Crypto markets feel the chill, Base, ether.fi reorganize layer-2 landscape

Crypto Daybook Americas Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Crypto markets feel the chill, Base, ether.fi reorganize layer-2 landscape Your day-ahead look for Feb. 19, 2026 By Jacob Joseph | Edited by Sheldon Reback Feb 19, 2026, 12:23 p.m. Make us preferred on Google Crypto markets are feeling a chill. ((NickyPe/Pixabay modified by CoinDesk) What to know : You are viewing Crypto Daybook Americas, your morning briefing on what happened in the crypto markets overnight and what's expected during the coming day. Crypto Daybook Americas will kickstart your morning with comprehensive insights. If you're not already subscribed to the email, click here . You won't want to start your day without it. By Jacob Joseph (All times ET unless indicated otherwise) Even with the CoinDesk 20 index (CD20) little changed since midnight UTC, crypto markets remain under pressure. All but one member has dropped, and the outlier, bitcoin BTC $ 66,616.91 , is less than 0.1% in the green. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . The index has lost 2% in 24 hours, and spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund flows were negative for a second consecutive session, with $133 million in net outflows on Wednesday. Spot ether (ETH) ETFs also posted net outflows. The second-largest cryptocurrency has lost another 0.2% since midnight. The key development overnight was Coinbase’s (COIN) announcement that its layer-2 network, Base, will move away from the OP Stack, the open-source, modular rollup framework developed by Optimism that currently powers it. The OP Stack enables chains such as Base and Unichain to operate as low-cost, Ethereum-secured layer 2s, fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and aligned with Optimism’s broader Superchain vision. Rather than relying on multiple external contributors for core upgrades and protocol changes, Base intends to consolidate development into a self-managed codebase, giving the team greater control over infrastructure, roadmap, and technical evolution. The move carries meaningful implications for Optimism. Base has historically accounted for the vast majority of Superchain-generated revenue — often exceeding 90% — which accrues to the Optimism Collective. The announcement represents a significant potential headwind to Optimism’s revenue outlook, with the OP token declining 24% since Wednesday following the news. In a more positive development, ether.fi said it will migrate its Cash product to Optimism’s OP Mainnet. The move will bring some 70,000 active cards, 300,000 accounts and millions of dollars in total value locked. The non-custodial payment card allows users to spend ETH, BTC and stablecoins at over 100 million Visa merchants, offers 3% crypto cashback and processes about $2 million in daily transaction volume. In another notable layer-2 development, Robinhood’s testnet recorded 4 million transactions in its first week, according to CEO Vlad Tenev. The Arbitrum-based Robinhood Chain is designed to support tokenized real-world assets and a broader suite of onchain financial services, signaling the firm’s continued push into blockchain-based infrastructure. While these ecosystem developments remain constructive, broader markets continue to trade within a wider downtrend. The latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes, released yesterday, highlight a growing divergence among policymakers on the path of interest rates. Several officials indicated that further rate cuts should be paused for now, with the possibility of resuming easing later in the year only if inflation continues to fall. Stay alert! Read more: For analysis of today's activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today What to Watch For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's " Crypto Week Ahead ". Crypto Feb. 19, 8 a.m.: Zama to host a live presentation of its 2026 roadmap. Macro Feb. 19: U.S. Fed's Raphael Bostic, Michelle Bowman and Neel Kashkari make speeches throughout the day. Feb. 19, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. initial jobless claims for Feb. 14 est. 225K (Prev. 227K) Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data) Feb. 19: Riot Platforms (RIOT), post-market, -$0.32 Token Events For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's " Crypto Week Ahead ". Governance votes & calls ENS DAO is voting to register the on.eth name and establish it as an onchain registry for blockchain metadata. Voting ends Feb. 19. Unlocks No major unlocks. Token Launches Feb. 19: Resolv to complete rollout of updated USR/RLP yield distribution parameters Feb. 19: Injective to start INJ Community Buyback Round #226 Conferences For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's " Crypto Week Ahead ". Day 3 of 4: ETHDenver Market Movements BTC is up 0.87% from 4 p.m. ET Wednesday at $66,896.68 (24hrs: -1.31%) ETH is up 1.29% at $1,966.13 (24hrs: -1.49%) CoinDesk 20 is up 0.39% at 1,932.97 (24hrs: -2.57%) Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is unchanged at 2.81% BTC funding rate is at 0.0056% (6.1747% annualized) on Binance DXY is unchanged at 97.67 Gold futures are unchanged at $5,009.90 Silver futures are up 1.13% at $78.47 Nikkei 225 closed up 0.57% at 57,467.83 Hang Seng closed up 0.52% at 26,705.94 FTSE is down 0.63% at 10,618.95 Euro Stoxx 50 is down 0.81% at 6,054.02 DJIA closed on Wednesday up 0.26% at 49,662.66 S&P 500 closed up 0.56% at 6,881.31 Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.78% at 22,753.63 S&P/TSX Composite closed up 1.5% at 33,389.73 S&P 40 Latin America closed up 0.37% at 3,707.85 U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is up 1.3 bps at 4.094% E-mini S&P 500 futures are down 0.3% at 6,873.25 E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are down 0.39% at 24,857.50 E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are down 0.35% at 49,549.00 Bitcoin Stats BTC Dominance: 58.74% (0.26%) Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.0294 (-0.09%) Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,057 EH/s Hashprice (spot): $33.63 Total fees: 2.31 BTC / $155,155 CME Futures Open Interest: 118,610 BTC BTC priced in gold: 13.4 oz. BTC vs gold market cap: 4.47% Technical Analysis Total crypto market cap excluding top 10 tokens to bitcoin (TradingView) The ratio of altcoins (excluding the top 10) to the bitcoin price continues to rise from key weekly support and is now testing the 50-week exponential moving average. A break above that level would imply continued resilience of altcoins relative to bitcoin, which is most likely a result of their being extremely oversold. Crypto Equities Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Monday at $164.05 (-1.19%), +0.24% at $164.45 in pre-market Circle Internet (CRCL): closed at $63.15 (+2.48%), +0.19% at $63.27 Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $21.73 (+2.02%), +0.74% at $21.89 Bullish (BLSH): closed at $31.85 (-0.47%), unchanged in pre-market MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $7.50 (-0.13%), +0.40% at $7.53 Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $15.49 (+5.73%), +0.19% at $15.52 Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $17.27 (+0.23%) CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.27 (-0.11%), unchanged in pre-market CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $40.04 (+0.10%) Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $9.88 (-2.08%) Crypto Treasury Companies Strategy (MSTR): closed at $125.20 (-2.70%), unchanged in pre-market Strive (ASST): closed at $8.05 (-1.59%) SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $6.60 (-0.90%) Upexi (UPXI): closed at $0.69 (-4.17%) Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.10 (+0.00%) ETF Flows Spot BTC ETFs Daily net flows: -$133.3 million Cumulative net flows: $54.07 billion Total BTC holdings ~1.26 million Spot ETH ETFs Daily net flows: -$41.8 million Cumulative net flows: $11.68 billion Total ETH holdings ~5.74 million Source: Farside Investors While You Were Sleeping Bitcoin shakes off U.S. session losses as Trump says trade deficit cut by 78% (CoinDesk): Bitcoin trading remained volatile on Thursday, rising to around $67,000 after briefly dipping near $65,900, as traders digested President Trump’s claims the U.S. trade deficit was cut by 78%. Bitcoin, ether, xrp ETFs bleed while Solana bucks outflow trend (CoinDesk): U.S.-listed spot crypto ETFs are flashing red across the board, with one exception. SOL ETFs recorded $2.4 million in net inflows, pushing cumulative inflows to nearly $880 million. Gold recaptures $5,000 with focus on the Fed’s rate path (Bloomberg): Gold advanced back to around $5,000 an ounce after jumping 2% on Wednesday, with traders focused on the Fed’s next move on interest rates. Bullion climbed as much as 0.9% on Thursday, silver 3%. European shares dip as Airbus, Rio Tinto plunge; Nestle gains (Reuters): European shares slipped on Thursday, as investors sifted through a mixed bag of earnings from the likes of Airbus, Rio Tinto and Nestle. Crypto Daybook Americas More For You Zoomex: Precise Systems of Fairness and Transparency by Design By CoinDesk Jan 31, 2026 Commissioned by Zoomex Read full story More For You While some big investors cash out of crypto, others double down By Jacob Joseph | Edited by Sheldon Reback 23 hours ago Your day-ahead look for Feb. 18, 2026 What to know : You are viewing Crypto Daybook Americas, your morning briefing on what happened in the crypto markets overnight and what's expected during the coming day. Crypto Daybook Americas will kickstart your morning with comprehensive insights. If you're not already subscribed to the email, click here . You won't want to start your day without it. 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