PayPal expands on Solana, Chainlink

Posted on April 5, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

PayPal expanded its crypto offerings to include Chainlink and Solana, allowing US-based users to buy, sell, and transfer these popular tokens. The American payment company stated that support for LINK and SOL will be rolled out over the next few weeks, extending to Venmo users, a mobile payment platform owned by PayPal.

According to the latest information from PayPal, approximately 83 million people used Venmo at least once in 2023.

PayPal’s global reach includes about 428 million accounts as of 2024, with most in the world’s largest economy.

The company’ s crypto services are available only to US residents. PayPal expanded its crypto offerings, according to May Zabaneh, an executive in PayPal’ s crypto and blockchain division.
“Offering more tokens on PayPal and Venmo provides users with greater flexibility, choice, and access to digital currencies,” she stated.

PayPal’s US crypto offerings now encompass seven digital assets, including its payment stablecoin, PayPal USD. The launch of PYUSD in 2023 solidified PayPal’s entry into the cryptocurrency market. PYUSD surpassed $1 billion in market capitalization for the first time.

Forex Signals Brief April 4: Can the NFP End the Crash in the USD and Stocks?

Posted on April 4, 2025April 4, 2025 by Skerdian Meta

Today NFP payrolls are expected to decline, increasing the odds of the FED cutting rates which would help the USD and stock markets.

Can we see a reversal in stock markets and the USD today?

Continue reading “Forex Signals Brief April 4: Can the NFP End the Crash in the USD and Stocks?” →

Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade in May

Posted on April 4, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Pectra, Ethereum’s critical upgrade since transitioning to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in 2022, is set to launch on the Ethereum mainnet on May 7.

Pectra was delayed due to finality issues on the Holesky testnet but has run smoothly on the Hoodi testnet. The upgrade also encountered a minor problem on the Sepolia testnet in early March, which was later identified and resolved.

Ethereum developers use testnets to trial upgrades before implementing them on the mainnet. Despite the initial problems, Ethereum’s Holesky testnet eventually achieved finality on March 10.
The confirmed date for Pectra, announced during a Thursday call among Ethereum developers, follows a previous proposal for an April 30 launch.

“We’ll go ahead and lock in May 7 for Pectra on mainnet,” said Ethereum Foundation researcher Alex Stokes. “Happy Pectra, everyone.”

Pectra’s upgrade is set to introduce several notable changes for Ethereum, including enhanced network scalability and an increase in validator staking limits from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH.

However, for active participants in Ethereum’s network, the most significant change may be the introduction of account abstraction, which allows users to pay for gas or transaction fees with multiple tokens (such as stablecoins) in addition to ETH.

The upgrade will improve wallet functionality for users, including potential implementations of social recovery and a more user-friendly restoration process for lost wallet seed phrases.

XRP Braces For SEC’s Outcome on Ripple’s Settlement

Posted on April 4, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Ripple bulls held the $2 critical support line amid high sell-offs in financial markets as the community braces for the SEC’s response to the XRP settlement.

A SEC meeting (set to occur later today, hours after this publication, with inexplicably no details released to the public) could help us solve the mystery.

Currently, XRP is trading at $2.05, reflecting a 3.5% decrease over the last 24 hours. This places its year-to-date losses at 1.73%, dampening market optimism.

The details of the SEC meeting remain undisclosed, raising new questions, such as: Why do XRP holders harbor such optimism when speculating about the outcome of a meeting that could change the fate of Ripple and the SEC’s legal saga? likely due to the hope that the meeting could involve an internal vote to settle and dismiss Ripple’s appeal case.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated on record that “the goal to work towards had been settled on March 19, ” indicating that the legal logistics are in play for the Commission to abandon the appeal and lift the ban on selling XRP to institutional investors.

