Cryptocurrencies Price Prediction: Ripple, Bitcoin & Shiba Inu – European Wrap 18 August

SEC vs Ripple, the legal battle intensifies as XRP holders expect new changes from SEC appeal

XRP community members have been closely following the US Securities & Exchange Commission’s (SEC) every move against Ripple. In the latest update, the regulator’s request to file a motion for interlocutory appeal has been approved by the court. Ripple filed its opposition to the SEC’s request on August 16. However, Judge Torres replied on Thursday, allowing the SEC’s filing.

A briefing schedule has been set, and the SEC is ready to challenge the application of the Howey Test to sales of XRP tokens to retail traders on exchanges. The Howey Test comes from a 1946 US Supreme Court ruling in which the court specified four criteria for determining whether an asset can be considered an “investment contract”. If XRP meets the criteria of the Howey Test, then the asset must be registered as a security. This could have a longstanding impact on the XRP holder community. 

Bitcoin Weekly Forecast: More BTC liquidations than during FTX fallout, what’s next?

Bitcoin price crashed 15.70% from Monday’s open to the weekly low. But Thursday’s daily candlestick hit a low of 14% from its open, which is what caught many investors off-guard. As a result of this sudden shock, $855 million in long positions and $194 million in short positions were wiped out. 

As seen in the chart below, total BTC liquidations numbers are far greater than when the FTX exchange collapsed in November 2022. Nearly $2 billion in open interest evaporated in the last 24 hours. Due to the consolidation, this downtick was not a surprise to a few traders, but the majority of crypto market participants seem to have been blindsided by the crash. Regardless, investors need to be cautious as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to provide its decision over Grayscale’s Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) application on August 18 at 15:00 GMT.

Shiba Inu’s Shytoshi Kusama announces $2 million insurance policy for Ethereum, BONE paused on Shibarium

The Shiba Inu community is reeling from the aftermath of 1,000 Ethereum and nearly 600,000 BONE being stuck on Shibarium following the Layer 2 chain’s mainnet launch on Wednesday. The tumultuous event resulted in a sharp decline in SHIB price and raised concerns in the Shiba Inu community.

SHIB’s lead developer, Shytoshi Kusama, announced a $2 million insurance policy that covers the Ethereum and BONE tokens that are currently inaccessible for users. Kusama has repeatedly assured the community that the funds are safe and the team is working on multiple plans of action to revive the blockchain and take it live once again.