DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence model, expects Ethereum’s price outlook this year to remain constructive, even as the asset trades near $1,936 and is down 35% since the start of the year. The model forecasts a potential rebound to a $3,500–$5,500 range over the next ten months, which would exceed Ethereum’s August 24, 2025 all-time high of $4,953. As a base-case scenario, DeepSeek pinpoints $4,000 by 2026, linking this to Ethereum’s role in DeFi, RWA tokenization and growing institutional access via spot ETFs.

On February 28, crypto markets sold off after reports of U.S. and Israeli strikes in Iran, pushing Bitcoin funding rates to -0.0165 and coin-margined open interest to 676,000 BTC. Bitcoin fell up to 6 percent within minutes, erasing about 70 billion dollars from crypto market value and nearing 63,000 dollars.

On Saturday, February 28, the global crypto market capitalization plunged by about $70 billion within an hour following news of a U.S. strike on Iran, dropping from roughly $2.24 trillion to $2.17 trillion between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. (UTC+1). Bitcoin slid toward $63,000 and major altcoins such as Ethereum, XRP, and Solana posted steeper losses, while tokenized gold assets advanced alongside a rise in spot gold prices. Within minutes of the headlines, around $100 million in long positions were liquidated, with total daily long liquidations nearing $445 million.

On February 27, 2026, Ripple executive Reece Merrick said Ctrl Alt and Dubai-based Billiton Diamond completed a $280 million (AED 1 billion) diamond tokenization, now live on the XRP Ledger. Merrick added XRPL's tokenized asset value is about $1.96 billion, with Ripple custody, vaulting and compliant issuance underpinning the assets.

On Friday, February 27, Solana fell 2%, lifting its monthly decline to over 32% as volumes stayed muted. According to Finbold, its AI tool blending ChatGPT, Grok, and DeepSeek Chat points to $89.47 by Sunday, March 1, 2026, with individual calls at $88.90–$90.25, while technicals note a pivot at $87.56 and an RSI of 58.26.

On February 25, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs drew more than $506 million in daily inflows, the strongest reading since February 2, with weekly totals above $760 million. BlackRock added $297 million and Grayscale just over $102 million, while the crypto market rose 6.5%, reclaiming about $140 billion and lifting Bitcoin to around $68,000.

On February 10, 2026, XRP Ledger active addresses peaked at 32,684; by February 24 they fell to 14,551, a 55% drop. Active addresses are a key engagement indicator, and the slump coincides with whales moving over 31 million XRP to Binance while price trades near $1.33, raising the risk of a move below $1.

On Thursday, February 19, XRP's price decline wiped out $5.61 billion from its market capitalization in less than 24 hours amid a broader cryptocurrency downturn. The token's value fell from $90.49 billion on February 18 to $84.88 billion, making it the largest daily loser among the 20 biggest crypto assets by market cap. Technical indicators show XRP trading below key moving averages with bearish funding rates and open interest, while support around $1.35 and resistance near $1.44 remain in focus.

On Thursday, February 19, daily XRP perpetual funding rates fell nearly 80%, according to CryptoQuant. Open interest declined 5.35%, while the spot price traded near $1.42, down 3.66% on the day. Negative funding shows shorts paying longs, reflecting a bearish tilt in derivatives.