The XRP price has risen by a 10.5% in the past 24 hours, recovering from the wider market selloff seen yesterday. At $0.500878, it has increased by a modest 1.5% in the past week but surged by 50% in a month, as investors increasingly come to expect a positive outcome to Ripple’s legal case with the SEC.
Ever since Ripple and the SEC filed separate motions for summary judgment, there has been an assumption that their legal tussle had entered its end phase and that it will be only a matter of months before it culminates with some kind of settlement. If correct, this suspicion will provide the XRP price with a massive boost and could help it surpass its existing all-time high of $3.40 in the following months.
XRP Price Prediction – 3 Reasons Why XRP Can Hit $5 in 2023
In terms of XRP’s chart, it has just formed a golden cross. This is when its 30-day average (red) crosses over its longer-term 200-day average (blue), signaling bullish upwards momentum and a possible breakout to a new medium or long-term level.
At the same time, XRP’s relative strength index (purple) is rising again after a slight dip to around 55. Basically, this means that its momentum is increasing without being overbought, suggesting that it can continue to rise.
Technicals represent one reason why XRP can hit new highs in 2023, with the coin’s RSI being down for much of this year. However, the main reason why it will trouble and likely surpass its current ATH is that Ripple’s case against the SEC is drawing to a close.
Not only is it drawing to a close, but things increasingly look as though Ripple will secure a positive settlement. This week, for instance, Judge Torres permitted Ripple’s motion to present two amicus briefs that will likely support its case, doing so against the SEC’s own submissions to the court.
This isn’t the only positive judgment Ripple has welcome this year. Back in January, the presiding court ruled that the SEC is obliged to share emails and docs relating to an important speech former chairman Bill Hinman delivered in 2018, in which he declared that ETH and BTC are not securities.
This was a decisive victory for Ripple since there’s a good chance that the docs surrounding this speech ultimately concern XRP in one way or another. And it’s likely that, along with other wins this year, it results in a positive end result.
If Ripple gains a settlement that enables it to continue operating exactly as before (with XRP being re-listed on major exchanges such as Coinbase), then there’s every chance XRP will moon. A recent survey of 55 cryptocurrency and fintech specialists predicts that it would reach $3.81 by 2025 if Ripple does win, yet it’s arguable that it could go even higher if the wider cryptocurrency market enters another bullish cycle.
Indeed, $3.81 is a conservative estimate, representing only a 12% increase over XRP’s record high of $3.40, set in January 2018. Given that that coins such as ETH, ADA and BTC gained over their 2017-18 highs by anything between 160% and 250% during the 2021 bull market, XRP holders could potentially see the coin increase as high as $11.50, assuming another bull market.
XRP also has the fundamentals to support a long-term increase, which is the third reason why it can reach new highs next year. From signing partnerships to expanding into new markets, Ripple has been growing its network steadily during its case with the SEC, putting XRP in a good position for continued growth.
IMPT Set to Offer Quicker Gains
Of course, Ripple may not witness a settlement until the second quarter of next year, meaning that traders looking for a shorter-term profit may be left a little frustrated. However, even with ongoing bearish conditions, there is at least one area where more speculative traders can stand to make a big profit quickly, and that’s with presales and new altcoins.
Most notably, Tamadoge (TAMA) raised $19 million in September before racking up a return at one point of just over 1,800% (in relation to its presale price). While its sale has ended, there are a couple of promising projects with sales still underway, with the Impact Project (IMPT) being one of the most interesting.
Running on Ethereum, IMPT is a decentralized carbon offset marketplace and eco-friendly shopping platform, enabling consumers to earn NFT-based carbon credits for buying with retailers that support environmental initiatives. It kicked off its presale on October 3 and has raised just over $4 million.
