Weekly Editor's Picks (0207-0213)
- Core View: This week's selected articles reveal the core contradictions and underlying trends in the current crypto market, including the structural reasons behind Bitcoin's decline, the migration of capital towards new narratives like AI, and the accelerated deployment of on-chain infrastructure by traditional financial giants.
- Key Points:
- The primary cause of Bitcoin's recent sharp drop is deleveraging in the traditional financial sector, not crypto-native bearish sentiment, and it has not triggered massive outflows from ETFs.
- Capital is flowing from Bitcoin to new narratives like AI. Bitcoin ETFs have seen net outflows exceeding $6.2 billion since November last year, becoming a driver of the market downturn.
- BlackRock's purchase of UNI and deployment of its tokenized treasury fund to UniswapX marks Wall Street's first proactive move to acquire a DeFi token and test the waters of financial infrastructure.
- LayerZero launched its self-developed L1 "Zero," backed by several Wall Street institutions, aiming to build a "Wall Street public chain" capable of handling institutional-grade transactions.
- An a16z partner believes the VC industry is shifting towards a scaled platform model, where only mega-firms that can provide comprehensive support to founders will succeed in the future.
- High-frequency quantitative strategies on Polymarket show that by identifying high-certainty, small-profit opportunities and executing them frequently, stable annualized returns can be achieved.
- Projects solving real-world problems (e.g., Hyperliquid, Canton) show greater resilience during market downturns. Evaluation should focus on the problem, solution, and execution capability.
"Weekly Editor's Picks" is a functional column by Odaily. In addition to covering a large volume of timely news each week, Odaily also publishes many high-quality in-depth analyses, but they might get lost in the information feed and hot news, passing you by.
Therefore, our editorial team will select some high-quality articles worth spending time reading and bookmarking from the content published in the past 7 days every Saturday. From perspectives like data analysis, industry judgment, and opinion sharing, we aim to bring new inspiration to you in the crypto world.
Now, let's read together:
Investment & Entrepreneurship
The Black Swan Was It: The Real Reason Behind This Bitcoin Plunge
The sharp sell-off in Bitcoin on February 5th was primarily driven by widespread deleveraging in the traditional finance sector, rather than directional bearish sentiment in the crypto-native market. This process was amplified by triggering short Gamma structures in the options market but did not lead to massive outflows from Bitcoin ETFs.
AI Is 'Draining' Bitcoin: The Capital Migration Behind the $6.2 Billion ETF Outflow
Bitcoin ETFs have become the main driver of the overall crypto market decline, with net outflows exceeding $6.2 billion since last November.
The AI narrative is absorbing capital that originally belonged to Bitcoin and even software stocks.
Bitcoin may struggle to emerge from its trough until the Coinbase premium turns positive, ETF inflows resume, and basis rates stabilize.
$55,000 Will Be Bitcoin's Make-or-Break Line
Bitcoin's profit potential has been significantly compressed, but its volatility has not decreased accordingly. It's still a market of wild swings, yet the peak gains have shrunk dramatically. Such a cycle pattern is unsustainable.
To truly reset the growth curve, three types of forces are needed: large-scale structural capital allocation, adoption at the sovereign nation level, or sustained, price-insensitive rigid demand.
The author also points out hidden risks at the protocol layer: upgrading quantum resistance and mitigating the threat from early holders.
Tiger Research: Realism Is the Only Answer During the Crypto Downturn
Projects solving real, concrete problems can remain resilient even during market downturns.
Hyperliquid, Canton, and Kite target different problem areas, but they share a common trait: offering practical and realistic solutions, not abstract narratives.
To assess this realism, analysis should focus on three factors: the problem the project aims to solve, the structure of the solution, and the team's execution capability in practice.
Conversation with Cathie Wood: Eight Insights on the 2026 Grand Plan
The 'Singularity' of 7% global GDP growth; Space data centers; The commodification of cognition; The US-China AI Cold War; Bitcoin's next major bull run (reaching $1.5 million per coin by 2030); The nuclear energy revival; Autonomous taxis will destroy the (car industry as we know it); Autonomous delivery is already here.
a16z Partner's Self-Description: Boutique VC Is Dead, Scaling Up Is the Endgame for VC
As software becomes the backbone of the US economy and the AI era arrives, the demand for capital and services from startups has qualitatively changed.
The VC industry is undergoing a paradigm shift from 'judgment-driven' to 'deal-winning capability-driven'. Only 'mega-institutions' like a16z, with scaled platforms capable of providing founders with comprehensive support, can win in the trillion-dollar game.
This is not just an evolution of the model, but the self-evolution of the VC industry under the wave of 'software eating the world'.
Prediction Markets
High-Frequency 'Scraping', Earning $100k Annually: The Most 'Boring' Profit Myth on Polymarket
The article reviews a typical high-frequency quant trader—who generated a net profit of $106,000 in one year through over 61,000 predictions.
The strategy can be summarized as: extreme certainty and terrifying execution frequency.
Lessons for ordinary players: The power of compounding should not be underestimated. Earning 0.5% daily through high-frequency trading yields far more stable returns after a year than betting on a 10x coin. Technology is a must-have skill. In the Crypto era, quantitative tools and API capabilities are standard for top players. Certainty outweighs odds. Finding small-profit opportunities with extremely high probability (e.g., over 90% certainty) is easier to survive than gambling on 50/50 major events.
