Someone pulled $319 million in Bitcoin (BTC) out of Blockstream’s Liquid network on Sunday. It cost 21 cents in fees. Then they left a note on the blockchain saying they were the good guys.

While the internet calls it a heist, the chain says something stranger. Liquid’s remaining coins are still fully covered, down to the fourth decimal place.

$320M Crypto Reserve Moves, But the Wallet Left a Strange Message

The first move cleared at 14:06 UTC, releasing 3,996 coins to an address nobody had ever used before. That was 95% of everything the network held.

Four hours later the money moved again. The sender paid 269 satoshis, about 21 cents, and attached a message anyone can read.

Then they sent 0.00001 back to Liquid’s own address. The other 3,998.49 coins have not moved since.

“It looks like ~4,000 BTC just moved from the Liquid Network bridge all at once with an OP Return saying, “we are whitehats. contact us on chain”,” one user noted.

The Part Everyone Missed

Liquid runs on one rule: To take coins out, you destroy the matching tokens inside the network first. So when the reserve shrank, the tokens it backs shrank with it. Both landed in nearly the same spot.

The peg holds, with 0.22 coins to spare. Nobody still holding L-BTC is short a satoshi. That kills the insolvency story. However, it leaves a worse one. Add what left to what remains, and the network held about 4,193 coins on Saturday. Nearly all of them were burned to make this move work.

Blockstream is clear about who can do that. Only a federation member can burn the tokens. Fifteen companies hold the keys, and 11 must sign before coins leave.

Its documentation calls the destination list a safeguard.

Whitelisted addresses are used as a failsafe to ensure that the federation always remains in full control of the BTC held by the Liquid Network,” the team said in its documentation.

The coins went to a brand new address. Blockstream has not explained that, or said anything at all.

Traders have seen this before, particularly with Ronin bridge attackers who gave back $10 million and took a bounty in 2024.

The money sits still, in daylight. Whoever holds it asked to be contacted. Nobody has answered.

The post Attackers Leave On-chain Message After $320 Million Exits Liquid Network appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Source link

Given the nature of its blockchain, bitcoin was long considered to move around within a broader four-year cycle prompted by the halving, which takes place in general every four years. However, the pattern has been rejected in the past year or so, and popular on-chain analyst Willy Woo took the same approach in his latest opinion on the matter.

He suggested that BTC may be transitioning toward a six-to-eight-year cycle, increasingly influenced by the same debt and liquidity conditions that drive traditional financial markets.

From Halving to Liquidity?

Woo’s reasoning begins with the cryptocurrency’s diminishing supply shock. Following the latest halving in April 2024, new BTC issuance dropped to approximately 0.8% of the existing supply per year. The next event, scheduled to take place in early 2028, will reduce that figure to roughly 0.4%.

As newly mined supply becomes increasingly insignificant relative to the existing market, Woo argued that the halving’s ability to dictate BTC’s broader price cycle weakens. Instead, the asset may begin moving more closely with TradFi’s six-to-eight-year short-term debt cycle.

The halving framework worked remarkably well for much of bitcoin’s history. Now, though, the market structure has changed dramatically, perhaps mostly from the US spot Bitcoin ETFs. Current data shows that these financial products hold close to 1.3 million BTC, which is over 6% of the circulating supply. Public companies with at least 1,000 BTC currently own over a million units.

Together, ETFs and those corporate treasuries controlled almost 12% of circulating BTC – vastly more than miners now create annually.

Others who have supported the narrative that the four-year cycle is dead include Arthur Hayes, who claimed in 2025 that traders focus too heavily on it, and Fidelity Digital Assets. In a report from last year, the analysts questioned whether BTC’s maturing market could produce more gradual rallies and corrections rather than the violent boom-and-bust cycles of the past.

Not Everyone Is Convinced

Galaxy Research examined the same question in June this year, but concluded something different – BTC’s four-year cycle remains visible in the data. The researchers noted that bitcoin again peaked in October 2025, roughly 18 months after the April 2024 halving – precisely within the historical window.

The difference is that each cycle is becoming less extreme. Bitcoin’s previous bear markets produced drawdowns of approximately 85%, 84%, and 77%, while the decline to the July 1 low was considerably milder at just over 53%.

