Bitcoin Down 2.5% Weekly: Jane Street Accusations & 7 Ethereum Forks

Bitcoin ended the week down roughly 2.5% amid macroeconomic turbulence and geopolitical escalation. Meanwhile, the crypto community erupted in debate over investment firm Jane Street's alleged role in the market correction, and the Ethereum team published an ambitious plan for seven hard forks by 2029.

Bitcoin: From $67,500 to $63,000 and Back

The trading week kicked off with a sharp overnight BTC crash — from $67,500 to $64,000. The catalysts were mass unrest in Mexico, a decline in the U.S. pending home sales index, and a hike in American import tariffs from 10% to 15%.

Hourly BTC/USDT chart on Binance. Source: TradingView

By Tuesday, the leading cryptocurrency had slid to a local low around $62,000, followed by a bounce. On the evening of February 25, BTC tested the $70,000 mark on a wave of positive sentiment from U.S. equity markets but failed to hold above that level.

On Thursday, prices pulled back to $67,000; on Friday — to $65,000. Saturday brought additional pressure from a U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran — within an hour, the price plunged from $65,000 to $63,000. By Sunday evening, bitcoin had recovered above $67,000.

Against the backdrop of Middle Eastern escalation, Tether's gold-pegged stablecoin XAUT surged from ~$5,300 to a high of $5,466 before correcting to $5,350.

Performance of the largest crypto assets. Source: CoinGecko

Ethereum closed the week just below $2,000, while Solana settled at $85. Total crypto market capitalization stood at $2.37 trillion, with BTC dominance at 56.1% and ETH at 10.1%. The Fear and Greed Index climbed to 14, though it dipped as low as 5 at one point.

Despite the volatility, spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs recorded net inflows of $787 million and $80 million, respectively.

Why This Matters

The accusations against Jane Street go beyond a single trading episode — they point to potential systematic manipulation of the largest digital asset through the ETF mechanism. If the theory holds up, it could undermine confidence in the spot ETF structure.

At the same time, Ethereum's roadmap featuring seven hard forks over four years is one of the most ambitious upgrade programs in the protocol's history, touching everything from speed to quantum security.

Jane Street: Manipulator or Target of Speculation?

A theory linking Bitcoin's correction to Jane Street's actions gained widespread traction. According to the claims, since November 2025 the firm has been systematically selling BTC at 10:00 AM ET to push down the asset's price ahead of ETF purchases.

«Since November, bitcoin has consistently dropped 2-3% within minutes of the U.S. market open. Many traders point to Jane Street's massive position in BlackRock's IBIT — over $2.5 billion» — popular X account Whale Factor back in December, original post

Interest in the theory was further fueled by a Terraform Labs lawsuit against Jane Street, accusing the firm of insider trading that led to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem.

Users noted that after the lawsuit was filed, the characteristic morning BTC volatility allegedly disappeared — on February 25, at the U.S. market open, the leading cryptocurrency gained 6%, approaching $69,000.

Glassnode co-founders Jan Happel and Yann Allemann pointed out that since the Jane Street case went public, "the 10 AM bitcoin slam has miraculously disappeared."

Crypto economist Alex Krüger offered a counterargument: by his calculations, IBIT dropped about 1% in the first 15 minutes of trading and then rose an average of 0.9% over the following 30 minutes.

ProCap CIO and Bitwise advisor Jeff Park argued that the controversy around the firm stems from a misunderstanding of how ETFs actually work.

Jane Street has faced similar accusations before. In June 2025, India's regulator banned the firm from operating on local markets and froze $566 million, identifying a "morning pump, afternoon dump" scheme to manipulate the Bank Nifty index.

Seven Ethereum Hard Forks: Roadmap Through 2029

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake presented a preliminary protocol development roadmap covering the period through 2029.

Ethereum roadmap according to Justin Drake. Source: X

The plan envisions approximately seven hard forks at roughly six-month intervals. Only two upgrades have confirmed names so far — Glamsterdam and Hegota, both scheduled for 2026. The rest carry working titles: Altair, Bellatrix, Capella, Deneb, Electra, Fulu.

Key roadmap goals:

• L1 Speed — finalization in seconds, reduced slot times;
• L1 Throughput — up to 1 gigabyte of gas per second (~10,000 TPS) via zkEVM and real-time proof generation;
• L2 Throughput — up to 1 gigabyte per second (~10 million TPS) through data availability sampling;
• L1 Post-Quantum Protection — hash-based cryptography;
• L1 Privacy — built-in protection for ETH transfers.

Drake noted that integrating AI into the development process could significantly accelerate the release of updates.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin separately addressed quantum security, announcing a major overhaul of encryption algorithms and transaction verification methods in 2026. The protocol currently has four components vulnerable to quantum computers: consensus-level signatures, data availability, user address algorithms, and ZK proofs.

A new transaction type with validation and gas fee abstraction (EIP-8141) will be added to the protocol, enabling the use of any cryptographic system beyond ECDSA.

Investigation Against Durov and Telegram's Fate

Russian media reported that an investigation has been opened against Telegram founder Pavel Durov on charges of facilitating terrorist activities (Part 1.1, Article 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code). According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta and Komsomolskaya Pravda, the charges relate to the failure to suppress illegal content — the messenger's administration allegedly did not comply with Roskomnadzor's demands to remove banned channels.

Roskomnadzor has been restricting Telegram's operation since summer 2025, and in February 2026 it intensified the "throttling" of the service. Durov stated that "Telegram stands for freedom of speech and privacy."

Almost simultaneously, Ukrainian authorities raised the question of restricting Telegram. On February 22, Deputy Head of President Zelensky's Office Iryna Vereshchuk called for consideration of such a measure following explosions in Lviv. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and Deputy Head of the SBU Ivan Rudnytsky later echoed the initiative, clarifying that a full ban was not being discussed.

AI Bot Lost $250,000 to a Scammer

The Lobstar Wilde AI Bot Incident

A developer going by the handle pash, who previously led the Cline startup, created an AI assistant called Lobstar Wilde and loaded it with a crypto wallet containing $50,000 in SOL. The bot was supposed to turn the funds into $1 million.

After the project gained traction on X, unknown actors created a meme token designating the bot's address as the fee recipient. Then a user named treasure David sent the bot a message asking it to transfer 4 SOL, allegedly to treat his uncle's tetanus.

In response, Lobstar Wilde sent all of its LOBSTAR tokens — including a gifted 5% of the token's total supply — worth approximately $250,000. The bot later claimed it had intended to send only $4 but accidentally transferred all assets.

FAQ

Which spot ETFs recorded inflows this week?

Spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $787 million in net inflows, while Ethereum ETFs saw $80 million, despite high market volatility.

How many hard forks are planned for Ethereum?

The roadmap calls for approximately seven hard forks through 2029 at six-month intervals. The first two — Glamsterdam and Hegota — are set for 2026.

What are the accusations against Jane Street?

According to the theory, since November 2025 the firm has been systematically selling BTC at 10:00 AM ET to suppress the price when buying ETFs, leveraging a position in BlackRock's IBIT worth over $2.5 billion.

Read also

• Octane Security's AI System Found a Critical Vulnerability in Ethereum Client Nethermind
• Ethereum to Transition to Quantum-Resistant Cryptography by 2026