Category: Crypto market

Metaplanet Bitcoin’s Stash hit 4,855 BTC

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

The Japanese investment firm Metaplanet now holds  4,855 BTC after buying 330 Bitcoins. According to the company’s April report, this most recent purchase was made at an average price of ¥12.18 million per Bitcoin, as indicated in Disclosure 21.

Metaplanet’s total Bitcoin holdings amount to ¥62.17 billion.

The company tracks its performance using the BTC Yield metric, which indicates Bitcoin ownership per NIL revenue share. As for this quarter, the firm’s Bitcoin Yield stands at 12.1 percent. The last three quarters performed even better with 41.7 percent in Q3 2024, 310 percent in Q4 2024, and 96 percent in Q1 2025.

Metaplanet made several capital market activities, such as zero-coupon issuance, stock options, and the purchase of common shares.

The EVO FUND issued the discount stock rights with a 0 percent yield, with over ¥35 billion (about $226 million) raised in Bitcoin already been purchased.

Recently, the company issued zero-interest bonds to raise an additional $10 million, which will also be allocated for acquiring more Bitcoin.

Metaplanet is expected to earn ¥3.0 billion (around $27.5 million) from its Bitcoin program and is on track to reach that target. This revenue will contribute to the overall goal of ¥3.4 billion (about $31.3 million) in total revenue for the year.

Forex Signals April 21: DJIA and Tech Stocks Open in Focus After Volatile Week

Posted on by Skerdian Meta

This week delivers a number of manufacturing reports from major economies, as tariffs and trade anxiety have returned. Continue reading “Forex Signals April 21: DJIA and Tech Stocks Open in Focus After Volatile Week” →

Coinbase set to launch XRP Futures Trading

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Coinbase Derivatives anticipates launching XRP futures trading on Monday. Investors will receive additional details about launch schedules and availability in advance.

Ripple (XRP) traded above $2 on Monday’s trading session.  Buyers persisted in purchasing the token, with XRP above the $2.00 mark, demonstrating tenacity and resolve despite the April drawdowns.

According to CoinGlass data on XRP derivatives, sentiment is improving, which could push the digital asset higher in the days ahead.

XRP futures trading by Coinbase Derivatives and an increase in open interest are two factors that might be driving the token’s bullish momentum.

Although the cryptocurrency market posted improvements and technical indicators signaling buy opportunities, a loss of support at $2 could accelerate losses to the 200-day EMA at $1.95.

Coinbase Derivatives, a division of the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange, may begin trading XRP futures contracts on Monday. Coinbase declared Coinbase Derivatives had submitted a request to “self-certify” XRP futures to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on April 4.

If approved, this development would facilitate institutional adoption of XRP, providing investors access to a regulated instrument for one of the most liquid digital assets in the market.

 

Ripple: XRP Runs Past Ethereum

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Ripple’s XRP’s fully diluted market valuation surpassed Ethereum’s (ETH). Ethereum’s $195 billion has been overshadowed by XRP’s $208 billion fully diluted value. This drew attention to the token’s long-term position in the cryptocurrency space.

XRP is currently ranked third behind Ethereum in traditional market capitalization; however, its recent strong performance has prompted analysts to reevaluate its potential for further growth. Experts have long predicted that XRP will eventually surpass ETH.

Its market capitalization remains low, even though interest and usage of XRP are increasing, because Ripple has a substantial portion of its supply in escrow.

In addition to what is currently in circulation, the fully diluted market cap accounts for the entire supply of a token.

Now that XRP has been outperforming Ethereum for more than five consecutive months, the longest period since the two tokens have coexisted, the prospect of a complete market cap flip is becoming more likely. Ongoing changes in its ecosystem and heightened institutional involvement have contributed to XRP’s steady momentum.

The U.S. now has complete regulatory clarity and is poised for greater institutional adoption after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected its appeal against Ripple.

3 Brazilian Men Jailed for Bitcoin Investment Ponzi Scheme

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

A Brazilian court sentenced three men to prison for their roles in a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that allegedly defrauded investors out of roughly $190 million.

 

Local media reports that Joel Ferreira de Souza, Gesana Rayane da Silva, and Victor Augusto Veronez de Souza received a total sentence of 170 years in prison from the court for their roles in managing Braiscompany.

Prosecutors claimed that Braiscompany deceitfully promised investors returns in Bitcoin.

The company was accused of being a pyramid scheme as early as 2021, and in 2023, Brazilian police began investigating Braiscompany. Ferreira de Souza, the alleged mastermind of the scheme, was given the maximum sentence of 128 years in prison by the prosecution

Brazil’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office accused the three of stealing over $190 million and over R$11 billion from about 20,000 investors, many of whom had money in the scheme.
The defendants were ordered to return R$36.5 million ($6.2 million) to investors after having some of their assets seized. The scam is the largest cryptocurrency scam in the nation’s history, according to local media.

Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, is a crypto hotspot. It boasts more Bitcoin ETFs than any other country in the region, and many of its major banks provide investors with exposure to digital assets.

