It seems that in crypto we are reaching a maturity point. The industry is no longer a niche playground, dominated by blockchain developers building the next Layer2s and Zero-Knowledge solutions.
In February, the whole World and the crypto industry players had all eyes on America’s President Donald Trump and his newly formed administration. Their decisions will shape the industry going forward and everyone is hoping for a positive outlook for the crypto industry. ‘Hopium’, as they say in crypto slang. This initial positivity, albeit cautious, was shaken by one of the biggest crypto hacks in history- the hack of crypto exchange Bybit. Let’s dive in.
All focus on the U.S.A
February 2025 has marked a turning point for America’s crypto policy, with the new Trump’s administration making important moves that will shape the regulatory landscape for crypto. The World is watching the decisions that will come out of the United States in order to establish how to position going forward.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, which has been prosecuting rather than discussing and negotiating with the crypto industry under its former chairman Gary Gensler, has now changed its stance. Under President Trump, the SEC has established a Crypto Task Force and is focusing on long-awaited regulatory clarity addressing key concerns, such as defining when digital assets are classified as securities or commodities.
Overall, the market chatter has been positive- we are hearing about individuals and projects moving to the United States, instead of moving out, as has been the practice in recent years.
Stablecoins getting more attention
Stablecoins, which have been a tool for crypto traders to rebalance their positions, are getting more interesting and getting traction for non-crypto use cases. Stablecoins have grown into a $232 billion market with Tether’s USDT leading the way, followed by Circle’s USDC. Under the Trump administration, stablecoins are getting more focus with the new White House crypto Tsar David Sacks putting stablecoin legislation as a priority.
Stablecoins have been getting interest for their intrinsic capabilities to streamline remittances, payments and cross-border transactions. With giants such as Paypal, Revolut and Ripple having entered the stablecoin space, we can expect this market to be hot this year.
While stablecoins are proving to be a profitable business case for Western banking and fintech giants, they provide a lifeline in the countries with inflationary currencies, banking systems that do not serve the population and Forex restrictions. The use of stablecoins in Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Nigeria and other countries have been growing by necessity, providing a necessary lifeline in challenging economic conditions.
Argentine LIBRA token fiasco
This one can not be missed from the February crypto overview- how not to launch a government backed token. While Argentina’s President Javier Milei did plenty of good for the country, his latest move to launch a LIBRA coin has led to calls for his impeachment. This story is something that the crypto ecosystem did not need and is just tarnishing the reputation of the President himself.
In short, the President Javier Milei promoted a new token LIBRA, which surged in value before crashing, causing massive investor losses. The modus operandi of creating this token was made public, and let’s hope we do not see tokens like this entering the industry.
Serious industry participants have made a big effort to build a modern financial infrastructure serving the needs of people, and those who are coming in to profiteer should be shown their place.
Bybit hack
On February 21st, the crypto industry saw one of the largest crypto hacks in history. The hack seems to have been carried out using sophisticated cyberattack methods and social engineering, meaning that the hackers compromised Bybit’s employees’ computers and manipulated the transaction interface. The hackers injected malicious code and tricked the employees into signing something that appeared to be a legitimate transfer, this way authorizing the movement of 401,000 ETH into the hacker's blockchain address.
Notwithstanding the staggering $1.5 billion losses, the crypto industry praised Bybit CEO Ben Zhou on the way he handled the situation. He has been transparent throughout the developing situation and is collaborating with forensic firms and industry partners to trace and recover stolen funds.
What is also interesting in this story is the proposal by some industry players, such as Arthur Hayes, to rollback Ethereum blockchain transactions. This idea was strongly rejected by the Ethereum community and also sparked debates around blockchain immutability, which is defined as the ability of a blockchain ledger to remain unchanged.
Bitcoin price correction
The end of February marked a sharp Bitcoin price correction, hovering at around $80,000 as the month has been coming to the end. Bitcoin ETFs have been hit by the largest one-day outflows of more than $1 billion, which is the largest outflow since the launch of this financial instrument. There are various reasons for this, including traders unwinding their positions, but the medium to long term perspective for Bitcoin remains strong. Bitcoin has established itself as digital gold and the long term believers keep their stance strong.
Ending note
2025 is shaping up to be an intense and promising year for crypto, and in the long term rewarding those who are focused on building the financial infrastructure of the future.
The setbacks such as the Bybit hack showed how quickly and swiftly the industry collaborated, which is in contrast to how this sort of situation would be solved by a traditional banking system. The industry’s growth and maturation continue with great opportunities for innovation and long-term value creation.
Welcome to Agne’s monthly crypto report, where we break down the key events shaping the industry. February 2025 was anything but quiet—policy shifts in the U.S. under the new Trump administration set the stage for a new regulatory era, stablecoins gained momentum beyond crypto trading, and Argentina’s controversial LIBRA token caused political turmoil. Meanwhile, the Bybit hack sent shockwaves through the market, reigniting debates on blockchain security and immutability.
