Gate Ventures Weekly Crypto Recap (February 23, 2026)

2026-02-2315:42

Gate Ventures

2026-02-23 15:42

Gate Ventures

2026-02-23 15:42

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TL;DR

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Trump-era tariffs illegal, potentially resulting in refunds that could boost nominal economic growth in the short term.
This week’s incoming data includes PPI, factory orders, Conference Board consumer confidence, and the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, among others.
BTC and ETH were relatively resilient last week (BTC -1.73%, ETH -0.42%), with the ETH/BTC ratio ticking up 1.3% to 0.0287.
ETF flows and sentiment deteriorated sharply: BTC spot ETFs recorded a $315.86M net outflow, ETH spot ETFs saw $123.37M in outflows, and the Fear & Greed Index fell from 12 to 5 (Extreme Fear).
WLFI led the market (+12.2%) after announcing an RWA push with Securitize and DarGlobal, as well as a USD1 stablecoin settlement pilot with Apex Group.
CME is targeting a May launch for 24/7 crypto derivatives trading.
Bitcoin miner MARA acquired a majority stake in AI data center firm Exaion.
Sports-focused prediction market Novig raised $75M in a Series B round at a $500M valuation.

Macro Overview

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Trump tariffs illegal, which may result in refunds potentially boosting nominal economic growth in the short term.

Following rulings by the U.S. Court of International Trade and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals declaring the “Trump Tariffs” unlawful, on February 20, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were illegal. Immediately following the Supreme Court’s decision, the Trump administration announced a replacement tariff policy the same day, stating that it would impose an additional 10% tariff on global goods based on Section 122 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, on top of regular tariffs. The next day, on the social media platform Truth Social, it further stated that tariffs on certain countries would be increased to 15%, though no specific country list was disclosed.

As of January 2026, the U.S. government has reportedly collected approximately $150–170 billion in IEEPA tariffs. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that these tariffs were unlawful, the authority to implement refunds will likely be delegated to lower courts. Importers may need to file individual claims, undergo verification processes, and bear corresponding legal and compliance costs. Due to these costs and constraints, some small and medium-sized enterprises may face difficulties obtaining refunds, and the final volume of refunds may amount to roughly half of the total tariffs collected. If approximately half of the refunds are completed over the next two quarters, it would amount to an additional fiscal stimulus equivalent to 0.5–0.6% of the annualized GDP for 2025. The tariff refunds are likely to resonate with the implementation of the “One Big and Beautiful Act,” temporarily boosting nominal economic growth in the United States.

This week’s incoming data includes PPI, factory orders, Conference Board consumer confidence, Chicago Fed National Activity Index, etc. Headline PPI is expected to rise 0.3% in January, slowing from December’s 0.5% gain, while core PPI is seen increasing 0.3% after a 0.7% jump. Other key releases include factory orders, the Case-Shiller home price index, Conference Board consumer confidence, and regional gauges such as the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, Chicago PMI, and the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index. (1)

The US dollar index reached $97.789 as of last Friday, reflecting a mix of strong economic growth, stable labor market and uncertainty from tariff policies. (2)

While the market has regained much confidence in the US assets, the US Supreme Court ruling on tariffs brought much uncertainty to the market, which leads to the rising of US treasury yields. (3)

Last week the gold price regained its momentum upwards, achieving a monthly high Supreme Court ruling against global tariffs triggered a volatile scramble for safe-haven assets. (4)

Crypto Markets Overview

1. Main Assets

Last week, BTC fell 1.73% while ETH slipped 0.42%. BTC spot ETFs saw a record $315.86M net outflow, and ETH spot ETFs posted a record $123.37M net outflow. (5)

Sentiment deteriorated further, with the Fear & Greed Index dropping to 5 (Extreme Fear) from 12 the prior week. Meanwhile, the ETH/BTC ratio rebounded modestly, rising 1.3% to 0.0287. (6)

2. Total Market Cap

Crypto Total Marketcap Excluding BTC and ETH

Crypto Total Marketcap Excluding Top 10 Dominance

Last week, the total crypto market cap fell 3.49%. Market cap excluding BTC and ETH declined 1.72%, while the altcoin market dropped 3.14%.

3. Top 30 Crypto Assets Performance

Source: Coinmarketcap and Gate Ventures, as of Feb 23rd 2025

Among the top 30 assets, prices fell ~4.4% on average, with only WLFI, XAUt, and TRX posting gains.

