Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Collapse, Meme Coin Bloodbath, and More: Bits Recap Dec 20

TL;DR
- Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 14% in three days, influenced by the Federal Reserve’s inflation concerns.
- The meme coin market saw a sharp 20% drop, with assets like DOGE and SHIB facing double-digit losses and analysts predicting further losses for the former.
- XRP hit a multi-day low of under $2, but industry participants remain optimistic, highlighting key potential triggers for a future rally, including a Ripple ETF and regulatory resolutions.
BTC Loses $13K in Three Days
At the start of the business week, Bitcoin (BTC) soared to a new all-time high of over $108,000. Its market capitalization crossed the $2 trillion mark, making the cryptocurrency bigger than Saudi Aramco and other well-known corporations.
However, the peak was short-lived, and the bulls took a major blow in the following days. BTC tumbled to approximately $101,000 on December 18 and under $93,000 in the last several hours. Currently, the asset is worth around $93,200 (per CoinGecko’s data), representing a 14% decline on a three-day scale.
The market started retracing shortly after the US Federal Reserve announced its latest rate cut. It reduced the benchmark by 0.25%, but Chairman Jerome Powell hinted that the policy might be paused next year due to rising inflation concerns. He also said the central bank is not permitted to buy BTC, despite Donald Trump’s promises.
While the 13-grand crash in just three days might sound quite dramatic, some factors hint that the bulls could be back in charge soon. Crypto analytics platform Santiment recently estimated that BTC’s collapse has increased discussions about buying the dip to early August levels. Back then, the asset’s price tumbled below $50,000, but a few days later, it climbed beyond $62,000. It will be interesting to see whether history will repeat itself this time.
Heavy Bleeding in the Meme Coin Niche
The meme coin sector has been even more affected than BTC. Its market capitalization is down a whopping 20% on a daily scale, plunging below $100 billion.
All of the leading assets, including Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Pepe (PEPE), Bonk Inu (BONK), dogwifhat (WIF), and many more, have charted double-digit losses. It is quite challenging to find a meme coin positioned in the green today, with Zerebro (ZEREBRO) being among the few exceptions.
Some analysts expect further losses in the sector, more specifically touching upon DOGE. Jake Wujastyk envisioned a potential drop to $0.27, while Rose Premium Signals predicted a crash to $0.22. However, the latter thinks DOGE could then rebound and resume its bull run.
How’s XRP Doing?
Lastly, we will focus on Ripple’s native token, which is also deep in the red today (December 20). Currently, it trades at around $2, which is the lowest mark observed in the past ten days.
Many industry participants, though, foresee good days ahead for the XRP army. One analyst recently advised investors to cash out only when seven important things happen.
Those include the introduction of Ripple’s stablecoin, Donald Trump’s inauguration, a potential resolution of the Ripple v. SEC case, Gary Gensler’s departure from the regulator, the beginning of the altseason, a partnership between the company and a large banking institution, and the possible launch of an XRP ETF.
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Cryptocurrency
ChatGPT Evaluates Ripple Price Predictions: How Viable Is XRP at $100?

TL;DR
- The XRP Army, arguably the loudest niche of the cryptocurrency community, frequently posts about the asset’s market potential, but some forecasts can go into the ‘ridiculous’ category.
- Although many might seem far-fetched, at least for the current market prices, ChatGPT noted that a double-digit price tag is not out of the question.
$29, $55?
Although XRP has been the object of countless massive price predictions, even before its explosive rally at the end of last year, we will focus on a more summarized version from this article, where the first two targets were set at $29 and $55.
The AI chatbot described the more modest one as “ambitious yet conceivable,” since it came from more renowned industry experts, such as Bitwise Research’s Oscar Ramos, who believes the asset can surge to such an impressive price tag if certain conditions are met.
At first, he highlighted the significance of a potential approval of a spot Ripple ETF in the States. Although the US SEC has delayed making a decision on a few listings, the chances for such products to hit the US markets this year are above 75%, according to Polymarket.
XRP’s price can also benefit if the token continues to gain traction in global financial systems and sees “widespread institutional adoption.”
The $55 target was categorized as “highly optimistic” by ChatGPT. It explained that such a price per token would require a market cap above $3 trillion, given the current available supply, which would put XRP above BTC.
“Such a surge would necessitate unprecedented adoption and utility, making this target highly optimistic under current market conditions,” – added the AI tool.
What About $100?
The last price target set by analysts was an entry triple-digit price. ChatGPT kindly dismissed it by putting it in the “speculative and unlikely” category. After all, such a price tag would put XRP’s market cap above those of Apple and Nvidia… combined.
“While some proponents argue that XRP could capture a significant share of global financial transactions, including SWIFT replacements and derivatives settlements, these scenarios are highly theoretical and face numerous regulatory and practical challenges,” – concluded the AI chatbot.
Although the predictions above might sound a bit (or a lot) far-fetched at the moment, this doesn’t mean that XRP lacks any market potential this year. In fact, you can check what ChatGPT thinks about the possibility of a $10 price tag for Ripple’s cross-border token – here.
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Cryptocurrency
Crypto Markets Shed Over $100 Billion After Trump’s Latest Tariff Threats (Weekend Watch)