Traditional Gambling Giants Enter Prediction Markets, Aiming to Outmaneuver Wall Street
Advanced data models and the ability to access information ahead of the public are the core advantages of traditional gambling companies.
Crypto investors and gamblers don't allow 'idle hands'. The period before the World Cup will be the next explosive phase for prediction markets.
As Someone Who Plays Prediction Markets Daily, I See These Innovations and Changes
Letting funds 'earn yield while holding positions', making predictions as easy as scrolling through short videos, and creating exclusive prediction events around community hotspots—emerging platforms are reshaping how users engage with prediction markets.
Also recommended: "The Israeli Military Is Catching Insiders on Polymarket".
Ethereum & Scaling
Ethereum Repricing: From Rollup-Centric to 'Security Settlement Layer'
Security, neutrality, and predictability are once again becoming Ethereum's core.
Multi-Ecosystem & Cross-Chain
LayerZero launched its self-developed L1, Zero, aiming to host trading and settlement for institutional-grade financial markets.
Various Wall Street institutions have begun openly endorsing or investing. A cross-chain bridge project transitioning managed to secure collective backing from the entire industry chain—clearinghouses, exchanges, market makers, asset managers, stablecoins, and cloud computing.
Traditional institutions have added another move to their playbook for building on-chain financial pipelines. Wall Street wants to move trading on-chain, but Ethereum can't handle it.
Players interested in ZRO can watch for three key dates:
- June: The second fee switch vote. Whether it passes directly determines if ZRO has endogenous demand.
- This Fall: Zero mainnet launch.
- ZRO tokens won't be fully unlocked until 2027. Before that, each unlock round brings selling pressure. Combined with the current crypto bear market, positive news may not be enough to lift ZRO's price.
CeFi & DeFi
On February 11th, global asset management giant BlackRock announced deploying its approximately $2.2 billion tokenized treasury fund, BUIDL, onto the UniswapX protocol for on-chain trading. Simultaneously, BlackRock confirmed purchasing Uniswap's native governance token, UNI. The UNI token surged over 25% on the news.
This marks the first time Wall Street has actively taken on a DeFi token, not merely as a simple asset listing but as a new experiment in financial infrastructure.
For Uniswap, this signifies its transformation from a primarily retail platform to becoming the invisible backend for institutional-grade liquidity.
CME Gaps: A Misunderstood Market 'Clock', Not a Prophecy
Gaps are not some mysterious force; they are merely a record of time when one market is closed while another is still trading. They have nothing to do with prophecy; they are just the manifestation of trading time mismatches on the chart.
Weekly Hotspot Recap
Over the past week, Trend Research has largely completed its sell-off; Yi Lihua incurred total losses of approximately $747 million from leveraged long positions on ETH this round; Bithumb erroneously airdropped 620,000 BTC in total and has recovered 99.7% of it (review), initiating user compensation; Brazil's House Economic Development Committee submitted a strategic Bitcoin reserve alternative plan, planning to purchase at least 1 million BTC within 5 years;
Furthermore, regarding policy and macro markets, US Treasury Secretary Besant agreed that the Senate committee could investigate Fed Chair Powell; SBF applied for a retrial, attempting to overturn the FTX fraud conviction (detailed analysis); Caixin: Hearing for the 60,000 Bitcoin money laundering case scheduled for February 16th, involving nearly 130,000 Chinese victims with case amounts exceeding 30 billion yuan; Wu Jiezhuang: Suggested Hong Kong establish a dedicated agency or department to comprehensively coordinate digital and crypto asset development; Hong Kong SFC plans to introduce a perpetual contracts regulatory framework, limited to institutional investors; Hong Kong Monetary Authority includes tokenization in its 2026 work priorities, supporting sustainable and responsible digital asset development; Caijing: Three types of cross-border RWA businesses are feasible: bond-focused, equity-focused, and gold-focused;
Regarding opinions and statements, Jeff Park: We are in a bear market, quantitative easing is no longer effective, silver will crash like altcoins; Kaiko Research: Bitcoin's rebound is only a matter of time, the drop near $60k might be the 'halfway point' of the bear market; Eugene: Bitcoin $60k could become support, survival is the priority in a bear market, trading requires strict stop-losses; Analysis: Bitcoin's "Mayer Multiple" indicator fell to 2022 levels, the market may still have room to fall; Deribit CBO: $85k is the key watershed for this BTC uptrend, $58k-$60k is the ultimate support zone; Bitwise advisor clarified rumors: Nasdaq did not cancel IBIT options position limits; Li Lin responded to market rumors: Not an investor in LD or Garrett Gin, did not reduce BTC or ETH holdings this round;
Regarding institutions, large companies, and leading projects, NYSE parent company ICE launched index futures contracts and a tool for predicting market sentiment; The L2 focused on compliance and RWA, Robinhood Chain, launched its public testnet; Polymarket Head of Markets: Has not conducted a token airdrop snapshot yet; Polymarket extends fees to sports markets, will start charging for NCAA and Serie A events from February 18th;
Regarding security, Balancer opened the whitehat rescue fund claim window for the V2 incident, with a 180-day deadline; Bithumb: Has not yet released compensation information for the 'Bitcoin misdistribution incident', beware of phishing SMS fraud; CertiK: In 2025, 72 confirmed crypto 'wrench attacks' (violent incidents), a 75% year-on-year increase in incidents... Well, another eventful week.
Attached is the series portal
