Crypto Dispensers, a Chicago-based operator of Bitcoin ATMs, is considering a potential $100 million sale as its founder faces federal money laundering charges.
In a Friday press release, the company announced that it has hired advisors to conduct a “strategic review” and explore buyer interest. Crypto Dispensers mentioned its 2020 shift away from physical ATMs toward a software-driven model, a transition it says was meant to address rising fraud, compliance pressure and regulatory scrutiny.
CEO Firas Isa described the sale review as part of the firm’s next growth phase. “Hardware showed us the ceiling. Software showed us the scale,” he said.
The crypto ATM operator noted that it may continue operating independently depending on the outcome. There is also no assurance that any transaction will be completed.
The potential sale review was announced days after the US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment accusing Isa and the company of facilitating a $10 million laundering scheme.
Prosecutors alleged that between 2018 and 2025, Isa knowingly accepted proceeds from wire fraud and narcotics trafficking through the firm’s ATM network. Despite KYC requirements, the DOJ claims he converted the funds into cryptocurrency and moved them to wallets designed to obscure their origin.
Both Isa and Crypto Dispensers have pleaded not guilty to the single conspiracy count, which carries a maximum 20-year federal sentence. If convicted, the government could seize assets tied to the alleged scheme.
Crypto ATMs have come under mounting pressure from US regulators and local governments amid escalating concerns over fraud. The FBI reported nearly 11,000 scam complaints tied to crypto kiosks in 2024, totaling more than $246 million, prompting lawmakers to scrutinize the machines’ anonymity and role in enabling illicit activity.
Cities are now responding with bans and strict limits. In Stillwater, Minnesota, officials prohibited crypto kiosks after multiple residents lost thousands of dollars to scams, including one incident involving a fake PayPal “overpayment.”
Other jurisdictions are choosing restrictions instead of outright bans. Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, despite having no active crypto ATMs, imposed a $1,000 daily limit and $5,000 two-week cap on future kiosk transactions to protect residents from potential fraud.
The leading Bitcoin mining application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) manufacturer, Bitmain, which is based in China, is reportedly under investigation in the US over national security concerns.
According to a Friday Bloomberg report, an unspecified US official and six other anonymous people familiar with the matter said that Bitmain’s hardware is at the center of a federal investigation known as “Operation Red Sunset.” The investigation, led by the US Department of Homeland Security, reportedly seeks to determine whether the ASICs could be remotely controlled for spying or to sabotage the US power grid.
Consequences for the US crypto mining industry could be far-reaching, since Bitmain controls over 80% of the Bitcoin mining ASIC market, according to a Cambridge report. Chinese dominance in the industry is even more ironclad, with both Bitmain and the second-largest manufacturer, MicroBT, based in mainland China, controlling 97% of the market share on their own.
In some cases, investigators even disassembled Bitmain ASICs to look for malicious capabilities, the anonymous officials told Bloomberg. They declined to say whether anything was found.
A Bitmain spokesperson told Bloomberg that it’s “unequivocally false” that the company is capable of remotely controlling its machines. Instead, the company representative claimed that it “strictly complies with US and applicable laws and regulations and has never engaged in activities that pose risks to US national security,” and is unaware of the investigation.
Donald Trump’s skin in the game
Imposing restrictive measures on Bitmain machines is also likely to lead to consequences for US President Donald Trump’s family. In August, a Bitcoin mining company backed by members of Trump’s family, American Bitcoin, acquired a fleet of 16,299 Antminer U3S21EXPH units from Bitmain.
The company also inherited “substantially all” of Hut 8’s ASICs. This includes the 31,145 Bitmain Antminers S21+ machines it acquired about a year ago.
In September, American Bitcoin announced that it has “preferential access to next-generation ASIC compute infrastructure,” without explicitly citing Bitmain. US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings also reveal that American Bitcoin “paid through the pledge of Bitcoin” with a “redemption period of 24 months from each pledge date,” terms which The Guardian reports are unusually generous.
With Bitmain so dominant in the space, American Bitcoin is far from the only major US-based crypto mining company that may be affected by the findings of this investigation. The industry already got a taste of what might happen when, in mid-February, publicly traded mining companies in the US felt the effects of trade tensions between the United States and China through delays in receiving shipments of their ASICs.
