"DraftKings Stock Sinks 7.6% as Needham Data Show Kalshi Leading NFL Prediction Volume"
DraftKings shares sank 7.6% Thursday to $22.47, extending its losing streak to three sessions while new Needham data showed Kalshi with a commanding lead in NFL Week 1 prediction-market volume. The weakness developed during regular trading, not before the open. DraftKings was little changed at $24.38 at 9:29:59 a.m. ET, versus Wednesday’s $24.33 close, before sliding through Thursday’s session; Flutter also fell 5.2%, while the Nasdaq rose 1.7%. Kalshi’s NFL Lead Raises Competitive Pressure Needham’s exchange-level analysis of NFL Week 1 showed $14.6 billion of sports-and-parlay prediction-market volume across eight exchanges, matching the first 14 weeks of last NFL season combined. Kalshi accounted for 76% of that volume, while DraftKings’ DKeX exchange accounted for around 3% of both total volume and Needham’s estimated consumer-equivalent handle. That comparison comes with an important qualification. Needham said exchange data can overstate Kalshi and Polymarket because other operators route activity through their exchanges, while understating DraftKings because it distributes volume across multiple exchanges. The firm expects DraftKings to concentrate more activity on DKeX over time. The exchange-share data also has a current counterpoint. Stifel’s Jeffrey Stantial reiterated a Buy rating Thursday while emphasizing DraftKings’ parlay capabilities. Stifel said CFTC-regulated single-wager sports volume fell 30% month over month in August to $18.6 billion, while “combo” volume—effectively sports parlays—rose 22% to $18.8 billion. The firm argued that DraftKings and Flutter can compete for market-making flow using their pricing and correlation models and balance-sheet capacity, while cautioning that notional exchange volume can exaggerate parlay activity relative to conventional handle. Meanwhile, the regulatory environment for prediction markets continued to evolve Thursday. In a new no-action position for passive software providers, CFTC staff said it would not recommend enforcement over introducing-broker or associated-person registration solely for qualifying software that facilitates trading through registered intermediaries and designated contract markets. The regulatory picture is not one-directional. A day earlier, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Kalshi from offering sports-event contracts on two California tribal lands, finding the tribes were likely to prevail on claims involving federal Indian gaming law and tribal ordinances. The case underscores that prediction markets are expanding while their regulatory boundaries remain contested. DraftKings’ Prediction Push Meets a Profitability Test DraftKings entered football season already committing substantial resources to Predictions. In its second-quarter results, the company said revenue fell 5% year over year to $1.443 billion, mainly because of customer-friendly sports outcomes and greater promotional reinvestment in Sportsbook and Predictions. Management nevertheless maintained 2026 revenue guidance of $6.5 billion to $6.9 billion and adjusted EBITDA guidance of $700 million to $900 million, while saying the core business remained on track for roughly $1 billion of adjusted EBITDA. The stock initially rallied after those results. DraftKings released them after the Aug. 6 close of $22.17, and shares jumped 8.4% to $24.03 on Aug. 7. DraftKings shares then climbed to $26.14 by Aug. 14. That recovery then encountered another company-specific development. On Aug. 17, DraftKings launched a proposed $600 million term loan B and a new $750 million revolving credit facility, with term-loan proceeds intended partly to repurchase convertible notes due in 2028. Shares fell 2.2% in morning trading following the announcement and closed 3.2% lower at $25.30; they dropped another 5.0% the next session to $24.04. The company later closed an upsized $700 million term loan alongside the $750 million revolver. The earnings-window analyst response was mixed. Benchmark raised its price target to $30 from $29 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating, while JPMorgan cut its target to $33 from $34, Guggenheim to $33 from $35, and Barclays to $34 from $35, with all three retaining their positive ratings. Guggenheim said its reduction followed updated estimates incorporating DraftKings’ second-quarter results and reaffirmed its 2026 outlook. Citi subsequently moved in the other direction, raising its target to $32 from $30 while keeping ‘Buy’ and arguing that prediction markets could expand DraftKings’ addressable market. Thursday’s $22.47 finish leaves DraftKings only about 1.4% above its Aug. 6 pre-earnings close, but about 14.0% below its Aug. 14 rebound close of $26.14, after three consecutive losing sessions. DKNGx Extends DraftKings Exposure Beyond the Nasdaq Session Kraken lists tokenized DraftKings as DKNGx for eligible clients in supported markets. Kraken says each DKNGx token is backed 1:1 by DraftKings shares held by a third-party custodian, but owning the token does not constitute direct ownership of the underlying DKNG share or provide shareholder rights. Kraken’s broader xStocks service supports 24/5 trading, allowing tokenized exposure outside traditional U.S. equity hours. That token-market activity remains distinct from Nasdaq trading and should not be treated as a prediction of DraftKings’ next regular-session opening price. DraftKings’ official investor calendar currently shows its Aug. 7 Q2 earnings call as the latest listed event, so the company has not posted a confirmed Q3 earnings date there. Investor Takeaway DraftKings’ Thursday slide puts the focus on whether its nationwide Predictions expansion can convert NFL-season demand into attractive economics while Kalshi holds a large exchange-volume lead. The counterweight is DraftKings’ established sportsbook and parlay infrastructure, alongside management’s maintained 2026 profitability guidance. Upcoming NFL-week activity and regulatory developments should provide the next measurable tests. #CryptoNewss
Common Prefix is formally verifying the #XRP Ledger Lending Protocol to mathematically prove that it cannot be drained, become insolvent, or break its rules.
