According to Odaily Planet Daily, OKX market data shows that BTC has rebounded and broken through 68,000 USDT, currently trading at 68,013 USDT, with the 24-hour decline narrowing to 0.69%. (This news item was generated with AI assistance.)

Odaily Planet Daily reports that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a report on February 17th, warning the Japanese government to maintain the independence of the Bank of Japan, control fiscal expansion, and avoid addressing livelihood issues by cutting the consumption tax. This report coincides with the Japanese prime ministerial election. It is understood that the market is closely watching whether Sanae Takaichi will oppose further interest rate hikes by the central bank, and her previous two-year commitment to "zero out the food consumption tax." Regarding monetary policy, the IMF pointed out that maintaining the Bank of Japan's independence and credibility helps stabilize inflation expectations, and stated that the Bank of Japan "should continue to exit monetary easing, bringing the policy rate to a neutral level by 2027." Regarding fiscal policy, the IMF believes that further easing of fiscal policy is not advisable in the short term. This contradicts Takaichi's proposed "responsible and proactive fiscal policy." The IMF believes that although Japan currently has some fiscal space, it still needs to maintain fiscal restraint to solidify its fiscal buffer and maintain its ability to cope with shocks. The IMF predicts that in the long term, the Japanese government's fiscal deficit will widen, spending pressure will increase, and total public debt will further grow. (Jinshi)

According to Odaily Planet Daily, industry insiders believe that Ethereum is currently in a "gap period between narratives," where the market tends to price uncertainty when a clear long-term value logic is lacking. In the past few years, the mainstream narrative has focused on scaling primarily occurring at Layer 2, while the mainnet maintains security, decentralization, and a streamlined architecture. This path successfully attracted capital and development resources. However, the current market focus is shifting towards zero-knowledge technology and privacy capabilities returning to the foundational layer, leading to misaligned expectations among some investors who built valuation models based on the old approach. Complete on-chain transparency presents a real obstacle for institutional funds; large enterprises or funds are unwilling to have their financial statements and trading strategies tracked in real time. If Ethereum hopes to attract trillions of dollars in institutional funds, protocol-level privacy capabilities will become a key competitive variable. Furthermore, the expansion of the options market around spot ETFs is also changing Ethereum's price formation mechanism, including the increasing influence of covered call strategies and market maker hedging behavior. (Forbes)

According to a report by 10x Research on the X platform, despite Bitcoin's 46% drop, the Bitcoin ETF only recorded a net outflow of $8.5 billion. According to the latest Q4 2025 13F filing, it is estimated that 55%-75% of IBIT's $61 billion in assets are held by market makers and arbitrage-focused hedge funds, whose positions are mostly hedging or market-neutral rather than expressing directional views. In Q4 2025, as Bitcoin consolidated around $88,000, market makers reduced their exposure by approximately $1.6 billion to $2.4 billion, reflecting a decline in speculative demand and a reduction in demand for arbitrage inventory.

According to Odaily Planet Daily, renowned analyst Willy Woo stated, "I have bad news for those who are perpetually bullish on Bitcoin: the bear market trend is still ongoing and should be divided into three phases: Phase 1 – The Beginning: At this stage, Bitcoin liquidity has collapsed, a situation that occurred in the third quarter of 2025, and the price begins to fall. Bitcoin, as a small-scale asset, is extremely sensitive to liquidity. Because of this, it often leads the global macroeconomy into a bear market, usually months in advance. In other words, Bitcoin reacts quickly when savvy money withdraws. In this phase, die-hard bulls will blindly claim this is a correction within the bull market, but they cannot provide any concrete evidence of capital inflows; they are simply fabricating stories. Phase 2 – Global Stock Markets Turn Bearish: This is a behemoth of $100 trillion, like a giant supertanker – moving slowly. This is the middle phase of the Bitcoin bear market; all risky assets are falling, and there is no doubt that we are in a bear market. Phase 3 – The Dawn: In this phase, liquidity begins to improve, capital outflows peak and stabilize. Investors are returning." The final price crash typically occurs at this stage, possibly before or shortly after the peak of capital outflows. Within the current bear market framework, Bitcoin is currently in the first stage and poised to enter the second.