fundamentals

According to a report by 21 Finance, Huang Zhenxin, the head of Kimi B-end at Moonshot AI, stated in a recent communication meeting that there is indeed a bubble in the current AI industry, but the fundamentals are very solid. Enterprises can now clearly calculate the return on investment (ROI), and the substantial transformation in productivity brought by AI has already occurred.Regarding the recent phenomenon of widespread price increases among model vendors, Huang Zhenxin pointed out that the core reason lies in the rising global computing power costs, and chip production capacity cannot meet the explosive growth in Token demand. He emphasized that evaluating the cost-performance ratio of models should not only look at the unit price of input and output but should also focus on the Cache hit rate. It is reported that Kimi's original factory Cache hit rate has reached over 90%, significantly reducing actual computing costs.In addition, Huang Zhenxin revealed that Kimi will continue to challenge innovations in underlying architecture to sustain the Scaling Law, and its Muon optimizer, which has been validated on a large scale, is now widely adopted by several mainstream large models in the industry. Regarding the "last mile" of enterprise AI implementation, he believes that as the foundational capabilities of models continue to strengthen, the technical paradigms at the application layer will also continue to simplify.

Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley stated that participants in the cryptocurrency industry should "broaden their perspective." Unless they are short-term traders, investors should not overly focus on weekly or monthly price fluctuations.Instead, the focus should be on two aspects: first, the substantive progress of the project itself, and second, the longer-term annual performance. This includes on-chain usage, technological advancements with product-market fit, integration of large enterprises and institutions in the field, construction and implementation status, as well as core factors such as team quality and execution capability.Although the market will not show linear development, the fundamentals of the industry are continuously and significantly improving from 2022 to 2026. Investors should recognize that this is a long-term process, and the final outcome will be determined by the fundamentals.

According to Jinshi reports, San Francisco Fed President Daly stated on Wednesday that despite the uncertainty and volatility brought by the Iran war, the fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain in "good shape." She pointed out that consumers are still spending and businesses are still investing. Daly mentioned that although there are concerns about rising inflation, the labor market is stabilizing at a good level.

Citibank stated that the restrictions on the stablecoin reward mechanism in the U.S. CLARITY Act draft may pose temporary resistance to Circle (CRCL), but will not shake its long-term investment logic.Analysts pointed out that this policy is more likely to affect the pace of scale expansion rather than pose a fundamental threat. The bill aims to limit stablecoin earnings similar to deposit interest, but allows incentive mechanisms related to transactions or payments. Since Circle itself does not directly pay earnings to USDC holders but distributes reserve earnings to partners like Coinbase, its core revenue model will not be directly impacted. Citibank believes that the reduction in rewards may weaken users' short-term motivation to hold USDC, thereby affecting circulation scale and secondary market liquidity, but the key indicators for stablecoin adoption still lie in transaction and payment volumes, rather than circulation volume itself. Previously, due to policy uncertainty, Circle's stock price once fell by about 20%. However, institutions including Bernstein believe that the market may have misinterpreted the policy impact, with regulatory focus on limiting platforms that distribute earnings to users (such as Coinbase), rather than Circle's reserve earnings model.

According to Jinshi, Federal Reserve's Williams stated that the economic fundamentals are solid and the job market is stabilizing.

10x Research's analysis on platform X indicates that the core driver of Circle's stock price increase is not the earnings report data itself, but rather the market positioning structure, which is more likely to trigger a high-probability short squeeze rather than a simple fundamental reassessment. It is reported that a hedge fund established a large short position before the earnings report was released; however, as Circle's stock price soared in a single day, it triggered a severe short squeeze, resulting in the hedge fund losing approximately $500 million in one day.10x Research further stated that this round of extreme volatility not only affects Circle but also impacts Coinbase and Bitcoin. Although Circle is a clear bullish target, the overall magnitude of the market is primarily driven by the imbalance in the overall positioning structure of the crypto market. New market catalysts may be on the horizon, potentially reshaping the market narrative, after which market trading logic may return to fundamentals.

