HYPE is trading at $39.29 today, ranked #10 globally with a market cap of $10.06 billion, up nearly 35% over the past month alone. To most people looking at that number, it looks expensive. David Schamis, CEO of Hyperliquid Strategies, thinks those people are reading it wrong. “If you valued this the way people value …
“Tap To Earn” Pi Network is entering its second migration phase with the mandatory Protocol 21 upgrade. The Pi Core Team also shared a clear roadmap toward Protocol 23.0, which will introduce smart contracts and DeFi features. Meanwhile, the Pi team warned that missing the deadline may disconnect nodes. Pi Network Protocol 21 Set for …
BlackRock’s staked Ethereum fund pulled in $155 million on its first day of trading — more than the firm’s own Bitcoin ETF managed at launch. That number tells one part of Ethereum’s story in early 2026. Related Reading: UK Slaps Sanctions On $20B Crypto Black Market Tied To Southeast Asia Scam Rings The other part is harder to spin: the token itself has dropped more than 55% from its August 2025 high of roughly $4,953, and it is still falling. A Network Busier Than Ever Daily active addresses on Ethereum climbed toward 2 million in February 2026, surpassing peaks recorded during the 2021 bull market, according to analytics firm CryptoQuant. Smart contract interactions now exceed 40 million per day, and 37 million ETH — close to 30% of total supply — sits locked in staking contracts. Those are not small numbers. They suggest a network that more people are actively using than at any point in its history. But price is not following. Ether has dropped roughly 30% over the past six months even as network activity hit record highs. Ethereum Mainnet active addresses are holding at ALL-TIME HIGH levels! ???? 3.64M weekly active addresses. ???? 1 year ago: +97% growth to get here ???? 4 weeks: +13% ???? Polygon PoS right behind at 2.84M ???? Base: 1.99M, Arbitrum: 785k Data via @growthepie_eth pic.twitter.com/7qcVV8vo2u — Leon Waidmann (@LeonWaidmann) March 26, 2026 Analysts say capital flows and rising exchange deposits now explain ether’s price better than on-chain usage, a break from the tight relationship seen in prior bull markets. In 2018 and 2021, surging activity came with surging prices. That pattern no longer holds. Ethereum hosts approximately $162 billion in stablecoin supply — about 52% of the global market — yet that activity has not translated into proportional value for ether itself. The blockchain is busy. Its native token is not benefiting the way it once did. Where The Money Is Going Part of the explanation lies in how Ethereum has changed. During the 2021 cycle, peak monthly fee revenue exceeded $500 million when virtually all activity occurred on Layer 1. Today, economic value increasingly flows to Layer 2 operators and sequencers rather than to ETH holders directly. Ethereum scaled. The asset did not capture the upside. Related Reading: Shiba Inu Under Pressure As Nearly 40B Netflow Surge Hits Exchanges Data from DefiLlama shows Ethereum generated roughly $10 million in transaction fees over the past 30 days, placing it third behind Tron at nearly $25 million and Solana at about $20 million. The base layer is losing fee share to rival networks even as total usage climbs. Supply data does offer a different signal. Exchange reserves have dropped to 16 million ETH — the lowest level ever recorded — down 30% from 23 million ETH in 2023. Roughly 7 million ETH, worth around $13.7 billion, has been withdrawn from exchanges, with holders moving coins to cold storage and staking rather than positioning to sell. Less supply available on exchanges can reduce selling pressure over time, though it does not guarantee a price recovery. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis said the CLARITY Act will deliver the strongest protections yet for DeFi developers, pushing back against concerns that the bill could expose them to legal risk. She noted recent bipartisan updates to Title 3 aim to fix those issues. Although the updated draft is not yet public, she maintains that its …
