ChainCatcher message, Ethereum Foundation protocol support lead Tim Beiko updated on X about the issues with the Holesky testnet Pectra upgrade.Beiko stated that a large-scale slash will be executed on the Holesky testnet tonight to finalize the blocks on the correct chain, which may last for 2 to 3 weeks until the weight of the slashed validators drops below 33% of the entire network.Beiko also mentioned that the upgrade schedule for the Sepolia testnet will not change, in order to provide a longer testing period for the mainnet upgrade. Issues related to the mainnet upgrade will be discussed at next week's ACDC meeting, but it is unlikely that a specific date will be determined.

ChainCatcher message, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes stated, "Now we calm down, pull back, and wait. If Trump cannot pass his budget proposal, which increases spending and raises the debt ceiling, then the market will resume its decline to the levels before the election victory, which is in the range of $70,000 to $75,000. This will be a test of Trump's control over the Republican Party."

ChainCatcher news, the DeFi ecosystem projects Omo & Neko participated in the offline themed event "Synapse 2025: Exploring the Future of AI" hosted by Cipher Dance. At the meeting, Ali Hassan, CEO of Omo & Neko, presented a series of challenges currently facing the Web3 DeFi space, including complex user experiences, high gas fees, fragmented liquidity, and inefficient governance mechanisms.Omo & Neko has significantly reduced transaction costs and optimized user experience through innovative technical architecture and multi-chain integration. By applying proxy workflows, it has enhanced liquidity efficiency, proposed a decentralized autonomous mechanism, simplified decision-making processes, and improved transparency and governance efficiency, thus promoting further growth and optimization of DeFi.Omo & Neko is a project focused on innovative DeFi solutions, providing secure, low-cost, and efficient financial services through a decentralized finance platform. It combines multi-chain technology with smart contracts to offer users better asset management and trading experiences while addressing liquidity and governance issues in the DeFi ecosystem. Omo & Neko aims to create a more transparent, user-friendly, and efficient DeFi ecosystem, promoting the popularization and development of DeFi.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the Ethereum Pectra upgrade was activated at 5:55 on the Holesky testnet, but according to blockchain data, it was initially not finalized. Finalization refers to the state where once a transaction is confirmed and added to a block, it becomes immutable and irreversible. It is currently unclear why the testnet failed to finalize. Ethereum developers are investigating.This is not the first time an upgrade has not been completed on a testnet; previously, in January 2024, when developers were testing the Dencun upgrade, the hard fork was initially not completed on the Goerli testnet.

ChainCatcher news, on the X platform, on-chain security analyst ZachXBT stated that in the attack incident involving the crypto payment company Infini, the stolen 50 million USDC was not fully cashed out within 40 minutes.However, Circle, the issuer of USDC, failed to respond promptly during this period, and its claimed "24/7 incident response team" did not intervene in a timely manner.

ChainCatcher message, according to crypto analyst @shoucccc, Zhao Changpeng's first TST purchase transaction was sent via a privacy RPC, but the transaction information was still leaked.Zhao Changpeng's transaction set a minimum purchase amount of 363,225 TST, but due to blockchain slippage, he actually received 365,564 TST, a difference of about 0.7%. If the transaction had not used a privacy RPC, it could have resulted in profits worth over $200 being earned by a "sandwich bot." A certain address front-ran Zhao Changpeng's transaction but was then hit by a sandwich, ultimately causing Zhao Changpeng's transaction to fail.Additionally, the address (0xB2d57876271eA8684e7c521c1265b87703d9A0DA) seems to have known about Zhao Changpeng's buy order in advance and attempted to backrun Zhao Changpeng's transaction by checking his TST balance. @shoucccc believes that this address is not a sandwich address and has not previously traded against Zhao Changpeng.

ChainCatcher message, the decentralized data value infrastructure CESS Network provides usable data solutions for DeFAI (the integration of DeFi and AI, decentralized finance and artificial intelligence) by simplifying DeFi operations, lowering user thresholds, and enhancing security to promote mainstream Web3 applications.CESS enables efficient and secure data sharing for DeFAI applications through its innovative AI-LINK protocol and AI Agent Hub aggregation platform, facilitating AI-driven DeFi automation and intelligent decision-making. With its own DePIN network's storage and computing capabilities, CESS advances the intelligent process of decentralized finance, laying a solid foundation for the future AI-driven financial ecosystem.

ChainCatcher news, according to the popularity index data from the Web3 asset data platform RootData, as of February 21 at 10:50, in the Top 50 ranking of skyrocketing projects, Freysa has surged 859 positions, with its Token FAI experiencing a 24-hour increase of 24.3%.Freysa is a competitive proxy game, which is an artificial intelligence that controls the prize pool. The goal of the game is for users to persuade it to send the prize pool to themselves. Anyone in the world can send messages to Freysa in global chat by paying a query fee. The query fee for each new message sent to Freysa increases, with a global cap of $4,500 per message (paid in Base ETH).It is reported that RootData has launched the first "Web3 Popular Projects Ranking." This popularity ranking helps users capture the real pulse of attention and improve the accuracy of their investment decisions through 4.3 million instances of real user behavior data. The ranking is calculated in real-time based on the weighted frequency of searches by platform users, project click rates, user votes, and the popularity and influence on the X platform.

