Today in crypto, monthly losses in February hit the lowest level since March 2025, Kalshi provided an update on a market carveout for positions opened after the death of Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was confirmed, and tokenized gold markets handle nearly all gold price discovery over the weekend.
February crypto losses at lowest level since March 2025: PeckShield
The monthly losses from crypto hacks and scams in February hit the lowest level since March 2025, with $26.5 million stolen last month, blockchain security company PeckShield said on Sunday.
Out of 15 incidents in February, two accounted for most of the month’s losses, with the largest being the $10 million theft from YieldBlox’s DAO-managed lending pool via a price manipulation attack on Feb. 21, and the $8.9 million private key exploit on IoTeX on the same day.
A PeckShield spokesperson told Cointelegraph that February didn’t see any “mega-hacks,” such as the $1.5 billion Bybit hack in February 2025, and market volatility led to a significant cooling off in malicious activity.
Kronos Research analyst Dominick John told Cointelegraph that the decline could also reflect tighter risk controls, stronger counterparty standards and improved real-time monitoring across major venues.
Kalshi founder provides update on Iran's Khamenei market carveout
Tarek Mansour, the co-founder of prediction market Kalshi, provided an update, following the platform’s decision to void some positions that were opened after the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was confirmed.
“We don’t list markets directly tied to death. When there are markets where potential outcomes involve death, we design the rules to prevent people from profiting from death. That is what we did here,” Mansour said in a post on X.
Iranian state media reported the death early Sunday, after an attack launched by Israel and the United States a day earlier.
Kalshi is reimbursing all fees from the “Ali Khamenei out as Supreme Leader” market, and will pay traders with positions open before Khamenei died according to the “last-traded price before his death,” Mansour said.
Additionally, users who opened positions after thedeath of Khamenei were reimbursed the difference between the higher price paid for entry and the last traded price.
Tokenized gold leads ‘100% of weekend price discovery’ while CME futures are closed
Gold pricing shifts onto blockchain networks once US futures markets close for the weekend, according to Iggy Ioppe, former chief investment officer at Credit Suisse and now chief investment officer (CIO) at liquidity infrastructure firm Theo.
CME gold futures stop trading at 5:00 pm ET on Friday and reopen at 6:00 pm ET on Sunday. During that interval, regulated futures markets are inactive and most remaining activity occurs through private over-the-counter deals in Asia that are not publicly reported. As a result, tokenized gold assets such as PAX Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUt) become the only continuously available trading venues.
“In terms of publicly visible price formation, onchain markets are responsible for virtually 100% of weekend price discovery,” Ioppe told Cointelegraph.
He added that when futures trading resumes, prices often align with movements that already occurred on blockchain markets. “We are seeing weekend moves reflected when CME reopens,” he said.
