U.today

XRP burn activity spikes, hinting at potential price rebound

XRPremains under pressure price-wise, but on-chain data points to improving underlying momentum.

XRP burns. XRP burn activity rose by about 1% over the past 24 hours, with roughly 400 XRP burned as transaction fees on Jan. 25.

XRP has continued to trade in the deep red territory, but its network activity suggests that momentum might return to the market in the near term. Amid the broad crypto market slowdown, the leading altcoin has seen a sharp surge in its burn activity, according to data from CryptoQuant. As such, it appears that a notable price resurgence might be underway.

Bullish sign. The rise in fee burns also suggests growing use of XRP for payment-related activity, a factor that has historically supported price recoveries.

Following the surge in the XRP burn activity, the amount of XRP burned as fees has surged modestly by about 1% over the last day, hitting about 400 XRP on Jan. 25. The surge in the burn metric suggests a reduction in sell-off pressure, as traders are willing to hold their assets to aid in price stability.

While the metric also suggests increased use in XRP for payment purposes, which often helps to drive an increase in the price of the asset, it appears that XRP price may be on track for a major comeback.

Dogecoin volume surges 197% despite ongoing price volatility

Dogecoin is underperforming the broader crypto market, but the massive volume rallysignals a potential rebound.

Volume spike. DOGE recorded a 197% spike in trading volume, even as price action remains volatile.

Dogecoin (DOGE), the king of the meme coins, has surged by 197% in trading volume despite battling price volatility. According to CoinMarketCap data, Dogecoin’s volume hit $1.29 billion in the process as transactions increased on the DOGE market.

Dogecoin’s overall outlook might be bearish, but the spike in trading volume has the potential to trigger a recovery. Notably, when the meme coin’s volume is reduced, it often amplifies price swings on the market.

Volatility. Higher volume can reduce extreme price swings and improve short-term liquidity conditions.

Given that liquidity in the crypto space has dropped lately, Dogecoin is more prone to market sell-offs. Retail traders looking for quick funds might choose to offload DOGE and cut their losses. However, if trading volume continues to soar, it could signal a revival of retail interest in the meme coin.

Peter Brandt sets $93,000 as key level for Bitcoin trend reversal

Legendary tradershares new take on Bitcoin price, flags $93,000 mark as the needed level to negate the current downtrend.

Bearish view. Peter Brandt says Bitcoin remains bearish after dropping more than 5.2% over the past seven days.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt has dropped a new price rebound target for Bitcoin (BTC) after the coin shed more than 5.2% in the last seven days. Brandt opines that Bitcoin is likely to continue on its bearish momentum unless it can reclaim $93,000 and stabilize above that point.

Notably, Brandt relied on technical charts to argue his point. According to him, Bitcoin is in a "bear channel." This is a downward-sloping price range where lower highs and lower lows keep forming. Brandt maintains that Bitcoin's moves in the bear channel have "been completed."

Price target. Brandt noted he would reconsider his stance only if BTC stabilizes above $93,000.

This implies that Bitcoin is likely to continue its bearish momentum or pause before it proceeds in further downward slips. The veteran trader is overall bearish on the outlook for Bitcoin.

However, Brandt noted that for Bitcoin to break out of this bearish momentum, bulls need to support the coin to climb to $93,000. He insists that if BTC fails to breach this level, the current outlook might linger for a while.

Ripple, one of the most prominent enterprise blockchain companies, isexpanding its London leadership team.

The company has opened a role for a Business Development Director based in London.

The new hire will be specifically tasked with boosting the adoption of Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin and the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

The new director will be responsible for securing partnerships with "banks, fintechs, custodians, and asset managers," the job listing reveals.

The role focuses on "influencing how stablecoins are issued, distributed, and embedded" into institutional workflows, which is the crucial part of the new job offer.

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The listing explicitly mentions such use cases as treasury liquidity management, foreign exchange (FX), collateral management, and tokenized assets.

This shows that Ripple intends for RLUSD to compete with traditional fiat settlement layers as well on top of some crypto-native players of the likes of Tether's USDT.

The San Francisco-based enterprise blockchain giant is looking for a director with "10+ years of experience" and "credibility operating at the C-suite level."

Recent UK developments

In early January 2026, Ripple achieved a critical milestone by securing registration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Ripple Markets UK was granted status as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) and registered under the UK’s Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs).

This license makes it possible for the company to facilitate payments and issue electronic money in the UK.

Moreover, Ripple is actively integrating its technology into the UK's financial "plumbing."

The company recently deepened its collaboration with Archax, the UK’s first FCA-regulated digital asset exchange.

