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  • Morning Minute: Stablecoins Are Eating Everything

    Morning Minute: Stablecoins Are Eating Everything

    Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.

    GM!

    Today’s top news:

    • Crypto majors rebound sharply, up 4-8%; BTC at $65.7k
    • Meta confirms plans to re-enter stablecoins across Facebook, Whatsapp and IG
    • Coinbase launches 24/5 stock trading with no fees & fractional shares
    • Tether teased an upcoming product, with speculation of card or neobank
    • Virtual rebounds 20% as Base continues to drive the onchain AI meta

    💰 Stablecoins Are Eating Everything

    Forget crypto winter.

    The stablecoin market doesn’t care.

    📌 What Happened

    On the same day, Stripe announced a $159B valuation driven largely by its stablecoin infrastructure, Meta confirmed it is re-entering the payments space with a stablecoin strategy targeting 3B users.

    Meta sent RFPs to crypto infrastructure firms seeking a third-party partner to administer stablecoin-based payments across Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, targeting a launch early in H2 2026.

    Stripe, which acquired stablecoin platform Bridge last year and whose CEO Patrick Collison sits on Meta’s board, is the leading candidate. This comes after Stripe processed $1.9 trillion in total payment volume last year, up 34%. Bridge volume quadrupled. Stripe also received a national bank trust charter from the OCC last week, letting it custody crypto and manage stablecoin reserves directly.

    Meta is not issuing its own token, wanting a “stablecoin agnostic” integration and a new in-app wallet. Meta spokespeople clarified the project is about enabling payments, calling it “enabling people and businesses to pay using their preferred method.”

    🗣️ What They’re Saying

    “It may be a crypto winter, but it’s a stablecoin summer.”

    “Stablecoin payments are advancing quietly and inexorably as real-world uptake continues apace.” – Patrick and John Collison, Stripe annual letter

    “Nothing has changed; there is still no Meta stablecoin. This is about enabling people and businesses to make payments on our platforms using their preferred method.” – Andy Stone, Meta communications director

    🧠 Why It Matters

    A Meta stablecoin is a big deal.

    Facebook has 3.2 billion monthly active users. WhatsApp has 3 billion, with an 84.1% daily open rate (the highest of any major app) and 100 billion messages sent every day. Instagram hits another 3 billion.

    Meta’s full family of apps reaches 3.98 billion unique people per month. That’s roughly half the world’s population.

    For those who don’t remember, Meta’s prior stablecoin attempt failed because regulators came down hard on a company trying to issue its own global currency. This time, Meta is doing none of that. They’re opting to be stablecoin agnostic, using third-party rails.

    They learned the lesson and now the regulatory environment under the GENIUS Act has made it easier to execute.

    If Meta gets this working across WhatsApp alone—remittances, creator payouts, cross-border transfers—that’s a stablecoin use case at a scale that could dwarf everything currently on-chain.

    Stablecoin supply and volumes would soar.

    For traders: the clearest beneficiaries are Circle (USDC issuer, likely integration candidate), Tether (always in the driver’s seat), Stripe itself, and any infrastructure layer that sits between the wallet and settlement. And Meta of course…

    🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

    • Crypto majors are very green after a big rebound; BTC +4% at $65.7K; ETH +6% at $1,940; SOL +8% at $83
    • Virtual (+20%), Morpho (+16%), DOT (+13%) and ETHFI (+13%) led top movers; AVAX +10% as well
    • Bitcoin is down 50% from its all-time high as trader sentiment turns increasingly bearish, per Decrypt reporting today.
    • The Ethereum Foundation began staking 70,000 ETH from its treasury, with an initial 2,106 ETH deposit going live today; staking rewards will fund protocol R&D and ecosystem grants
    • Vitalik has sold more than 10,700 ETH since early February, netting roughly $6.1M, with the proceeds used to help fund the Ethereum Foundation
    • The Trump administration is publicly pressuring the crypto industry to revive the stalled market structure bill
    • Meanwhile, World Liberty Financial is siding with Coinbase against the White House’s version of the market structure bill, creating a split between Trump’s administration and Trump’s own crypto business over stablecoin yield language
    • Michigan lawmakers introduced a bill that would allow state employees to receive wages in Bitcoin
    • Solana DeFi TVL has declined 52% from its September peak to $6.3B
    • Tether teased an upcoming product announcement, with speculation of a neobank and/or payments card

    Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

    Meme Coin Tracker

    • Meme majors were very green alongside majors; DOGE +4%, SHIB +2%, PEPE +4%, TRUMP +5%, PENGU +8%, SPX +10%, FARTCOIN +13%
    • Punch (+22%) and ARC (+25%) led notable movers; AgenC (+110x) and Claw (+52x) led new movers
    • Base AI tokens soared with Virtual (+20%), VVV (+27%), FELIX (+100%) and TIBBIR (+19%)

    💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

    • Coinbase announced tokenized stock trading, available 24/5, with 0 commission fees and with fractional shares available
    • Kraken launched tokenized equity perpetual futures via its xStocks framework, offering up to 20x leverage on assets including the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, and GLD
    • Binance returned to tokenized stocks for the first time since its 2021 regulatory pullback, listing 10 Ondo Finance-issued U.S. stock, ETF, and commodity tokens on Binance Alpha
    • Aave DAO published an audit of Aave Labs historical performance ahead of their $51M ask tomorrow
    • EtherFi announced its Earn function available on its iOS app

    🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

    • NFT leaders were slightly red with ETH rebounding; Punks -1% at 29.7 ETH, Pudgy -1% at 4.45 ETH, BAYC even at 6 ETH; Hypurr’s +2% at 467 HYPE
    • Doodles (+14%) and Moonbirds (+5%) led top movers
    • Ether Rock sells for 69.9 ETH
    • XCOPY’s ‘Last Selfie’ gets $1M loan

    Daily Debrief Newsletter

    Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

  • Circle Stock Jumps Double Digits as It Reports 72% Rise in USDC Circulation

    Circle Stock Jumps Double Digits as It Reports 72% Rise in USDC Circulation

    In brief

    • USDC circulation rose 72% year-on-year to $75.3B.
    • Transaction volume jumped 247% to $11.9T.
    • CRCL shares climbed as much as 20% after earnings.

    Stablecoin issuer Circle saw USDC circulation grow 72% year-on-year to $75.3 billion in the fourth quarter. The company also reported that transaction volume reached $11.9 trillion, an increase of 247%.

    USDC market capitalization has wavered slightly since the end of last year, dipping as low as $70 billion at the start of February. But it has since rebounded to nearly $75 billion, according to crypto price aggregator CoinGecko.

    Circle released its report early Wednesday morning and had its earnings call scheduled for 8 a.m. New York time. In pre-market trading, CRCL shares jumped 14%. After the opening bell, the gains jumped to 20%, with the stock changing hands for $73.24 at the time of writing.

    “The print reinforces continued USDC adoption despite a softer crypto backdrop and should support a strong positive stock reaction today,” wrote Clear Street analysts Owen Lau and Nikhil Vijay in a note shared with Decrypt.

    CEO Jeremy Allaire opened the company’s earnings call saying he believes Circle will grow in tandem with the artificial intelligence industry, and “drive the greatest acceleration of economic activity we’ve ever seen in human history.”

    “Not only will our global economic system become more internet-native, but it will also become dramatically more automated,” he said. “We are entering a world where, in my view, likely tens or hundreds of billions of AI agents will interact and perform economic functions over the internet.”

    He added later that the company has been building systems that support agentic payments.

    “In fact, we just went into testnet release of a new capability, the Circle Gateway, that allows for agents to autonomously and programmatically automate cross chain USDC transactions with a transaction cost of $0.00001,” Allaire said.

    The company saw its revenue and reserve income reach $770 million in Q4, a 77% increase from the previous year.

    Circle saw a net loss from continuing operations reach $70 million in 2025, noting that it was significantly impacted by $424 million worth of stock-based compensation tied to vesting conditions of the company’s initial public offering.

