Lazarus Group Hacks Bybit for $1.4B

️ On today's Top Picks:

Crypto News

• ⭐️ Bybit hacked for ~$1.4B of Ethereum $ETH by North Korea's Lazarus Group; Bybit Co-founder & CEO posts "...assets are 1 to 1 backed, we can cover the loss".

• FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried seeks pardon in recent interview; attempts to align himself with President Trump.

• Kanye West (Ye) reportedly plans to launch $YZY memecoin; designed to help Ye side-step platforms that have cut ties with him.

• Franklin Templeton submits S-1 filing for spot Solana $SOL ETF to the US SEC; SEC recently acknowledged spot Solana ETF filings from 21Shares, Bitwise, Canary, & VanEck.

• US SEC to dismiss enforcement case against Coinbase $COIN; SEC to vote on dismissal next week; US SEC sued Coinbase in June 2023 alleging it violated US securities laws.

• ⭐️ US SEC closes investigation into OpenSea; OpenSea Co-founder & CEO posts "Trying to classify NFTs as securities would have been a step backward—one that misinterprets the law and slows innovation" on X.

• US SEC dismisses its appeal in case to push 'dealer rule' on crypto; rule sought to require crypto liquidity providers with over $50M in capital to comply with securities regulations.

• Bybit makes all liquidation data fully accessible to the public; no other crypto exchange provides all liquidation data publicly available.

Alpha

• Movement Labs Co-founder posts "loading…" on X; to potentially launch public mainnet soon.

• Linea Association posts "While we initially targeted a launch in Q1, technical and design work, including with our community, is on-going..." on X; TGE to potentially be delayed.

• Zora launches new feature making posts instantly tradable coins; each post is a coin with a supply of 1B, creators automatically receive 10M coins, & also receive 1% of every trade.

• Lens launches proposal to include Lens Chain to zkSync's Elastic Network; "Lens Chain’s road to mainnet begins today."

• Namada launches Phase 3 governance proposal; to go live on February 24th if approved; to enable $NAM transferability in Phase 5.

• Espresso announces the Espresso Foundation; to launch $ESP TGE in Q2 2025.

Airdrops

• Kernel to launch $KERNEL season 1 airdrop soon; 10% of KERNEL supply allocated to season 1 airdrop.

• ⭐️ Kaito launches $KAITO airdrop claim; Genesis NFT holders, Kaito Yaps holders, & more are eligible.

• Rivalz Network launches $RIZ airdrop claim; Rivalz points holders & testnet users are eligible.

• ICYMI Paradex Airdrop Strategy by Earndrop.

• ICYMI Triad Airdrop Strategy by Earndrop.

• ICYMI Weekly Airdrop Recap by Earndrop.

Finance News

• ⭐️ ~$927B wiped from the US stock market today; worst day of 2025.

• EU Central Bank to create blockchain-based payment system; plans a two-stage approach by first developing a system linked to its existing Target settlement system, then a more integrated & long-term solution.

• MetaPlanet $3350.T buys 68.59 Bitcoin $BTC for ~$6.6M at ~$96,335 per BTC; now holds 2,100 BTC worth ~$200M.

• Core Scientific $CORZ leases Alabama data center for high-performance computing expansion; to exercise option to acquire the site and make a total capital investment of ~$400M.

Security and Exploits

• ZachXBT claims Arkham Intel Bounty for Bybit hack; submitted definitive proof that Lazarus Group hacked Bybit.

• Safe $SAFE temporarily pauses certain functionalities on the official Safe frontend out of precaution following Bybit hack; Safe’s security team working with Bybit on ongoing investigation.

• US SEC launches Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit (CETU); to focus on combatting cyber and crypto-related fraud.

• ⭐️ Apple pulls iCloud end-to-end encryption feature in the UK; decision follows secret order from UK government demanding Apple create a backdoor.

• Revoke[.]cash adds support for Story.

Token Unlocks

• Optimism $OP / ~$34M / FEB 28th
Sourced from Tokenomist

Funding

• WalletConnect raises $10M in Community & Private funding.

• Primus Labs raises $6.5M in Pre-Seed & Seed funding led by Dispersion Capital, Symbolic Capital, & VanEck.

• Acre raises $4M in strategic funding from Draper Dragon, Big Brain Holdings, & Orange DAO.

• Kinto raises $3.84M in Community funding.

• Mansa raises $3M in Pre-Seed funding led by Tether & Polymorphic Capital.

• AMMO raises $2.5M in funding led by Amber Group.

• Research Hub raises $2M in funding from Boost VC.

• Infinity Ground raises $2M in Seed funding from several investors.

• =nil; raises $600K in Community funding on Legion.

• DEXX raises an undisclosed amount in Strategic funding from Gate[.]io,