ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Pi Network responded to Bybit CEO Ben Zhou's controversy questioning its legitimacy. Previously, an X account claiming to be the "unofficial technical team" of Pi Network stated that the project rejected Bybit's listing proposal, and Zhou subsequently accused Pi Network of being a "scam," citing warnings from Chinese authorities.Pi Network told Cointelegraph that it is not associated with the X account and confirmed that Bybit has never submitted a Know Your Business (KYB) verification request. Regarding the warning from Chinese police, Pi Network clarified that the related incident involved malicious actors impersonating the project, rather than the company itself.In response to the user count controversy, Pi Network explained that the 60 million users it promotes are app users, while the 10.8 million users shown on the blockchain explorer are the number of users who have created wallets on the mainnet.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Bitcoin (BTC) fell below the 200-day simple moving average during the Asian trading session on Friday, with a weekly decline expanding to 16%. Driven by renewed concerns over U.S. tariff policies, which increased demand for the dollar, Bitcoin's price briefly dropped below the $80,000 mark for the first time since November 10.U.S. President Trump announced on Thursday plans to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting March 4, while also doubling the 10% general tariff on Chinese imports. In a client report released on Thursday, ING stated, "We expect U.S. tariffs to regain focus and drive the dollar to continue strengthening." The dollar index rose to 107.30, continuing the rebound from a low near 106.15 on Wednesday.

ChainCatcher news, the IEEE P3220.02 working group meeting led by the decentralized data infrastructure CESS Network was successfully held. During this meeting, the working group completed the final confirmation of the privacy policy, ensuring compliance in the standards and standard-setting process. The working group further advanced the framework for decentralized data solutions, focusing on how to achieve scalable and secure data management, laying a solid foundation for the standardization of decentralized storage.It is reported that IEEE P3220.02, proposed and led by CESS, is the first industry standard for decentralized storage protocols, which will promote the normalization and application of decentralized storage technology globally. The working group members include experts and corporate representatives from major industries such as State Grid, Southern Power Grid, Shutu, China Aviation Information, Inspur, Qulian, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, IoTeX, among others. CESS co-founder Joseph Li serves as the chair of this working group.

ChainCatcher news, Optimum announced the completion of its angel round financing, with investors including the CTO of Polychain, the founder of DeFiance Capital, the CEO of Bitget, the co-founder of Wormhole, the co-founder of Polygon, and managing partners from Jump Crypto, among other well-known figures in Web3.Optimum was co-founded by Professor Muriel Médard, the NEC Chair of the MIT Department of Computer Science, Dr. Kishori Konwar, and Kent Lin, the president of the Harvard Blockchain Association. It is based on MIT's research achievements in Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) and aims to create the world's first full-chain scalability solution—high-performance memory for the World Computer.Optimum provides high-performance memory infrastructure for L1/L2 blockchains and node operators, including a P2P data communication layer and a decentralized memory layer (deRAM), breaking through the scalability bottleneck of blockchain to achieve fast data transmission, efficient storage, and real-time access. The financing will be used to accelerate product development and bring infrastructure upgrades to the Web3 ecosystem.