The post Bitcoin’s 4-Year Cycle Could Be Changing: Willy Woo Reveals What Could Replace It appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Source link

XRP price is trading around the $1.40 to $1.45 area after a sharp rebound pushed the token back toward $1.50 in a bullish prediction environment. The move followed a volatile week that saw XRP fall into the low $1.30s before recovering alongside the broader crypto market. That rebound has arrived with a notable increase in trading activity.

Binance recorded $7.28 billion in XRP spot trading volume during August, the highest monthly figure since February. Upbit and Bithumb also recorded substantial activity at approximately $4.68 billion and $2.59 billion, respectively.

CryptoQuant contributor Arab Chain highlighted the acceleration as XRP recovered toward $1.45, suggesting participation has increased across several major exchanges rather than being isolated to one venue.

Institutional demand provides another important piece of the picture, although the latest ETF data is more mixed. U.S. spot XRP ETFs recorded 11 consecutive sessions of inflows worth roughly $170 million before the streak ended Wednesday with $7.2 million in net outflows.

Cumulative net inflows remain around $1.68 billion since launch, meaning the latest reversal has not erased the much larger trend of capital entering XRP investment products.

For Sunday’s outlook, XRP remains caught between improving spot activity and the first signs that ETF demand may be cooling.

Discover: The Best Token Presales

XRP Price Prediction: Hit $1.79 Next Week?

XRP’s weekend setup remains defined by a broad $1.30 to $1.50 range, with the token recently trading near the upper half of that band. The $1.30 to $1.32 zone remains important support after buyers stepped in during the latest selloff. Meanwhile, resistance between $1.45 and $1.50 continues to cap the recovery, making a decisive breakout increasingly important for the bullish case.

The surge in activity is notable because exchange outflows also reached a six-month high, while XRPL active addresses reportedly jumped 659%. Together, those metrics point to increased network activity and stronger demand for XRP.

However, for now, neither metric alone confirms accumulation, meaning traders should wait for price confirmation before treating the activity spike as a definitive bullish signal.

Xrp (XRP)

24h7d30d1yAll time

The bull case becomes stronger if XRP breaks above $1.50 with sustained volume. Such a move could put $1.60 and then $1.79 on the radar, while more aggressive projections extend toward the $2.50 to $2.90 region. Those higher targets would likely require continued ETF demand, improving market sentiment, and a favorable regulatory backdrop.

The base case is continued consolidation between roughly $1.31 and $1.48 as traders digest the recent surge in activity. A break above $1.50 would shift momentum toward the bulls, while a loss of $1.30 would invalidate the current support structure and expose the low $1.20s.

With XRP ETF inflows having recently cooled after an 11-session streak, the weekend price action could provide an important test of whether underlying demand remains strong.

Earn $50 and Enter $300K Prize Draw on EdgeX

Maxi Doge Targets Early Mover Upside as XRP Tests Key Levels

XRP holders riding this six-month volume high are sitting on solid gains, but let’s be honest, a token with a $90 billion-plus market cap isn’t going to 10x from here, no matter how strong the ETF flows get. Diminishing returns are the price of maturity.

That math is exactly why traders looking for asymmetric upside are rotating attention toward earlier-stage plays with room to actually multiply.

Enter Maxi Doge ($MAXI), a meme token built around 1000x-leverage trading culture and a 240-lb canine mascot that embodies the “never skip leg-day, never skip a pump” ethos.

The presale has raised $4.8 million so far, with tokens priced at $0.0002837 and dynamic APY staking live for early holders. Standout features include holder-only trading competitions with leaderboard rewards and a Maxi Fund treasury earmarked for liquidity and partnerships.

Research Maxi Doge before allocating any capital.

Discover: The Best Crypto to Diversify Your Portfolio

The post XRP Price Prediction: Spot Trading Volume Hits Highest in 6 Months appeared first on Cryptonews.

Source link

McDonald’s India deleted a run of posts from its verified X (Twitter) account on Sunday. Written in the first person, they claimed an unpaid intern was owed ₹60,000, then promoted a meme coin.

The drama arrived at a low point for the stock. McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) closed Friday at $255.69, its weakest level in a year. However, Wall Street has not followed it down.

Inside the McDonald’s India Drama

The account said the writer interned at McDonald’s India and ran several of the company’s Asian social media handles. It named a manager, Amit Joshi, and said no salary had arrived since December 2025.