The work focuses on the Lending Protocol introduced through XLS-66. Common Prefix explained its approach in a six-part series, including why it chose Lean 4 for the verification process.
Common Prefix said formal verification goes beyond normal software testing by using mathematics to prove that a system works correctly in all possible situations.
XRP Ledger validator Vet, also known as Hussein Zangana, said formal verification is already used in high-risk systems such as military technology, air traffic software, flight controls, and nuclear power plants.
He explained that the approach uses mathematics to show a system remains valid across all possible inputs, not just the situations developers have tested.
Common Prefix considered several tools, including Dafny, Lean 4, TLA+, and P. The team decided that TLA+ and P were not a good fit for the specific questions it needed to answer about the lending protocol.
One reason it chose Lean 4 was that it does not rely on an SMT solver. Common Prefix found that Dafny’s solver could sometimes time out when handling the complex arithmetic needed for the verification. Lean requires more work by hand, but this also makes errors easier for developers to find and fix.
BlackRock’s IBIT gained nearly 6% with $1.56 billion in trading value, ranking fifth and exceeding GLD’s $907.64 million turnover by about 72%.
BlackRock’s iShares #Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) traded around $45.81–$45.86, representing a daily increase of approximately 5.8%–5.9%.
The session placed the Bitcoin ETF ahead of one of the largest gold investment products, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), in both percentage price movement and trading value.
GLD traded at approximately $398.96, up 0.15%, with trading value of $907.64 million. That placed the gold ETF ninth in the displayed ranking.
IBIT’s $1.56 billion turnover was approximately $652 million higher than GLD’s, meaning IBIT recorded about 72% more trading value during the measured session.
The percentage-price moves also differed substantially. IBIT gained approximately 5.9%, compared with GLD’s 0.15% increase—a difference of roughly 5.75 percentage points.
"Micron Rebounds 5.5% as Memory Tightness Returns to Focus, Taiwan Labor Talks Hit Key Date"
Micron Technology shares jumped 5.5% to $977.50 on Thursday, putting the stock back above its pre-Monday level as tight memory supply returned to the center of the semiconductor trade. The rebound now meets a company-specific labor test in Taiwan, where Friday is one of two key mediation dates, and unions have warned they could move toward a strike vote if Micron fails to produce a concrete profit-sharing proposal. Micron Erases Monday’s AI-Slowdown Selloff Micron fell 5.25% to $924.03 on Monday as calls from several AI-industry leaders for slower AI development pressured chipmakers. By Thursday’s close, the stock had climbed back to $977.50, about 0.2% above its Sept. 11 close of $975.26, effectively erasing the net loss from the week’s initial AI-slowdown shock, according to Micron’s historical closing prices. Reuters reported that the Monday decline came as AI-slowdown warnings broadly hit semiconductor shares. Thursday’s move was not isolated. Intel gained 7.7%, AMD rose about 6.5%, and SanDisk advanced 6.2% during a broad semiconductor rebound, while falling oil prices and Treasury yields also supported the wider market. Micron also had a memory-specific tailwind after Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan warned that memory capacity remained constrained and supply pressure could persist into next year. That supply backdrop matters because Micron’s recent earnings have been built on unusually strong memory pricing and margins. Micron’s fiscal third-quarter results showed revenue of $41.46 billion and a non-GAAP gross margin of 84.9%, followed by guidance for roughly $50 billion of fourth-quarter revenue and an approximately 86% gross margin. Wall Street is also focused on how long the memory shortage can last. Goldman Sachs maintained a “Neutral” rating and $1,100 target on Sept. 11, expecting another strong quarter because of tight DRAM and NAND conditions while flagging longer-term supply additions, particularly from China. TD Cowen’s Krish Sankar, by contrast, reiterated a “Buy” rating and $1,600 target this week, arguing that Micron appears further along in margin expansion than in the underlying demand cycle. Taiwan Labor Dispute Puts Supply Risk Back in Focus The same tight-supply story that helped Micron shares Thursday increases the significance of its Taiwan labor dispute. According to Reuters’ report on Micron’s Taiwan labor dispute, unions representing more than 80% of Micron’s roughly 15,000 Taiwan employees are seeking a permanent system allocating 15% of operating profit to employees. Union representatives said that if Micron does not present a concrete proposal during the Sept. 18 and Sept. 21 process, they could declare negotiations broken down and move toward a strike vote. No strike had been called, and