Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.
Coinbase says the crypto market is maturing
Despite the apparent volatility in cryptocurrencies, the market has matured “dramatically” in 2024, according to a new report by Coinbase and Glassnode.
The report, which analyzes crypto’s prospects in the fourth quarter, cited multi-billion-dollar inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (EFTs) and higher blockchain activity as reasons for optimism.
“From the runaway success of spot ETFs to the spike in onchain activity to the upswing in trading volumes, it’s clear that markets have grown deeper, more liquid, more sophisticated, and more accessible,” the report said.
The growth of stablecoins and continued adoption of Ethereum layer-2 solutions “reflect the maturation of the market and the broadening of the crypto economy,” the report explained.
Although digital assets are more volatile than traditional securities, Bitcoin’s three-month spot price volatility has declined from nearly 130% in 2021 to less than 60% today, the report showed.
Ripple announces exchange partners for RLUSD stablecoin
Ripple has partnered with cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms, including Uphold, Bitstamp, Bitso, MoonPay, Independent Reserve, CoinMENA and Bullish, to facilitate the distribution of its RLUSD stablecoin.
Ripple’s new stablecoin aims to become the “gold standard for enterprise-grade stablecoins,” according to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who wrote in an Oct. 15 announcement:
“Customers and partners have been asking for high-quality stablecoins like RLUSD to use across various financial use cases, such as payments, tokenization of real-world assets, and decentralized finance.”Garlinghouse added that Ripple’s payment solution will leverage RLUSD and the XRP
XRP$0.5402
token to facilitate faster and more cost-effective cross-border payments.
Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin was deployed for testing on the XRP ledger (XRPL) and the Ethereum mainnets on Aug. 9.
According to Ripple Labs, the upcoming stablecoin will be overcollateralized, meaning that each unit of RLUSD is backed 1:1 by US dollar reserves or short-term cash equivalents.
US Bitcoin ETFs mark $556 million inflows, biggest day since June
The 11 US-based spot Bitcoin
BTC$66,821
ETFs saw their biggest inflow day since June, with joint net inflows hitting $555.9 million on Oct. 14 amid Bitcoin tapping a two-week high of $66,500 the same day.
Fidelity’s ETF led with an inflow of $239.3 million — its highest since June 4 — followed by a little over $100 million flowing into Bitwise’s fund.
Franklin Templeton and Valkyrie’s funds, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and the mini GBTC fund all saw their first inflows for October, too.
ETF Store President Nate Geraci called it a “monster day” for the ETFs, adding that they were now approaching $20 billion in net inflows over the past ten months.
“Simply ridiculous and blows away every pre-launch demand estimate,” he said in an Oct. 15 X post. “This is NOT ‘degen retail,’ it’s advisers and institutional investors continuing to slowly adopt.”