Kraken reduces Staff Strength ahead of IPO

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Kraken fired hundreds of employees over the last few months as it continues to streamline its operations in preparation for a possible US public listing.

 

When Silicon Valley investor and Kraken board member Arjun Sethi took over as co-CEO alongside David Ripley, who took over when former CEO Jesse Powell stepped down in 2023, Kraken was said to have laid off 400 employees at the end of October last year, or roughly 15% of its workforce.

A person with knowledge of the matter stated that “hundreds more have gone” since Sethi was appointed co-CEO, referring to a continuous firing program that goes beyond the 15% reduction made late last year. They are aggressively culling across all functions, which is an ongoing process.

Sethi and Ripley wrote in a blog post that when the CEO position was divided last year, the company needed to become “leaner and faster” by removing “organizational layers” that had accumulated in Kraken.

Kraken has also been attempting to boost its earnings by purchasing companies like the derivatives platform Ninja Trader, for example, and most recently announcing the addition of stock trading.

“Kraken is doing very well. A Kraken representative said, “We’re introducing more new products than ever before, generating robust revenue growth, and quickly growing across our entire product portfolio, including through the agreement to acquire NinjaTrader, announced earlier this year.”

In addition, we constantly assess our workforce to support our strategic priorities. “While continuing to hire in strategic business areas, we’re taking a methodical and deliberate approach to this, making the tough choice to remove some positions and combine teams where there are redundancies,” the Kraken representative stated.

RWA: Cardano taps into Real World Assets

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

The Cardano (ADA) ecosystem is expanding in the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market.

The Cardano approved a major proposal from the Genius Yield protocol to increase its involvement in the Real World Assets (RWA) ecosystem.

The Genius Yield protocol for the RWA trading platform has authorized the second milestone in RWA swaps.The F12 Catalyst proposal outlines crucial processes like asset auditing checks and ownership verification. These behaviors are evidence of genuine ownership and authenticity.

The next phase of the platform’s development involves building an online onboarding portal for asset owners.

The project will also set up an award distribution and token issuance before the platform’s launch. One of Cardano’s RWA-focused projects is Genius Yield. Empowa is also developing a platform for financing real estate in Africa.

Real-world diamonds are among the most fascinating uses of cryptocurrencies. Users can acquire part of these priceless assets by tokenizing and trading diamonds.

Real assets must be converted into tradable tokens and added to the blockchain. These tokens can represent fractional ownership, a major benefit in illiquid markets, like fine art and real estate. The Boston Consulting Group estimates that the market value of tokenizing illiquid assets could reach $16 trillion.

BlackRock Bitcoin holdings reach 571,869 BTC

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Bitcoin ETFs returned to net positive territory despite the nervousness and uncertainty evident in the market, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) regaining its position as the industry leader.

Lookonchain data revealed that IBIT had the largest one-day inflow of any Bitcoin ETF in the past 24 hours, adding 455 BTC to its holdings and bringing its total to 571,869 BTC. This one-day performance outweighed the outflows observed across competitors as a whole.

There were no inflows or outflows from Fidelity’s FBTC, the second-largest Bitcoin ETF by assets, while ARK 21Shares (ARKB) gained 160 BTC. Bitwise (BITB), which gained 131 BTC, displayed moderate strength.

However, Grayscale’s GBTC experienced ongoing pressure, with a net outflow of 1,137 BTC over seven days and a one-day outflow of 8 BTC. The net inflow into Bitcoin ETFs was 672 BTC on the day, or roughly $56.38 million, but the weekly figure remains negative at 2,794 BTC, or about $234 million.

Bitcoin’s intraday chart shows a brief upward spike following earlier sell pressure amid price consolidation. The current weekly net inflows into Bitcoin ETFs total $78 million, although the trend appears erratic.

BlackRock received $34 million in fees from the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in the first quarter of 2024, less than 1% of its total revenue. The AUM for digital assets only makes up 0.5 percent of BlackRock’s $11 trillion in total assets under management, despite reaching $503 billion

XRP: Ripple dispels IPO plans in 2025

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, there were no plans for an initial public offering (IPO), dispelling rumors that the company will go public in 2025. During an event, Garlinghouse was asked if Ripple would look to go public this year.

 

He stated, “I’ve highlighted that most businesses go public to raise money. Our motivation hasn’t been to raise capital because we haven’t needed to. Garlinghouse further cited the historically unfavorable regulatory environment in the United States for the business’s lack of interest in IPO activity.

The American market has been extremely antagonistic until recently. “Why would we even attempt to have that discussion?” he asked. Brad Garlinghouse: Ripple doesn’t require funding. 2025 will not see an IPO, and Ripple don’t need outside capital $ XRP. 

Ripple is building an empire IPO, not chasing investors. Do not beg. proper execution. Garlinghouse said, “I think that’s a definitive no,” in response to a direct question concerning a 2025 IPO. The company hasn’t made such a priority, though going public has been discussed internally at Ripple. Garlinghouse added.

Garlinghouse did not rule out the possibility of an IPO in the future, but he was adamant that it was unlikely this year