The potential approval of spot XRP ETFs could significantly boost institutional investment in crypto, enhancing market legitimacy and growth. The post Bloomberg analysts: spot XRP ETFs now have 85% odds of launching this year appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bloomberg analysts: spot XRP ETFs now have 85% odds of launching this year

Coinbase has made an official statement in the landmark Supreme Court case, 
which challenges IRS&#8217;s powers to demand crypto-related data.

Coinbase to Supreme Court: IRS crypto dragnet was unconstitutional

The recent stagnation in XRP’s spot price may owe less to waning market 
interest than to a surge in off-exchange trading, according to crypto pundit 
and Digital Ascension Group managing director Jake Claver. In a 23-post thread 
published on X, the commentator argued that “dark pools are an invisible force 
… holding prices stable,” even as institutional demand accelerates. Claver’s 
thread—viewed more than 250,000 times within 48 hours—posits that private 
liquidity venues are absorbing large buy orders that would otherwise inflate 
the public order book. “So what’s a dark pool, exactly? Picture trying to buy 
$500 million worth of XRP without tipping off the market,” he wrote. “Dark 
pools are private spots where huge orders get filled off the main exchanges.” 
XRP Price Rigged? The pundit described the mechanism as a “double-edged 
sword.” In the near term, he contends, clandestine accumulation “hides bullish 
momentum and drags prices down,” leaving retail traders to conclude that the 
asset has lost steam. Over a longer horizon, however, the same process 
allegedly tightens circulating supply until, he warned, “the dam bursts.” 
Related Reading: XRP Price Takes a Breather — Can Bulls Bounce Back from Here? 
“Institutions are quietly draining liquidity from public exchanges,” Claver 
asserted, adding that hedge funds, family offices and even sovereign entities 
have begun using dark-pool facilities now offered by major exchanges such as 
Coinbase and Kraken, as well as emerging decentralized alternatives. Because 
transactions are reported only after execution, he argued, “smart money 
doesn’t leave a trail.” Claver suggested that XRP is a prime beneficiary of 
this covert activity. In his view, pending regulatory clarity and enterprise- 
level adoption could coincide with dwindling float, leading to an abrupt 
repricing. “At a certain point, demand on public exchanges will explode past 
supply — and that’s when the market will panic to reprice itself. Get ready 
for a potential 2×, 3×, even 5× sprint,” he wrote. Should the hidden bid 
exhaust available inventory, “the price gaps straight up … charts will look 
like someone flipped a switch.” Related Reading: XRP To Hit $8, No Double 
Digits This Cycle — Warns Crypto Analyst He underscored the psychological 
dimension of a prolonged flat tape: “These are the stretches where even the 
die-hard believers start doubting and walk away. But if you hang tight, you 
might just catch what comes next.” Comparing dark-pool activity to a “pressure 
cooker,” Claver added, “They bottle up all that buying pressure now, but 
eventually, the lid blows off.” Concluding his thread, he urged patience: 
“Stay locked in. When the dam breaks, you’ll be grateful you bought at 50 
cents instead of scrambling to buy at $10.” Is There Proof? Market data do 
indicate muted volatility in XRP, which has traded in a narrow corridor around 
$2.00 for much of April despite a succession of positive fundamentals and news 
from Ripple. Whether dark-pool activity is the decisive variable, however, 
remains unverified; most over-the-counter (OTC) trading is reported only in 
aggregated form, and no public ledger tracks the size of institutional flows 
Claver describes. Claver offered no documentary evidence for the alleged scale 
of purchasing, and his analysis stops short of quantifying volumes. 
Nevertheless, his thread reinforces a familiar narrative in crypto markets: 
that price calm on the surface may belie deep currents of accumulation below. 
For retail spectators, the question is whether those unseen currents will 
indeed surface as the “vertical” move Claver envisions—​or remain, like most 
dark-pool orders, permanently out of sight. At press time, XRP traded at 
$2.21. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

XRP Price Suppressed By ‘Dark Pools,’ Crypto Pundit Claims

Tether plans to launch a stablecoin product in the United States as soon as 
this year, the stablecoin issuer&#8217;s CEO, Paul Ardoino, said in an April 30 CNBC 
interview.
Tether&#8217;s flagship stablecoin, USDT (USDT), is already the US dollar&#8217;s top 
&#8220;exporter,&#8221; Ardoino told CNBC. It has a market capitalization of nearly $150 
billion, according to data from CoinGecko.
Now, Tether is preparing to expand into the US market &#8220;by the end of this year 
or early next year, at the fastest,&#8221; Ardoino said, adding that the timing 
depends on US lawmakers&#8217; progress on stablecoin legislation.
The stablecoin issuer is working to woo US regulators by proactively 
collaborating with law enforcement and highlighting USDT&#8217;s benefits for the US 
economy.
&#8220;We are just exporters of what we believe to be the best product the United 
States ever created &#8212; that is, the US dollar,&#8221; the CEO said.
_Tether&#8217;s USDT has 66% of the stablecoin market share. Source: Nansen_ 
 _**Related:**__**Tether still dominates stablecoins despite competition &#8212; 
Nansen**_
## Market leader
As of April 25, USDT commanded a roughly 66% market share among stablecoins, 
according to Nansen, a Web3 researcher.
Tether is also the most profitable stablecoin issuer, logging a net income of 
nearly $14 billion in 2024.
It earns revenue by accepting US dollars to mint USDT and then investing those 
dollars into highly liquid, yield-bearing instruments such as US Treasury 
bills. Still, USDT&#8217;s popularity is largely limited to users outside of the 
United States, where rival stablecoin USDC (USDC) is dominant.
Tether designed USDT &#8220;for the people that live in small villages in Africa&#8230; 
[or] a shop owner in Istanbul,&#8221; Ardoino told CNBC, adding that Tether is 
developing a &#8220;different product&#8221; for the US.
Adoption of USDC has accelerated in the wake of US President Donald Trump&#8217;s 
November election win, Nansen said in an April 25 report. Circle&#8217;s USDC has a 
market capitalization of more than $60 billion, CoinGecko data shows.
However, USDT is still likely to maintain its leading position in the 
stablecoin market. &#8220;Despite the potential dispersion in stables, we 
inevitably believe this is a &#8216;winner-takes-most&#8217; market dynamic,&#8221; the Web3 
researcher added.
_**Magazine: **__**Bitcoin payments are being undermined by centralized 
stablecoins**_

Tether plans US stablecoin launch as soon as this year — CNBC

On April 12—just over two weeks prior—expectations surrounding a potential cut 
to the federal funds rate were in flux, with markets assigning a 39.8% 
probability that the U.S. Federal Reserve would lower the rate by 25 basis 
points. Fast forward to seven days ahead of the next Federal Open Market 
Committee (FOMC) gathering, and that […]

Markets Bet on Fed Pause in May Even as Trump Rattles the Cage

After a sharp 75% rally, SUI is now showing signs of exhaustion as it 
approaches a key resistance area. Although the trend remains bullish, 
technical indicators suggest a healthy pause may be on the horizon before the 
next leg of…