Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.

The Ethereum co-founder urged broader adoption of open social platforms, saying decentralized social media can improve online communication by restoring competition.

Strive's strategic focus on Bitcoin investment and debt reduction could enhance its market position and influence in the crypto sector.

The post Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive plans to raise $150M in preferred stock sale to buy Bitcoin and repay debt appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The halt in tariffs alleviates trade tension fears, boosting investor confidence and market stability, highlighting global economic interdependence.

The post Bitcoin, stocks rally after Trump halts Greenland tariffs appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The Cardano Foundation said it has hit the first milestone in its updated governance roadmap, expanding delegation to a new set of community representatives as the ecosystem leans further into on-chain decision-making. The move matters because it shifts meaningful voting weight toward delegated representatives (DReps) whose mandates emphasize adoption and day-to-day network operations rather than purely technical development.

Cardano Foundation Expands DRep Delegation

In a post on X and an accompanying blog update, the Foundation said it has delegated an additional 220 million ADA to 11 selected DReps, roughly 20 million ADA each, focused on the pillars of Adoption and Operations. The Foundation framed the step as a continuation of earlier delegations to “Developer & Builder DReps,” and said the new allocation brings total delegation to community DReps to 360 million ADA.

Alongside the additional community delegation, the Foundation said it is revising how it handles its remaining stake in governance. “Rather than leaving a portion of our funds on auto-abstain as initially planned, we will self-delegate the remaining balance (approximately 171 million ADA),” the Foundation wrote. “While this exceeds our initial estimate, it ensures no ADA remains passive and still results in a net reduction of our overall voting power by approximately 43 million ADA, with the clear majority of our holdings now empowering community DReps.”

The Foundation emphasized that the delegations are intended to distribute voting power without imposing direction. “This delegation is not a blind bet, rather it’s a show of trust in a proven history of sound decision-making,” it said. “As always, it’s also a show of good faith: These new delegations come without any expectation regarding voting outcomes. We will not direct these DReps on how to vote, nor will we provide a voting manual.”

That posture, explicitly accepting dissent from its own views, was positioned as a feature rather than a risk. The Foundation said it expects “differing opinions” between the newly selected DReps and the Foundation itself, describing that divergence as evidence of “a healthy, decentralized governance system.”

The Foundation’s rationale for targeting adoption and operations reads as a governance design choice: broaden the expertise mix beyond protocol engineering. “To build a resilient governance system, we need more than just technical expertise—We need business acumen and operational stability,” it wrote, arguing that Adoption DReps can represent real-world utility, onboarding, and enterprise needs, while Operations DReps reflect the practical constraints faced by stake pool operators, toolmakers, and infrastructure providers.

In the published list, the Adoption cohort includes figures tied to community growth and product-building across the ecosystem, from regional community leadership to DeFi and stablecoin infrastructure, while the Operations cohort highlights long-running infrastructure roles such as block explorer analytics, stake pool operations, and SPO tooling.

The Foundation said all eleven delegations were completed in a single on-chain transaction, linking to the Cardano Explorer entry, and noted the delegations are effective immediately. It also encouraged the broader community to “follow and interact with these DReps,” including engaging with their voting rationales and participating in governance actions.

At press time, Cardano traded at $0.3549.

The White House is urging U.S. lawmakers to move quickly on legislation to reform the crypto market structure as political timelines tighten and digital asset markets face renewed volatility.

With the Senate struggling to secure bipartisan support and more than $1 billion in recent crypto liquidations, officials say the window for passing a workable regulatory framework may be closing.

Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, has warned that expecting the crypto industry to operate without clear rules is unrealistic. He argues that some form of legislation is “inevitable” and that delays could leave the sector exposed to harsher policies in the future.

White House Presses for Action on Crypto Rules

The proposed Senate bill would define how the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) oversee crypto markets, including stablecoins and decentralized finance protocols. However, disagreements over key provisions have slowed progress.

Both the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees recently postponed markups as lawmakers worked to resolve disputes and gather enough support to advance the bill. Witt has been blunt in his message to the industry: accept compromise now or risk facing a less favorable outcome later.

