The digital asset landscape today is defined by a sharp contrast between institutional accumulation and retail exhaustion. While MicroStrategy continues its aggressive “buy every quarter” mandate, bringing its total holdings to over 717,131 BTC, the broader market is grappling with a severe liquidity crisis. On-chain data indicates that the vast majority of altcoins are now trapped in a long-term bear trend, struggling to find support as capital consolidates into $Bitcoin. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin network itself has demonstrated immense resilience, recovering from recent weather-related disruptions to post its largest absolute difficulty adjustment in history.
MicroStrategy Expands Treasury: Michael Saylor’s $168 Million Move
In the headline for crypto news today, MicroStrategy has confirmed an additional purchase of 2,486 BTC for approximately $168.4 million. According to the latest SEC filings, the purchase was made between February 9 and February 16, 2026, at an average price of roughly $67,710 per coin.
Michael Saylor, the firm’s Executive Chairman, continues to pivot the company’s capital structure to support these buys. Notably, nearly half of this acquisition was funded through the issuance of “Stretch” preferred shares, a tactical shift designed to protect common equity holders while maintaining a “perpetual bitcoin-buying machine.” Despite the $BTC price currently sitting below the company’s aggregate cost basis of $76,027, the firm now controls over 3.4% of the total Bitcoin supply.
Altcoin Liquidity Crunch: 83% of Tokens Slip Into Bear Trend
While Bitcoin benefits from corporate backing, the rest of the market is under significant duress. Analysts at CryptoQuant have issued a “Bear Trend” alert, noting that 83% of altcoins on Binance are now trading below their 50-week moving average.
This deterioration in market breadth suggests a profound liquidity crunch. Outside of Bitcoin and major stablecoins like USDT and USDC, retail demand has essentially evaporated. This trend is particularly evident in high-beta assets like $XRP, which is currently hovering around $1.41. As “risk-off” sentiment prevails, leveraged long positions are being flushed out, with technical experts warning that a failure to reclaim the $1.54 resistance could lead to a deeper correction toward $1.35.
Bitcoin Network Records Historic 15% Difficulty Jump
One of the most significant infrastructure developments in crypto news today is the record-breaking adjustment in Bitcoin mining difficulty. This morning, the network’s difficulty jumped by 14.7%, reaching a new high of 144.4 trillion.
This adjustment follows a massive hashrate rebound after severe winter storms in the United States forced many miners to temporarily power down. As these operators reconnected their rigs, block production times plummeted to under 9 minutes, triggering the protocol’s automated upward adjustment.
- Hashrate Recovery: The network hashrate rose from 884 EH/s back above 1,030 EH/s.
- Significance: This marks the largest absolute increase in the history of the network, underscoring that Bitcoin mining remains highly competitive even in a suppressed price environment.
Technical Analysis: The “True Market Mean” Resistance
According to the latest “Week On-chain” report from Glassnode, Bitcoin is currently trading in a “defensive range.” The “True Market Mean,” a metric representing the aggregate cost basis of active supply, is positioned at $79,000 and is acting as a stiff technical ceiling.
Currently, the market is finding support in the $60,000–$69,000 zone, where significant volume was traded throughout 2024 and 2025. However, if this demand cluster fails to hold, the next major structural floor is the Realized Price at $54,900.
Security Alert: 12-Month Anniversary of the Bybit Exploit
On the security front, today marks the one-year anniversary of the $1.46 billion Bybit exploit, attributed by the FBI to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. A recent report from Elliptic warns that DPRK-linked cyber activity is actually accelerating. In January 2026, the volume of social engineering attacks was double the monthly average of 2025.
With state-sponsored hackers focusing on sophisticated “spear-phishing” and social engineering, individual security is more important than ever. We highly recommend reviewing our hardware wallet comparison to move your assets off exchanges and into self-custody.
Source: https://cryptoticker.io/en/crypto-news-today-microstrategy-bitcoin-mining-difficulty-record/