A crypto analyst and XRP enthusiast known as BarriC recently noted that XRP could experience two very different types of rallies: a retail-driven run or a utility-driven run. The price outcomes under each scenario would not only differ in magnitude but also in structure and sustainability. A retail surge could push the token into the $5 to $10 range. However, a broader utility run tied to global adoption could, in his view, send prices far beyond the double-digit price range. What To Expect With A Retail Run For XRP A retail run refers to a rally that’s based on inflows from individual investors. This type of move is usually due to hype, social media momentum, fear of missing out, and capital rotating into large-cap altcoins from individual retail and whale investors. Related Reading: A $117 Million XRP Deal Just Happened, And No One Knows Who Did It This is a scenario XRP’s price action has been subjected to multiple times. where demand spikes quickly, trading volume surges, and breakout levels are chased. Gains can materialize within weeks and months, especially if the broader crypto market enters a bullish phase. According to BarriC, the next retail-driven cycle could push the price to a price target between $5 and $10. That projection is on what retail enthusiasm alone can achieve. However, retail rallies tend to be volatile and can retrace once sentiment cools, and capital rotates away from the crypto industry. What A Utility Run Looks Like For The Altcoin A utility run is fundamentally different from a retail-based run. A utility run would be driven by sustained real-world usage of the XRP Ledger and integration of Ripple’s payment infrastructure into global finance. Related Reading: Analyst Predicts XRP Price Will Reach $13 In 3 Months As Accumulation Ends According to BarriC, with a utility run, we could see prices for XRP starting at a minimum of $100 and then moving rapidly to $1,000. Then we could see the altcoin skyrocketing from there into the $10,000 to $50,000 price range. XRP was designed to facilitate cross-border settlements, liquidity provisioning, and fast value transfer. The outlook is that demand would come from usage once banks, payment providers, and financial institutions start to adopt XRP and the XRP Ledger at scale for on-demand liquidity and tokenization of real-world assets. Speaking of XRP utility, XRP’s utility is a symbiotic relationship with the XRP Ledger. According to XRPL validator Vet, you cannot do anything on XRPL without XRP. “XRP is in the middle of everything,” he said. These comments were made in a recent YouTube podcast where Vet explained that the Ledger was never built as a single-asset chain like Bitcoin. From launch, the XRP Ledger included a native decentralized exchange, tokenization through issued assets, and features of a multi-asset ledger. Users can create stablecoins, tokenize assets, and trade directly on-chain without relying on external smart contracts. XRP is at the middle of all these functionalities, and therefore, a utility price run is based on infrastructural adoption of the XRP Ledger. Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
Tokenized real-world assets have continued to expand despite a broader market slide, with assets distributed on-chain up nearly 300% year over year.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal has opened an inquiry into crypto giant Binance following reports of potential sanctions violations.
Ether faces a bearish trend as onchain fees and network deposits hit multiyear lows. Until derivatives metrics stabilize, ETH price remains at risk.