As Bitcoin (BTC) plunged below $90,000 this week, igniting fresh fears that the bull market may be over, hundreds of millions of dollars continued to flow into crypto companies, signaling that institutional appetite for the sector remains strong.
Republic Technologies became the latest company to add Ether (ETH) to its treasury, securing $100 million in financing under unusually favorable terms for the industry. The deal was structured as a zero-interest convertible note, meaning Republic neither pays interest nor risks defaulting for missed payments — a rare setup in the crypto financing landscape.
“Republic’s raise, while unique, probably won’t spark off a new normal for how funds are raised in the crypto industry, though it is a sign of a maturing market that new forms of money raising are being seen, and that is the trend that is likely to continue,” Komodo chief technology officer Kaden Stadelmann told Cointelegraph.
Elsewhere, crypto exchange Kraken raised a staggering $800 million at a $20 billion valuation as it moves toward going public, with $200 million of that investment coming from Citadel Securities.
This week’s Crypto Biz delves into these and other stories from the business world of digital assets.
Republic Technologies raises $100 million
Republic Technologies has raised $100 million through a zero-interest convertible note facility to expand its Ether holdings — a structure the company says limits shareholder dilution while allowing it to build a sizable position in the digital asset.
Because the notes carry no interest, Republic does not have to spend cash servicing the debt and cannot default due to missed interest payments.
The company contrasted its approach with that of other Ether-focused companies, including BitMine Immersion, whose recent $365 million raise included 200% warrant coverage. This level could lead to significant shareholder dilution if the warrants are exercised.
Beyond Republic, there are 18 other publicly traded companies holding Ether treasuries, according to industry data.
Business-intelligence-company-turned-Bitcoin-treasurer Strategy made headlines this week after announcing it had acquired an additional 8,178 BTC for $835.6 million, at an average price of $102,171 per Bitcoin. It marks the company’s largest purchase since July.
Strategy now holds nearly 650,000 BTC, cementing its status as the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin treasury by a wide margin. The company is riding out the latest Bitcoin market downturn and could still be on track for S&P 500 inclusion by December, according to a new report from Matrixport.
In the meantime, its share price has come under significant pressure, falling to about $207 from a peak of $474.
Tether broadens into the commodity-lending business
Stablecoin issuer Tether is flexing its financial muscle beyond its core USDt (USDT) operations, expanding further into the commodity-trade lending business after deploying $1.5 billion in credit across cash and its stablecoin.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino told Bloomberg the company plans to “expand dramatically” into financing commodity trades, including agricultural goods and oil. The activity falls under Tether’s recently created Trade Finance Unit.
Tether has already established a notable presence in the commodities space through its tokenized gold product, Tether Gold, which has gained popularity amid the current bull market. Ardoino also confirmed the company holds more than 100 tons of physical bullion.
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has formally moved toward a public listing, submitting a confidential draft S-1 registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock.
The filing comes just a day after Kraken announced it had raised $800 million across two funding rounds, valuing the company at approximately $20 billion. The funding included $200 million from Citadel Securities.
Because the S-1 was submitted confidentially, Kraken has not yet disclosed details such as the size of the offering, the share price or the listing exchange.
Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse on the business behind blockchain and crypto, delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.
KuCoin Pay has integrated with Pix, Brazil’s central bank-run instant payments network, allowing users to convert and spend cryptocurrencies at any merchant that accepts Pix QR codes.
The launch taps into one of the world’s largest crypto user bases, with roughly 26 million Brazilians, about 12% of the population, now using digital assets, according to a Friday announcement from the exchange.
The integration supports instant crypto-to-Brazilian currency conversions (Brazil’s currency is the real), enabling users to transfer funds from KuCoin accounts to any Brazilian bank or pay merchants directly through Pix. It also features multi-functional wallet tools for managing both cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies within the KuCoin app.
Pix, an instant payments system launched in 2020 and run by the Central Bank of Brazil, serves more than 175 million users.
KuCoin Pay, the payment arm of the cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin, is a merchant tool that allows businesses to accept cryptocurrencies for online and in-person transactions. According to CoinMarketCap, KuCoin ranks as the eighth-largest crypto exchange in the world, with more than $6.2 billion in spot trading volume.
An October report from Chainalysis said that Brazil accounts for nearly a third of all crypto activity in Latin America, with about $318.8 billion in transaction volume from July 2024 to June 2025. The high rate of adoption in the country has attracted a wave of new initiatives from local and foreign companies.
