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2024 Was the Year of Breaking Through

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I will remember 2024 as the year blockchain broke through. The transformations started early and just kept coming. What’s astounding to me is that at no time during this year did the overall direction or the market change. The only thing that happened was constant acceleration.

At the end of 2023, we already knew that 2024 was looking likely to turn out well. The European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MICA) act was going to come into effect. This created a legal framework for crypto-assets, real-world assets and stablecoins in Europe. We were already seeing business turn up across the region in anticipation of this transformation.

And then as we entered 2024, the hits just kept on coming. The first Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decision to officially approve the Bitcoin ETF came 10 days into the year, followed by Ethereum in May. By the middle of the year, the conversation shifted from one of two cool things happening to a more general vision of global regulatory convergence: everywhere around the world, crypto, digital assets and stablecoins are becoming legally accessible to individuals and enterprises.

As if things were not going well enough, a string of regulatory and legal successes in the U.S. was capped off by an election that, among many other things, has sealed the direction and fate of this industry. It is not an exaggeration to say that on the morning of Nov. 6, the world of blockchain looked vastly different.

What was a gradual shift towards regulatory approvals, public blockchains and legalized digital assets has become a sprint. Most importantly, permissioned blockchains, tokenized deposits and other aspects of the blockchain ecosystem that existed solely because they were seen as more acceptable to regulators than public blockchains have all lost their market value and position. Clients that were cautious in October now suddenly worry that they are losing an intensely competitive race.

Two months ago, the U.S. was a laggard in global regulatory convergence. Today, the prospects are that the U.S. will accelerate significantly and, possibly, leave other parts of the world behind in a rapid path towards acceptance and scaling of digital assets. Early cabinet picks and appointments in Trump’s administration announced already, show a strong pro-crypto and digital assets bias, though none of these will take effect until 2025.

Furthermore, on Nov. 26, a federal appeals court rejected efforts by the Treasury Department to sanction Tornado Cash, a piece of privacy software used to make anonymous payments. The Treasury alleges that this technology was used to launder money for North Korea. Advocates for crypto technology did not dispute that but argued that the Treasury should go after individuals or entities responsible rather than a particular piece of software, especially one that operates on a decentralized network with no specific owner or operator. The U.S. and Europe are still pursuing cases against individuals who are deemed responsible.

Privacy technology is going to be especially important in driving future adoption of blockchain technology among enterprises and institutions. Tornado Cash was never an attractive option for business users, as it intertwined two different concepts: privacy and anonymity. Business users are not looking for anonymous payments and transfers, but they do, however, need to keep details from their competition. A favorable court ruling on privacy generally will make business users feel more comfortable leveraging privacy technologies on-chain.

It would be great to end the story of 2024 here. A happy ending. But there are storm clouds on the horizon and there’s no sense in ignoring them. The blockchain industry has traditionally always delivered, often around the holidays, a series of “gifts” for the industry’s critics. Usually this is in the form of spectacular frauds, thefts, or business collapses.

This year, though we haven’t yet had the kind of collapse that will push politics off the table at holiday gatherings, we do seem to be speed-running the traditional crypto business cycle.

If you’ve been following pump.fun, you will have seen the casino-like atmosphere that’s taken hold. People have been chaining themselves to toilets and inventing memes to create tradeable tokens and make money. It’s all (sometimes) very funny until someone loses their child’s college fund.

Don’t let a few clouds on the horizon spoil the good end of year vibes. 2024 was an exceptional year for blockchain. We didn’t change direction, but we started moving a lot faster. 2025 will see revolution by acceleration and plenty of sunshine.

Disclaimer: These are the personal views of the author and do not represent the views of EY.

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XRP in Focus as RLUSD Sees $100M Minted on Ripple Payments Boost

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Over $100 million in Ripple USD (RLUSD) has been issued since April 1, among the highest levels in recent months, as demand for the relatively new stablecoin heats up.

A $50 million tranche of RLUSD was issued earlier this week on Tuesday, with another $50 million late Wednesday. That came as Ripple added the stablecoin to its official payments product, with payment providers BKK Forex and iSend already said to be using the stablecoin.

