XRP whale exchange deposits hit a six-month high early Tuesday, indicating short-term bearish pressure.

XRP outperformed bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies, with dogecoin (DOGE) leading losses in the past 24 hours before the release of U.S. inflation data later Wednesday.

Bitcoin (BTC) remained steady around $98,000, while ether (ETH), BNB Chain’s bnb, and Cardano’s ADA fell by as much as 2%. Memecoin DOGE dropped 4%, even as shiba inu (SHIB) and floki (FLOKI) rose 1%. The broad-based CoinDesk 20 added 0.69%.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is due to release November’s consumer price index (CPI) at 8:30 a.m. ET (13:30 UTC). Federal Reserve Chair Powell has said that incoming economic data will heavily influence interest-rate decisions —which may impact crypto markets in the new year. The previous month’s data showed that inflation remained a concern for the Fed.

XRP, meantime, surged as much as 7%, reversing losses since Monday, after related company Ripple Labs said it had received “final” regulatory approval to offer the RLUSD stablecoin in the U.S.

The stablecoin will be issued on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum networks, and could be used on decentralized finance (DeFi) applications that involve XRP, boosting the ecosystem.

Before the announcement, deposits from XRP whales to exchanges hit a six-month high early Tuesday, indicating short-term bearish pressure. Over the past 30 days, more than 2.66 billion XRP tokens moved to Binance, data from CryptoQuant shows. That is the most since April 2024.

“The large inflows suggest that big XRP holders are actively transferring XRP over the network,” CryptoQuant independent analyst maartunn said in a post. “Whale deposits can often signal potential shifts in strategy, as these players have significant amounts of assets at their disposal.”

Large movements of XRP to Binance preceded price drops in November 2023 and April 2024.

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Ripple will allocate $5 million into tokens on Abrdn’s Lux fund, part of a larger allocation to real-world assets (RWAs) on the XRPL.

XRP outperformed bitcoin (BTC) and other major tokens in the past 24 hours as regulated crypto broker and custodian Archax unveiled a money market fund on the XRP Ledger, a first for the network, in collaboration with closely related Ripple Labs and Abrdn.

Archax has provided access to Abrdn’s U.S. dollar Liquidity Fund (Lux) in tokenized form on XRPL. Ripple will allocate $5 million worth of tokens into Abrdn’s Lux fund, part of a larger allocation to real-world assets (RWAs) on the XRPL.

XRP price jumped 6%, touching a high of $1.49 in the hours following the release, before paring gains in a market-wide drop. The token is up 27% over the past week and more than has more than doubled in two weeks on several positive catalysts.

Real World Assets (RWAs) are tangible or financial assets like real estate, commodities, or bonds that exist outside of the digital realm but can be represented as tokens on a blockchain. This process, known as tokenization, allows for fractional ownership, increased liquidity, and easier transfer of these assets.

A money market involves trading short-term, high-quality debt instruments like Treasury bills, commercial paper, and certificates of deposit. It’s where large institutions manage their short-term cash needs.

Archax has been using Ripple’s digital assets custody since 2022. Lux has over $3.8 billion in assets under management, per a release.

The launch of the tokenized money market fund on the XRPL is a further boost to the growth of real-world asset tokenization, a sector that some eye as one of the hottest in crypto.

In a July report, global consulting firm McKinsey & Company expects the tokenized asset market to reach $4 trillion in an optimistic scenario by 2030. Boston Consulting Group and 21Shares have forecasted over $10 trillion of tokenized assets by the decade’s end in their optimistic scenarios, as CoinDesk previously reported.

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South Korean traders are known for pushing euphoric rallies on tokens, contributing to buying pressure and possibly influencing prices.

Trading volume in XRP and dogecoin (DOGE) is much higher than that of bitcoin (BTC) on South Korean crypto exchanges this week, a frenzy that may have helped raise prices of the two tokens in the crazed market.

CoinGecko data shows XRP and DOGE have cumulatively accounted for as much as 30% of trading volumes on Upbit, the country’s biggest exchange, and nearly 20% on Bithumb in the past 24 hours. That is unusually higher than usual leader bitcoin and indicates a short-term demand for the tokens in the country.

Part of these volumes could be attributed to wash trading, however, where automated programs continuously trade a token to give the illusion of a heavily traded market.

Upbit led XRP volumes in dollar terms across all global exchanges in the past 24 hours, including venues such as Binance and Coinbase, the data shows. (These trades were placed against Korean won but have been converted to U.S. dollars at current exchange rates).

Binance and Coinbase, however, lead DOGE trading volumes across global exchanges.

