Igor Runets, founder and CEO of BitRiver—Russia’s largest cryptocurrency mining infrastructure provider—has been placed under house arrest on charges of tax evasion, according to court documents from Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court and reports from Bloomberg, TASS, RBC, Kommersant, and other outlets on February 2, 2026. Runets, 39, was reportedly detained on January 30 (Friday) and formally charged the following day …

A UAE-linked investment firm quietly acquired a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a cryptocurrency venture tied to the Trump family, for $500 million just days before Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and other outlets. The deal has ignited debates over potential conflicts of interest, transparency, and geopolitical implications, …

CrossCurve, a cross-chain liquidity protocol (formerly known as EYWA), confirmed a smart contract exploit on its bridge infrastructure late February 1 into February 2, 2026, resulting in approximately $3 million in losses across multiple blockchain networks. The protocol announced via X that its bridge was “under attack” due to a vulnerability in one of its smart contracts—specifically the ReceiverAxelar contract—which …

Solana (SOL) dipped below the $100 mark on February 2, 2026, amid a broader crypto market downturn and fallout from a $30 million treasury hack at Step Finance, a prominent Solana-based DeFi portfolio management and analytics platform. The breach, disclosed late January 31 into February 1, 2026, involved attackers compromising multiple treasury and fee wallets, leading to the unstaking and …

Asian markets opened cautiously on February 3, 2026 (corresponding to late February 2 sessions in some time zones), as risk sentiment deteriorated amid macroeconomic headwinds, with Bitcoin dipping toward the $75,000 level during early Asian trading before partial recovery. Bitcoin extended its weekend losses, briefly approaching or testing around $75,000 in thin liquidity conditions (with reported lows near $74,500–$74,800 over …

XRP extended its recent decline on February 2, 2026, slipping to around $1.59–$1.61 amid intensified selling pressure across the cryptocurrency market. The token traded in this range during Asian and early U.S. sessions, down approximately 3–7% over the past 24 hours and reflecting 12–16% losses over the prior week (per data from Yahoo Finance, Investing.com, Kraken, and reports on BingX …

The cryptocurrency market faced intensified selling pressure on February 2, 2026, as Bitcoin (BTC) extended its decline below the $80,000 level following President Donald Trump’s January 30 nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve Chair. Warsh, a former Fed governor (2006–2011) viewed as hawkish on inflation in his past tenure but aligned with calls for lower rates under …

The cryptocurrency market endured a sharp downturn on February 2, 2026, with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) leading widespread losses amid macroeconomic pressures, policy uncertainty, and risk-off sentiment. Bitcoin traded around $76,000–$77,500 during early sessions, after dipping as low as $74,500–$74,800 over the weekend—its lowest since April 2025. This marked a roughly 5–12% decline in the past 24 hours to …

Japan’s largest wealth manager, Nomura Holdings, has reduced its cryptocurrency exposure following losses at its European digital asset subsidiary, Laser Digital, during the third quarter of its fiscal year (October–December 2025). In earnings released late January 2026, Nomura reported a 9.7% year-over-year drop in net income to ¥91.6 billion ($590 million), partly due to a ¥10.6 billion loss in its …

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has endorsed anonymous voting mechanisms as part of a proposed two-layer governance framework for on-chain systems, including Ethereum, to safeguard against coordinated manipulation, collusion, and capture attacks. In recent statements shared on February 2, 2026 (via posts and analyses on platforms like his blog or referenced in crypto media), Buterin outlined a dual-structure approach. The first …