In this scenario, XRP holders would benefit from a strong bullish catalyst. However, amid the volatility that remains prevalent in the markets, uncertainty in the market remains high/

Should the SEC take significant time in voting to withdraw the appeal, XRP could dip below $2. The remittance token oscillated at $2.1 after breaching the $2.2 resistance on Monday.

XRP has a market valuation of $122.3 billion. Over the past day, the cryptocurrency has remained 40 percent below its all-time high of $3.40, ranging in a narrow range between $2.05 and $2.50.

The growing bearish momentum suggests that XRP may be about to experience a more severe drop despite the lack of indications of an impending recovery.

Forex Signals Brief April 3: Will Nasdaq and Tech Stocks Rebound After the Gap Lower?

Posted on April 3, 2025April 2, 2025 by Skerdian Meta

Today stock markets will open with a considerable bearish gap after the tariffs, so we’ll see how they will react after the US session starts, whether Nasdaq and other markets recuperate or extend the losses.

Continue reading “Forex Signals Brief April 3: Will Nasdaq and Tech Stocks Rebound After the Gap Lower?” →

RLUSD: Ripple Stablecoin Live on Kraken

Posted on April 3, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Ripple introduced RLUSD, its stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, on the Kraken exchange. According to the company, RLUSD is live and can be used for real-time cross-border payments.

The company also claimed that BKK Forex and iSend are working with Ripple to use RLUSD for automated cross-border treasury services. Ripple plans to integrate RLUSD to deepen its penetration into the stablecoin ecosystem while expanding into related payment infrastructures. Washington has now started developing legislative frameworks for this purpose.

Ripple said that the stablecoin is already available for payments aboard their network. While Ripple added that RLUSD will be released for other institutional users gradually, select customers transact using the stablecoin.

McDonald, Ripple’s SVP of Stablecoins, stated that the token is in demand not just from the crypto markets but also from traditional finance markets, citing increasing market cap as evidence of growing and diverse use cases of the RLUSD stablecoin. RLUSD achieved a market cap of $240 million since its launch in December.

“There’s growing demand for RLUSD, and thus, we’re seeing the market cap continue to grow,” McDonald stated.

The announcement coincides with stablecoins taking center stage in news reports. Lawmakers are getting ready to vote on stablecoin legislation in Washington, which might establish more precise guidelines for issuance and supervision. Other players are swarming into the market, such as World Liberty Financial, a DeFi initiative supported by President Donald Trump is launching its token with a dollar value. The market is expanding, but Tether’s USDT is still the most used stablecoin globally.

Ripple’s wager is that with its current enterprise network and more regulatory clarity, RLUSD may have staying power in a market where usage is growing but transparency and trust are still lacking. A partnership between Ripple and Chainlink was announced on January 7th to facilitate RLUSD use in Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
The partnership incorporates Chainlink’s price feeds for RLUSD on Ethereum and the XRP Ledger to preserve tamper-proof data for DeFi applications and reduce risks like manipulation or outages

Ripple Apocalypse: XRP Sinks Like Titanic Ship

Posted on April 3, 2025April 3, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on all foreign trading partners, which caused the altcoin to lose over 14% in just seven days.

Ripple’s confirmation that it would incorporate the RLUSD stablecoin into its payments solution, Ripple Payments, was overshadowed by the crypto bloom bath.

XRP experienced a 4% drop and $18 million in futures liquidation yesterday. The long and short positions that liquidated totaled $11 million and $7 million, respectively.

Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs has accelerated cryptocurrency market losses, making the $2 support level crucial to monitor for the remittance-based token. If this level and the 200-day SMA are breached, the token may sink to the $1.5 support line.

While XRP navigates a crucial support zone, its on-chain price metrics present conflicting signals. Although the MVRV ratio has dipped below its 200-day moving average- a sign of bearishness- whale accumulation suggests that some investors are betting on a longer-term rise.

Currently, the market value of XRP is less than its realized value, which could be viewed as a bearish indicator. This trend often leads to periods of consolidation or price corrections. However, it’s important to remember that the market remains highly dynamic, and various factors will influence the price movement..

