Ripple: XRP Lacks Gun Power for Good Friday’s Rally

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

XRP had been largely stable around the $2 mark amid ongoing volatility in the cryptocurrency market, fluctuating around the support level.

However, that support weakened, leading to a dramatic drop that completed a head-and-shoulders formation and broke through the neckline. After this, the retest failed, and XRP began trending lower, settling at approximately $2.06 in the Asian trading session on Friday.

This rejection suggests a potential build-up of downside momentum and confirms a bearish setup.

Options traders on Deribit are exercising caution despite a series of positive developments surrounding XRP. Data from Kaiko reveals that the implied volatility (IV) smile for XRP options expiring on Friday, April 18, shows a significant leftward skew.

This indicates higher demand for downside protection, particularly as investors buy out-of-the-money (OTM) puts, especially at strike prices of $1.5, where implied volatility can reach 160 percent.

This cautious approach is largely influenced by the SEC’s upcoming decision regarding Grayscale’s application for a spot XRP ETF, due by May 22, a few weeks after the April options expiration.

Traders seem to be positioning themselves defensively, projecting a potential delay or denial from the SEC. Additionally, Teucrium has recently launched a 2x leveraged XRP ETF, which some analysts believe could weaken any objections the SEC might raise against a trade.

Ex SEC Chair Bullish on Bitcoin, skeptic on Altcoin Market

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Gary Gensler once again expressed concern about the cryptocurrency sector, claiming that market sentiment, rather than sound fundamentals, drives most digital assets.

The former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warned in a recent appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box that this puts many altcoins at risk of an abrupt collapse.

“If [crypto] was of interest to you, consider [how] every financial asset sort of trades on a bit of sentiment and fundamentals, but this field is almost 99 percent, or perhaps one could say 100 percent, sentiment and very little on fundamentals,” Gensler stated during the interview.

He quickly cautioned that most digital assets might not be helpful, saying, “I don’t think we humans will have a fascination with ten or 15,000 memes or sentiment tokens trading over the years.”.

Noting that tokens motivated only by sentiment frequently perform poorly and tend to decline, he added that people must evaluate their risk and look at the underlying fundamentals. In addition to distinguishing Bitcoin from other cryptocurrencies, the MIT lecturer acknowledged that the flagship cryptocurrency may survive due to global interest.

Seven billion people worldwide are very interested in Bitcoin, it might be around for a very long time.

Additionally, Gensler compared Bitcoin to gold, pointing out that while there are many different metals, the most valuable ones, such as gold/ silver, generally attract the public’s attention

President Trump attacks U.S Fed Chief

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

U.S President Donald Trump has once again attacked Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, for being too slow to lower interest rates and for intensifying a long-running dispute that could jeopardize the U.S. Federal Reserve’s political independence.

“Powell has not acted appropriately, Trump stated via Truth Social, even though inflation has decreased, after the European Central Bank (ECB) lowered interest rates once more.

Senator Rick Scott of Florida stated that “new leadership at the Federal Reserve is needed‘ in agreement with the president .” Trump’s outspoken criticism of the Fed violates a long-standing political tradition in the US that aimed to protect the central bank from political scrutiny, including any executive decision to change the chair.

Powell stated that Fed independence is “a matter of law” in a speech at the Economic Club of Chicago on April 16. Powell has previously indicated that he intends to complete the remaining months of his term, which ends in May 2026.

Fed Fund futures prices indicate a less than 10% chance of a rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting in May, which is expected to maintain its wait-and-see policy stance.

Nonetheless, the odds of a rate cut at the Fed’s June policy meeting have risen to over 65%. The Federal Reserve holds immense power over financial markets; its monetary policy decisions impact US dollar liquidity and shape investor sentiment.

Ripple: Hidden Road grabs FINRA registration

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Hidden Road, owned by Ripple, has expanded its broker-dealer capabilities by registering under the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has granted the prime brokerage Hidden Road, which Ripple recently purchased for $1.25 billion, a broker-dealer license, enhancing its ability to operate in the fixed-income markets.

Hidden Road stated on April 17 that it can expand its capabilities in traditional markets and boost its fixed-income prime brokerage services as a FINRA broker-dealer.

