Latest blockchain news: February 2026

February 2026 was a busy month thanks to ETHDenver, and a big part of the ecosystem—including many of our networks—was there.

At Stakely, we also had a strong month: we joined new networks, launched new tools, and further reinforced the security of our infrastructure. Here’s everything in this monthly blockchain news roundup.

In January, you could already stake Ethereum and Monad in 1 click—and now you can do it with Solana too. How? Thanks to a widget integrated into our website that lets you stake frictionlessly. You’ll see how easy it is.

Map of Peers is designed to track and analyze peers across Cosmos networks: Osmosis, Namada, Terra, Story, Union, Secret, Celestia, and more. This tool detects density by country and city, finds the closest peers, observes global distribution, and measures network decentralization. Give it a try and tell us what you think on Telegram!

Solana TVC Live Tracker is a real-time dashboard that lets you instantly see whether a Solana validator is running properly or experiencing issues that affect staking rewards. Don’t stay in doubt: analyze your validator’s performance with this real-time public good.

Pye Finance is a native Solana protocol that introduces the concept of programmable staking. We joined at an early stage to help build more structured and predictable staking markets on Solana and, on top of that, to open the door for you to earn extra rewards when staking SOL. Terms:

• Lock-up period: 3 months (until May 9, 2026, 22:01 UTC)
• Commission: 0%
• Additional rewards: Inflation 100% + MEV 100% + Block 90%

Join with Stakely and make the most of Solana—but hurry: it’s available until March 10.

We successfully completed our annual disaster recovery drill. This time, we simulated a double outage across our cloud providers.

Why does it matter? Because these exercises help us test and improve our internal procedures, while also reducing response times. Procedures that go far beyond a drill and are part of a solid working methodology.

We were invited to a Chainlink interview featuring our Head of Node Operations, Paco Ducha, alongside Roberto Sanz, Community Advocate at Chainlink. We talked about what truly matters when you take staking seriously: operational risks, uptime and monitoring, incident management, and what we’ve learned at Stakely operating infrastructure at scale.

You can now request ALEO to cover network fees on Testnet and Mainnet.

A reminder that we shut down our Archway node on February 28.

Shield launches on Aleo: a self-custodial wallet built by Provable that lets you move crypto with full privacy—without exposing balances or transactions.

Algorand launches open-source “Agent Skills” and MCPs so AI assistants can code in its ecosystem.

x402 is now fully compatible with Algorand: instant payments, low fees, and agentic commerce ready after the Coinbase integration.

Algorand updates its governance: xGov Registry v3.0.0 on mainnet with penalties for absenteeism, boycott voting, and committee protections.

The stablecoin market reaches $311,000,000,000, while Aptos grows 32x in two years and surpasses a $1,600,000,000 market cap.

The Aptos x402 Hackathon kicks off, with more than 300 developers exploring stablecoins, payments, and agent-based identity.

Citrea speeds up with FastBridge from Avail Nexus: move assets from Ethereum and 11 more networks in under 20 seconds.

Avail updates the “Two Truths & a Lie” challenge leaderboard and launches new community activities to boost participation and reward the most active.

With Avail Deposits, onboarding into Web3 apps is simplified to a single step, reducing friction and improving user experience.

Avalanche burns 5,000,000 AVAX, permanently reducing its supply. Active addresses rise 190%, and the C-Chain averages 2,630,000 daily transactions.

Build Games announces its second cohort of judges for the $1,000,000 hackathon, while Helika Gaming x Avalanche Game Accelerator closes its cohort with 5 teams at $125,000.

Avalanche integrates with NEAR Intents, processing more than $45,000,000 in AVAX via intent-based execution with no bridges.

Fosun launches FUSD on Avalanche, a yield-bearing RWA stablecoin focused on Asia, while on-chain activity continues to rise.

Aztec launches its testnet: surpassing 90,000 blocks and 4,500 sequencers. After its TGE, it distributes more than 30,000,000 AZTEC to sequencers and provers with 70/30 rewards, stake options, and an attestation rate above 99%. The AZTEC/ETH pool is also enabled on Uniswap.

Aztec pushes its Continuous Clearing Auction as an on-chain token distribution model that’s open and permissionless, with 17,000 members funding the project with $60,000,000.

Relay Protocol launches Relay Chain on Celestia: a custom chain for cross-chain settlement with millisecond execution and verifiable blockspace.

Celestia will activate Hibiscus (V7) in March: cross-chain transfers with a single signature and message verification using ZK proofs for greater interoperability and security.

Aave incentives return on Celo: earn OP with up to 10.73% APY on USDT. In parallel, Stabila incentivizes Uniswap with up to 82% APY.

Google Cloud has multiplied test tokens by 10 on Celo Sepolia for verified developers via Self Protocol.

With ERC-8004 and x402, agents on Celo can now pay APIs in stablecoins and move reputation without lockups.

