Crypto Market Recap: SEC Dismisses Coinbase Case, Crypto Exchange Bybit Hacked

Bitcoin and Ethereum price update

Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading at US$95,056, reflecting a 3.4 percent decrease over the past 24 hours. The day's trading range has seen a high of US$99,262 and a low of US$94,909.

Ethereum (ETH) is priced at US$2,637, marking a slump of 4.1 percent over the same period. The cryptocurrency reached an intraday high of US$2,837 and a low of US$2,625.

Altcoin price update

• Solana (SOL) is currently valued at US$169.56, down 2.8 percent over the past 24 hours. SOL experienced a high of US$179 and a low of US$168 during Friday's trading session.

• XRP is trading at US$2.53, reflecting a 6 percent decrease over the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency recorded an intraday high of US$2.70 and a low of US$2.52.

• Sui (SUI) is priced at US$3.27, showing a 5.8 percent decrease over the past 24 hours. It achieved a daily high of US$3.55 and a low of US$3.23.

• Cardano (ADA) is trading at US$0.7574, reflecting a 6 percent decrease over the past 24 hours. Its highest price on Friday was US$0.8166, with a low of US$0.7526.

Crypto news to know

SEC agrees to dismiss Coinbase case

Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) said on Friday that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to dismiss its case against the cryptocurrency exchange, pending final approval from regulators.

The SEC sued Coinbase in June 2023, alleging that it was operating as an unregistered securities platform and brokerage service. It accused Coinbase of generating billions in revenue while failing to provide investor protections.

Coinbase shared the update on social media platform X, stating, “But this isn’t the end. It’s the beginning. And if there were ever a time to build — that time is now. Thank you to everyone who stood with us, and stood with crypto.”

Teresa Goody Guillén, a partner at law firm BakerHostetler, said in a Friday email:

“The SEC’s swift action to bring order to the crypto industry and restore fairness is encouraging. Commissioner Peirce’s Task Force has been instrumental in this progress, taking a thoughtful, inclusive approach that actively seeks industry and stakeholder input. The SEC faces a challenging task — not only must it undo harmful policies, but it must also lay the foundation for sound regulatory frameworks. And as history shows, undoing bad policy is itself good policy.

Under Acting Chairman Uyeda and Task Force Leader Commissioner Peirce, the SEC is holding itself to a higher standard, and I am pleased — but not surprised — to see this shift. I am confident that this commitment to fairness and integrity will continue under incoming Chairman Atkins.”

Guillén leads BakerHostetler's digital and innovative markets team and co-leads its Web3 and digital assets team; she is also a former attorney with the SEC's Office of the General Counsel, and was among the candidates that the Trump administration considered for the position of SEC chair.

Bybit experiences its largest security breach

Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou confirmed a security breach that saw over US$1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether and other ERC-20 tokens hacked from the cryptocurrency exchange on Friday morning.

The confirmation came roughly one hour after on-chain security analyst ZachXBT spotted the incident shortly after it occurred, according to Cointelegraph’s coverage of the event. The attack appears to have compromised the signing process for transactions, allowing hackers to manipulate the smart contract logic of the cold wallet. The hack affected only Bybit's Ethereum cold wallet; other wallets, including Bitcoin reserves, remain secure.

Bybit has obtained a bridge loan covering a significant portion of the stolen funds and continues to process withdrawals. The situation is ongoing, and Bybit is working with other exchanges to track and potentially freeze stolen assets. Arkham Intelligence has attributed the hack to the North Korean group Lazarus.

Jan3 CEO suggests "manufactured" price action

Samson Mow, CEO of Jan3 and founder of Pixelmatic, suggested that Bitcoin’s rangebound price action may be manufactured during a panel discussion at Consensus Hong Kong on Wednesday (February 19)

“If you look at the price movement, we peak, and then we stay steady and chop sideways. And it’s good, you can say it’s consolidation, but it just looks very manufactured," he said.

Additionally, FTX's recent Bitcoin sales, as part of its payout process, might be putting downward pressure on the market, counteracting the upward momentum generated by significant buying interest.

This situation is creating a period of price stabilization rather than immediate growth.

“FTX is starting to pay out their dollars from selling Bitcoin, ill-advisedly, in the mid-20K range, so clearly, somebody is selling to match this. Otherwise, the price would already be moving upwards again,” Mow said.