Ripple and treasury management veteran GTreasury officiallyrolled out "Ripple Treasury" on Tuesday.

The new platform aspires to bring blockchain-based settlement to traditional corporate finance.

This is part of Ripple’s ambitious strategy to embed its infrastructure into the back-office operations of global enterprises.

The future of corporate treasury?

The new platform, which has been described by the companies as a "comprehensive treasury platform," integrates GTreasury’s existing workstation with Ripple’s crypto-native infrastructure. The workstation in question is used by finance teams for some 40 years.

The goal is to solve the inefficiency of managing cross-border liquidity through legacy banking networks, which is a perennial headache for corporate treasurers.

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The announcement in question states that the platform will offer "unified visibility" across both cash and crypto. This will make it possible for companies to manage forecasting and payments within a single interface.

For Ripple, the partnership is a play to prove the utility of blockchain beyond speculative trading.

Corporate treasurers often have to "pre-fund" foreign bank accounts to ensure they have local currency available for payments. This practice essentially traps working capital. Reece Merrick, a Ripple executive, has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to note that the new system aims to "eliminate pre-funding requirements."

"The future of treasury has no friction or boundaries," Merrick added.

Ripple officially announced its $1 billion acquisition of GTreasury back in October 2025.

The crypto market is seeing mixed trading action on Tuesday as investors await further economic data and look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision.

Cardano is trading in red, down 1.27% in the last 24 hours and 3.24% weekly.

Despite this drop, Cardano's open interest has risen, coupled with a volume surge on a major derivatives exchange. According to CoinGlass data, Cardano's open interest rose 2.31% in the last 24 hours, reaching $660.19 million.

In this time frame, Cardano futures volume rose on the Bitmex crypto exchange by 9,695% to $136.80 million.

What's next for ADA price?

Cardano reversed its drop from the weekend on Monday, reaching a high of $0.358, but it could not sustain above here.

The $0.33 support remains a critical short-term level to watch out for. Buyers will have to push ADA above the daily MA 50 at $0.383 to signal strength. ADA might then target $0.50, a key resistance ahead.

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If the ADA price continues to decline, it might target $0.33 next. Cardano might aim for $0.27 in the absence of a relief rally.

In Cardano news, Leios upgrade is progressing, completing 40% in current milestones. In the past week, 80 updates were published, while the latest simulation results showed a sustained throughput capacity of about 300 TxkB/s.

Fed rate decision in focus

This week, the Fed’s rate decision remains in focus, with the policy move expected to be announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Traders are widely expecting the Fed to keep its key rate unchanged at a target range of 3.5% to 3.75%, but they will be monitoring the press conference and comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell subsequently for clues on future monetary policy.

Investors are also predicting two quarter percentage point cuts by the end of 2026, after the Fed cut rates three times in 2025.

Popular meme cryptocurrencyShiba Inu (SHIB) continues to defy logic. On Jan. 15, SHIB printed a textbook golden cross on the daily chart byTradingView, where the short-term 23-day simple moving average broke above the 50-day one.

Usually, that is a bullish sign — one that headlines love, bots chase and algos are programmed to buy. Instead, the price suddenly dropped and, since then, SHIB lost more than 12% of its price.

Now, there is a twist, as those same moving averages are about to do the exact opposite: shorter-term 23-day rolling down, ready to break below the 50-day, forming a "death cross." It is the bearish version of the same pattern that just failed bullishly.

So, if a bullish cross led to losses, could a bearish one possibly trigger upside? There is a chance it might.

Shiba Inu's "stranger things"

If this indeed goes like that, the obvious price magnet is the 200-day EMA — all the way up at $0.00001018 and 32.7% above the current price level for theShiba Inu coin.

There is more to it than that. No major liquidation cluster is sitting above to act as resistance, and on-chainSHIB flows show no wave of panic exits. Coinbase and Binance wallets have not been as active as usual, which points to the idea that this dip was not caused by derivatives but more like a natural correction after that January surge.

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In other words, the golden cross faked bulls out, and now the death cross might trap the bears. It is not a strategy but some kind of "stranger things" for SHIB — upside-down and not to be ignored.

While most of the Crypto Twitter space was trying to make sense of what's going on withBitcoin, Michael Saylorput on his sunglasses, suited up in orange and dropped two words: "Be cool." Well, very much in the style of the Strategy (MSTR) boss.

That post, full of attitude and missing any background information, popped up right when the leading cryptocurrency delivered a 299% liquidation imbalance in favor of longs.

According toCoinGlass, in only the last 24 hours, $67.31 million in positions have gotten "rekt" — $50.46 million from shorts, compared to just $16.85 million from longs.

