Gold prices rebounded above $5,000 per ounce on Feb. 4 after pulling back from record highs, with some investors buying the dip and a Fidelity fund saying it is ready to re-enter the metal following what it described as the largest decline in forty years, Bloomberg reports. Total digital-asset capitalization has dropped by about $467.6 billion since Jan. 29 and fallen $1.7 trillion from the October peak, led by Bitcoin's decline. Investor Michael Burry warned that Bitcoin has slid around 40% from its October high and said the move could potentially evolve into a self-reinforcing "death spiral," as capital flows visibly back toward traditional havens such as gold amid macro uncertainty and weaker risk appetite.

Hong Kong's monetary authority has received 36 applications for stablecoin issuer licenses and aims to grant the first batch in March, Beijing Business Today reported on Feb. 4. The review will focus on risk management, including use cases, reserve asset allocation, and cross-border compliance; applicants with operations in mainland China, Singapore, London, or ASEAN must meet local regulatory requirements. Industry participants said the first licenses could support a compliant stablecoin ecosystem and cross-border payments, while the authority warned against illegal activities using "stablecoin" as a front and advised avoiding unlicensed products.

BitMine chairman Tom Lee rejected claims that the company's roughly $6.6 billion in unrealized Ethereum losses will impose a long-term price ceiling on ETH, stating that book losses during market downturns are an inherent feature of its reserve strategy rather than a design flaw, BlockBeats reports on Feb. 4. Critics had argued the losses would eventually force selling and described Lee as "exit liquidity" for early ETH holders, while Lee countered that such views misunderstand how Ethereum reserve companies operate and said BitMine aims to track and outperform ETH over a full market cycle instead of trading short term. Over the past month, ETH has fallen nearly 30% and BitMine's share price has dropped by a similar 30%, with the company currently holding about 4,285,000 ETH, or roughly 3.5% of circulating supply, after the market value of its position slid from close to $14 billion in late 2025 and early 2026 to below $10 billion. Lee likened the situation to index ETFs, arguing that unrealized losses during systemic declines are normal, while the broader debate around ETH reserve companies has intensified as critics point to potential sell pressure and supporters highlight their role as long-term, index-like exposure tools.

Ethereum risks falling below $2,000 in February, with an Inverse Cup and Handle breakdown targeting around $1,665, Cointelegraph reported on Feb. 4. ETH fell below an approximately $2,960 neckline in January, failed a retest, and remained under the 20-day and 50-day exponential moving averages; MVRV data point near $1,725.

Bitcoin briefly fell below $73,000 in early trading on Feb. 4 before rebounding above $76,000, Coinglass data show. Funding rates on major centralized and decentralized derivatives platforms turned positive for BTC, ETH and altcoin contracts as prices recovered, with overall sentiment gradually moving toward neutral despite lingering bearish positions. Funding rates are a fee mechanism between long and short traders on perpetual contracts designed to keep contract prices aligned with the underlying asset, where readings above 0.01% typically signal bullish sentiment and levels below 0.005% indicate bearish positioning.

Open interest across major perpetual DEXs declined over the past seven days, with Hyperliquid down about 36.2% from last week, DefiLlama data show on Feb. 4. 24-hour trading volumes were approximately: Hyperliquid $13.08 billion, Aster $5.66 billion, EdgeX $5.20 billion, Lighter $4.46 billion, Extended $2.43 billion, and Pacifica $776 million.

Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder stated on Feb. 4 that "Arbitrum is not Ethereum", describing the two as close allies in a symbiotic relationship but emphasizing they remain distinct, BlockBeats reports. He argued there is no conflict between a scaled Layer 1 and a thriving Layer 2 ecosystem, noted Offchain Labs supports L1 expansion by acquiring and funding Prysm to help sustain Ethereum development, and said he has never heard of an L2 team opposing L1 scaling. Goldfeder added that while Vitalik Buterin is correct the rollup narrative has evolved, Ethereum's best path to winning large institutions remains through L2, citing Arbitrum and Base both surpassing 1000 TPS during last Saturday's market volatility compared with about 40 TPS on Ethereum L1.

WhiteWhale's market cap briefly rebounded above $100 million on Feb. 4 and was last at $99 million, with the token trading around $0.105 and posting a 24-hour gain of 25%, GMGN data show. On Solana, The White Whale bought more than 2.39 million WhiteWhale tokens for about $200,000 and moved them to a main address (EBxg...), with a related address shown as ECyvt..., according to GMGN. That main address holds about $56 million of the token, representing 56% of the memecoin's total supply, with unrealized profit of $17.7 million (30%) and an average buy price near $0.0213, with no sales to date. The token was created on Oct. 13, 2024 on pump.fun by fans using the avatar of trader The White Whale (X: TheWhiteWhaleV2); BlockBeats said the latest rise may be tied to the trader's ongoing personal buys and cautioned that meme-coin trading is highly volatile and sentiment-driven with no inherent value or use case.

QCP Capital said on Feb. 4 that U.S. government shutdown risk has eased for now, with Department of Homeland Security funding extended only to Feb. 13, and it flagged $75,000 as a key Bitcoin inflection level, its official channel shows. The firm noted crude oil is rebuilding a moderate geopolitical risk premium after the U.S. shot down an Iranian drone near the Arabian Sea close to the aircraft carrier "Abraham Lincoln," while diplomatic headlines are limiting further gains. QCP Capital added that domestic politics around the Federal Reserve are heating up as Trump has nominated Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair; if investors start to price larger rate cuts later this year, that could marginally support risk assets and weigh on the dollar, while Warsh has signaled a preference for faster balance-sheet reduction that could touch repo-market liquidity, with stress possible when reserves are scarce. In derivatives, the options market is signaling caution, with front-end implied volatility supported, at-the-money vols high, a slight spot premium in the term structure, steep downside skew and expensive butterfly spreads; tactically, QCP Capital views $75,000 as the pivot, where holding the level with position rebuilding and normalized funding would justify adding risk, while a break could turn sentiment defensive.