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Supreme Court Rules Against Trump's Tariffs
Alpha Team
February 21, 2026
⚖️ Supreme Court Rules Against Tariffs
Ruling Announcement: The Supreme Court ruled against President Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. In a 6-3 decision on February 20, 2026, the justices held that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Barrett, and Jackson, explaining that while IEEPA allows the president to "regulate . . . importation . . . of . . . any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest," this does not extend to tariffs. The ruling invalidated tariffs enacted under IEEPA, including reciprocal tariffs on most trading partners and specific tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico related to immigration and opioids.
Tariff Scope and Dissent: The Supreme Court's ruling applies only to tariffs imposed under IEEPA, leaving those under Section 232 for national security and Section 301 for unfair trade practices in effect. Estimates of IEEPA tariff collections range from $133 billion as of mid-December 2025 to more than $200 billion in 2025, with potential refunds up to $175 billion. The Court provided no guidance on refunds, leaving the issue for further litigation. In his dissent, Justice Kavanaugh outlined alternative statutes for imposing similar tariffs, including Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Section 301 and Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, and sections of the Tariff Act of 1930, which involve procedural steps such as investigations and reports.
Response and Market Reaction: Following the ruling, President Trump signed a proclamation imposing a 10 percent global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, effective for 150 days to address balance-of-payments issues. U.S. stocks rose modestly in response to the ruling and the new tariff announcement, with the S&P 500 increasing about 0.4 percent, the Nasdaq gaining roughly 0.7 percent, and the Morningstar US Market Index up 0.33 percent in mid-morning trading. In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin rose about 2 percent to above $68,000 before retreating to around $67,000, with the global crypto market cap climbing to about $2.38 trillion.
️ On today's Top Picks:
- 🥀 BGD Labs to cease contributions to Aave.
- ⛔ Tether discontinues support for CNH₮.
- 🟢 Polymarket launches 5 minute HYPE market.
- 🤖 Anthropic launches Claude Code Security.
Read time: ⏰ 5 minutes
Crypto News
• ⭐️ BGD Labs to cease contributions to Aave $AAVE; cites concerns about governance alignment, centralization risks, and Aave Labs’ approach to v4 development; BGD Labs was a core technical contributor since 2022.
• US White House meets with crypto & banking executives (again) to discuss stalled crypto market structure bill (Clarity Act), focusing on stablecoin yield; meeting was reportedly productive, but no compromise was reached (again); marks third meeting.
• ⭐️ Tether discontinues support for yuan stablecoin $CNHT; ceases all new issuances & will stop redemptions 1 year from now; cites market conditions, low interest, & limited demand.
• CME Group $CME to launch 24/7 crypto futures and options trading on May 29th, pending regulatory approval; at least two-hour weekly maintenance period over the weekend.
• Polymarket $POLY acquires Dome, a unified API for prediction markets, for an undisclosed amount; previously raised $500,000 from Y Combinator & $4.7M Seed round.
Alpha
• ⭐️ Polymarket $POLY launches 5 minute up/down HYPE market; recently launched 5 minute BTC, ETH, SOL & XRP markets; also recently teased POLY token.
• Nado $INK raises NLP cap from $4M to $6M; Templars of the Storm NFT holders are whitelisted for early access; deposits to open to the public on February 21st.
• USDai $CHIP launches Season 2 Points; also extends Level Up deadline for Pendle YT deposits until March 1st; TGE & airdrop expected in March.
• Lens to host AMA & community call on February 21st; Mask Network recently announced it would steward the next chapter for Lens.
• ICYMI OpenSea $SEA unlocks Wave 5 of Treasure Chests; Wave 6 of Treasure Chests is now live; to host live event of "The next chapter for OpenSea" on March 30th.
Airdrops
• OpenMind $ROBO launches airdrop registration; OpenMind points holders, community members, & more are eligible; closes on February 24th.
• YO $YO to close airdrop claim on May 6th; YO points holders are eligible; token is non-transferable until enabled via governance vote.
• ICYMI Kraken's Ink Foundation $INK teases INK token; Nado & Tydro points holders, and more will potentially be eligible for INK airdrop; Nado Open Beta Season 1 & Tydro Season 2 are ongoing.
• ICYMI Jupiter $JUP launches Net-Zero Emissions/Jupuary airdrop proposal; Jupuary airdrop to be postponed indefinitely if proposal passes; voting ends on February 22nd.
