In a recent development, David Schwartz, the CTO at Ripple, addressed concerns raised by some members of the XRP community regarding the necessity of XRP in light of Ripple's latest venture into stablecoin territory.

Earlier this month, Ripple made headlines by unveiling its own dollar-pegged stablecoin, set to be issued later this year. Backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term treasury bonds and other cash equivalents, the token marks a significant milestone in Ripple's expansion efforts. Initially deployed as an ERC-20 standard token, it promises to enhance the efficiency and stability of transactions within the ecosystem.

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Amid the buzz surrounding the stablecoin announcement, questions arose regarding the role of XRP in Ripple's future payment solutions. Addressing these concerns, David Schwartz emphasized the strategic importance of XRP in the company's vision. Contrary to speculation suggesting redundancy, Schwartz clarified that the introduction of the stablecoin does not diminish the significance of XRP in facilitating seamless cross-border transactions.

Where XRP works best, we don't want any barriers to people using it and getting the best experience. Where XRP does not work best, we don't want people using it just to make us happy and suffering an inferior experience or worse economics. 2/2

— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) April 24, 2024

Schwartz highlighted the pivotal role of payment software capable of settling with XRP, underscoring its superiority in certain scenarios. He emphasized Ripple's commitment to providing users with the best possible experience, leveraging XRP where it excels while acknowledging its limitations in other contexts.

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Schwartz's remarks serve to debunk any notions of XRP's diminishing relevance within the Ripple ecosystem. Instead, he emphasized the importance of ensuring that users have access to the most suitable payment methods for their needs, whether it be XRP or the new stablecoin.

American multinational investment bank Morgan Stanley could potentially allow 15,000 brokers to solicit client purchases for Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, according to a recent report by AdvisorHub, which cites two anonymous senior executives. 

So far, the bank has offered them only on an unsolicited basis, which essentially means that advisors do not explicitly recommend investing in Bitcoin ETF. 

The rumored policy change, as the report suggests, could substantially boost demand for red-hot Bitcoin ETFs. 

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One of the executives cited by AdvisorHub says that the banking giant is cautious about allowing thousands of its brokers to solicit client purchases for Bitcoin ETFs, which is why they are working on setting up some guardrails such as allocation limits. The brokers will also have to take into account such factors as risk tolerance. Morgan Stanley wants clients to invest in these products in a "controlled way."

Other major players, such as Wells Fargo, remain mum about potential plans to introduce solicited purchases. 

Meanwhile, there are some troubling signs that demand for Bitcoin ETFs could be waning.  

As reported by U.Today, Bitcoin ETFs recorded $120 million worth of outflows on Wednesday. 

The price of Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency, has now slipped back below the $64,000 level. 

BlackRock's Bitcoin exchange-traded fund has abruptly ended its streak of consecutive inflows at 71 days. 

On Wednesday, IBIT did not manage to attract any inflows while total outflows reached $120 million. 

Grayscale's GBTC continues to see massive outflows, bleeding more than $130 million yesterday. 

Fidelity's FBTC and Ark's ARKB saw rather modest inflows that were not capable of offsetting Grayscale's losses. The two funds managed to attract $5.6 million and $4.2 million, respectively. 

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On Tuesday, BlackRock's IBIT recorded a modest $10 million worth of inflows. Considering that many traders are tracking ETF flows to gauge the market sentiment, BlackRock's failure to attract any fresh flows on Wednesday might be a bearish signal for the market (at least in the short term).

However, it is worth noting that these ETFs initially attracted stronger-than-expected inflows following their launch. The ETF has now approached $20 billion in assets under management. For comparison, it took the SPDR Gold ETF (GLD) almost three years to achieve the same milestone. Moreover, IBIT has surpassed GLD in daily trading volume despite the fact that the total AUM of the latter is almost three times bigger compared to the former. 

Moreover, it is common for ETFs to stop attracting flows once they hit a certain size. 

BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF managed to record one of the longest streaks. However, it is still far from such names as the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) and the Pacer US Cash Cows 100 ETF (COWZ).

