Has Bitcoin price prediction turned a corner, with real on-chain movement toward $175,000 — or are we skipping steps by already entertaining BlackRock’s $700,000 thesis? BTC nears $98K as bullish momentum reignites After weeks of sideways movement, Bitcoin (BTC) nearly…

BlackRock sees $700,000 Bitcoin — are we about to test that thesis in real time?

Crypto app developers are now free to direct users to payments outside of 
Apple&#8217;s ecosystem without restrictions or hefty fees, after a United States 
district judge ruled that Apple violated an injunction in its antitrust legal 
battle against Epic Games.
&#8220;The Court finds Apple in willful violation of this Court&#8217;s 2021 Injunction, 
which was issued to restrain and prohibit Apple&#8217;s anticompetitive conduct and 
anticompetitive pricing. Apple&#8217;s continued attempts to interfere with 
competition will not be tolerated,&#8221; US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers 
said in an April 30 court filing.
## Apple must make changes &#8220;effective immediately&#8221;
&#8220;Effective immediately, Apple will no longer impede developers&#8217; ability to 
communicate with users, nor will they levy or impose a new commission on off- 
app purchases,&#8221; Rogers added.
Rogers reiterated, &#8220;This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do- 
overs once a party willfully disregards a court order. Time is of the 
essence.&#8221;
_Source:__Hector Lopez_
The ruling stated that Apple must not impose &#8220;any commission or any fee on 
purchases that consumers make outside an app.&#8221; It added, &#8220;no reason exists to 
audit, monitor, track or require developers to report purchases or any other 
activity that consumers make outside an app.&#8221;
It was ruled that Apple can&#8217;t control how developers design or place links 
that lead users to buy items outside the app. Apple also cannot exclude 
&#8220;certain categories of apps and developers from obtaining link access.&#8221;
Following the court ruling, several crypto industry participants noticed that 
Apple guidelines were updated, with some claiming that the tone of the 
guidelines suggests they weren&#8217;t too pleased with the ruling.
Appfigures co-founder and CEO Ariel Michaeli said that people may find Apple&#8217;s 
&#8220;passive aggressive language confusing.&#8221;
_**Related:**__**FTX sues NFT Stars and Kurosemi in push to recover tokens**_
Michaeli summarized Apple&#8217;s update as Apps can now link to an external non- 
fungible token (NFT) collection, can link outside of the App Store without 
needing an entitlement, and can link to an external payment system without 
requiring an entitlement.
Crypto commentator &#8220;Xero&#8221; told their 50,000 X followers on May 2, &#8220;This is 
hugely bullish for mobile crypto games and apps.&#8221; Meanwhile, Alex Masmej said, 
&#8220;This is absolutely huge for crypto.&#8221;
The same day, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said Epic would be relaunching 
Fortnite to the US Apple App Store.
&#8220;Epic puts forth a peace proposal: If Apple extends the court&#8217;s friction-free, 
Apple-tax-free framework worldwide, we&#8217;ll return Fortnite to the App Store 
worldwide and drop current and future litigation on the topic,&#8221; Sweeney said.
In August 2023, Justice Elena Kagan declined to let a federal appeals court 
decision take immediate effect as Epic had asked &#8212; with no explanation for 
the decision.
_**Magazine:**__**Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it &#8216;s becoming them in 
stablecoin fight**_

Apple softens crypto app rules, 'hugely bullish' for crypto industry

Bitcoin (BTC) has surged 14.6% over the past two weeks, rising from 
approximately $84,500 on April 18 to the mid-$90,000 range at the time of 
writing. With this upward momentum, the leading cryptocurrency appears to be 
setting its sights on a new all-time high (ATH), as several technical and 
momentum indicators hint at a growing bullish trend. Bitcoin Monthly 
Stochastic RSI Turning Bullish In a recent post on X, crypto analyst Titan of 
Crypto shared a BTC monthly chart indicating that the Stochastic Relative 
Strength Index (RSI) is on the verge of a bullish crossover. For the 
uninitiated, a Stochastic RSI bullish crossover signals growing upward 
momentum and is often interpreted as a potential buy signal or the start of a 
potential rally. Titan of Crypto added that if confirmed, the bullish 
crossover may initiate BTC’s next leg up. Related Reading: Bitcoin Flashing 
Pre-Rally Signals Seen Before Major 2024 Breakouts, Analyst Says As an 
example, the analyst referred to BTC’s price action on the monthly chart from 
back in Q3 2021. At the time, a similar bullish crossover in the Stochastic 
RSI preceded a 56.9% surge in Bitcoin’s price. However, Bitcoin must hold 
above crucial support levels to maintain this bullish structure. In a separate 
X post, renowned analyst Ali Martinez noted that BTC could re-test the $95,700 
support zone before advancing toward the $100,000 milestone. On the resistance 
side, Martinez emphasized that $97,530 remains a “key level to watch.” A 
successful breakout beyond this threshold could pave the way for BTC to 
revisit or surpass its previous ATH. As it stands, Bitcoin is trading roughly 
10% below its record high. Analysts Predict BTC’s Next Move Crypto analyst 
Rekt Capital also weighed in on BTC’s potential trajectory. In an X post 
published yesterday, he suggested that once BTC decisively breaks through the 
$97,000 to $99,000 zone, it could face rejection near $104,500. Following 
that, holding the $97,000–$99,000 range as support would be critical for BTC 
to launch toward new highs. Related Reading: Bitcoin Demand Momentum Yet To 
Recover From Deep Negative Zone, Analyst Says Similarly, analyst Ted noted 
that BTC is currently trading in a Wyckoff accumulation phase. The analyst 
added that BTC’s slide below $76,000 in early April was likely the bottom for 
this market cycle. He added: Looking at the Wyckoff accumulation pattern, it 
seems like the $96K-$99K level could act as a resistance. I think BTC could 
consolidate here for a few days, before eventually breaking to the upside. 
Despite bullish momentum, some concerns remain. Analysts caution that Bitcoin 
is unlikely to face a true supply shock in the immediate future, which could 
temper upside potential. At press time, BTC trades at $97,142, up 0.9% in the 
past 24 hours. Featured image created with Unsplash, charts from X and 
TradingView.com