₿e Cool pic.twitter.com/ZcSR8Lxt4g

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) January 27, 2026

Saylor's post might look like a meme, but it came at the right time, just as bears got flushed from the derivatives market. Bitcoin itself is sitting at $88,140, looking like nothing happened, but actually hiding one of the most intense short squeezes we have seen this month.

The 12-hour liquidation imbalance is also 2-to-1 against shorts. The four-hour ratio is almost 190%. And in the past hour alone, $148,500 in shorts were liquidated compared to $80,600 in longs.

Taking a wider outlook on theBTC price chart makes a whipsaw pattern evident: a quick recovery near $87,000 and a rise that led to a bunch of short stops being triggered around $88,000 thanks to thin liquidity and the overleveraged confidence of short sellers.

Did Saylor come out ahead with his tweet?

Probably not. He has been around Bitcoin long enough to know when the tide is turning. There has been no movement in price, but there has been a $50 million hit to bears, so now the "liquidation tail" is wagging the "price dog."

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Shorts have been trying to fade every local high sinceBTC failed to reclaim $90,000. But today's flush just gave bulls a new lease on life.

If this imbalance keeps going for the next 12 hours, Bitcoin's next surge might not come from buyers but from sellers who have bet the wrong way. Again.

Asset manager 21shares has revealed its outlook for the seventh largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Solana (SOL).

In an X post, 21shares outlined its Solana predictions for 2026. In a base case scenario, it predicts Solana reaching $150, which is a 21% increase from current prices. In a bull case scenario, Solana is predicted to reach $197, a 57% increase, while in a bear case scenario, Solana might drop 23% to $95.

At press time, Solana was trading at $123, down 58.18% from an all time high of $294.33 reached on Jan. 19, 2025.

Our Solana predictions for 2026 are: • Base case: $150 (21%)• Bull case: $197 (59%)• Bear case: $95 (-23%)Here's why: https://t.co/bFr7AyulX0

— 21shares (@21shares) January 27, 2026

The base and bull case targets highlighted by 21shares remain minimal and bar an explosive surge in the magnitude of hundreds of percent for Solana.

In a blog post, 21shares indicated doubts about Solana capturing value despite its scaling potential being proven. It was noted that SOL’s price will ultimately reflect not raw network performance, but the quality, durability and value capture of that performance.

Solana's scaling potential highlighted

According to 21Shares, Solana is surpassing most layer-1 networks in raw on-chain activity. The Solana network processes about 2.2 billion transactions per week, second only to Internet Computer (ICP) at 2.6 billion, and far ahead of other major chains such as BNB Chain and Tron (108 million and 62 million, respectively).

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Solana is also seeing increasing U.S. dollar payments and meaningful institutional experimentation as 2026 progresses. Thus, the debate is no longer whether Solana can scale usage, as this has been resolved. The unresolved question now is whether this economic activity can translate into durable value capture for SOL investors.

Short-term SOL outlook

SOL rebounded from a low of $118 on Monday, indicating that the bulls are defending the level.

The relief rally is expected to face immediate resistance at $131. If the Solana price turns down from here, the risk of a drop below the $117 level increases. Solana may then head toward solid support at $95.

On the other hand, if the Solana price turns up and breaks above the moving averages, it might continue sideways trading inside the $117 to $147 range for a little while.

BlackRock appears to have hit the pause button on its recent massive Bitcoin sell-off after four consecutive days of outflows.Farside Investor data reveals that BlackRock’s IBIT recorded an inflow of $15.9 million, the highest by any asset manager on the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) market.

Bitcoin ETFs turn green on BlackRock inflows

Notably, BlackRock’s inflow contributed largely to the ETF market closing in the green after five straight days of outflows. Besides BlackRock, two other asset managers, WisdomTree’s BTCW and Grayscale’s BTC, both registered $2.8 million and $7.7 million inflows, respectively.

Fidelity’s FBTC recorded $5.7 million in outflows, while Bitwise’s BITB and Ark Invest’s ARKB offloaded $11.0 million and $2.9 million, respectively. The remaining five asset managers registered zero flow.

However, it was BlackRock’s $15.9 million that helped offset the difference between inflows and outflows. The cumulative inflows at the end of the trading day stood at $6.8 million.

It is unclear if BlackRock will continue its selling spree after this given that it is the leading asset manager with the highest dump in the last five days of sales. The asset manager’s move has remained of interest and concern to market watchers.

BlackRockkicked off Bitcoin (BTC) sales in 2026 with the deposit of 1,134 BTC valued at $101.4 million on the Binance exchange. At the time, there were concerns that the move could trigger selling pressure — not only on Binance but across the broader market.

