| gm Bankless Nation,
Crypto's bearish lately, and survival matters more than upside. Today, we'll run through your five-step checklist to stay standing. Today's Issue ⬇️ - ☀️ Need to Know: Attention Markets
Plus, Saylor on Strategy's credit risk. - 🗣️ Analysis: Bear Market Rules
5 tips to protect your portfolio.
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. . . NEED TO KNOW POLY Attention Markets - 🔮 Polymarket Partners with Kaito to Launch "Attention Markets." Traders can soon bet on the popularity and sentiment of trends, brands, and people, with data pulled from social media. Live in early March.
- 💎 Saylor: "Strategy Has 'No Credit Risk,' Will Buy BTC Every Quarter, Forever." Speaking on CNBC amid BTC losing 33% in 2026, the Strategy chairman claimed the firm can cover dividends for 50 years with BTC.
- 📊 CME Group to Launch Single Stock Futures This Summer. The derivatives giant will offer futures on 50+ top U.S. stocks, putting it in direct competition with onchain perps venues like Hyperliquid.
📸 Daily Market Snapshot: Yesterday's lackluster performance has finally slipped, with most top 100 coins dropping into the red as BTC slips definitively below $70K and ETH clings to $2K. | Prices as of 3pm ET | 24hr | 7d |  | Crypto $2.42T | ↗ 1.6% | ↘ 12.3% |  | BTC $69,029 | ↘ 2.7% | ↘ 7.8% |  | ETH $2,017 | ↘ 5.4% | ↘ 4.9% | . . . ANALYSIS 5 Rules for Surviving the Crypto Bear Market It’s official: crypto is in a bear market. Technically, a bear market occurs when prices fall more than 20% from prior highs. Crypto already crossed that line last November, and after token prices got walloped with double-digit drawdowns last Thursday, there can be no doubt about this fact. Bear markets aren’t just about lower prices; they also mean greater risk. Liquidity thins, leverage unwinds, and strategies that worked in the bull market fail fast. This is the phase of the cycle where survival matters more than upside. Below is a practical bear market checklist to ensure you’re still standing when the next cycle begins. 👇 1️⃣ Withdraw from ExchangesIn countless past market cycles, the implosion of a centralized crypto exchanges have decimated its depositors, disrupting their access to funds indefinitely and subjecting payouts to legal limbo that almost never leaves users whole. Crypto exchanges excel as digital asset liquidity warehouses for trades, but when it comes to longer-term custodial storage solutions, an unnecessarily large risk profile makes their usage unadvisable. Beyond outright fraud, crypto exchanges face inherent technical risks. Omnibus custodial wallets concentrate deposits into high-value honeypots for hackers, meanwhile, operational and software failures (such as Bithumb’s accidental $40B BTC distribution last week) present opportunities for erroneous withdrawals far in excess of user balances. During crypto bear markets, rising risks turn every counterparty into a potential liability, and depositors whose exchange becomes insolvent for whatever reason transition into the unenviable position of bankruptcy creditor. Bear markets have a way of revealing hidden fragilities and turning every counterparty into a potential point of failure. When exchanges collapse, depositors get trapped in the unenviable position of bankruptcy creditors, underscoring the importance of minimizing exchange exposure well before insolvency ever becomes a concern. 2️⃣ Raise Stablecoin HoldingsWhile bear markets inflict enormous damage on portfolio values, they also reset valuations, creating “generational” entry points on quality assets that are difficult to find during a bull cycle. Unfortunately, you can’t buy at historically depressed prices without capital ready to deploy. For this reason, stablecoins serve an indispensable role in a disciplined bear market playbook, preserving investor flexibility in the event of future drawdowns and acting as dry powder that can be decisively deployed whenever/wherever profitable opportunities arise. De-risking on intermittent bounces also presents psychological benefits for investors in uncertain markets, crystallizing dollar-denominated profits and reducing the likelihood that future stress-induced decisions will cause capitulation at unfavorable prices. Bear markets are rarely linear, and when price action oscillates, savvy investors often use short-lived strength as a chance to rebalance and raise stablecoin reserves. 3️⃣ Prioritize Safe YieldPicture this: you successfully follow Tip 2, selling the bounce to raise dry powder. Then, to earn easy income, you park the proceeds into a trendy yield farm. A couple of weeks later, your favorite altcoin nukes 90% as markets roll over. You frantically log into Phantom to buy the dip, but are shocked to see that your “stablecoins” were anything but stable, having collapsed to pennies on the dollar. Crypto’s insatiable fascination with yield has on more than one occasion ended in disaster, and when that inevitable drawdown finally comes, the last thing an investor wants to discover is that their yield strategy was riskier than just holding spot crypto. Although it is possible to earn yield safely in a bear market, many seemingly sound designs leave users vulnerable to principal losses, particularly in a volatile bear market. For this reason, depositors must understand the complete set of risks associated with their yield opportunities. Bear markets punish sloppy yield. Stick to the basics, like native network token staking and high-quality RWAs, and unwind riskier exposure – like co-mingled lending pools, experimental synthetic dollars, and exchange liquidity vaults.  via bankless.com 4️⃣ Consider Tax StrategiesBear markets provide a unique opportunity for investors to reset their cost basis, and when portfolios go deep in the red, unrealized losses can sometimes become your biggest asset. Strategic tax-loss harvesting strategies may allow investors to realize losses, offset gains, and improve after-tax returns. In some jurisdictions (including the United States), wash sale trading rules don’t even apply to crypto assets, meaning investors can sell to realize losses and immediately repurchase to maintain market exposure without penalties. Beyond tax harvesting, bear markets are a natural moment to reassess asset ownership. Core conviction holdings can be moved at lower cost to irrevocable trusts, meanwhile, speculative positions can be trimmed entirely to reduce tax complexity. Taxes matter enormously at market bottoms, and investors who fail to plan risk finding out they left meaningful returns on the table. Always consult a qualified tax professional familiar with your unique situation before acting. 5️⃣ Zoom OutInvest in quality, take a long-term view, and touch grass. Bear markets reward patience and punish hyperactivity. The noise of short-term price (already a poor predictor for the future) becomes even more emotionally taxing in regimes defined by deleveraging and risk aversion. This is the time to focus on quality, extend time horizons, and reduce unnecessary decision-making. Conviction assets don’t require constant monitoring; fragile ones do. The goal in a bear market is to still have a portfolio when the cycle turns. Touch grass and take time to reassess. Prioritize balance-sheet resilience, and most importantly, always trim risk in favor of stability before conviction is lacking. FRIEND & SPONSOR: FIGURE Use Figure’s Democratized Prime for your chance to win big with $25k USDC. The more you participate, the better your odds! Every dollar gets you another chance to win $25K USDC. Enter to win while earning 9% yield on your crypto with Democratized Prime*. . . . | 
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