On 1 February 2026, Tom Lee’s Ethereum-focused vehicle BitMine was estimated to be sitting on roughly $6 billion in unrealized losses from its more than 4 million ETH position. The firm’s average acquisition cost is around $3,800 per ETH, while the asset is trading near $2,300, reflecting about a 40% drawdown. Despite the pressure, BitMine continues to accumulate and stake Ethereum, with the position reportedly unencumbered by margin calls or forced liquidations.

XRP fell 9% in 2026 and touched $1.60, its first nine‑month low, after breaking the $1.80 support. According to Alphractal, a 0.998 correlation to Bitcoin and an 87% altcoin‑BTC linkage keep price action tethered to BTC swings. Despite SoSoValue's noted ETF inflows and RWA TVL rising 11% to $235 million, gains remain muted.

On February 1, 2026, fresh data on India's crypto tax regime for FY 2024–25 showed ₹511.83 crore collected as TDS, with a significant divergence between tax deducted and actual liability. Nearly half of investors ended the year with net losses, yet many still owed or paid tax on gains that could not be offset. Ahead of the Union Budget 2026, industry participants are urging reforms to the 30% tax, loss set-off rules, and the 1% TDS on virtual digital asset trades.

The U.S. Department of Justice has finalized the forfeiture of more than $400 million in cryptocurrencies, cash, and real estate connected to the Helix Bitcoin Mixer, concluding litigation against its operator Larry Dean Harmon in January 2026. Helix, active from 2014 to 2017, processed over 354,468 Bitcoin allegedly tied to criminal activity, while Harmon was charged in 2020 and later sentenced in 2024 to prison time, supervised release, and asset forfeiture. The case unfolds amid broader U.S. regulatory action on crypto mixers and a policy shift on criminal enforcement for certain regulatory violations involving exchanges and developers.

On February 1, 2026, Ark Invest projected that tokenized real-world assets may surpass $11 trillion in value by 2030, up from an estimated $19–22 billion today. The firm expects growth to be driven by institutional adoption, clearer regulation and tokenization of assets such as sovereign debt, bank deposits and public equities.

On January 11, South Korea announced the end of a nine‑year ban on corporate crypto investing, and, as of February 1, 2026, regulators were weighing a 10% equity cap for listed firms and professional investors, up from 5%. The Financial Services Commission also floated a 15–20% ownership ceiling for exchange shareholders, drawing pushback from industry groups and academics.

The SEC said it will operate with minimal staff beginning January 31, 2026 due to a U.S. government shutdown. Its contingency plan pauses tokenized securities registration and crypto product exemptions, slowing reviews across key divisions. Markets expect short-term disruption, while Ethereum trades at $2,439.50 after recent declines.

On 1 February 2026 at 06:00, the article reported Toncoin fading near $1.30 with resistance around $1.70, while Ethereum's average fees dropped to about $0.01 after early-2026 improvements and a 2.6 million-transaction day on January 17. It also outlined ZKP's $1.7B target and a 450-day auction model, with 200 million tokens offered per day in the current stage.