This has largely been true as Bitcoin has continued to face volatility on the crypto market. In the last 30 days, the flagship crypto asset has only managed to climb by 0.09%. The coin has not been able to reclaim six-figure prices within this period. The highest it hit was the $97,000 zone before it faced rejection.

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Bitcoin price in consolidation mode

As of press time, Bitcoin isexchanginge hands at $88,034.51, which reflects a 0.46% increase in the last 24 hours. Its trading volume remains in the red zone, having dropped by 25.9% to $35.87 billion within the same time frame.

As U.Today reported, the continued price consolidation of Bitcoin has led to one of thehighest weekly withdrawals of January 2026. A total of $1.46 billion or 16,300 BTC exited the combined Bitcoin funds as spotted by onchain crypto analyst, Ali Martinez.

Interestingly, amid these high outflows, business intelligence firm,Strategy within the last 48 hours, announced the purchase of an additional 2,932 BTC valued at over $264 million. The development offers hope to a segment of the market that not all institutional holders are dumping the coin.

Corporate treasury giant BitMine hasmanaged to stake more than half of its total Ethereum reserves.

According to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence, the firm, which is chaired by Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, moved an additional 209,504 ETH into staking contracts earlier today. The sum is currently valued at approximately $610 million.

BitMine’s total staked value now stands at a staggering 2,218,771 ETH ($6.52 billion). This represents over 52% of its total ETH holdings.

How Bitmine's staking works

BitMine is utilizing an institutional solo staking model. The firm is leveraging its proprietary infrastructure known as MAVAN (Made in America Validator Network).

For every 32 ETH they lock up, they activate one unique validator software instance on the network. With over 2.2 million ETH staked, BitMine is operating nearly 70,000 individual validators.

BitMine's $6.52B stake is projected to generate roughly $190 million – $200 million in annual recurring revenue.

Lee previously claimed that BitMine will be able to turn ETH into a productive asset in such a way.

Bitmine's dominance

According to the data provided by CoinGecko, BitMine holds 4,243,338 ETH, valued at approximately $12.4 billion.

The company holds nearly 5x more Ethereum than the second-largest holder, SharpLink.

For context, owning 3.5% of a major asset class is virtually unheard of for a single corporation when it comes to traditional equities.

Binance just said a big "no" to a long list of once-hyped altcoin narratives. On Friday, Jan. 30, the world's biggest crypto exchange will remove 10BTC-denominated trading pairs from both cross and isolated margin, ending the leverage options for names like Decentraland (MANA), dYdX (DYDX), Kusama (KSM), Arweave (AR), Synthetix (SNX), Hive (HIVE), 1inch (1INCH), ICON (ICX), Syscoin (SYS) and Loopring (LRC).

Starting immediately, users cannot transfer assets into isolated margin accounts for these pairs, and margin borrowing will be suspended on Jan. 28. After the deadline, all open positions will be closed, and the pairs will be permanently removed from Binance Margin.

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The assets that were once all the rage — DeFi, Web3, layer 2 or the metaverse — are not getting delisted from spot trading. But their exit from leveraged products shows a definite shift.

These tokens, ranging from synthetic derivatives platforms and decentralized storage to virtual world currencies and interoperability networks, have either lost trading traction or simply do not justify continued support in Binance's margin ecosystem.

What does it mean for crypto in 2026?

This is not some random cleanup; as you can see, there is no sign of meme tokens or high-beta AI plays in the delisting. Instead, the ax falls on tokens linked to narratives that dominated in 2021 and 2022 but now struggle for relevance.

Liquidity is drying up, and risk appetite with it. And Binance, which once scaled aggressively to list every experimental angle, now appears focused on trimming the fat.

Margin infrastructure is not free. Support costs go up when trading volume fades. By delisting these pairs, Binance is sending a not-so-subtle message: outdated narratives do not get leverage.

Neither buyers nor sellers are dominating on the market today, according to CoinStats.

BTC/USD

The rate of Bitcoin (BTC) is almost unchanged since yesterday's bar's closure.

On the hourly chart, the price of BTC is going down after a false breakout of the local resistance at $88,772. If a breakout of the local support occurs, one can expect a test of the $87,000 zone soon.

On the longer time frame, the rate of the main crypto is within yesterday's bar, which means there are low chances of seeing sharp moves.

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However, if the decline continues to the support, traders may witness a more profound drop to the $82,000-$84,000 range.

From the midterm point of view, one should wait until the weekly bar closes. If it happens below $86,000, the accumulated energy might be enough for a test of the $80,000 zone.

Bitcoin is trading at $87,760 at press time.

The crypto market is neutral today as the rates of some coins are rising, while others are falling, according to CoinStats.

