Classifying XRP as a commodity could mean Ripple wins its case against the SEC, which some traders may consider bullish for the token.

Bitcoin (BTC) showed signs of resilience Wednesday, shedding tremors from regulatory action against crypto exchange Binance to recover above the key $28,000 level.

XRP tokens jumped for a second straight day, adding 11% in the past 24 hours. They were buoyed by speculation that the classification of bitcoin and ether (ETH) as commodities in the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) suit against Binance might mean XRP tokens are classified as commodities as well. That might hurt the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s case against Ripple, which says the tokens are securities. Classification as a commodity could mean Ripple wins the case – which some traders may consider bullish for XRP.

Other tokens also rallied. Ether rose 4% as Ethereum developers confirmed the Shapella upgrade, a fundamental release, for April 14. The upgrade will allow ether stakers to withdraw tokens for the first time, among other network improvements such as improved transactional fees.

Cardano’s ADA jumped 8%, bnb tokens (BNB) recovered 1.9%, erasing some of this week’s losses, and Polygon’s MATIC gined 7% on the introduction of its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine in what may become one of 2023’s hottest blockchain trends.

XRP, however, may dip in coming days, some on-chain analysis suggests.

Data from on-chain analytics tool Santiment cited by FxStreet shows that transactions “in profit” have reached a 19-month high, suggesting traders could lock in recent gains and contribute to falling prices.

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Djed started on Tuesday and has a collateral backing ratio of 600% at the time of writing.

Cardano-based overcollateralized stablecoin Djed (DJED) has attracted over 27 million cardano (ADA) tokens as backing less than a day after launch, data shows.

At the time of writing Djed has a reserve ratio of nearly 600%, meaning each djed is backed by six times its value in ADA. At current prices, the ADA locked for issuing djed is worth over $10 million.

The highly anticipated djed stablecoin has been jointly developed by Cardano code maintainer IOG and Coti, a layer 1 blockchain.

Djed will be backed by other tokens and requires between 400% and 800% in collateral value to be posted before it is issued to a user.

This overcollateralized mechanism would allow djed’s value to hold stably during market stress and prevent a repeat of terraUSD, the infamous stablecoin linked to luna, which fell over 99% in May.

Shen, the reserve token meant to support djed’s stability, would receive extra rewards when holders of Cardano’s ADA cryptocurrency stake their coins to mint djed stablecoins, which may fuel liquidity for the upstart ecosystem.

This may increase user demand for shen, and in turn a surge in prices in the coming weeks as djed is integrated with more Cardano-based applications which adds to its utility.

As of Wednesday morning, djed has a circulating supply of 1.7 million tokens, while shen has a supply of 20 million and is worth 38 cents apiece.

The djed tokens – alongside annualized yield rewards offered by the DEXs – are expected to attract liquidity and interest from investors owing to their overcollaterized mechanism, which may benefit Cardano’s $91 million decentralized finance (DeFi) market.

Some Cardano DeFi projects, such as Fluid, have already integrated djed stablecoins as liquidity against loans. Last week, Cardano DeFi exchange MuesliSwap told CoinDesk it targeted annualized yields of 10% to 25% for djed users.

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USDA would be the first fully fiat-backed, regulatory-compliant stablecoin in the Cardano ecosystem, Emurgo said.

Emurgo, the official commercial arm and a founding entity of the Cardano blockchain, plans to launch USDA, a U.S.-pegged stablecoin, in early 2023.

USDA will be the first fully fiat-backed, regulatory-compliant stablecoin in the Cardano ecosystem.
“The introduction of a fully fiat-backed, regulatory-compliant stablecoin is the next step in realizing the future for our community,” wrote Emurgo Fintech Managing Director Vineeth Bhuvanagiri, in a note to CoinDesk.

Stablecoins are tokens backed by an asset, or a basket of assets, and pegged to fiat currency, such as the U.S. dollar. They serve as an entryway to the crypto market for traditional market participants and are extensively used within the ecosystem as instruments for trading, borrowing, and lending.