He criticized Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong for withdrawing support for the current version of the bill, after Armstrong said the company would “rather have no bill than a bad bill.”

Midterm Elections Add Pressure

The push for speed is also tied to the November U.S. midterm elections, which could reshape Congress. All House seats and 35 Senate seats are up for grabs, and polling and prediction markets suggest Democrats have a strong chance of flipping the House.

A divided Congress would likely slow or stall crypto legislation altogether. Witt has cautioned that the political alignment needed to pass a market structure bill may not be in place after the elections, making the coming months critical for any deal.

The policy debate comes as markets reel from a sharp deleveraging event. Today, more than 182,000 traders were liquidated in a single day, with total losses of over $1.08 billion. Most of the damage came from long positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum, as falling prices triggered cascading margin calls across major exchanges.

Bitcoin alone saw over $427 million in long liquidations, while Ethereum accounted for roughly $374 million. Technical indicators show many altcoins trading with RSI levels below 50, suggesting continued selling pressure.

Rising Japanese bond yields and renewed global risk-off sentiment have also tightened liquidity, prompting investors to shift away from volatile assets like crypto. Although Bitcoin later stabilized near $90,000, analysts say the recent rebound looks more like a pause after forced selling than a clear return to bullish momentum.

Cover image from ChatGPT, BTCUSD chart on Tradingview

European leaders facing a Greenland-linked dispute with Washington could treat U.S. Treasurys as a leverage point.

That would test not just the headline size of foreign holdings, but the market’s capacity to absorb speed, and how quickly higher yields would filter into the dollar, U.S. credit conditions, and crypto liquidity.

The Financial Times has framed Greenland as a plausible flashpoint for U.S.-Europe tensions and argued that Treasurys could sit on the menu of countermeasures.

That framing places the focus on execution mechanics and timing rather than a single “EU sells X” headline.

According to the U.S. Treasury’s Treasury International Capital (TIC) Table 5, foreign investors held $9.355 trillion in U.S. Treasurys at end-November 2025.

Of that total, $3.922 trillion was attributed to foreign official holders, a pool large enough that even partial portfolio shifts, especially if coordinated or fast, can register in rates.

The first constraint is measurement.

TIC country lines track securities reported by U.S.-based custodians and broker-dealers, and Treasury notes that holdings in overseas custody accounts “may not be attributed to the actual owners.”

That means the table “may not provide a precise accounting of individual country ownership,” a caveat that complicates any claim that “the EU” could dump a defined amount on command.

A portion of European beneficial ownership can appear in non-EU country lines, and European custody hubs can hold Treasurys for non-European owners. The practical implication is that “sell capacity” is not identical to “European-attributed holdings,” and policymakers have clearer influence over official portfolios than over private custody flows.

A defensible reference set exists inside the TIC data if it is described as custody attribution rather than EU ownership.

At end-November 2025, Treasurys attributed to Belgium ($481.0 billion), Luxembourg ($425.6 billion), France ($376.1 billion), Ireland ($340.3 billion), and Germany ($109.8 billion) totaled about $1.733 trillion.

Presented properly, that $1.73 trillion number is an upper-bound reference for identified major EU reporting and custody jurisdictions, not a verified EU-27 beneficial-owner total.

Custody data vs. “EU ownership” and why it matters

Official-sector positioning adds another layer because “official” can mean a classification in TIC reporting, while Fed custody data describes a location-based subset held in custody at Federal Reserve Banks.

The Federal Reserve’s international summary data show foreign official U.S. Treasury securities held in custody at Federal Reserve Banks at $2.74589 trillion in November 2025 (preliminary).

That location-based subset sits below the TIC “foreign official” total of $3.922 trillion at end-November.

How the Greenland dispute translates into selling would probably run through a sequence of policy signaling and portfolio mechanics rather than a single announcement of forced liquidation.

A preconditioning phase could unfold over weeks or months in which rhetoric hardens, and European policymakers discuss financial countermeasures in risk-management terms, consistent with the Financial Times framing that Treasurys could serve as leverage.

A second phase, spanning days to weeks, would center on a policy signal such as a coordinated call to shorten duration, reduce exposure, or adjust reserve-management guidelines.

