Schlagwort: blockchain markets

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Across Protocol price drops 11% amid allegations of $23M ACX token misappropriation

  • Across Protocol price dropped 11% in 24 hours, testing critical support at $0.13.
  • Declines come amid allegations that Across Protocol’s team misappropriated $23 million in ACX tokens.
  • The allegations are “lies”, according to a response on X by an Across Protocol co-founder.

The Across Protocol, a cross-chain intents platform, has seen its native token ACX plunge 11% in the past 24 hours amid an alleged insider misconduct.

Market data shows ACX price falling sharply to lows of $0.13. It coincides with allegations that the protocol’s team manipulated governance proposals voting to benefit from approximately $23 million in ACX tokens.

The claims have added significant downward pressure to Across Protocol’s price, even as Bitcoin holds above $107k to bolster overall sentiment.

Observers note that the claims could erode investor trust, including in other decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

Across Protocol team allegedly misappropriated $23m ACX tokens

Allegations against the Across Protocol team emerged on X, raised by Ogle, co-founder of cross-chain Layer 1 Glue Network and advisor at World Liberty Financial (WLFI).

Ogle shared the accusations in a post on X early Friday, June 27, 2025.

The main part of the accusation is that the Across Protocol team orchestrated a scheme to misappropriate $23 million in ACX tokens.

What happened?

According to the post, the team manipulated governance votes to transfer 150 million ACX tokens to Risk Labs through two separate proposals.

The first, in October 2023, allocated 100 million ACX tokens under the pretext of supporting future development, with assurances that the tokens would not be sold for two years.

However, Ogle claims Risk Labs began selling token option agreements to external investors shortly after.

A second vote in October 2024 secured 50 million ACX tokens for “retroactive funding.”

The vote allegedly passed due to votes from insider-controlled wallets. The vote would unlikely have passed without the insider manipulation.

“More directly, the extraction of these $ACX tokens directly harms the current and future holders by not only draining the treasury, but also creating significant future potential sell pressure during the “unlocks,” Ogle wrote.

Notably, Hart Lambur, co-founder of Across Protocol dismissed the claims in a post on X, responding to Ogle:

“The allegations in here are  categorically untrue and I will vigorously defend our protocol and our team.”

Lambur said his team will respond fully to Ogle’s “lies.”

ACX price drops amid market reaction

The ACX token was already facing some sell-off pressure having dropped from highs of $0.23 in late May.

But the reaction to the allegations has helped push ACX lower, with the token shedding 11% of its value in the past 24 hours to see its losses in the past month reach 41%.

Data from CoinMarketCap indicates that the Across Protocol price has declined by 14% over the past week.

The declines, however, happen amid a broader crypto market that remains volatile. Geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties are the major concerns.

The post Across Protocol price drops 11% amid allegations of $23M ACX token misappropriation appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Bitcoin holds above $107K ahead of major quarterly options expiry

  • Bitcoin (BTC) held steady above $107,500 ahead of a major options expiry on Friday.
  • 38% of Deribit’s $40B in BTC options open interest will expire, with a “max pain” price of $102,000.
  • Bitcoin’s implied volatility has dropped from 50% in April to 38%, signaling increased market confidence.

Bitcoin traded within a narrow range during US hours on Thursday, holding steady above the $107,000 mark as traders positioned themselves ahead of a significant quarterly options expiry scheduled for Friday.

While the broader crypto market saw slight declines, Bitcoin’s stability belied the underlying tension of a massive volume of derivatives contracts nearing their conclusion.

The top cryptocurrency was last changing hands around $107,500, down a negligible 0.2% over the past 24 hours.

In contrast, the CoinDesk 20—an index tracking the top 20 digital assets excluding stablecoins, exchange coins, and some memecoins—lost 0.9% during the same period, indicating some weakness in the altcoin market.

Market participants are keenly focused on Friday’s event, which is set to be one of the largest options expiries of the year.

“This Friday marks one of the largest option expiries of the year on Deribit,” Jean-David Péquignot, chief commercial officer at the popular derivatives exchange Deribit, told CoinDesk.

He noted that the total open interest for Bitcoin options currently stands at a staggering $40 billion, and a substantial 38% of these contracts are set to expire on Friday.