USDA is part of Emurgo’s Anzens product, a broader plan that would offer users several financial services and products functioning on Cardano-based assets. These plans include lending and borrowing services, crypto-based card payments and bridges between traditional markets and decentralized applications (dApps).

This could help bolster Cardano’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, which locks just over $53 million in value as of Friday, as per DeFiLlama data. That’s an 82% slide since March highs of over $300 million.

USDA is planning to launch on the Anzens platform in Q1 2023 where users will be able to tokenize their USD into USDA via credit/debit cards, wire transfer or conversion of ADA, Emurgo said.

Emurgo has partnered with a regulated financial services company based in the United States as the banking partner to issue USDA, ensuring the stablecoin is fully compliant and adheres to regulatory guidelines, Emurgo said, without naming the company.

Alongside the tokenization of USD, Emurgo will soon enable the conversion of other stablecoins, such as USD Coin (USDC) and tether (USDT) to USDA, with long-term plans to enable conversion and swaps of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies.

The move comes months after Emurgo told CoinDesk on the sidelines of Singapore’s Token2049 conference that it would invest some $200 million in the Cardano ecosystem in the coming months to increase network participation.

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Shares of big tech companies slid on Wednesday and Thursday following dismal earnings reports.

Crypto majors slid in the past 24 hours following a plunge in US technology stocks as key companies reported lower-than-expected earnings. Bitcoin has previously followed the movement in technology stocks.

The equities drop came even after an unexpectedly strong GDP report in the U.S., with economic growth expanding 2.6% in the third quarter versus expectations for 2.4% growth, as reported. Tech-focused Nasdaq 100 finished 1.63% lower on Thursday, while S&P 500 fell 0.61%.

Dogecoin (DOGE) sunk 7.7% in the past 24 hours following a two-day rise as Elon Musk neared his takeover of microblogging service Twitter (TWTR). Musk has been a major supporter of DOGE, which has become a proxy for sentiment about him. The entrepreneur’s statements about the token have also consistently influenced its price.

Cardano (ADA) led a decline in crypto majors, falling 6%. Ether (ETH) and bitcoin (BTC) fell 2% each while Polygon (MATIC) and Solana (SOL) fell a tamer 3%. BNB Chain’s BNB token showed nominal losses as crypto Binance – which issued BNB and supports development on the BNB Chain – confirmed its equity investment in Musk’s Twitter.

Crypto-tracked futures racked up just $97 million in liquidations, a lower-than-usual figure that suggested the declines were mostly spot driven.

Weak third-quarter results from Microsoft (MSFT) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) weighed on U.S. markets on Wednesday. The companies reported a slowdown in revenue-generating units. On Thursday, shares of Amazon (AMZN) fell some 13% and warned of a slower-than-expected Christmas period amid cautious consumer spending. Operating income at Amazon decreased to $2.5 billion in the quarter, compared to $4.9 billion in the same period in 2021.

Overall, shares in Alphabet, Apple (AAPL), Amazon, Meta (FB) and Microsoft have dropped by around $850 billion since Monday, as per reports.

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Seven bugs remained outstanding to completing the hard fork, leading to a delay in the scheduled upgrade.

Cardano’s development lab, Input Output (IOG), did not push out June 20’s planned “Vasil” hard fork on the Cardano testnet citing technical bugs, the team said on Tuesday.

Vasil, a network upgrade that would increase scaling capabilities on Cardano, is now slated for a late June release on testnet. Hard forks refer to a network upgrade that sees blockchains validating and producing new blocks with predetermined new rules in favor of old ones.

“The IOG engineering team is extremely close to finalizing the core work, with just seven bugs still outstanding to complete the hard fork work, with none currently ranked as ‘severe,” developers said. “After some consideration, we have agreed NOT to send the hard fork update proposal to the testnet today to allow more time for testing,” they added.

Developers said the “few outstanding items” were needed to confirm everything was “working as expected” and that they would “need a few more days” for it. “This puts us behind schedule on our previously communicated target date of June 29 for a mainnet hard fork,” they said.