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 News, SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a statement saying that the SEC has officially withdrawn its civil enforcement action against Coinbase and will not take further action in this case. Peirce made it clear that she has never supported the case and criticized the SEC's previous reliance on enforcement actions to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, arguing that it harms the public interest in the United States, hinders industry development, and obstructs the normal functions of the SEC's professional policy team.Peirce pointed out that the SEC's broad application of the Howey test has led to regulatory ambiguity, making it difficult for compliant businesses to operate, while wrongdoers exploit regulatory gray areas to evade legal responsibilities. Furthermore, due to the lack of a clear regulatory framework, many cryptocurrency companies are forced to spend significant resources on legal defenses rather than on product innovation. She believes that the SEC's previous approach of making policy through enforcement not only misleads the industry but also prevents the policy team from effectively participating in the formulation of industry rules.She emphasized that the current SEC has established a "Crypto Task Force," empowering the policy team to take the lead in collaborating with the public to develop a regulatory framework applicable to the cryptocurrency industry. This withdrawal of the lawsuit does not mean that the SEC is abandoning enforcement; rather, it indicates that future regulation will focus on policy-making rather than solely relying on enforcement actions.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao sent a letter to the new U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, expressing China's concerns regarding the U.S. tariffs on Chinese products exported to the U.S.Wang Wentao emphasized that recently, the U.S. imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese products under the pretext of issues such as fentanyl. China firmly opposes this and has taken corresponding countermeasures, which is a necessary step to protect China's legitimate rights and interests.Wang Wentao stated that China also noted that President Trump signed the "America First" trade policy memorandum on January 20, which includes several investigations targeting China. He hopes that the U.S. will conduct assessment investigations with an objective, rational, and professional attitude, and increase transparency. It is normal for there to be differences between China and the U.S. in the economic and trade fields, and these concerns should be resolved through equal dialogue and consultation.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Pakistan will establish a national cryptocurrency committee responsible for legislating the industry. This decision was made after a meeting with President Donald Trump's digital asset advisors.The committee will be a dedicated advisory body composed of government representatives, regulators, and industry experts. The committee will be responsible for formulating regulatory policies and collaborating with other countries to promote the establishment of standardized frameworks, the Pakistani Ministry of Finance stated.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the autonomous Star Polaris in the Sky (formerly MakerDAO) ecosystem agent framework (Agent Framework) will connect with Berachain, with the initial focus on expanding Sky's stablecoin USDS across chains, which means USDS holders can participate in Berachain's DeFi products, such as lending, trading, or liquidity mining. Most of Sky's infrastructure (including the Sky protocol) is still running on Ethereum.

ChainCatcher news, according to Hong Kong media Ming Pao, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan stated during the announcement of the "Budget" that a second virtual asset policy declaration is set to be published. Sources indicate that the declaration is expected to be released in the second quarter. The new policy declaration will increase the emphasis on market development and better balance development and regulation. Additionally, the scope of the policy document will be broader, not only involving individual departments such as the Securities and Futures Commission or the Monetary Authority, and there is no intention for a single agency to regulate virtual assets.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, U.S. Treasury investors are beginning to bet that the Federal Reserve's policy focus will shift from curbing inflation to addressing the slowdown in economic growth. Under this expectation, U.S. Treasuries have risen for six consecutive trading days, with yields falling to their lowest level of the year.Morgan Stanley strategists indicate that if the market's expectations for Federal Reserve policy shift slightly, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield could potentially fall below 4%. Currently, traders have resumed expectations for two rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year (each by 25 basis points) and anticipate further cuts next year to around 3.65%. The bank believes that if market expectations for rates drop to 3.25%, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield could fall below 4%.Recently, U.S. Treasury auctions have performed strongly, with Wednesday's auction of $44 billion in seven-year Treasuries yielding 4.194%, lower than the pre-auction market close of 4.203%, indicating demand exceeded expectations. Analysts point out that investors see reasons for rate cuts not only from economic growth indicators but also from U.S. fiscal and immigration policies, including Trump's threats to impose tariffs on major trading partners.So far this year, U.S. Treasuries have risen 2.3%, surpassing the S&P 500 index's increase of 1.3%. The personal consumption expenditures price index for January, to be released on Friday, may become a key data point influencing market expectations.

ChainCatcher news, the Berachain Foundation officially appoints Paul O'Leary as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). O'Leary previously served as CTO of Polygon Labs and has 20 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience in the blockchain and big data fields. O'Leary joined Berachain earlier this year and has led the team in advancing the mainnet launch. He will leverage his extensive experience in engineering management to drive the development of Berachain.

ChainCatcher news, according to Southeast Morning Post, 21 staff members of the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) led by Elon Musk collectively resigned on February 25 local time. In their joint resignation letter, they stated that they refuse to use their technical expertise to "dismantle critical public services," and accused many of those recruited by Musk of being "political dreamers" lacking the skills or experience necessary to complete the tasks.Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hochul stated on February 25 that she welcomes recently laid-off federal workers to apply for state government positions through an online portal. Currently, DOGE is coordinating the federal government layoffs, with the established goal of reducing the federal bureaucracy, but there are no official statistics on the total number of layoffs yet.

ChainCatcher news, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan announced in the 2025-26 Budget that a second policy declaration on the development of virtual assets will be published soon, exploring how to combine the advantages of traditional financial services with technological innovations in the virtual asset sector, and enhancing the security and flexibility of real economic activities. It will also encourage local and international enterprises to explore innovations and applications of virtual asset technology.Paul Chan reiterated that the government will consult on the licensing system for over-the-counter trading and custody services for virtual assets within the year. Regarding the regulation of stablecoins, the Hong Kong government has submitted a draft bill to the Legislative Council, and once the bill is passed, the Monetary Authority will expedite the approval of license applications.