XRP and DOGE were the best-performing majors in the past weeks as BTC hit new lifetime highs. Both tokens are up more than 100% in the past 14 days, data shows, with their futures products surging to yearly highs.

In crypto circles, South Korean traders are known for pushing euphoric rallies on tokens, contributing to buying pressure and possibly influencing prices.

Gains in XRP started last week as the shifting U.S. regulatory climate supported growth in tokens related to companies hampered by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) actions (XRP is closely related to Ripple Labs).

Meanwhile, DOGE has surged following a Republican win at the U.S. elections and a renewed promotional push by technocrat Elon Musk — who has been picked to lead the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) non-governmental unit under a Trump administration.

As such, attention from South Korean markets may mark a local top for tokens as it a sign of froth, as a CoinDesk analysis previously noted.
However, CoinDesk markets analyst Omkar Godbole sees growth in XRP prices in the near term.

“XRP is holding steady above $1 after a powerful rally—the strongest in three years! While intraday charts hint at a possible pullback, it could set the stage for another upward move,” Godbole said.

“Momentum indicators on longer charts are firmly bullish. Key supports to watch out for are 96 cents and 65 cents. Resistance looms at $1.26 and $1.40, echoing the supply zone from September 2021,” he added.

XRP trades at just over $1 as of Asian afternoon hours Wednesday. DOGE is just under 40 cents.

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Traders have locked in over $2 million in XRP’s $1.10 call option listed on Deribit, the highest across all available maturities.

Deribit’s nascent options market for XRP is experiencing a surge in activity, particularly in the $1.10 call option that represents a bet that prices for the payments-focused cryptocurrency will double by the end of the month.

As of writing, XRP’s $1.10 call option, set to expire on Aug. 28, had an open interest of 4,347,000 contracts valued at $2.44 million, making it the most favored among all available XRP options on the exchange, according to data tracked by Amberdata. The amount is significant for an options market that is barely five months old.

The so-called open interest, or the number of active bets, has increased by 838,000 contracts in the five months alone.

According to Griffin Ardern, head of options trading and research at crypto financial platform BloFin, the increased activity in the $1.10 call likely reflects a net long positioning.

“From the gamma distribution, it feels like a net long position expiring on Aug. 30. If the resistance level of $0.75 from the past two weeks can be broken, the price of XRP is likely to rise above $1.10,” Ardern told CoinDesk in an interview.

“Perhaps institutions will likely apply for an XRP ETF in the U.S., which may be an important factor driving a sharp rise in prices,” Ardern added.

XRP rose over 30% to 62 cents last month but has since pulled back to just over 57 cents, according to CoinDesk data.

A call option gives the purchaser the right but not the obligation to buy the underlying asset, XRP, at a predetermined price on or before the expiry date. A call buyer is essentially bullish on the market, betting on a rally above the level at which the call has been bought. Gamma refers to the rate of change in an option’s delta, reflecting how sensitive the option’s price is to the changes in the underlying asset’s price.

Last Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres ruled on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) motion against Ripple Labs, stemming from a 2020 lawsuit over unregistered XRP sales. The court imposed a $125 million penalty for institutional sales of XRP and an injunction against further violations but rejected the SEC’s demand for a $2 billion fine.

Ripple hailed the judgment as a victory, sparking hopes of a potential XRP ETF debut in the U.S. The regulator approved bitcoin and ether ETFs early this year, opening doors to billions of dollars in mainstream money.

Still, Martin Cheung, Pulsar Trading Capital’s options trader, expressed skepticism on whether prices could rally beyond $1.10 by Aug. 28.

“XRP has rallied a lot this year, plus, I think people are betting the next ETFs to be approved will be on XRP and SOL,” Cheung said when asked about the increased demand for $1.10 XRP call options.

“That said, the August end is too close; a potential XRP ETF announcement might drive prices higher by, say, 20%, but $1.10 looks too far,’ Cheung added.

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Earlier this month, Ripple-owned infrastructure provider Metaco said it was working with banking powerhouse HSBC.

News that Metaco, the Swiss digital assets custody firm acquired by Ripple earlier this year, is working with HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks, quickly became a reason to be cheerful for many supporters of the U.S. fintech’s ledger protocol, known collectively as the “XRP army.”

Named after the cryptocurrency designed to move liquidity around the XRP Ledger used by Ripple, these avid fans interpret HSBC’s choice of custody tech partner as yet another sign that financial institutions will inevitably adopt XRPL and, crucially, the XRP token.

The crypto space is ferociously tribal. Token holders want to believe their blockchain of choice will rise to prominence and deliver a windfall – sometimes to a point that defies logic. For instance, the assumption that Ripple’s recent acquisition spurred HSBC’s decision ignores the fact that Metaco had been courting the bank for over 18 months, according to Adrien Treccani, the Swiss custody firm’s CEO.