Those steps can be executed without formally labeling the move as weaponization, and without requiring a centralized “EU” sale order.

The execution phase would then determine market impact, with two channels that can overlap.

One is official runoff through non-reinvestment at maturity, which can play out over quarters or years.

The other is active secondary-market sales by public and private holders, which can compress into weeks if hedging constraints, risk limits, or volatility targeting bind.

Even if the political intent is gradual diversification, volatility can turn it into a de facto flow shock if private hedgers and leveraged Treasury holders de-risk at the same time.

The liquidation timeline matters because research has linked month-scale changes in foreign official flows to rate moves.

A 2012 Federal Reserve International Finance Discussion Papers study estimated that if foreign official inflows into Treasurys drop by $100 billion in a month, 5-year Treasury rates rise about 40–60 basis points in the short run.

It also estimated long-run effects near 20 basis points after private investors respond.

The paper is dated, so the figures function as order-of-magnitude bounds for speed risk rather than a point estimate for today’s market structure.

Even so, the core implication remains: a faster “dump” (or a faster stop in marginal buying) has a different rate profile than a maturity runoff.

Important: The table below lays out editorial scenario constructs using an execution-speed lens. Sale sizes are illustrative except the $1.73 trillion line, which is a TIC custody-attribution reference for major EU reporting and custody jurisdictions and explicitly not a verified EU beneficial-owner amount. The rate language is framed as regime risk (orderly vs disorderly) rather than a linear “bps per $X” extrapolation.

Execution speed, yield shock risk, and broader market spillovers

Any sustained yield backup would land on a U.S. economy carrying a large debt stock.

U.S. gross national debt stands at $38.6 trillion as of press time.

That scale increases sensitivity to marginal funding-cost shifts even when refinancing occurs over time.

Higher Treasury yields typically tighten financial conditions through benchmark effects on mortgages, investment-grade issuance, and leveraged credit.

Equity valuations can also re-rate as the risk-free discount rate changes, channels that become more acute if the term premium reprices rather than only the policy path.

The spillover is broader than Treasurys because foreign investors hold a large footprint across U.S. markets.

The Treasury’s annual survey reported $31.288 trillion in foreign holdings of U.S. securities, including $12.982 trillion in long-term debt and $16.988 trillion in equities.

In crypto-adjacent markets, stablecoin issuers are also material Treasury buyers; see CryptoSlate’s breakdown of stablecoin issuers’ Treasury demand.

Dollar outcomes split into two regimes that can coexist across horizons.

In acute stress, a geopolitical shock can push investors toward dollar liquidity and U.S. collateral even as one bloc sells, a setup where yields move higher while the dollar holds up, or even strengthens.

Over longer horizons, sustained politicization can pull the other direction if allies treat U.S. government paper as a policy variable, nudging incremental diversification in official portfolios and gradually weakening structural dollar demand.

The International Monetary Fund’s COFER data show the dollar at 56.92% of disclosed global reserves in Q3 2025, with the euro at 20.33%.

That structure tends to change in steps rather than a single break.

The IMF has also described prior quarterly moves as sometimes valuation-driven, noting that the Q2 2025 decline in the dollar share was “largely valuation-driven” through exchange-rate effects.

That dynamic can blur interpretation of quarter-to-quarter shifts during volatility.

Crypto transmission: liquidity, discount rates, and narrative reflexivity

For crypto markets, the near-term linkage would run through rates and dollar liquidity rather than reserve shares alone.

A fast Treasury liquidation that lifts intermediate yields would raise the global discount rate and can tighten leverage conditions that feed into BTC and ETH positioning.

A slower runoff would transmit more through term-premium drift and portfolio rebalancing across equities and credit.

The narrative channel can cut the other way.

A high-profile episode where allied blocs discuss Treasurys as a policy tool can reinforce the “neutral settlement” framing that parts of the market apply to crypto, even if the first-order move is risk reduction under higher yields.

Tokenized Treasury products sit at the intersection of TradFi collateral and crypto rails; see CryptoSlate’s coverage as tokenized U.S. Treasurys reached a $7.45 billion all-time high.