Regardless of the implications of IBIT's now-interrupted streak of inflows, the crypto market sentiment appears to be bearish. The Bitcoin price has slumped more than 3% over the past 24 hours, currently trading at $64,329.

Bitcoin's movement around $66,000 is starting to raise some questions, with the digital gold struggling to punch through. The 50-day EMA is represented by the blue line on the chart. This average has been a ceiling that Bitcoin just cannot seem to crack. Currently, it aligns with the $67,000 level, which Bitcoin has not surpassed.

On the downside, Bitcoin has a support at $61,000. This is the level where Bitcoin has previously found support, meaning it dropped to this price and then bounced back up, showing that there is some buyer conviction.

BTC/USD Chart by TradingView

However, the path upwards is blocked by a major resistance range around $71,000, an area the price of Bitcoin has hit multiple times and not managed to move beyond. This range is the current "unfortunately" since it has proven to be a tough nut to crack for Bitcoin's price.

Looking at the future, if Bitcoin can gather the momentum to break above the 50 EMA and clear the $67,000 mark, the next target will be this $71,000 resistance. A convincing move above that could signal stronger growth ahead. But if the price drops, and especially if it falls below that $61,000 support level, we might see a deeper pullback, possibly shaking out some of the weaker hands before any new attempts to rise.

Bonk's massive surge

Bonk has made headlines with an astonishing 80% price jump in the past three days. This surge in value, signals strong bullish momentum as BONK breaks past its previous resistance levels with remarkable force.

A closer look at the charts shows a consistent increase in trading volume accompanying the price spike. It is not an aggressive leap though, but rather a sustained climb that indicates growing investor interest. The gradual volume build-up provides a backdrop of stability for the recent price hike.

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Now, we are set on the next resistance level at $0.000028-29. The trajectory BONK is carving out suggests that there is a good chance it will pierce through this barrier, continuing its rally.  

The narrative created by BONK's price and volume activity shows that the cryptocurrency is gaining traction and has managed to attract a pool of traders and investors who are riding the wave of its current upswing.

Ethereum in stress

Ethereum is currently on the edge, self-possessed for a potential price movement that will move it forward. Recently, ETH has been inching toward the 26-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), a crucial technical threshold many use to gauge short-term market trends. The price is close to this line, currently at around $3,250, hinting at a possible breakout.

Traders are watching with bated breath as Ethereum flirts with this 26 EMA. A decisive push above this line could open the doors to further gains, signaling fresh buyer confidence.

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However, Ethereum is also facing off with the 50 EMA, a bit higher on the chart, representing a more significant test of its strength. This convergence of the 26 and 50 EMAs may squeeze the price into a tight spot, potentially triggering a surge in volatility as the asset battles between these two averages.

While the fight at the EMAs unfolds: the volume is descending. This dropping trading activity can sometimes be a prelude to a reversal since the current trend is losing support among traders.

If Ethereum manages to gain the strength to rise above the 26 EMA and maintain its foothold, we could see the price target the next significant resistance level at around $3,500. However, failing to break through could result in a retest of lower supports, potentially at the $3,000 level, a round number that often plays a psychological role.

Cryptocurrency giant Binance has lost a considerable portion of its market share, according to a recent report by Kaiko.

Binance's share of global trading volume currently stands at 55%, down from 81% just a year ago. 

Meanwhile, smaller exchanges keep gaining momentum. Competitors of the likes of OKX have managed to significantly increase their market share over the same period of time.

The cryptocurrency exchange, which was founded back in 2017 by controversial Chinese-Canadian entrepreneur Changpeng Zhao, managed to turn into a cryptocurrency giant. 

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Just mere months after its launch, Binance appeared among the top exchanges by trading volumes, competing with such veterans as Coinbase. Its success was partially attributed to its successful initial coin offerings (ICOs). The exchange also quickly gained prominence due to its willingness to embrace new altcoins. 

Its success, of course, was not without controversies. Last November, CZ was forced to step down from his CEO role after he was charged with violating anti-money laundering laws in the U.S. Binance was forced to fork out a $4 billion fine. 