    Circle made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange last June and was so popular with investors that NYSE halted trading three times within the first hour. But the company saw its momentum slow in 2025 as the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates and investors fretted that it would impact interest earned on the cash reserves that back USDC stablecoins.

    Daily Debrief Newsletter

    Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

  • ‘Avatar: Fire & Ash’ Success Lifts Imax Quarterly Earnings

    ‘Avatar: Fire & Ash’ Success Lifts Imax Quarterly Earnings

    James Cameron’s return to Pandora with “Avatar: Fire & Ash” meant big business for Imax. Revenue at the exhibition technology company climbed 35% to $125.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2025, compared to $92.7 million in the year-ago period. The company said that the third “Avatar” film, which Cameron urged moviegoers to see in Imax, drove record box office for the quarter, contributing $112 million in ticket sales to become Imax’s highest grossing Hollywood film.

    However, net income for the quarter shrank 64% to $2.5 million, down from $6.9 million in the same period in 2024. Imax also reported adjusted earnings per-share of 58 cents, compared to the 27 cents per-share it logged a year earlier. Included in the results is $22 million of one-time charges, including $15 million for the repurchase of over 99% of convertible notes due 2026.

    Movie theaters have struggled to regain their popularity since COVID shut down the sector more than five years ago. Yet Imax has continued to draw crowds with filmmakers like Cameron, Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve all using the company’s cameras to shoot their blockbusters. Looking ahead, Imax said it is targeting a record $1.4 billion in global box office in 2026, citing Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three,” both of which were filmed using the company’s technology, as big draws. The company also predicted that upcoming releases such as “The Mandalorian and Grogu” and “Project Hail Mary” will play well on its screens.

    “We believe we are far from our peak, but rather, in a period of evolution and growth,” Imax chief Richard Gelfond told analysts on an earnings call. “With superior immersive technology and unmatched scale, Imax is the premiere global platform for blockbuster content. And blockbuster content continues to grow in importance across the ecosystem. The world’s greatest filmmakers, studios, even streamers — are leaning into blockbuster theatrical releases, as drivers of IP and value throughout the chain. As this trend accelerates, Imax becomes an increasingly valuable player. We’re the only game in town with a global platform, content portfolio and well-recognized brand.”

  • Greek Seaside Town Celebrates Lent With Multi-Colored ‘Flour War’

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    GALAXIDI, Greece (AP) — The Greek seaside town of Galaxidi exploded into a messy and colorful “flour war” on Monday for its annual end of carnival season festivities that mark the start of the Lent season.

    Galaxidi’s main coastal road became a flour-strewn mess as revelers pelted each other with bags of dyed flour. Most of the town’s residents, and many visitors, merrily took part, while the more prudent ones enjoyed the show from the safety of their balconies.

    Within a couple of hours, the celebration was mostly over, but some diehards were determined to stretch it far into the night.

    “This custom was brought here by (our ancestors) in their sailboats, in 1800. It only exists here,” said Panayiotis Paphilis, a local resident.

    It’s an explosion of color that takes place every Clean Monday, an Orthodox Christian holiday marking the start of Lent, the 40-day period of fasting that ends on the Easter holiday, and the end of the carnival season that holds onto many of the country’s pre-Christian traditions.

    Many of the visitors were young people who had come to Galaxidi for the first time.

    “We had a great time. We’ll come back,” said Stephanos Kapetanakis, 28, who was accompanied by several of his friends.

    In most of the country, Clean Monday celebrations are rather more sedate, consisting mainly of flying kites and consuming copious amounts of shellfish and other seafood.

    But in Galaxidi, a former major port about 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Athens, the festivities are raucous and participants do their best to turn it up another notch, if they can.

    Many similar celebrations have their roots in ancient, pagan times, and have blended seamlessly into the Christian calendar.

    In the case of Galaxidi, however, the flour war seems to be of more recent vintage, namely from the 19th century, when traveling mariners took their inspiration from similar happenings in Sicily. It was the time when locally-built white-masted ships plied trade routes around the world.

