BTC Returns to $100,000
At the beginning of the week, the value of Bitcoin dropped to $89,256, which caused the capitalization of the entire cryptocurrency market to fall by 6.3%, dropping it to $3.24 trillion. Bitcoin's dominance in the market is currently about 55%. However, by the time of writing, the first cryptocurrency managed to regain its lost positions and once again surpassed the $104,000 mark.
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XRP Reaches Seven-Year High
This week, Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency approached its highest levels since January 2018, approaching an all-time high of $3.4 on exchanges like Bitfinex, Kraken, and Binance. At the time of writing, the asset’s price has stabilized at $3.27. According to CoinGecko, XRP’s market cap has reached $190.9 billion. The coin has grown by nearly 45% over the past seven days.
USDC Total Transaction Volume Exceeds $20 Trillion
According to USDC co-issuer Circle, 2024 has been a landmark year for the stablecoin, with advances in blockchain infrastructure and clearer regulation in the crypto space having a positive impact on its growth, as noted in their annual report.
USDC turnover in 2024 increased by 78% compared to last year. Since its launch, the total transaction volume with this stablecoin has exceeded an impressive $20 trillion. In November 2024, USDC monthly transaction volume reached a record of $1 billion.
In addition, USDC has become a key tool for transferring over $850 billion from traditional currencies to the blockchain ecosystem. As of January 2025, the asset already supports 16 different networks.
Pectra Hard Fork Planned in Ethereum Network
At the first conference call of 2025, held by the ACDE Call, Ethereum developers announced the planned rollout of the Pectra upgrade to the mainnet, scheduled to happen in early to mid-March.
This major upgrade includes the implementation of multiple EIPs that will improve various aspects of the network. These include account abstraction optimizations, changes to the validator mechanism, improvements to gas fee calculations, and overall network performance improvements. In addition, the maximum stake limit for validators is expected to be significantly expanded, from the current 32 ETH to 2048 ETH.
Tether to Move Headquarters to El Salvador
Tether and its affiliates are in the final stages of preparing to relocate to El Salvador after successfully obtaining a license to provide digital asset services as a stablecoin issuer.
According to the management, El Salvador is rapidly becoming a global hub for digital assets, thanks to progressive government policies, a favorable regulatory environment, and a growing number of Bitcoin-focused professionals.
Once the relocation of its headquarters is complete, Tether intends to actively collaborate with both local authorities and the business community to further develop the country's cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Litecoin Cryptocurrency X Account Hacked
In recent days, several X-accounts belonging to cryptocurrency and venture projects have fallen victim to hackers who used them to spread fraudulent schemes. One of the compromised accounts was the official Litecoin page with 1.1 million subscribers. Hackers used it to promote a fake meme token. The project team has already restored access to the account and apologized for the incident.