Celo’s Hackathon has begun to build agent apps with real utility, with prizes of up to 5000 USD₮; and the winners of Build Agents for the Real World have been announced.

DFNS integrates its WaaS into Concordium, bringing compliance-ready wallet infrastructure to more than 320 institutions and accelerating global PayFi adoption alongside partners like Ledger and Bitcoin.com.

Cosmos Labs improves stack performance: in stress tests it pushed throughput to 2,000 TPS and is targeting 5,000 TPS for institutional use cases.

Figure expands access to tokenized stock markets on Provenance Blockchain Foundation, with integrations with moomoo and Keplr Wallet for trading, self-custody, and real-time settlement.

Tokenized U.S. Treasury assets reach $5,600,000,000 AUM on Cosmos, with 5x annual growth driven by institutional RWA adoption.

Interchain Foundation updates the ATOM delegation program to improve incentive alignment, support high-performing validators, and strengthen the ecosystem.

MegaETH is now live on Covalent: execution up front and consensus out of the critical path.

Covalent adds support for Polygon Mainnet in its Streaming API, while GoldRush delivers real-time on-chain data.

GoldRush launches the Vibe Coding Plan: $10/month for builders looking to iterate fast with high-quality on-chain data.

Ethereum hit a record with 70,000,000 transactions in a single month. Its RWA market now exceeds $15,000,000,000, representing more than 200% year-over-year growth, with 661 tokens and 173,000 holders. Stablecoins surpass $164,000,000,000, and Ethereum accounts for 59% of on-chain value.

Lido V3 arrives on Ethereum mainnet, with modular stVaults, decentralized staking, and zero infrastructure fees for early partners.

SSV Network launches SSV Staking, enabling on-chain staking of SSV with rewards in ETH and issuance of the new cSSV token.

Ethereum Institutional Privacy Taskforce launches private bonds on Aztec: a single contract of roughly 200 lines with atomic swaps, an encrypted mempool, and greater anonymity.

Sherlock publishes the Fusaka audit for Ethereum: 4 critical issues fixed before mainnet and $500,000 in rewards unlocked.

GenLayer updates its roles and XP system on Discord, to reward participation and balance levels and POAPs.

GenLayer-test 0.12.0 speeds up smart contracts: the new Direct Execution Mode runs tests in milliseconds without Docker or a simulator.

GenLayer now runs contracts that process natural language and web data, validated trustlessly by AI under the Optimistic Democracy model.

GenLayer comes to Base: the on-chain Court of the Internet enables decentralized trials and subjective decisions accessible to everyone.

Web3 Foundation activates the Kusama Vision Bounties after Referendum 498: 10,000,000 DOT to boost Proof of Personhood, Zero-Knowledge, and experimental art in Kusama.

The mandatory migration in Lit Protocol has been completed successfully: the v0 (Datil) network shut down on February 25, and users were urged to migrate to Lit v1 (Naga), especially for auto-yield, key management, and agent infrastructure.

Monad now lets you convert fiat to stablecoins with zkp2p, a P2P path without going through a CEX or relying on intermediaries, with a strong privacy focus thanks to zero-knowledge proofs.

Trustless agents with the ERC-8004 standard: Monad also introduces verifiable agents under ERC-8004, marking the start of what they call their “agentic economy.”

Moltiverse Hackathon: Monad powers the hackathon with $200,000 in prizes, focused on AI agents and agentic use cases.

Monad introduces Nitro, a 3-month accelerator for builders from any network, with $500,000 per team and mentorship from founders and industry leaders. Early announced mentors include people from Nansen, Dragonfly, OpenSea, and more.

New launches on NEAR: near-multisig-sdk, to implement multisig directly on contract accounts without off-chain coordination; and Agentic Marketplace, where autonomous agents complete tasks and move value in real time—powering the code economy.

NEAR AI 26.2 enables anonymous and verified access to ChatGPT 5.2, Claude Sonnet 4.5, and Gemini 2.5 in a single environment.

NEAR unifies NEAR Intents and NEAR AI: toward a unified commerce layer for assets and autonomous agents.

Avalanche is now on NEAR Intents: more than $45,000,000 volume with no bridges and no chain hops; swaps of AVAX, USDC, and USDT from more than 125 assets across 25+ chains, in one click.

PENGU from Pudgy Penguins is now available on NEAR Intents: frictionless multichain trading.

New security allies: Alibaba Cloud, AWS, ExVulSec, OpenZeppelin, Zellic, Ant Skyward, Hypernative Labs, and ZeroShadow.

Pharos introduces Faroo, a liquid staking protocol for its token on mainnet with automatic rewards.

Pharos launches its Builder Incubator with $10,000,000 in funding, for on-chain RealFi projects with access to mentorship and technical support; and together with ExVulsec, it launches a $1,250,000 audit program to strengthen security for Web3 projects in the ecosystem.

