Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Grayscale has spotlighted four cryptocurrencies built for digital-currency use within its Currencies sector, singling out Zcash as the asset with the most room to grow. 

Zach Pandl, Grayscale’s Head of Research, argues that Zcash could gradually capture part of Bitcoin’s enormous market share as demand for private digital payments grows.

Grayscale’s Four Digital-Currency BetsGrayscale places Bitcoin, Litecoin, XRP and Zcash among the main assets in its Currencies Crypto Sector.

The broader sector contains roughly 15 cryptocurrencies worth about $1.6 trillion combined. Bitcoin controls close to 90% of that value.

Litecoin and XRP have spent years pitching themselves as faster or cheaper payment alternatives. Yet neither has seriously threatened Bitcoin’s position.

XRP’s market cap, for example, remains only a fraction of Bitcoin’s despite being one of crypto’s largest assets.

Zcash offers a more unusual argument. Its main selling point is something Bitcoin, XRP and Litecoin do not provide by default: private transactions.

Why Grayscale Thinks Zcash Has Room to GrowZcash uses zero-knowledge proofs known as zk-SNARKs, allowing users to hide transaction amounts and wallet details.

By mid-2026, roughly 90% of Zcash transactions used shielded transfers. Grayscale sees that adoption as increasingly relevant as digital surveillance becomes more sophisticated.

The market has already noticed.

Zcash’s market cap has risen from roughly $4 billion in March to about $24.27 billion today. Yet that still leaves it below 1% of Bitcoin’s roughly $1.56 trillion valuation.

ZEC trades near $1,431 and has risen almost 19-fold over the past year.

That rally makes Grayscale’s thesis harder to dismiss. 

It also raises the obvious question: after such a huge run, is Zcash still an overlooked challenger, or has the market already started pricing in the privacy story?

XRP price predictions for 2029 and 2030 vary sharply, ranging from a $28 bank forecast to speculative $1,000 calls as long-term outlooks diverge.

Web-based XRP forecasts for 2029 and 2030 remain widely divided, with conservative models keeping the asset below $5 while Standard Chartered’s long-term roadmap places XRP at $19.60 in 2029 and $28 by 2030.

The gap reflects different assumptions around XRP adoption, institutional demand, market cycles, regulation, and growth across the XRP Ledger.

XRP Price Predictions for 2029 PrimeXBT projects XRP to trade between approximately $1.77 and $3.26 in 2029, with an average price around $2.31.

Changelly has a somewhat wider 2029 forecast. Its model places XRP between $1.67 and $5.87, with an average near $2.92.

Crypto.news provides separate scenarios. Its 2029 bearish range sits at $0.65-$1.30, the base case at $1.60-$2.80, and the bullish scenario at $4.50-$7.

The highest major institutional forecast comes from Standard Chartered. Geoffrey Kendrick’s revised roadmap calls for XRP to reach $19.60 in 2029, after projected levels of $7 in 2027 and $12.60 in 2028.

XRP Price Predictions for 2030 XRP Forecasts become even more spread out by 2030.

DappRadar’s model projects XRP around $2.26, while PrimeXBT expects an average of approximately $3.57, with a range between $2.57 and $4.58.

Changelly expects XRP to average around $5.18 in 2030, with its model placing the asset between approximately $3.94 and $5.85.

CryptoTimes gives XRP a $4-$7 base-case range, while its bullish scenario extends from $10 to $15.

Mudrex is more aggressive, placing its 2030 bear, base, and bull cases at $3, $8, and $28, respectively.

Standard Chartered remains at the upper end, forecasting $28 XRP by 2030. The bank’s roadmap assumes substantially stronger institutional adoption, regulatory progress, and ETF-related demand over the rest of the decade.

Source 2029 2030 DappRadar $2.14 $2.26 PrimeXBT $2.31 avg. $3.57 avg. Changelly $2.92 avg. $5.18 avg. Crypto.news $1.60-$2.80 base $1.80-$3.20 base Mudrex $6.50 base $8 base Standard Chartered  $19.60 $28 The forecasts therefore do not point to one agreed XRP price. Rather, current web projections range from low-single-digit prices under conservative models to nearly $20 in 2029 and $28 in 2030 under Standard Chartered’s higher-growth scenario

XRP 2029 and 2030 Price Predictions on X X posts on XRP for 2029–2030 cluster around Standard Chartered and Bitwise targets near $28–$29, while community forecasts range from under $10 to $1,000 and beyond.

XRP holders scrolling X this month are not looking at one forecast. They are looking at a tug-of-war. On one side are bank-style numbers near $28–$30 by 2030. On the other are community calls that stretch from a few dollars to four figures — and, in the loudest corners, far beyond that.

The most repeated institutional figure on X is Standard Chartered’s reported 2030 target of about $28.

Multiple accounts have recirculated the same trio of bank projections: Bitcoin at $500,000, Ethereum at $40,000, and XRP at $28.

Bitwise numbers are traveling in the same lane. Posts cite a Bitwise path of roughly $6.53 by the end of 2026, $9.60 in 2027, and $29.32 by 2030.

An older paper still making the rounds, attributed to a Ripple board member and a BlackRock executive, put a “success” range at $6 to $30 by 2030.

That $28–$30 band has become the default “serious” number in many threads. Some users treat it as realistic. Others call it too low if banks, tokenized settlement, and cross-border flows actually scale.

The community range is much wider. Conservative posts put 2029–2030 XRP at $3.60, $4.20, $6.25, or $7–$11 if the token merely holds its current market share as crypto grows.

Skeptical voices say $5 by 2030 would already be generous. Mid-range bulls talk $30–$40, $50, or $100. One widely shared post argued XRP could trade between $92.59 and $185.19 by 2030.

The $1,000 target is the other gravitational center. EasyA founder Dom Kwok’s reported NYSE comment that XRP could reach $1,000 by 2030 is still being quoted as proof that a four-digit price is not only a meme.

Several users now say $1,000 is more plausible in 2029 or 2030 than in the next market cycle.

Then come the extremes. One post claimed a valuation report implying $3,500 per XRP by 2029.

Others float $10,000 between 2028 and 2030, six-figure Australian-dollar targets, or even $1 million if every major rail — DTCC, BRICS, central banks, treasuries — “flicks the switch.” Those numbers dominate replies more than they dominate careful analysis.

The pattern on X is clear. Institutional chatter clusters near $28–$30. Everyday bulls cluster around $50–$185.

Influencer optimism keeps $1,000 alive. Everything above that is a high-adoption story, not a consensus. None of it is a promise. It is what X is arguing about while 2029 and 2030 are still years away.

U.S. spot XRP ETFs are seeing strong institutional demand. Canary Capital’s spot XRP ETF recorded a $3.96 million inflow, pushing total inflows across the U.S. XRP ETFs above $1.79 billion. 

Meanwhile, XRP is trading near $1.50 after gaining about 16.2% over the past week.

Canary Takes the Entire $3.96M InflowOn 28 September, the Canary XRP ETF (XRPC) recorded a $3.96 million inflow, pushing its total net assets above $372.1 million. The inflow shows continued institutional demand for XRP through the spot ETF, even though the amount remains small compared with Canary’s overall assets. 

Based on the XRP price near $1.54, the $3.96 million inflow represents roughly 2.57 million XRP tokens.

Canary was the first to launch a direct-custody spot XRP ETF on Nasdaq in November 2025. However, competition in the XRP ETF market has grown quickly.

Bitwise currently leads with $676.29 million in cumulative net inflows, followed by Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ with $500.99 million, while Canary ranks third with $489.37 million in total net inflows.

Spot ETF Squeeze: An 11-Week Inflow StreakThe latest purchase adds to a much bigger trend, with total net inflows across the five active funds now above $1.79 billion. Their combined net assets have also grown 80% in Q3, reaching a record $1.79 billion.

The inflows have picked up sharply in late September. For the week ending September 25, weekly inflows jumped from $9.6 million to $75.59 million, marking a 691% increase from the previous week. 

This also extended the XRP ETF market’s streak to 11 consecutive weeks of net inflows.

Why Institutions Are Buying XRPThe steady ETF demand comes as XRP attracts more attention from large investors. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said financial advisers are more comfortable with XRP because of its long history and its connection to real-world uses.

“XRP appeals for very simple reasons.” 

Hougan said,

“A lot of financial advisers look at crypto and wonder, are these things for real? Will they persist? Will they be here in the future?”

And that’s where XRP fits in, with use cases that financial advisers can easily understand, such as stablecoins, cross-border payments, and liquidity.

Even that demand is also appearing on-chain. Large wallets reportedly accumulated around 1.54 billion XRP worth $2.2 billion over four days.

Story Ends Here

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Read the Next News

Ripple says asset managers are preparing to use XRP Ledger Batch. The transaction type can make several ledger actions succeed or fail together, but an emergency software release has moved attention from a September 29 activation expectation to an October 9 security amendment. The capability is specific. So is the evidence that institutional adoption remains prospective.