A key metric that traders are watching is the “max pain” price, which is the strike price at which the largest number of options (both puts and calls) would expire worthless, theoretically causing the maximum financial loss for option holders.

“Max pain price for Friday is at $102,000, with a put/call ratio of 0.73,” Péquignot said. This suggests a potential gravitational pull towards the $102,000 level as the expiry approaches.

Volatility eases, but caution remains

Despite the looming expiry, market volatility has shown signs of calming down.

Bitcoin’s implied volatility, as measured by the Deribit DVOL index, has dropped to 38% from the 50% levels seen during a wild April.

According to Péquignot, this could signal that “the market is increasingly confident in the cryptocurrency’s macro-hedge role.”

However, an analysis of put-call skews reveals no clear directional bias among traders in the short term, indicating a state of market neutrality.

Péquignot emphasized that the $105,000 level for Bitcoin is pivotal from a technical standpoint, suggesting that “technicals suggest caution if support fails.”

He also noted that “low open interest in perps [perpetual futures] and fairly depressed Bitcoin implied volatility and skew are indicative of limited expectations for sharp price movements going into Friday’s expiry.”

Crypto stocks show divergent performance

In the equity markets, several crypto-related stocks managed to post gains on Thursday.

Core Scientific (CORZ) was a standout performer, surging more than 33% following a report from The Wall Street Journal suggesting that the Bitcoin miner may soon be acquired by AI Hyperscaler CoreWeave (CRWV).

Other notable gainers included Circle (CRCL), Coinbase (COIN), Riot Platforms (RIOT), and Hut 8 (HUT), which were all higher by 5%-7%. In contrast, Strategy (MSTR) was down nearly 1%.

While stablecoins like USDT and USDC have been dominating US headlines recently, thanks to the GENIUS Act and Circle’s (CRCL) blockbuster IPO, a quieter but equally significant strategic adoption of these assets is reshaping cross-border finance in Asia.

Behind the scenes, stablecoins are already playing an important role in the region’s financial plumbing.

Asian banks are increasingly viewing stablecoins not just as a speculative asset class, but as a defensive tool to guard against potential deposit flight and to protect against lost transaction revenue.

Amy Zhang, Head of Asia at Fireblocks, explained in a recent interview with CoinDesk that major banks across Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong are proactively exploring the creation of their own local-currency stablecoins to mitigate these emerging threats.

“If I’m not one of the banks banking Circle or banking Tether, am I going to lose deposits?” Zhang told CoinDesk, articulating the core concern driving this exploration.

“That’s a huge risk for banks.”

This strategic consideration highlights a deeper, more utility-focused integration of digital assets that is unfolding in the East, often away from the glare of Western market speculation.

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Wormhole price jumps 12% amid Ripple’s XRPL integration

  • Wormhole (W) price rose 12% amid news of a Ripple partnership.
  • Ripple has integrated Wormhole’s cross-chain protocol with XRPL mainnet and EVM Sidechain to connect to 35+ blockchains.
  • Wormhole’s integration strengthens XRPL’s open, flexible infrastructure.

Wormhole’s native token, W, surged by more than 12% on Thursday as the market reacted to a major announcement for Ripple.

As of writing, W traded to highs of $0.068, reflecting overall enthusiasm as multiple altcoins rode market sentiment to record decent gains.

Ripple and Wormhole partner to bolster XRPL’s multichain interoperability

Ripple announced on June 26 that it was teaming up with Wormhole, a leading cross-chain interoperability protocol, to expand XRPL’s multichain capabilities.

The integration will see Ripple tap into Wormhole’s interoperability network to connect both the XRP Ledger mainnet and the XRPL EVM Sidechain to over 35 blockchain networks.

With the multichain capabilities, developers can transfer XRPL assets like XRP, Issued Assets (IOUs), and Multi-Purpose Tokens (MPTs) across the supported chains.

Developers will also be able to interact with smart contracts using cross-chain messaging, Ripple said in the blog post.

“By integrating Wormhole into the XRP Ledger, we’re helping unlock even greater potential spanning all major blockchains for one of the most established blockchain networks in enterprise finance—further advancing its role as a foundation for regulated, interoperable digital asset ecosystems,” Robinson Burkey, co-founder of Wormhole Foundation, said in a statement.

