Portofino Mint - 23 February 2026

🚀 Welcome to the Portofino Mint!

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📊 Cryptos at a Glance

Crypto markets traded in a fragile but reactive tone this week. Bitcoin slipped toward the mid-$60k area before stabilising as macro headlines drove intraday volatility. A U.S. court ruling striking down Trump-era tariffs briefly lifted risk appetite across equities and digital assets, highlighting how tightly crypto remains tied to macro flows. Meanwhile, institutional positioning stayed cautious, with continued outflows from exchange-traded crypto products even as spot ETFs remain the primary sentiment gauge for traditional allocators. Structural stress, not panic, defined the week.

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📊 Key Market Levels

• ‍Bitcoin (BTC) traded between $64,500 and $67,200, briefly testing the lower end of the range before stabilising near $66k, with dominance edging higher above 54% as capital rotated defensively.
• ‍Ethereum (ETH) fluctuated between $3,050 and $3,240, underperforming BTC on a relative basis as altcoin beta remained suppressed.
• Crypto investment products saw a fourth consecutive week of net outflows (~$170M), while cumulative February flows remain negative, reflecting cautious institutional allocation. Spot Bitcoin ETF flows remained modest compared to January highs.
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🪙 Macro Overview

• Tariff ruling briefly boosted risk appetite. A U.S. court decision declaring broad Trump-era tariffs unlawful provided a short-lived lift to equities and crypto markets, easing trade-related uncertainty before renewed geopolitical headlines capped momentum.
• Dollar strength and inflation expectations continue to drive cross-asset positioning, keeping crypto highly sensitive to macro data releases and rate expectations.

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🌐 Project & Token Highlights

• Solana ecosystem meme coins and speculative tokens remain in focus as retail traders chase volatility, showing relative strength against broader market pullbacks.
• Gemini restructuring deepens. Gemini announced executive departures including its COO, CFO and Chief Legal Officer as part of broader cost-cutting efforts. The exchange has also been scaling back operations in select international markets while focusing on core jurisdictions and profitability amid softer trading volumes.
• XRP trades near key support as ecosystem activity expands. XRP came under pressure alongside the broader market, with price action testing important technical levels and institutional price expectations revised lower this week. At the same time, tokenized asset issuance on the XRP Ledger continued to grow, highlighting a divergence between short-term price weakness and ongoing infrastructure development.

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🏢 Institutional Developments

• Continued outflows from crypto exchange-traded products underline cautious institutional positioning, even as ETFs remain the dominant vehicle for traditional market access.
• Discussions at recent industry conferences have increasingly focused on liquidity resilience, tokenized real-world assets and stablecoin integration into financial infrastructure — reinforcing the structural evolution narrative despite near-term volatility.

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📆 What to Watch Next Week

• U.S. Consumer Confidence (Feb 24) — Gauge of risk appetite and dollar direction.
• U.S. PPI (Feb 27) — Key inflation signal influencing Fed expectations.
• Australia CPI (Feb 25) — Important for global rate trajectory and FX flows.
• IMF U.S. Policy Assessment (Feb 25) — May shape fiscal outlook and broader macro narrative.

Macro data remains the dominant driver of risk-on versus risk-off positioning — and by extension, digital asset liquidity conditions.

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🎯 Weekly Takeaway

Price volatility remains visible at the surface.
Liquidity selectivity and capital rotation tell the deeper story.

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📅 Missed last week’s update? Catch up on all headlines in the previous Portofino Mint.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘎𝘗𝘛.

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