In September, Brazil’s largest private asset manager, Itaú Asset Management, established a crypto division and named former Hashdex executive João Marco Braga da Cunha to head it. The company oversees more than 1 trillion reais ($186 billion) in client assets.
In October, Crown, a São Paulo fintech, raised $8.1 million to launch BRLV, a Brazilian real–denominated stablecoin aimed at giving institutions easier access to Brazil’s high-yield fixed-income market.
On Nov. 3, Brazilian digital bank Banco Inter completed a blockchain-based trade finance pilot with Chainlink, the Central Bank of Brazil and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. The pilot demonstrated how blockchain could streamline cross-border transactions.
On Wednesday, Coinbase said it is bringing its “DeFi Mullet” decentralized trading feature to the country, giving local users access to tens of thousands of tokens without leaving the Coinbase app.
Still, some uncertainty persists on the regulatory front. In June, Brazil overhauled its tax rules, replacing its progressive system with a flat 17.5% levy on all crypto capital gains.
Crypto exchange Coinbase initiated a large fund migration on Saturday, moving tokens to new internal wallets in a scheduled, routine security procedure to reduce long-term exposure of keeping funds in the same wallet addresses, which are publicly known.
The migration is not due to any cybersecurity breaches or external threats, according to an announcement from the company. Coinbase said:
“Migrating wallets periodically is a well-accepted best practice that minimizes long-term exposure of funds. This is a planned migration and unrelated to industry changes or price conditions. This is not in response to a data breach incident or external threat.”
This means that large Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and other token balances will be moving onchain from Coinbase wallets to other internal Coinbase wallets already labeled by blockchain explorers and intelligence platforms.
Coinbase warned users that during the migration, scammers may attempt to exploit the situation by impersonating Coinbase representatives and reaching out to customers requesting login information or asking users to shift funds, which the exchange never does
Idle balances may be a honeypot for hackers: Why periodically shifting funds is a best practice
Hackers target centralized servers, information systems, and hot crypto wallets, which are connected to the internet, to extract information and value from users.
These centralized repositories containing vast quantities of information or tokens are attractive to threat actors, who often plan these attacks for months and see the large centralized systems as honeypots.
The emergence of artificial intelligence and AI-powered tools also gives hackers an edge in assembling heuristic clues through publicly known information and other metadata that can compromise sensitive information or lead to theft, cybersecurity experts tell Cointelegraph.
Quantum computers also pose a threat to current cryptographic technology, which is not far off in the future, but may have already materialized retroactively, Gianluca Di Bella, a smart-contract and zero-knowledge (ZK) proof researcher, told Cointelegraph.
Threat actors may be compiling crypto public keys now until a sufficiently powerful quantum computer is invented.
Then, the quantum computer can derive the private key from the public address in a “harvest now, decrypt later” attack, Di Bella told Cointelegraph.
Cryptographic protocols must switch to post-quantum security standards as soon as possible to neutralize the threat of retroactive hacking, Di Bella said.
Bitcoin has been facing intense selling pressure, opening the doors for a fall to the crucial support at $73,777.
Several major altcoins have slipped below their support levels, indicating that bears remain in firm control.
Bitcoin (BTC) attempted a recovery on Friday, but the bears continued to exert pressure, bringing the price as low as $80,000 at Binance. The sentiment remains weak as US stock markets deepened their correction this week amid concerns about excessive valuations in the artificial intelligence sector. Additionally, expectations of a December rate cut by the Federal Reserve have dropped to 33.1% from 98.1% on Oct. 21, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
The question on everyone’s mind is how low could BTC go? Bitwise European head of research André Dragosch said in a post on X that BTC is likely to bottom out in the zone between BlackRock’s IBIT cost-basis of $84,000 and Strategy’s cost-basis near $73,000.
Crypto market data daily view. Source: TradingView
Select analysts view the current dip as a positive development. Veteran trader Peter Brandt said in a post on X that the correction was the “best thing” that could have happened to BTC. He said he remains long-term bullish on BTC, expecting the price to rally to $200,000 around the third quarter of 2029.
What are the crucial overhead resistance levels to watch out for in BTC and major altcoins? Let’s analyze the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.