As reported by Bloomberg, the US Department of Justice is now seeking a three-year prison sentence for Zhao. At the same time, the lawyers of the controversial entrepreneur insist that he should be punished with probation instead. 

CZ apologized for making "poor decisions" ahead of his sentencing which is going to take place on Apr. 30.  

Despite CZ's resignation, Binance is struggling to recover from the reputational damage caused by the US DOJ charges after its market share ended up plunging by 30% in 2023.

According to a recent report by Fortune, which cites data from prominent blockchain sleuth Chainalysis, roughly 1.8 million ($121 billion) of Bitcoin is stored in wallets that have been inactive for more than a decade. 

Dormant coins account for 8.5% of Bitcoin's 19.7 million circulating supply. 

It is unclear what percentage of cryptocurrencies is lost forever, but the report suggests that the total number of such coins should stabilize around 1.5 million. 

Earlier this month, for instance, a Satoshi-era whale woke up after an entire decade of inactivity with $115 million. 

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When wallets become active again after a long period of time, some assume that they might want to take profits after a price rally. 

However, according to the report, there is no direct correlation between the activation of long-dormant wallets and substantial price moves.

Interestingly enough, Chainalysis has noted that old wallets tend to be activated at a rather predictable pace. The vast majority of such wallets do not usually make headlines due to their small size. Ninety-nine percent of all wallets that are considered to be lost contain less than 50 BTC ($3.2 million at current prices). 

A supply crunch? 

According to data provided by Glassnode, more than 68% of Bitcoin's total circulating supply has been inactive for more than a year. 

The fact that less supply is available on the market is a potentially bullish development if one takes into account growing demand following the approval of a slew of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January. 

The largest cryptocurrency is currently trading at $64,810 on major spot exchanges. 

Sellers are back in the game, according to CoinStats.

SHIB chart by CoinStatsSHIB/USD

The price of SHIB has gone down by 5% since yesterday.

Image by TradingView

On the hourly time frame, the rate of SHIB is going down after a breakout of the local support level of $0.00002680. At the moment, there are no reversal signals yet, which means that the decline to the $0.000025 zone is likely to continue.

Image by TradingView

On the chart, the price is far from key levels, which means that neither bulls nor bears are dominating. 

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However, if the decline continues to $0.000025, one can expect a dump to the $0.000023-$0.000024 zone. 

Image by TradingView

From the midterm point of view, the rate of SHIB has not risen after the previous bullish candle. If the current bar closes around current prices or below, traders may expect a test of the $0.000020 zone.

SHIB is trading at $0.00002588 at press time.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, seems to be at a decisive juncture in its price action, with a key indicator issuing a warning that could imply a potential downturn in its value. However, there is a catch that might be worth considering. 

Ali, a crypto analyst, indicated in a recent tweet that the popular TD Sequential indicator has flashed a sell signal on Bitcoin's 12-hour price chart. 

Supporting this outlook is the fact that Bitcoin is currently facing resistance at the mid-level of a parallel channel. If Bitcoin faces rejection at this key price level, it might trigger a short-term price drop. 

The TD Sequential indicator has flashed a sell signal on the 12-hour chart, with #Bitcoin facing resistance at the mid-level of a parallel channel!Exercise caution, given this indicator's track record. Particularly watchful if $BTC drops below the $65,500 support level. pic.twitter.com/m7iquoi1L5

— Ali (@ali_charts) April 24, 2024

Ali adds a note of warning for Bitcoin buyers to exercise caution, given this indicator's track record. The most important thing to watch is if BTC drops below the $65,500 support level.

BTC had fallen beneath this highlighted level at the time of writing, down 2.67% in the last 24 hours to $65,168. Mid-April has historically been a period of price weakness for BTC.

According to the most recent analysis from Greekslive, implied BTC volatility declined rapidly after the BTC halving, falling from 75% to 65% to mark a new low since March.  

The crypto community watches with rapt attention to deduce BTC's next price move as it navigates its post-halving trajectory. 

Here's the catch

Despite the warning about BTC's near-term price, investors have an underlying sentiment of optimism. 

