company's reserves reached 148 tonnes, worth approximately $23 billion. In Q4 2025 alone, the company acquired 26 tonnes, and added another 6 tonnes in January. In terms of acquisition rate, Tether is second only to Poland and Brazil, outpacing most central banks. Its reserves already exceed the gold reserves of Australia, the UAE, Qatar, South Korea, and Greece.
The precious metal is used as collateral for USDT and the XAUT token, whose market capitalization is currently around $2.5 billion. The increase in reserves coincided with a rally in the gold market – last month, the price per ounce exceeded $5,000 amid strong demand and investors seeking to diversify away from the dollar. Jefferies estimates that the company will continue to purchase: Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino previously stated his intention to hold 10-15% of his investment portfolio in physical gold.
Public companies lost $1.5 billion on Solana investments
Companies that held Solana treasuries recorded a combined unrealized loss of over $1.5 billion, according to CoinGecko data. These include several US-based publicly traded entities that control over 12 million Solana tokens—approximately 2% of the token's total supply.
These include Forward Industries, Sharps Technology, DeFi Development Corp., and Upexi. However, the actual decline may be greater, as some participants are not disclosing their exact entry parameters.
Forward Industries, the largest holder, accumulated approximately 6.9 million Solana tokens at an average price of $230, resulting in a paper loss of over $1 billion. Sharps Technology acquired $389 million worth of Solana tokens near the market peak; this stake is now valued at approximately $167 million, a decline of nearly 57%.
CoinShares: Real quantum risk exists only for 10,200 BTC
The development of quantum technologies does not yet pose an immediate threat to Bitcoin. This is the conclusion reached by CoinShares analysts, who call the situation not a crisis, but a solvable engineering problem. Christopher Bendiksen, head of research at the company, questioned the widespread estimates of the scale of the risk. Previously, Chaincode Labs experts stated that 20-50% of all coins could be potentially vulnerable. CoinShares believes that such calculations conflate different types of risks and create a distorted view of the problem.
According to the firm's estimates, the real risk primarily lies in old P2PK addresses with publicly disclosed keys—they hold approximately 1.6 million BTC (approximately 8% of the supply). However, the amount of funds that, if hacked, could actually trigger a market panic is estimated at only 10,200 BTC.
The remaining potentially vulnerable coins are distributed across approximately 32,000 addresses, with an average balance of approximately 50 BTC. Even with the rapid progress of quantum computing, its compromise would take a significant amount of time.
