Bitcoin miners caught a break on Thursday as difficulty dropped, but the 
relief may be short-lived if it rises in December, as forecast.

BTC mining difficulty forecast to rise in Dec, as hashprice sits near record lows

The crypto market rebounded in the final week of November, recovering over 
$200 billion to close around $3.18 trillion after a sharp downturn. Bitcoin 
rose 7% to $90,500, briefly topping $93,000, while exchange-traded funds 
(ETFs) fueled inflows that signaled renewed investor appetite. Bitcoin 
Reclaims $90,000 Mark The crypto economy closed the last week of November […]

Crypto Market Ends November Down $600B Despite Late Surge

Conversations around XRP have grown louder in recent weeks as the 
cryptocurrency continues to trade around the $2.2 region while new Spot XRP 
ETFs continue to attract inflows across multiple issuers. One voice in the 
community has attempted to explain why the market is unusually calm despite 
rising institutional demand. An XRP enthusiast known as Pumpius shared a 
detailed thread on X that breaks down the mechanics behind the new ETFs and 
why the real impact may still be ahead. His argument is that the current XRP 
price action does not yet reflect what is going on behind the scenes. Related 
Reading: Bitcoin Maxi Says ATH Back On The Table After 40x Derivatives Surge 
Why ETF Rules Create A Special Market Dynamic Pumpius explained that the 
foundation of the entire setup is in one legal detail with fund managers. ETF 
fund managers are restricted from purchasing XRP directly from Ripple or from 
the escrow accounts that hold large reserves of the token. Every ETF must 
source XRP through open-market purchases, without private deals or wholesale 
arrangements. The absence of direct acquisition forces institutional buyers 
into the same liquidity pool as retail and whales. With the new launch of XRP 
ETFs, and as demand continues to rise, the circulating supply is now the 
battleground, and this mechanical pressure is already visible in recent weeks 
as XRP trading volumes climbed while exchange supply began trending downward. 
According to market trackers, XRP supply on major exchanges has declined 
steadily since the approval of the first Spot XRP ETFs, showing that the 
stress on available liquidity is not theoretical but active. Particularly, 
data from CryptoQuant shows that Binance’s XRP reserves are now at their 
lowest point in months, having dropped to 2.7 billion tokens this week. 
Incoming Supply Squeeze For XRP Another part of the explanation focuses on 
Ripple’s behavior regarding escrow releases. Although one billion XRP is 
unlocked each month, Ripple has repeatedly returned about 700 million to 800 
million of these unlocked tokens back into escrow. Ripple releases only what 
it considers necessary to maintain healthy liquidity in the ecosystem, and the 
company has avoided significant selling pressure since the ETF approvals. 
According to Pumpius, this means the ecosystem is operating in a controlled 
balance where ETF issuers are absorbing a growing share of the circulating 
float, while Ripple keeps escrow output extremely conservative. The result is 
a slow tightening of supply that&#8217;s happening behind the scenes and may not yet 
be visible in price action but can eventually cause what he called a 
structural supply shock. When this happens, XRP will not move slowly, but it 
will break price levels with impact. Related Reading: Crypto Wins Big: 
Thailand Moves To A 0% Tax On Local Exchange Gains Still speaking of what is 
happening behind the scenes, Ripple has been advancing several developments 
that could strengthen XRP’s long-term position. A recent example is Abu 
Dhabi’s financial regulator formally recognizing RLUSD as a fiat-referenced 
token. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

What’s Going On Behind The Scenes With XRP? Expert Answers

The Hyperliquid development team provided clarity on Saturday&#8217;s token unlock 
in response to community fears of increased selling pressure.

1.75M Hyperliquid tokens unlocked today, but was the price impacted?

China’s top financial and law enforcement agencies recently convened a high- 
level meeting to reaffirm and strengthen the nation’s total prohibitive stance 
on cryptocurrencies. Reaffirming the Prohibitive Policy China’s top financial 
and law enforcement agencies have convened to reaffirm and strengthen the 
nation’s prohibitive stance on cryptocurrencies, warning that speculative 
activity has resurfaced and poses new […]

Cryptocurrency price in USD