"Crypto's February: SEC Softens Stance, Bitcoin Booms, $1.4B Hack"

The crypto industry experienced a significant month in February, with notable developments in policy, adoption, and security. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took a more lenient approach, dropping or pausing several legal proceedings against crypto-related entities. Meanwhile, Bitcoin adoption continued to grow, with the network becoming more decentralized. However, the month also saw the largest crypto exchange hack to date and a cooling down of the memecoin craze.

The SEC's new Crypto Task Force, led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, signaled a shift in the commission's approach. The group met with industry stakeholders to discuss fine-tuning rules concerning staking, exchange-traded products (ETPs), and a framework for digital assets. The SEC's potential new chair, Paul Atkins, also gave hope to Ripple's chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, that the high-profile case against the firm may be dismissed.

Bitcoin adoption and decentralization continued to grow. An annual report by investment firm River found that the network has become more decentralized, with the US and China's share of global hashrate declining. The two countries still lead the world in hashrate, but an analysis by country from Hash Rate Index shows that hashrate is spreading out. Governments, financial institutions, and software companies have become increasingly interested in Bitcoin, with habitual large Bitcoin buyers like MicroStrategy and El Salvador continuing their purchases. However, nearly 70% of Bitcoin is still owned by individuals.

In the US, lawmakers are eager to establish Bitcoin reserves, but five states have rejected related bills. President Donald Trump established an internal working group to explore the feasibility of a national crypto reserve. Despite some rejections, 11 states saw new legislation pertaining to Bitcoin reserves or cryptocurrency investments by state governments in February alone.

On Feb. 21, North Korean hacker group Lazarus stole $1.4 billion in Ether (ETH) from crypto exchange Bybit, setting a record for the largest crypto hack ever. Blockchain analyst ZachXBT confirmed that Lazarus was responsible through tracking the wallets used in the Bybit hack to those associated with the exploit of Phemex in January.

The memecoin craze that proliferated the crypto space with thousands of new tokens daily began to calm down. The daily issuance of memecoins on Solana fell to a modest 40,000,