What traders and policymakers would watch for is not a single “EU sells X” headline, because custody-based data can misstate beneficial ownership.

Instead, they would likely track a sequence of observable proxies, including shifts in foreign official custody holdings at the Fed and changes in TIC-reported totals over subsequent months.

If Greenland becomes the trigger for sustained U.S.-EU financial brinkmanship, the market variable that matters first is whether any Treasury reduction is executed as a one-month flow shock or a multi-year runoff.

The post US Treasurys face a $1.7 trillion EU “dump” over Greenland, forcing shift to Bitcoin if dollar safety vanishes appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has listed Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin on its platform.

On Jan. 21, the exchange announced that it would open spot trading pairs, including RLUSD/USDT, RLUSD/U, and XRP/RLUSD, on Jan. 22 by 8 AM UTC.

Critically, Binance will initiate trading on the RLUSD/USDT and RLUSD/U pairs with zero fees until further notice.

To a casual trader, this reads like a straightforward listing announcement. However, industry experts noted that the move could fundamentally alter the market hierarchy and cement RLUSD's rapid growth over the past year.

The logic here is not that Binance magically creates value, but that the exchange can change how the market routes value. If that routing translates into sustained net issuance, RLUSD could plausibly jump into the top three stablecoins in a rapidly expanding market.

Engineering a liquidity event

The specific mechanics of the Binance listing suggest a push for dominance rather than mere participation.

By waiving fees, Binance is not merely adding trading pairs; it is subsidizing adoption. Zero-fee stablecoin pairs have a history of changing market share on centralized exchanges by redirecting where trades clear.

Kaiko’s analysis of stablecoin dynamics on Binance offers a precedent for disrupting these numbers. After the exchange re-listed USDC in March 2023, the token’s market share on centralized exchanges reportedly surged from roughly 60% to above 90%.

This shift did not necessarily mean USDC instantly became the superior asset. It meant Binance made it the cheapest and most convenient rail, and the market followed the incentives.

Kaiko has also documented how zero-fee regimes can dominate exchange volume and reshape market structure.

This presents both a promise and a warning for Ripple’s stablecoin. Incentives can create deep liquidity quickly, but they can also inflate activity that evaporates when the subsidy ends.

For RLUSD to move toward the top three, two distinct “flywheels” must spin in sequence.

The first is routing adoption. Zero fees encourage market makers and high-frequency desks to quote tighter spreads and push more flows through RLUSD pairs.

This improves the experience for all participants by deepening the order book, reducing slippage, and ensuring more reliable execution. In stablecoin markets, where product differentiation is often thin, the preferred asset is frequently the one that trades most efficiently.

The second flywheel is balance-sheet adoption. Market cap grows only when RLUSD is actually held, whether as exchange collateral, in DeFi lending markets, or in treasury allocations.

Binance creates the environment for this by expanding RLUSD utility. The listing announcement confirmed that portfolio margin eligibility will be added, increasing the token’s utility in leveraged trading strategies.

Furthermore, inclusion in Binance Earn is planned. This would give users yield-bearing incentives to hold the asset rather than simply trade it.

The math behind the climb

Despite this strategic setup, the numerical gap RLUSD must close to reach the top three is substantial.

Data from CryptoSlate shows that RLUSD has a circulating supply of around $1.4 billion. This places it among the top 10-largest stablecoins by market cap but significantly behind market leaders Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC.

To breach the “top 3 stablecoin,” RLUSD would need roughly $5.1 billion in new circulation to displace Ethena’s USDe, whose supply sits around $6.47 billion.

Over a 12-month period, reaching that benchmark would require approximately $424 million in net new RLUSD issuance per month

These are large numbers that would require RLUSD to grow four to seven times from its current base within a relatively tight window.

However, macro tailwinds may assist this ascent.

The US Treasury has publicly argued that the stablecoin market, currently valued at around $300 billion, could grow tenfold by the end of the decade. That would imply that the market could reach $3 trillion by 2030.

Meanwhile, US banking giant JPMorgan is more optimistic, projecting that stablecoins could reach $2 trillion within two years under a bullish adoption scenario.

