XRP price surges 14%: here’s why

XRP price has surged by 13.26% to hit a daily high of $0.3847 today. Although the coin had pulled back from the daily high to trade at $0.3729 at the time of writing, all pointers showed that the bull pressure was still on.

Today’s price surge comes as a relief for Ripple cryptocurrency, which has been battling a prolonged court battle against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

It is the first time XRP is trading above $0.35 for the past two weeks.

Why is the XRP price rising?

Yesterday, June 23, the XRP Labs, the team behind RippleNet and XRP cryptocurrency, announced the launch of the Pro Beta version of Ripple’s main wallet, Xumm.

To start with, Xumm will only be available through paid subscription using Ripple’s native token XRP.

Once the Beta testing is completed, Ripple Labs is expected to launch Xumm Pro, which will have full functionality and subscribers will only have to switch to Xumm Pro from their wallet to use it.

Xumm Pro Beta features

Xumm Wallet features several innovations including the ability to split the wallet’s funds into two accounts: spending and saving, the opportunity to claim a free Tangem card, which is a kind of “cold” device for storing cryptocurrency, access to premium technical support, and the ability to buy XRP using Euros, through an on-ramp/off-ramp solution.

Ripple however clarifies that anyone wanting to use the Xumm Wallet will be required to go through a  know-your-customer (KYC) procedure, a requirement that is however optional in the Beta testing.

Rippe Labs innovations

Despite the hard times, Ripple Labs has been rolling various innovations including the XRP Ledger. However, the deployment of the Xuum Wallet is expected to drive the XRP price higher over the coming days.

The Xumm Wallet adds to the number of innovations that Ripple investors are expected to freely enjoy especially when the litigation by the US SEC comes to an end.

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Pi Network: Is This Crypto Legit or Is It a Scam and Pyramid Scheme?

The Pi Network is a controversial “cryptocurrency” that has attracted millions of users from around the world. Supporters believe that it is the best alternative to Bitcoin while critics argue that it is a pyramid scheme and a scam. Since it is impossible to do a Pi Network price prediction, we will assess whether it is worth your time.

What is the Pi Network?

Pi Network is a ‘blockchain’ project that seeks to disrupt the cryptocurrency industry in a more environmentally friendly manner. 

It achieves this by solving the biggest challenge that Bitcoin has. With mining difficulty soaring, it has become almost impossible for an ordinary person to mine the coin. Today, Bitcoin mining is dominated by large companies like Hut 8 and Marathon Digital.

Pi Network solves this challenge by making it possible for people to mine using their smartphones. All you need is an Android or iOS smartphone and you are ready to go.

You also need a referral code from someone already in the network. After verifying your details, you will be ready to mine the Pi coin.

Mining is done in a simple way. Just open the application, click a button, and that’s it. As you do that, you will encounter some ads, which the company claims are needed for development purposes. 

Pi Network has become extremely popular. For example, in Android, it has more than 495k reviews, with the average being 4.5. Similarly, in iOS, it has more than 9,000 reviews.

Is Pi Network legit or a scam?

There are two sides to the Pi Network. Some people believe that it is a real cryptocurrency that will become popular with time.

In my view, I believe that it is both a scam and a pyramid scheme. For one, the Pi coins that users accumulate in their wallets are really worthless since one cannot cash out.

The developers have claimed that holders will be able to cash out when it is listed in major exchanges. It is unclear whether Pi Network will ever be listed in platforms like Binance and Coinbase. Besides, they have been talking about the listing for a while.

Most importantly, even when it is listed, it is unclear whether the Pi Network price will be stable. I expect that it will come under intense selling pressure as the current holders cash out. 

Therefore, the only people benefiting are the Pi Network developers who are now making virtually free money when people visit the app.

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Highlights June 24: XRP rallies 13%, Storj adds 33% on lucrative NFT partnerships

The crypto market as a whole is bullish with most top 100 coins in the green at the time of writing. 

Top cryptos

All top 10 cryptos registered gains over the past 24 hours, with XRP leading the way, up more than 12% at time of writing. Bitcoin climbed more than 3.5%, trading above $21,000 this morning. 