ADA/USD

The rate of Cardano (ADA) has gone up by 0.71% over the last 24 hours.

On the hourly chart, the price of ADA is going down after a false breakout of the local resistance at $0.3551. If the daily bar closes below the support, the decline is likely to continue to the $0.3450 range soon.

On the longer time frame, the rate of ADA is within yesterday's bar, which means none of the sides has enough energy for a sharp move.

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The falling volume also confirms such a statement. In this case, sideways trading in the zone of $0.34-$0.36 is the most likely scenario for the rest of the month.

From the midterm point of view, the situation is similar. Traders should focus on the nearest zone of $0.30. If the weekly bar closes below it, there is a high chance of seeing a test of the support at $0.2756 soon.

ADA is trading at $0.3495 at press time.

The market seems to be undecided as to which way to move, according to CoinMarketCap.

SHIB/USD

The rate of SHIB has fallen by 0.2% over the last day.

On the hourly chart, the price of SHIB keeps looking bearish. If a breakout of the local support at $0.00000763 happens, the accumulated energy might be enough for a continued decline to the $0.00000750 range.

On the hourly chart, the rate of SHIB has failed to keep rising after yesterday's bullish bar's closure.

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If bears' pressure continues, one can expect a test of the nearest support level at $0.00000734. This scenario is relevant at least until the end of the week.

From the midterm point of view, there are no reversal signals yet. If the weekly candle closes below the previous bar's low at $0.00000736, traders may witness a further correction to the support at $0.00000678.

SHIB is trading at $0.00000764 at press time.

XRP is still trading in red territory despite the broad crypto market showing signs of a potential rally, where other major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Solana are already showing mild price increases over the last day.

Nonetheless, a key on-chain indicator on the XRP Ledger is flashing a bullish signal, suggesting that XRP’s rally may already be around the corner.

XRP network velocity up 40.88%

According to data from on-chain analytics platform Cryptoquant, XRP network velocity has surged by 40.88% in the past 24 hours, showing signs of renewed activity as momentum appears to be returning to the market.

Usually, such a notable surge in the network velocity of XRP signals a notable increase in how frequently XRP tokens are moving across the network.

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Notably, the data further shows that XRP’s velocity now stands at 0.004645, marking one of the sharpest short-term increases seen in recent weeks.

What does this mean for XRP?

It is important to note that velocity measures how often a token is transferred within a given period and is widely viewed as a way to measure network usage and transactional demand. A rising velocity often suggests growing participation from traders, institutions or payment-related activity on the blockchain.

As such, the 40% increase in XRP’s velocity seen over the last 24 hours has restored hopes for a potential rally in the price of XRP in the near term.

Despite the spike in activity, XRP’s total supply remains unchanged at 99.9857 billion tokens, indicating that the increase is not driven by new token issuance but by existing coins circulating more actively.

This has further triggered optimism among investors, as higher circulation without the production of new supply shows an impressive increase in demand for the concerned asset. As such, XRP might commence its rally soon, where it can reclaim the crucial $2 level once again.

In a recent X post, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the crypto exchange has set up an independent advisory board on quantum computing and blockchain.

Armstrong highlighted security as being the highest priority at Coinbase. In light of this, the Coinbase CEO stated that preparing for future threats, even those many years away, is crucial for the crypto industry. He noted that Quantum computers could have implications for blockchain/crypto, and it is important for the crypto sector to think these through and prepare when necessary.

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Coinbase is bringing together some of the most distinguished researchers in the quantum computing, cryptography, consensus and blockchain systems to ensure this is being properly considered.

Coinbase reveals post-quantum security roadmap

Most modern blockchains, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, utilize elliptic-curve cryptography. While these still remain secure today, the advent of large-scale quantum computers might weaken or break them in the long run.

The Advisory Board is one part of Coinbase’s broader post-quantum security roadmap, which includes product enhancements by updating Bitcoin address handling and internal key management systems to align with the best-available protections.

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The post-quantum security roadmap also includes long-term cryptographic research by advancing support for post-quantum signature schemes (such as ML-DSA) within secure multiparty computation systems. It also includes independent oversight, which has seen the launch of an Advisory Board to guide Coinbase and the industry through quantum-related challenges.

Coinbase CEO sees crypto skeptics fading

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong continues to tweet on crypto's potential, hinting at waning skepticism. In a recent tweet, Armstrong said that "the thing about crypto is at some point even all the haters will be using it every day, and they won’t even realize it."

In a separate tweet, Armstrong stated that crypto is disrupting the financial system, adding that it was getting more rare to find true skeptics out there. While a few holdouts do still exist, the Coinbase CEO highlighted the importance of crypto education, saying to "explain it as much as is necessary to make it happen."