If those trajectories materialize, RLUSD reaching the top three will not only be about stealing market share from incumbents but also about riding a rising tide.

Institutional plumbing over retail hype

While the Binance listing provides the liquidity spark, Ripple’s best case for the top three relies on institutional plumbing.

Over the past two years, Ripple has assembled a stack that resembles that of a payments and capital markets infrastructure provider more than that of a typical crypto issuer.

The foundation of any potential growth is a regulatory posture that has resulted in RLUSD being issued under a New York DFS Limited Purpose Trust Company Charter. At the same time, Ripple has received conditional approval for an OCC charter.

This dual layer of state and federal oversight sets a bar for transparency and compliance that few other issuers can claim.

For corporate treasurers and bank compliance officers, this regulatory perimeter often matters more than brand recognition.

Perhaps the most direct catalyst for sticky institutional adoption is that Ripple has quietly positioned itself at the center of the global payment network as a platform that settles, secures, and moves digital money.

Last year, Ripple had a $4 billion acquisition spree that included the purchase of prime broker Hidden Road, custody firm Palisade, treasury-management platform GTreasury, and stablecoin payments provider Rail.

These firms form the foundation of a vertically integrated enterprise spanning trading, custody, payments, and liquidity management.

This move essentially expands RLUSD’s growth runway beyond crypto exchange wallets. It moves the asset into multi-asset margin and financing workflows where stablecoin balances can scale rapidly.

A stress test

The risk remains that while trading volume can be manufactured, adoption cannot.

Binance’s own spot market has cooled recently, with CoinDesk Data reporting spot volume fell to $367 billion in December 2025, the lowest since September 2024.

Yet even at these reduced levels, Binance remains large enough that a fee subsidy can reshape liquidity routing.

So, the ultimate danger in this move is that RLUSD could become a “cheap rail” but not a “held asset.”

If trading volume explodes but circulating supply barely grows, the market will have its answer: Binance can create liquidity, but not necessarily durable adoption.

For RLUSD to credibly challenge for the top three, the story must evolve from “listed and traded” to “used and held.”

The post Ripple’s RLUSD just got Binance’s strongest growth lever, can that catapult it into a top 3 asset? appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Stellar’s price has remained under pressure as broader crypto market weakness continues to weigh on altcoins. XLM has declined steadily, validating a bearish chart pattern and reinforcing short-term downside risks. 

While traders may look to capitalize on this momentum, on-chain behavior suggests XLM holders are positioning differently.

Stellar Holders Could Rescue XLM

Derivatives data highlights a clear imbalance in market positioning. The liquidation map shows exposure skewed roughly 68% toward short traders, signaling strong bearish conviction. Such dominance often increases sensitivity to volatility, as crowded trades amplify price reactions when momentum shifts.

Below current levels, a dense cluster of long liquidation leverage sits between $0.20 and $0.185. A move into this zone could trigger forced liquidations, adding selling pressure and accelerating a decline. This setup explains why bears are eyeing further downside, as liquidity pockets remain vulnerable under key supports.

Want more token insights like this? Sign up for Editor Harsh Notariya’s Daily Crypto Newsletter here.

Despite bearish positioning, macro indicators offer early signs of divergence. The Chaikin Money Flow has formed higher lows for four consecutive days, even as the XLM price printed lower lows. This bullish divergence suggests capital inflows are increasing beneath the surface.

CMF tracks buying and selling pressure through price and volume. Rising CMF during a price decline often signals accumulation rather than distribution. For Stellar, this pattern implies investors are gradually building positions, creating conditions for a potential short-term reversal once selling pressure fades.

XLM Price Needs To Secure Support

XLM trades near $0.212 at the time of writing, holding just above the $0.210 support level. Earlier this week, the altcoin broke down from a descending triangle pattern, a formation that typically favors bearish continuation. That breakdown keeps downside risks elevated in the near term.

The descending triangle projects a potential 14% drop toward $0.188, placing XLM roughly 11% away from the target. However, the price may stabilize before reaching that level. Support is likely to emerge around $0.210 or, at worst, near $0.201. This uncertainty supports a neutral-to-bearish outlook.