This includes providing regulatory-compliant clearing and financing services for fixed-income securities to institutional clients.

Membership in FINRA is viewed as a major commitment to investor protection and compliance.

Telos Capital Advisors, an investment bank headquartered in Dallas, claims that it also enhances registrants’ perceived credibility in the eyes of investment bankers. On behalf of more than 300 institutional clients, Hidden Road operates a premier brokerage and credit network, processing over $10 billion in transactions daily.

Founded in 2018, Hidden Road initially focused on foreign exchange markets before branching into digital assets.

These advantages made Hidden Road a desirable target for Ripple, a blockchain payments network, which ultimately acquired the business on April 8.

Ripple’s chief technology officer, David Schwartz, called the acquisition a “defining moment for the XRP Ledger.”

RWA: Ondo Finance set to conquer U.S Treasury Bond Market with Mastercard

Posted on April 17, 2025April 17, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Ondo Finance set to conquer the U.S Treasury Bond Market with Mastercard. Ondo Finance surpassed $2.5 billion in total value locked (TVL), solidifying its position as a key player in Real World Assets (RWA).

Even though the token’s price has moderated amid ongoing market correction, the project is moving more quickly and getting ready to launch Ondo Global Markets, which has the potential to transform conventional financial assets.

Mastercard has been a major player in the cryptocurrency space for several years, and recently announced a partnership with Ondo Finance to offer US Treasury bonds via RWA tokenization.

The expansion of its projects about this new and innovative digital economy, including its Multi-Token Network (MTN), which was introduced last June, indicates this in any event. a network created to give organizations access to the benefits of blockchain technology.

The evolving financial asset class offers safe, quick, and round-the-clock transactions. Mastercard also announced a collaboration between its MTN network and the cryptocurrency project Ondo Finance (ONDO). This is to provide a tokenized, digital version of its US Government Treasuries Fund (OUSG) for short-term investments.

The Real World Assets (RWA) sector stands out from the daily turbulence of the cryptocurrency market by exhibiting consistent growth, despite the market’s unpredictable direction. This development appears more natural than other cryptocurrency subsectors, which might be likened to speculative bubbles.

U.S dollar Loses more Weight

Posted on April 17, 2025April 17, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

The greenback appeared destined to record its fourth consecutive weekly decline as investors fled the United States because of tariffs despite recovering from a seven-month low against the yen.

Investor confidence in US economic growth and stability has been undermined by the US’s threat, imposition, and subsequent postponement of massive tariffs, which have caused the dollar to decline.

Among the G10 currencies, the safe-haven Swiss franc has gained the most, by 8%, since April 2. It is currently testing strong resistance at a decade-high of 0.81 at 0.8151 per dollar.

The euro and yen are not far behind with gains of about 5% on the dollar in just over two weeks. The euro eased marginally to $1.1373 in the morning in Asia, still poised for a fourth consecutive weekly increase despite the European Central Bank’s anticipated 25 basis point rate cut later in the day.

When Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s economy minister, stated that foreign exchange had not been discussed at the trade talks in Washington, the dollar recovered above 142 yen after plunging to a seven-month low of 14.62 yen early in the Asia session.

The yen had appreciated going into the meetings, in the hopes that the nations would agree to strengthen

However, gains could be undone if no agreement is reached, as the long yen is at its highest since 1986. The dollar index was poised to record its fourth consecutive week of losses at 99.5 on the Thursday session trade.

Google Faces £5 billion Lawsuit in UK

Posted on April 16, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Google is facing a lawsuit for damages totaling £5 billion ($6.6 billion) due to allegations that the US tech giant exploited its “near-total dominance” in the online search market.

A class action lawsuit was filed with the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal on Wednesday, claiming that Google misused its power to impose restrictions on competing search engines, bolstering its market share and positioning itself as the primary platform for online search advertising.

Or Brook, a competition law expert, represented hundreds of thousands of UK citizens against businesses utilizing Google’s advertising services from January 1, 2011, until the lawsuit filing. The legal firm Geradin Partners is assisting her.