WLFI outperformed the broader market with a 12.2% price gain on two near-term catalysts: i.) it confirmed an RWA partnership with Securitize and DarGlobal, with the first deal tied to Trump International Hotel & Resort, Maldives; and ii.) Apex Group will pilot WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin as a settlement rail for tokenized funds, strengthening the “real utility + infrastructure” narrative behind the ecosystem. (7)

The Key Crypto Highlights

1. CME targets May launch for 24/7 crypto derivatives trading

CME Group plans to shift its crypto futures and options to near-continuous trading on CME Globex starting May 29, pending regulatory approval, with only a minimum two-hour weekly maintenance window. Weekend and holiday trades will be cleared, settled, and reported on the next business day. The move aligns with broader U.S. regulatory discussions around extended market hours and follows similar initiatives from Nasdaq (targeting 23/5 trading in 2H 2026) and NYSE, which is developing a 24/7 tokenized securities platform with multichain settlement support. (8)

2. Bitcoin miner MARA buys majority stake in AI data center firm Exaion

MARA Holdings has acquired a 64% stake in French computing infrastructure operator Exaion through its subsidiary MARA France, marking a deeper push into AI and cloud services as mining economics tighten. EDF Pulse Ventures remains a minority shareholder and customer, while NJJ Capital, backed by Xavier Niel, will take a 10% stake in MARA France as part of the partnership. Governance will reflect the new structure, with board representation from MARA, EDF, and NJJ. (9)

3. Voltage rolls out USD-settled Bitcoin Lightning credit line for businesses

Voltage has launched Voltage Credit, a USD-settled revolving credit line embedded into Bitcoin and Lightning payment flows. Businesses can send instant Lightning payments with “send now, pay later” flexibility and repay in US dollars or Bitcoin, without holding crypto on the balance sheet. Credit limits are underwritten against real-time payment volume rather than static BTC collateral, positioning the product as a working-capital layer for always-on Lightning rails. (10)

Key Ventures Deals

1. Sports-focused prediction market Novig raises $75M Series B at $500M valuation

Novig has raised $75 million in a Series B round led by Pantera Capital, valuing the sports-focused prediction market at $500 million. Novig operates a peer-to-peer, zero-commission model for retail users, charging institutional participants instead, and is pursuing registration under the CFTC framework to enable broader nationwide operations. The new capital will support regulatory expansion, liquidity growth, and further development of its sports-native trading infrastructure.(11)

2. PRED launches onchain sports prediction exchange, raises $2.5M seed

PRED is an onchain sports-focused prediction exchange built on Base, designed specifically for high-speed live sports trading. Unlike traditional sportsbooks where users trade against the house, PRED operates as a peer-to-peer exchange with onchain settlement. PRED has raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by Accel, with participation from Coinbase Ventures ,and angel investors including Kevin Kelly II, Petrit Berisha, and Tatsuya Saito. The capital will support liquidity development, product expansion across additional sports verticals, and continued buildout of its onchain trading infrastructure. (12)

3. Unicity Labs raises $3M seed to build infrastructure for autonomous agent marketplaces

Unicity Labs has raised $3 million in seed funding to advance its Unicity Protocol, a peer-to-peer cryptographic architecture designed to enable autonomous AI agents to discover counterparties and transact trustlessly at machine speed. The round was led by Blockchange Ventures, with participation from Tawasal and Outlier Ventures. The protocol separates transaction execution from validation, aiming to overcome shared-ledger bottlenecks and provide scalable infrastructure for agent-to-agent commerce in the emerging AI-driven economy. (13)

Ventures Market Metrics

The number of deals closed in the previous week was 7, with Infra having 4 deals, representing 57% of the total number of deals. Meanwhile, Social had 2 deals (29%), and Defi had 1 deal (14%).

Weekly Venture Deal Summary, Source: Cryptorank and Gate Ventures, as of 23rd Feb 2026

The total amount of disclosed funding raised in the previous week was $104.5M, 2 deals in the previous week didn’t announce the raised amount. The top funding came from the Social sector with $77.5M. Most funded deals: Novig ($75M).

Total weekly fundraising declined to $104.5M for the last week of Feb-2026, a decrease of 65% compared to the week prior.

About Gate Ventures

Gate Ventures, the venture capital arm of Gate.com, is focused on investments in decentralized infrastructure, middleware, and applications that will reshape the world in the Web 3.0 age. Working with industry leaders across the globe, Gate Ventures helps promising teams and startups that possess the ideas and capabilities needed to redefine social and financial interactions.

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