Bitmine today announced that the total value of its cryptocurrency holdings, cash, and "high-risk high-return investment projects" is currently reported at $9.6 billion. As of February 22, 2026, 6:00 PM Eastern Time, the company's crypto assets include:4,422,659 ETH193 Bitcoin$200 million in Beast Industries equity$17 million in Eightco Holdings equityTotal cash of $691 million.Bitmine's Executive Chairman Thomas "Tom" Lee stated that during this "mini crypto winter," we remain focused on methodically executing our financial strategy, steadily increasing our ETH holdings, and optimizing our portfolio returns. Despite the crypto prices hitting lows, the three major fundamental drivers for Ethereum continue to strengthen:Wall Street and its tokenization strategyAI and AI agents using smart blockchain to execute and collect paymentsThe emerging creator economy and its demand for blockchain verification.

After a decline earlier on Monday, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies like Solana have seen a mild rebound. Interestingly, Goldman Sachs pointed out that despite the weak price performance, on-chain activity paints a different picture, particularly for the Ethereum and Solana networks:The Ethereum network's daily active addresses, new addresses, and transaction counts increased by +27.5%, +26.8%, and +36% respectively month-over-month.The Solana network's daily active addresses and transaction counts increased by +24.3% and +8.2% respectively month-over-month. The number of new addresses on Ethereum reached an all-time high, averaging 427,000 new addresses daily in January—compared to an average of 162,000 new addresses per day during the "DeFi summer" of 2020. Currently, Ethereum has 1.2 million active addresses daily—this is another all-time high based on the 7-day moving average.Goldman Sachs also specifically noted that Ethereum's current market capitalization is now below its realized market capitalization (the total value calculated based on the price at which each token last moved on-chain, representing the total cost basis), which means that most ETH holders are currently in a loss position. Timothy Misir, head of research at digital asset analytics firm BRN, stated, "For cryptocurrencies, the stability of ETF fund flows is a key signal to monitor. Without this support, a rebound is likely to be difficult to sustain."

Delphi Digital stated in its latest report on Lighter (LIT) that the fundamentals of Lighter are much better than what the price trends reflect. The real issues are not poor product quality or insufficient team strength, but rather the lack of transparency in its token economic model, financial situation, and market maker collaborations.If Lighter can fully disclose the flow of profits, clarify the decision-making mechanisms for buybacks and development investments, and clearly present the incentive structure, then LIT could very well become a hassle-free asset and investment target like HYPE.

BitMine Chairman Tom Lee stated, "The parabolic and sustained rise of gold and silver is overshadowing the ongoing strengthening of the intrinsic fundamentals of crypto assets, especially Ethereum and Bitcoin.At the 2026 Davos Forum, financial institutions are preparing to build products on Ethereum and other smart blockchains. When the fundamentals continue to trend upwards, it is only a matter of time before prices rise."

According to Cointelegraph, Phong Le, CEO of Strategy, stated that despite the decline in Bitcoin prices at the end of the year and the low market sentiment, the market fundamentals for Bitcoin in 2025 remain strong.Le emphasized that the market fundamentals for Bitcoin this year are better than ever, and he does not overly focus on short-term performance. Le pointed out that the U.S. government and banking system are fully supporting Bitcoin, which is "extremely optimistic" for 2025 and 2026. He revealed that he and Strategy's Executive Chairman Michael Saylor are meeting with traditional banks in the U.S. and the UAE, which are trying to understand how to keep up with the development of cryptocurrencies. Although the U.S. President signed an executive order in March to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, a formal strategic plan has yet to be determined.

Matrixport released a chart today stating, "From a pricing logic perspective, the main driver of cryptocurrency prices remains the inflow of incremental funds, rather than changes in user numbers or application scenarios themselves. This is particularly evident in the Ethereum ETF: during a continuous inflow of nearly $10 billion, the ETH price rose from about $2,600 to $4,500; however, when the inflow slowed down, the price quickly retraced its previous gains. In an environment where new real demand is relatively limited, both Ethereum and the broader cryptocurrency market remain highly sensitive to marginal changes in fund flows.In contrast to the last bull market, where the narrative was more centered around "adoption, revenue, and network growth," and funds were willing to pay a premium for these expectations; in this cycle, price performance is largely dependent on where the funds flow, how quickly they enter the market, and when the funds suddenly stop."