According to on-chain analytics firm Santiment, Bitcoin's key whale tier holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC, has accumulated 266,000 more BTC since the start of 2024. This translates to an accumulation of 1.24% of the entire supply. There is also a high degree of FOMO.

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Likewise, other BTC metrics are showing an uptick. Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo indicated that Bitcoin miner revenues have seen a huge jump to record highs after the halving. Likewise, Bitcoin's supply distribution continues to improve over time, with a sharp jump in the number of "whales" on-chain recorded over the last two months. 

The growth of the cryptocurrency market has not lasted long, according to CoinMarketCap.

Top coins by CoinMarketCapDOGE/USD

The rate of DOGE has declined by 3.41% over the last 24 hours.

Image by TradingView

On the hourly chart, the price of DOGE is falling after a breakout of the local support level of $0.1605. If the daily bar closes around current levels, the decline is likely to continue to the $0.15 zone.

Image by TradingView

On the bigger time frame, the rate has once again failed to fix above the $0.16 area. At the moment, bears are more powerful than bulls. 

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In this case, there is a high chance to see a further correction to $0.145-$0.15. Such a scenario is relevant until the end of the week.

Image by TradingView

From the midterm point of view, it is too early to make any distant predictions as only a few days remain until the weekly candle classes. However, if it happens below the $0.16 zone, the drop may lead to a test of the $0.14 range shortly.

DOGE is trading at $0.1553 at press time.

Popular cryptocurrency-friendly brokerage platform Robinhood has announced that Shiba Inu (SHIB), the second-biggest meme cryptocurrency, is now available to New York State residents.

In addition, Avalanche (AVAX) and Compound (COMP) are also supported in the state.

As reported by U.Today, SHIB was originally listed on Robinhood alongside COMP back in April 2022. AVAX was added to the popular brokerage platform back in May.     

New York, the biggest financial center in the world, has long been known for its strict crypto rules. In 2015, it introduced its Bitlicense program, which prohibits digital currency companies from conducting activities in the state without obtaining a much-coveted license. Very few companies have actually managed to obtain BitLicenses. 

Critics argue that such a harsh approach has stifled innovation in New York given that many companies cannot operate in the state. Earlier this year, the office of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli questioned the efficiency of the controversial Bitlicense regime. 

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Last year, the state made its harsh approach to crypto even harsher with new coin listing policies. Notably, XRP and Litecoin were among the cryptocurrencies that were excluded from the list greenlit by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

Robinhood, which made its initial foray into the crypto industry in early 2019, managed to obtain its BitLicense in January 2019.  

In 2022, Robinhood's cryptocurrency division faced a $30 million fine for allegedly failing to comply with cybersecurity and money laundering rules. 

The price of Dogwifhat (WIF), arguably the most prominent meme cryptocurrency on the Solana blockchain, surged by an impressive 30%, reaching a 12-day pinnacle at $3.56. This meteoric rise has propelled Dogwifhat's market capitalization past the $3.5 billion mark, solidifying its position as a major player in the crypto sphere.

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The surge in value has not only elevated Dogwifhat to new heights but also catapulted it to 33rd place in the ranking of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. This puts Dogwifhat ahead of fundamental and infrastructure projects like Stellar (XLM) and Cosmos (ATOM), as well as CRO, the native token of the CryptoCom exchange, marking a significant milestone for the meme token.

Source: CoinMarketCap

This remarkable ascent can be attributed to a perfect storm of factors. Dogwifhat's enduringly charming mascot, coupled with its cultural resonance and the ever-volatile nature of the crypto market, has thrust it into the spotlight. This unique blend of appeal has not only captured the imagination of crypto enthusiasts but has also piqued the interest of major players in the financial industry.

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Evidence of Dogwifhat's newfound prominence is abundant. The "wif hat" theme has found favor with giants like the Franklin Templeton fund, a behemoth in the financial world. Furthermore, prominent financial media outlets, including Bloomberg, have dedicated coverage to the token, highlighting its growing significance. 