Industry leaders expect RLUSD to further shift crypto market dynamics, where upstarts tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) could see competition from Ripple’s product.

XRP Ledger-based decentralized financial (DeFi) applications could be a cohort to watch for as RLUSD gains traction on various platforms, boosting XRP token demand.

RLUSD is a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar, offered on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum blockchain. It is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. Treasuries, and cash equivalents.

To maintain its peg, RLUSD relies on a 1:1 reserve system—each token matches an equivalent fiat value.

Users can mint RLUSD by depositing dollars with authorized partners, who issue tokens, or burn RLUSD to redeem cash. Market arbitrage helps stabilize its price: if RLUSD trades below $1, traders buy it to redeem at par, raising demand; if above $1, they mint more, increasing supply.

Security features make RLUSD appealing to institutional users. An XRP Ledger amendment in January saw a “clawback” feature go live on the network, allowing the issuer to reclaim or «claw back» certain tokens, such as RLUSD, from users’ wallets under specific conditions.

This feature is typically implemented for regulatory compliance, to recover assets in cases of fraud, illegal activities, or when tokens are sent to unintended addresses.

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Wobble in Bitcoin, Ether, XRP Prices Cause Crypto Bulls and Bears to See $450M Liquidations Each

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Higher-than-usual market volatility affected bulls and bears alike as crypto futures racked up $450 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours as U.S. tariffs went into play.

President Donald Trump officially levied a 25% tariff on auto imports and a minimum 10% tariff on all exporters to the U.S. Additional duties were imposed on the nation’s biggest trading partners in Asia and the European Union, with China facing a 50% hike on several goods and a 26% fee on some Indian goods.

Turmoil in markets ensued with gains from the past three days wiped out in U.S. indices and cryptocurrencies. Asian markets tumbled early Thursday and U.S. 10-year Treasury yields slumped to the lowest level in more than five months. Gold set yet another record high.

Bitcoin inched above $87,000 as investors hoped for leaner long-term effects of the economic changes, with signs of a risk-on environment emerging at the start of the week. Majors ether (ETH) and xrp (XRP) traded above $1,900 and $2.15, respectively, with technical analysis suggesting higher moves in the near term.

But the euphoria was short-lived as crypto majors dipped as much as 5% from Wednesday’s highs before gradually stabilizing.

In Asian morning hours on Thursday, bitcoin traded just above $83,500 while ether traded slightly over $1,800 — effectively reversing all gains from Tuesday after a sudden drop following the Tokyo open.

That caused over $230 million in liquidations on both bullish and bearish bets, data shows, in an unusual move. BTC-tracked futures registered over $172 million in long and short liquidations alone, followed by ETH futures at $120 million and smaller altcoins at $50 million.

Liquidation refers to when an exchange forcefully closes a trader’s leveraged position due to a partial or total loss of the trader’s initial margin. It happens when a trader is unable to meet the margin requirements for a leveraged position (fails to have sufficient funds to keep the trade open).

Single-sided large liquidations can signal the local top or bottom of a steep price move, which may allow traders to position themselves accordingly. However, Thursday’s liquidations can be considered a sign of market uncertainty.

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XRP Nears Topping Pattern That Could Lead to a Downtrend, Establishing $1.07 as Support: Technical Analysis

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Tariffs-led risk-off has payments-focused cryptocurrency XRP trading close to the support zone near $2, a crucial level for confirming a significant topping pattern and renewed downtrend.

We are referring to the head-and-shoulders pattern, comprising three peaks, with the middle being the highest. A horizontal line drawn from the base of the three peaks, the neckline, marks the key demand zone.

In XRP’s case, the $1.90-$2 range has been that demand zone since January. So, a price move below the same would trigger the H&S breakdown, confirming a bullish-to-bearish trend change.

A potential breakdown could see prices nearly halve to $1.07, according to veteran analyst and trader Peter Brandt. Chart analysts identify targets using the measure move method, which involves determining the distance from the top of the head to the neckline and subtracting that distance from the breakdown point, in this case, $2.

On the higher side, $3, or the lower high created in early March, is the level to beat for the bulls.

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