The Bitcoin price has been trading below $100,000 for months now, and there has been no attempt to reclaim this level. Even now, the price continues to trade more than 40% below its all-time high, as massive sell-offs continue to push the price down. Amid this widespread selling and negative macroeconomic factors, a crypto analyst has revealed when they expect the Bitcoin price to reach the $100,000 mark again before attempting a new all-time high. End Of Iran War Will Drive Bitcoin Price Back in February, the United States had apparently carried out coordinated strikes on the Iranian military, eventually leading to what is now known as the US-Iran war. This move affected financial markets across the globe, and Bitcoin was not left out. Even now, the cryptocurrency market continues to feel the impact of the conflict as inflows have slowed down. Related Reading: Ethereum Accumulation Map Reveals Price Roadmap To $20,000 This negative macroeconomic climate has put a damper on the Bitcoin price, and investors remain wary. While the war rages on, the expectation is that financial assets will continue to struggle, especially as oil prices rise. However, the real move is expected to come in the event of a ceasefire. According to a pseudonymous crypto analyst, who goes by @RoccobullboTTom on X (formerly Twitter), the Bitcoin price will surge when the US-Iran war ends. The analyst explains that this will be the catalyst that will eventually push the BTC price back above $100,000. But When Will BTC Reach A New ATH? The crypto analyst takes a look at past Bitcoin performances in the analysis. The first of these was when the Bitcoin price had done its initial run from the $15,000 low recorded in 2022. Then, there was the rapid rise from $49,000 to $104,000 that took place in 2024. Last but not least was the notable 2025 rally that took the Bitcoin price to $126,000 all-time high of $126,000 in 2026. Related Reading: Expert Analyst Says Bitcoin Expansion Is Over, It Won’t Rally Until This Is Over All of these bull runs have seen the Bitcoin price rise more than 100% from its previous levels in order to make new all-time highs. Taking this into account, the crypto analyst believes that the next bull run could take the Bitcoin price between $150,000 and $200,000. Nevertheless, all of these continue to hinge on the improvement of macroeconomic factors. Most notably, the end of the Iran war is likely to be the catalyst that puts the digital asset on the way to its new all-time highs. Featured image from Dall.E, chart from TradingView.com
Prediction markets spent years trying to present themselves as smarter, better, and more useful than straight-out gambling. Then sports arrived and did what elections, inflation contracts, and policy wagers never quite managed: it brought scale. They turned what was essentially a niche event trading activity into a mass product, and pushed the industry into a […]
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The Clarity Act’s stablecoin yield ban has drawn loud opposition from some of the biggest names in crypto. But not everyone is unhappy with it, and the divide says more about business models than it does about the bill itself. Coinbase once again told Senate offices it cannot support the latest draft of the Clarity …
The Royal Government of Bhutan has been gradually reducing its Bitcoin holdings, but recent activity shows the pace is picking up. According to Arkham Intelligence, the country has net sold around $120 million worth of BTC in 2026 so far, cutting its holdings by roughly 1,700 Bitcoin. The latest move came on March 27, when …
Bhutan has intensified its Bitcoin sales this year, offloading nearly $120 million worth of BTC and cutting its holdings by around 1,700 coins. The government typically breaks its sales into smaller batches of $5 million to $10 million, routing funds through exchanges or market makers such as QCP Capital to manage liquidity. In recent weeks, …