A later post revised that date to May, an inconsistency that fueled doubt. Another put the outstanding sum above ₹60,000, roughly $650. One said meme coin trading losses had left the writer starving daily.

Final messages promoted a token and shared crypto wallet addresses, before noting that fees had been claimed. McDonald’s India pulled the thread and answered with a meme of a dog holding a phone.

McD admin right now: If only our actual posts went this viral…” wrote McDonald’s India, via its official X account.

No name matching Amit Joshi appears in the operator’s public leadership. The company has not said whether the handle was breached.

Comparable takeovers hit Robinhood CEO’s X account in July and the Saudi Law Conference account last year.

Wall Street Targets a 24% MCD Stock Rally

Meanwhile, TipRanks counts 24 analyst covering MCD stock over the past three months. That sample holds 14 buys, 10 holds and no sells.

Their average 12-month target stands at $317.18, about 24% above Friday’s close. The high reaches $390. Even the low, $280, sits above where shares trade now.

The chart argues the other way. MCD peaked near $340 in March and has printed lower highs every month since April. Friday alone took another 3.5% off the week.

Fundamentals sit between the two, seeing as McDonald’s reported diluted earnings of $3.32 per share in the second quarter, up 6%, with global comparable sales rising 1.3%.

The 24% gap between price and target predates the Sunday incident.

The post McDonald’s India Drama Erupts While Wall Street Targets 24% Stock Rally appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Source link

New Jersey petitioned for a writ of certiorari in Kalshi’s case against it last week, finally throwing the ball to the high court.

Source link

Ripple’s XRP remains in a corrective phase after its sharp August breakout, with buyers struggling to regain control of the key overhead supply zone. The current structure suggests that the market may need more consolidation before another sustained directional move develops.

XRP Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, XRP’s explosive rally from the $0.94-$0.97 support zone broke the previous descending structure and pushed the price as high as roughly $1.70. However, the breakout was followed by an equally notable rejection, and the asset has since been unable to establish itself above the $1.45-$1.54 resistance zone.

The price is currently trading around $1.42, just below this major supply area. More importantly, XRP continues to hold above the long-term moving average near $1.27, which has flattened after previously trending lower. This level represents an important structural support for the ongoing recovery.

As long as the $1.27 area holds, the recent weakness can still be viewed as consolidation following an impulsive rally. A daily close above the $1.45-$1.54 resistance zone would strengthen the bullish case and could eventually bring the $1.70 high back into focus. Conversely, losing the $1.27 support would substantially weaken the structure and increase the probability of a deeper retracement toward the lower moving average around $1.15.

XRP/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour chart highlights a descending channel that has contained XRP since the initial surge. The asset has repeatedly failed to break through the channel’s upper boundary, which is now converging with the crucial $1.45-$1.54 resistance zone.

The latest rebound from around $1.34 has brought XRP back toward $1.42, placing it directly beneath this descending resistance. This makes the current area particularly important. A breakout above the trendline followed by a successful reclaim of $1.45 could signal that the corrective structure is ending, with the $1.50-$1.54 zone becoming the next hurdle.

However, another rejection would preserve the descending structure and could send the token back toward $1.34-$1.38. Below there, the channel’s lower boundary is approaching the $1.27-$1.30 region, which overlaps with a clearly defined support zone.

Therefore, XRP remains caught between improving support underneath and persistent resistance overhead. Until the descending channel is broken, the short-term outlook appears more consistent with continued consolidation and potentially another corrective move rather than an immediate bullish continuation.

The post Ripple Price Analysis: Where Is XRP Heading Next Week After Defending Its 200-Day EMA? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Source link

Ethereum is attempting to stabilize after its explosive August breakout, but the follow-through has remained limited. ETH is holding around $2.5K, yet repeated swings within the same range suggest the market is still digesting the rally rather than establishing a fresh directional trend.

Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

ETH’s broader structure remains constructive after the powerful breakout from the $1.85K-$1.92K base. Yet, momentum has stalled inside the $2.44K-$2.52K resistance area. Several daily candles have tested this region without producing a sustained breakout, while repeated upper and lower wicks indicate considerable indecision. ETH is currently trading near $2.5K, close to the upper portion of this range.

A clean daily breakout above roughly $2.52K-$2.56K would be required to confirm that buyers have regained control and potentially initiate another impulsive leg higher. Until then, continued consolidation remains the more likely scenario.