production had not been affected in Reuters’ latest confirmed report. Friday marks the Taichung union’s scheduled first mediation session, while further mediation involving the Taoyuan union is scheduled for Sept. 21. A Friday-morning status review found no confirmed strike announcement or production interruption. Taiwan is nevertheless a critical Micron manufacturing center for DRAM and high-bandwidth memory, meaning an eventual work stoppage could matter more while memory supply is already constrained. Micron has said it remains committed to participating in mediation in good faith. The dispute continued even after Micron announced fiscal-2026 rewards worth 35 to 68 months of pay for Taiwan direct labor employees. The union has argued that those awards are one-off compensation rather than the permanent, transparent profit-sharing structure it is seeking. Reuters detailed Micron’s Taiwan compensation package. Tokenized Micron Market Remains Active Separately, Micron’s tokenized counterpart remains active on Binance. Binance officially opened MUB/USDT Spot trading in June, establishing MUB as an active bStock linked to Micron. At the latest check on Friday morning, Binance’s MUB/USDT Spot market showed MUB at $992.49. MUB trades in a different market and measurement window from Micron’s Thursday 5.5% regular-session gain, so the figures should not be treated as directly equivalent. Binance states that MUB is a bStock issued by BTech Holdings representing an interest in underlying securities rather than direct ownership of Micron shares. Micron’s next confirmed financial catalyst comes Sept. 30, when the company will hold its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call at 2:30 p.m. Mountain time. Micron confirmed the Sept. 30 earnings date in August. Investor Takeaway Micron’s 5.5% Thursday rally restored the stock to roughly its pre-Monday level as attention swung back from AI-spending concerns toward memory scarcity. The Taiwan dispute now tests that supply narrative from another direction, with the Sept. 18 and Sept. 21 mediation process preceding any potential strike vote and Micron’s Sept. 30 earnings providing the next confirmed financial update. #CryptoNewss
"XRP Seeing Vanishing Leverage: Why a $2 Billion Sell-Off Might Actually Be Good News"
The #XRP perpetual and spot CVDs have recently recorded massive declines amid selling pressure, but there may be a silver lining. XRP is showing an unusual level of calm as traders continue to cut their leveraged positions and spot-market selling remains high. The asset currently trades at $1.32, up 3.14% on the day, while holding key support. The broader crypto market also gained ground after Wednesday’s quarter-point Federal Reserve rate hike and Thursday’s SEC approval of a blockchain-based stock trading pilot. Bitcoin (BTC) moved back above $78,000, while Ethereum (ETH) held above $2,500. XRP, meanwhile, stayed between $1.28 and $1.33, a range it has held for much of the past week after falling roughly 4% from a recent high around $1.42. The price movement looks calm at press time, but data from the futures and spot markets shows that traders have made much larger moves beneath the surface. XRP Leverage Drops Three Times Faster Than Price Binance data shows that traders are reducing leverage. Notably, XRP open interest on the exchange fell from about $323 million on Aug. 22 to roughly $219 million by Sept. 17. That amounts to a 32% drop in less than four weeks. XRP’s price declined by only about 11% over the same period, indicating that Open Interest fell almost three times faster than the price. This suggests that traders have closed leveraged positions at a much faster rate than XRP has fallen, rather than the decline coming mainly from traders opening new short positions. Data from the broader derivatives market shows the same trend. XRP’s total derivatives open interest dropped from roughly $1.13 billion in mid-August to about $871 million by Sept. 17, representing a decline of more than $250 million in less than a month. Spot Selling Pushes XRP CVD to New Lows The selling pressure has also spread into the spot market. Binance’s Perpetual CVD, which measures the difference between aggressive buying and selling in the futures market, fell from around -$361 million to -$1 billion over the same period, giving the indicator its weakest reading from July through September. Spot markets recorded a larger change. Estimated Spot CVD across major centralized exchanges dropped from about -$111 million to -$2.1 billion, also reaching its lowest point during the July-to-September period. This represents a nearly $2 billion change toward stronger spot selling. The move was more than three times larger than the roughly $639 million decline in perpetual CVD. This shows that selling has not come only from traders using leverage. Spot-market participants have also sold large amounts of XRP, either taking profits or reducing their losses. Less Leverage Could Give XRP Room to Recover Falling open interest and deeply negative CVD give XRP a mixed