The partnership aligns with XRPL’s open architecture, which emphasizes flexibility and composability for developers and institutions building applications in DeFi, tokenized assets, and real-world assets (RWAs).

Ripple’s CTO, David Schwartz, emphasized the importance of interoperability for mass adoption, noting that this collaboration broadens XRPL’s reach while maintaining its reliability for institutional use cases.

“If you want real mass adoption, interoperability is essential. The infrastructure has to be there, not just on one chain, but across them. With this integration, tokens natively issued on the XRP Ledger are being set up for that reality by being able to move between blockchain networks while maintaining native issuance, and control,” Schwartz noted.

W price jumps 12% as market reacts to news

Following the announcement, Wormhole’s token experienced a notable surge.

Data on CoinMarketCap showed the W price was up more than 12% in the past 24 hours.

The W token’s price jumped from lows of $0.059 to $0.068 after Ripple, the company behind XRP and RLUSD, announced its integration of Wormhole to bring multichain interoperability to the XRP Ledger.

Upside momentum saw the daily volume for Wormhole spike a staggering 570% to over $187 million, with the market cap hitting $315 million.

This price movement highlights the market’s recognition of interoperability as a critical driver of blockchain adoption, with Wormhole positioned as a leading facilitator.

XRP, which traded above $2.02, did not react as much, with its price down 2.8% in the past 24 hours at the time of writing.

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XLM price prediction: Stellar on-chain metrics hint at possible bullish reversal

  • Stellar (XLM) price eyes a breakout as bullish on-chain signals strengthen.
  • TVL has surged 11x in 4 months, showing rising investor confidence.
  • Derivatives data and RSI hint at a possible bullish reversal.

Stellar’s native token XLM appears to be on the cusp of a significant price breakout as a confluence of technical and on-chain indicators points to a potential bullish reversal in the days ahead.

After weathering a challenging June, where the price retreated nearly 28% from mid-May highs, the token is showing signs of renewed strength driven by investor sentiment, funding trends, and robust blockchain activity.

XLM has steadied after the June slump

As of June 26, 2025, Stellar (XLM) trades at approximately $0.2352, reflecting a 3.2% decline in the past 24 hours, but marking a recovery of nearly 6% earlier this week.

XLM has remained trapped in a descending channel for nearly 45 days, dampening investor sentiment.

However, the token now trades near the channel’s upper boundary—a level often linked to breakout potential.

Despite the declining market cap, which currently stands around $7.34 billion, on-chain fundamentals suggest mounting confidence in the project, hinting that price may soon follow sentiment.

Rising Stellar total value locked has sparked optimism

One of the most striking signals comes from Stellar’s total value locked (TVL), which has surged from a low of $7.2 million in 2024 to over $95.28 million, according to DefilLama.

This TVL increase signals an elevenfold increase in just four months.

This sharp rise in TVL, despite a price drop, implies that investors are committing capital into Stellar’s ecosystem with growing conviction, likely betting on long-term fundamentals rather than short-term volatility.

The TVL trend reflects increasing usage of Stellar-based DeFi platforms such as Scopuly, which recently hinted at a breakout being imminent and placed a target around the $0.46 level.

Address activity and sentiment strengthen the bullish stance

Beyond TVL, Stellar’s on-chain usage also supports the bullish case, as reflected in rising monthly active addresses and a surge in recurring user activity.

According to Dune Analytics, May recorded 263,250 active addresses, including 173,670 recurring and 89,590 new users, indicating increasing participation across the network.

This increase in address activity, combined with Santiment’s weighted sentiment flipping positive around the $0.225 level, points to fading fear and a return of speculative confidence.

Technical indicators signal a possible bullish reversal

From a charting perspective, the $0.253 resistance level has emerged as a critical short-term hurdle that bulls must clear to confirm a breakout from the current bearish structure.

If XLM manages a daily close above this resistance, analysts expect a double-digit rally toward the $0.285 region, and possibly higher toward $0.40, where previous sell-offs began in mid-May.

The RSI, currently at above 37, has recovered from oversold territory and could reinforce bullish momentum if it breaks above the neutral 50 level in the coming sessions.

Similarly, the MACD is approaching a bullish crossover, which would add another layer of confirmation for technical traders looking for a long entry.