Polkadot introduces Agile Coretime, a flexible system that optimizes parachain access to blockspace.

Polkadot releases the v2.0.5 update, speeding up the network, simplifying its economy, and preparing it for everyday apps.

Polkadot Blockchain Academy drives Polkadot’s second era with the launch of the Protocol Builders Program 2026 in Lisbon, aimed at training core talent.

Hyperbridge reaches the Polkadot Hub testnet. Polkadot handled incidents after a preventive pause and resumed the Polkadot–Ethereum bridge after detecting a technical issue in BEEFY; users were 100% safe and there was no risk to funds.

Secret Network and Cryptic team up to deliver post-quantum security for enterprise and AI, with key management and verifiable signatures running in confidential VMs.

The v2.17.0 mainnet upgrade is now live at block 28,124,200, with improvements to the protocol stack, including an update to Cosmos SDK v0.53.5 and IBC Protocol v10.5.0.

Jito and 21Shares launch JitoSOL, the first European ETP backed by a leading Solana LST, expanding institutional access to the SOL ecosystem.

The agent economy arrives on Solana: Bankr lets bots launch tokens and trade via bonding curves.

The Solana Foundation Delegation Program boosts independent validators, with 121% more operators running 50,000 SOL without relying on the Foundation.

Solana pushes new hackathons: Solana and Colosseum launch the Agent Hackathon with $100,000 in prizes for on-chain AI projects, and Radiants DAO organizes a mobile hackathon using Solana Mobile Stack to build native apps focused on innovation and user experience.

The Solana Card arrives: a virtual card ready in minutes, compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay, and usable at up to 130 million merchants. And staying on the payments theme, PayPal sets Solana as the default network for its blockchain integrations, driving adoption of fast, low-cost infrastructure.

Solana’s RWA ecosystem hits a record: $1,640,000,000 in tokenized value and 285,000 holders, led by BUIDL.

Beets launches Ultra Sonic Money so Sonic Labs builders can monitor performance, DeFi activity, and tokenomics in real time.

New airdrop claim dashboard for the S1/S2 rounds directly in MySonic.

Sonic Labs changes its model: it moves from gas fees to an integrated strategy to capture value and monetize transactions through the S token.

Hyperliquid strengthens the base layer: successful apps must transfer value to the S token via financial primitives and revenue-share agreements.

Starknet records 1,150,000,000 STRK and 1,034 BTC in staking. Starknet now shows metrics on GrowthePie: tracking users, performance, and contracts across finance, gaming, and more.

Starknet opens yield strategies to Ethereum users, enabling WBTC deposits in a single flow.

Voyager positions itself as the go-to block explorer and developer API for Starknet.

Starknet boosts the Re{define} Hackathon (privacy track) with $9,675 in prizes for private trading solutions, credentials, and anonymous wallets.

Story celebrates its 1-year anniversary on mainnet with more than 5,600,000 IP registrations, over 90,000,000 transactions and more than 405,000 data contributors worldwide. It begins its second year reviewing its OG community—only the most active contributors will keep their status.

Story Protocol releases version 1.5.2 (Horace), with emissions recalibration and improvements to locked staking for greater efficiency.

Story’s new TypeScript SDK v1.4.3 enables bulk registration of derivatives, automatic fee management, and support for pre-registered licenses.

Sui activates community opportunities: it opens applications for the third cohort of the Hydropower Fellowship, launches a “write and earn” contest with prizes of up to $10,000 in SUI, and DeepBook rolls out a points program with bonuses for Slush Wallet users.

Vera comes to Sui: a new mobile app for trading, investing, and on-chain finance—secure and non-custodial.

Sui launches real-time indexing with gRPC to provide faster data and more resilient pipelines.

SUI Group launches eSui Dollar (suiUSDe) on mainnet: a synthetic dollar with Ethena.

Union boosts private payments with zk proofs: the new Union Attestor enables compliant transfers without sacrificing privacy, operating in hardened environments with data encryption.

Union Private Payments is coming soon: private, instant, and compatible transfers for existing EVM apps, without moving funds to another chain or L2.

Walrus Pages: a new decentralized app lets creators publish from their wallet and receive tips directly.

Sui Archival System publishes 30 TB of history on Walrus Protocol for public and decentralized access.

Wal-0 arrives to build real apps without relying on Big Tech: turn ideas into apps or websites in minutes with Sui and Walrus. Coming soon: Stakely at ETH Andorra

Our Growth Lead, María López, will present “Staking as a Primitive” at ETH Andorra, exploring how to design the next Ethereum primitives and take programmable yield beyond the traditional lockup. We’ll share more details soon!

We can’t close our monthly report without reminding you that every week we publish tutorial videos so you can learn how to stake, use our tools, discover wallets, and much more. The most recent one is about how to use Solflare Wallet, share it with that friend who needs it.