Summary

Batch can contain between 2 and 8 inner transactions under its published specification. Four modes determine whether all, one, a prefix or any qualifying inner transactions execute. XRP Ledger version 3.4.1 introduced a security-sensitive Batch fix on September 25. The foundation expects fixBatchV1_2 to enable October 9 if validator support persists. A successful outer Batch can mask failed inner transactions unless the application checks their results. The central promise is simple: make related steps settle in one ledger close. An asset manager that needs to deliver a token and receive payment may prefer an all-or-nothing exchange to sending the asset first and hoping the money arrives. RippleX has described asset managers and commercial projects preparing for the feature, as covered in the earlier institutional interest report. It did not publicly name a production asset manager with a live mainnet Batch transaction in that account.

JUST IN: Brad Garlinghouse highlights why Ripple cannot control the XRP Ledger

Ripple operates only a small share of XRPL validators, and the $150M+ hack involving co-founder Chris Larsen showed that the company cannot reverse transactions or recover lost $XRP. pic.twitter.com/Pt4czYNSf1

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) September 27, 2026 The status changed before the original late-September expectation. The XRPL Foundation release notice calls version 3.4.1 an emergency update for security-sensitive issues. It adds fixBatchV1_2, asks servers to upgrade promptly and says the amendment was expected to enable on October 9 if supermajority support persists. That is a conditional expectation, not a fixed launch promise.

Batch coordinates actions inside one ledger close The XLS-0056 specification describes an outer transaction holding between two and eight inner transactions. Accounts involved approve the collection. A selected mode controls what happens when an inner action fails. The ledger processes the collection in one close, avoiding the gap between unrelated submissions that could leave one participant with only half a bargain.

Suppose a fund transfers a tokenized bond claim and receives a dollar token. Two ordinary transactions could be submitted separately. If the first succeeds and the second fails, the counterparties have an operational dispute and potential loss. With the all-or-nothing mode, both inner actions must succeed for the intended exchange to complete. That is the compelling institutional use case, assuming the token, payment instrument, counterparties and permissions are already in place.

Batch does not create a bond, verify its off-chain ownership or force a bank to redeem the payment token. It coordinates ledger actions. Legal settlement finality, transfer restrictions, custody and redemption still depend on the relevant instruments and institutions. The distinction matters because a technically atomic transfer is only one part of delivery versus payment.

JUST IN: XRP Ledger’s Batch feature passes, set for activation on September 29

The upgrade, which has secured 29 Yes votes, will allow up to 8 XRPL transactions to be bundled into one, enabling atomic asset swaps, bundled DEX trades, NFT-for-NFT exchanges and single-transaction… pic.twitter.com/7CH34N1Yat

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) September 15, 2026 The single-account tutorial shows the more straightforward case. Multiple actions from one account can be packaged in a specified mode. Multi-account transactions add signatures from the accounts whose balances or permissions are affected. The multi-account tutorial describes that coordinated signing process.

Four modes produce four different bargains ALLORNOTHING is the clean two-sided trade. Every required inner action must succeed or the intended group does not settle. ONLYONE tries alternatives and stops after the first success, such as orders at different tolerances. UNTILFAILURE processes a sequence up to a failure. INDEPENDENT allows actions in the same wrapper to succeed or fail independently. Calling all four modes atomic in the everyday sense would hide the possibility of partial completion.

The modes alter product design. A fund moving two assets against one payment needs to decide whether a single failed transfer should cancel the full package. A market maker submitting fallback offers might prefer ONLYONE. An issuer distributing multiple payouts might tolerate independent outcomes, but then its operations team has to reconcile which recipients were paid. The mode is a risk decision, not a formatting choice.

The eight-action cap is another real limit. A manager attempting to settle 1,000 investor transfers cannot wrap all 1,000 into one Batch under the current proposal. At the theoretical minimum of 125 eight-action packages, those groups would not themselves be atomic with each other. Fees, signatures, account sequence management and service capacity become practical constraints even before the off-chain business process is considered.

The earlier technical report noted the upgrade’s long development and audit history. That background is relevant to timing but should not be confused with a claim that every application built on top has been audited.

The outer success code is an accounting trap The specification says an outer Batch transaction can report tesSUCCESS even when inner transactions fail. Its outer result covers sequence and fee processing. To know whether a payment or delivery occurred, software must inspect inner transaction metadata and individual result codes. This is an unusually concrete integration hazard for any institution whose back office translates a generic success status into a booked asset movement.

Imagine a trade feed that reads only the outer result and credits a customer with a tokenized security. If the relevant inner transfer did not succeed, the feed and ledger diverge. The system needs to associate every inner action with its parent and its own result. The spec recommends using the ParentBatchID relationship in explorers and indexers. A desk should test failures in every mode, not only the happy path.

The mistake can survive ordinary controls because the outer transaction is real and has a transaction ID. A reconciliation system built for one transaction equaling one business action may pass its first check. The proper control links the business instruction to the mode, the complete signed package, every inner result and the eventual asset balances. That is work an asset manager must perform even if the network layer is correct.

JUST IN: Asset managers are preparing for XRP Ledger’s next payments upgrade

Batch V1.1 can bundle up to eight transactions into one operation, with RippleX saying commercial projects are already being built around the feature ahead of activation. pic.twitter.com/DmleX4GBiA

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) September 20, 2026 The arithmetic is modest but revealing. A maximum Batch containing eight inner transactions is one outer submission, yet it can require at least eight outcome checks, plus the outer fee and sequencing check. For 125 full packages representing 1,000 inner actions, the back office needs 1,000 action-level outcomes, not 125 green status lights.

The security fix changes the activation story The foundation’s September 25 notice says fixBatchV1_2 rejects inner transactions with the wrong wrapper and includes additional security and stability fixes. It withholds source code temporarily because of the security-sensitive nature of the change, promising publication and a retrospective later. That limits outsiders’ ability to inspect the exact patch before disclosure. It is a reason for precise attribution, not a reason to speculate about undisclosed exploitability.

The notice says servers below 3.4.1 would become amendment blocked if the fix enables while they have not upgraded. Validator votes and node upgrades therefore matter to production access. A quorum signaling support is not the same thing as every wallet, custodian, API provider and accounting tool being ready for Batch. The earlier XRPL node upgrade coverage illustrates the operational effect of an amendment block in a previous release.

There is also a history a reporter cannot omit. A February vulnerability disclosure describes a flaw in an earlier Batch design that could have skipped authorization checks for other signers when an unfunded signer appeared first. The amendment had not gone live. The security audit account examined how independent review caught problems before production use. The September patch concerns a separately described wrapper issue; neither incident proves the current design is unsafe, but both explain why deployment timing deserves scrutiny.

What institutions could gain, and what they still need Atomic delivery against payment is the strongest case. A manager could coordinate a token transfer with payment on the same ledger, limiting the temporary exposure created by sequential transfers. An issuer could bundle account setup, authorization and issuance steps where the protocol permits those transaction types. Trading firms could use alternative execution paths. These are capabilities, not evidence of live assets and trades.

Tokenized assets require issuers, transfer agents or other responsible entities, rules on eligible holders, custody procedures, and a payment instrument with acceptable redemption terms. A Batch can make the on-chain legs execute under a chosen rule. It cannot make a security legally valid in another jurisdiction, obtain customer consent for an unrelated action or guarantee an external cash leg at a commercial bank.

Ripple’s case deserves its strongest version. A ledger-level mechanism can reduce coordination work for developers and remove a real class of partial settlement failures. The XRPL feature overview described Batch alongside other institutional functionality, though each amendment follows its own process. If named managers later show live, repeated settlement of real tokenized assets with correctly reconciled inner results, the adoption claim will have hard evidence behind it.

The limit is equally clear. A company preparing a pilot is not an asset manager using Batch in production. No public preparation claim tells us volumes, fees saved, settlement disputes prevented or which institution assumes off-chain obligations. An announcement can be true and still be too early to support those larger conclusions.

The ledger’s vote is only the first readiness test The expected October 9 activation of fixBatchV1_2 depends on sustained validator support. Operators need to run compatible software. Wallets must show users all inner actions and the selected mode before collecting a signature, as the specification recommends. Indexers must expose parent and child results. Custodians need policy checks for multi-account signatures. Asset managers need reconciliation and legal documentation.

There is no single percentage showing all that readiness. Validator voting measures agreement to a protocol change. The production test is whether real users can prepare, sign, submit, inspect and recover from a failed Batch without mismatched records. The unanswered commercial question is which named institution will show a repeatable use case once the amendment and tooling are live.

What to watch Amendment status: Whether fixBatchV1_2 retains support and enables on the expected October 9 date. Server upgrades: The share of operators running 3.4.1 before the security amendment becomes mandatory. Disclosure: Publication of the withheld patch source and the promised retrospective. Inner outcomes: Wallet and indexer support for mode display, parent links and action-level results. Production evidence: A named asset manager reporting live Batch volume and its settlement controls. FAQ Is XRPL Batch live on mainnet now? The relevant amendments and their live status must be checked at publication. The September 25 release described a security fix expected to enable October 9 if validator support persisted.