    But the glory days wouldn’t last, and Galaxidi, a town with a population of 1,700 people, lost its contact with the outside world, with traffic to its two harbors shrinking and no road connection to the rest of the country, hemmed in by looming mountains.

    A road wouldn’t be built until the 1960s, but the isolation helped preserve the town’s unique character.

    Demetris Nellas contributed to this report from Athens.

  • Ohio Sanitation Worker Finds Police Suspect Hiding In Trash Can

    HUBER HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) — A sanitation worker making his rounds in Ohio got an unexpected surprise when he opened a trash can and found a man hiding inside.

    Dash camera video posted by the Huber Heights Police Department on its Facebook page shows the worker rolling the bin toward a garbage truck, lifting the lid and quickly staggering back before pointing toward the container as officers pull up.

    Police said the man had fled on foot after a traffic stop earlier Monday. Officers briefly lost sight of him and set up a perimeter in the area.

    The video shows the man climbing out of the bin and taking off running as an officer chases. During the pursuit, the man’s shoes appear to fly off.

    The man was taken into custody without injury, police said.

  • Everything announced at Samsung Unpacked: The Galaxy S26 Ultra, Galaxy Buds 4 and more

    Mobile World Congress is right around the corner, but Samsung got out ahead of many rivals that will be showing off new handsets at that event by running the latest edition of Unpacked on Wednesday. At its event in San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, the company revealed the Galaxy S26 lineup, which includes the base S26, the S26+ and the S26 Ultra. We’ve got some hands-on time with all three handsets as well, and you can read about our in-person experience with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, as well as our S26 and S26+ impressions in those articles.

    In addition to those, Samsung announced the Galaxy Buds 4 along with (you guessed it) some AI updates. All the devices unveiled today are already available for pre-order, should you already be dying to get your hands on them. Here’s a look at everything Samsung announced at the latest Unpacked:

    Galaxy S26 and S26+

    Samsung Galaxy S26

    Sam Rutherford for Engadget

    New-ish year, new Samsung phones. Let’s deal with the out-and-out bad news first. The S26 and S26+ are each $100 more expensive than their predecessors (the RAM shortage isn’t exactly helping to keep prices down). They start at $900 and $1,100, respectively, for variants with 256GB of storage.

    Samsung has tweaked the design a bit this time by rounding the corners to align them more with the S26 Ultra’s look. The base model has a slightly larger display than the S25 at 6.3 inches, though the S26+ still  has a 6.7-inch screen (albeit with a higher resolution than the S26 can handle). The S26 has a larger battery capacity than the S25 too at 4,300mAh.

    In North America, China and Japan, Samsung is sticking with Qualcomm chips rather than using its own Exynos 2600. If you pick up an S26 or S26+ in those markets, it will run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.

    The camera modules are the same as last year, but Samsung is aiming to supercharge them with upgrades elsewhere, such as ProScaler image upscaling and an MDNIe chip that’s said to greatly improve color precision. There’s also a video stabilization feature that tries to keep the horizon level while you’re following a moving person or pet, which sounds useful for action shots. The new Object Aware Engine is said to better render skin tones and hair textures to make your selfies look better. Samsung has reworked some AI features too, such as making Now Brief and Auto Eraser compatible with more apps.

    Pre-orders for the S26 and S26+ are open today, and they’ll be available on March 11. The phones will be available in purple, blue, black, white, silver and rose gold, though the latter two are online exclusives.

    Galaxy S26 Ultra

    The Galaxy S26 Ultra will be available in the same colorways and on the same date as its smaller siblings. It starts at $1,300, so there’s no price increase from the S25 Ultra. Preorders open today.

    The S26 Ultra has a 6.9-inch AMOLED display with a QHD+ resolution of 3120 x 1440 and a 120Hz refresh rate. That’s all well and good, but the display is hiding (that being the key word) what’s perhaps the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s most interesting feature.