Among cryptos outside the top 10, Polygon’s rally continued. Its gains amount to 18% today and 48% for the last 7 days. Other winners in this group are Avalanche and Shiba Inu. 

UNUS SED LEO started declining for the first time in a long bull run. The 17th biggest coin by market cap is down around 3% today. 

Top movers

Outside the top 20, the tendency was equally bearish, with most coins adding 5-7% of their value. 

Notable standouts include Axie Infinity, BAT, and Zilliqa with 13% each and BTT and OKB with 10%. Axie Infinity’s price drifted upwards on Friday as investors reflect on the upcoming restart of the Ronin network.

THORChain gained 12% today, bringing its weekly gains to 28%. It has been rising as the launch of its Mainnet approaches. 

The biggest winner of the day is Storj with 33%. Yesterday, the dynamically growing decentralized storage company announced partnerships with three new NFT clients: Amuzed, Europa Labs, and Ultimate Division.  

The losers 

Harmony’s ONE is down almost 10% today, continuing its bearish trend after a major hack in the ecosystem. 

The ONE token is trading at $0.024, which is the lowest it has been since March last year. It also faces dropping out of the top 100, currently sitting at #100.  

Compound is down by less than 2%. It rose in the ranking (from 100th to 98th biggest coin by market cap) and its gains for the week stand at an impressive 35%. Finally, Synthetix is down 3%, reversing yesterday’s gains. 

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ONE dips by 10% following Harmony Protocol hack: Will it dip lower?

The cryptocurrency market looks set to end the week on a positive note after Bitcoin and others recorded gains in the last few days.

The cryptocurrency market has added more than 3% to its value in the last 24 hours. At press time, the total market cap stands above the $900 billion mark and could reach $950 billion before the end of the day.

Bitcoin looks set to surge past the $21k resistance level after adding more than 2% to its value today. Ether could move past the $1,200 mark if it continues with its current rally.

However, ONE, the native token of the Harmony Protocol, is among the worst performers amongst the leading cryptocurrencies. ONE has lost more than 10% of its value in the last 24 hours and could dip lower in the coming hours.

The negative performance can be attributed to the news that Harmony Protocol was hacked earlier today. On Friday, harmony Protocol announced via Twitter that it had identified a theft occurring on the Horizon bridge, leading to a $100 million loss to the hackers.

The cryptocurrency could record further losses in the coming hours despite the efforts of the team to recover the funds.

Key levels to watch

The ONE/USD 4-hour chart is currently bearish as the cryptocurrency has been underperforming over the last few hours. 

The MACD line has slipped below the neutral zone, indicating a bearish trend. The 14-day RSI of 36 shows that ONE is currently in the oversold region and could record further losses soon.

At press time, ONE is trading at $0.0238. If the bearish trend continues, ONE could slip below the $0.020 level for the first time this month. However, the bulls should be able to defend ONE’s position above the $0.018 support level.

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FTX’s Harrison on how to model Bitcoin price outlook: ‘a lot of different proposed methods’

FTX U.S. President Brett Harrison told CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ on Thursday that the crypto industry is still seeing huge venture capital investments despite the tough times occasioned by the bear market.

According to the FTX US boss, while the industry continues to face the blunt force of the crypto winter, markets will eventually recover.

He notes more capital, as projects take the downturn as an opportunity to build, bringing in new talent and products, a bounce out of the hole could see more people adopt crypto and related services.  

Different methods of valuing Bitcoin

Talking specifically about Bitcoin, the world’s leading cryptocurrency, Harrison says there are different ways of looking at BTC’s value. He notes that different people look at this aspect differently.

“It’s difficult,” he told CNBC as he discussed some of the different methods of looking at Bitcoin.

“There are a lot of different proposed methods. Some of it has to do with the future flow of all the Bitcoin that could be mined in the system and of course the cost of mining that Bitcoin,” he added.

Another way of looking at it is what some people see as “a store of value, something that is independent of any particular government’s control. Monetary supply that’s safe and can be moved around the world, you know, safely and instantly.”

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