How many transactions can a Batch contain? The published XLS-0056 specification sets a minimum of two and maximum of eight inner transactions in the current design.

Does Batch guarantee every inner action succeeds? Only the all-or-nothing mode is designed around the full group succeeding together. Other modes deliberately allow a different pattern of partial execution.

Can one asset manager sign for every counterparty? No. In a multi-account Batch, affected accounts must approve the signed collection according to the protocol’s signing rules.

Does tesSUCCESS mean the trade settled? Not by itself. The outer result can succeed while an inner action fails, so systems must inspect each inner result and balances.

Will Batch make tokenized securities legally settled? It can coordinate on-chain steps. Legal rights, redemption and any external payment leg still depend on the asset’s terms and applicable infrastructure.

What changed in version 3.4.1? The foundation described an emergency security release adding fixBatchV1_2, including rejection of inner transactions with the wrong wrapper.

Have asset managers demonstrated live use? Ripple has reported preparation, but the cited public account did not name a production manager with repeatable live Batch settlement. This is educational analysis, not investment advice.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Figures reflect regulatory filings and reporting available at the time of writing and change with each disclosure. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security or asset. Always do your own research. Information is accurate as of September 29, 2026.

Popular crypto YouTuber and analyst Daan de Rover suggests that XRP could make a strong upward move if it breaks through several major resistance levels on the daily chart.

Notably, Rover made the assertion after analyzing the Binance XRP/USDT daily chart, which shows XRP trading around $1.50 after recovering sharply from its August low near $0.95. However, the recovery has now brought XRP back into a key resistance zone that has previously capped its upside.

Two Major Hurdles for XRP The first major hurdle sits around $1.55. This level has repeatedly attracted selling pressure and now represents the immediate barrier XRP must overcome.

According to the chart, XRP failed to sustain moves above $1.55 on several occasions this year, including in March and June. Although it briefly broke above the level on August 22, XRP fell back below it the following day.

Last week, XRP climbed as high as $1.65, but the breakout failed to hold, sending the price back below the key resistance zone.

Beyond $1.55, Rover identifies $1.75 as the next major resistance level. XRP last traded around this area in late January but has since failed to reclaim it. Therefore, a sustained move above $1.55 could bring the higher $1.75 resistance into focus.

Rover argues that XRP could soar if it successfully clears these major resistance levels. However, the analyst did not provide a specific price target for the potential move.

CryptoRover XRP Chart $1.325 Support Remains Important While the chart highlights resistance above XRP, it also identifies an important support zone around $1.325.

A sustained decline below this area would weaken the bullish setup outlined by the analyst. However, the reference to $1.25 in the original analysis appears inconsistent with the chart’s highlighted $1.325 support level, so these levels should be treated separately rather than as the same threshold.

At press time, XRP trades well above this support, with each coin priced at around $1.50, up 1.25% over the past 24 hours.

Whale Orders Highlight $1.65 Resistance Meanwhile, crypto analyst CW has drawn attention to whale activity around XRP’s current price.

According to the analyst, significant sell orders are clustered around $1.65, creating another potential resistance zone. Conversely, large buy orders around $1.4327 could provide support if XRP pulls back.

CW XRP Chart In a separate development, an unknown investor has withdrawn 50.29 million XRP from Bitget to a private wallet. The transaction has attracted attention because it occurred shortly after the exchange reopened withdrawals following last week’s security breach, during which $351 million worth of crypto assets, including XRP, were stolen.

However, it remains unclear whether the large XRP withdrawal was related to concerns surrounding the hack. The timing has added another point of interest to XRP’s recent market activity. 

XRP remains near $1.52 despite prolonged market pressure across major centralized exchanges. Crypto analyst Xaif Crypto identified large-scale selling activity on both spot and perpetual markets, yet the asset has avoided a similar decline in price.

CVD indicators show heavy sellingXaif Crypto shared a CryptoQuant chart, dated September 28, detailing key metrics from Binance and other exchanges. The data highlighted Binance’s perpetual CVD at negative $1.2 billion, while spot CVD across all centralized exchanges stood at negative $2.7 billion. Open interest on Binance was measured at $276.5 million.

Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) measures the difference between aggressive buy and sell orders. A negative value signals that sellers are dominating market orders within the specified period.

The analyst noted that despite this cumulative selling activity, the XRP price has stayed around $1.52 over the past several weeks.

Sellers have been hitting the market for weeks, yet XRP is still holding around $1.52. Someone is absorbing all that supply.

This market dynamic, where heavy selling pressure fails to move the price significantly downward, led Xaif Crypto to suggest that substantial buy-side interest is offsetting the influx of supply.

In addition to CVD, the $276.5 million open interest on Binance indicated continued engagement among derivative traders, providing another lens through which to assess market sentiment.

Mini dictionary: Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) – An indicator tracking the net difference between aggressive buy and sell orders, providing insight into real-time buying or selling pressure in the market.

MetricValueBinance Perpetual CVD-$1.2 billionSpot CVD (all CEX)-$2.7 billionBinance Open Interest$276.5 millionXRP Price$1.52Traders debate potential outcomesFollowing Xaif Crypto’s post, several prominent XRP-focused traders commented on the ongoing situation. Altcoin Insider suggested that clearing out the current surplus of supply could create room for XRP to reach new highs.

Another social media commentator, Lana XRP & Crypto, acknowledged the prolonged selling but advised caution rather than predicting immediate bullish momentum. She emphasized that absorption of supply does not automatically translate into upward movement.

Sellers hitting for weeks. Price still on 1.50. Absorption. Not a victory lap.

Market watchers continue to assess whether buyers can maintain support at the $1.52 level amid persistent seller activity. Ongoing monitoring of these key indicators is likely to shape trading strategies in the near term.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt called October 4 as the day Bitcoin’s bear market would end, but now he thinks the market beat him to it.

“There’s a good possibility we have seen the low and now are entering a new bull market cycle in Bitcoin,” Brandt tells Cointelegraph on the latest episode of Trade Secrets.

In July, Brandt warned that prices could fall into the high-$40,000 range. Bitcoin was trading near $64,000 when that interview was published and climbed to almost $85,000 by his latest appearance. 

With the benefit of hindsight, Bitcoin’s fall to around $58,000 in late June may have already marked the cycle bottom.

But that doesn’t rule out a sharp drop first, says Brandt, who is on the lookout for a possible pullback toward $65,000 or $66,000 in early October.

“One thing that could happen, of course, is we just had too many people now chase the market,” he says. “They have bought the idea that the Bitcoin low is in and they have loaded up on the rally.”

A pullback could shake out those late buyers and give investors an opportunity to build their positions.

“We all know Bitcoin doesn’t go straight up.”

Brandt sees Bitcoin hitting $500,000 this cycleBrandt has also raised his sights for Bitcoin’s next peak, putting a late-2029 high of between $300,000 and $600,000, up from the $250,000 to $300,000 range he outlined in July.

“The bull market cycle this time has a very good chance of reaching half a million,” he says.

A million-dollar Bitcoin by 2030 isn’t impossible in his view, but he doesn’t need that target to come true for the trade to work. Brandt says he hasn’t invested all the money he has earmarked for Bitcoin. He would be content with 70% of that allocation in the market for 70% of the move into the projected 2029 highs.

“If Bitcoin’s $350,000 in late 2029, I’m not gonna be a million-dollar bull,” he says.

Bitcoin staged a Q3 recovery and broke through $80,000. Source: Price move ‘explanations’ are often wrongBrandt is also wary of using headlines about the CLARITY Act or other events to explain every price move. He looks at the timing and pace of previous market cycles to gauge what could come next.

“Markets do something, traders need to create a narrative. More often than not, the narrative is at least partially wrong,” he says. “Let price be king.”

His model places the halving roughly halfway in time between the bear market low and the next peak. He expects gains to accelerate toward the end, with the final three or four months potentially delivering about 30% of the total increase.

Brandt’s forecast assumes a new bull market is already underway and that Bitcoin’s historical cycle patterns broadly hold. For now, finding the next buying opportunity with manageable risk matters more to him than whether Bitcoin reaches $100,000 by year-end.

“It’s unimportant,” he says. “I think more important is can we identify the next tradable spot where one can have somewhat of a measured risk?”

Brandt questions XRP’s investment appealBrandt is famously dismissive of many altcoins and he says the thesis of investors tipping money into “some fool coin” like XRP is often wrong.

XRP’s usefulness for payments and Ripple’s banking partnerships don’t automatically make it a winning investment in his eyes.

“Just because something is transactional, that doesn’t mean automatically that it must be more valuable,” he says, comparing it to the US dollar.

It works for payments, but people don’t buy it simply because they expect its transactional usefulness to push up its value.

Ether and Solana get a warmer reception, with room for both alongside Bitcoin in his suggested crypto portfolio allocations. Chasing the next new token is another matter.

“Don’t be sold on the new upstarts, don’t be conned into the latest fast horse in the game,” he says.

For financially secure investors, he suggests a crypto allocation of up to 10%, with Bitcoin taking the largest share.