In listing news, Copper and Platinum futures are officially live on the Coinbase Derivatives platform, offering access to traders looking to diversify their portfolios.

Stellar (XLM) is currently trading below a key support zone after it fell by 0.97% to extend its weekly loss by 3.39%. Despite this slight drop, Stellar’s Bollinger Bands suggest that the coin could witness a 20% price breakout.

Stellar indicators hints at potential reversal

Stellar’s lower Bollinger Bands, as perCoinMarketCap data⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, indicate XLM’s price at $0.1987, while the upper bands sit at $0.2403. The difference between these two bands amounts to about 20%. Hence, a breakout by this percentage point could push XLM’s price to the $0.24 zone.

To achieve such a significant climb, Stellar needs to shake off the bearish momentum it is locked in at the moment. The situation is worsened by capital rotation away from altcoins as a result of broad market weakness.

However, Stellar could witness a reversal in price outlook if bulls throw in support, as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 41.29 hints it might soon enter oversold territory. Once it does, a rebound is potentially possible if short-term investors do not engage in massive profit-taking moves.

As of press time, Stellar exchanged hands at $0.2060, down 0.5% in the last 24 hours. It dropped from an intraday high of $0.2115 as trading volume slipped by as much as 18.46% to $114.98 million within the same time frame.

Without bulls returning to support Stellar, the Bollinger Bands' signal might not materialize. The volume needs to climb from its current red zone and flip green with significant numbers.

The asset had previously suffered $465 million worth of liquidations after selling pressure triggered adrop in open interest and volume. In that instance, the losses were market-wide and not restricted to Stellar alone.

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Stellar’s long-term network plans

Meanwhile, given the massive appeal that privacy coins now have in the cryptocurrency space, Stellar is eyeing investment in the sector.

Notably, at the Meridian 2025 event, Stellar revealed itslong-term privacy plans. Stellar assured that it would invest in infrastructure and build cryptographic capabilities.

Stellar had conducted aprotocol upgrade in the last quarter of 2025. The code released for its Protocol 24 was carried out to ensure stability issues were addressed and to fix certain bugs in the system.

Bitcoin's not going to hit $90,000. Ethereum has not moved up in a week. XRP is still holding steady at around $2. If you take a quick look at the charts, you might think nothing is going on. But behind the scenes, things are heating up fast.

Metals just crashed almost as hard as they rallied. One popular trader is looking at $110,000 Bitcoin as the next parabola. Another just dropped a $27 XRP setup backed by eight years of resistance history.

And Ethereum? Bitmine just locked up $6.52 billion in staked ETH while the crowd did nothing. No one's paying attention, and that is exactly when things tend to pop.

TL;DR

Bitcoin could hit $110,000 in Q2 if miner capitulation follows historical patterns.XRP is below its eight-year resistance, but the chart is set up for a sudden 13x rally.Ethereum's Bitmine added another $610 million, bringing its locked ETH total to over 2.2 million.$110,000 BTC by Q2, 2026: Gold just crashed, Bitcoin might explode

Bitcoin is sitting frozen near $88,000, but the trigger might have already been pulled; it just did not come from the crypto world. It came from metals.

Yesterday, gold and silver lost $1.7 trillion in market cap in just 90 minutes, which is one of the biggest reversals in financial history. Candles went vertical, then inverted — a classic example of a blowoff top, where everyone rushes in and realizes there are no more chairs left.

Ansem's thesis starts with everything else breaking down before Bitcoin breaks out. According to him, the formula is: "silver + gold parabola blowoff top, bitcoin $110K by Q2," and the charts may be confirming his setup.

silver+gold parabola blowoff topbitcoin $110k+ by Q2 pic.twitter.com/agO11A2Gy6

— Ansem (@blknoiz06) January 26, 2026

When the market gets too hot, capital flees, but it does not just disappear. It moves. With BTC already absorbing ETF inflows and hash ribbon metrics screaming miner surrender, the situation is ready to change. The move does not require new funding; it just needs a redirection.

If Bitcoin hits $90,000 and then goes past $91,500, the next level of resistance will not be seen until it reaches $100,000. Above that, the blowoff top zone officially begins.

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$27 XRP is not absurd

XRP does not look too promising right now. That is the first thing every chart agrees on. Since hitting $2.35 on Jan. 6, the token dropped almost 19% and is now trading near $1.90, stuck inside a descending channel that has controlled the price since the end of summer. Momentum indicators are still weak, and the 200-day moving average around $1.78 sits directly below the price like a waiting trap.