Bitcoin’s price actions took a turn for the worse yesterday after US President Trump recommended a 50% general tariff against the European Union.
The altcoins have also bled out on a daily scale, with more than $100 billion leaving the space within this timeframe.
BTC Pushed Below $107K
In general, it was a very good, some would say historic, week for the primary cryptocurrency. It started on a volatile foot as it pumped from $104,000 to $107,000 on a couple of occasions on Sunday and Monday but was stopped in its tracks and driven south hard.
However, the bulls kept the pressure on, and that upper boundary finally gave in on Wednesday. Moreover, bitcoin rocketed past its January all-time high of $109,100 and set a new one at almost $110,000.
It was met with immediate resistance there and a drop to $106,500, but that was short-lived. Bitcoin began another, even more impressive leg up in the following hours and tapped a fresh peak at $112,000 on Pizza Day.
It retraced slightly to $111,000 on Friday but remained at around that level until the POTUS recommended a new set of tariffs against the EU to start from June 1. In minutes, BTC’s price tumbled below $107,500, bounced off, and then slipped again to under $107,000.
It has recovered some ground now and sits above $108,000, but it’s still over 2% down on the day. Its market cap has plunged to $2.150 trillion, while its dominance over the alts stands tall at 61% on CG.
Alts in Red
The altcoins have followed BTC on the way south, with substantial losses of up to 10% from the likes of DOGE, ADA, SUI, SHIB, LINK, and AVAX. Ethereum has slipped by over 5% and is now down to $2,550. XRP has dropped to just over $2.3 after a 4.4% daily decline.
Even more painful price drops are evident from ENA, WIF, TIA, S, IP, and PEPE as all of them have plunged by double digits.
The total crypto market has lost over $100 billion since yesterday and is down to $3.530 trillion on CG.
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Cryptocurrency
Ripple’s RLUSD Hits $244.2M Market Cap Across XRPL and Ethereum in Q1 2025

Ripple’s USD-pegged stablecoin, RLUSD, closed Q1 2025 with a combined market capitalization of $244.2 million across the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ethereum.
On XRPL alone, RLUSD reached a market cap of $44.2 million, making it the largest stablecoin on the network, according to the latest report by Messari. Due this growth, the total market cap of fungible tokens, known as Issued Currencies, surged by 6.5% QoQ to $281.5 million.
RLUSD Stablecoin: Q1 2025
Despite this milestone, stablecoin adoption on XRPL remains limited compared to dominant stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), which ended Q1 with total market caps of $144.0 billion and $60.1 billion, respectively, across all supported networks.
Historically, the introduction of a trusted stablecoin in a new execution environment has triggered major liquidity events, as seen with Cardano’s iUSD in 2023, often serving as a key pairing asset in automated market makers (AMMs).
Until recently, regulatorily compliant tokens like RLUSD, which feature Clawback – a mechanism on XRPL that lets issuers retrieve distributed tokens – were not compatible with the network’s automated market maker (AMM) due to the lack of Clawback support. This changed in January when the AMM Clawback amendment was implemented, allowing such tokens to be traded on the AMM.
The update is expected to boost AMM activity as more compliant assets launch on XRPL. Potential applications include enabling on-chain trading of previously illiquid real-world assets (RWAs), earning yields through AMM participation, and cross-chain price arbitrage.
Adoption Curve
RLUSD launched publicly on December 17, 2024, on both XRPL and Ethereum. It is fully backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US Treasuries, and other cash equivalents, with monthly attestations provided by third-party firms. In January, Ripple announced the integration of Chainlink Price Feeds on Ethereum to provide RLUSD pricing data.
In April, RLUSD was added to Ripple’s cross-border payment platform, Ripple Payments, while Kraken launched trading support. Additional Q1 listings came from LMAX Group, Zero Hash, and Bitstamp, joining Uphold, Bitso, MoonPay, Archax, CoinMENA, Independent Reserve, and Bullish.
Further boosting infrastructure around RLUSD, Korean custody provider BDACS signed a strategic partnership with Ripple in February to offer custody services for XRP, RLUSD, and other digital assets.
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