February has been a wild ride. Bitcoin dropped below $61,000 on February 5, its steepest single-day fall since 2022. The Fear and Greed Index hit 6, then, within four days, Bitcoin bounced back above $70,000. That recovery was faster than anything we have seen before.
As of today, Bitcoin is sitting around $68,000 to $69,000. It has been a bumpy couple of weeks, but the real stories this month go beyond price charts. A burger chain is paying staff in Bitcoin. China tried to ban digital assets again. Some altcoins are quietly posting double-digit gains, and big money is lining up to buy the companies that build the pipes behind digital assets.
A Burger Chain Gets It
This might be my favourite story of the month. Steak ‘n Shake, the American burger chain that has been around for 90 years, announced that same-store sales have risen 18% since they started accepting Bitcoin payments through the Lightning Network nine months ago. They save about 50% on processing fees compared to credit cards. Every Bitcoin payment goes into a company reserve, which funds staff bonuses in Bitcoin starting March 1. The company now holds about 168 Bitcoin, worth roughly $15 million.
Think about that. A fast food chain is saving money, growing sales, and building a digital asset reserve, all from letting customers pay with Bitcoin at the counter. That is not a tech startup in San Francisco. That is a burger restaurant in the Midwest. When your local burger joint is stacking Bitcoin, the conversation has moved well beyond the trading desks.
China Bans Digital Assets (Again)
On February 6, eight Chinese government agencies jointly issued what some are calling “China Ban 2.0.” This time, they went further, expanding the ban to cover stablecoins, tokenized assets, and even marketing or naming a company in a way that supports digital asset activity. They also said that investing in digital assets violates “public order and good morals,” meaning those transactions can be declared invalid by a court.
This is not about protecting Chinese citizens; this is about financial control. Bitcoin is a U.S.-dominated asset, with American holders controlling up to 50% of the supply. Stablecoins like USDT and USDC have a combined market cap of over $200 billion and act like the U.S. dollar on steroids. China does not want those ‘foreign’ pipelines in its economy.
Remember that the Chinese have been using digital currencies for several years. The e-yuan was researched and planned as far back as 2014, and the Chinese government rolled out their digital currency in 2020. It was used extensively during the 2022 China Winter Olympics, and as from January 2026, Chinese banks pay interest on the e-yuan. The Chinese officials are not against digital money as such; they are against digital money that they do not control.
The Plumbing Is the Prize
Here is a story that tells you where things are heading. BitGo, a company that stores and secures digital assets for big institutions, went public on the New York Stock Exchange in January at $18 per share. Goldman Sachs led the deal, and the stock jumped 36% on its first day. It has since pulled back to around $12.50, but that is not the most interesting part.
Analysts at Compass Point and Canaccord are now calling BitGo a potential acquisition target for traditional financial firms. The thinking is simple: banks need digital asset custody and settlement to offer these products to clients, and it is faster to buy a company that already does it well than to build one from scratch. BitGo went from $30 billion in assets under custody to over $100 billion in about six months.
Copper, another digital asset custody firm, is now in early talks for its own IPO, with Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Deutsche Bank reportedly involved. Silicon Valley Bank put out a report this month calling 2026 “crypto’s integration year,” with traditional financial firms speeding up dealmaking rather than risking being left behind. The money is not just flowing into Bitcoin anymore; it is flowing into the companies that make the whole system work.
Altcoins: Some Green in the Red
While Bitcoin has been sitting below $71,000 since February 6, some altcoins have been quietly putting up numbers. Over the past week, Zcash gained about 24%, Pepe jumped roughly 22%, and Bittensor climbed close to 20%. Traders are rotating into tokens with specific stories behind them, like privacy coins, AI-related projects, and DeFi tokens.
That said, do not let the green candles fool you. Zcash is still more than 90% below its all-time high. Pepe and Bittensor are both 75% to 84% below their peaks. These gains are happening off very low bases, and prediction markets give only a 9% chance of a proper altcoin season before April. This is not necessarily the broad rally where everything goes up at once; it could be bargain hunters picking through the rubble for specific names with strong stories.
What We Are Watching
The bounce from $60,000 back to $70,000 in four days was the fastest crash recovery in Bitcoin’s history. Fidelity and BlackRock led the buying with $616 million in ETF inflows on February 7 and 8. JPMorgan published a note on February 11 saying they expect recovery to be driven by institutions, not retail. All eyes are now on the PCE inflation data due February 20, which will shape what the Fed does at its March meeting.
Bitcoin is around $68,000 as you read this. That is a painful drop from October’s highs. It is less painful if you remember that Bitcoin was $5,000 when we started charting it in 2016, and that a burger restaurant in Indiana is now building a Bitcoin reserve while Goldman Sachs fights over who gets to take the next digital asset company public.
We will be back with the full end-of-month update, including fund prices. Until then, stay patient, stay positioned, and remember that the best opportunities tend to show up when things feel the worst.
– JB
We Would Love Your Feedback
If this update helped you stay informed:
✓ Leave us a review, and we will donate to your chosen charity
✓ Please forward this to a friend who needs clarity
✓ Share on X, LinkedIn, or Facebook with #BostonCoin
Ready to explore the Boston fund? Book a Discovery Call
Send a screenshot of your TrustPilot review to support@bostontrading.co with your address, and we will send you a sweet gift from the team.
