The past 48 hours saw quite a few interesting developments, and in the following section, we will summarize the most important Ripple (XRP) news from that period.

Ripple Mints $25 Million Worth of RLUSD

As CryptoPotato reported, Ripple minted a whopping 15% of RLUSD’s total supply (roughly $25 million coins) in one go earlier this week. This expanded the circulating supply to around $170 million, the vast majority of which is still running on Ethereum and not on Ripple’s native protocol – the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

The move had no effect on XRP’s price, which remained mostly flat during the previous days. A small increase of around 1.6% was noted, which is more or less in line with that of the rest of the market.

1.7 Million XRP Payments Made in a Day

March 17th was also a good day for the XRP ledger, which processed a considerable number of payments—1.7 million, to be precise. This number has dropped to around 900K at the time of this writing, but it is still a good quantity.

The number of payments signals and shows usability for the XRPL, which is critical for its future development. It shows that the ledger is not a ghost chain and is being used actively and regularly.

Ripple v. SEC Lawsuit Speculations

Undoubtedly, the outcome of the lawsuit between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission will impact the XRP price and the broader market in general.

To this point, there are growing speculations that Paul Atkins will become the next chairman of the agency, and XRP supporters believe that this could be the final push for the lawsuit to be resolved in a positive manner.

Attorney Fred Rispoli, who frequently comments on the legal clash between the two entities, believes that the lawsuit will be over before April 16th. This is the date associated with the firm’s scheduled filing of its appellate brief.

Ripple (XRP) Price Prediction: Important Level

Circling back to XRP’s price, one popular crypto analyst has put forth his prognosis for the future trajectory of the asset.

Ali Martinez believes that, at present, XRP is “testing the waters.” However, he warns that there’s a critical level that must hold to prevent a drop that could take the price down to $1.6.

“XRP is testing the waters! Below $2, a gap with no significant support could pull it to $1.6.”

$XRP testing the waters! Below $2, a gap with no significant support could pull it to $1.60. pic.twitter.com/m85sXJGVCr

— Ali (@ali_charts) March 18, 2025

Bitcoin’s price tumbled toward $81,000 yesterday but managed to defend that level and now sits above $83,000 ahead of the second FOMC meeting for the year.

Most altcoins are slightly in the green on a daily scale today, led by HYPE and PEPE. In contrast, BNB has dropped by 4%.

BTC Prepares for FOMC

Following the massive volatility experienced at the start of the previous week, when BTC plunged below $77,000 for the first time in four months, the cryptocurrency has traded mostly above $80,000 and has been able to prevent a price drop beneath that line.

Furthermore, the bulls attempted a few leg ups that pushed the asset north to $85,000 but each was followed by an immediate rejection. There was an obvious example during the weekend after which bitcoin plunged below $82,000 and one more on Monday when it was stopped even ahead of $85,000.

The decline came on Tuesday as BTC dropped below $81,500 to mark a multi-day low. However, it bounced off that level and now trades about two grand higher.

More volatility is expected later today as the US central bank is set to announce whether there will be any changes to the key interest rates. Although almost every anticipates that the rates will be left unchanged, BTC tends to react with at least minor fluctuations after each meeting.

For now, its market capitalization stands above $1.650 trillion, while its dominance over the alts has declined slightly to 58.5% on CG.

HYPE on the Run

Most altcoins are slightly in the green today. Ethereum is up by 3% and now trades close to $1,950, but it’s still away from the $2,000 mark. Ripple, Solana, and Tron have posted similar gains, followed by ADA, LINK, DOGE, and TON. In contrast, BNB has dropped by 4% and now sits beneath $615.

The biggest gainers from the mid-cap alts are HYPE and PEPE. The former has added over 12% of value and trades at $15, while the meme coin is up by 8% and stands north of $0.0000072.

The total crypto market cap is up by $25 billion since yesterday to $2.830 trillion on CG.

EOS Network has announced it will rebrand to Vaulta as part of a strategic shift toward Web3 banking. The transition includes a new token ticker and a swap portal, which is slated for the end of May 2025, although the date is subject to change.

The company said that the objective is to bridge the gap between decentralized technologies and established financial systems.

EOS Rebranding

According to the official press release, the latest rebrand comes after years of planning and development in a bid to create a secure, scalable, and inclusive financial ecosystem. Following the development, Yves La Rose, Founder and CEO of Vaulta Foundation, commented,

“This transformation represents more than just a name change; it’s a decisive step forward in our mission to deliver open, accessible financial access for everyone. Vaulta is the product of years of planning, strategic development, and thoughtful design, culminating in a holistic Web3 banking approach. Web3 has the potential to reshape global finance and Vaulta is at the forefront of this evolution”

The Vaulta Banking Advisory Council will be established as part of the rebrand, which will be tasked with bringing together experts from the banking and Web3 sectors. Their role will be to advise on bridging traditional finance with decentralized and Web3 infrastructure.

The council will focus on a strategy that aligns with global compliance standards and identifies potential piloting opportunities. Among the council members are Lawrence Truong (CEO of Systemic Trust), Didier Lavalle (CEO of Tetra), Alexander Nelson (Senior Director of Digital Finance at ATB Financial), and Jonathan Rizzo (Senior Business Solution Specialist at ATB Financial).

Vaulta will leverage strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as Ceffu, Spirit Blockchain, and Blockchain Insurance Inc. to expand its Web3 banking ecosystem forward. These collaborations will focus on four key use cases for digital assets, known as its “Four Pillars” – Wealth Management, Consumer Payments, Portfolio Management, and Insurance.

The development of these pillars is expected to help Vaulta explore innovative yield-generation opportunities, access real-world asset (RWA) investments, and create blockchain-specific insurance solutions. Going forward, Vaulta also plans to announce additional strategic partnerships in the coming months to support ongoing Web3 banking and infrastructure efforts.

Meanwhile, the upcoming Vaulta token is set to be listed on more than 137 exchanges where EOS currently trades.

EOS Up By Over 25%

EOS was once a top-ten cryptocurrency by market capitalization on CoinMarketCap. During its peak in 2018, EOS reached 5th position at times due to its initial coin offering (ICO) success and strong community support. However, its ranking has fluctuated over time and is currently in the 68th position.

However, the latest rebranding has triggered a massive spike of more than 25% over the past day, which briefly pushed the asset’s price above $0.65 on Tuesday.