The recent Bitcoin (BTC) price performance may appear subdued, with the leading crypto currently trading below the $65,000 level and sitting around 50% under all-time highs, but a new report from River suggests that adoption trends in 2025 tell a very different story. According to the firm, the network’s growth across institutions, businesses, financial advisors, and even nation-states accelerated sharply over the past year, despite market weakness. Institutional Bitcoin Demand One of the most notable developments has been the scale of institutional accumulation. River reports that institutions acquired approximately 829,000 Bitcoin in 2025 alone. These buyers included corporations, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), investment funds, and government-related entities. Related Reading: History Repeating? XRP Flashes Signal Last Seen Before Explosive 60,000% Rally Investment advisors have also emerged as steady buyers. Registered investment advisors (RIAs), which collectively oversee around $146 trillion in client assets, have been net purchasers of Bitcoin exposure for eight consecutive quarters. Their participation largely began after the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in 2024. Over the past two years, RIAs have invested approximately $1.5 billion per quarter into Bitcoin ETFs, without a single quarter of net selling. Adoption within this group is already widespread: 29 of the top 30 US RIAs hold Bitcoin exposure. However, allocations remain minimal, averaging just 0.008% of assets, leaving considerable room for expansion. Surge In Bank, Corporate And Retail Adoption Traditional banks are also moving closer to the asset. Around 60% of the largest US banks are reportedly developing Bitcoin-related products. Corporate adoption accelerated as well. Public company ownership of Bitcoin increased by 2.5 times in 2025, with businesses collectively ranking as the largest net buyers during the year. Much of this demand came from Bitcoin treasury companies, but River notes that many established corporations have been quietly adding BTC in smaller amounts. The firm expects this type of balance sheet adoption to expand across the S&P 500 in the years ahead. Merchant usage has grown at a rapid pace. In the United States, the number of businesses accepting BTC payments tripled in 2025, while global merchant adoption rose by 74%. River, which serves more than 3,000 businesses across multiple industries, reports that the strongest growth is occurring among small, privately held companies, many of which do not publicly disclose their Bitcoin strategies. Nation-States Expand BTC Holdings Nation-state involvement also increased. Five additional countries became Bitcoin holders in 2025. Among them were Luxembourg and Saudi Arabia, whose sovereign wealth funds acquired exposure, and the Czech Republic. Governments have accumulated Bitcoin through a variety of channels, including state-backed mining operations, direct purchases, ETF exposure, asset seizures, donations, and even hacking-related recoveries. Related Reading: World Liberty Financial Cites ‘Coordinated Attack’ — But Are There Deeper Issues? Looking ahead, River argues that the divergence between price performance and adoption is striking. While the current phase of growth may not immediately translate into dramatic price multiples, it reflects a deeper form of progress: We expect that in the coming years, Bitcoin adoption will not only continue its current trend but meaningfully accelerate. As of this writing, BTC is trading at $64,459, marking losses of 26% and 31% over the past thirty days and year-to-date, respectively. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
PayPal shares rose 7% after reports that Stripe is considering an acquisition, following Stripes $159B valuation milestone.
The post Stripe weighs PayPal acquisition as PayPal shares jump 7% appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
The EU authority tracking compliance under the MiCA framework issued a warning to those marketing crypto derivatives as “perpetual futures or perpetual contracts.”
Founded in the 1990s, PayPal is considered a pioneer in facilitating internet payments and normalizing digital wallets.
As AI agents grow more autonomous, developers are already giving them crypto wallets, allowing software to hold assets, pay for services, trade tokens and even hire other agents. The technical pieces are falling into place. The legal ones are not.
Bloomberg reported that Stripe — which has growing stablecoin and blockchain ambitions — is exploring a deal for the embattled fintech.
The exchange now allows US customers to trade thousands of stocks and ETFs commission-free alongside crypto, with 24/5 access and instant funding.
Kraken’s new contracts, built on the xStocks framework, offer up to 20x leverage on tokenized benchmarks tied to US equities and gold.
The Treasury’s OFAC has sanctioned the Russian company Operation Zero following the guilty plea of a man who admitted to stealing software.
MoonPay debuts infrastructure enabling AI agents to transact with stablecoins onchain as both crypto and non-crypto companies race to build the “agent economy.”
OpenAI wants to retire the leading AI coding benchmark—and the reasons reveal a deeper problem with how the whole industry measures itself.
