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BTC at $100,000 As Ripple’s RLUSD Struggles
This week in crypto, BeInCrypto unpacks everything from Ripple’s attempts to create its RLUSD stablecoin, Bitcoin facing pullback after the $100,000 milestone, and more.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson also promoted a message of unity for all crypto enthusiasts, warning of latent hostility from the banking sector.
Ripple’s RLUSD Stablecoin
On November 29, reports suggested that the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) might soon approve Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin. New York has always been a critical market for stablecoins, and this approval would be a huge win for Ripple, given its lengthy battle with the SEC and regulators.
Unfortunately, however, these expected gains have yet to materialize. At a recent conference in Prague, CTO David Schwartz discussed some of the speed bumps in this final push. He remained optimistic about Ripple’s chances of launching the asset before the end of the year but acknowledged significant difficulties:
“The annoying part for us is we’re getting close to the holidays, and we have partners that want to hit the ground running. Once you start running into Christmas and New Year’s, people are gone. There’s a lot of moving parts involved, and the big one is the [NYDFS]. They are going over all of our processes, compliance, and all of those things,” Schwartz said.
Still, the company managed to benefit from this hype. By December 4, XRP’s price surge fueled massive growth for meme coins in Ripple’s ecosystem. One particular token, ARMY, reached a peak market cap of $90 million, while RIPPY reached an unprecedented price increase of 22,825%. Both meme coins have since seen notable liquidations.
Unfortunately, however, this bullish trend did not endure. Bearish signals today suggest that XRP is facing serious price resistance and little forward momentum. The asset peaked in the middle of the week, and has been declining since.
Bitcoin Crosses $100,000 Point Into Complications
Bitcoin, the world’s first and leading cryptocurrency, finally reached its $100,000 milestone on Wednesday, December 5. The community reacted to this milestone with much jubilation, but the event immediately caused several strange actions. For instance, the defunct exchange Mt. Gox quickly moved $2.43 billion in Bitcoin after the price threshold.
At present, the exchange’s motivations for such an action are unclear. If Mt. Gox was planning to sell or otherwise repay these assets to creditors, such actions haven’t happened yet. However, such sudden and unexplained transfers spooked the market. These speculations helped fuel a sudden flash crash the next day.
Bitcoin quickly fell from $100,000 to $97,000 on December 6, triggering over $1 billion in liquidations. The US federal government also moved just under $2 billion in Bitcoin, half of which went to Coinbase, earlier in the week.
These major transactions created a momentary uncertainty, and options traders also hedged against potential declines. Nevertheless, Bitcoin’s value crossed the $100,000 mark again by Friday.
Finally, Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson called for unity within the crypto industry and urged communities to look beyond rivalries. Hoskinson acknowledged his prior (sometimes harsh) criticism of other blockchain ecosystems but encouraged the community to “let the comments and opinions of the past go” and “embrace a full reset of all ecosystems.”
“2025 is about unity and progress. We have a window to make crypto mainstream and grow our markets to the tens of trillions of dollars of value, thereby entering every home and government alike. We can not allow petty tribalism to squander this opportunity,” Hoskinson claimed via social media.
He also identified a clear reason to embrace this new attitude: the specter of recurring legal crypto crackdowns. Hoskinson pointed out that the banking sector still holds a lingering hostility to crypto despite friendlier government posturing. He warned of a new Operation Chokepoint and claimed that the industry has a new window to achieve pro-crypto regulations.
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