Stablecoin transfer volume exceeds $10.5 trillion
In January, stablecoin transfer volume exceeded $10.5 trillion—the highest since April 2022, according to Dune data. Circle's USDC led the way with $8.3 trillion, followed by Tether's USDT ($1.7 trillion) and DAI ($138 billion). In February, transactions reached $7.8 trillion, with the top three assets remaining the same.
The highest activity in January was seen on the Base network, where $5.9 trillion was transferred. Ethereum processed $2.5 trillion, while Tron processed $691 billion. The bulk of transactions came from decentralized exchange liquidity pools ($5.9 trillion), while centralized exchanges accounted for $612 billion.
USDT leads in market capitalization with a share of over 59% and a valuation of $183.5 billion. The total stablecoin market size is approximately $311 billion, of which USDC accounts for $75.3 billion.
Aave community conflict
On February 26, Aave DAO participants will hold a preliminary vote on the Aave Will Win initiative, which has sparked heated debate in the community. The reason for this is Aave Labs' request for approximately $50 million in funding. The proposal seeks to allocate $42.5 million in stablecoins and 75,000 AAVE to the team. In exchange, the developers commit to directing all revenue from Aave-branded products to the DAO treasury and continuing protocol development, including the development of v4.
Before the vote, the parties exchanged public reports. Aave Chan Initiative founder Mark Zeller recalled that over the years, Aave Labs has already received approximately $86 million from various sources and called for new grants to be evaluated based on their impact on the DAO's profitability, as well as increased transparency and the splitting of the initiative into separate votes.
Aave Labs, for its part, emphasized that its team developed key protocol versions and monetization mechanisms, including flash loans, and pointed out that contributions to security and infrastructure cannot be reduced to forum activity.
Some of the community are concerned about the scale of funding and the transfer of 75,000 AAVE, as the tokens carry voting rights. Critics are demanding a clear definition of future revenues and greater transparency regarding the distribution of governance tokens.
Solana unveils Solana Payments
The Solana team unveiled Solana Payments, a unified portal for integrating crypto payments. The platform brings together technical documentation, network statistics, a real-time transaction simulator, and implementation cases, demonstrating the potential of blockchain for financial services.
Solana's infrastructure is already used by Visa, PayPal, Stripe, and Western Union for international transfers, instant payouts, merchant settlements, and treasury management. Over the past six years, the network has processed over 480 billion transactions, with quarterly stablecoin turnover reaching $2 trillion, and monthly transfers in other tokens exceeding $300 million. Furthermore, Solana accounts for almost half of the market for micropayments between AI agents based on the x402 protocol.
In key scalability metrics, the network significantly outperforms Base: current throughput is approximately 1,140 TPS versus 118 for Base, and the historical maximum reached 5,289 TPS. Blocks are mined in 0.39 seconds, and finalization takes approximately 13 seconds. The average fee is approximately $0.006, making Solana more suitable for large-scale transactions.
A single miner earned 3,125 BTC
On February 24, a solo miner mined block #938,092 and received a reward of 3,125 BTC—approximately $196,650 at the current exchange rate. According to Braiins, he didn't use his own hardware, but rented 1 PH/s of computing power, spending only 119,000 satoshi (approximately $75) plus a small fee. Braiins uses CKPool software to support solo mining, and this block was the first under their partnership, noted CKPool administrator Kol Kolivas. According to Bennet's statistics, on average, a solo block is found once every 17 days, but such occurrences are becoming more frequent. Over the past year, 21 solo miners successfully mined blocks, earning a total of 66 BTC—a 17% increase from the previous year.
Buterin: Integrating a transaction simulation mechanism will protect crypto wallets
Vitalik Buterin proposed embedding transaction simulation mechanisms into crypto wallets and smart contracts to improve their security and usability. He believes security should be built around user intent—the system must verify whether an action matches the expected result and the acceptable level of risk.
He believes this approach is applicable not only to Ethereum tools but also to operating systems and hardware. Basic measures include spending limits and multi-signature. The logic is simple: secure transactions can be automated, while potentially risky ones require additional confirmation.
The main challenge is correctly recognizing intent, which makes it impossible to create "perfect" security. Buterin proposes relying on the principle of redundancy, whereby the user confirms their actions in multiple ways, and the system responds only when they match. As an additional filter, he allows for the use of LLMs, which can simulate human logic when analyzing transactions.
The probability of Bitcoin falling below $55,000 has risen to 72% on Polymarket
The majority of Polymarket participants—approximately 75%—expect Bitcoin to fall to $55,000. The volume of bets on this scenario has reached $1.2 million. Traders estimate the probability of a drop below $50,000 and $45,000 at 62% and 47%, respectively.
On February 23, BTC briefly dipped below $65,000. The asset is currently trading around $66,200, and its market capitalization has fallen to $1.32 trillion, dropping Bitcoin to 14th place among the world's largest assets. Since the beginning of the year, it has lost approximately 25% of its value, while the overall crypto market has lost approximately 24.5%.
At the same time, analysts' forecasts differ. Standard Chartered allows for a decline to $50,000 before a new rise to $100,000, while CryptoQuant cites $55,000 as a potential final bottom. Industry figures, including Riot Platforms, believe Bitcoin is undervalued, and a Coinbase survey found that 70% of institutions see a fair price above current levels.