“I believe that trading is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Magazine: THORChain under fire over Bitget, ETH evolves beyond blockchain: Hodler’s Digest

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The local altcoin rally could stall if Bitcoin fails to hold its recent breakout, according to analysts at institutional market maker Wintermute.

Although the altcoin index rose 5.0% in week 39, outpacing Bitcoin's 4.1% gain, the analysts say retail investors' optimism is premature. The outlook for XRP and other altcoins now depends on whether Bitcoin can hold its newly gained ground.

The week's main trigger was Bitcoin's first weekly close above its 50-week moving average since last November. That breakout now faces a test at $82,500, the former upper boundary of a prolonged trading range. This level could determine the near-term direction of the broader crypto market.

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Cross-asset performance ranking for week 39 showing Altcoins, Bitcoin, and Nasdaq leading the gains, Source: Wintermute OTCWintermute cautioned against drawing conclusions too soon. It remains to be seen whether $82,500 will hold, and the firm would not be surprised to see the level retested several times in quick succession.

"$82.5k is the level to watch this week, because it capped the range for weeks and a hold there turns the first weekly close above the 50-week since November into a base rather than a wick," the analysts wrote.

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"We expect it to be tested more than once in short succession, and a close back below it puts the breakout in question," they added.

In derivatives markets, large players are already replacing short-term hedges with longer-dated call options targeting $126,000 by year-end. They see these positions as an affordable bet on further gains for Bitcoin.

Why the XRP and Ethereum rally now depends on US jobs dataWintermute's OTC desk is seeing an imbalance: retail investors are selling Bitcoin and moving profits into alternative tokens, including XRP and Ethereum, before the breakout is confirmed. At the same time, market breadth — the share of tokens rising together—has become stretched. Historically, in 80% of comparable cases, altcoins moved sideways for an extended period or corrected when Bitcoin failed to confirm their gains.

The report warns that an altcoin-led rise without support from BTC is risky for buyers: "...a bounce led by alts that BTC does not confirm is the setup that has historically resolved flat to negative."

The analysts expect attention to return to the largest cryptocurrencies: "While alts are selectively putting in +ve performance, we expect focus to shift back to the majors, because BTC has to push higher to reset this alt cycle and recycle new wealth into it."

Until Bitcoin completes its breakout and restarts that cycle, altcoin investors may see only brief rotations between sectors, such as the recent shift from real-world assets (RWA) into artificial intelligence (AI) tokens.

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The crypto market has remained resilient despite the yield on 10-year US Treasuries climbing above 5%, its highest level since 2007, and a 25-basis-point Federal Reserve rate hike. Among traditional assets, only the Nasdaq held up, gaining 3.3%, while gold fell 1.9% and long-term bonds lost 2.4%.

The main risk has shifted to commodities as Brent crude reached $103 a barrel after traffic through the SOH fell by half. If Brent remains above $100, the Fed could raise rates again in October. Bitcoin has so far absorbed the pressure with support from ETFs: spot funds recorded their largest inflow of 2026, $999 million, on Monday, although that figure had fallen to $150 million by Friday.

Two factors will shape the market's direction in the coming days: whether Bitcoin holds $82,500 and Friday's US payrolls report.

Chainlink (LINK) has made a powerful price recovery after falling to $7 in June, while its business rival, XRP, is still lagging behind.

Specifically, LINK has erased its losses for the year and moved into positive territory, now trading at $15, up 9% in the past 24 hours. This price implies a 22.3% year-to-date gain for Chainlink, which has gained 108% over the past 90 days. These strong percentage gains put LINK among the top-performing major cryptocurrencies in 2026.

Meanwhile, XRP has also recovered from its June low but is still down for the year. It is currently trading at $1.50, up 1.7% in the past 24 hours and 44% over the past 90 days. However, XRP is still down 18.35% since the beginning of 2026.

LINK Recovery Could Be a Possible Example for XRP LINK started 2026 at about $12.19 but fell to $7.02 in June. Since then, LINK has recovered substantially. Its price has more than doubled from the June low, reaching around $15 and recovering its losses from the first half of the year.

LINK is now up 22.3% for the year compared with where it started in January. This recovery may give XRP holders an example of how another major cryptocurrency has recovered from a significant drop.

However, LINK’s recovery does not mean XRP will necessarily follow the same path. Members of the two communities have often rivaled each other, pointing to the price gains and weaknesses of the other cryptocurrency at every opportunity.

With LINK outperforming XRP, Chainlink supporters are having a field day trolling XRP holders. Meanwhile, XRP holders are hopeful that an equally substantial rebound is underway.

XRP Is Still Below Its 2026 Starting Price XRP started 2026 at about $1.84 but fell to $0.93 in June on the Bitrue exchange. It later recovered to around $1.70 in August before dropping again.

XRP is now trading at about $1.50, which is around 18.5% below its price at the start of the year.

2026 Price Performance at a Glance Metric LINK XRP Current price $15 $1.50 2026 opening price $12.19 $1.84 June low $7.02 $0.93 24-hour change +9% +1.7% 90-day change +108% +44% Year-to-date change +22.3% -18.35% The numbers show that both cryptocurrencies have recovered, but LINK has recovered more vigorously. LINK is now above its starting price for 2026, while XRP is still below it.

What Would XRP Need to Match LINK’s Recovery? For XRP’s price to recover its 2026 losses, it would need to rise from $1.50 to about $1.85, a gain of around 23.3%. While XRP pulls off this feat, LINK may even surge further.

It is worth mentioning that LINK and XRP are different assets. They have different levels of demand, liquidity, and market activity, so XRP may not follow the same path as LINK.

Every major crypto spot ETF had a good day on September 28. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP products each recorded net inflows simultaneously, according to data from SoSoValue, bringing the day’s combined total to roughly $65 million.

Where the money went Bitcoin ETFs led on the day with $31.07 million in net inflows, which was actually the lowest single-day figure for Bitcoin ETFs during that month. Ethereum followed at $17.10 million, Solana at $12.70 million, and XRP at $3.96 million.

Those daily numbers look small against the cumulative picture. Bitcoin spot ETFs have now absorbed $57.58 billion in total net inflows since launching in January 2024, with total net assets sitting at $107.82 billion. That represents 6.42% of Bitcoin’s entire market cap sitting inside regulated ETF wrappers.

Ethereum’s cumulative net inflows stand at $13.96 billion against $17.69 billion in total assets. XRP ETFs, which launched in late 2025, have already accumulated $1.79 billion in cumulative inflows. Solana’s tally sits at $1.62 billion.

Solana and XRP products only came to market in 2025, after Bitcoin’s January 2024 launch and Ethereum’s May 2024 follow-on.

The week ending around September 25 set the stage for this. Bitcoin ETFs pulled in approximately $2.39 billion that week alone, the largest single-week figure of 2026, enough to push Bitcoin ETFs’ 2026 net flows into positive territory after earlier redemptions had dragged the year-to-date figure negative. Solana set a single-day inflow record of $86.7 million on September 25, just three days before the synchronized four-asset inflow day.

Why Solana and XRP are picking up institutional interest The issuer lineup for these products includes BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise, and Grayscale, competing on fees and product structure.

Solana ETFs carry an additional feature that Bitcoin and Ethereum products currently lack: staking integration. Some Solana ETF structures pass through staking yield to holders, which turns a passive index exposure into something closer to a yield-bearing position.

XRP’s trajectory is its own story. The asset spent years in regulatory limbo following the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple. With that resolved and ETFs now live, pent-up demand from investors who were waiting for a regulated vehicle is the most straightforward explanation for $1.79 billion in cumulative inflows in a relatively short window since the late 2025 launch.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Kaye Quema. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Crypto Is Rallying Again – But the Biggest Winner Isn’t Bitcoin, Ethereum or XRP

TLDR XRP maintains its position around $1.50 while respecting an uptrend line established from August’s bottom. Technical charts reveal a crucial resistance barrier between $1.58-$1.65 and underlying support around $1.20-$1.25. Approximately $75.6 million flowed into U.S. spot XRP ETFs during the week of Sept. 21-25. Total ETF assets reached approximately $1.68-$1.77 billion, while aggregate inflows approached $1.79 billion. The XRP Ledger’s BatchV1_1 enhancement has been pushed back to at least Oct. 9. XRP continues to hold ground near the $1.50 mark following another turbulent September trading session. Market participants remain committed to protecting the upward momentum that initiated in August.

XRP Price The most recent daily candlestick formation began around $1.496 and climbed to approximately $1.508. XRP maintained stability near $1.503, reflecting a modest 0.4% daily gain.

The broader price framework demonstrates improved strength compared to earlier summer months. XRP established its floor close to $1.00 in August before initiating an upward trajectory characterized by consecutive higher lows.

This recovery phase elevated price action beyond $1.40 and into a resistance area that has repeatedly limited upward momentum throughout this year.

XRP Bulls Face $1.60 Resistance The primary obstacle visible on daily timeframes resides around $1.58-$1.65. XRP has already challenged this region multiple times throughout September, including a temporary advance above $1.60.

Source: TradingView The present price action near $1.50 positions XRP beneath that resistance threshold while maintaining its ascending trend line. A confirmed daily close beyond $1.60 would clear the path toward the $1.65-$1.70 region.