Even the iconic bull statue on Wall Street has been adorned with the now-famous knitted hat, a testament to Dogwifhat's cultural impact and widespread recognition.

Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin has finally waded into the highly unexpected ZKasino rugpull that occurred over the past weekend. Speaking on the warpcast decentralized social media platform, Buterin slammed ZKasino, highlighting it as one of the prominent examples of how fraudsters have infiltrated the Zero-Knowledge "ZK" tech ecosystem.

ZKasino saga

Known as a decentralized betting site, ZKasino entered the spotlight on April 21 when it carted away its users' funds and deactivated its platform. The event stirred an uproar, one that had many top investors and crypto trading platforms like MEXC dissociate themselves from the scam site.

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Reacting based on community musings, Vitalik Buterin said there was "nothing 'ZK' about ZKasino except that it lives on zksync. Known as a major proponent of the Zero-Knowledge tech stack, Buterin believes it is now being abused in no small way.

The tech pioneer advised the community on the need to adapt because scammers are now adopting it since it has become a mainstream innovation. The statement from Vitalik Buterin has formed a notable clarion call for innovators as they seek to reignite trust in the broader Ethereum ecosystem.

Combating scams: No solution yet

There are a lot of scams going on in the digital currency ecosystem during this period, with losses per quarter typically running into multi-million dollars. It is worth noting that no ecosystem in the broader Web3 ecosystem is immune to these scam ventures. From MangoFarm on Solana, labeled a product of a serial scammer, to the fake airdrops on Hedera, the menace is widespread.

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Despite this challenge, crypto innovators are notably yet to find a promising solution to combat these scammers. While privacy solutions are growing, the only adopted strategy at the moment remains the awareness campaigns from crypto leaders to their respective communities.

The Shiba Inu (SHIB) community is buzzing with anticipation as Shiba Inu team member Lucie drops tantalizing hints about what's in store for Shibarium, Shiba Inu's layer-2 ecosystem.

With 2024 currently ongoing and 2025 on the horizon, excitement builds around innovative features and groundbreaking developments slated for Shibarium soon.

What's coming in 2024/2025 for #Shibarium?- #Shibaswap (version 1.75 followed by 2.0)- #Shibahub- @treatsforShib- #ShibaEternity P2E- @mvshib- @K9finance Liquid Staking- Layer 3 TestnetAdditionally, fully functional DAOs will be available for all tokens within the Shiba… pic.twitter.com/iICIaoi11Z

— 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐄 | SHIB.IO 🧜🏼‍♀️ (@LucieSHIB) April 24, 2024

Among the teased developments for Shibarium in 2024-2025 are: ShibaSwap (version 1.75, followed by 2.0), Shibahub, Treat, ShibaEternity P2E, Shiba Inu metaverse, K9finance, Liquid Staking and layer-3 testnet. Furthermore, fully functional DAOs will be available for all tokens in the Shiba ecosystem.

While specific details remain under wraps, the team member's comments have sparked excitement and speculation within the SHIB community.

Shibarium has seen significant growth since its inception, reaching 417,302,469 in total transactions; 1,785,254 in wallet addresses and 4,371,712 in total blocks. 

The upcoming TREAT token will power Shiba Inu's blockchain, featuring fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), developed in collaboration with Zama. Shiba Inu recently revealed that it has raised a whopping $12 million from major VC partners - to the delight of its community.

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This funding round is expected to help solidify Shibarium’s position as the epicenter of the memes in the crypto world and scale the utility of the ecosystem to new heights.

While excitement remains, the SHIB community should bear in mind that TREAT has not been released, and any claims suggesting otherwise are fraudulent.

As the Shiba Inu team continues to work diligently behind the scenes to bring these plans to fruition, the SHIB community eagerly awaits further updates and announcements regarding Shibarium's development.

Founder of Blockstream Adam Back has addressed his followers on the X/Twitter social network, urging them to keep stacking Sats, and do it “harder,” while Bitcoin is trading at the current price level.

Back cited the popular Duke Nukem character in his tweet today, adding stacking Sats: "It's time to stack sats and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of gum."

