Coinbase misses Q4 earnings, Ethereum eyes ‘V-shaped recovery’: Hodler’s Digest, Feb. 8

Top Stories of The Week

Coinbase misses Q4 earnings with $667M loss as crypto markets fell

Coinbase reported a net loss of $667 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, snapping the crypto exchange’s eight-quarter streak of profitability.

In its Q4 earnings released on Thursday, Coinbase reported earnings per share of 66 cents, missing analyst expectations of 92 cents by 26 cents.

The company said its net revenue fell 21.5% year-on-year to $1.78 billion, falling short of analyst expectations of $1.85 billion.

Transaction-related revenue dropped nearly 37% year-on-year to $982.7 million, while subscription and services revenue jumped more than 13% from the year prior to $727.4 million.

Ethereum developers suggest using ZK tech to anonymize AI use

Ethereum Foundation AI lead Davide Crapis and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin have proposed a way to use zero-knowledge proofs and other methods to ensure that a user’s interactions with large language models are private, while preventing spam and abuse.  

API calls occur every time a user sends a message to a software application, such as an AI chatbot. Crapis and Buterin said in a blog post on Wednesday that a core challenge for both users and providers is privacy, security, and efficiency.

“We need a system where a user can deposit funds once and make thousands of API calls anonymously, securely, and efficiently,” they said. 

“The provider must be guaranteed payment and protection against spam, while the user must be guaranteed that their requests cannot be linked to their identity or to each other,” they added.

Binance confirms employee targeted as three arrested in France break-in

Three suspects were arrested in France after a reported break-in targeting the home of a senior figure at Binance’s French unit, with the company confirming to Cointelegraph that one of its employees was the victim of a home invasion.

Local outlet RTL, citing anonymous police sources, reported that three hooded individuals carrying weapons attempted to enter an apartment in Val-de-Marne around 7:00 am CET Thursday.

RTL said the suspects first forced their way into the apartment of another resident, demanding they direct them to the home of the head of Binance France. RTL reported the suspects searched the apartment and stole two mobile phones before fleeing.

X Money ‘external beta’ will go live in 1-2 months, Musk says

X Money, an upcoming payments system that forms part of Elon Musk’s “everything app” plans, is scheduled to come out as a “limited beta” in the next two months before launching to X users worldwide. 

Musk gave the new timeline at his AI company’s “All Hands” presentation on Wednesday, during which he said that X Money was already live “in closed beta within the company.”

“This is intended to be the place where all money is. The central source of all monetary transactions,” he said, calling it a “game changer.”

The move is framed as a key upcoming feature to make X more essential, tied with its “everything app” vision, with payments a core driver of daily engagement. 

Bitcoin ETFs bleed $410M as Standard Chartered slashes BTC target

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw heightened selling on Thursday, with outflows accelerating the same day Standard Chartered lowered its 2026 Bitcoin forecast.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $410.4 million in outflows, extending weekly losses to $375.1 million, according to SoSoValue data.

Unless Friday brings substantial inflows, the funds are on track for a fourth consecutive week of losses, with assets under management (AUM) nearing $80 billion, down from a peak of almost $170 billion in October 2025.

Top Prediction of The Week

Ether set for another ‘V-shaped recovery,’ Tom Lee says

Fundstrat head of research Tom Lee said he expects Ether to rebound quickly following recent declines, arguing the asset has experienced eight such recoveries since 2018.

“A lot of people are frustrated, but keep in mind that Ethereum, since 2018, has fallen more than 50% eight times,” Lee said at a conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Last year, Ethereum fell 64% from January to March, he added. 

“But eight out of eight times, Ethereum has had a V-shaped bottom. So it has recovered 100% of the time within almost the same speed that it fell.” 

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $70,124, Ether (ETH) at $2,061, andXRP at $1.58. The total market cap is at $2.41 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Pippin (PIPPIN) at 263.93%, Humanity Protocol (H) at 76.29%, and Kite (KITE) at 43.34%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are MYX Finance (MYX) at 70.47%, MemeCore (M) at 17.45%, and Aptos (APT) at 11.25%. For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“In a time when we are having one of these historically volatile sell-offs, I think some clarity on the CLARITY bill would give great comfort to the market, and we could move forward from there.”