Its tokenization of carbon credits and its network of green partners make it an interesting prospect for ESG investors, something helped by its use of Ethereum, which in transitioning to proof-of-stake last month, reduced its energy consumption by 99% in a stroke. While it’s hard to say just how much it might appreciate as a result of its first exchange listings, it has good enough fundamentals to suggest significant gains while investors are waiting for the Ripple-SEC case to end.
The market is currently in a news-driven environment where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agenda rather than fundamentals.
Bitfinex analysts have warned crypto investors to be cautious as bitcoin’s (BTC) recovery over the weekend is not a sign that its correction is over; the asset could witness more bloodshed in the near term.
In the latest Bitfinex Alpha report, experts deemed the market’s reaction this week critical, especially as supply alleviated over the weekend could return when traditional markets open.
“No Man’s Land”
Since Saturday, bitcoin has risen almost 10% from $57,600 to $63,000, closing last week in the green. The asset has surged above the 125-day range low of $60,200, which it broke through earlier this month after news of the German government’s massive BTC selling hit the market.
Market sentiment began to improve after reports that wallets linked to the German government were almost empty. However, the positive sentiment may not be sustained for long as the BTC the German authorities moved to trading desks and exchanges are yet to be sold.
While the supply from Germany appears to have been factored into bitcoin’s market price, Bitfinex analysts believe the end of selling pressure depends on how the involved trading desks execute their trades in the coming days.
Although the shift in sentiment underscores the market’s capacity to integrate new information and adjust expectations quickly, analysts think the market’s reaction over the first two trading days of the week cannot be overlooked for two reasons.
First, the low support level in the $60,200 range has now become a potential resistance line. Second, trading patterns over the past three months suggest that weekends are usually favorable for markets, especially on Saturdays when supply pressure seems to subside.
“We are now in no man’s land until we get clear resolution above or below this level,” the analysts said.
A News-Driven Environment
Besides the potential resistance level and three-month weekend trading pattern, the market is currently in a news-driven environment, where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agendas rather than fundamentals.
Since selling pressure concerns are not yet completely obsolete due to upcoming Mt Gox creditor distributions, Bitfinex analysts expect such headlines to continue to have some impact on price movements. As such, the analysts urged investors to exercise caution in their trading strategies.
BlackRock’s IBIT led with $117.25 million in inflows on July 15, also being the most traded Bitcoin ETF.
The US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a daily net inflow of $301 million on July 15th. This extended their winning streak to seven consecutive days amidst a broader market recovery.
None of the ETFs recorded outflows for the day.
Bitcoin ETFs Rake in $16.11B in Net Inflows Since Jan
According to the data compiled by SoSoValue, BlackRock’s IBIT, the top spot Bitcoin ETF by net asset value, recorded the largest net inflows of the day at $117.25 million. IBIT was also the most actively traded Bitcoin ETF on Monday, with a volume of $1.24 billion. Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB came in close behind with net inflows of $117.19 million.
Fidelity’s FBTC experienced net inflows of $36.15 million on Monday, while Bitwise’s BITB saw $15.24 million in inflows. VanEck’s HODL, Invesco and Galaxy Digital’s BTCO, and Franklin Templeton’s EZBC funds also recorded net inflows. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC and other ETFs, such as Valkyrie’s BRRR, WisdomTree’s BTCW, and Hashdex’s DEFI, registered no flows for the day.
A total of $2.26 billion was traded on Monday. The trading volume for these ETFs was less than in March when it exceeded $8 billion on some days. Meanwhile, these funds have collectively attracted $16.11 billion in net inflow since their January launch.
What’s Next For Bitcoin?
Earlier this month, bitcoin’s price decline was mainly due to fears of massive selling pressure from Mt. Gox and the German government’s BTC sales.
But the assassination attempt on pro-crypto former US President and presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump at Saturday’s rally seemed to spark a recovery in the world’s largest digital asset, and experts are bullish on the asset’s price trajectory going forward. Bitcoin surged more than 9% over the past week and was currently trading slightly below $64,000.