"It's time to stack sats and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of gum." -Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem Forever pic.twitter.com/NePpJa6MES

— Adam Back (@adam3us) April 24, 2024

In an earlier tweet today, Back also addressed the Bitcoin community, urging it to “stack Sats harder while you can.”

GM. stack harder while you can!

— Adam Back (@adam3us) April 24, 2024

Back did not name the reason, but it seems obvious that he expects the Bitcoin price to skyrocket soon after the recent halving. This “soon” however, may take many months. Still, the fact is that Bitcoin block rewards have shrunk by 50% to 3.125 BTC from 6.25 BTC. The second fact is that spot-based exchange-traded funds continue to accumulate Bitcoin, sucking it up from the market.

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Bitcoin ETF runs positive for several days now

@spotonchain analytics account has reported that spot Bitcoin funds continue to see BTC inflows and have been getting positive inflows over the past three consecutive days. On April 23, the BTC net inflow constituted $32 million.

However, all of the 10 Bitcoin ETFs, and in particular BlackRock’s iShares (IBIT), have been having weak flows recently. As for Grayscale, for the past four trading days, its single-day Bitcoin ouflow from GBTC remains under $100 million.

🚨 $BTC #ETF Net Inflow Apr 23, 2024: +$32M!• The net inflow has been positive for 3 consecutive trading days.• The single-day outflow of #Grayscale Bitcoin Trust $GBTC remains under $100M for 4 trading days in a row.• Generally, all 10 #Bitcoin #ETFs, especially… pic.twitter.com/puqBk8faGv

— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) April 24, 2024

Before the halving took place on April 20, spot Bitcoin ETFs consumed about 12x the amount of BTC produced by miners per day. Back then, the daily amount produced was 900 BTC. Now, it is 50% less – 450 BTC.

In March this year, global pioneer cryptocurrency Bitcoin succeeded in reaching a new historic price high of $73,750. That was the first time BTC reached a new ATH before a halving.

In a series of substantial transactions that have caught the attention of the community, XRP whales have transferred over $20 million worth of the digital asset to unidentified wallets. These transactions, coupled with a recent uptick in the price of XRP, have sparked speculation and debate about the future trajectory of the cryptocurrency.

🚨 19,904,968 #XRP (10,921,539 USD) transferred from #Binance to unknown wallethttps://t.co/OthEaCLoXS

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) April 24, 2024

Whale Alert, a prominent X account known for tracking and reporting large crypto transactions, reported a significant transfer, stating that nearly 19.9 million XRP, valued at approximately $10.9 million, had been transferred from Binance to an unknown wallet. This was followed by another report indicating that almost 18.8 million XRP, worth around $10.3 million, were transferred from Binance to a different unknown wallet.

🚨 18,842,157 #XRP (10,264,289 USD) transferred from #Binance to unknown wallethttps://t.co/BbTRNO0idC

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) April 24, 2024

These back-to-back transfers indicate a concerted effort by XRP whales to accumulate substantial amounts of the cryptocurrency. The scale of these transactions is further underscored by a recent report from U.Today, which highlighted a separate whale purchase of 24.5 million XRP, valued at approximately $13.7 million.

XRP market sentiment

The timing of these large transactions coincides with a notable surge in the price of XRP. Data from CoinMarketCap shows that XRP has experienced a 10.63% increase in its price over the last seven days, reaching a current price of $0.5455. This upward momentum in price suggests that the market sentiment toward XRP is currently positive, potentially attracting whales to increase their holdings in anticipation of further gains.

While the recent whale activity and price surge in XRP offer potential opportunities for investors, they also come with inherent risks. The opaque nature of the crypto market, coupled with the anonymity of large transactions, can create an environment conducive to market manipulation and sudden price volatility. As the XRP community continues to monitor these developments closely, it is crucial for investors to remain vigilant.

Dog-themed cryptocurrency Shiba Inu (SHIB) might be on the verge of regaining its position among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization following an impressive 25% rise in value over the past week. 

With its uptick in value, Shiba Inu is inching closer to the 10th spot currently held by Cardano (ADA), which has a market capitalization of $17.7 billion.