Bitcoin Stochastic RSI Signals Brewing Bullish Momentum – ATH Incoming?

Andreessen Horowitz’s A16z crypto reports stablecoin volumes soaring to $1.82 
trillion, igniting a payments revolution and accelerating adoption of instant, 
low-cost global finance infrastructure. $1.82 Trillion Stablecoin Explosion 
Sets off Payment Revolution in Global Finance Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto 
division, A16z crypto, highlighted a sharp rise in stablecoin activity in an 
April 25 editorial, reporting that […]

$1.82T Stablecoin Boom Set to Speedrun Banking History, Says A16z

In a video released on Thursday, crypto commentator Zach Rector dismantled a 
viral claim—popularized by influencer Jake Clover—that XRP tokens are secretly 
changing hands for $100,000 apiece inside clandestine “dark pools.” Rector’s 
rebuttal aims to calm newcomers spooked by the rumor and to re-center the 
discussion on verifiable market mechanics rather than conspiratorial price- 
suppression narratives. XRP OTC Deals Aren’t Market Manipulation Rector opens 
the broadcast by calling the thesis “a new round of misinformation and FUD,” 
stressing that “institutions are [not] going to get XRP at $100,000 on the 
private ledger. That’s not happening.” He explains that what social-media 
accounts now label “dark pools” are simply over-the-counter (OTC) 
desks—private bilateral venues that large holders have used for decades in 
equities, foreign exchange and, more recently, digital assets. “It’s nothing 
new or specific to XRP,” he says, adding that Ripple Labs has been off-loading 
part of its treasury via OTC since 2019 without depressing the open-market 
price. Indeed, XRP has “pumped tremendously since November,” Rector notes, 
even as Ripple distributed fresh supply to institutional counterparties. Much 
of Clover’s allegation hinges on the idea that a separate, private version of 
the XRP Ledger (XRPL) carries its own price—orders of magnitude above the 
public market’s. Rector calls that notion a fundamental misunderstanding of 
how Ripple’s enterprise tooling works. Central-bank or government pilots often 
ask for “private ledgers where they can keep messaging and transactions hidden 
from the public view,” he acknowledges, but those environments are 
permissioned sidechains or wrapped derivatives. “XRP only exists on the public 
XRP Ledger that we all use […]. Your XRP can never leave the XRP Ledger,” he 
states. If testers wanted to model a six-figure price for stress-testing 
purposes, “that’s not the real XRP, never was, never would be.” To underscore 
the point, Rector cites Ripple chief technology officer David Schwartz, who 
“has already addressed this” and clarified that “there are not two prices of 
XRP.” Rector also invokes examples from other enterprise-focused chains—XDC’s 
hybrid architecture and Constellation’s Department of Defense “Metagraph” 
deployment—to show that privacy partitions are standard practice, not evidence 
of hidden liquidity at surreal valuations. OTC Buyers Get A Discount While 
some retail traders fear that Wall Street would happily pay an astronomical 
premium behind closed doors, Rector argues the economics are inverted: “Why 
would an institution pay $10,000 per XRP on the private ledger […] when it’s 
available on the public market for $2?” OTC desks exist precisely so that 
whales can accumulate “without moving the market,” not to overpay. In fact, 
history shows that Ripple has often granted institutional partners a discount, 
not a markup—something revealed in discovery during the SEC vs. Ripple 
lawsuit. Rector reminds viewers that Ripple’s data set includes “over 1,700 
NDAs” and that R3 once negotiated an option to buy five billion XRP “for a 
sub-penny” over three years, ultimately settling for a single billion when the 
broader partnership soured. None of those figures approach the six-figure 
fantasy. At press time, XRP traded at $2.21. Featured image created with 
DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

Crypto Pundit Debunks $100,000 XRP ‘Dark Pool’ Theory

Ripple’s $5 billion acquisition bid was reportedly snubbed as one expert says 
Circle is eyeing a $10 billion IPO amid bullish momentum and favorable crypto 
regulation. Ripple’s Acquisition Bid Rejected? Expert Suggests Circle Has $10B 
IPO in Its Sights Attorney John E. Deaton, a well-known advocate for XRP 
holders, explained that Circle’s market value could […]