A potential final sell-off in Bitcoin is back in focus after market analyst Aaron Dishner warned that the asset appears structurally close to capitulation. Based on cycle timing, historical drawdowns, and converging technical signals, he argues the market may be nearing its last downside move before a longer-term bottom forms. He urges investors to brace for volatility as this “bottom year” unfolds. Bitcoin’s Past Fractal Points To One More Flush Dishner’s framework centers on a structural comparison to May 2022. On the weekly BTC/USDT chart, he outlines a sequence mirroring prior bear market endings: a major high, a liquidation-driven drop, a failed relief rally forming a bear flag, and a breakdown into new lows. After that breakdown, the price typically moves sideways before a final aggressive sell-off. Related Reading: AI Explains What’s Driving The Ethereum Price Volatility, Can It Rise Above $3,000 Again? He projects a downside target around $35,000–$40,000, aligning with historical drawdowns of 70% to 75% from all-time highs. Previous cycles support this range: the 2013–2015 decline lasted about 59 weeks with an 87% drawdown; the 2017–2018 cycle spanned roughly a year with an 84% decline; and the 2021–2022 bear phase retraced around 77% over 54 weeks. Based on this pattern, he expects the current cycle to extend at least 52 weeks from its peak, placing a potential bottom near October 2026. Moreover, weekly RSI has reached deeply oversold territory, levels historically associated with capitulation events such as late 2018 and the COVID crash. While not at the most extreme historical lows, RSI is within the zone that previously preceded large downside wicks and sharp sell-offs. Volume metrics also show deterioration. On-balance volume across major exchanges reflects persistent distribution, resembling conditions seen before prior cycle lows. The broader takeaway is that price structure, momentum, and volume are converging toward what Dishner describes as a final flush. Stablecoin Dominance And S&P Risk Add Pressure Dishner also highlights combined stablecoin dominance, specifically USDT and USDC. Historically, sharp increases in stablecoin dominance have coincided with heavy Bitcoin sell-offs. He notes dominance is approaching resistance near 13%, and previous breakout clusters preceded steep downside moves in BTC. RSI behavior on the dominance chart mirrors pre-capitulation setups from 2022. In that cycle, a spike in dominance aligned with Bitcoin’s June decline, followed by weeks of choppy consolidation before recovery attempts. Related Reading: Dogecoin’s Third Time Breakout Could Send Price On 2,000% Rally To $2 Macro risk compounds the outlook. Dishner points to bearish divergence signals on the S&P 500, referencing clusters of downside momentum warnings seen near prior equity tops. An 8% pullback is viewed as plausible, with a deeper 20%–25% correction representing a high-impact scenario. In his assessment, a significant equity drawdown would transmit stress into digital assets, intensifying margin pressure and accelerating Bitcoin’s decline. Even after capitulation, history suggests the market may not immediately reverse. Prior cycles required 19 to 40 weeks of sideways or unstable price action before sustained recovery began. If the pattern holds, Bitcoin may be entering its final sell-off phase, potentially bottoming around October. Until then, Dishner maintains conditions remain structurally bearish, with elevated risk across crypto and traditional markets. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
As artificial intelligence races ahead, some crypto executives believe it could become the force that finally pushes blockchain infrastructure into widespread use. Others aren’t convinced the leap is so straightforward.
Payments giant Stripe made a tender offer valuing the firm at $159 billion as payments and stablecoin volumes rise.
Shedding over 17,000 BTC worth of bitcoin ETF shares, Brevan Howard was the firm that reduced its exposure most.
Bitcoin spent the last two days sliding down a familiar set of shelves, and the order book kept printing lower bids as liquidity thinned. By this morning, it sat at $63,214, a level that places the price inside the lower band on my two-year channel map. The receipts are straightforward, and the consequences sit inside […]
The post Bitcoin losing $63k means crypto winter will not thaw any time soon as tariff shock rattles ETF flows appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Weeks after giving another $5 million to a pro-Trump PAC, the exchange received lawsuit aid from the CFTC and a bank charter from the Treasury Department.
Comparisons between AI’s explosive consumer adoption and crypto’s trajectory misunderstand the nature of the products, Dragonfly's Haseeb Qureshi told CoinDesk in an interview.
The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Fortune all reported that investigators had been let go after identifying sanctions-violating transactions.
