50T Investor Newsletter (Feb 23rd)
Feb 23, 2026
Hi Investors,
This week featured major structural shifts across infrastructure, M&A, and regulation. Coinbase's Base broke away from Optimism's OP Stack, consolidating into a proprietary codebase and ending revenue sharing with the Optimism Collective. Kraken continued its acquisition spree with the purchase of Magna, a token lifecycle management platform, while Gemini parted ways with its COO, CFO, and CLO in a leadership reset that recentralizes control under the Winklevoss twins. On the regulatory front, the CFTC filed an amicus brief asserting exclusive federal jurisdiction over prediction markets, and the SEC issued guidance allowing broker-dealers to apply a 2% capital haircut on stablecoins - down from the 100% many firms had been taking - putting stablecoins on par with money market funds.
Below are the key developments:
Market Moves
CFTC Chairman Selig filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit against Nevada, asserting exclusive federal jurisdiction over prediction markets
→ Link
The SEC issued guidance allowing broker-dealers to apply a 2% haircut on payment stablecoins for net capital calculations, down from the 100% many firms had been taking
→ Link
OpenAI and Paradigm launched EVMbench, an open-source framework testing AI agents' ability to detect, patch, and exploit smart contract vulnerabilities
→ Link
Anchorage Digital began offering non-U.S. banks a stablecoin stand-in for correspondent banking
→ Link
Uniswap governance considers activating protocol fees on all v3 pools, expanding to eight additional chains
→ Link
Polymarket acquired prediction market API startup Dome, marking its second official acquisition
→ Link
CME Group will launch 24/7 cryptocurrency futures and options trading on May 29
→ Link
Stripe's stablecoin firm Bridge won initial approval of a national bank trust charter
→ Link
Portfolio Headlines
 | Base is leaving the OP Stack for a fully self-managed codebase, ending revenue sharing with Optimism and targeting six major upgrades per year → Link |
 | Figure priced and upsized a $150MM secondary offering, including its blockchain-native common stock (FGRD) at $32/share, live on OPEN → Link |
 | Gemini parted ways with its COO, CFO, and CLO effective immediately, with Cameron Winklevoss absorbing the COO role → Link |
 | Kraken acquired Magna, a token lifecycle management platform, as its sixth acquisition in the past year → Link Kraken's tokenized xStocks surpassed $25 billion in total transaction volume → Link |
Charts of the Week
Fear and greed index hit an all-time low recently, typically marking a bear market bottom
Polymarket overtook Kalshi in spot DEX transactions this past week
Clarity Act now sits at a 72% chance of passing this year
Figure's Provenance continues to grow in TVL, hitting $1.56Bn this week
Industry News Flash
Industry News
deBridge launched MCP, enabling AI agents to execute non-custodial cross-chain transactions
→ Link
Zora branched from Base and launched 'attention markets' on Solana
→ Link
XRP Ledger rolled out a members-only DEX for regulated institutions
→ Link
Hyperliquid Foundation set up a DeFi policy advocacy group with a $29MM HYPE token donation
→ Link
OKX acquired a European payments license for stablecoin and crypto card expansion
→ Link
Netherlands banned Polymarket over 'illegal gambling services'
→ Link
Media & Insights
📄 Research Piece of the Week: Galaxy
Developing Agentic Capital Markets
📌 Post of the Week: Jack Krevitt