Bitcoin price prediction
BTC sliced through several short-term support levels and plunged to $80,600, signaling aggressive selling by the bears.
The next major support on the downside is at $73,777. Buyers are expected to defend the $73,777 level with all their might, as a break below it opens the gates for a collapse to $53,500.
Sharp corrections are followed by an equally sharp rally. The oversold levels on the relative strength index (RSI) indicate a potential relief rally in the near term. That could push the BTC/USDT pair to the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) ($97,319), where the bears are expected to mount a strong defense.
Ether price prediction
Ether (ETH) closed below the $3,000 level on Thursday, clearing the path for a collapse to $2,500.
The fall has pushed the RSI into the oversold zone, signaling that a relief rally is possible in the near term. If the Ether price turns up from the current level or rebounds off $2,500, the ETH/USDT pair could reach the breakdown level of $3,350.
On the contrary, a shallow bounce off $2,500 suggests weak demand from the bulls. That increases the risk of the continuation of the downward trend. The pair could then tumble to the $2,111 level.
XRP price prediction
XRP (XRP) slipped below the support line of the descending channel pattern on Friday, indicating that the bears are in charge.
If the price closes below the support line, the XRP/USDT pair may descend to the $1.61 support. Buyers are expected to defend the $1.61 level with all their might, as a break below it could start a new downtrend to $1.27 and then to $1.
On the upside, the zone between the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) ($2.45) and the downtrend line is the key resistance to keep an eye on. Buyers will have to thrust the XRP price above the downtrend line to signal a potential trend change.
BNB price prediction
BNB (BNB) remains in a firm bear grip as sellers attempt to maintain the price below the $860 support.
A close below $860 could intensify selling, pulling the BNB price to $818 and then to $730. The sharp fall of the past few days has pulled the RSI into oversold territory, suggesting a relief rally in the near term.
Any recovery attempt is expected to face selling at the breakdown level of $860 and then at the 20-day EMA ($946). If the price turns down from the overhead resistance, the bears will strive to pull the BNB/USDT pair to $625. The first sign of strength will be a close above the 20-day EMA. That opens the doors for a rally to $1,019 and then to the 50-day SMA ($1,069).
Solana price prediction
Buyers attempted a relief rally in Solana (SOL) on Thursday, but the long wick on the candlestick shows that the bears are active at higher levels.
The bears are trying to strengthen their position by sustaining the Solana price below the $126 support. If they manage to do that, the selling could pick up and the SOL/USDT pair could decline to $110 and later to $95.
The 20-day EMA ($150) remains the key short-term resistance to watch out for on the upside. Buyers will have to pierce the 20-day EMA to signal the start of a sustained recovery to the 50-day SMA ($179).
Dogecoin price prediction
Dogecoin (DOGE) has reached the bottom of the $0.14 to $0.29 range, where the buyers are expected to step in.
The bulls will have to push the Dogecoin price above the 20-day EMA ($0.16) to signal strength. The DOGE/USDT pair may then rise to the 50-day SMA and later to the $0.21 level. Such a move suggests that the pair may extend its stay inside the wide range for a while longer.
Alternatively, a break and close below $0.14 indicates that the bears have overpowered the bulls. The pair may then start a new downtrend toward the Oct. 10 low of $0.10.
Cardano price prediction
Cardano (ADA) continued its slide and reached the first support at $0.40, indicating that the bears are in command.
The sharp fall has pulled the RSI into the oversold territory, suggesting a recovery may be around the corner. The relief rally is expected to face selling at the breakdown level of $0.50. If the Cardano price turns down from $0.50, it suggests that the bears have flipped the level into resistance. That increases the risk of a drop toward $0.27.
On the contrary, if buyers drive the price above the 20-day EMA ($0.51), it signals that the bears are losing their grip. The ADA/USDT pair may then climb to the 50-day SMA ($0.62).
The selling picked up, and the bears pulled the price below the $35.50 support on Friday. If the price closes below $35.50, the HYPE/USDT pair could start a new downtrend toward $28 and then $24.
Buyers will have to quickly reclaim the $35.50 level to signal that the market has rejected the breakdown. The bulls will gain the upper hand after they propel the Hyperliquid price above the 50-day SMA ($40.98).
Zcash price prediction
Zcash (ZEC) bounced off the 20-day EMA ($559) on Tuesday, but the up move is facing selling near $750.
