XRP, the token used for cross-border money remittance, appears to be at the tail end of a retracement from its October peak at $0.5488. A substantial demand area sits at $0.4200, where the XRP price is expected to start a new rally.
This is a minor dip from XRP’s current price, $0.4455, but investors should not fret because such a move could allow for liquidity collection ahead of a rebound to $1.
XRP Price Ready to Push Forward
The region between $0.4000 and $0.4400 represents the most robust demand area, helping XRP price to stay afloat. This support has been respected since September 28, when the token pulled back from its monthly top at $0.5606.
A descending trend line currently limits XRP price movement to the upside, leaving buyers with no option but to consider new entries downstream. In other words, immense liquidity awaits the international money remittance token within the rectangle pattern highlighted on its daily chart.
XRPUSD price chart | Tradingview
XRP price trades near oversold conditions based on the slippery slope followed by the Stochastic Oscillator. As overhead pressure engulfed XRP, the Stochastic diverged further from the price.
It is worth mentioning that prices do not dwell in the oversold region for long as markets often correct back to the fair value. Therefore, XRP must be at the threshold – ready to roll down the runway and take off.
According to insight from on-chain data, the XRP price is back in the buy zone. The MVRV (Market Value Realized Value) by Santiment affirms the available buying opportunities with a negative reading, precisely -5.41%.
This on-chain index tracks the average profit or loss of XRP holders based on the price at which each token last moved. Movement below the equilibrium line (0.00) infers that the XRP price is overvalued – the opposite is also true (XRP will be considered overvalued as the MVRV ratio shoots into the positive territory).
Simply put, investors experience an unrealized loss as the ratio flips negative. Hence, they prefer HODLing until the market recovers. As selling pressure diminishes, the tail force on the XRP price will increase and eventually force a rebound.
XRP MVRV metric | Santiment
XRP is one of the hottest topics in the crypto industry, thanks to the ongoing lawsuit. The social volume model by Santiment highlights the mentions the token has been attracting over the last six months.
Investors usually pay attention to a trending cryptocurrency due to the possibility of sudden price pumps. The chart below shows that XRP price tends to react positively to surging social volumes.
XRP social volume chart
Ripple Vs. SEC: What’s Next After the Hinman Documents
Ripple has bagged a huge win against the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). The regulator complied with the court order to release documents related to a 2018 speech by its former director of finance, Willian Hinman.
The documents contain details of how Ethereum was declared not a security. According to a Twitter communication by Ripple’s general counsel, Stuart Alderoty, the battle for the documents was long but reckoned that it was worth it.
“While they remain confidential for now (at the SEC’s insistence),” he added, “I can say that it was well worth the fight to get them.”
Ripple’s attorneys have not shared the contents of the documents related to the Hinman speech. It is still unclear how the speech will influence the High Court to rule in their favor, keeping in mind that the law has not deviated from the Howey Test for over 70 years.
Meanwhile, the SEC has requested the court to dismiss Ripple’s motion for summary judgment. The move by the regulator comes barely a day after the blockchain start-up filed a similar motion.
The SEC filing on Friday outlines that Ripple’s motion should be thrown out “because the undisputed evidence shows that defendants engaged in unregistered offers and sales of securities to public investors.”
XRP is expected to regain its past glory by reclaiming the third spot in terms of market capitalization t if Ripple wins the lawsuit. As outlined in this analysis, XRP price uptrend could hit $50 in a few years.
Moreover, such a win will be positive for the larger cryptocurrency industry and may set the precedence for determining crypto assets that are securities. Now the ball is in the court’s hands.
Why Should You Consider IMPT While Diversifying Your Portfolio In 2022?
IMPT, a crypto token packaged as the “greenest cryptocurrency,” is suitable for ESG investors. As a champion for climate change, IMPT was built on the Ethereum PoS blockchain.
IMPT stands out from its peers due to its technology that gives users opportunities to fund and support green initiatives. Investors will be able to buy carbon credits as a way of countering their carbon footprint.
The token is currently available on presale and has, so far, sold nearly $9 million worth of tokens in just over three weeks. IMPT is currently selling for $0.018, but the price will go up to $0.023 in the next presale stage.
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.