Scott Bessant, United States Treasury Secretary

“But eight out of eight times, Ethereum has had a V-shaped bottom. So it has recovered 100% of the time within almost the same speed that it fell.”

Tom Lee, Fundstrat head of research

“This is hurting the crypto industry, all these scams. Look at crypto today. I think it’s down 25% in the last month. People are losing trust, and it’s not good for crypto. It’s certainly not good for consumers, and it’s awful the reputational damage that the SEC is suffering.”

Stephen Lynch, US Massachusetts Democrat

“New evidence shows that Biden’s DOJ threatened multiple witnesses into silence or into changing their testimony. My conviction should be thrown out.”

Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX co-founder

“Centralized incumbents have become bloated and unresponsive to user needs, becoming worse than the traditional financial systems they pretend to improve on.”

Miguel Morel, Arkham CEO

“Retail people don’t get into crypto because they want to make 11% annualized.”

Mike Novogratz, Galaxy Digital CEO

Top FUD of The Week

Crypto CEO gets 20 years for $200M Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

A US federal judge in Virginia sentenced the chief executive of Praetorian Group International to 20 years in prison for running a $200 million cryptocurrency investment scheme that defrauded tens of thousands of investors.

According to the Department of Justice, 61-year-old Ramil Ventura Palafox, a dual US and Philippine citizen, was convicted of wire fraud and money laundering for what prosecutors described as a Ponzi scheme that falsely promised daily returns of up to 3% from Bitcoin trading. 

The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said investors poured over $201 million into PGI between December 2019 and October 2021, including at least 8,198 Bitcoin valued at about $171.5 million at the time. According to prosecutors, victims suffered losses of at least $62.7 million. 

Crypto use in human trafficking networks surged in 2025: Chainalysis

Crypto flows to suspected human trafficking networks increased 85% year over year in 2025, but crypto analytics firm Chainalysis said blockchain transparency could help disrupt the operations.

Chainalysis said in a report on Thursday that the total transaction volume to suspected trafficking networks, largely based in Southeast Asia, reached “hundreds of millions of dollars across identified services.”

It added that the services are “closely aligned” to scam compounds, online casinos, and Chinese-language money-laundering networks, which have recently grown in popularity.

Chainalysis said the crypto-facilitated human trafficking it tracked included Telegram-based services for international escorts, labor placement agents that kidnap and force people to work at scam compounds, prostitution networks, and child sexual abuse material vendors.

Israel arrests two over Polymarket trades on military operations

Israeli authorities have arrested and indicted two people for allegedly using secret information to place bets on the predictions market Polymarket related to Israel striking Iran.

In a joint statement on Thursday, Israel’s Defense Ministry, its internal security service Shin Bet, and police said a military reservist and a civilian were arrested after an investigation found that the reservist obtained classified information to place the bets.

The prosecutor’s office will pursue criminal charges for security-related offenses, bribery, and obstruction of justice. Authorities said the reservist was working for Shin Bet. Prediction markets have seen major insider trading scandals this year after a Polymarket user won a bet that Nicolás Maduro would be ousted as Venezuelan president hours before he was captured by US forces, profiting around $400,000.

Top Magazine Stories of The Week

IronClaw rivals OpenClaw, Olas launches bots for Polymarket — AI Eye

Near.AI’s Illia Polosukhin is building a more secure Rust-based version of OpenClaw that won’t leak your private keys, called IronClaw.

Brandt says Bitcoin yet to bottom, Polymarket sees hope: Trade Secrets

Peter Brandt says it is “spooky” how easy Bitcoin is to forecast, Arthur Hayes says ETH’s beatings will continue until liquidity improves.

Is China hoarding gold so yuan becomes global reserve instead of USD?

China has been amassing gold for 15 months in a row, with many speculating it has an ulterior motive: to undermine the greenback.