The negative divergence on the RSI suggests weakening bullish momentum. Sellers will try to pull the Zcash price below the 20-day EMA. If they manage to do that, the ZEC/USDT pair could correct to $424.
On the other hand, the bulls will have to defend the 20-day EMA if they want to retain the advantage. A close above the $750 resistance could start the next leg of the uptrend toward the psychological level of $1,000.
Bitcoin Cash price prediction
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) made a sharp recovery from the solid support at $443, indicating that the bulls are aggressively defending the level.
The relief rally is expected to face selling at the resistance line of the falling wedge pattern. If the price turns down from the resistance line and breaks below the moving averages, it suggests that the bears remain active at higher levels. The bears will then make one more attempt to sink the BCH/USDT pair below $443.
Conversely, a break and close above the resistance line signals a potential trend change. The BCH price could rally to $580 and then to $615.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Anchorage Digital has expanded its support for the Hyperliquid ecosystem by adding HYPE staking on HyperCORE, complementing its existing HYPE custody services on HyperEVM.
Staking, the process of locking crypto to secure a blockchain network in exchange for earning rewards, is being offered through Anchorage Digital Bank and through Anchorage Digital Singapore, which holds a Major Payment Institution license. The company said staking will also be available through Porto, its self-custody wallet.
The bank is partnering with staking infrastructure provider Figment to run the underlying validator infrastructure, it said in a Friday announcement.
With custody and staking now live across HyperEVM and HyperCORE, the company said it can support a wider range of Hyperliquid activity, including access to its decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem through Porto and custody for additional HyperEVM tokens, such as Kinetiq.
Hyperliquid, a layer 1 blockchain powering a decentralized exchange, uses its own architecture split between HyperEVM for Ethereum-style smart contracts and HyperCORE for native staking.
The latest move from Anchorage Digital comes two days after it announced a partnership with Mezo, a DeFi platform for Bitcoin-backed borrowing.
Anchorage Digital Bank, founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, is the only federally chartered crypto bank in the United States. It operates in conjunction with the broader Anchorage Digital platform.
Anchorage Digital’s latest initiative reflects a wider trend of pulling DeFi infrastructure and yield-generating staking into institutional platforms, as more custodians and infrastructure providers begin offering controlled access to staking and other onchain services.
In October, Crypto.com announced that users would be able to lend wrapped cryptocurrency and earn stablecoin yield through Morpho, a decentralized lending protocol. Morpho plans to launch stablecoin markets on the Cronos blockchain, with initial vaults expected to be launched this year.
In September, Coinbase followed suit by adding support for Morpho directly inside the Coinbase app. The integration allows users to lend USDC (USDC) and earn up to 10.8% yield without navigating external DeFi platforms or separate wallets.
In November, crypto infrastructure company Threshold upgraded its tBTC bridge to enable institutions to mint tBTC on supported chains in a single Bitcoin transaction, without requiring extra approvals or gas fees. The company said the changes are meant to make it easier for large Bitcoin (BTC) holders to deploy assets into DeFi protocols rather than keeping them idle.
A report from Binance Research found that DeFi lending protocols have grown more than 72% from January to Sept. 3. The company said the surge is being driven by increased institutional use of stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).
Bitcoin’s death cross, which previously led to 64%-77% BTC price declines, has flashed again.
Mounting selling pressure is prompting many investors to sell their BTC holdings at a loss.
Bitcoin (BTC) may have confirmed its entry into a bear market after the price dropped to $80,000 on Friday. This view is reinforced by a convergence of technical indicators that have historically preceded extended declines.
Bitcoin’s macro uptrend was invalidated
The BTC/USD pair closed below its 50-week moving average on Sunday, a level crypto analyst Rekt Capital has been closely watching, saying that the “price will need to reclaim it promptly on a relief rally to protect the structure.”
“Bitcoin wasn’t able to reclaim the 50-week EMA,” the analyst wrote in a Friday post on X, adding:
“Bullish market structures are invalidated when the macro trend shifts.”
Rekt Capital was referring to Bitcoin’s drop below key support lines, even as the price slid below the 100-week moving average to reach a six-month low of $80,500 on Friday.
Meanwhile, the price confirmed a “death cross” on its daily chart at the end of last week, a technical pattern that has previously preceded significant price declines.
