XRP on Verge of Painful Breakdown Against BTC, Per Bollinger Bands; Quarter Billion Dollars in Bitcoin Stun Coinbase, Ripple Exec Makes Bold 2025 Stablecoin Prediction: Crypto News Digest by U.Today

U.Today - Here are the top three news stories over the past weekend presented to you by U.Today.

Bollinger Bands ring warning bells for XRP versus Bitcoin

After a remarkable week where XRP surged over 24%, there are emerging concerns that this bullish trend may soon come to an end. The price of the Ripple-affiliated token has surged by 35% in just six days, reaching an all-time high of $3.40, a level not seen in seven years. For instance, XRP gained 12% against Bitcoin and 26% against Ethereum. At one point, XRP was 30% stronger than Bitcoin, but at the rate of 0.0000342 BTC for 1 XRP, it seems the market has hit a valuation ceiling between the two cryptos. The Bollinger Bands indicator also suggests that XRP may have hit a ceiling in its valuation against BTC. In the case of XRP-Bitcoin, XRP has reached the higher band against Bitcoin on both the daily and weekly basis. Considering this, it seems more likely that XRP will decline against BTC rather than continue to rise. If the median provides strong support, XRP could see a drop of 10%, or 31% if the decline continues until the lower band is reached.

Quarter billion dollars in Bitcoin stun major U.S. exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN)

According to data provided by Whale Alert, on Friday, Jan. 17, 2,501 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $256.4 million, were transferred to Coinbase International. The receiving address, "bc1q5y," was activated just a week ago and had minimal activity until it received a deposit of 2,502 BTC from another unknown address, "bc1qe2n7." This transaction may suggest that the wallet is controlled by an entity rather than an individual, as it has connections to a Coinbase Prime address and still holds 10,115 BTC, worth $1.05 billion. The large transfer raises concerns about a potential sell-off, as it could indicate that a significant holder plans to liquidate their Bitcoin, potentially impacting market prices. Additionally, the timing of the transaction, just before the weekend, could amplify its effects on trading volumes and price movements. At the moment of writing, BTC is trading at $107,736, up 2.37% over the past 24 hours, per CoinMarketCap.

Ripple exec makes bold 2025 stablecoin prediction: Details

In a recent X post, Jack McDonald, SVP of Stablecoin at Ripple, has predicted that 2025 will be "the year of the stablecoin." McDonald stated that advancements in U.S. regulation will provide clearer guidelines and standards, which is expected to enhance trust and facilitate broader adoption of stablecoins. "Ripple and RLUSD are ready to lead the charge," wrote the executive at the end of his post. As a reminder, RLUSD was launched globally on Dec. 17, aiming to enhance Ripple's cross-border payment solutions, particularly in response to the growing demand for USD-denominated stablecoins in regions like APAC, the EU and Australia. Currently, the stablecoin market has a cap of nearly $216 billion, with projections reaching nearly $3 trillion in the next five years.

This content was originally published on U.Today