A Nordic Bitcoin education group has released an open-source AI database 
designed to generate evidence-backed responses to common criticisms about 
Bitcoin’s environmental impact and energy use. According to Bitcoin Beyond 66, 
the tool, called “The Bitcoin Evidence Base,” has been…

Bitcoin community launches Bitcoin Beyond 66 AI tool to counter energy concerns

SBI Holdings starts talks to acquire Bitbank as Japan’s crypto market 
consolidates and Bitbank expands crypto card services.

SBI Holdings eyes Bitbank takeover as Japan crypto sector consolidates

Bakkt announced the deal in January, which was originally for 9.3 million 
shares, along with a corporate name change to Bakkt Inc.

Bakkt completes acquisition of stablecoin payments firm Distributed Technologies Research

The U.S. national debt has officially surpassed $38.9 trillion, eclipsing 100% 
of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the first time since the end 
of World War II. This historic fiscal threshold offers a real-world validation 
for bitcoin’s 21 million fixed supply. Key Takeaways: U.S. national debt 
topped 100% of GDP for the first […]

US Debt Nears $39T GDP Mark for First Time Since 1946, Validating Bitcoin

Former Ripple CTO David Schwartz pushed back against renewed claims that XRP 
could reach $10,000, arguing that the market itself already provides a reality 
check on such extreme price targets. In an exchange on X, Schwartz framed the 
issue less as a debate over belief and more as a question of rational capital 
allocation: if sophisticated investors truly saw even a small chance of that 
outcome, why has XRP not already been priced far higher? Schwartz Pushes Back 
on XRP Moonshot Claims The discussion began after an X user asked Schwartz to 
comment on theories built around a crypto adaptation of Chris Burniske’s Price 
= PQ / (V × S) model, which some XRP supporters have used to argue for a 
possible $10,000 XRP. Schwartz answered with a simple market-based objection. 
“If there were a few very rich, very rational people who really believed that 
there was a 1% chance that XRP could hit $10K in 10 years, they&#8217;d bid XRP up 
to at least $20 today,” Schwartz wrote. “Why aren&#8217;t they? Conspiracy?” The 
point was not merely that $10,000 is a large number. Schwartz’s argument was 
that if the expected value of such a target were credible to rational, well- 
capitalized investors, they would not wait passively. Even assigning only a 
small probability to a massive future price would, in his reasoning, be enough 
to justify aggressive buying at far higher levels than the current market has 
sustained. Related Reading: XRP’s Leverage Has Been Flushed Out, But Price Is 
Still Holding: Find Out What Follows That Setup That answer cut directly into 
one of the recurring assumptions behind ultra-bullish XRP forecasts: that the 
market has failed to price in future institutional utility, settlement demand, 
or some latent strategy held by Ripple. Schwartz’s response suggested that 
markets may be imperfect, but they are not so inert that major pools of 
capital would ignore an asymmetric opportunity of that scale if they believed 
it was remotely plausible. The debate then moved to another familiar claim in 
XRP circles: that Ripple itself could use its own products, including Ripple 
Prime or treasury-related flows, to drive the asset dramatically higher. One 
user asked why Ripple would not “use their own stuff” through those channels 
and suggested it could push XRP above $100. Schwartz rejected the idea that 
Ripple still holds some unused mechanism capable of massively repricing XRP on 
command. “Maybe there was one time when you could semi-plausibly argue that 
Ripple had some easy way to shoot up the price of XRP massively for good but 
was just waiting for the right time to maximize something or other,” he wrote. 
“But boy, it&#8217;s hard to argue that today. For one thing, circumstances have 
changed so much that it&#8217;s hard to imagine we&#8217;ve held onto this magic switch 
for so long and it&#8217;s still just waiting to go.” Related Reading: Peter Brandt 
Puts XRP Bulls on Alert With New Support Chart He added that Ripple has 
already explained its strategy, even if the company does not disclose every 
internal detail. “We&#8217;ve explained what we&#8217;re doing, why we&#8217;re doing it, and 
what we hope to achieve,” Schwartz wrote. “While we aren&#8217;t transparent about 
everything, we&#8217;re not hiding some grand conspiracy. At least not as far as I 
know.” Another user argued that wealthy investors often focus on wealth 
preservation rather than high-risk bets. Schwartz countered that this 
misunderstands how large pools of capital often behave. “The way rich people 
preserve wealth is by taking bigger risks than other people can stand to 
take,” he replied. The exchange continued when another user suggested that 
very wealthy buyers would accumulate XRP over the counter rather than on 
centralized exchanges, limiting visible price impact. Schwartz conceded that 
could be true initially, but argued it would not change the broader 
conclusion. “At first,” he wrote. “But they wouldn&#8217;t stop until they had moved 
the price or run out of money.” At press time, XRP traded at $1.3749. Featured 
image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

David Schwartz Challenges $10,000 XRP Theory With Simple Question

Ukraine&#8217;s drone advancements may prolong conflict, complicating peace efforts 
and reducing ceasefire prospects by mid-2026.
The post Ukraine drone edge complicates ceasefire prospects by June 2026 
appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

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