The latest Bitcoin (BTC) price drop has raised concerns about the cryptocurrency’s upcoming performance, with some analysts warning that BTC’s next key closes could signal the start of another major correction. Related Reading: Dogecoin Bottom Not In? Analyst Warns DOGE’s Macro Downtrend Won’t Be Over Soon Bitcoin Risks Another Major Crash On Friday, Bitcoin plunged over 7% intraday to a three-week low of $65,700, raising concerns about the flagship crypto’s short- to mid-term performance. The cryptocurrency has been trading between the $65,000-$72,000 levels since the early February crash. After its latest drop, analyst Altcoin Sherpa noted that holding the current levels is crucial, as losing this boundary could quickly send BTC’s price 6%-10% down to the next support area, around $60,000-$62,000. Several market observers also warned that the cryptocurrency is currently breaking down a crucial bearish formation, which could also trigger a massive crash to newer lows if the price doesn’t bounce soon. Notably, Bitcoin has been forming a bear flag pattern on the daily timeframe for nearly two months, retesting the formation’s lower boundary on multiple occasions. However, BTC now risks losing this level as support, as it shows multiple concerning signs. Ted Pillows asserted on X that Bitcoin is not only dropping in price but also losing momentum as it has lost its RSI uptrend. “A major sign of weakness,” he added. The analyst also emphasized that BTC’s breakdown “is only a matter of when, not if,” cautioning that the flagship cryptocurrency has already broken down of a similar two-month bear flag pattern at the start of the year. Meanwhile, Ali Martinez suggested that BTC could drop another 30%-45% based on its historical performance over the past decade. As he explained, Bitcoin has kicked off new bull runs after dropping below its long-term holder realized price, and it’s −0.2 standard deviation band, located at the $48,387 and $36,657 levels, respectively. “I’ll be watching these zones for dip-buying opportunities ahead of the next bull cycle,” he stated. All Eyes On BTC’s Weekly Close Analyst Rekt Capital highlighted another concerning sign for Bitcoin, noting that BTC has once again dropped below the 200-week Exponential Moving Average (EMA). Amid this drop, the cryptocurrency is treating this level as resistance once more, putting the focus on the upcoming weekly close. The analyst previously explained that “If the 200-week EMA is lost as support this week and price Weekly Closes below it again, Bitcoin could actually turn the EMA into new resistance.” Last week, the largest crypto by market capitalization technically closed below the 200W EMA after attempting to “post-breakout retest” it as support, but failing to end the week above the $68,000 area. “That means that price technically kickstarted a breakdown from the EMA,” and a weekly close below this level would confirm it. Related Reading: Bitwise CIO Projects Circle To Hit $75B Valuation By 2030 Despite Selloff, Clarity Act Concerns “Given this latest Weekly Close, there is therefore scope for another dip into the 200-week EMA for another retest to see if BTC can solidify a reclaim into support,” he detailed, “But the overall suspicion has become confirmed: The 200-week EMA is acting as both an unreliable resistance and an unreliable support, never truly confirming a clear role.” The analyst concluded that the indecisiveness could lead to further retests of this area “before ultimately breaking down into additional Macro Downside over time.” As of this writing, Bitcoin trades at $65,600, a 6% decline in the weekly timeframe. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin's return to an all-time high depends on how deep the current selloff extends, as data shows each new price low adds months to BTC's recovery time.
U.S. President Donald Trump has declared that the United States will become the world’s Bitcoin superpower, signaling stronger political support for crypto. The comments came during the FII PRIORITY Miami 2026 summit, where he also praised Bitcoin’s growing influence in institutional investors. Trump Backs Bitcoin, Calls U.S. Future Crypto Capital Speaking at the summit, Trump …
Morgan Stanley’s proposed 0.14% fee is lower than competitors like BlackRock and Grayscale. Lower fees matter because they attract investors, but that’s only part of the strategy. By offering the cheapest option, Morgan Stanley makes it easier for its advisors to recommend their own product rather than sending clients’ money to other firms. How Morgan …
Spot Bitcoin ETFs see $296 million in weekly outflows after a month-long inflow streak, as macro uncertainty keeps capital sidelined.