Bitcoin remains pinned below $65,000 as random bouts of intense selling pressure persist, but one onchain indicator has stabilized, providing insight into when spot market demand may return.
Users placed more than $7 million betting on the outcome of the crypto sleuth's investigation, expected to be announced on Thursday.
The Ethereum price is hovering near a critical long-term zone as whales reshuffle billions of dollars in holdings, adding fresh uncertainty to an already fragile market. While price action remains weak in the short term, analysts say the asset has returned to a historical accumulation range. Related Reading: Here’s What’s Driving The Bitcoin Price Crash Toward $60,0000 Recent on-chain activity shows a surge in whale transfers, liquidations, and strategic repositioning, all unfolding as Ethereum (ETH) struggles to defend support near the $1,800 level, a price area many traders now view as decisive for the next market direction. XRP's price trends to the downside on the daily chart. Source: XRPUSD on Tradingview Ethereum Price Tests Long-Term Demand Zone Market analysts note that the Ethereum price has fallen back into a five-year demand area previously seen during the 2022–2023 bear market and the brief April 2025 crash. Historically, this range has attracted accumulation rather than distribution, suggesting long-term investors may be stepping in despite weak momentum. Currently, Ethereum trades around $1,828, down roughly 3.1% over the past 24 hours, with a market cap near $220 billion and elevated derivatives activity signaling continued volatility. Futures trading volume has exceeded $51 billion in a single day, while more than $100 million in leveraged positions were liquidated. Technically, ETH remains below key resistance levels. Price recently slipped under $1,900 and the 100-hour moving average, with analysts identifying $1,820 as immediate support and $1,900–$1,920 as a major resistance zone. A sustained break below support could expose downside targets near $1,780 or even $1,720. Whale Activity Signals Market Stress Large holders have played a major role in recent price pressure. One whale liquidated 7,200 ETH worth about $13.4 million at a loss exceeding $600,000 after exiting a position opened at higher prices. Another long-term holder sold nearly 23,924 ETH valued at over $45 million before opening leveraged long positions, indicating expectations of further short-term volatility. Meanwhile, a separate wallet transferred 12,000 ETH to a major exchange, potentially locking in losses exceeding $29 million if sold. Exchange inflows are often interpreted as potential sell signals because they increase market supply. Adding to the narrative, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sold more than 8,800 ETH this month, though analysts say the transactions are tied to funding ecosystem development rather than a shift in long-term confidence. Institutions Accumulate Despite Weak Price Action While some whales reduce exposure, institutional players appear to be moving in the opposite direction. Mining and infrastructure firm BitMine Immersion Technologies recently acquired 51,162 ETH for its corporate treasury and continues expanding its holdings through staking strategies designed to generate yield. This divergence between insider selling, whale repositioning, and institutional accumulation reflects a market caught between short-term fear and long-term conviction. Related Reading: Bitcoin Capitulation Persists As Short-Term Holders Realize $0.48B Daily Losses In the short run, the Ethereum price outlook hinges on whether buyers can defend the $1,800 region. Holding this level could reinforce the idea of a multi-year accumulation phase, while a breakdown may trigger another wave of liquidations across leveraged markets. Cover image from ChatGPT, ETHUSD chart on Tradingview
A spokesperson from the White House has confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump will offer no clemency to Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder and former CEO of the now-defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange. The spokesperson added that Trump is the sole decider on a mercy release, and he is firmly rooted in granting no pardon to …
An Australian national was said to sell cyber tools designed for the U.S. government and its allies to a Russian company known as Operation Zero.
Bitcoin is heading toward an uncomfortable milestone, a potential fifth consecutive monthly decline if February closes in the red, and the setup is starting to look less like a crypto-specific drawdown and more like a macro-driven repricing. This five-month losing streak would be notable in the post-ETF era and would also be Bitcoin’s longest stretch […]
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TruStage and Block Time Financial are collaborating on a dollar-pegged stablecoin pilot geared for U.S. credit unions.