Shiba Inu currently ranks as the 11th largest cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of $16 billion. According to current data, Shiba Inu may need to increase its market capitalization by $1.7 billion to retake 10th rank.

At the time of writing, SHIB was up 3.30% in the last 24 hours to $0.00002724. SHIB was up 25.43% in seven days.

SHIB/USD Daily Chart, Courtesy: TradingView

Shiba Inu has steadily risen from a low of $0.00002 on April 19 to a high of $0.000028. The coin's advance could have been aided by a broader upturn in the cryptocurrency market, which has seen cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) rebound to recently tested highs. 

Shiba Inu revealed at the start of the week that it has raised a whopping $12 million from major VC partners to launch its Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) blockchain developed in collaboration with Zama, which will be powered by the upcoming TREAT token. 

FHE enables computations on encrypted data and has the potential to transform crypto's privacy and trust. It would be a major game-changer for how personal and financial information are handled.

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The innovation signals the potential for future growth in the ecosystem and has been hailed as a major milestone by Shytoshi Kusama, Shiba Inu's pseudonymous project lead. 

Shiba Inu team member Lucie outlines what is planned for Shibarium in 2024-2025 in a tweet: ShibaSwap (version 1.75, followed by 2.0), Shibahub, Treat, ShibaEternity P2E, Shiba Inu metaverse, K9finance, Liquid Staking and layer-3 testnet. Furthermore, fully functional DAOs will be available for all tokens in the Shiba ecosystem.

Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo recently initiated a discourse within the cryptocurrency community concerning the feasibility of Bitcoin surpassing gold's market capitalization of $17.7 trillion. In a series of insightful remarks, the expert delved into the nuanced dynamics of stock-to-flow (S2F) ratio, inflationary trajectory of BTC and the evolving landscape of institutional adoption.

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Central to Woo's thesis is the S2F model, a metric that gauges an asset's scarcity by comparing its existing supply to its annual production. With Bitcoin's inflation rate now lower than that of gold, the expert posits that the cryptocurrency stands poised to challenge the dominance of the precious metal in the realm of store-of-value assets.

Source: Willy Woo

However, Woo tempered expectations by suggesting a potential lag of 5 to 10 years before Bitcoin's market capitalization aligns with its S2F valuation. He attributed this delay to various factors, including the gradual integration of Bitcoin into institutional portfolios, the development of regulatory frameworks and the establishment of custody solutions.

People's money

Despite this cautious prognosis, Woo underscored the potential for retail investors capable of self-custodying their Bitcoin holdings to experience the benefits of the S2F model sooner. He hinted at a divergence between institutional and retail adoption timelines, suggesting that the latter may embrace Bitcoin's value proposition more rapidly.

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As there is a possibility for Bitcoin's market cap to reach $17 trillion, questions linger about the potential implications for cryptocurrency's price dynamics in the interim. 

Could the perceived lag between Bitcoin's intrinsic value and its market capitalization lead to increased volatility or speculative trading patterns? And how might external factors such as regulatory developments and macroeconomic trends influence its trajectory relative to gold?

Tron and Binance Smart Chain (BSC) are active, with a high number of active addresses transferring stablecoins. However, a closer look at the dollar volumes transferred tells a different story, where Solana and Ethereum emerge as leaders.

It suggests that while there might be fewer individual transactions on Solana compared to Tron or BSC, the transactions that are occurring are of much higher value. This can be interpreted as an indication that Solana's network is currently favored by larger investors, or "whales," who are moving substantial amounts of stablecoins.

Interesting that while Tron and BSC lead in active addresses for stablecoin transfers, Ethereum and Solana lead in $ volumes of stablecoin transfers. -@CharlieYouAI @ournetwork__ pic.twitter.com/G1EdQphht0

— Chris Burniske (@cburniske) April 24, 2024

The contrast becomes starker when considering the nature of the transactions on Tron and BSC. These networks appear to cater more to retail traders and investors. The lower transaction fees make these networks attractive for those looking to perform smaller, day-to-day transfers. Tron, for instance, has an average token transaction fee of around $2, making it an economical choice for regular use.

