Category: Crypto market

U.S. Government disbands Crypto Enforcement Unit

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

The Department of Justice announced Monday night that it has dissolved its enforcement team dedicated to crypto and will no longer pursue criminal cases in several crypto-related cases.

 

The DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) has been dissolved with immediate effect, per the memo that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche sent to agency employees last night.

Furthermore, unless the offenses involve crimes like embezzlement, scams, rug pulls, or hacks, the DOJ will no longer bring criminal charges against cryptocurrency exchanges, crypto mixing services, or cold wallet holders for “acts of their end users or unwitting violations of regulations.”.

Amanda Tuminelli, executive director of the cryptocurrency lobbying group DeFi Education Fund, shared a copy of the memo on X. It was verified as authentic by a person with knowledge of the situation.

Fortune first reported on the document’s contents after the DOJ stated in the memo that prosecutors “will not pursue actions against the platforms that these enterprises utilize to conduct their illegal activities” and will only target the enemy group in cases where a criminal enterprise or state enemy, such as North Korea, uses a crypto service to launder funds.

The U.S. government has been interested in cryptocurrency mixing services like Tornado Cash for many years, which let users keep their transactions private.

 

Standard Chartered projects Ripple’s XRP Explosion in Trump’s Reign

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Standard Chartered predicts that before US President Donald Trump leaves office, Ripple’s XRP token will see a massive spike in value over the coming years.

The British-based international investment bank stated that the token, which was trading at about $1.86 at the time of writing, could rise to $12.50 by the end of 2028. The outlook is predicated on XRP’s ability to “keep pace with our expected price increases for Bitcoin in real terms,” bolstered by its tokenization and cross-border payments function.

That would translate into a 690 percent increase in percentage terms.

XRP experienced the largest increase of any major digital asset in the two months after Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, doubling in value.

Standard Chartered Bank’s Global Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoff Kendrick, explains this by stating that it was anticipated that the SEC would withdraw its appeal against Ripple in a protracted legal battle.

That action, which was verified in March, assisted in clearing a significant cloud from XRP’s forecast. Kendrick anticipates that structural growth in blockchain payments, an area where transaction volumes for stablecoins have already increased quickly, will help the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

The analyst thinks that XRP’s post-election gains are “sustainable because XRP is ideally situated at the center of one of the fastest-growing applications for digital assets the facilitation of cross-border and cross-currency payments

Ripple makes it Biggest Buy, purchase Hidden Road for $1.25 billion

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Ripple purchased crypto-friendly prime brokerage Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. The blockchain technology company said in a statement on Tuesday that it hopes to use Hidden Road’s platform to provide larger-scale services to various institutional clients. ”

 

The US market is essentially open for the first time due to the regulatory overhang of the former SEC coming to an end, and the market is maturing to address the needs of traditional finance,” said Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, in a statement released on Tuesday. “We are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption.”.

The most recent acquisition by Ripple coincides with the growing interest of financial institutions in digital asset-backed products. Hidden Road was established in 2018 and provides a wide range of financial services aimed at institutional clients, such as transaction financing, cash management, securities lending, custodial and settlement services, and cash management.

The company claims to have over 300 institutional clients and clears over $3 trillion annually across markets.

Additionally, Ripple is incorporating its stablecoin, Ripple USD, into Hidden Road, where it will be used as collateral for all of the products offered by the premier brokerage. Because of the integration, RLUSD might have an advantage over other dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies in a crowded market.

The company’s decision coincides with a surge in merger and acquisition activity in the cryptocurrency sector before the implementation.

Forex Signals Brief April 8: Could the Stock Market Rebound Extend Today?

Posted on by Skerdian Meta

Yesterday we saw a strong rebound in US stocks after opening with a massive gap lower, on tariff freeze news, which could extend the bullish move further if countries start to negotiate.

The momentum will likely remain positive if there are tariff negotiations!
The momentum will likely remain positive if there are tariff negotiations!

Continue reading “Forex Signals Brief April 8: Could the Stock Market Rebound Extend Today?” →

Ripple: XRP Still in Butcher’s Shop

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

The remittance token is trying to recover after experiencing a drop of more than 5% over the past day. The token is starting to bounce back amid changing macroeconomic headlines, having reached extremely oversold RSI levels earlier today.

XRP is trading around $1.9  after hitting a low of $1.60, showing signs of an intraday rebound following an aggressive selloff.

The market is attempting to recover but faces significant technical challenges and mixed signals.

The 1-hour timeframe shows a slight momentum recovery, with the RSI moving from oversold territory to neutral. However, it has not yet entered bullish territory, indicating a need for caution.

The volume of trades in XRP derivatives surged by 587% during this period, reflecting increased activity amid severe volatility.

Additionally, Whale Alert data reported the transfer of 200 million XRP, valued at $355.6 million, from an unidentified wallet to Binance. This raises concerns that large holders (whales) may possess insider information that the general public does not.

The digital asset transited from bullish to bearish territory amid a break below the $2 support line. However, XRP displayed room for more upsides and increasing downward volatility. The overall outlook for XRP remains unclear.