XLM price chart

With the $0.2280 support holding firm and resistance at $0.2703 within reach, XLM may soon determine its short-term fate depending on how the price behaves at the critical $0.253 zone.

If the bulls maintain momentum and break this barrier, a multi-week rally could unfold, driven not by hype but by deep-rooted investor interest and expanding on-chain fundamentals.

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ZIL price prediction as Zilliqa transitions to 2.0 introducing EVM compatibility

  • Zilliqa 2.0 launches with full EVM and PoS support.
  • ZIL has held a key Fib level amid bearish market trends.
  • Institutions eye ZIL as DeFi and fintech projects integrate.

Zilliqa, the once high-flying blockchain project known for its early use of sharding, has officially launched version 2.0 of its network, marking a major step toward institutional-grade infrastructure and Ethereum compatibility.

This sweeping protocol overhaul introduces several technical upgrades and lays the foundation for a new era of adoption, as it seeks to regain relevance in a rapidly evolving blockchain ecosystem.

With ZIL now trading more than 95% below its all-time high, investors are asking whether this upgrade could trigger a sustainable recovery in price.

Zilliqa 2.0 brings full EVM support and institutional features

The shift to Zilliqa 2.0 is more than a cosmetic upgrade; it represents a full protocol transformation designed to address long-standing limitations and unlock new use cases.

With the integration of Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, developers can now deploy Ethereum-native smart contracts and decentralised applications (dApps) on Zilliqa with minimal code changes.

This crucial update makes the network interoperable with the broader Ethereum ecosystem, significantly expanding its utility and appeal.

In addition to EVM support, Zilliqa 2.0 introduces a new Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, replacing the original Proof-of-Work design and aiming to enhance scalability, energy efficiency, and decentralisation.

The modular architecture now allows for customizable shards, cross-chain communication, and light client support, all of which are geared toward enterprise-grade performance and flexibility.

Developers and institutions take a second look at Zilliqa

The revamped network has already drawn interest from fintech and DeFi projects, with early integrations such as LTIN and deBridge laying the groundwork for tokenised assets and regulated liquidity flows.

DeBridge, in particular, plans to bring native USDC to Zilliqa, marking a key milestone in its push toward cross-chain liquidity and institutional relevance.

Moreover, the updated staking mechanics are aimed at simplifying validator onboarding while rewarding early migration from version 1.0, an effort to quickly shift liquidity to the upgraded network.

According to Zilliqa’s interim CEO, Alexander Zahnd, the platform’s new direction is built on trust and technical excellence rather than hype, with a roadmap that includes privacy-preserving features, digital identity tools, and smart accounts.

These long-term enhancements are intended to future-proof the protocol and ensure that it can serve both compliance-focused institutions and the broader crypto developer community.

ZIL is struggling to hold key support amid price weakness

Despite persistent downward pressure in the broader crypto market, Zilliqa’s native token ZIL has recently shown signs of technical resilience around key Fibonacci levels.

According to crypto analyst Emilio Bojan, ZIL bounced cleanly off the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement level at $0.01042 and is now holding above the 0.5 zone, suggesting buyers are stepping in at critical support.

This technical setup has fueled cautious optimism among bulls who are now eyeing a short-term move toward the $0.01129 level, which remains the next immediate resistance.

Although the price has fallen by over 40% in the past year and by nearly 17% in the last month, recent rebounds suggest that the asset may be attempting to establish a bottom, especially as the fundamentals undergo a significant transformation.

Zilliqa price forecast

At the time of writing, ZIL was trading at $0.01063, down 2.2% over the past 24 hours and showing a trading volume of $9.88 million, which is 1.5% lower than the previous day—an indication of slowing momentum.

The circulating supply stands at just over 19.5 billion tokens, with a total cap of 21 billion, giving it a market capitalisation of around $207.6 million and placing it at position 268.

ZIL remains over 95% below its all-time high of $0.2554 reached in May 2021, and 345% above its all-time low of $0.002396 from March 2020, underscoring its potential volatility and upside if sentiment turns.

Although the network upgrade is fundamentally bullish, traders are likely to remain cautious in the short term until price action confirms a reversal supported by stronger volume and sustained interest.

Nevertheless, the structural improvements brought by Zilliqa 2.0 could eventually pave the way for long-term recovery if they translate into real user growth and ecosystem traction.

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