On the downside, losing the $2.39K-$2.44K area would weaken the current setup and increase the probability of a deeper correction. In that case, the $2.08K-$2.15K former resistance zone would become the major medium-term support to watch.

ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour timeframe shows ETH trapped in a broad consolidation between approximately $2.35K and $2.56K following the vertical advance from below $2K.

The important development is that buyers have repeatedly stepped in near the lower portion of this range. The latest recovery from around $2.38K has carried ETH back toward $2.5K, placing the price once again near the upper resistance region. Yet multiple previous attempts around $2.5K-$2.55K have failed to generate continuation.

Therefore, another rejection could keep the market oscillating inside the existing range. A breakdown below the $2.35K-$2.39K floor would be more consequential and could expose the first major pullback zone around $2.22K-$2.27K.

Conversely, sustained acceptance above $2.52K-$2.56K would invalidate the near-term consolidation scenario and indicate that buyers are ready to resume the broader bullish move.

Sentiment Analysis

Ethereum’s Spot Average Order Size provides an important clue regarding the lack of follow-through. The latest observations around $2.4K-$2.5K are predominantly gray, classified as normal-sized orders, while the green whale-order activity visible during earlier portions of the recovery has largely disappeared.

This suggests that ETH’s recent push toward $2.5K has not been accompanied by notable large-player participation. There is also no visible concentration of retail orders in the latest data, pointing to an absence of aggressive positioning from either side.

The lack of dominant whale activity fits well with the price action. With neither substantial large-scale demand nor supply appearing in the metric, ETH may remain prone to low-conviction, choppy movements inside its current range. A renewed appearance of significant whale orders could therefore be an important signal that the consolidation is approaching a more decisive resolution.

The post Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH Consolidates at $2.5K as Whale Participation Stalls appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Source link

Berlin’s state government refused a 30 Bitcoin ransom, and the hackers behind the attack published 5.7 terabytes of stolen data on the dark web.

The Rhysida ransomware group had opened the auction at 30 BTC. Berlin let the deadline pass instead of paying.

Why the Bitcoin Ransom Demand Failed

Rhysida, a ransomware crew active since 2023, offered the files to the highest bidder. Bidding started at 30 BTC.

Bitcoin (BTC) trades near $79,902 per coin. Therefore, 30 coins come to roughly $2.4 million. Berlin’s Senate Chancellery put the demand at about two million euros.

BTC has added 0.46% today and 24.4% over the past month. That climb raised the dollar value of the demand while the ultimatum ran.

Florian Hauer, the city’s chief digital officer, ruled out any payment.

“The State of Berlin will not give in to blackmail. The safety of the State of Berlin’s staff and the people of Berlin is our top priority.”

The Bitcoin ransom deadline ran out on Friday, September 4. Rhysida published the full dataset that afternoon.

Berlin’s refusal tracks a broader shift. On-chain ransomware payments fell about 8% in 2025, even as claimed attacks rose 50%.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch leaders and journalists provide expert insights

Berlin Counts the Cost of a Dark Web Auction

The attack surfaced on August 14. Berlin then cut two Senate departments from the state network. One covers urban development and housing; the other covers mobility, transport, and the environment.

Housing benefit payments and family support stalled until both departments returned on August 23. Officials have warned that residents’ personal data could be in the leak.

A central crisis unit now reviews the material Rhysida released once the Bitcoin ransom went unpaid. Forensic specialists comb through the files around the clock.

The State Criminal Police Office and Germany’s federal cybersecurity agency lead the investigation. Officials told residents to report fraud or identity theft to police.

Berliners elect a new state parliament on September 20, two weeks after the Bitcoin ransom expired.

Rhysida collected nothing. Berlin has not put a figure on the damage, and the review of the published files continues.

The post Hackers Demand $2 Million in Bitcoin from Germany. Berlin Refuses to Pay appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Source link

For the eighth consecutive week, the spot XRP ETFs ended in the green, attracting almost $19 million. Although this sounds impressive, the actual number was significantly lower than last week’s figure.

Moreover, Friday ended as a no-inflow day for the first time in about three weeks, reigniting an old dilemma about actual demand.

XRP ETFs Still in the Green

The last full week of August was the best for the XRP ETFs in 2026. They gained over $110 million, making it the most impressive one since early December 2025. The first slowdown during the previous business week was felt on August 31, when investors poured in a more modest $5.64 million.