market trend. Traders have reduced their positions, but aggressive sellers still control much of the market flow. Notably, the smaller derivatives market could limit the amount of leverage available to drive another sharp decline. Also, a lower open-interest base means fewer highly leveraged long positions remain vulnerable to forced liquidations if XRP falls again. If short positions take up a larger share of the remaining open interest, funding rates could move toward neutral or even negative levels. This could create conditions for a short squeeze if buying demand returns. XRP’s recent price action also shows some stability. The token has stayed above its 20-week EMA around $1.29 despite the large drop in leverage. A daily move above $1.40 could put the $1.60-$1.70 range in focus. However, a close below $1.29 could push attention back to the psychologically important $1.00 level. #CryptoNewsFlash
"AMD Stock Climbs Above $553 as Recovery From AI Selloff Continues"
Advanced Micro Devices shares were up 1.5% at $553.35 around 6:40 a.m. ET Friday after jumping 6.4% Thursday, extending a three-session rebound from Monday’s AI-led semiconductor selloff. Ondo’s AMDon token was meanwhile trading near $554 on MEXC. The recovery has not been isolated to AMD. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 3.1% Thursday, while Intel gained 7.7%, Arm 8.6% and Micron 5.5%, showing that much of the rebound has been sector-wide. Friday’s backdrop remained supportive, with Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.56% early in the session as falling oil prices eased inflation concerns. Demand Commentary Strengthens AMD’s Recovery AMD also has company-specific support behind the broader semiconductor rebound. Piper Sandler reiterated an “Overweight” rating and $600 price target this week after AMD’s third-quarter pre-quiet-period call, with analyst David O’Connor saying CPU and GPU ramps remained on plan and demand continued to exceed available supply. The firm said available supply was sufficient to support AMD’s existing guidance and potentially more. Piper’s post-call assessment focused on Helios, Venice CPUs, and supply conditions. That commentary arrived immediately after a sharp change in sentiment toward AI hardware. AMD closed at $493.41 on Monday as calls by leading AI executives for slower model development triggered a global chip selloff. The stock then rose in each of the next three regular sessions, closing Tuesday at $504.20, Wednesday at $512.50 and Thursday at $545.09. Friday’s $553.35 premarket quote leaves AMD about 12.1% above Monday’s close. There was no new AMD investor-relations press release Friday; the company’s latest IR release remains its Aug. 31 Cisco/HUMAIN update. However, reports published early Friday said AMD had notified customers of roughly 10% price increases in the fourth quarter for AI accelerators, consumer GPUs and motherboard chipsets, with higher TSMC costs cited as the driver. AMD had not publicly confirmed the report. Friday’s backdrop therefore includes both the broader semiconductor rebound and fresh, but unconfirmed, AMD-specific pricing news, alongside Piper Sandler’s demand commentary. The Bigger Test Is Turning Demand Into Results The rebound also changes the picture from AMD’s last earnings reset. AMD reported record second-quarter revenue of $11.54 billion, up 50% year over year, with Data Center revenue more than doubling to $6.7 billion. Management said EPYC demand was accelerating, Instinct deployments were scaling, and Helios was beginning to ramp. AMD nevertheless fell 7.0% in the next regular session, from an Aug. 4 close of $518.58 to $482.05, as investors demanded a larger AI payoff despite better-than-expected guidance. Reuters reported at the time that elevated expectations and supply constraints were central concerns. AMD’s $553.35 premarket price is about 6.7% above its Aug. 4 regular-session close before the earnings release, effectively recovering that post-report reset. The operating tension has not disappeared: AMD’s official third-quarter outlook calls for roughly $13 billion of revenue, up about 13% sequentially, so execution on the supply and product ramps highlighted by Piper remains important. AMD currently has no future investor event formally scheduled on its IR calendar. The confirmed operating roadmap remains the Helios ramp: AMD said in July that Helios rack-scale systems were already in production for large AI deployments, keeping execution against that ramp and the $13 billion Q3 revenue outlook at the center of the next fundamental update. AMDon Tracks the Rebound in a Separate Market According to CoinGecko, Ondo’s AMDon token was trading around $553.69 on MEXC early Friday, with roughly $315,000 in 24-hour volume on the pair. Other active markets were also quoting AMDon around $553 to $554. The token trades in a different market from Nasdaq-listed AMD, so its price action covers a separate trading window. Ondo says its tokenized stocks provide economic exposure to the underlying securities, including the economic effect of reinvested dividends, but the tokens are not themselves shares of the listed companies and do not give holders the right to receive the underlying stock. Investor Takeaway AMD has reversed Monday’s AI-driven selloff as both semiconductor sentiment and company-specific demand commentary improved. The central question is now whether AMD can convert demand that analysts say exceeds supply into the revenue and product ramps embedded in its Q3 outlook, while AMDon is reflecting the same equity story through a separate tokenized-market trading window. #Crypto
#Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson says the U.S. Senate’s failure to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act) confirmed his prediction. For context, during the Senate’s September 15, 2026, procedural vote, the bill fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance. All Democrats and four Republicans voted against the measure. Following the vote, Hoskinson briefly reiterated his earlier warning, stating, “As predicted.” He had made the prediction days earlier during his Devs versus Builders livestream, where he argued that the cryptocurrency industry had weakened its political standing by becoming increasingly associated with celebrity-themed tokens, meme coins, and speculative activity. As a result, Hoskinson argued that the political environment was not conducive to advancing comprehensive crypto legislation. The Senate’s failure to advance the CLARITY Act ultimately aligned with Hoskinson’s prediction, which he said he had consistently made for more than a year. Hoskinson Explains Why the Bill Failed In a follow-up livestream, Hoskinson offered a broader explanation for what he believes contributed to the legislation’s failure. His central argument was that lawmakers tried to address too many complex cryptocurrency issues through a single, wide-ranging bill without first building the bipartisan consensus needed to move it through Congress. He contrasted that approach with his experience working with lawmakers in Wyoming, where he cited the Stem Cell Freedom Act as an example of legislation that passed both chambers without a single opposing vote. According to him, the difference was extensive consultation, negotiation, and coalition-building before the bill reached the final stage. Crypto Regulation Requires Broader Consultation He also criticized the limited consultation with jurisdictions that have already established cryptocurrency regulatory frameworks. He pointed to Europe, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the Crown Dependencies as examples lawmakers could have studied. In particular, he suggested examining Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation alongside frameworks developed by jurisdictions such as the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). From his perspective, studying these approaches could have helped lawmakers identify regulatory models that had already been tested elsewhere. Break Crypto Regulation Into Separate Areas Moreover, Hoskinson argued that lawmakers should have addressed cryptocurrency regulation in separate components rather than attempting to establish a comprehensive framework in one step. Those areas could include stablecoins, digital securities, commodities, custody, taxation, and decentralized finance (DeFi). According to him, separating these issues could make it easier for lawmakers to resolve individual regulatory questions and build bipartisan agreement around each area. Need for Clearer Asset Definitions Hoskinson also argued that the legislation needed clearer definitions for digital securities and a more modern approach to existing securities laws. Rather than broadly classifying crypto assets as commodities, he believes lawmakers should establish clearer distinctions between different types of digital assets and determine which regulatory framework should govern each category. He also questioned whether the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has sufficient personnel, authority, and resources to oversee a cryptocurrency market that could eventually be worth trillions of dollars. Bipartisan Support Remained Important Beyond the technical regulatory questions, Hoskinson emphasized the importance of maintaining bipartisan support throughout the legislative process. He also pointed to political and ethical concerns surrounding crypto activities involving members of the administration, arguing that such issues have become part of the broader debate and made bipartisan consensus more difficult to achieve. Overall, Hoskinson’s explanation goes beyond the final Senate vote. In his view, the CLARITY Act failed because lawmakers attempted to tackle a broad range of complicated cryptocurrency issues without first establishing sufficient consensus, consultation, and clarity around the individual regulatory questions. #CryptoNewsCommunity
The US House Ways and Means Committee will review a broad digital asset tax package that excludes a key proposal sought by crypto miners and stakers.