ChainCatcher news, according to Coindesk, Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter pointed out that the era of meme coins as a fair trading opportunity has ended. He believes that meme coins initially attracted retail investors because they seemed to offer a level playing field, but now the market is dominated by insider trading, pre-release trading, and bot trading, putting ordinary traders at a disadvantage.Carter stated that the promise of "fair issuance" for meme coins has been exposed, and the market is no longer fair. Although the recent trading frenzy has subsided, he believes the industry will not disappear, and there will still be new token issuances and winners, but "the era of memes is over."As confidence in meme coins wanes, Carter expects regulators to crack down on insider trading and predicts that blockchain trading history will drive future enforcement actions. He believes the market will shift towards more sustainable and fair token issuance models.

ChainCatcher news, during the "Trends and Rhythms of the New Web3 Cycle" event held at Consensus HK, Brianna, Chief Strategist of Virtuals Protocol, shared a keynote speech titled "Building an AI Nation with Virtuals Protocol."Brianna stated that we need more Agents to reach Level Three, where Level Three AI agents can independently execute tasks, make decisions, and plan, transitioning from specific task systems to broader autonomous systems. She pointed out that game engines can initially build Level Three agents, enabling them to autonomously take action, manage services freely, and dynamically adapt to feedback. The number of game agents launched on Virtuals has reached 15,000, with a growth of 455% since its release (about 1.5 months ago).In addition, Brianna shared several consumer use cases for agents that she believes have great potential, such as entertainment IP AI agents, DeFAI agents, WatchDOGE agents, and more.

ChainCatcher news, THENA proposes a soft merger with the lending platform Venus Protocol. The plan is awaiting approval from the Venus DAO and aims to create an integrated DeFi ecosystem that simplifies trading and lending processes, with the merged entity positioned as the premier "DeFAI super application" on the BNB chain.This merger will combine THENA's deep liquidity infrastructure with Venus's lending capabilities, creating a unified DeFi hub.

ChainCatcher News, the American Fox News Channel released an interview video with Trump and Musk on February 14 local time. In the video, the host asked Trump if he was aware that some American media were trying to sow discord with phrases like "President Musk."Trump stated that he was not surprised by this situation, as there are people who want to break him and Musk apart and spread many similar rumors, but they have not succeeded because if these media were very good at smearing themselves, then he would not have been able to successfully become the President of the United States. Musk, sitting next to Trump, frequently nodded in agreement with what Trump said.

ChainCatcher news, according to U.S. media reports, the Senate Finance Committee is investigating whether Dan Morehead, founder of Pantera Capital, violated federal tax laws after moving to the tax haven of Puerto Rico.According to a letter released by the Senate Finance Committee, Morehead sold "a large number of shares" after relocating to Puerto Rico, resulting in "over $1 billion" in capital gains. The committee has requested that Morehead share information related to these transactions, including the name of his tax advisor. The letter also asks him to provide a list of all assets sold during his residency in Puerto Rico, including cryptocurrencies.Morehead stated in a declaration that he moved to Puerto Rico in 2021 and believes he has taken appropriate actions regarding his taxes. A spokesperson for Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden stated that the investigation is ongoing and declined to comment further.

ChainCatcher message, zkLend has released a post-incident analysis of the security event on platform X, which indicates that zkLend was attacked starting from February 11, resulting in a loss of approximately $9.6 million:Before considering restarting the protocol, the security team and auditors will deploy security patches and conduct a thorough review.Continue to collaborate with zeroShadow to trace further fund flows.Regularly provide the community with transparent updates, informing them of the progress of the situation and the measures taken to protect user funds.Subsequently, collect community suggestions and feedback to formulate a fair and appropriate compensation plan.

ChainCatcher news, serial entrepreneur Wang Xin posted on social media, "I have always participated in Web3 with a learning attitude, so I support the token FAIR³, which focuses on technological fairness. As I mentioned in the previous AMA, although I won't personally issue a token, I will dedicate myself to the cause of technological fairness and contribute as much as I can. I purchased a total of 200 SOL, half of which will be used as a support fund for technological fairness and AI-related initiatives. I will also think about how to sincerely contribute to this community, and I welcome everyone to brainstorm together and move forward."

ChainCatcher news, Hotcoin exchange will launch perpetual contract trading for $GRIFFAIN, $ALCH, and $IP on February 14 at 16:00 (UTC+8), with all tokens supporting up to 25x leverage trading.

ChainCatcher message, according to the official announcement from BscScan, starting from February 13 at 23:10 (Beijing time), BscScan is undergoing unplanned maintenance due to issues with its database services. The engineering team is currently working on repairs, and the specific recovery time is yet to be determined. Affected services include block data updates, website and API services, as well as contract verification functions. BscScan stated that it will provide an estimated repair time as soon as possible.