For downside scenarios, the trend line provides initial support. Further below, the wider $1.20-$1.25 area represents the critical support foundation.

Momentum indicators have moderated but remain constructive. The daily RSI registers at 57.14, positioned above the neutral 50 threshold yet comfortably below overbought conditions.

MACD indicators also maintain positive readings. The MACD line hovers near 0.0509 compared to a signal line around 0.0489, with the histogram displaying a slight positive value at 0.0020.

Cryptocurrency analyst Crypto Rover highlighted this identical resistance area in a recent social media update. He indicated that once XRP breaks through these levels, “it will soar,” connecting his forecast directly to the $1.58-$1.65 ceiling that market participants are monitoring.

XRP ETF Inflows Remain Positive Institutional appetite via U.S. spot XRP ETFs continues to demonstrate strength. The investment vehicles absorbed approximately $75.59 million throughout the Sept. 21-25 trading week, according to SoSoValue analytics.

Bitwise dominated with roughly $58.99 million in contributions, while Franklin Templeton contributed approximately $16.60 million. Aggregate XRP ETF inflows climbed near $1.79 billion.

Combined net assets positioned near $1.77 billion at that week’s conclusion. The latest daily flow metrics indicated an additional $3.96 million inflow, primarily driven by Canary’s XRPC fund.

Net assets throughout the ETF landscape settled near $1.68 billion based on the most current data.

The blockchain network also faces an upcoming technical development. The XRP Ledger’s BatchV1_1 enhancement, designed to bundle up to eight interconnected transactions for simultaneous settlement or failure, has been postponed to at least Oct. 9 following a temporary reset in validator approval.

Ripple has indicated that institutional asset managers and enterprise-level initiatives are positioning themselves to leverage the Batch functionality upon activation, particularly for delivery-versus-payment settlement processes.

THE STREET: Stolen XRP worth $83 million leaves Bitget hacker's wallets

Recent discussions on X have reignited debate about the foundational structure of the XRP Ledger, especially regarding its smallest accounting unit, known as a ‘Drop.’ Each XRP coin is divisible into one million Drops. Given this fractional structure, even minor XRP price changes or increases in network liquidity can have a noticeable impact on the value of individual Drops, highlighting the network’s capacity for handling large-scale economic flows.

Corporate treasury ambition and acquisition strategyRipple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently described the company’s focus on the estimated $120 trillion corporate treasury payments market. This expansive target reflects Ripple’s goal to modernize international B2B payments and optimize cross-border treasury flows using digital infrastructure.

To strengthen its corporate offering, Ripple acquired GTreasury last year. GTreasury reported processing over $13 trillion in payments, although none of these transactions were conducted in digital assets. Garlinghouse emphasized that Ripple’s next objective is to “make a dent in the universe,” underscoring the company’s determination to extend digital payment adoption within traditional finance.

The foundation of Ripple’s mission centers on enabling money to move as swiftly and transparently as information flows in today’s digital age. The company’s $155 trillion volume reference is based on SWIFT’s annual trading activity, positioning Ripple to compete within this domain.

Emerging partnerships and ISO 20022 complianceRipple’s collaboration with SWIFT on ISO 20022 compliance further supports its expansion into global financial networks. The international messaging standard is seen as a crucial step for linking traditional financial institutions with blockchain-based infrastructure, paving the way for more seamless integration of digital assets into global transactions.

Jeonbuk Bank of South Korea recently took a significant step by substituting its multi-day SWIFT transfers with Ripple Payments, demonstrating the increasing adoption of Ripple’s solutions among established banks. This development illustrates the gradual realization of Ripple’s sixteen-year-long vision to overhaul global payments infrastructure.

Ripple’s cooperation with SWIFT on ISO 20022 is positioning the company to directly interface with critical components of the global payments system, opening doors for more efficient cross-border transfer solutions.

However, it remains uncertain whether XRP will serve as the settlement medium in every transaction. Ripple’s ecosystem offers flexibility, as the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution and RippleNet Payments allow a range of digital assets and facilitate swaps with local currencies.

Stablecoin rivalry and expanding payment routesCompetition within Ripple’s own network has intensified following the launch of the RLUSD stablecoin. With a market capitalization surpassing $2.5 billion within just two years, the RLUSD stablecoin has drawn attention from major Wall Street institutions and established crypto players, potentially shifting market preferences between native XRP and RLUSD for specific payment rails.

In the evolving landscape of meme tokens and high-volume trades, timely monitoring of price developments and investor behaviors is vital. In this context, an internet trend can rapidly translate into multimillion-dollar trading volumes; one prominent example is a $99 trade in Niu Lai that grew to approximately $370,000, according to Fomo App data. By aggregating token discovery, social feeds, and trading notifications, platforms like Fomo App are helping traders remain agile in the fast-moving meme token sector.

Separately, ACI Worldwide has added support for new payment routes featuring XRP. Handling close to 9% of SWIFT’s global trading volume, ACI Worldwide’s move brings Ripple closer to its previously stated aim of capturing 14% of SWIFT’s annual transaction volume.

ACI Worldwide’s integration of XRP into supported payment routes signals a milestone for Ripple’s international ambitions and underlines the growing acceptance of blockchain solutions in established payment networks.

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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XRP has decisively broken out of a long-standing descending channel after more than a year, marking a significant shift in its technical structure. The asset, issued by Ripple, has recently surged to around $1.54, drawing renewed interest from investors and analysts after months of subdued price action.

Technical breakout after prolonged consolidationFor over a year, XRP traded within a descending channel on the daily chart, with price compressing and trading volumes diminishing. Within this range, a secondary bullish flag emerged, reflecting intermittent attempts at recovery. During this period, XRP briefly fell below $1, as several analysts had anticipated, but quickly rebounded from a local bottom near $0.99.

In late August, XRP staged a rapid rally but retraced shortly after, consolidating within the bull flag. Recent technical movement shows the asset breaking above both the inner flag and the broader descending channel, signaling a structural change to the upside in price action.

The chart identifies multiple horizontal resistance zones based on previous support and resistance points from 2025 and early 2026. This breakout marks the end of a steady pattern of lower highs and lower lows and opens the path toward higher target levels.

Ripple, the company behind XRP, has seen the asset break above both its long-term descending channel and the internal bullish flag on the daily chart, indicating renewed market momentum and potential for significant upward movement.

Increased whale accumulationOn-chain data has provided additional confirmation for the ongoing technical breakout. Crypto analyst Amelia reported that whales accumulated more than 470 million XRP over a five-day period, translating to $724 million in fresh inflows. These large-scale purchases were made near the bottom of the multi-month trading channel, suggesting institutional investors are positioning ahead of the upward move.

Amelia noted a lack of retail participation during this phase, as most individual traders had withdrawn from XRP during its decline. The timing and volume of these accumulations underline heightened conviction among larger holders, who acted before the breakout became evident on public charts.

Mini dictionary: On-chain data refers to transparent, real-time information recorded directly on a blockchain, such as transaction amounts, wallet addresses, and asset flows, allowing analysts to track investor activity without intermediaries.

During the period when retail interest faded, whales accumulated $724 million worth of XRP within five days, positioning for a structural shift in the market.

XRP price targets and projectionsAmelia’s analysis outlined four major price targets for XRP following the breakout. The closest resistance stands at $1.70, followed by $2.20 and $2.70. The final major target is set at $3.65, which matches XRP’s all-time high and a significant resistance zone on the chart. These targets are drawn from historical price structures and key technical levels observed in prior market cycles.

LevelPrice targetStatus1$1.70Approaching2$2.20Intermediate target3$2.70Intermediate target4$3.65All-time highProjections suggest that XRP’s ascent toward the $3.65 level could unfold over the next several weeks, potentially extending into November 2026. These price objectives are subject to market conditions and broader sentiment shifts but are being closely tracked by market participants in the wake of the confirmed breakout.

Franklin Templeton’s XRP ETF (XRPZ) has become the second spot XRP fund to cross the $500 million mark in cumulative net inflows. 

The fund reached the milestone after the U.S. spot XRP ETF market recorded a strong inflow on Sept. 25. Specifically, the five spot XRP ETFs attracted a combined $22.65 million, marking their largest single-day inflow in the past month.

Only two XRP ETFs contributed to the Sept. 25 total. The Bitwise XRP ETF, XRP, recorded $18.39 million in inflows, accounting for 81% of the day’s total. Franklin’s XRPZ brought in the remaining $4.26 million.

Although Franklin’s inflow was much smaller than Bitwise’s, it was enough to push XRPZ’s cumulative net inflow from $496.7 million to $500.99 million at press time. 

This marked the first time the fund had crossed the $500 million level since its launch. For context, XRPZ reached the milestone about ten months after launching in late November 2025.

Franklin XRP ETF Sees Strong Inflows in 2026 Notably, by the end of 2025, XRPZ had recorded $242.58 million in cumulative net inflows. This indicates that the fund has attracted more than $258 million in additional capital this year, despite XRP’s continued price struggles.