But there is one chart that just will not go away. According to Ether Guru, XRP is still pushing against an eight-year resistance structure that has stopped every major rally since 2017. That resistance is at around $3.30 to $3.40. XRP did not do well there in 2018, briefly in January 2025 and again in July 2025.

The last time XRP cleared a similar long-term barrier, it jumped vertically as liquidity vanished above resistance. Ether Guru's $27 projection is based on historical expansion ratios.

The second chart tells the uncomfortable part of the story. XRP is still in a downward channel, making lower highs each time. If the 200-day moving average does not hold, there is a good chance the price will drop to around $1.70, and even as low as $1.40, before it starts to bounce back.

$6.52 billion Ethereum staking shock does not move price, but it should

Ethereum just experienced one of the largest accumulations in its staking history, and yet no one cares.Bitmine has locked 2,218,771 ETH — worth $6.52 billion — into staking. Over 52% of their crypto holdings are now staked ETH. It is not just a move. It is a message.

The addition of $610 million in ETH over the past week brings their 60-day accumulation to over 517,000 ETH.

However, ETH has not moved. The price is still flirting with $2,900, as if none of this matters.

The parabolic and continued surge in gold and silver are overshadowing the inherently strengthening fundamentals of crypto, particularly Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC).

Davos 2026 highlighted financial institutions are set to build on ethereum and smart blockchains, qnd when fundamentals go "up and to the right," it's only a matter of time before price follows - Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee, Jan. 27 on X

Why? Because, right now, crypto is not part of the global attention economy. The narratives that usually drive inflows — tech, freedom, and inflation hedges — are overshadowed by metal rallies, Iranian escalations, Greenland's shocking policies and the media's obsession with generative AI.

Tom Lee’s prediction of an ETH price of $7,000-$9,000 by January failed not because his theory was flawed but because the attention had shifted elsewhere. Bitmine is preparing for return of focus.

Once Ethereum reenters the news cycle, this locked supply will become a pressure point.

What's next for the crypto market?

Although there are no breakout catalysts scheduled for the end of January, the structure of the crypto market is primed for movement; it just has not decided which headline will light the fuse.

Bitcoin needs to surpass $90,000 and reach $94,000 to validate the $110,000 thesis. Assuming ETF flows hold and the macro environment does not destroy investor sentiment next week — especially regarding the U.S. funding vote on Jan. 30 —there is room for Bitcoin to surge.

XRP is split in two: the chart indicates a breakdown, while the resistance zone indicates a breakout.

Ethereum will not move until people remember it exists. However, $6.52 billion staked is not a number that will go unnoticed forever. Bitmine has already cast its vote.

Bitcoin (BTC): The $86K-$91.5K range, with an upside gap above.XRP: The $1.40 floor versus the $3.40 kill switch.Ethereum (ETH): The $2,850 support level, but the narrative breakout is still missing.

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Ethereum transaction fees have reached their lowest point since May 2017, which is a unique and significant structural development for the network. History indicates that extremely low fees are frequently a sign of recovery rather than long-term decline, even though price action remains weak and sentiment around ETH is still cautious.

Transaction fees gone

According to on-chain data, total transaction fees are plunging to levels not seen in almost 10 years, and this is not merely a transient variation or short-lived anomaly. Instead, it reflects a sustained and consistent decrease in user expenses and overall network congestion.

Similar fee compression has occurred near market lows in earlier cycles, typically after speculative excess was flushed out and only genuine usage remained. In those environments, builders tend to benefit far more than traders, and builders are ultimately what drive Ethereum’s long-term value.

Low fees matter because they restore Ethereum’s core functionality. When transaction costs rise, activity either slows dramatically or migrates to alternative networks. Once fees collapse, minting assets, deploying DeFi protocols, executing smart contracts and performing complex transactions all become economically viable again. This is the foundation on which decentralized finance actually grows, rather than the result of hype-driven price rallies.

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Periods of suppressed fees have historically coincided with accumulation phases. Low transaction costs accompanied the ecosystem’s quiet reconstruction in 2018-2019, and again after the collapse in 2022.

Price reflection

Long before price action reflected any improvement, developers shipped updates, protocols matured and liquidity slowly began to return. Usage precedes price, not the other way around.

Crucially, low fees also strengthen Ethereum’s competitive position. Cost inefficiency has been a central theme in narratives predicting Ethereum’s decline, and that thesis weakens materially when the cost problem is removed. Lower fees improve the user experience, increase experimentation and enhance capital efficiency across the ecosystem.

None of this guarantees immediate upside, and it should not be interpreted as a signal that a bull market is imminent. ETH remains below key moving averages on the chart, and structural improvement does not automatically translate into short-term price strength.

