Things We're Reading – Week of February 16, 2026

India is hosting the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, bringing together 20 heads of state and top technology executives to discuss the global role and risks of artificial intelligence.

Crypto.com founder Kris Marszalek purchased the AI.com domain for $70 million, marking the largest domain sale in history, with plans to debut the site during the Super Bowl.

PayPal's default integration of Solana for blockchain services indicates broader adoption, with Solana's price hovering near $80 and analysts forecasting $250 by year-end.

Solana-based DeFi platform Step Finance disclosed a $27 million hack, contributing to a total of $370.3 million in cryptocurrency stolen in January 2026.

Bitcoin rebounded to $68,817 following a historic $2.3 billion realized loss capitulation event, with the Fear & Greed Index hitting 9, signaling potential buying opportunities.

Ethereum is trading at $1,987.78, reflecting a 3.19% decline over the past week, with its 12-month high at $4,953.73 reached in August 2025.

Rahul Patil, CTO of Anthropic, led significant advancements in the 'Claude' AI model, enabling it to autonomously perform complex business processes, causing a major market shift.

NASA's Perseverance rover successfully completed its first AI-planned drive on Mars, navigating the Jezero Crater using routes generated by a vision-capable generative AI system.

The total stablecoin market capitalization has reached $225.28 billion, showing a weekly increase of $1.23 billion or 0.55%.

Solana (SOL) is trading around $98-$100, maintaining its position as a top contender for high-throughput DeFi applications despite market volatility.