Previously, XRP had experienced bullish momentum due to legal clarity in the Ripple-SEC case, but the general market sentiment has since cooled.

Forex Signals Brief April 7: Is This the Week That Dow Jones DJIA and Tech Stocks Bounce?

Posted on by Skerdian Meta

Last week stock markets and the USD tumbled after the tariff announcement, so there’s a chance that we might see a rebound this week, if countries start making deals and concessions, which would improve the risk sentiment.

Dow Jones lost 7.41% last week
Dow Jones lost 7.41% last week

Continue reading “Forex Signals Brief April 7: Is This the Week That Dow Jones DJIA and Tech Stocks Bounce?” →

Ripple: XRP Falls Faster than Gravity

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Ripple’s token continues to lose value and has fallen below $1.75, down 18 percent overnight, amid weak risk appetite.

President Donald Trump of the United States doubled down on tariffs, emphasizing that America must address the trade deficit before reaching an agreement.

The Sunday sell-off was triggered by the implementation of baseline US tariffs, which have heightened concerns about a global recession. The token has corrected 10 percent in the past day, bringing the total seven-day decline to 10 percent. It is trading at $1.75 in the late Asian session on Monday.

Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on April 2 have intensified selling pressure on XRP. The president told reporters over the weekend that tariffs will remain in place until the US resolves the apparent trade deficit.

Bitcoin and Ethereum corrected to trade at $76,400 and $1,535 on Monday, respectively, as global markets, including stocks and cryptocurrency, fell further into the red on Sunday.

In the meantime, XRP whales are increasing their holdings and purchasing discounted tokens rather than panicking.

According to Santiment’s data, the percentage of coins held by addresses with 100,000 to 1 million tokens has significantly increased, rising from 5.189 to 5.267 of the total supply. The proportion of investors holding between 10 and 100 million XRP has also grown, rising from 3.046 to 3.406 percent of the total supply.

Ripple: XRP swims on Dead Sea

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

XRP has been consolidating since the settlement was announced, failing to break above significant resistance levels.

Markets speculate that investors may await more regulatory clarity before taking new positions or that the outcome may have already been priced into XRP. Price action and on-chain metrics point to a troubling short-term outlook, with XRP displaying indications of waning market support.

XRP’s key on-chain values have dropped by over 65%, indicating a dramatic drop in user activity and network engagement.

The warning signal authenticated bearish pressure. The Ripple-based token is just above a critical support level at $2. The 200-day EMA is in line with 94. Such a level served as XRP’s primary buffer, averting a more serious collapse.

The altcoin is still stuck in a lengthy downward channel with lower highs and lower lows, though. Members of the XRP community are still awaiting an official public statement from the SEC on Ripple’s settlement deal.

The Commission has previously released comprehensive press releases explaining the reasoning and ramifications of settlements involving crypto entities. No such announcement about the Ripple settlement has been made public. This silence has increased conjecture about the deal’s ramifications, especially about XRPs.

Securities Exchange Commission Calls Certain Stablecoins Non-Securities

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

The Securities Exchange Commission declared that some stablecoins are not securities.

Stablecoins are “designed to maintain a stable value relative to the United States Dollar, or ‘USD,’ on a one-for-one basis, can be redeemed for USD on a one-for-one basis,” according to the agency’s Division of Corporate Finance, it refers to as “covered stablecoins” because they are supported by assets kept in reserve that are deemed low-risk and easily liquid, with a USD value that equals or surpasses the redemption value of the stablecoins in circulation.

SEC highlighted, “the Division believes that the sale and offer of Covered Stablecoins, as described in this statement, do not entail the sale and offer of securities.”.

This clarification comes as the stablecoin sector within crypto experiences heightened optimism that Congress will pass its first piece of crypto legislation this year, potentially focusing on stablecoins. President Donald Trump projected lawmakers would send stablecoin legislation to his desk before Congress’s August recess.

The SEC’s definition of a covered stablecoin does not permit interest payments by the issuer to the user. “While earnings on these assets, such as interest, may be utilized by a Covered Stablecoin issuer at its discretion, no such earnings are distributed to Covered Stablecoin holders.”

This is an issue that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is urging Congress to address. Earlier this week, he expressed his concern that consumers cannot earn interest on stablecoins, which would subject the issuer to securities law, a point he elaborated on in a lengthy post on X  and voiced his desire for legislation that permits this.

The House Financial Services Committee advanced the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy Act (STABLE). Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., introduced a competing proposal, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS), in February; it was approved by the Senate Banking Committee last month.

Stablecoins are widely regarded as the next significant advancement for crypto. Their market has expanded approximately 11% this year and about 47% over the past year, with Tether and USD Coin dominating the market. Traditionally, they are used for trading and as collateral in decentralized finance (DeFi), and crypto investors monitor them closely for signs of demand, liquidity, and market activity.

Increasingly, they have become more appealing to individual users and financial institutions for payment purposes. Beyond covered stablecoins, the realm of yield-bearing stablecoins, the SEC suggests would fall under securities law, has been “growing exponentially post the U.S. election, with the market cap of the five largest surpassing $13 billion, or 6% of the total stablecoin universe,” as reported by JPMorgan.