There is, however, an indirect correlation between Ripple protocols and Metaco’s banking clients, Treccani says.

“There is an indirect link, which is that the adoption of Ripple and Metaco’s solutions further promotes the adoption of the XRPL as a protocol,” Treccani said in an interview. “Every success of Ripple the company is also a success for the XRP Ledger.”

Ripple, for its part, has worked hard at courting banks, with a focus on ways to reduce the friction in areas like cross-border payments. As such, XRPL remains one of the longest-running examples of a private tokenization blockchain, said Treccani.

“XRPL is designed for both public and private use and scales substantially better than competitors on the market like the EVM chains,” he said, referring to the Ethereum Virtual Machine. “It natively supports tokenized assets rather than going through smart contracts, and also allows for on-chain trading with other blockchain-based exchanges or AMMs.” AMMs are automated market makers.

Combining Metaco and Ripple, therefore, offers a complete vertical stack, Treccani said, comprising an infrastructure layer and a services layer.

“We can provide a bank with the infrastructure, and also tokenization life cycle, payments primitives, and liquidity management all from a single vendor – with the proper segregation between that infrastructure and those value-added services,” he said.

This is all well and good, but rumors and reports began to emanate following the acquisition of Metaco that some of its banking customers were nervous and thinking about taking their business elsewhere. The reason perhaps concerns Ripple’s dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Treccani said some of the speculation was “frankly a little bit crazy,” adding that post-acquisition discussions and reassessments by clients are par for the course, and that many of the contracts signed with the banks are subject to change-of-control clauses.

“Yes, there have been such discussions and we have spent recent months clarifying the situation with the banks,” Treccani said. “I think we have been successful. Going forward, you are going to see more tier one bank partnerships that we will soon be announcing in Europe, the U.S., APAC and Africa.”

Like many big banks, HSBC is joining the trend towards tokenization, the process of handling the ownership and transfer of real-world assets on blockchains, which requires some solid digital asset custody tech.

But Treccani makes clear that cryptocurrency and its libertarian mindset is what drives him. He said he believes many banks will want to offer cryptocurrency-related services eventually, and if they build for tokenization now, these institutions will have everything they need for cryptocurrency entry when the time comes.

“If it was just for tokenization, I would not be in this game,” he said.

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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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Nik Bougalis says he’s not joining another blockchain or Web3 company.

Ripple’s chief engineer announced over the weekend that he is leaving the company to chart new horizons, which he chose not to reveal.

“My decade-long journey at Ripple has been a fantastic (if exhausting and all-consuming) one. I got to work on a project that I love, towards a goal I believe in. But that journey will be coming to an end in a few weeks,” Bougalis tweeted.

At Ripple, Bougalis oversaw a series of developments to the ledger’s code base including the introduction of NFTs, which is scheduled to go live in November.

Bougalis’ departure comes as Ripple begins testing an XRP ledger sidechain that’s compatible with Ethereum-based smart contracts. This would allow developers familiar with the much larger Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) software to deploy their code onto Ripple.

Although unrelated to Bougalis’ position at Ripple, the company continues its two-year fight with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on whether XRP is considered a security.

Bougalis has not indicated where he will be heading next.
XRP is currently trading at $0.45, down 0.38% on-day.

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Bitcoin and ether lost pivotal support level leading to massive losses for long future traders.

Crypto futures racked up more than $1 billion in liquidations in the past 24 hours amid weak market sentiment and major assets losing pivotal support levels.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell as much as 8% in the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH), BNB Chain’s BNB, and XRP saw similar losses. Terra’s LUNA fell 50% as its UST stablecoin lost its peg with U.S. dollar, while memecoin dogecoin (DOGE) fared relatively better than the market with just a 6% drop.

Bitcoin temporarily fell under $30,000 in early Asian hours, buoyed by a weak broader market. U.S. technology index Nasdaq ended Monday 4.29% lower, while Asian markets began Tuesday over 1% lower.

Such price action led to this year’s biggest liquidations losses so far. Data shows traders of bitcoin futures lost $346 million, ether futures lost $321 million, while LUNA futures $87 million – a higher-than-usual figure for traders of that asset.

More than $793 million of the total liquidations arose from long traders, or those betting on higher prices, which represented 74% of the futures trades. Some $257 million of that occurred on crypto exchange OKX, followed by Binance at $181 million and FTX at $102 million.

Open interest, or the amount of outstanding derivative contracts that have not been settled, fell 5.6%, implying traders closed their positions in anticipation of a further drop. As such, the crypto market lost nearly 8% of its overall capitalization in the past 24 hours.