Of this figure, XRPZ has brought in $38.13 million in inflows so far in September. XRP’s price recovery since August has helped bring renewed interest to regulated XRP investment products. 

Franklin Templeton XRP ETF | Source: Sosovalue With $38.13 million in monthly inflows, September has become XRPZ’s third-best month, behind January with $59.83 million and May with $41.82 million.

September has also produced the highest trading volume for Franklin’s XRP ETF. The investment product has recorded $217.9 million in trading volume so far this month, beating its previous record of $176.44 million set in December 2025.

Franklin Moves Further Ahead of Canary The latest $22.65 million inflow also pushed the combined cumulative net inflows across all five XRP ETFs to $1.79 billion. The total has continued to rise after falling to $1.39 billion on Sept. 17.

With XRPZ now at $500.99 million, Franklin has strengthened its position as the second-largest XRP ETF by cumulative net inflows. Canary Capital’s XRP ETF (XRPC) remains third with $489.37 million.

XRPC launched as the first pure spot XRP ETF in the U.S. market and initially had the first-mover advantage. However, Bitwise and Franklin have moved ahead of Canary this year. Currently, Bitwise remains the largest XRP ETF by cumulative net inflows, with $676.29 million.

Canary’s XRPC has also struggled to attract new capital in September. The fund has not recorded a single day of inflows since Sept. 1, when it received $3 million. It has recorded zero flows since then, apart from a $1.37 million outflow on Sept. 17.

XRPC now needs about $10.6 million in additional inflows to become the third XRP ETF to cross the $500 million cumulative net inflow mark.

Some altcoins gain attention long before they appear in every market headline. In 2026, five names are standing out for very different reasons: NEAR for Layer-1 activity, QNT for tokenized settlement, ZEC for privacy, XRP for payment-network strength, and MemeToro for AI-powered memecoin launches.

These are not the same type of project. They represent different parts of the crypto market, from large-cap infrastructure to an early BNB Chain presale.

MemeToro has passed $155K in Stage 8, where $MT is priced at $0.00528, giving buyers an early way to follow the AI memecoin narrative.

MemeToro Brings an Early-Stage AI Memecoin Narrative MemeToro gives this altcoin list a different kind of entry. It is an early-stage BNB Chain project building an open-source launchpad for memecoin creation, discovery, and future trading.

The project has passed $155K itage 8, with $MT priced at $0.00528. Its AI agent is designed to use live trend data to propose token concepts, while public launch manifests show the supply, price, and caps before funding begins.

The stated fair-launch model includes fixed-rate rounds with no private allocation tiers. The project is also developing public FairLaunchEscrow contract logic designed to apply published funding conditions.

$MT is intended to power access, launch funding, rewards, staking, and future memecoin trading. The roadmap also includes prediction markets and a news portal, creating more ways for users to engage with the platform.

This makes MemeToro an altcoin under the radar for a different reason. It is not a mature infrastructure asset. It is a Stage 8 presale tied to the growing link between AI trend discovery and BNB Chain memecoin launches.

NEAR and QNT Are Building Two Different Infrastructure Stories NEAR trades near $4.90 after breaking through a multi-month resistance channel. It is now consolidating between $4.79 and $5.00, while the network remains a name to watch among Layer-1 projects.

Its story is about ecosystem activity and flexible blockchain infrastructure. As users and builders look for networks that can support growing applications, NEAR is gaining attention through its technical structure and strengthening market position.

Quant is moving for a different reason. QNT trades around $254 after soaring 350% in one week. The major catalyst is its reported role in tokenized deposit settlement for 25 large U.S. banks.

The two projects show how wide the altcoin market has become:

NEAR represents Layer-1 expansion and on-chain activity. QNT represents tokenized finance and bank settlement. Both give buyers a way to follow infrastructure-led crypto growth. For anyone watching altcoins under the radar, these are strong examples of how a clear real-world story can drive attention.

ZEC and XRP Are Gaining Attention Through Use Cases Zcash trades near $1,530 after privacy assets moved into the institutional spotlight. Europe’s first physically backed Zcash ETP and increased interest in privacy technology have helped put ZEC on more crypto watchlists.

The privacy narrative is simple. Zcash uses shielded transaction technology that supports more private digital transfers. As the market pays more attention to financial privacy, ZEC is becoming a major name in that discussion.

XRP is also showing relative strength. It trades near $1.60 after back-to-back daily gains, even as the XRP Ledger’s Batch Upgrade was delayed to October 9. The asset’s use case remains tied to cross-border payment and remittance systems.

ZEC and XRP are different, but both have clear reasons for market attention:

ZEC is linked to privacy and institutional investment products. XRP is linked to payment rails and the XRP Ledger ecosystem. Each gives buyers a large-cap narrative beyond meme-driven price moves. These use cases can keep both assets on the radar as altcoin markets look for projects with distinct product identities.

Should You Start Accumulating these Altcoins? NEAR, QNT, ZEC, XRP, and MemeToro are gaining attention because each reflects a different crypto narrative. NEAR is tied to Layer-1 activity, QNT to tokenized settlement, ZEC to privacy, XRP to payment networks, and MemeToro to AI-powered memecoin creation.

MemeToro’s Stage 8 progress adds a fresh early-stage angle to this list. The project has passed $155K, prices $MT at $0.00528, and is building public fair-launch tools around its AI agent.

For buyers who want to follow several emerging narratives, these five projects show how diverse the 2026 market has become. MemeToro stands out as the earlier entry because its launchpad, token utility, and trading roadmap are still expanding around the $MT ecosystem.

FAQs Why is NEAR gaining attention? NEAR is gaining attention after breaking a multi-month resistance channel and holding a key consolidation range near $4.79 to $5.00.

What is driving Quant’s move? Quant is gaining attention after reports linked it to tokenized deposit settlement across 25 major U.S. banks.

What is MemeToro’s current Stage 8 price? $MT is priced at $0.00528, with the MemeToro presale raising more than $155K.

More Information on MemeToro ($MT) Presale Here:

Website: https://memetoro.com/

X: https://x.com/memetoro_mt

Telegram: https://t.me/memetoro_mt

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY0jgWy_DtA

Follow our Telegram and Twitter account now for exclusive news, analytics and on-chain data!

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) is approaching a significant network upgrade designed to expand its commercial applications and strengthen its appeal to institutional users. Vet, community lead at the XRPL Foundation, reported that two foundational amendments—Batch and Permission Delegation—have reached the final phase of validator approval, bringing the network closer to rolling out new automation capabilities.

Amendments target corporate operationsThere are 11 days left before both amendments are expected to become active on the XRPL mainnet. These features aim to resolve persistent obstacles that have prevented major financial institutions from adopting the network for automated payments and complex financial transactions.

The upgrade implements two main amendments. XLS-56, or “batch settlements,” removes the risk of funds becoming trapped during commercial settlements by ensuring that transactions are processed only if every party fulfills its obligations. XLS-75, known as “permission delegation,” enhances operational security for organizations by enabling them to assign roles and permissions flexibly—a requirement for strict corporate governance and regulatory compliance.

Batch settlement (BatchV1_1 and fixBatchV1_2) has garnered validator support ranging from 85% to 94%. This upgrade combines multiple operations into a single atomic batch, making them indivisible and ensuring that all operations within the batch are executed together, expected to go live on October 9, 2026.

Permission delegation (PermissionDelegationV1_1) has reached 82% validator support and entered its activation waiting period, with a mainnet launch scheduled for October 5, 2026. This feature allows entities to grant account permissions to third parties or internal departments without exposing their master private keys, a crucial innovation for enterprise-grade security.

Both upgrades are designed to boost XRPL’s ability to meet stringent requirements for institutional account management. In tandem, the community is reviewing the fixCleanup3_4_0 amendment, which is necessary to stabilize Automated Market Maker (AMM) pools following the latest xrpld v3.4.0 software release.

Mini dictionary: Validator — A node on a blockchain network responsible for validating and endorsing transactions and protocol changes, playing a vital role in maintaining consensus and network security.

Major amendments including batch settlement and permission delegation are set to address significant hurdles that previously stopped larger financial players from utilizing the XRPL for automated and structured payments, according to Vet from the XRPL Foundation.

Return of a notable technologistTechnical progress is further bolstered by the return of Nik Bougalis, a cryptographer and one of Ripple’s leading engineers, who left in 2022 but has now resumed work on the XRPL core. His proposed roadmap introduces comprehensive changes to the ledger’s low-level design, such as transitioning to 64-bit architecture and removing raw pointers, measures intended to enhance security and meet the needs of enterprise clients.

Bougalis’ involvement is seen as critical in preparing the XRPL for increased institutional scrutiny and higher operational demands. Despite the scale of the upgrade, adding these features at a protocol level represents only the technological groundwork. The pace at which large fintech companies and financial organizations adopt these tools for real-world applications will ultimately determine their impact on XRP market dynamics.

The implementation of these new tools on XRPL establishes the technical infrastructure for greater institutional activity, but whether this will translate to a surge in XRP demand hinges on corporate adoption speed and use case development.

