EF Shake-Up, Starknet Unlock, Miner Floor Signals

Welcome to our Crypto news in 10, a daily podcast bringing you the latest news about crypto in under 10 minutes.

It's Sunday, February 15, 2026.

Here's what's moving crypto as we head into a new week... The Ethereum Foundation quietly shuffled top leadership ahead of Denver's builder week. Starknet's big token unlock lands today and could test liquidity. Fresh research shows how eclipse attacks can isolate Ethereum nodes — and what to do about it. JPMorgan sketches a new soft floor for Bitcoin based on miner economics. And Coinbase says it's still buying the dip, even as volatility lingers.

Let's get into it.

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First up, that Ethereum Foundation leadership change.

Late Friday, the EF board said co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak has stepped down, and Bastian Aue is stepping in as interim co-executive director alongside Hsiao-Wei.

The post praised Tomasz for sharpening execution and deepening enterprise outreach. Bastian was described as a steady hand who already helps oversee grants, enterprise, and operations. Why this matters: leadership cadence shapes how resources and focus are allocated for core development, grants, and ecosystem priorities — especially with Hegota planning underway and client security high on the agenda. This isn't protocol governance per se, but the EF's tone and funding footprint can influence what ships first. Source: Ethereum Foundation blog.

Story two — it's unlock day for Starknet.

Around 127 million STRK — roughly 4.6% of circulating supply under its vesting plan — is scheduled to unlock today, February 15. Large unlocks don't automatically mean selling pressure — but derivatives funding, order book depth, and staking uptake will tell you whether new supply is absorbed or leans on price in the near term. Several calendars flagged today's tranche, consistent with the updated StarkWare schedule that moved the project to a gradual monthly unlock cadence through March 2027. Sources: PANews and community calendars; background on the revised unlock schedule from 2024.

Zooming out on Starknet's token mechanics for a second... unlocks are just one variable. Developer activity has stayed relatively high versus other L2s, but the market will watch net staking of newly unlocked tokens and TVL shifts over the next two weeks to judge whether this becomes an overhang or a non-event. Some trackers note this month's release is roughly a typical month under the current plan — but coming into a thin weekend market, timing matters. Sources: calendar digests and tracker commentary.

Number three — and it's technical.

New research details practical eclipse attack paths against Ethereum's peer-to-peer layer. The paper shows an end-to-end way to isolate an execution layer node on restart by poisoning peer tables, infiltrating the DNS based peer list, and hijacking idle inbound slots — achieving high redirect success with surprisingly few IP addresses over time. The authors validated on Sepolia, measured impacts on mainnet peers, and proposed countermeasures. For node providers and client teams, this reinforces the need for hardened peer management, diversified bootnodes, and capacity hygiene. Source: arXiv preprint on eclipse attacks.

If you operate infrastructure, pair that with a reminder that client security updates do roll out. Providers like QuickNode flagged mandatory Geth upgrades last month tied to peering issues. Different bug, same message — stay current, especially ahead of busy conference weeks when attackers test edge cases. Source: QuickNode incident advisory.

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Fourth story: JPMorgan says the estimated Bitcoin production cost — a metric the bank tracks as a soft price floor — fell to about $77,000 after recent hashrate and difficulty changes. The team remains broadly positive on crypto in 2026, and notes that if difficulty rebounds, the estimate can rise again. Why you care: miners' all-in costs influence net selling and hedging; when price trades near or below production cost, weak miners capitulate and stronger operators consolidate share — often setting up later supply discipline. Source: The Block's summary of JPMorgan's note.

For context... early February brought a sharp risk off wobble across digital assets, then markets stabilized into the weekend. Banks and research desks have been recalibrating ranges — Standard Chartered recently trimmed near-term expectations while keeping long-term targets intact — so JPMorgan framing a lower support band offers a cleaner lens for miners and ETF desk flows this week. Sources: recent bank outlook coverage.

And rounding us out, Coinbase is still buying the dip.

Despite choppy crypto prices and softer retail volumes, the company says it has been repurchasing its own shares — about $1.7 billion through early February — with another $2.3 billion authorized. It also signaled ongoing conviction in Bitcoin exposure during drawdowns. That echoes a broader theme among some U.S. corporates this cycle: leaner balance sheets after 2025, opportunistic treasury moves, and a pivot toward service revenues like custody and stablecoins to smooth volatility. Source: Investopedia's report on Coinbase's strategy.

Quick wrap up... The Ethereum Foundation refreshes its leadership bench as core planning continues. Starknet's 127 million STRK unlock hits today — watch how much gets staked versus sold. Researchers demonstrate eclipse attacks that can isolate Ethereum nodes, underscoring the need to harden peering. JPMorgan pegs a new miner cost soft floor near $77,000 and stays constructive on 2026. And Coinbase stays on offense with buybacks and dip buying.

We'll keep tracking how these threads shape liquidity, security, and sentiment as the week unfolds.

Thanks for listening and see you tommorow!