The double-digit net inflows returned on September 1 with $14.38 million, but the trend changed on Wednesday when withdrawals were dominant with $7.20 million taken out. This was the first red day for the Ripple ETFs since August 5.

$6.14 million entered the funds on Thursday, but Friday was a no-show day with SoSoValue data showing flows of $0.00. The good news is that the cumulative total net inflows hit another all-time high of $1.68 billion.

The worrying part of the weekly performance is actually twofold. First, it was Wednesday’s net outflows, which broke a near-one-month streak. Second, it was Friday’s no-reportable flows, which raised concerns that had been forgotten in the past few weeks.

Before the market-wide revival experienced after August 19, the spot XRP ETFs had seven such days out of 11 trading days in August. Nevertheless, the broader weekly performance was still bullish with almost $19 million in net inflows. The streak of consecutive green weeks is up to eight.

XRP Defends $1.40

Despite the massive inflows of over $110 million during the previous business week, the underlying asset had failed to capitalize and had fallen below the key support at $1.40 last weekend. It dipped further to $1.33 during the new week, but finally found support and surged to $1.45 on Friday.

It was stopped there and pushed south to $1.41 as of press time, which means that it remains above the key support at $1.40. Analysts remain highly bullish on its recent performance, claiming that its bull phase has finally begun. Moreover, Ali Martinez and EGRAG CRYPTO outlined some mind-blowing price targets for the culmination of the bull market, of up to $60.

We break them down in more detail in this article, and review the actual obstacles XRP would have to face on its way to these levels.

The post 8 in a Row: Ripple (XRP) ETFs Record Another Green Week but Warning Signs Return appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Source link

Since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, the US dollar has lost about 97% of its purchasing power, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U.

A 1913 dollar buys roughly 3 cents’ worth of today’s goods, meaning $1 back then is worth about $33 to $34 in 2026.

What 113 Years of Inflation Actually Looks Like

That figure is not a slogan. It reflects the official price index compounded over 113 years, through two world wars, the Great Inflation of the 1970s, and the 2021-23 spike. The 1971 end of gold convertibility accelerated the dollar’s stretch, and cash left idle was quietly taxed by inflation the entire time.

“Check out the biggest, kosher ponzy scam in recent history. The US dollar has lost 97% of its purchasing power since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. A $3 item in 1913 would cost $100 today,” one user said on X.

Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens.

Bitcoin was designed in response to that system: a 21 million-coin cap paired with a declining issuance schedule. It did not exist in 1913, so the comparison is not one-for-one. As a store of value, though, its record since 2009 has been extreme in both directions.

Early buyers saw their purchasing power explode. Later buyers, by contrast, endured drawdowns of 50% to 80% within single cycles.

As of early September 2026, Bitcoin trades near $79,852, well below its October 2025 peak of $126,080. Since its inception, the token’s price has soared more than 59,000%, and over full market cycles, it has beaten cash and often beaten gold.

Inside any single cycle, though, it can erase years of gains within months — the trade-off inherent to a scarce, non-yielding, narrative-driven asset.

How Institutional Access Changed the Story

Utility has reshaped Bitcoin’s role since then. Spot Bitcoin ETFs, approved in the United States in 2024, turned a bearer asset into a ticker that pensions, RIAs, and balance-sheet allocators can hold without managing private keys.

Those products have accumulated $55.62 billion in cumulative net inflows as of September 4, according to SoSoValue data, with total net assets across the category reaching $101.25 billion, equal to roughly 6.33% of Bitcoin’s entire market cap.

Adoption remains incomplete in several respects. Volatility stays high, regulation varies widely across jurisdictions, and energy and custody risks are real and unresolved. The US dollar still clears most global trade, prices most debts, and pays most wages worldwide. Bitcoin has not replaced that role as a unit of account.

What Bitcoin has done is offer savers an exit from a currency that official statistics say lost 97% of its purchasing power since 1913. Whether that exit functions as a genuine reserve asset, pure speculation, or some combination of both depends heavily on the investor’s time horizon.

Cash loses value slowly and predictably. Bitcoin can lose value fast, sometimes dramatically so, but over the long run, it has, so far, compounded gains faster than either cash or gold.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch leaders and journalists provide expert insights.

The post The US Dollar Has Lost 97% of Its Value Since 1913: Is Bitcoin the Way Out? appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Source link