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Solana's attraction for whales gives it a unique position in the market, especially in terms of liquidity and the potential it has compared to other networks. Meanwhile, the popularity of Tron and BSC among retail participants could influence the development of user-centric applications and services that benefit from high transaction throughput.

Ultimately, the choice of network may come down to the specific needs and strategies of stablecoin users. Solana's edge in dollar volume points to strong, albeit more concentrated, economic activity, while Tron and BSC's active addresses reflect an ecosystem with a higher number of retail investors and traders.

In a strategic move to maintain a high-quality trading market, Binance, the world's leading cryptocurrency exchange, has announced the delisting of six spot trading pairs. 

To safeguard users and assure a high-quality trading market, Binance reviews all listed spot trading pairs regularly and may delist some spot trading pairs for a variety of reasons, including low liquidity and trading volume.

According to its most recent reviews, Binance will remove and cease trading on six spot trading pairs on April 26 at 3:00 a.m. (UTC): ALPINE/BTC, FRONT/TUSD, HARD/BTC, RUNE/TUSD, SSV/TUSD and WIN/BRL.

Similarly, Spot Trading Bot services for the aforementioned spot trading pairs will be discontinued on the specified date and time, as applicable. Binance users are strongly urged to update and/or terminate their Spot Trading Bots before the discontinuation of Spot Trading Bot services to avoid any losses.

Delisting a spot trading pair does not affect the tokens' availability on Binance Spot. Users can continue to trade the spot trading pair's base and quote assets on Binance's other trading pairs. 

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In similar news, Binance has announced that it would stop processing deposit requests for BEP2 tokens, excluding BEP2 Binance-pegged tokens (B-tokens), on May 15, 2024, at 12:00 a.m. (UTC), as the BNB Chain team prepares to sunset the BNB Beacon Chain (BEP2) by June 2024. 

Users are highly encouraged to deposit BEP2 B-tokens into their Binance accounts before the BEP2 network sunsets in June 2024. B-tokens credited into Binance accounts can then be withdrawn via its native network or other networks that Binance supports.

In positive listing news, Binance Futures will launch the BOMEUSDC, TIAUSDC and MATICUSDC Perpetual Contracts on April 25, with up to 50x leverage and 75x leverage, respectively.

Solana (SOL) is in a recovery mode today with its price visibly breaching the $150 resistance point. At the time of writing, data from CoinMarketCap shows that Solana is up by 1.81% in the past 24 hours and is changing hands for $157.08 on spot exchanges.

Solana network recovery as catalyst

Solana has been in a state of limbo for some time, with menacing network congestion acting as a major bane to its growth overall. However, a recent update indicates that the Solana block production has now returned to its normal level with an average block time of two seconds.

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Per data from SolanaFloor, a total of 409 out of 409 transactions were reportedly confirmed on the Solana network, indicating rebooting network health. There are many positive omens surrounding this unique network rebound, and there might be an accompanying surge in the demand for SOL.

🚨 BREAKING: @solana's congestion issues have been completely resolved, with block production back to normal.Transactions confirming in under 2 seconds. pic.twitter.com/TdQVjSSRQI

— SolanaFloor | Powered by Step Finance (@SolanaFloor) April 24, 2024

The menacing network congestion on Solana forced a number of projects that had already planned their respective launches to jump ship. Other projects halted their respective debut until when the coast became clear.

With this latest Block production update, Solana bulls might now be ready for a complete rebirth.

Solana developers to get praise

Solana was designed to enhance both enterprise adoption and retail embrace. With congestion issues threatening to derail its growth path, cofounder Anatoly Yakovenko and other innovators within the ecosystem sprang into action with proposals to fix the bug.

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A breakthrough was recorded earlier this month when a major fix was deployed on the testnet by the core Solana team. However, other validator clients like Anza also created patches that contributed to the overall enhancement of the Solana blockchain.

In all, the ecosystem is eyeing a promising future ahead, as teased by the more than 24.5% jump in trading volume to $3,142,785,397.