The 114-page Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, H.R. 10357, does not include a provision that would delay taxes on newly created tokens until they are sold. The committee published the bill Monday ahead of a markup scheduled for Wednesday.
That approach differs from the Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act, which Representative Mike Carey introduced in June. His proposal would allow taxpayers to decide when to recognize mining and staking rewards as income.
One option would tax tokens when they are received. The other would treat them more like property created by the taxpayer, with tax due upon sale.
Leaving that provision out means staking and mining rewards would generally remain taxable once recipients receive or control them. This could create a tax obligation before recipients convert the tokens into cash.
Industry groups have pushed Congress to change that treatment. The Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation and Digital Chamber previously backed Carey’s legislation as introduced.
They argued that taxing rewards before a sale can create liquidity difficulties for miners and stakers. The groups also opposed a proposed amendment that would have capped the tax deferral period at five years. #CryptonewswithJack
Blockstream has rejected a 10% bounty request from the group behind the Liquid Network breach, with 598 BTC from the incident still unreturned.
Blockstream said withholding assets obtained without authorization in exchange for payment does not constitute legitimate security research, distinguishing responsible disclosure from taking funds without permission.
The company had been in contact with the actors as it sought to recover user funds. Blockstream is now asking them to return what remains without attaching any financial conditions.
Hackers Seek 10% Bounty The group outlined its terms in an on-chain message that Samson Mow, JAN3 CEO and former Blockstream chief strategy officer, shared on Wednesday. The proposal called for Blockstream to fund a 10% bounty and claimed Liquid holders could face a 15% loss without an agreement. The demand came after the Sept. 6 breach of Liquid, when about 4,000 BTC was taken from the network’s federation wallet. The Bitcoin involved was valued at roughly $320 million at the time. Of that amount, 3,400 BTC was subsequently sent back after fixes were applied to the affected bridge nodes, leaving 598 BTC unrecovered. If those coins are withheld, Blockstream plans to involve law enforcement and seek assistance from exchanges, service providers and blockchain investigators. Such cooperation could help track where the Bitcoin moves and determine who controls it. Liquid Moves Toward Restoring Operations Meanwhile, Liquid took an initial step toward restoring the network on Thursday after implementing software fixes introduced in response to the breach.
Veteran American financial adviser Ric Edelman has made a striking comparison between Bitcoin’s current stage of adoption and Amazon during the early days of the internet boom. In a September 17 interview with Bitcoin Magazine TV, Edelman said he expects Bitcoin to become far more widely held over time and reiterated his $500,000 BTC forecast for 2030.
Edelman Draws a Bitcoin-Amazon Parallel
Edelman pointed to the uncertainty surrounding Amazon in 1999, when investors were still debating whether the emerging internet company belonged in their portfolios. His argument is that Bitcoin is experiencing a comparable period in which adoption is expanding but remains far from universal.
The value of stablecoins and tokenized assets on the #XRP Ledger (XRPL) has grown about 43 times in just six quarters.
According to Evernorth, the average value of these assets rose from $99 million in Q1 2025 to $4.26 billion in Q2 2026. The value increased every quarter, with no declines.
The Q2 2026 figure was the highest recorded, suggesting that the XRP Ledger is managing and settling large financial assets.
Tokenized assets were the main reason for XRPL’s rapid growth. According to the report, tokenized assets on XRPL averaged $3.72 billion in Q2 2026, up more than 3,000% from the previous year.
RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin, also grew quickly. Its average balance reached $539 million in Q2 2026, compared with $73 million a year earlier — a 642% increase.
RLUSD’s balance increased every quarter over the six-quarter period. Its share of the stablecoin supply on XRPL also rose from 20% to 34%. The amount of money moved through RLUSD also jumped 925% compared with a year earlier, according to Evernorth.