The final decision to hard fork the Cardano Testnet will be made in consultation with the ecosystem’s decentralized application (dApp) development community. Necessary criteria before pushing the upgrade live would include clearing any critical issues in testing, conducting benchmarking tests for the software, and informing the broader developer community to allow sufficient time to retest their dApps before the hard fork.

The delay did not cause any negative sentiment among investors, price data suggests. Cardano’s ADA tokens were up 5.6% in the past 24 hours, outperforming bitcoin’s 3.9% rise.

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Bitcoin lost support at $30,000 as Chinese technology stocks sold off on Thursday amid earnings worries a day after hawkish comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Waning sentiment around strong economic growth caused the second day of sell-offs in broader markets on Thursday morning. Asian markets slide following a day of red in U.S. equities, leading to sell-offs in bitcoin (BTC) and other major cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin failed to regain support at $30,000 after falling below the level on Wednesday. The asset hovers over $29,000, with support at $27,000 should it lose current levels.

Weakness in bitcoin spread to crypto majors, with Solana’s SOL and Cardano’s ADA losing as much as 9% in the past 24 hours to lead losses. Traders likely risked-off from major cryptocurrencies anticipating a further drop in global markets.

Prices movements in cryptocurrencies have lately tracked those in the U.S., with bitcoin trading similar to a risky technology stock.
Ether (ETH) dipped 4%, Polkadot’s DOT fell 7%, while Dogecoin (DOGE) dropped 5%. Tron (TRX) gained a nominal 0.2%, while Polygon (MATIC) erased Wednesday’s gains with a 9% slump.

Crypto market capitalization decreased by 3% to under $1.3 billion. The slide tracked a slump in U.S. markets on Wednesday, which came as earnings reports from consumer firms Target (TGT) missed estimates, sending the giant retailer’s shares plunging more than 22% in the U.S. session.

Inflation is forcing consumers to spend more on food and less on discretionary items, as reported, with Walmart (WMT) cutting profit forecasts on Wednesday citing higher fuel and worker costs.

Weak earnings in the U.S. carried over to the Asian session led by weakness in Chinese technology stocks. India’s Sensex and the Asia Dow lost over 2.2%, while futures on European indices opened nearly 0.1% lower.

Chinese technology giant Tencent posted its lowest revenue gains since 2014, losing 8% in Thursday’s session. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 5.1% as analysts feared the ill effects of lockdowns and reduced spending could finally show up on earnings reports in Asia.

The weakness in global markets rose amid fears of lower spending in the coming years as the West ramps up interest rates and tightens monetary policies.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has pledged to keep tightening monetary conditions until inflation comes down, with some crypto analysts expecting a further correction in cryptocurrencies should current market conditions continue.

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Other ETP issuers are planning crypto-linked investment products that also yield staking returns.

Investment firm WisdomTree launched another tranche of crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) in the European market.

New ETPs covering Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT) listed on Swiss stock exchange SIX and Börse Xetra on Tuesday, according to a press release. Euronext exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam will add them at the end of the month.

Crypto ETPs are mainstream investment vehicles that offer easy exposure to cryptos. They’re prevalent in Europe where regulators have moved faster on crypto products. WisdomTree and other issuers like VanEck and 21Shares all have launched crypto ETPs in Europe well beyond plain-vanilla offerings in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH).

Meanwhile in the U.S., crypto asset managers are still fighting for the first bitcoin spot vehicle to clear the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC allowed two cash-settled bitcoin futures ETFs last October.

“A key component to our approach is launching strategies which will resonate with institutional investors,” WisdomTree Head of Digital Assets for Europe Jason Guthrie said in a statement.

Competition has driven crypto ETP expenses down (WisdomTree’s 0.95% is among the lowest) but also pressured issuers to innovate. FTX and CoinShares said last week they were working to launch “the first” Solana ETP that returns a portion of staking rewards to investors.

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• Ethereum and Bitcoin, two of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the market, are set to at least double their price before the end of the year, according to analysts.

• The rally for Bitcoin is predicted to stem from more ETFs coming into the market, giving the cryptocurrency more legitimacy as an investment asset.

• Goldman Sachs pegs Ethereum to hit $8,000, in-line with breakeven inflation.

