MarsBitNews

Mars Finance reports that, according to Jintou, FOMC voting member and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard stated in an interview with Fox Business that if the Trump administration maintains most tariffs through other means, his outlook on the economy would not change significantly. He also mentioned wanting to know whether companies will receive tariff refunds and the amount of those refunds. Regarding the possibility of a rate cut this year, Bullard said that the Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate is currently at or below the "neutral rate" level.

Mars Finance reports that, according to CoinDesk, Japan's SBI Holdings announced the launch of an on-chain bond issuance plan with a scale of 10 billion yen (approximately $64.5 million). According to disclosed information, the bonds will be issued and managed on the blockchain. In addition to regular returns, investors will also receive XRP as a reward. This move marks a further exploration by traditional financial institutions into blockchain bonds and digital asset incentive mechanisms.

Mars Finance reports that according to Arkham monitoring, about three hours ago, a wallet associated with the World Liberty Fi strategic reserve address transferred 26.6 million WLFI tokens to a new wallet, valued at $3.2 million. Based on previous transaction history, these tokens may later be transferred to exchanges for sale.

Mars Finance reports that IoTeX posted on the X platform stating that IoTeX has noticed recent reports of suspicious activity involving the IoTeX token safe. The team is assessing and managing the situation. Preliminary estimates indicate that the potential loss is far below the rumored amount. IoTeX has coordinated with major exchanges and security partners to actively assist in tracking and freezing hacker assets. The situation is now under control, and IoTeX will continue to monitor and update the community on the progress.

Mars Finance reports that, according to Onchain Lens monitoring, a wallet suspected to be associated with Infini Hacker (0x4b61...beb6) exchanged 3,003 ETH worth $67,700 for 87 WBTC, valued at $5,890,000, and sent it to another wallet.

Recently, the most discussed topic in the Ethereum community has undoubtedly been Vitalik Buterin's public reflection on the scalability roadmap.
It can be said that Vitalik's attitude is quite "sharp," openly stating that as Ethereum's mainnet (L1) scalability improves, the roadmap established five years ago, which regarded L2 as the primary scaling solution, has become invalid.
This statement was initially interpreted by the market as a pessimistic view or even a rejection of L2 solutions. However, a careful analysis of Vitalik's core points, combined with the series of mainnet scalability progress, decentralization assessment frameworks, and recent technical discussions around Native/Based Rollups, reveals that Vitalik is not entirely dismissing the value of L2 solutions. Instead, he leans more towards a "corrective" approach:
Ethereum is not

Title: From Lloyd's Coffeehouse to Polymarket: Prediction Markets Are Reshaping the Insurance Industry
Author: Dongcha Beating
Source:
Reprinted from: Mars Finance
In 2023, a letter was sent to the mailboxes of 100,000 households in Florida, USA.
The letter came from Farmers Insurance, a century-old player in the insurance industry. The message was brief and brutal: 100,000 policies, covering everything from homes to cars, were canceled effective immediately.
A written promise turned to waste paper overnight. Angry policyholders flooded social media, questioning a company they had trusted for decades. But all they received was a cold announcement: "We must manage risk exposure more effectively."
And in California, the situation is even worse. Insurance giants like State Farm and Allstate have already stopped accepting any new home insurance applications, exceeding

Mars Finance reports that on February 21, according to ultrasound.money data, since Ethereum completed the merge upgrade, its circulating supply has increased by over 950,000 tokens. Currently, the total circulating supply of Ethereum is approximately 121.5 million tokens, with an annual inflation rate of about 0.23%.

Sonic Labs launches Spawn, an AI-powered Web3 application development platform that supports natural language generation of smart contracts, automatic front-end interface creation, and wallet integration. Users can iterate and develop with the AI assistant and deploy to the testnet.

The European Union has fined Elon Musk's X platform 120 million euros for allegedly violating the Digital Services Act. The X platform has appealed, claiming that the investigation was flawed, citing procedural errors and rights infringements.

The U.S. SEC recently adjusted the net capital rules for broker-dealers regarding payment-type stablecoins, allowing a 2% discount rate for stablecoins, aiming to reduce holding costs and promote their integration with the mainstream financial system. This significant policy change coincides with the implementation of the GENIUS Act and could further drive the compliant development and market integration of digital assets.

Mars Finance reports that on February 21, NBA retired star Scottie Pippen posted a Bitcoin futures chart, comparing the 2020 bull market start with the current pattern, implying a similar surge is imminent. Pippen has previously made several crypto-friendly comments and stated that he personally met Satoshi Nakamoto in 1993.

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Author: Zen, PANews
"I want to do something bigger." On February 9th, Beast Industries announced the acquisition of the teenage and Gen Z financial app Step—a product focused on "credit building, savings tools, and debit cards."
If you only see it as "an influencer adding a side hustle," you're underestimating the scale of this move. Because before this news, the market had already seen clearer signs of preparation.
In January 2026, publicly listed company Bitmine announced an investment of $200 million in Beast Industries. Its chairman, Tom Lee, directly linked MrBeast's future with the narrative of a "digital financial platform" in public statements. As early as October 2025, Beast had already submitted a...

Mars Finance reports that according to Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, the Hong Kong Gold Exchange held a New Year opening ceremony on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year for the Year of the Horse. During his speech, Chairman Zhang Dexi stated that the Hong Kong Gold Exchange has officially partnered with a subsidiary of Alibaba Group to develop a digital commodities blockchain, an international precious metals trading platform, and a clearing and settlement system. These initiatives aim to unify risk control and regulation across Hong Kong's spot, futures, digital gold, BtoC transactions, actuarial centers, and over-the-counter (OTC) trading systems. The construction is expected to be completed within six months, and there is hope to connect with the "Hong Kong Gold Central Clearing System" established by the SAR government.

Mars Finance reports that, according to Coinglass data, the cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index is currently at 9, up 1 point from yesterday. The average over the past 7 days is 9, and the average over the past 30 days is 14.

Original Title: The Case for Scaling Venture
Author: Erik Torenberg, a16z
Author: a16z crypto
Source:
Reprint: Mars Finance
Deep Tide Introduction:
In the traditional narrative of venture capital (VC), the "boutique" model is often praised, with the belief that scaling would lead to losing its soul. However, a16z partner Erik Torenberg presents a contrasting view in this article: as software becomes the backbone of the U.S. economy and with the advent of the AI era, startups' demand for capital and services has undergone a fundamental change.
He believes that the VC industry is shifting from a "judgment-driven" paradigm to a "transaction-winning capability-driven" paradigm. Only platforms like a16z that are capable of scaling and providing comprehensive support to founders can succeed.