On 4 February 2026, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin argued that the network’s rapidly scaling base layer is eroding the original idea of layer-2s as mandatory scaling extensions. He now sees many L2s as systems with differing trust and security assumptions, whose future value will lie in specialization and innovation rather than simply providing extra Ethereum block space. Ethereum is also moving toward features like a native rollup precompile to streamline interoperability and reinforce security for L2s that handle ETH and Ethereum-based assets.

On 3 February 2026, Bitcoin traded under $74,000 after the U.S. House approved a tight 217–215 procedural vote tied to a Senate-supported funding bill aimed at reopening the federal government. The total crypto market cap fell to about $2.5 trillion, with Bitcoin down roughly 6% in 24 hours and nearly 15% over the week as broader macro and political uncertainty kept risk appetite muted.

On 3 February 2026 at 16:14, development output, rather than price moves, defined leadership in Real World Asset networks. Hedera ranked highest, with Chainlink, Avalanche, and Stellar close behind, based on 30‑day GitHub activity. Additional momentum was observed across IOTA, Chia, VeChain, Lumerin, Creditcoin, and Injective.

On February 2, Bitcoin spot ETFs drew $561.8 million in net inflows, indicating renewed institutional demand, according to the report. Ethereum ETFs posted a $2.9 million net outflow, while Solana products added $5.5 million and XRP saw about $404,690 in redemptions as prices for all four assets advanced.

On February 2, 2026, a sponsored article outlined BlockDAG’s presale pitch, citing a 15,000 TPS design, a hybrid DAG + Proof-of-Work architecture, full EVM support, and $453M raised. It also noted a $0.0005 presale price and a $0.05 launch target, with the Awakening Testnet reported at 1,400 TPS and comparisons to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Cardano.

On 2 February 2026, ZKP was highlighted for a presale that analysts say could attract over $1.7B, supported by GDPR- and CCPA-aligned privacy features and projections of up to an 8,000x return. Over the same period, PEPE traded between $0.0000042 and $0.0000049 after a drop of more than 14%, while Dogecoin hovered near $0.108 following a weekly decline of nearly 12%.

On 2 February 2026, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said its regulatory reviews for stablecoin issuers are close to completion, with the first licenses expected to be granted in March. Only a very limited number of applicants will be approved at the outset, reflecting a cautious rollout focused on reserve backing, capital standards and financial stability.

On February 2, 2026, Jupiter Exchange said it secured a $35 million strategic investment from ParaFi Capital at spot price, with settlement entirely in JupUSD and an extended token lockup. The move targets long-term onchain infrastructure on Solana; at the time of writing, JUP traded around $0.1838 with market cap near $596 million.

On 2 February 2026, Michael Saylor stated that Strategy acquired 855 additional Bitcoin for about $75.3 million at an average price near $87,974 per BTC. Following the purchase, the company holds 713,502 BTC, accumulated at an average cost of roughly $76,052 per coin, reinforcing its long-term Bitcoin treasury approach despite ongoing market volatility.