Bitcoin drops below $99k, DeepSeek debuts, Trump and dump | Weekly Recap

Today’s edition of the weekly recap spotlights Bitcoin’s retreat and the meme coin market’s downturn. Plus, KuCoin enters a guilty plea for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and agrees to pay a hefty penalty.

Bitcoin drops below $99,000

• Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below $99,000 on Feb. 2; observers blamed risk-off sentiment stemming from President Donald Trump’s imposed tariffs on goods from China, Canada and Mexico.
• The decline coincided with the debut of DeepSeek, which showed AI capabilities matching OpenAI at a fraction of the cost. Trump framed it as a “positive” development even though his own crypto czar called it IP theft.
• AI-related cryptocurrencies felt the impact: Near Protocol (NEAR), Internet Computer (ICP), and Render (RNDR) experiencing declines of 8-10%.

MicroStrategy puts more crypto in its coffer

• The Michael Saylor-led company acquired 10,107 BTC for approximately $1.1 billion between Jan. 21-26, at an average price of $105,596 per BTC.
• MicroStrategy’s total holdings now reach 471,107 BTC, valued at over $46 billion.

Ripple secures new state licenses

• Ripple secured Money Transmitter Licenses in New York and Texas to expand its domestic footprint under the Trump administration’s pro-crypto stance. The license allows Ripple Payments customers to access licensed cross-border payment solutions, with transactions managed end-to-end by Ripple.

Bitcoin Jesus pardon request faces citizenship hurdle

• Roger Ver’s plea for a presidential pardon was addressed by Elon Musk, who stated Ver’s renounced U.S. citizenship makes a pardon impossible.
• Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Trump confidant, responded on X that “Membership has its privileges.”

KuCoin pleads guilty in US criminal case

• The cryptocurrency exchange entered a guilty plea for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business in New York court, agreeing to pay nearly $300 million in penalties.
• Judge Andrew Carter imposed a $113 million fine and $184.5 million in forfeitures, while company executives Gan and Tang will be removed from management and operations roles.

Tuttle Capital files for diverse crypto ETF offerings

• The investment firm submitted applications for the first-ever ETFs tied to Chainlink (LINK), Cardano (ADA), and Polkadot (DOT), expanding beyond traditional cryptocurrency offerings.
• The proposal includes 10 leveraged ETF products, notably featuring the first ETF connected to the Melania (MELANIA).
• Additional proposed products include leveraged offerings for XRP (XRP), Bonk (BONK), BNP, Solana (SOL), Litecoin (LTC), and the Official Trump meme coin (TRUMP).

Trump and dump

• SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci is calling out the president for what he alleges is a pump-and-dump scheme.
• “President Trump posted on Truth Social last night in an attempt to ‘pump’ his $TRUMP memecoin (yes that’s a real sentence that many have normalized),” Scaramucci posted Saturday on X. “The result has been an acceleration of the ‘dump,’ now down 70% from its peak. The jig is up.”
• New York-based hedge fund Elliott Management suggests that Trump’s warm embrace of digital coins is fueling a speculative frenzy that could “wreak havoc.”

Metaplanet announces record Bitcoin purchase

• The company has issued 21 million shares through 0% discount moving strike warrants, raising 116 billion yen ($745 million) in the largest capital raise in Asian equity market history.

Arizona committee advances state BTC reserve initiative

• The state’s Senate Finance Committee approved the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act (SB 1025) with a 5 to 2 vote.
• The bill, introduced by Senator Wendy Rogers and Representative Jeff Weninger, proposes investing public funds in BTC and other cryptocurrencies.

CZ leads YZi Labs into first major investment

• Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s venture capital firm YZi Labs led a $16 million funding round for Sign, a platform focused on token distribution and on-chain credential verification.

Crypto.com prepares for MiCA compliance suspension

• Bitstamp and Crypto.com announced the suspension of certain token services to align with the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets legislation (MiCA), effective January 31.
• The changes affect several stablecoins, including Tether’s USDT and PayPal’s PYUSD, which will be removed from both basic and pro trading modes on Bitstamp.

Czech central bank governor proposes BTC reserves

• Czech National Bank Governor Aleš Michl plans to present a proposal that could allocate up to $7 billion of national reserves to bitcoin.
• If approved, the Czech Republic would become the first Western central bank to hold digital assets as part of its reserves.

El Salvador meets IMF requirements

• The country’s Legislative Assembly approved a bill to revise its BTC adoption approach, aligning with conditions of a $1.4 billion IMF deal.
• The legislation passed with 55 votes in favor and 2 against, changing private sector cryptocurrency acceptance from mandatory to voluntary.

Will Trump pardon Bankman-Fried’s parents?

• Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, are seeking a presidential pardon from Trump, according to Bloomberg sources.
• The effort follows successful pardons of other crypto figures, notably Ross Ulbricht, who was freed after 11 years following his Jan. 21 pardon.

Pump.fun faces new class action over securities violations

• A proposed class action lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York accuses the meme coin generator of collecting nearly $500 million in fees while violating U.S. securities laws.

Uniswap v4 launches

• Uniswap (UNI) Labs released version 4 of its protocol, now operational on multiple blockchain networks, including Ethereum (ETH), Arbitrum (ARB), OP Mainnet (OP), and Base.

LayerZero Labs settles with FTX bankruptcy estate

• The Vancouver, Canada-based company has concluded its two-year legal dispute with FTX, as announced by CEO Bryan Pellegrino.
• The decision to settle was driven by consideration for creditors rather than direct conflict with FTX, with LayerZero Labs itself being among the creditors.