ChainCatcher message reports that, according to Scam Sniffer monitoring, a user lost $763,600 due to a transaction record pollution attack. The attacker used a forged address that matched the first 4 characters and the last 6 characters of the real address, causing the victim to mistakenly copy the wrong address and transfer funds.

ChainCatcher News: U.S. consumer confidence in February fell short of expectations, marking the largest monthly decline in over three years. Additionally, Trump stated that after the grace period, tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico will be fully imposed, intensifying market concerns about tariffs and economic recession.According to 4E monitoring, U.S. stocks saw more declines than gains on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones rising 0.37%, the S&P 500 falling 0.47%, and the Nasdaq dropping 1.35%. Most large tech stocks declined, with Tesla plummeting over 8.39%, bringing its market value below $1 trillion, followed closely by Nvidia, which fell 2.8%. A recent report from Goldman Sachs indicated that hedge funds are withdrawing from U.S. tech and media stocks at the fastest pace in six months, with the seven tech giants entering a technical correction zone.The cryptocurrency market had already led the decline ahead of U.S. stocks yesterday, with Bitcoin dropping to $86,050 at one point and Ethereum hitting a low of $2,313. The cooling of meme coin trends, along with the upcoming unlocking of a large number of tokens, caused SOL to experience the steepest decline, dropping nearly 50% over the past month. Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net outflow of $774 million yesterday, marking six consecutive days of net outflows. The cryptocurrency market has remained sluggish since February, and the week started with another significant drop, with the Fear and Greed Index falling to 21, a new low since September of last year.In the forex commodities sector, consumer confidence data pressured the dollar, causing the dollar index to drop 0.2%, nearing a two-month low set on Monday. Market concerns about oil demand, coupled with potential peace talks from Russia, led to oil prices falling over 2%. After reaching new highs, investors took profits, resulting in spot gold dropping over 1.2%.A series of weak data recently suggests that the U.S. economy may be entering a recession. The S&P and Nasdaq have seen four consecutive declines, exacerbating market concerns about declining consumer confidence and the impact of tariff policies on the economy. Traders are generally maintaining a cautious stance, waiting for more economic data and policy guidance. eeee.com (http://eeee.com/) is a financial trading platform supporting assets such as cryptocurrencies, stock indices, gold commodities, and forex. It recently launched a USDT stablecoin financial product with an annualized return of 8%, providing investors with a potential hedging option. 4E reminds you to pay attention to market volatility risks and to allocate assets wisely.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, a poll released by Reuters/Ipsos on Tuesday shows that President Trump's approval rating has remained stable over the past week, with 44% of respondents approving of his performance in his first month in office. The survey found that even though Trump has fired tens of thousands of federal workers and the U.S. has reversed its stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Americans' views on him have largely remained unchanged.The survey shows that 50% of people are dissatisfied with his work, slightly down from 51% the previous week, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. So far, public support for Trump's job performance remains higher than for most of his first term from 2017 to 2021. An online poll conducted from last Friday to Sunday among 1,029 American adults also showed that 50% of respondents support Trump's approach to immigration, up from 47% the previous week. Additionally, 42% of people expressed disapproval of his immigration policies.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the Aave community has approved a proposal to significantly increase the risk parameters on the Polygon PoS chain, effectively halting lending services on that chain. Currently, Aave is the DeFi protocol with the highest TVL on Polygon, with deposits exceeding $300 million.This move stems from a proposal made by Polygon last December to utilize over $1 billion in stablecoin reserves for yield generation, raising concerns within the Aave community. Aave founder Marc Zeller proposed adjusting the risk parameters for Aave v2 and v3 to prevent further deposits and stop users from borrowing against collateral. Ultimately, the Aave DAO passed the proposal with 692,000 votes in favor and 117,000 votes against, reducing the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for USDT and USDC on the Polygon PoS chain to 0%.Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron has stated that ideally Aave should maintain its partnership with Polygon, but the final decision depends on the attitude of the Aave community. Aave founder Stani Kulechov emphasized that this move is aimed at reducing the risk of bridging assets and protecting user funds.