Ethereum price prediction is entering a decisive phase as a sharp divergence unfolds between retail sentiment and smart money behaviour. While short-term volatility continues to shake confidence, deeper data reveals a different story. Large holders are actively accumulating ETH, billions are flowing into derivatives markets, and price is compressing near a critical resistance level. This …
After failing to push past the critical short‑term resistance at $1.60 last week, XRP has slid about 8%, settling back into the $1.35–$1.40 trading range. Market analyst Sam Daodu says three connected problems explain why recent rallies have fizzled and what must change for a sustainable recovery. XRP Faces Resistance Until Bitcoin Clears $75,000 First, Bitcoin (BTC) dominance remains high. Daodu notes Bitcoin’s share of the crypto market has hovered around 58.6% for much of 2026 and stayed above 58% most of the time. Historically, broad altcoin rallies tend to begin when Bitcoin dominance falls below 50% and capital rotates from BTC into smaller tokens. That rotation has not occurred: institutions are not reallocating to altcoins but either leaving crypto or keeping funds in Bitcoin as a perceived safe haven. Daodu argues that unless Bitcoin decisively breaks and holds above $75,000, even XRP’s strong fundamentals are unlikely to move its price materially. Related Reading: MARA Holdings’ Bitcoin Sell-Off: 15,000 BTC Liquidated As Prices Crash Below $69,000 Second, large holders have been steadily taking profits since XRP hit $3.65 in July 2025. Daodu estimates roughly $6 billion in XRP has been sold by whales since that peak, and substantial volumes continue to flow onto exchanges. The expert identified that many of these whales originally bought below $0.65, so they are willing to sell into rallies to lock in gains, asserting that selling pressure keeps rallies short‑ lived. Third, a large portion of holders sits underwater, which creates persistent resistance near the current price. Glassnode data cited by Daodu shows 60% of circulating XRP is held at a cost basis above today’s levels; the average cost basis across holders is approximately $1.44. Because that average is nearly the center of XRP’s recent trading band, holders who have been losing money sell when price approaches breakeven, using $1.45 as a take‑profit level. ETFs Fail To Absorb Supply Daodu adds that even if XRP clears $1.45, further layers of selling are likely: positions across the $1.40–$3.65 range contain clusters of holders looking to return to breakeven or better, meaning upward moves tend to meet fresh supply. Exchange‑traded funds (ETFs) focused on XRP add another structural constraint. Total assets under management (AuM) fell from ITS January peak of $1.65 billion to about $1 billion as the token’s price declined. At the current inflow pace—roughly $1.9 million per week—ETFs would only add about $100 million by year‑end, a level Daodu argues is insufficient to meaningfully soak up supply. Is Regulatory Clarity The Key? Looking ahead, Daodu points to one potential catalyst that could change the dynamics: the long-awaited US crypto market structure bill, the CLARITY Act, which has faced significant opposition in recent months due to key provisions that have prevented its passage. If the bill becomes law and formally cements XRP’s status as a commodity, Daodu argues, it would reduce regulatory uncertainty and could unlock broader institutional adoption. That in turn might encourage banks to settle in XRP rather than relying on alternatives such as Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, creating the kind of demand pressure that could finally push the price out of its current range. Related Reading: NVIDIA Faces Class Action After Court OKs $1 Billion Crypto-Mining Revenue Claims – Stock Dips 7% In short, Daodu’s view is that XRP needs multiple things to shift at once: a change in capital flows away from Bitcoin, less selling from large holders, and materially larger ETF inflows—or a regulatory development that brings institutions on board. Until several of those factors move together, the analyst says, XRP rallies are likely to remain short‑lived and the token stuck near its recent trading band. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Ripple was mentioned during a recent U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing, bringing blockchain-based payments into focus at the policy level. During the session “Innovation at the Speed of Markets,” Representative Sam Liccardo questioned Randall Guynn, Director at the Federal Reserve Division of Supervision and Regulation, on whether they are moving quickly enough to modernize …