“The setbacks such as the Bybit hack showed how quickly and swiftly the industry collaborated, which is in contrast to how this sort of situation would be solved by a traditional banking system.”
It seems that in crypto we are reaching a maturity point. The industry is no longer a niche playground, dominated by blockchain developers building the next Layer2s and Zero-Knowledge solutions.
In February, the whole World and the crypto industry players had all eyes on America’s President Donald Trump and his newly formed administration. Their decisions will shape the industry going forward and everyone is hoping for a positive outlook for the crypto industry. ‘Hopium’, as they say in crypto slang. This initial positivity, albeit cautious, was shaken by one of the biggest crypto hacks in history- the hack of crypto exchange Bybit. Let’s dive in.
All focus on the U.S.A
February 2025 has marked a turning point for America’s crypto policy, with the new Trump’s administration making important moves that will shape the regulatory landscape for crypto. The World is watching the decisions that will come out of the United States in order to establish how to position going forward.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, which has been prosecuting rather than discussing and negotiating with the crypto industry under its former chairman Gary Gensler, has now changed its stance. Under President Trump, the SEC has established a Crypto Task Force and is focusing on long-awaited regulatory clarity addressing key concerns, such as defining when digital assets are classified as securities or commodities.
Overall, the market chatter has been positive- we are hearing about individuals and projects moving to the United States, instead of moving out, as has been the practice in recent years.
Stablecoins getting more attention
Stablecoins, which have been a tool for crypto traders to rebalance their positions, are getting more interesting and getting traction for non-crypto use cases. Stablecoins have grown into a $232 billion market with Tether’s USDT leading the way, followed by Circle’s USDC. Under the Trump administration, stablecoins are getting more focus with the new White House crypto Tsar David Sacks putting stablecoin legislation as a priority.
Stablecoins have been getting interest for their intrinsic capabilities to streamline remittances, payments and cross-border transactions. With giants such as Paypal, Revolut and Ripple having entered the stablecoin space, we can expect this market to be hot this year.
While stablecoins are proving to be a profitable business case for Western banking and fintech giants, they provide a lifeline in the countries with inflationary currencies, banking systems that do not serve the population and Forex restrictions. The use of stablecoins in Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Nigeria and other countries have been growing by necessity, providing a necessary lifeline in challenging economic conditions.
Argentine LIBRA token fiasco
This one can not be missed from the February crypto overview- how not to launch a government backed token. While Argentina’s President Javier Milei did plenty of good for the country, his latest move to launch a LIBRA coin has led to calls for his impeachment. This story is something that the crypto ecosystem did not need and is just tarnishing the reputation of the President himself.
In short, the President Javier Milei promoted a new token LIBRA, which surged in value before crashing, causing massive investor losses. The modus operandi of creating this token was made public, and let’s hope we do not see tokens like this entering the industry.
Serious industry participants have made a big effort to build a modern financial infrastructure serving the needs of people, and those who are coming in to profiteer should be shown their place.
Bybit hack
On February 21st, the crypto industry saw one of the largest crypto hacks in history. The hack seems to have been carried out using sophisticated cyberattack methods and social engineering, meaning that the hackers compromised Bybit’s employees’ computers and manipulated the transaction interface. The hackers injected malicious code and tricked the employees into signing something that appeared to be a legitimate transfer, this way authorizing the movement of 401,000 ETH into the hacker's blockchain address.
Notwithstanding the staggering $1.5 billion losses, the crypto industry praised Bybit CEO Ben Zhou on the way he handled the situation. He has been transparent throughout the developing situation and is collaborating with forensic firms and industry partners to trace and recover stolen funds.
What is also interesting in this story is the proposal by some industry players, such as Arthur Hayes, to rollback Ethereum blockchain transactions. This idea was strongly rejected by the Ethereum community and also sparked debates around blockchain immutability, which is defined as the ability of a blockchain ledger to remain unchanged.
Bitcoin price correction
The end of February marked a sharp Bitcoin price correction, hovering at around $80,000 as the month has been coming to the end. Bitcoin ETFs have been hit by the largest one-day outflows of more than $1 billion, which is the largest outflow since the launch of this financial instrument. There are various reasons for this, including traders unwinding their positions, but the medium to long term perspective for Bitcoin remains strong. Bitcoin has established itself as digital gold and the long term believers keep their stance strong.
Ending note
2025 is shaping up to be an intense and promising year for crypto, and in the long term rewarding those who are focused on building the financial infrastructure of the future.
The setbacks such as the Bybit hack showed how quickly and swiftly the industry collaborated, which is in contrast to how this sort of situation would be solved by a traditional banking system. The industry’s growth and maturation continue with great opportunities for innovation and long-term value creation.
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