According to Forbes, a new bill before the Texas legislature calls for “a master plan for the expansion of the blockchain industry," that could turn the state into the cryptocurrency Mecca by introducing tax-free shopping with Bitcoin, among other proposals. The Texas legislature only meets in odd numbered years, so the elected representatives need to move quickly before the opportunity to take the lead is lost.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTCUSD) saw a surge in value on Thursday, February 16, but investors soon began to reconsider their decision in light of increasing concerns about inflation, and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.

A major move in Bitcoin is upon global institutions and the speed of its adoption. According to data from Lookonchain, there has been a major wave of institutional money coming into the exchanges over the past week, namely, a whopping $1.6 billion. A lot of that money is leaving stablecoins, including Circle-issued USD coin. The fate of stablecoins will be decided in the near future, but many are not expecting regulators to crush the entire space. Everyday that passes that we don’t see Bitcoin break, sellers become less patient. Against this backdrop, Bitcoin is showing strong resilience given the broader weakness across most risky assets.

Another major driver of Bitcoin's recent surge above $25,000 for the first time in 8 months has been the accumulation of over $2.74 billion in Tether (USDT) by whales and sharks in the past 10 weeks.