World’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin is being viewed as a stronger hedge against inflation after Bitmine CEO Tom Lee said the asset has outperformed inflation 97% of the time, better than gold. He also pointed to growing institutional interest, saying Ethereum could benefit from Wall Street tokenization and AI-driven infrastructure development. Bitcoin Outperforms Gold as Inflation …
SIREN price has surged back into focus after delivering multiple explosive rallies of over 250% in recent months, attracting renewed traders’ interest. Following a steep 70% correction, the token has staged a sharp comeback, climbing nearly 60% in the past 24 hours from lows near $0.72 to around $1.60. Notably, the rally comes amid a …
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has raised concerns about Bitmain, one of the biggest producers of Bitcoin mining machines. As per a Bloomberg report, in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, she asked for details on any investigations into the company and whether its equipment could pose national security risks. She also requested information on …
XRP is showing mixed signals from large investors in early 2026, as fresh buying meets ongoing selling pressure. The latest move, a rapid $35 million purchase executed through an automated trading bot, has added a new dimension to an already divided market. Algorithmic Buying Spree Quietly Accumulates Massive XRP Position An unidentified entity accumulated more …
Data shows the XRP Open Interest has witnessed a notable surge alongside the asset’s price drop, a sign that investors have been putting up fresh bets. XRP Open Interest Has Shot Up Over The Past Day As pointed out by CryptoQuant community analyst Maartunn in an X post, the XRP Open Interest has seen a jump recently. This indicator measures the total amount of positions related to the asset that are currently open on all centralized derivatives exchanges. Related Reading: Bitcoin Realized Price Sits At $54,000—Will BTC Revisit It This Cycle? When the value of the metric rises, it means investors are opening up fresh positions on the market. Generally, new positions come with an overall increase in the leverage for the sector, so the asset could end up becoming more volatile following a jump in the indicator On the other hand, the Open Interest witnessing a decline implies traders are either closing up positions of their own volition or getting forcibly liquidated by their platform. In either case, the reduced leverage can make the market more stable. Now, here is the chart shared by Maartunn that shows the trend in the XRP Open Interest over the last few days: As displayed in the above graph, the XRP Open Interest has gone up during the past day. This surge in the indicator has come alongside a drawdown in the cryptocurrency’s spot price. Thus, it would appear that traders have been trying to guess where the coin will move after this decline. As mentioned earlier, an increase in the metric can make the asset behave in a volatile manner. This is due to the fact that mass liquidation events are more likely to occur the more overleveraged the market is. Where the cryptocurrency heads from here could become the trigger for such an event. In the case of a further drawdown, longs could get caught up in liquidations, acting as fuel for an extended decline. Related Reading: Bittensor (TAO) Rallies 35%, But Social Sentiment Stays Mixed XRP isn’t the only asset that has seen a jump in the Open Interest recently. As CryptoQuant has highlighted in an X post, Bitcoin has also observed a positive change in the metric. The latest bearish price action in the sector has meant that liquidations have already started piling up on exchanges, with longs being the most heavily affected, according to data from CoinGlass. As displayed in the table, liquidations in the sector have totaled at $450 million, with about $401 million coming from the bullish positions. XRP Price XRP has plunged to the $1.33 level following the bearish action. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com
XRP shows improving risk-adjusted returns alongside rising whale flows, but rising leverage use and repeat liquidations point to a fragile futures market.
Everyone in crypto watches market cap. It is the number that appears on every chart, every app and every news headline. But according to financial analyst Jake Claver, market cap might actually be one of the worst ways to measure whether a digital asset is genuinely strong or just temporarily popular. Claver has spent the …
The next XRP Ledger release will be dedicated entirely to bug fixes and improvements.
Crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky said legislation covering crypto developer protections has been overshadowed by the intense focus on stablecoin yield in the CLARITY Act.