On Sunday, Bitcoin’s 50-day simple moving average (SMA) crossed below its 200-day SMA for the first time since January 2024, forming a death cross.
“Every Bitcoin cycle has ended with a Death Cross,” said analyst Mister Crypto in an X analysis on Monday, asking:
“Why would this time be different?”
Bitcoin’s past performance after a death cross. Source: Mister Crypto
In January 2022, the death cross was followed by a 64% BTC price drop, bottoming at $15,500, fueled by the FTX collapse.
March 2018 and September 2014 saw 67% and 71% declines in BTC price, respectively, after painting similar SMA crossovers.
As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin’s SuperTrend indicator also sent a bearish signal on the weekly chart, an occurrence that has historically marked the start of a bear market.
Bitcoin realized losses surpassed $800 million
With selling pressure increasing by the hour, the volume of realized losses has risen to levels not seen since the 2022 FTX collapse.
Onchain data provider Glassnode shared a chart showing that Bitcoin’s aggregate realized losses by both short-term and long-term holders have surged to areas above $800 million on a seven-day rolling basis. The $800 million mark was last crossed in November 2022.
“Short-term holders are driving the bulk of the capitulation,” Glassnode said, adding:
“The scale and speed of these losses reflect a meaningful washout of marginal demand as recent buyers unwind into the drawdown.”
Bitcoin realized loss. Source: Glassnode
Sharing a similar perspective, CryptoQuant analyst IT Tech said short-term selling “often marks a local bottom if the price quickly reclaims the cost basis,” adding:
“Failing to do so historically indicates a deeper bearish trend or confirms a bear market.”
Bitcoin STH realized profit and loss. Source: CryptoQuant
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said it will buy Vector, a decentralized platform built on Solana, in the company’s latest acquisition of 2025.
In a Friday blog, Coinbase said the acquisition of Vector and its team was part of the company’s strategy to become an “everything exchange.” The crypto exchange did not disclose the amount it paid for Vector, but said the move would improve activity through “DEX trading integration.”
“We’re excited to welcome the Vector team as we keep building toward one goal: making it easy for anyone, anywhere, to trade any crypto asset,” said Coinbase.
Acquiring Vector followed multimillion- and billion-dollar deals by Coinbase in 2025. This year, the exchange announced the purchase of blockchain-based advertising platform Spindle, online browser Roam, Liquifi, crypto options trading platform Deribit and crowdfunding platform Echo.
Coinbase is awaiting a decision on its application for a National Trust Company Charter in the US, which requires approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The move by the crypto exchange faces opposition from many banks, which claim that Coinbase would be challenging “untested” elements of crypto custody.
Crypto companies going public in the US
While Coinbase continues its buying spree, other US crypto companies may challenge the exchange’s market share through initial public offerings.
In the previous two weeks, Grayscale Investments and Kraken announced filings related to their plans to go public on US markets. Coinbase was one of the earliest US crypto companies to do so, launching its IPO in 2021.
Shares of Gemini, run by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, debuted on the Nasdaq in September, while cryptocurrency exchange operator and media company Bullish went public on the New York Stock Exchange in August.
XRP (XRP) extended its downtrend on Friday, dropping 3% over the last 24 hours to trade at $1.93. The inability to hold above $2 now puts the altcoin’s recovery possibilities in question, with traders asking how much further it can fall.
The XRP/USD pair has formed a megaphone pattern in the weekly time frame, suggesting that a deeper correction was in store for the altcoin.
A megaphone pattern, also known as a broadening wedge, forms when the price creates a series of higher highs and lower lows. As a technical rule, a breakout below the pattern’s lower boundary may trigger a sharp drop.
Key levels to watch before this target is reached are the 100-week simple moving average (SMA) at $1.60 and the 200-week SMA at $1.05.
The weekly RSI dropped to 39 on Friday, down from extremely overbought levels of 91 in December 2024, suggesting steadily increasing downward momentum over this period.
Meanwhile, XRP’s Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) has moved from euphoria to denial, and now anxiety is creeping in.
XRP’s NUPL vs price performance chart. Source: Glassnode
With more than 41.5% of XRP holders underwater at current prices, there is a likelihood of increased sell-side pressure as investors count their losses. Such setups in 2018 and 2021 preceded sharp corrections, raising the possibility of similar pullbacks over the next few weeks.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