After hitting a new all-time high in October, analysts are betting on Ethereum and Bitcoin to double in value before the end of year.

The analyst behind Plan B, who correctly predicted the price of Bitcoin in September and came very close in October, believes that Bitcoin will reach $98,000 this month itself and go on to breach $135,000 in December.

This is in-line with other price predictions for Bitcoin that banking on the world’s oldest cryptocurrency. Standard Chartered, for instance, pegs that Bitcoin will hit $100,000 in 2021 or early 2022.

Meanwhile, global investment bank, Goldman Sachs, estimates that Ethereum’s price is set to reach $8,000 by year-end — higher than what a recent panel of 50 cryptocurrency experts, put together by Finder, predicted at $5,000.

The push for Bitcoin to double in value

After the first ever Bitcoin-based exchange traded fund (ETF) hit the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the money from institutional investors has been flooding in. According to CoinShare’s weekly report, crypto investment products saw inflows of $288 million for the week ending on October 31 — Bitcoin accounted for 93% of it at $269 million.
The cryptocurrency, which turned 13 years old on October 31, is up by 112% this year so far and hit the all-time high of $67,000 in October. Analysts expect the cryptocurrency to rise further with more ETFs coming in, giving a boost to Bitcoin’s legitimacy at least as an investment asset, not an actual medium of exchange.

Ethereum price to rise in-line with breakeven inflation

Goldman Sachs’ prediction for Ethereum to breach $8,000 is based on the second-largest cryptocurrency’s historical correlation to inflation. According to the banking behemoth, cryptocurrencies have traded in-line with inflation breaks — the difference between the yield of a nominal bond and an inflation-linked bond of the same maturity — since 2019.

“It has tracked inflation markets particularly closely, likely reflecting the pro-cyclical nature as a ‘network based’ asset. And the lastest spike in inflation breakevens suggests upside risk if the leading relationship of recent episodes was to hold (grey circles),” said the note.

According to an analysis by blockchain data firm Kaiko, Ethereum has offered higher returns than Bitcoin with respect to market risk over the past one year. As compared to this time last year, the cryptocurrency’s price is up by 1,000% — leaving not just Bitcoin, but other major cryptocurrencies, in the dust.

Ethereum’s price rally

The rally in Ethereum has been aided by the growth of decentralised finance (DeFi), which is touted for its probable disruption of the international monetary system by eliminating the need for middlemen like banks, remittance providers and other players. Moreover, the boom in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has all seen a host of new projects use ether and jump onto the Ethereum blockchain.

Ethereum’s protocol is currently in the midst of an upgrade from the proof-of-work (PoW) to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus method, which is expected to reduce the energy consumed for mining — validating transactions — by 99%.

Challenges that lie ahead for Ethereum

Ethereum’s growth trajectory is not without its challenges. The time taken for the community to agree on the upgrade left opportunity for other blockchains to pop up — like Cardano, Solana, Polkadot and others — each claiming to solve either for high transaction fees, energy consumption or transaction times.

Some of the participants in Finder’s panel of 50 cryptocurrency experts expect that their ‘Ethereum Killers’ could run up to win their fair share of the DeFi and NFT market from Ethereum.

Bitcoin, however, is expected to continue its reign as the biggest player of the crypto world — at least for the time being.

In view of the coming wave, banks and financial institutions in the US have been on a crypto hiring spree. Over the past three years, they have onboarded more than 1,000 crypto experts. Currently, financial institutions are offering significant bonuses to attract even more talent their way, according to Bloomberg.

Indian technology companies and crypto exchanges are also on the lookout for crypto talent. The demand for talent has jumped over the last 8-10 months with more than 12,000 job openings on the docket in October, according to a report by Bangalore-based staffing specialist Xpheno cited by the Economic Times.

Since the Supreme Court lifted the ban on cryptocurrencies in 2020, interest in blockchain technology has seeped back into the country, despite the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) attempts to dissuade investors. BrokerChooser, an investment broker comparison company, pegs that there are currently 10.07 crore crypto owners in India — reportedly higher than everywhere else in the world.

By PRABHJOTE GILL @ Insider

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