Veteran trader Peter Brandt discussed bitcoin’s price outlook, suggesting a potential major rally. He referred to a pattern he terms “Hump->Slump->Bump->Dump->Pump” and highlighted that the July 5 double top attempt was a bear trap, confirmed by the July 13 close. He sees a likely continued upward trend but warned that a close below $56,000 would negate this bullish view.
“Bitcoin $BTC could be unfolding its often-repeated Hump…Slump…Bump…Dump…Pump chart construction. Jul 5 attempt at the double top was a bear trap, confirmed by Jul 13 close. Most likely scenario now is that bears are trapped. Close below $56k negates this interpretation”
PeckShield alert reveals LI.FI’s protocol vulnerability is similar to a March 2022 attack, with the same bug recurring.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) platform LI.FI protocol has suffered an exploit amounting to over $8 million.
Cyvers Alerts reported detecting suspicious transactions within the LI.FI cross-chain transaction aggregator.
LI.FI Issues Warning After $8 Million Exploit
LI.FI confirmed the breach in a statement on July 16 via X: “Please do not interact with any http://LI.FI powered applications for now! We’re investigating a potential exploit.” The team clarified that users who did not set infinite approval are not at risk, emphasizing that only those who manually set infinite approvals seem to be affected.
According to Cyvers Alerts, more than $8 million in user funds have been stolen, with the majority being stablecoins. According to on-chain data, the hacker’s wallet holds 1,715 Ether (ETH) valued at $5.8 million and USDC, USDT, and DAI stablecoins.
Cyvers Alerts advised users to revoke relevant authorizations immediately, noting that the attacker is actively converting USDC and USDT into ETH.
Crypto security firm Decurity provided insights into the exploit, stating that it involves the LI.FI bridge. “The root cause is a possibility of an arbitrary call with user-controlled data via depositToGasZipERC20() in GasZipFacet, which was deployed 5 days ago,” Decurity explained on X.
“In general, the risks behind routers, cross-chain swaps, etc. are about token approvals. Raw native assets like (unwrapped) ETH are safe from these kinds of hacks b/c they don’t have approvals as an option. Most users & wallets also no longer do “infinite approvals” which gives a smart contract total control on removing any amount of their tokens. It’s important to understand which tokens you’re approving to which contracts.
This dashboard looks for all transactions of a user that intersects Lifi. Not all of these transactions indicate risk- but you can see how, broadly, integrations & layers of tech (like how Metamask bridge uses Lifi on BSC) can complicate how users do or don’t put their assets at risk. Revoke Cash is the most well known approval manager app.
But it’s also good security practice to simply rotate your address. New addresses start with 0 approvals, so starting fresh by moving your tokens to a fresh address is another good security practice.” – commented Carlos Mercado, Data Scientist at Flipside Crypto.
Recent Exploit Mirrors March 2022 Attack
Further analysis by PeckShield alert revealed that the vulnerability is similar to a previous attack on LI.FI’s protocol that occurred on March 20, 2022. That incident saw a bad actor exploit LI.FI’s smart contract, specifically the swapping feature, before bridging.
The attacker manipulated the system to call token contracts directly within their contract’s context, making users who had given infinite approval vulnerable. This exploit resulted in the theft of approximately 205 ETH from 29 wallets, affecting tokens such as USDC, MATIC, RPL, GNO, USDT, MVI, AUDIO, AAVE, JRT, and DAI.
“The bug is basically the same. Are we learning anything from the past lesson(s)?” PeckShield Alert said in a July 16 X post.
Following the 2022 incident, LI.FI disabled all swap methods in its smart contract and worked on developing a fix to prevent future vulnerabilities. However, the recurrence of a similar exploit raises concerns about the platform’s security measures and whether adequate steps were taken to address the vulnerabilities identified in the previous breach.
LI.FI is a liquidity aggregation protocol that allows users to trade across various blockchains, venues, and bridges.