A shift in momentum depends on defending key levels. If $0.210 holds as support, Stellar could regain stability. A sustained bounce may push XLM toward the $0.230 resistance zone. Reclaiming that level would invalidate the bearish pattern and signal a short-term reversal driven by improving demand.

The post 68% of XLM Traders Are Short—Could Accumulation Still Trigger a Reversal? appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has laid out one of its clearest long-term views yet on Bitcoin and Nvidia, two assets that defined the 2024–2025 market cycle. The firm’s latest Big Ideas 2026 report predicts that the Bitcoin market cap will increase by 700% over the next four years. 

It also predicts that Nvidia’s dominance in AI hardware may face growing pressure from competitors.

Bitcoin Price to Hit $800,000?

ARK argues that Bitcoin’s behavior changed meaningfully in 2025. Its drawdowns were smaller, volatility declined, and risk-adjusted returns improved compared to past cycles.

Measured by the Sharpe Ratio, Bitcoin outperformed Ethereum, Solana, and the broader CoinDesk 10 Index across multiple time frames. That shift supports ARK’s view that Bitcoin is increasingly acting like a safe-haven asset rather than a purely speculative one.

As a result, ARK expects Bitcoin to dominate a rapidly expanding crypto market. The firm estimates total cryptocurrency market capitalization could reach $28 trillion by 2030, growing at roughly 61% annually.

Crucially, ARK believes Bitcoin could account for 70% of that market, lifting its market capitalization to around $16 trillion by the end of the decade.

Based on current supply projections, that implies a Bitcoin price of roughly $800,000 per coin. That’s a near nine-fold increase from today’s $90,000 levels.

However, ARK’s forecast is not purely bullish across all use cases. The firm reduced its expectations for Bitcoin adoption as an emerging-market safe haven, citing the rapid rise of dollar-backed stablecoins. 

Instead, ARK increased its “digital gold” assumption after gold’s market cap surged sharply in 2025.

Nvidia Growth Continues, But Competition Tightens

ARK’s outlook for Nvidia is more cautious in tone, even as AI demand continues to surge.

The firm expects global AI infrastructure spending to exceed $1.4 trillion by 2030, driven mainly by accelerated servers. That trend supports long-term demand for AI chips, including Nvidia’s GPUs.

But ARK highlights a key shift. Hyperscalers and AI labs are increasingly focused on total cost of ownership, not raw performance alone. 

That opens the door for custom AI chips and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

Competitors such as AMD, Broadcom, Amazon’s Annapurna Labs, and Google’s TPU platforms are already shipping or preparing next-generation chips. 

Nvidia Faces Intense Competition from AMD. Source: ARK Invest

Many offer lower operating costs per hour than Nvidia’s highest-end systems, even if performance lags in some cases.

ARK’s data shows Nvidia’s newest GPUs are among the most powerful, but also among the most expensive to run. That pricing pressure could limit Nvidia’s ability to expand margins at the same pace seen in recent years.

What This Means for Nvidia’s Stock

ARK does not predict a collapse in Nvidia’s business. Instead, it signals a shift from explosive dominance to more competitive growth.

For Nvidia’s stock, this implies a different trajectory than Bitcoin’s. Rather than multiple expansion, future gains may depend on earnings growth, software revenue, and ecosystem lock-in.

In practical terms, Nvidia’s share price may still rise over time, but likely with slower growth, higher volatility, and sharper reactions to competition and margin pressure. The easy phase of AI-driven rerating may be over.

The post Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest Makes Bold Bitcoin and Nvidia Prediction appeared first on BeInCrypto.

On Wednesday, Pantera Capital, one of the largest venture capital firms in the crypto industry, released its latest blockchain letter. In this edition, the firm reflects on the challenges faced in 2025 while projecting optimism for the remaining months of 2026.

Pantera Capital Identifies Growth Catalysts

Pantera begins by acknowledging that last year was not fundamentally driven when it came to returns within the crypto markets. It cites macroeconomic factors, market positioning, and structural influences as the main drivers that shaped performance, particularly for assets beyond Bitcoin (BTC). 