Markets do not bottom when conditions look obviously favorable. They bottom when conditions quietly improve while price action still looks bad. Fee collapse is one of those subtle improvements.

A major security difference between the Ethereum (ETH) and Cardano (ADA) blockchains has beenhighlighted amid a hack that led to the loss of $4.13 million. A Cardano DRep, known as "dori" on X, shared the security of Cardano over Ethereum in a post detailing how the compromise took place.

Ethereum MEV design blamed for $4.13 million exploit

According to dori, the hacker exploited a vulnerability on the DeFi protocol, Makinafi, on Ethereum. They argue that Ethereum’s transaction-ordering design allowed MEV bots to profit from the hack before the malicious actor did.

Notably, due toEthereum’s security structure, the MEV bots reordered the hack transaction and captured most of the profit. This resulted in the loss of approximately $4.13 million, which was split between the hacker and the MEV bot.

This is absurd. a hacker exploited a vulnerability in @makinafi on $ETH, but MEV bots detected it first and captured most of the profit. In the end, Makinafi lost about $4.13M to the hacker and MEV bots.It’s basically like a bank robbery where a government official shows up and… https://t.co/jWh4PInW8Q

— dori (@dori_coin) January 27, 2026

Dori insists that it is the Ethereum design that allowed this to happen, as it prioritized profit over security. They compared the development to a "bank robber stealing money, then a government official shows up and takes the money from the robber."

They emphasized that, in a fair system, Ethereum’s priority should have been stopping the hacker or recovering the funds, not allowing them to redirect the money to themselves. Dori blames this lapse on the security architecture of Ethereum, a consequence of relying on a blockchain that prioritizes profit over safety.

Comparing this to Cardano, dori maintained that the blockchain is better as "fair financial infrastructure."

For context,Cardano uses the eUTXO model⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where each transaction’s validity is independent of execution order. If transactions are reordered, it does not create profit opportunities and, more importantly, sandwich attacks and MEV extraction are far more limited.

In dori’s view, Cardano would not have allowed the exact situation to occur on its blockchain. As such, they believe that Cardano has a fairer financial system in comparison to Ethereum. This is because Ethereum allows powerful actors to profit when a hack happens, negating its claims to be a "neutral" or "fair" financial system.

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Makinafi funds recovery confirmed

It is worth mentioning that despite dori’s stance, Makinafi later recovered most of the stolen funds.

This was done in collaboration with MEV builders and validators, who implemented a restitution plan for affected users.

Interestingly, despite the battle for supremacy between Cardano and Ethereum, in December 2025, a Midnight developer hinted at apossible integration between both blockchains. The idea is to have Ethereum and Cardano wallets connect directly without switching ecosystems.

A key date has arrived for XRP Ledger as five fix amendments are set to be activated on the XRP Ledger mainnet, with impact ranging from AMM, token escrows, price oracles, a clawback feature and overall network efficiency.

According to xrpscan data, five fix amendments included in XRPL version 3.0.0 are set to be activated on the XRP Ledger mainnet, with the current countdown now exactly 12 hours from now.

These amendments include fixTokenEscrowV1, fixIncludeKeyletFields, fixMPTDeliveredAmount, fixAMMClawbackRounding and fixPriceOracleOrder.

fixTokenEscrowV1 fixes an accounting error in MPT escrow, while FixIncludeKeyletFields adds missing keylet fields to specific ledger entries The fixPriceOracleOrder amendment, as the name implies, fixes an issue with the price oracle.

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"fixAMMClawbackRounding" fixes a rounding error that can occur in the LPTokenBalance of an AMM when performing an AMMClawback transaction. The fixMPTDeliveredAmount amendment adds missing "Delivered Amount" metadata fields from direct MPT Payment transactions.

In light of this, XRP Ledger node operators are urged to upgrade to the recent xrpl v3.0.0 to avoid becoming amendment-blocked.

XRP news

XRP Community Day kicks off on Feb. 11 with a fireside chat featuring Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Tony Edward of "Thinking Crypto" podcast.

The Fireside chat, with the theme of the "era of XRP in capital markets" is scheduled for Feb. 11 at 3:00 p.m. GMT.

The discussion is expected to dive into the macro shift in institutional adoption and public market acceptance of crypto, as well as XRP's growing use in capital markets infrastructure.

Cathie Wood-led ARK Invest has filed with U.S. regulators to launch two new cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that would track CoinDesk 20, which consists of major cryptocurrencies, including XRP.

At press time, XRP was trading at $1.88. From a technical standpoint, XRP remains in sideways trading while it is carving out a base near $1.88, forming what might be described as a triple-bottom support zone.