Even the most sanguine bullish expectations could be undermined by a retreat to a high-volatility zone triggered by a break below the current support levels. The market is already aware of this scenario, so it is unclear if bullish investors’ tenacity will be sufficient to prevent it.

Alabama plans buying Bitcoin

Posted on April 2, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Lawmakers in Alabama proposed a bill to permit the state to use public funds to purchase Bitcoin.

Only digital assets with a market capitalization of at least $750 billion would be eligible to receive up to 10% of the state’s public funds. According to the bill, “the total amount of digital assets invested from any of the funds listed in this section cannot exceed 10% of the fund’s balance at the time of the investment.”

Bitcoin satisfies this requirement. These assets must be held directly by the state treasurer, a qualified custodian, or through exchange-traded products.

Legislators in Alabama want to speed up the legislative process by introducing identical bills in both chambers. As part of their financial reserves, several other US states are considering passing legislation to allocate public funds to Bitcoin.

Bills permitting up to 10% of state funds to be invested in Bitcoin have recently been introduced in Alabama, following similar initiatives in other states. Texas lawmakers proposed creating a Bitcoin reserve to hold Bitcoin as a strategic asset.

States like Wyoming are developing regulations to incorporate digital assets into their financial systems, and they have already passed legislation acknowledging Bitcoin as legitimate property.

Although none of the bills have been passed into law, Arizona and Missouri have also seen attempts to include Bitcoin in their state reserves. States are increasingly adopting Bitcoin alongside more conventional assets, consistent with broader trends in financial policy.

Forex Signals Brief April 2: Big Tariff Day Arrives, Markets Brace for Impact

Posted on April 2, 2025April 1, 2025 by Skerdian Meta

Today the US will announce trade tariffs, but details will be most important, which could send markets both ways.

Trade Tariffs Keeping Markets Volatile — Trade Tariffs Keeping Markets on Edge

Continue reading “Forex Signals Brief April 2: Big Tariff Day Arrives, Markets Brace for Impact” →

Ripple’s XRP in Pressure Cooker on SEC April 3 Meeting

Posted on April 2, 2025April 2, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

A potential vote to withdraw Ripple’s appeal in the SEC’s upcoming closed meeting on April 3 kept the token under the consolidation phase. XRP has experienced overwhelming selling pressure after Garlinghouse’s announcement amid market correction in the crypto space.

Should the SEC take significant time in voting to withdraw the appeal, XRP could dip below $2. The remittance token oscillated at $2.1 after breaching the $2.2 resistance on Monday.

XRP has a market valuation of $122.3 billion. Over the past day, the cryptocurrency has remained 40 percent below its all-time high of $3.40, ranging in a narrow range between $2.05 and $2.50.

The growing bearish momentum suggests that XRP may be about to experience a more severe drop despite the lack of indications of an impending recovery.

Bearish bias is affirmed on the token’s price action. Weak momentum below the neutral 50 mark is indicated by the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 39.

The Commodity Channel Index (CCI) is at -182.70, in the oversold territory, while the Stochastic percent at 11.67% indicates a glaring lack of buying interest. The sellers’ dominance is further supported by the Awesome Oscillator, which is still negative at -0.13.

A clear sell signal is issued by the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) at -0.06, while the Momentum Indicator remains stable at -0.31.

The technical outlook is still firmly pessimistic, with XRP poised for a disastrous collapse. Any short-term recovery attempts would be nullified by a drop below $2, which could lead to panic selling.

The path of least resistance is unmistakably downward, as oscillators and moving averages indicate sustained downward momentum. If sellers maintain their dominance, XRP may fall to $1.80 or less, trapping it in a difficult situation.

Recession fears, US labor market issues, and tariff developments have all contributed to the market volatility. However, XRP’s short-term future depends on the Ripple-SEC deal.