    The device has a Privacy Display that’s said to be the first of its kind on a smartphone. The idea here is to prevent people around from seeing what’s on the screen from acute angles. There’s a small decrease in brightness when Privacy Display is active, and there are lots of customization options.

    You can set up Privacy Display to activate when you’re asked for a password or PIN, or when you get a notification or open certain apps. So if (for instance) you tend to look at your banking apps when you’re on public transit and don’t want other passengers to see how much moolah you have, Privacy Display seems like a very handy feature.

    Elsewhere, the S26 Ultra runs on the same chipset as its smaller siblings. It comes with 12 or 16GB of RAM and 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage. The battery is larger than the ones in the other S26 models, as the Ultra has a 5,000 mAh capacity. There’s support for Super Fast Charging 3.0 as well. Alas, Samsung still hasn’t seen fit to offer built-in Qi2 charging magnets in the S26 lineup, which seems like a wild oversight in the year 2026.

    The selfie camera is the same as on the S26 and S26+. The S26 Ultra has 50MP ultrawide and 200MP wide lenses, along with dual 10MP 3x and 50MP 5x telephoto sensors. The resolutions of those cameras are the same as on the S25 Ultra, but the main 200M and 5x telephoto sensors now have wider apertures to let in more light. The S26 Ultra of course has the camera software features (and other AI features) found in the S26 and S26+.

    We’ll have a review of the devices soon. In the meantime, head on through to our hands-on story for our initial impressions of the S26 Ultra.

    Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro

    Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro

    Sam Rutherford for Engadget

    While the S26 phones are more iterative updates this year, Samsung has given its Galaxy Buds a proper refresh. It revamped the design and shape of the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro to do away with the angular look of the stems and remove the lights from them.

    The earbuds have a “more refined, computationally designed fit” too, according to Samsung. The company claims the latest earbuds have smaller earbud heads that allow for a better, more secure fit and a more “comfortable experience during all-day wear.” The Galaxy Buds 4 remain in an open-fit format while the Buds Pro 4 have a canal-fit design.

    The latest earbuds are said to offer improved audio quality and active noise cancellation (ANC), with an ambient sound mode, adaptive EQ and adaptive ANC. On Buds 4 Pro, there’s a siren detection feature that enables ambient sound to let you hear things like alarms or emergency vehicle warnings.

    The Buds 4 Pro have a wide woofer that increases the effective speaker area by nearly 20 percent compared with the previous gen earbuds, Samsung said. They support 24-bit/96kHz audio.

    If you’re using Galaxy Buds 4 or Buds 4 Pro with a Galaxy device, you’ll be able to use Bixby, Google Gemini and Perplexity with hands-free voice controls (though the “hey, Plex” command for the latter might be a tad confusing for folks who use a certain media server app). The Buds 4 Pro support head gesture controls for managing calls and Bixby interactions as well.

    As with the S26 phones, pre-orders for the earbuds open today and they’ll hit shelves on March 11. The Galaxy Buds 4 cost $180 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro will run you $250. Both models are available in white and black with a matte finish. There’s an online-exclusive pink option for Buds 4 Pro as well.

    Android AI features

    Ahead of Unpacked, Samsung confirmed that it would offer Perplexity as an AI agent option in Galaxy AI on the S26 lineup. As part of that update, it shared that the S26 series would respond to the “Hey Plex” wake phrase, and that Perplexity’s features would also be embedded in the Samsung Browser app. The company also recently updated Bixby to make its own virtual assistant more conversational.

    On top of that news, Google had announcements of its own to make at Unpacked regarding new Android AI features, which will of course be available on S26 devices. On those handsets and the Pixel 10 lineup, the Gemini app will soon have a feature (in beta) that enables you to offload multi-step tasks, such as booking a ride or putting a grocery order together, to AI. It sure sounds like an attempt to build out agentic AI features on mobile devices.

    Starting this week on Pixel 10 devices (and soon on S26 phones), Circle to Search will offer the ability to find details about multiple objects at once, such as entire outfits instead of single pieces. Moreover, Gemini-powered, on-device Scam Detection for phone calls will be available for S26 devices in English in the US.