The firm highlights several positive developments, including the passage of the GENIUS Act and the rise of digital asset treasuries (DATs). These factors contributed to a more stabilized market sentiment, especially with the onset of Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cuts.

However, the firm also describes a challenging fourth quarter in 2025, where a significant selloff on October 10 led to the largest liquidation cascade in crypto history. 

Despite this and many other setbacks during last year’s performance, Pantera expresses optimism about the future, identifying several catalysts poised to drive growth in the coming months.

First and foremost, institutional adoption of blockchain technology continues to expand. Many enterprises are now integrating blockchain into their core offerings, with examples like Robinhood’s tokenized equities and JPMorgan’s initiatives.

Moreover, the firm distinguished that there has been a notable drop in barriers to entry for major financial players into the crypto market, including sovereign reserves and large asset management firms.

Crypto Sectors Set To Rise In 2026

Pantera Capital also explored specific sector predictions for 2026. They anticipate that Real-World Assets (RWAs) will take off. They expect that treasuries and private credit could double, with tokenized stocks and equities experiencing rapid growth as well.

The firm further forecasts that prediction markets will attract acquisition interest as they consolidate around institutional infrastructure. The demand for sports-focused platforms is also expected to grow, expanding their presence in the market.

In terms of banking innovation, ten major banks are reportedly exploring the issuance of a consortium stablecoin pegged to G7 currencies, which could provide a compliant and risk-managed way for people and institutions to utilize digital currencies.

The macro perspective remains positive as well, with a significant percentage of Bitcoin now held by public companies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and nations, indicating a shift towards compliance and institutional investment in the crypto market.

Finally, Pantera asserts that 2026 is poised to be a landmark year for Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in the digital asset space. Following a significant uptick in 2025, expectations for further growth in crypto-friendly listings are high, as companies look to tokenize assets and expand their portfolios.

Featured image from DALL-E, char from TradingView.com 

XRP has slipped below the $2 mark, extending a week-long decline that has unsettled traders and renewed questions about the token’s short-term outlook.

The drop comes amid heavy outflows from XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs), broader market weakness tied to U.S. tariff developments, and fresh debate over Ripple’s growing focus on stablecoins for global payments.

After briefly recovering to around $2.20 in mid-January, XRP fell as low as $1.85 over the weekend following what market commentators described as a liquidity sweep.

XRP ETF Outflows Add to Selling Pressure

XRP-linked ETFs recorded their largest daily outflow since launching in November 2025. On January 20, investors pulled roughly $53 million from these products, with the Grayscale XRP ETF accounting for most of the losses. Cumulative net inflows have now fallen back to levels last seen in early January.

The outflows mirrored a wider risk-off move across U.S. markets. Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs also saw heavy redemptions, while only Solana and Chainlink products attracted fresh capital.

The sell-off followed renewed concerns over Trump’s tariff threats against Europe and Greenland, which triggered the biggest intraday market drop since October 2025.

Technical and On-Chain Signals Remain Weak

From a technical standpoint, XRP is trading below key moving averages, including the 50-day and 200-day levels, with resistance forming near the $2 zone.

Indicators such as the Percentage Price Oscillator and MACD suggest continued bearish momentum. Analysts note that $1.85–$1.90 is now a critical support range, with further downside possible if selling pressure persists.

On-chain data also points to rising stress among longer-term holders. According to Glassnode, investors who bought XRP six to twelve months ago are holding at higher cost bases than recent buyers. This dynamic, similar to patterns seen in early 2022, can encourage selling into small rallies as underwater holders look to exit positions.

Adding to uncertainty is Ripple’s recent emphasis on stablecoins as the future of global settlement. Company president Monica Long has said regulated stablecoins like Ripple USD (RLUSD) are likely to become foundational in global payments over the next five years, particularly in business-to-business transactions.

While Ripple executives continue to say XRP and the XRP Ledger remain central to the company’s infrastructure, the lack of direct references to the token in recent statements has unsettled some holders.

RLUSD’s market capitalization has grown rapidly, and stablecoin activity on the XRP Ledger has increased, but investors are watching closely to see how this translates into sustained demand for XRP itself.

Cover image from ChatGPT, XRPUSD chart on Tradingview