K33 Research released the 2025 Annual Report on the Cryptocurrency Market, indicating that despite Bitcoin's fundamentals reaching an all-time high, its price performance lags behind other major asset classes.The report shows that the U.S. government has established a strategic Bitcoin reserve, while national pension funds in Abu Dhabi and Luxembourg allocate 1-3% of their funds to invest in Bitcoin. Harvard University has also made similar allocations in its substantial endowment fund. Meanwhile, since January 2024, over 20% of Bitcoin UTXOs that are more than two years old have been activated, indicating a large-scale sell-off by early holders. Analysts believe this is both a natural behavior of profit-taking and a reflection of the response to Bitcoin's gradual integration into the traditional financial system. Despite market adjustments, the report holds a "constructively bullish" view for 2026, suggesting that the current price divergence from fundamentals creates investment opportunities, especially in the context of a new U.S. government potentially adopting a more accommodative monetary policy.

According to market news, CryptoQuant analyst MorenoDV_ stated that a valuation reset for Bitcoin is occurring.By observing the Bitcoin NVT golden cross indicator (smoothed with a 100-day moving average), the relationship between market valuation and on-chain economic activity can be assessed. NVT is considered the price-to-earnings ratio for Bitcoin, where transaction volume replaces earnings to answer the question of whether the network's market value aligns with actual economic activity. The current NVT golden cross indicator shows that short-term NVT is significantly below the long-term trend, indicating that Bitcoin's market value is undervalued relative to on-chain activity.Historically, when the indicator shows a deep negative divergence, it typically reflects low market sentiment and structural undervaluation of the network. In this cycle, the indicator fell to a historical low of -0.58 and has now rebounded to about -0.32, indicating that prices are gradually realigning with the transaction-driven fundamentals, but still remain in a conservative valuation range. This phenomenon usually occurs during deleveraging and risk-averse phases, followed by a market accumulation period that drives healthier price discovery. The current market is transitioning from deep undervaluation to equilibrium, with selective capital strengthening, which may signal structural improvements and long-term opportunities in the crypto market.

Liquid Capital (formerly LD Capital) founder Yi Lihua posted on platform X, stating that the fundamentals of ETH are firmly optimistic. However, since the major crash on October 11, market liquidity has significantly decreased, with the derivatives market dominating rather than the spot market. The current fluctuations are within a normal range, especially in light of the four-year cycle resonance and the upcoming Christmas season. However, for spot investments, it may not be possible to buy at the lowest price, but it is still the most suitable investment price range.From a medium to long-term investment perspective, especially in the new era of on-chain finance, ETH is the core investment asset, with WLFI and others as core allocation investments. Our investment and data logic have not changed from previous research reports.

According to The Block, analysts from research brokerage Bernstein pointed out that the industry "is still waiting for a clear signal that Bitcoin has bottomed," but emphasized that this round of decline is fundamentally different from previous corrections—core crypto operating companies are actively transitioning to new revenue models, and the business fundamentals are "performing strongly."In a report to clients on Monday, analyst Gautam Chhugani's team acknowledged that the weak sentiment has affected crypto-related stocks: Coinbase is down 21% over the past 30 days, Circle is down 37%, and Robinhood is down 12%. However, they noted that most speculative bubbles only exist in the tail-end projects of trend-following strategies and reiterated that "no realistic scenario threatens the long-term viability of the strategy."Bernstein emphasized that the operational performance of the industry stands in stark contrast to market prices, with innovations in business models and favorable regulations reflecting deep resilience. Analysts believe the industry is entering a new phase, with companies beginning to implement strategies previously constrained by regulatory uncertainty, expanding into areas beyond cyclical trading revenue.

Liquid Capital founder Yi Lihua posted on platform X: "WLFI has risen by 50 points in the last three days. For a large project, this kind of counter-trend growth should indicate significant progress in the fundamentals. In today's environment where the narrative tide in the crypto space has receded, all projects must study fundamentals, user base, profit models, team background, and long-term ceiling prospects for medium to long-term investment."

Liquid Capital founder JackYi tweeted, "WLFI has risen by 50 points in the last three days. For a large project, this kind of counter-trend growth should indicate significant improvements in the fundamentals. In today's market, as the narrative tide recedes, all projects require long-term investment research on fundamentals, user base, profit models, team background, and ceiling prospects."