New wallet creation in the Shiba Inu ecosystem has held steady at between 5,000 and 12,000 per month, pushing total holders past 1.50 million — a sign that retail interest has not dried up despite a rough stretch for the token’s price. Related Reading: UK Slaps Sanctions On $20B Crypto Black Market Tied To Southeast Asia Scam Rings Tokens Flow Back To Exchanges That growth figure, released by the Shibarium team, comes at an awkward time. On-chain data from CryptoQuant shows that nearly 40 billion SHIB tokens moved into exchanges over a 24-hour window ending March 26, with outflows failing to keep pace. The result was a positive netflow — a condition that typically signals more selling firepower sitting on trading platforms. Exchange reserves climbed from 81.20 trillion to 81.29 trillion tokens during the same period, confirming the trend. When holders move tokens off private wallets and onto exchanges, it does not always mean a sell-off is coming. But it does mean those tokens are now within easy reach of anyone looking to exit their position quickly. With market conditions still choppy, that availability matters. SHIB dropped 4% over that same 24-hour stretch. The decline was not isolated — broader crypto markets also fell during this period. Still, the token’s technical picture added its own weight to the slide. Price Hits A Wall At Triangle Resistance According to analysts, SHIB attempted to push through the upper boundary of a descending triangle pattern and was turned away. Descending triangles are generally considered bearish formations. Each failed attempt to break through the top of the pattern tends to reinforce selling momentum, and this rejection was no different. The price pulled back after failing to clear that level, adding to what had already been a difficult day for the token. The combination of a technical rejection and rising exchange inflows gave traders little reason for confidence in the short term. Related Reading: Ethereum Supply Tightens As Staking And Outflows Hit Record Highs Ecosystem Activity Tells A Different Story The Shibarium team’s wallet data points to an ecosystem that is still drawing in new users. Between 5,000 and 12,000 new wallets were created monthly — a pace that has been consistent enough to push the holder count beyond the 1.50 million mark. More wallets generally mean more participants, and more participants tend to support demand over time. Whether that longer-term demand is enough to absorb the near-term selling pressure is a question the market will answer on its own. For now, both forces are visible in the data — one pulling the price down, the other quietly building underneath it. Featured image from A-Z Animals, chart from TradingView
As Wall Street accelerates its shift toward tokenized assets, XRP is increasingly being viewed as a potential bridge at the center of this transformation. Major financial players are exploring blockchain-based versions of stocks, ETFs, and the demand for efficient, real-time settlement infrastructure is intensifying. This shift is placing renewed focus on blockchain solutions capable of supporting global-scale liquidity and interoperability. How XRP Gains Relevance In Tokenized Financial Markets The shift toward tokenized finance is accelerating, with Ripple and XRP increasingly positioned at the center of Wall Street transformation. An analyst known as Pumpius on X revealed that a key part of this development is a reported collaboration between Franklim Templeton, worth $1.7 trillion, and Ondo Finance to issue tokens backed by real-world assets such as stocks and ETFs. Related Reading: Ripple Pushes XRP Global With Multi-Continent Expansion Drive Pumpius argues that while this is being framed as innovation, it connected the dots. At the early stage of this partnership, Ripple and Ondo have already introduced tokenized US Treasuries through OUSG on the XRP Ledger, leveraging RLUSD for near-instant minting and redemption. In parallel, Ripple has collaborated with Franklin Templeton and DBS Bank to explore tokenized fund trading and lending with sgBENJI and RLUSD on the XRPL. Currently, Franklin Templeton is reportedly moving into the ecosystem, using Ondo to tokenize its own EFTs, growth funds, large-cap stocks, gold, high-yield bonds, and income products. Within this model, the XRP Ledger serves as the underlying rails, and the Ripple RLUSD stablecoin facilitates settlement. This quietly reinforces the role of the XRP ecosystem in enabling seamless asset movement. XRP Ledger Moves From Experimentation To Real-World Deployment A major shift may be underway across Africa as Ripple expands its infrastructure footprint, particularly around the XRP Ledger. Crypto analyst Stellar Rippler has reported that Nigeria is currently adopting the Ledger infrastructure through instant Naira payouts and payments, Ripple Custody, and zero-knowledge privacy pilots on the XRPL. Related Reading: Why SWIFT’s Latest Global Payments Infrastructure Is Bullish For XRP Holders One of the most notable advancements in this move is Ripple supercharging crypto-to-Naira payment through Redotpay, enabling users to send XRP or RLUSD and receive local currency directly into Nigerian bank accounts within minutes. On the institutional side, Absa Bank, one of South Africa’s biggest banks, is now Ripple’s first major custody partner on the continent. Ripple has also collaborated with Mobile Financial Services (MFS) to bring on-demand liquidity (ODL) solutions across Africa. Meanwhile, a pilot program led by the DNAOnChain initiative involving zero-knowledge (ZK) privacy technology is reportedly underway on the XRPL testnet in Nigeria. These zero-knowledge proofs are anchoring real privacy infrastructure. According to Stellar Rippler, they don’t want individuals connecting the dots on Africa’s remittance revolution, including private on-chain infrastructure and institutional rails. Featured image from Freepik, chart from Tradingview.com
Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse noted that stablecoin trading volume soared to over $33 trillion in 2025, while Bloomberg predicted that stablecoin flows would hit $56.6 trillion by 2030.