• ICYMI Backpack launches TGE Verified for upcoming airdrop claim; Backpack allocated 25% of token supply for airdrop at TGE; Backpack points holders (24%) & Mad Lads NFT holders (1%) will be eligible.
Finance News
• ⭐️ US Supreme Court rules against President Trump's global tariffs imposed under IEEPA in 6-3 ruling; cites Trump exceeded his executive authority; tariffs under other statutes (e.g., Sections 232 & 301) remain in effect.
• ⭐️ US President Trump imposes new 10% global tariff on all countries under Section 122 in response to the US Supreme Court ruling against Trump's tariffs imposed under IEEPA; lasts for a maximum of 150 days.
• US December PCE Inflation rises to 2.9%, above expectations of 2.8%; Core PCE inflation rises to 3.0% (highest since November 2023), above expectations of 2.9%.
• US Q4 2025 GDP growth slows to +1.4%, below expectations of +3.0%; recent government shutdown a major contributing factor for the slowdown.
• Nvidia $NVDA reportedly finalizing $30B investment in OpenAI; replaces $100B commitment from last year; OpenAI reportedly aiming for $800B valuation.
Security and Exploits
• ⭐️ Anthropic launches Claude Code Security; "scans codebases for vulnerabilities and suggests targeted software patches for human review"; available in limited research preview.
• PayPal $PYPL discloses data breach affecting PayPal Working Capital loan app users; data includes customers' names, email addresses, phone numbers, business addresses, social security numbers, & dates of birth.
• ICYMI OpenAI & Paradigm collaborate to launch EVMbench, a "new benchmark that measures how well AI agents can detect, exploit, and patch high-severity smart contract vulnerabilities."
Token Unlocks
• LayerZero $ZRO / ~$38M / FEB 20th
• Wormhole $W / ~$1M / FEB 20th
• Kaito $KAITO / ~$10M / FEB 20th
• SoSoValue $SOSO / ~$5M / FEB 24th
• Monad $MON / ~$4M / FEB 24th
• Humanity $H / ~$17M / FEB 25th
Sourced from Tokenomist
Funding
• DBA raises $62M for DBA Fund II.
• Kresus raises $13M in Strategic funding from Hanwha Investment & Securities.
• NEWITY raises $11M in Strategic funding led by CMT Digital.
• Ubyx raises an undisclosed amount in Strategic funding from AB Xelerate.
• Rhythmic raises $4M in Seed funding led by Dragonfly.
• Unicity raises $3M in Seed funding led by Blockchange Ventures.
The Degen Farmer
Top stablecoin yield farms of the day, more than $3,000,000 in TVL. DYOR and step up your farming game!
| PROTOCOL | ASSETS | APY |
|---|---|---|
 GrowiHF (Hyperliquid L1) | USDC | 201.38% |
 Indigo (Cardano) | IUSD | 186.56% |
 Altura (Hyperliquid L1) | USDT0 | 89.19% |
 Hyperion (Aptos) | USDTUSDC | 30.09% |
 ThalaSwap (Aptos) | USDTUSDC | 21.46% |
 YO Protocol (Base) | USDC | 19.27% |
 Wildcat Protocol (Ethereum) | HALALUSDCUSDC | 18.50% |
 Joe V2.2 (Avalanche) | AUSDUSDT | 17.36% |
Socket: First Chain Abstraction Protocol |  |
Socket: The first chain-abstraction protocol, Socket empowers developers to build applications that seamlessly interact across multiple blockchains as if they were one. By unifying liquidity, users, and assets, Socket eliminates the complexities of cross-chain operations, offering a secure, efficient, and decentralized framework for the multichain future.
Bungee: Powered by Socket, Bungee is a global liquidity marketplace that simplifies cross-chain swaps. With over $25B in volume and integrations in major wallets and dApps, Bungee finds the fastest, cheapest, and most secure routes to move any token across any chain, delivering a gasless and user-friendly DeFi experience.
Mainnet & Community: Socket is gearing up for its mainnet launch this year, unlocking apps without limits and abstracting more chains. Community speculation points to a potential token reveal, with possible TGE and airdrop ahead. Join the vibrant Socket PowerPuffs community for exclusive rewards, perks, and more.
That’s it for today’s edition! See you soon.
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