Markets seemed to gradually recover at writing time. Bitcoin traded above $31,800, while ether regained the $2,800 level. An extended recovery would depend on how broader equity markets trade this week, however, as market observers previously pointed out.

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XRP’s rise came amid positive sentiment for the payments tokens as Ripple founder Brad Garlinghouse said his company’s ongoing defense against the SEC’s lawsuit was going “much better than expected.”

XRP and dogecoin (DOGE) added upwards of 6% each in the past 24 hours as separate catalysts powered purchases of the two tokens amid a weakening crypto market.

The total capitalization of the crypto market, according to CoinMarketCap, decreased by 2.8%, to $1.87 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance ratio – its share of the overall crypto market capitalization – slipped by 0.3 percentage point to 40.7%.

XRP’s rise came amid positive sentiment for the payments tokens as Ripple founder Brad Garlinghouse said Thursday its ongoing defense against a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was going “much better than expected.”

Ripple, which uses XRP in its payments protocol, disputes the SEC’s contention that the XRP token was issued and sold as an unregistered security to U.S. investors.

XRP broke over resistance at $0.75 to as much as $0.80 in Asian hours on Friday before slightly retreating. If the current buying power continues, the tokens could regain the $0.82 and above levels.

Positive proceedings have historically caused a surge in XRP prices as investors see the ending of a legal case as an overall bullish sign. In February, for instance, XRP climbed 22% as important documents related to the case were ruled to be unsealed.

Meanwhile, DOGE’s rise came as Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered to take over the entirety of the popular social media platform Twitter. Musk holds a 9.2% stake and has offered to take Twitter private at a valuation of $54.20 per share.

DOGE rose to resistance of 15 cents on Friday morning from Thursday’s $0.13 levels, price charts show. Current price action could see DOGE continue a broader uptrend since March, when prices rose from the $0.11 mark.

Musk’s potential involvement in Twitter isn’t directly related to dogecoin. But some analysts speculate that Musk, who has publicly backed dogecoin’s growth and development, could integrate the token in some capacity on Twitter.

“The speculation is that advertisers could be able to pay DOGE for ads and for other uses on Twitter,” explained Kryptomon Chief Marketing Officer Tomer Nuni in a note to CoinDesk last week. “We have seen the same happening when Tesla revealed the ability to pay for its goods with DOGE. So the speculation could be around Musk’s businesses and stakeholdings starting to accept crypto, as Tesla does.”

The speculations aren’t all hot air either: Musk teased DOGE payments on in a tweet earlier this week when asked about lowering the cost for Twitter’s premium subscriptions.

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Upward movement on the exchange token led to gains for investors in an otherwise slow market.

Crypto markets showed nominal movement on Wednesday as bitcoin and ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, traded flat with gains of a nominal 1% in the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin saw some selling from the $45,000 level on Tuesday to as low as $42,500. Prices, however, recovered to $44,200 in European hours.

Analysts said bitcoin could develop a continued surge towards the $50,000 level if the current momentum is maintained.

“Recovery in institutional demand for stocks late in the day on Tuesday helped bitcoin stay above the 50-day moving average,” explained Alex Kuptsikevich, analyst at FxPro, in an email to CoinDesk. “Continued buying on the decline to this level will keep the technical picture bullish as upside momentum develops to $49-50K.”

“A sharp dip lower today or tomorrow will raise the issue of a false break and bring the sellers back into play, heading for $37-38K,” he cautioned, however.

Among the top ten cryptocurrencies, XRP extended gains with a 3% surge in the past 24 hours. Prices for the payments tokens moved upward amid positive sentiment among investors pertaining to the ongoing Ripple v. SEC court case.

Bitfinex’s Unus Sed Leo tokens, which trade under LEO, led gains among majors with a 46% increase in the past day. The increase came as U.S. federal officials seized nearly $3.6 billion worth of bitcoin tied to the 2016 hack of the crypto exchange Bitfinex.

Prices traded at $7.19 in European afternoon hours, increasing from lows of $4.98 on Tuesday. LEO hit all-time highs of $8.16 in early Asian hours but has since fallen 11.6%, data from analytics tool CoinGecko showed.

That move came as Bitfinex said in a statement it was trying to recover the seized bitcoin and use 80% of recovered funds to purchase and burn LEO in the open market. This would essentially lower the circulating supply and make the tokens more lucrative for investors.

“Bitfinex will, within 18 months of the date it receives that recovery, use an amount equal to 80% of the recovered net funds to repurchase and burn outstanding UNUS SED LEO tokens,” the company confirmed, as reported.

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