    Update, February 25 2026, 4:35PM ET: This story has been updated to include more details on the Perplexity AI integration, as well as include mentions in the intro of our hands-on and pre-order articles.

  • AAVE nears $130 resistance as THIS flips – But rally survives IF…

    AAVE nears $130 resistance as THIS flips – But rally survives IF…

  • Elon Musk’s AI Grok’s Most Advanced Version Reveals Bitcoin Price Prediction Following the Rise

    Elon Musk’s AI Grok’s Most Advanced Version Reveals Bitcoin Price Prediction Following the Rise

    Adam Lynch, Director of Financial Modeling at the Schwab Financial Research Center, assessed the recent developments in the Bitcoin (BTC) chart. Noting that Bitcoin is trading around $69,000 with a 5% weekly increase, Lynch specifically highlighted the $65,000 range.

    According to Lynch, this level has repeatedly acted as both support and resistance in the past. Investors are waiting for sustained closes above or below this level to confirm the direction of the trend. There is a significant accumulation of leverage in this price zone; a drop below $65,000 could trigger a sell-off.

    Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood assessed Bitcoin’s recent underperformance by comparing it to gold. According to Wood, this situation stems from systematic algorithmic models that code the cryptocurrency as a “high-beta risk asset” rather than a store of value. However, Wood reiterated that the overall uptrend remains unbroken and that she sees volatility as an opportunity.

    Another noteworthy topic in the program was Elon Musk’s AI model Grok 4.2 Heavy’s Bitcoin prediction. According to the AI model, which ranks highly in live trading competitions, the Bitcoin price expectations are as follows:

    • End of 2026: $155,000.
    • Peak price in 2027: $240,000.

    Grok points to expansion in the money supply, increased liquidity, ETF inflows, and regulatory clarity as the main drivers of this rise.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • Lost dog found in Philadelphia after four years

    Lost dog found in Philadelphia after four years

    Odd News // 3 weeks ago

    Ohio man’s stocking stuffer delivers $100,000 lottery prize

    Jan. 30 (UPI) — An Ohio man said his father’s tradition of giving scratch-off lottery tickets as Christmas presents resulted in his winning a $100,000 prize.

  • FCC Examines Migration Of Sports Rights From Free Broadcast To Subscription Streaming

    FCC Examines Migration Of Sports Rights From Free Broadcast To Subscription Streaming

    The FCC is launching a public inquiry into the migration of sports rights from free, over-the-air broadcast outlets to subscription streaming, something that has been increasing source of concern among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

    The agency is seeking public comment on the trend, with the FCC Media Bureau noting that while “streamers have helped expand access to professional and collegiate sports, they also appear to have contributed to the fragmentation of the sports media marketplace.”

    The bureau noted that in 2025, NFL games aired on 10 different services, “which, according to some estimates, could cost a consumer over $1,500 to watch all games.

    “In addition, 20 NFL regular season games and one playoff game were nationally distributed,
    exclusively, on four different streaming services — Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Peacock, and
    Netflix.”

    The bureau is asking a series of questions, including, “To what extent do current sports media rights contracts conflict with or impede TV broadcasters from meeting their public interest obligations? How should these arrangements be considered in the context of broadcasters’ public interest obligations and the FCC’s duty to ensure licensees meet their statutory requirements?” The query also asks what steps the FCC could take to “ensure any broadcast licensee responsibilities are fulfilled.”

    Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, wrote in a post on X, “For decades, Americans enjoyed turning on their TV & quickly finding the game they wanted to see. Yet watching your favorite team play isn’t as easy these day. Many games are still on broadcast, but an increasing number are on a range of different online platforms.”

    Last year, the Republican leaders of the House Judiciary Committee raised the issue of streaming as they raised questions of whether major sports leagues should still get an antitrust exemption for coordinating TV broadcast rights.

    The FCC’s comment period runs through March 27, with reply comments due April 13.