ETH falls below the $2900 mark

[Sberbank of Russia Tests DeFi Products and Explores Integration with Public Blockchains like Ethereum Due to Customer Demand] Sberbank of Russia has announced that, in response to increasing customer interest in trading and holding cryptocurrencies, the bank is testing a range of DeFi products. Anatoly Popov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, stated that the bank is working with regulators to develop digital asset products and emphasized that traditional banking and DeFi are moving toward integration. Sberbank is also conducting projects involving asset tokenization or connecting with DeFi platforms using public blockchains like Ethereum.

[MetaMask Launches Native Bitcoin Support] The crypto wallet application MetaMask has launched native Bitcoin support, allowing users to directly purchase Bitcoin with fiat currency, perform on-chain transfers, and exchange with EVM assets. MetaMask currently supports the native SegWit derivation path, with Taproot support coming soon.

[Startale and SBI Plan to Launch a Regulated Yen Stablecoin in 2026] Japanese blockchain infrastructure company Startale Group and financial group SBI Holdings plan to launch a fully regulated yen-pegged stablecoin by the second quarter of 2026, aiming to support global settlements and institutional use cases. The two parties will collaborate under a new agreement, with Startale responsible for technical development and SBI focusing on compliance, regulation, and issuance promotion. Shinsei Trust & Banking will handle issuance and redemption management, while licensed crypto exchange SBI VC Trade will oversee circulation.

[Malicious Packages Targeting Bitcoin Python Library bitcoinlib Removed] Security researchers at ReversingLabs used machine learning technology to detect malicious packages targeting the popular Python Bitcoin wallet library bitcoinlib. The two malicious packages, named bitcoinlibdbfix and bitcoinlib-dev, disguised themselves as Bitcoin transaction error fixes, aiming to overwrite legitimate commands to steal sensitive database files. Although the malicious programmers lobbied on GitHub to run their libraries, they were exposed. These two packages have now been removed and are no longer available for download.

[Whale '0x35d' Increases 20x Leveraged SOL Short Position with $15.9M Unrealized Profit] As the market declines, whale '0x35d' has increased its 20x leveraged SOL short position, with current unrealized profits of approximately $15.9 million.