XRP’s long-running market cap debate misses the real question, according to Digital Ascension Group CEO Jake Claver: can the network absorb institutional-scale payment flows without blowing out execution costs? In a March 26 video, Claver argued that market cap is a poor measure of a digital asset’s functional strength and said XRP’s price would need to rise materially if it is ever to support bank-scale settlement. Claver framed the case around what he called a “liquidity index,” a model he says is designed to measure “the true utility and stability of a digital asset” rather than just its headline valuation. His framework combines six variables: market depth, liquidity continuity, slippage, available supply, settlement speed, and access. When those factors are assessed together, he said, the key requirement for a payments asset is not speculative upside but a high enough price to make large transactions workable. Related Reading: Analyst Reveals The Plan For XRP Price Using The Bitcoin Chart “The assets that will power the next financial system can’t just be volatile speculation,” Claver said. “They actually require a high stable price in order to function at a global scale.” Why XRP Could Need A Much Higher Price His argument starts with supply. Claver compared XRP to a scarce collectible, saying the relevant figure is not just total issuance but how many tokens are actually available to trade. If demand rises while more of the supply is effectively locked away, the remaining float becomes more valuable. He tied that directly to XRP’s payments thesis, describing it as “fixed supply, growing demand,” with the reduced amount left on the market doing more of the pricing work. From there, Claver turned to market depth, which he cast as the central constraint for institutional use. He likened XRP liquidity to a pool of water that must be deep enough to absorb a large entrant without chaos. If a bank wanted to move $100 million across borders using XRP, he said, a shallow market would not absorb the flow cleanly and price dislocation would follow. “The lever for that has got to be price,” he said. “If XRP is worth $1 each and you need to move $100 million to the network, you need a hundred million tokens sitting in the pool ready to be able to absorb that trade. But as the pool gets larger and let’s say XRP is worth $100 each, you only need a million tokens to absorb the same $100 million trade.” Related Reading: XRP Could Be Building A Major Short Squeeze, Analyst Says That logic extended to slippage, which Claver described as one of the clearest reasons banks are not yet using crypto rails for large-value transfers. He said a $100 million XRP transaction today could lose “somewhere around 10% just because of slippage,” or roughly $10 million, while traditional equity markets can process similar size for less than half a percent. To narrow that gap, he argued, the value sitting on order books would need to grow by roughly 20 to 100 times. With token supply fixed, he said, price would have to do “all of that work.” Claver also argued that available XRP supply could tighten further over time. He pointed to ETF products, corporate and bank treasury inventory, and DeFi pools as sources of locked-up tokens that would be unavailable for exchange liquidity. In that setup, he said, rising demand would collide with shrinking float and price would not “slide up gradually” but gap higher once sellers became scarce. Speed is the other pillar of the thesis. Claver said XRP’s 3-to-5-second settlement time gives the same pool of capital far more turnover than slower networks, allowing market makers to recycle liquidity more efficiently. But he stressed that speed alone is not enough. “If every single trade cost you 1 to 2% in slippage,” he said, “the speed advantage turns into a faster way to lose money.” He closed by arguing that market cap offers only a superficial snapshot because it assumes every token could be valued at the last traded price. For a network meant to process cross-border value at scale, he said, the real test is whether its order books can absorb institutional volume without destroying capital. On Claver’s telling, that makes higher XRP prices less a matter of hype than a structural condition for the network to do the job its advocates envision. At press time, XRP traded at $1.3337. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com