During the European session, the XRP price is up 7.5%, bringing nostalgic price action back to the market. More than 4.3 million unique addresses now hold XRP, Ripple’s native token. Despite facing its own set of difficulties and the persistent Crypto Winter that has driven several assets to multi-month lows, the XRP coin has reached this milestone.
Although XRP has not been immune to the attacks, the asset’s recent success is illustrative of its development despite the turbulence. So let’s take a look at a few fundamentals that are driving optimization for Ripple.
XRP Price and Tokenomics
The current XRP price is $0.3487, and the 24-hour trading volume is $1.2 billion. On Saturday, the XRP/USD pair opened the day at $0.3439, placing a high of $0.3576 and a low of $0.3438 level. In the previous 24 hours, XRP has increased by 6.99%.
XRP Price Chart – Source: Tradingview
CoinMarketCap now ranks #7, with a live market cap of $17 billion. There are 49,826,021,773 XRP coins in circulation, with a maximum supply of 100,000,000,000 XRP coins.
US Court Approves Plan for SEC-Ripple Lawsuit
In December 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple, the developer of the XRP cryptocurrency token, for marketing what the SEC views as unregistered securities.
Defense attorney James K. Filan claims that a New York court has authorized the combined plans of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs, which include timelines for reworking on regulating filling concerns in impending summary judgments.
This step is considered essential to end the protracted legal battle finally.
Ripple vs. SEC: Establishing a Shared Understanding
Chris Larsen, a co-founder of Ripple, and Brad Garlinghouse, the company’s CEO, were named defendants. The corporation refutes claims that XRP is security as the sale of stocks and bonds is subject to stringent oversight by government authorities in the United States.
The SEC asked for its planned expert witnesses’ confidentiality in a request filed on September 9. Some have claimed in the past that these sorts of procedures are necessary to prevent the harassment of witnesses.
Ripple strongly disagreed with the idea and insisted that the case be kept open to the public. Defense attorney James K. Filan tweeted that he and the prosecutor may have discovered some common ground.
The SEC and Ripple decided to unseal parts of their respective court files in a joint letter to the presiding US District Judge Analisa Torres, making the case public. However, it’s still likely that some details will need to be omitted.
What’s Next?
SEC and Ripple will have seven days from the filing date to issue updated public summaries. Ripple has declined to negotiate a settlement with the SEC, citing its desire to protect the cryptocurrency industry from excessive government oversight as its justification.
XRP Wallet Addresses Crosses 4.3 Million
As of this writing, the total number of XRP wallet addresses is 4,303,972, as reported by crypto market intelligence firm Messari.
301 of these 4.3 million addresses have XRP worth more than $10 million.
More than $1 million in XRP is hosted by 823 unique IPs.
In total, 4,299,813 wallets hold XRP worth at least $1.
XRP Active Addresses Count – Source: messari.io
According to Messari’s statistics, there have been 66,977 XRP addresses in use over the last 24 hours: 52,575 as recipients and 21,429 as senders. As a result, the number of live addresses in the past month has increased by 29%.
Key Stats: XRP Wallet Addresses
Yesterday
4,303,972
7 days ago
4,298,350
30 days ago
4,281,293
1 year ago
3,305,578
% change from 7 days ago
0.13%
% change from 30 days ago
0.53%
% change from 1 year ago
30.20%
Ripple and Travelex Bank to Launch Crypto-payments in Brazil
Ripple, a provider of cryptocurrency solutions and enterprise blockchain located in the United States, has teamed up with Travelex Bank to roll out cryptocurrency-based payment methods in Brazil.
Ripple chose Travelex Bank because it is the only bank in Brazil to focus solely on foreign exchange. Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) will be utilized in conjunction with the two companies efforts to serve their consumers better when making international payments.
Through cooperation with Travelex Bank, Ripple introduced its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service in Brazil in August 2022. With the ODL service, consumers may make international money transfers quickly, with low settlement costs, and without having to keep any capital on hand in the receiving market.
In addition, Travelex Bank has partnered with Ripple to make it easier for their customers to use a variety of international money transfer and payment services, including remittances, global payments, access to automated teller machines (ATMs), prepaid cards that can be loaded with multiple currencies, and more.
XRP Bounced off Key Support at $0.33
The XRP/USD pair is trading at $0.3481 on the daily timeframe, having formed a symmetrical triangle pattern. This pattern extends strong resistance near the $0.3596 level, which XRP has failed to cross above twice in the last month. This forms a double top pattern, and bulls are likely to struggle if this level of $0.3596 is not breached.
XRP/USD Price Chart – Symmetrical Triangle in Play – Source: Tradingview
The 50-day exponential moving average (EMA) is also expected to provide strong resistance near $0.3590. Increased XRP demand, on the other hand, could cut through $0.3596 and open up more room for buying until the $0.3915 level.
On the downside, the XRP/USD pair finds immediate support at $0.3215 and $0.3045. Finally, the leading technical indicators such as RSI and MACD are in favor of a buying trend, implying that the bullish bias is likely to prevail, and we may see XRP approaching the $0.3915 level soon.
In addition to XRP, meme coins are receiving attention, particularly the Tamadoge presale, which is ‘Selling Out Fast.’ Check out the Tamadoge price prediction for 2022, 2023, and 2025.
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.