“Google ads are essentially the only option for UK businesses and organizations of any size to advertise their products and services,” Brook stated on Tuesday.

Gaining placement on Google’s top search results is vital for visibility, as regulators globally have labeled Google a monopoly. She continued, “Google has been overcharging advertisers by leveraging its dominance in the general search and search advertising market.”

This class action aims to hold Google accountable for its alleged illegal practices and seek damages for UK advertisers who have been overcharged. Google dismissed the lawsuit as “yet another opportunistic and speculative case.”

China, Japan increase US Treasury Holdings in February

Posted on April 16, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

A Treasury Department report revealed that foreign holdings of Treasuries increased 3 percent in February, dampening recent rumors that China and Japan were selling off US Treasuries. During the month, both China and Japan saw increases in their holdings. Japan maintained its position as the largest holder, growing its holdings by 4% to $1.125 billion.

China increased its holdings to $784.3 trillion, a 3% increase. China continued to be the second-biggest foreign owner.

The total amount of US Treasury holdings held by foreigners was $8.172 trillion by the end of February.

The rumors that China or Japan was dumping treasuries may still be true because they intensified in April following the implementation of President Trump’s higher-than-expected reciprocal tariffs. The latest data showed both nations were becoming more exposed to US debt before the tariffs were imposed. Japan has not responded to the reciprocal tariffs imposed by the United States; China has.

The United States imposed a 20 percent tariff on China, which is accompanied by a reciprocal 125 percent tariff to combat the fentanyl crisis. China’s import tariffs reached 245 percent if section 301 tariffs on particular Chinese goods are applied.

The Trump administration will be among the first to hold trade talks with Japan, currently subject to a reciprocal tariff of 24 percent from the US. Japan is coming today to negotiate tariffs, and the President will be present.

SEC, Ripple legal battle pause amid Settlement

Posted on April 16, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple jointly requested that an appeal in a 2020 SEC case against Ripple be paused while settlement talks were underway, and the appellate court granted their request.

SEC-Ripple’s motion to hold the appeal in abeyance or temporarily halt the case for 60 days was granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a filing on April 16.

The order requires the SEC to submit a status report by June 15. The case against Ripple and its executives, which was filed in December 2020, was anticipated to start to wind down following the announcement by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse on March 19 that the SEC would be dropping its appeal against the blockchain company.

In August, a federal court ruled that Ripple was liable for $125 million. The SEC and the blockchain company filed an appeal and cross-appeal, respectively.

However, in a seemingly political turnabout, the SEC started dropping numerous enforcement cases against cryptocurrency companies after US President Donald Trump took office, and former chair Gary Gensler was replaced as acting chair by Mark Uyeda.

Trump’s inauguration fund received a $5 million XRP pledge from Ripple, and Garlinghouse and chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty participated in pro-Trump events.

Some legal entanglements remain after the August 2024 judgment and appellate cases, even though Ripple and the SEC both support the case’s termination. According to Alderoty’s March statement, Ripple would drop it.

Fed Chief Focused on Tariffs impact on U.S inflation

Posted on April 16, 2025 by Olumide Adesina

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that the Fed was focused on tariffs that would manifest into an ongoing inflation problem.

Powell made prepared remarks at the Economic Club of Chicago, saying, “Our responsibility is to keep longer-term inflation expectations well anchored and to ensure that a one-time increase in the price level does not become an ongoing inflation problem.”.

The Fed chief emphasized the significance of keeping inflation under control, cautioning that “we cannot achieve the long periods of strong labor market conditions that benefit all Americans without price stability. “

The impact of tariffs, which jeopardize the central bank’s objective of 2 percent inflation and maximum employment, has clouded the Fed’s monetary policy outlook. Powell stated, “We may find ourselves in the difficult situation where our dual-mandate goals conflict.”

“How far the economy is from each goal, and the potentially different time horizons over which those respective gaps would be anticipated to close,” he added, would be considered by the Fed when making monetary policy decisions in this scenario.

It seems that the tariff effects on the economy are already being felt. Powell stated, “The information available thus far indicates that growth has slowed in the first quarter compared to last year’s strong pace.”