Crypto Market Update: Ripple and Stablecoins Make Headlines

The past week has been eventful for the crypto industry, with the Trump Administration pushing forward its pro-crypto agenda and the market laying groundwork for growth. Ripple has been at the forefront, with Ondo Finance announcing plans to offer tokenized treasuries on the XRP Ledger. Additionally, XRP Ledger will introduce clawback features to enhance liquidity for the dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD. CEO Brad Garlinghouse has also been lobbying for XRP to be included in a national crypto reserve, sparking debate among Bitcoin supporters. Other notable developments include Cardano's hard fork, enabling decentralized governance, and Avalanche's December upgrade, which has resulted in a 75% reduction in transaction costs. The stablecoin market has also seen significant growth, surpassing a $200 million market cap, with Tether announcing $13 billion in profit for 2024. MicroStrategy has continued to expand its bitcoin holdings and outlined plans to raise more capital. In the world of ETFs, Bitwise has secured SEC approval for a combined bitcoin-ether ETF and filed an application for a dogecoin ETF. Grayscale has also launched a new closed-end fund trust offering exposure to dogecoin, highlighting its potential for global financial inclusion. Regulatory news has been plentiful, with Solana's memecoin powerhouse facing a class-action lawsuit and French authorities expanding their investigation into Binance. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has joined calls for tokenized equity, and the industry is awaiting further developments in the coming weeks.