XRP Eyes $1.80 to $1.90 If It Clears 50-Week EMA: Analyst

Renowned chart analyst Chart Nerd has publicly refuted recent claims suggesting a Cup and Handle pattern could push XRP’s price to $750. He criticized these triple-digit price targets found on YouTube as being tailored to fit speculative narratives rather than relying on established technical analysis or market data.

Technical analysis and key levelsAccording to Chart Nerd, there is an eight-year Cup and Handle pattern visible on XRP’s chart, based on both the Gaussian Retest and Fibonacci Retracement levels. For this classic bullish setup to come into play, XRP would need to break through $3.30, a resistance point it has not reached since August 25, 2025, according to TradingView figures.

This analysis traces Ripple’s native token back to 2015 and points to the Cup and Handle formation initializing in 2018. Chart Nerd laid out three potential targets in a bullish scenario: $8.47, $13.69, and $27.30, each supported by a combination of historical chart data and on-chain indicators.

The initial target, $8.47, corresponds to the 1.27 Fibonacci extension level. The subsequent targets, $13.69 and $27.30, are positioned at the 1.41 and 1.618 Fibonacci levels, respectively. These projections use Fibonacci analysis, a technique developed by the Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci that helps identify possible support and resistance levels based on historical price movements.

Mini dictionary: Gaussian Channel – A technical indicator often used in trend analysis that applies a series of smoothed moving averages to plot dynamic support and resistance zones.

The $3.30 resistance level—described as the neckline—remains the vital threshold for any bullish continuation. Without this breakout, higher targets may remain out of reach.

LevelFibonacci RatioPrice TargetNeckline/Trigger–$3.30Target 11.27$8.47Target 21.41$13.69Target 31.618$27.30Main Supports0.50 / 0.618$0.89 / $0.64Support zones and risk parametersIf XRP’s price drops, Chart Nerd outlined two primary support areas. The first is at $0.89, representing the 0.50 Fibonacci retracement level. Another vital support sits around $0.64, tied to the 0.618 Fibonacci level and previously seen as a strong demand zone for bullish traders seeking liquidity.

A red Gaussian Channel on the price chart is noted as a source of rising dynamic support. Multiple green dots—each corresponding to prior successful retests of this channel—reinforce it as a durable trend structure. Maintaining values above $0.64 is considered essential for keeping the Cup and Handle pattern intact; a persistent decline below this zone would undermine the broader bullish forecast for XRP.

Current price positionPresently, XRP is trading between two significant moving averages. The coin stands three cents above its Smoothed Moving Average (SMA), depicted as a purple line in Chart Nerd’s analysis. Meanwhile, the Double Exponential Moving Average is positioned at $1.54. Bulls are watching this level for further signs of positive price momentum.

XRP’s Cup and Handle pattern could point the way toward $8.47, $13.69, and $27.30 targets—if the price successfully breaks above the $3.30 neckline first.

Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz recently shared a humorous story from his college days, sparking notable discussion and speculation among the XRP holder community.

Schwartz’s joke prompts renewed market debateSchwartz responded to a user on X, referencing his time as a university student. He joked, “My standard pickup line in college was, ‘I’m studying electrical engineering. Can I remove your shorts?’ It never worked.” The wordplay, linking the electrical engineering term “shorts” and short positions in trading, quickly captured the attention of the XRP investor community.

Well-known crypto analyst ILLY (@Illyriannft) highlighted Schwartz’s post, urging traders, “Remove your shorts on XRP.” He interpreted the joke as an implicit suggestion regarding current market sentiment, warning traders about ongoing short positions in XRP.

The electrical engineering pun on “shorts” triggered immediate speculation among XRP holders, with prominent market voices suggesting cautious attention to the short side of the trade.

The reaction followed a period in which many observers had focused on the short positioning in XRP markets. Recent market data indicated that a majority of large traders had maintained sizeable short exposures, many initiated at prices between $1.22 and $1.52, and often with significant leverage.

XRP market positioning and meme token trendsThe wider attention to XRP shorts comes in the context of strong price volatility. August figures from Hyperliquid showed that 16 of the 20 largest XRP traders by position size held shorts, increasing focus on how these bets might unwind if market conditions change.

XRP had previously rallied more than 50% in less than three days before these figures were released, resulting in many shorts facing unrealized losses. ILLY’s call suggested that Schwartz’s playful reference could serve as a timely signal for those still betting against the token.

Monitoring not just positioning, but also the timing and specific choices of investors, has become increasingly important as meme token markets grow in prominence. In these segments, an internet trend can rapidly turn into millions of dollars in trading activity. Fomo App data highlighted a striking example where a $99 stake in the meme token “Niu Lai” was transformed into approximately $370,000, underlining the scale of potential gains. Fomo App enables users to discover and trade tokens on a single platform, offering social feeds, investor rankings, and live trade updates for following meme token trends alongside investor activity.

Community split on meaning and impactResponses among XRP holders were mixed. Some users expressed bullish optimism following Schwartz’s post, with one suggesting a $220 target for XRP and another drawing parallels to a silver market event where aggressive shorting led to a rapid squeeze. Meanwhile, dissenting voices questioned the relevance of interpreting Schwartz’s joke as a trading signal, reflecting an ongoing divide within the community.

Schwartz, who stepped down from his role as Ripple CTO earlier this year, remains highly influential among XRP supporters. Community members often scrutinize his social media comments, reading between the lines in search of market clues. Whether this latest episode will influence trading behavior or market outcomes for XRP has yet to be determined.

Even a casual remark from a high-profile figure such as Schwartz can quickly become the focus of analysis, debate, and in some cases, prompt immediate trading action among cryptocurrency investors.

Pump Coin Price climbed 17% to $0.00519 over 24 hours, extending its weekly gain to 38%. The rally stood out as the wider crypto market fell 1.37% to $2.87 trillion.

Bitcoin traded near $84,000, while Ethereum hovered around $2,677 and XRP price near $1.50.

Here’s Why Pump Coin Price Is Surging Pump. fun’s buyback program appears to be supporting PUMP. The platform directs roughly half its revenue toward purchasing tokens and permanently burning them. Its dashboard recorded a $1.14 million purchase on September 27, following $1.46 million the previous day. In total, the platform has spent more than $463 million on buybacks, removing over 168 billion tokens. 

These purchases create recurring demand while reducing supply, although neither measure guarantees further gains. Recent platform trading activity on Solana also matters because stronger trading can raise fee revenue and fund larger repurchases. PUMP remains about 44% below its record high despite this week’s sharp rebound.

$1.5M buyback day ($3M in revs) for $PUMP and the chart is breaking out of the range. Oh and social trading is probably just in its 2nd or 3rd inning. I find it unlikely we don’t meaningfully surpass last cycle revenues and that would mean $10M+ revenue days pic.twitter.com/D0wxs5sQmK

— Austin Barack (@AustinBarack) September 27, 2026

Regulatory attention added another talking point for PUMP traders. SEC staff guidance issued September 25 addressed buyback announcements involving nonsecurity tokens on functional networks. Staff said such announcements alone do not necessarily promise essential managerial efforts under securities law. The guidance neither classifies PUMP nor grants Pump.fun a legal exemption, and it has no binding force.

Pump.fun Overtakes Hyperliquid in Weekly Revenue Rankings The Solana-based memecoin platform Pump. fun has overtaken Hyperliquid in seven-day revenue, according to DefiLlama data. DefiLlama Pump generated $15.16 million during the latest seven-day period, narrowly ahead of Hyperliquid’s $15.06 million. 

That places Pump third among tracked crypto applications, behind stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle. Tether led the rankings with $121.64 million, while Circle recorded $50.40 million. Pump’s lead over Hyperliquid stands at about $100,000, leaving little separation between the platforms.

PUMP Coin Price Surges Toward $0.0055 as Momentum Builds The PUMP coin price surged to $0.005196 on September 28, gaining 3.12% during the active four-hour period. PUMP briefly reached $0.005366 before easing from that high. 

The rise took PUMP above $0.0048, an area that had limited earlier recovery attempts. Trading activity increased as the token approached $0.0052. 

A four-hour close above $0.0052 would put the next resistance at $0.0055 in focus. Clearing $0.0055 could open a move toward $0.0060 for the future PUMP coin outlook, though both targets depend on continued momentum.

The four-hour RSI was 70.12, which indicated a good movement and the likelihood of a rest. Chaikin Money Flow stood at 0.11, meaning there was a positive buying pressure.

Source: TradingView Should Pump Coin Price fall below the $0.0052 level, traders would consider a re-test of the level at 0.0048. A fall below that would put the previous trading range of around $0.0045 in sight.

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

Too Long; Didn't Read [TL;DR]

Bitmine holds 6 million ETH, while Strategy’s Bitcoin treasury has reached 847,666 BTC.XRP trades near $1.52; Quant is in focus after The Clearing House selected its technology for a tokenized-deposit network.Binance plans SPCXB rewards for eligible MARSCOIN holders. The SEC and CFTC have separately issued temporary regulatory relief.The cryptocurrency market opens the week with a shift in the balance of power as Bitcoin and Ethereum balances on exchanges decline and capital prepares for the release of U.S. macroeconomic data.

The main driver of morning trading has been substantial position-building by institutional investors. Investment firm Bitmine has accumulated 6,001,302 ETH, representing 4.9% of Ethereum's market supply. At the same time, Strategy filed a report with the SEC on its purchase of an additional 1,666 BTC for $138 million at an average price of $85,681. The company's Bitcoin treasury now holds 847,666 BTC.

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Institutional investors continue to absorb spot supply while Bitcoin holds within the $83,000–$84,000 range. Risk assets in the coming days will depend on the U.S. session as activity in Asia declines: markets in China and Hong Kong close for national holidays starting October 1.

Multi-asset net inflows tracking institutional fund distributions on the SoSoValue dashboard, Source: SoSoValueThe U.S. economic calendar is crowded with releases: JOLTS, GDP, the PCE price index, and nonfarm payrolls. Under these conditions, retail trends are giving way to systematic products from Citi, Coinbase, and Binance that use the SEC's new regulatory framework.

XRP and the macro week: "Banking tokens" draw attentionAhead of the U.S. macroeconomic releases, on-chain metrics show a divergence among leading enterprise crypto assets:

Quant (QNT): The asset has outperformed, climbing from the $70 area to peaks near 350–370. The driver was The Clearing House's selection of Quant's architecture for its interbank On-Chain Money initiative, whose pilot processes more than $2 trillion a day. The project is locally overbought.Hedera (HBAR): The token is showing moderate catch-up growth following news of an integration involving IBM software.Ripple / XRP: XRP is consolidating around $1.52. Ripple has no direct connection to The Clearing House contract, but it is pursuing its own infrastructure strategy: its new RLUSD stablecoin has been integrated for direct swaps into tokenized shares of BlackRock's BUIDL and VanEck's VBILL funds.Performance comparison of QNT, HBAR, and XRP tokens ahead of the macro week, Source: TradingViewWhile Bitmine builds a long-term portfolio with total treasury assets of $17.2 billion, Coinglass data show a net outflow of Bitcoin from trading platforms: investors withdrew 34,123 BTC, worth about $2.8 billion, from centralized exchanges over the past seven days. CryptoQuant analysts, meanwhile, note the opposite trend among smaller altcoins. 

Their inflows to exchanges have reached the highest level since October 2025, pointing to profit-taking by mid-sized investors and a shift in liquidity toward the scarcer BTC and ETH.

Binance's new listing: What do the SEC and SpaceX have to do with it?Alongside the interbank sector, trading platforms are developing hybrid instruments that combine retail marketing with traditional finance. Binance has reached the final stage of integrating MarsCoin (MARSCOIN), linking the project to a spot-market campaign around the SpaceX ecosystem.

Token integration: After moving through futures contracts on Binance Futures and a spot listing with the Seed Tag volatility warning, MARSCOIN entered a consolidation phase following a local gain of roughly 288% and a rise in market capitalization above $170 million.bStocks distribution program: MARSCOIN holders have been offered an airdrop of tokenized pre-IPO SpaceX shares (SPCXB, a bStocks token). Binance allocates 30% of MARSCOIN spot-trading fees to rewards paid to users in SPCXB. Since September 21, bStocks have been available as collateral for all verified accounts. Binance states that the bStocks token does not grant legal rights or voting rights in SpaceX itself. You Might Also Like

The rollout of tokenized stocks comes amid a regulatory deadlock in Washington. On September 15, the U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act by 49 votes to 50, short of the 60 required. The bill was intended to define the SEC's and CFTC's respective authority, but stalled over an ethics provision barring public officials from owning crypto businesses.

In response, regulators began acting independently within their existing powers:

SEC initiative: The agency issued an Innovation Exemption order that, for five years, relieves U.S. tokenized-stock venues from classification as "exchanges" and liquidity providers in AMM pools from classification as "dealers." The tokens must provide the same rights as the underlying shares, including dividends and voting rights, while issuers have 30 days to object. CFTC initiative: The agency's Market Participants Division issued Staff Letter 26-25, relieving developers of passive trading software from broker registration, provided they do not take custody of assets, control order routing, or issue direct trading signals.SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and Uniswap founder Hayden Adams noted that the relief is aimed at partially centralized platforms integrating traditional financial instruments, rather than fully decentralized protocols. The SEC order and CFTC letter are temporary administrative measures that could be withdrawn by future commissions.

Crypto market outlook: Key triggers in the coming daysInvestors navigating heightened volatility will need to watch three factors:

U.S. economic releases, Tuesday through Friday: Markets will react to JOLTS job-openings data on Tuesday, GDP and the PCE inflation index on Wednesday, and nonfarm payrolls on Friday. Any significant deviation from forecasts will change expectations for the Federal Reserve's next rate move.Lower Asian liquidity from October 1: Holiday closures in China and Hong Kong will reduce trading volumes in the region. Thinner order books may amplify price squeezes during U.S. sessions.Pressure on altcoins: The record inflow of altcoins to centralized exchanges in CryptoQuant's metrics points to profit-taking by large holders of mid-tier assets. A further shift of capital from altcoins toward Bitcoin and Ethereum remains possible. You Might Also Like

Key Takeaways XRP maintained stability around $1.53 on Sept. 27, trading within a tight $1.51–$1.55 corridor throughout the session. Technical observers identified $1.66 as a critical barrier, with potential upside targets between $1.80–$2 upon breakthrough. Whale-level exchange outflows accelerated dramatically in August, peaking at 231 million XRP on Aug. 21. CME futures markets displayed moderate engagement, with September and October contracts settling around the $1.50 mark. Reaching $3 by year-end would require a 96% surge from current levels, demanding approximately $92 billion in fresh capital inflows. XRP maintained a steady position around $1.53 on September 27, continuing its consolidation within a restricted trading band. According to CoinMarketCap statistics, the digital asset fluctuated between $1.51 and $1.55 throughout the trading day.

XRP Price The cryptocurrency’s total market valuation hovered near $96.2 billion. Daily trading activity recorded approximately $2.66 billion in volume.

The previous week saw heightened volatility for XRP. After closing around $1.50 on September 23, the token rallied to $1.57 by September 25 before retreating to its current $1.53 level.

$1.66 Barrier Remains Critical Technical Threshold Market analyst Maison Cypher highlighted $1.66 as the primary overhead resistance following XRP’s test of a local peak near $1.6612. A decisive break above this threshold could redirect attention toward the $1.80 to $2 zone.

Cypher suggested XRP may first revisit its 200-period moving average. Such a scenario would extend the asset’s time within its established consolidation pattern.

Meanwhile, technical observer FOUR | Crypto Spaces identified a potential inverse head-and-shoulders formation developing on XRP’s chart. The pattern’s neckline appears positioned between $1.60 and $1.70, aligning closely with Cypher’s resistance assessment.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt of The Factor Report shared his perspective on X, stating that holding XRP doesn’t necessitate becoming “a certified cult member” and that technical charts have historically provided sufficient rationale for the position. Brandt emphasized the distinction between maintaining objectivity and disregarding available market data.

It is not necessary to be a certified cult member to be an interested owner of a crypto $XRP
The charts alone have always been enough reason for us to make a bet
There is a difference between being open minded and having a hole in the dead pic.twitter.com/YAnP0GGBBV

— The Factor Report (@PeterLBrandt) September 27, 2026

CME futures metrics revealed 8,684 contracts in open interest as of September 23. Trading volume for that session reached an estimated 4,944 contracts.

September futures contracts settled at $1.4955. The October contract closed marginally higher at $1.5060, indicating minimal premium structure between near-term contracts.

Large-Holder Outflows Accelerated Throughout August CryptoQuant researcher Amr Taha documented an uptick in substantial holder withdrawals from centralized exchanges. Transactions exceeding one million XRP showed significant growth during the previous month.

Source: CryptoQuant Exchange outflows reached 231 million XRP on August 21. This followed withdrawals of 54 million on August 19 and 114 million on August 20.

Taha emphasized that withdrawal activity alone doesn’t verify accumulation behavior or forecast price movement. These metrics merely indicate token migration away from exchange custody.

Ripple’s official XRP documentation references exchange-traded products and CME futures as institutional access channels for the token. The firm characterizes XRP as the native bridge currency of the XRP Ledger ecosystem.

Examining extended price objectives, XRP would require a 96% appreciation from $1.53 to achieve $3 by the conclusion of 2026. Such movement would elevate its market capitalization from approximately $96.6 billion to roughly $189 billion.

Historical precedent shows XRP has delivered similar returns previously. The token surged nearly 370% during November and December 2024, propelled by political developments and regulatory evolution in the United States.

The current advance has proceeded at a more measured pace. XRP climbed from approximately $1.00 on August 18 to $1.66 by September 23, representing a 66% increase over five weeks, before correcting to $1.53.

Market participants remain focused on two pivotal levels: support anchored near $1.50 and resistance positioned around $1.66. Until either threshold yields, XRP continues trading within its established consolidation zone.