XRP price has dropped by 2% to below its $1.40 support, yet institutional money flow beneath is anything but quiet. Citadel’s name is now attached to XRP exposure across multiple products, and a confirmed $500 million Ripple funding round adds hard infrastructure to what could otherwise read as speculative positioning.

Reports circulating across research desks indicate Citadel Advisors has built $1.7 million in XRP ETF and trust exposure spanning Bitwise, Canary, Franklin, and Grayscale XRP Trust calls. However, primary 13F filings have not yet confirmed the exact positions.

What is confirmed, though, is that Citadel Securities and Fortress Investment Group co-led a $500 million strategic round in Ripple on November 5, 2025, valuing the company at $40 billion. That capital targets custody, stablecoins, and prime brokerage infrastructure. If the ETF filing is confirmed, Citadel has two very different bets that point in the same direction.

Meanwhile, XRP investment products pulled in approximately $81.59 million in net inflows during April, with spot ETFs logging consecutive heavy-flow days of $25.80 million and $18.52 million in mid-May. The SEC’s active review of NYSE Arca’s crypto ETF proposals, which bundle XRP alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, also adds a regulatory catalyst.

Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with

Can XRP Price Break Toward $1.55 This Week?

XRP is consolidating in the $1.37–$1.41 range, a zone that has absorbed multiple test runs without a decisive breakdown. Support sits near the $1.35 area, and that floor appears increasingly well-defended as net inflows remain positive week-over-week.

Derivatives and technical analysis desks have flagged a potential 12% upside breakout setup, with short-term targets clustering around the low-double-digit percentage move from current levels, implying a path toward $1.55. Institutional desks cited in ETF-flow coverage argue that sustained net inflows above tens of millions per week would materially strengthen the breakout case.

Xrp (XRP)

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Three scenarios worth tracking:

• Bull case: ETF inflows remain elevated, SEC review delivers positive signals, XRP clears local resistance and tests $1.55+ within days.
• Base case: Consolidation continues in the $1.37–$1.45 band for another one to two weeks as the market digests institutional positioning data.
• Bear/invalidation: A confirmed break below mid-$1 support on elevated volume resets the structure and delays any breakout thesis considerably.

Momentum is leaning constructively, but XRP has delivered false breakouts before. The Citadel disclosure, confirmed or not, is less important than the ETF inflow cadence.

Discover: The best pre-launch token sales

LiquidChain Eyes Early Positioning as XRP Consolidates at Key Levels

XRP price consolidation is a familiar story: strong institutional narrative, legitimate inflow data, but near-term upside capped by a market cap already north of $85 billion. That math limits the multiple. For traders who’ve already made the XRP trade and are scanning for asymmetric early-stage exposure, the infrastructure layer feeding the next cycle of cross-chain activity is drawing attention.

LiquidChain ($LIQUID) is a Layer 3 execution environment that fuses Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana liquidity into a single unified layer. It’s a direct infrastructure play on the fragmentation problem that plagues multi-chain DeFi.

The project’s Unified Liquidity Layer enables single-step execution and verifiable settlement across all three ecosystems; developers deploy once and access all. The presale is currently priced at $0.0146, with $770K raised to date and a huge 1400% APY staking bonus for early buyers.

Research LiquidChain and assess whether the infrastructure thesis fits your risk profile.

The post XRP Price Could Rally Soon: Institutional Funds Keep Flowing In as Citadel Joins the Race appeared first on Cryptonews.

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Minnesota-based banking institutions and credit unions are set to offer some crypto custody services beginning in August.

On Friday, Governor Tim Walz signed House File (HF) 3709 into law, permitting “certain virtual-currency custody services to be offered and performed” by financial institutions in the US state.

One of the original sponsors in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Bernie Perryman, said in March that the bill was intended to ensure that “Minnesota-based financial institutions are allowed to evolve alongside their customers and members rather than forcing Minnesotans to rely on unregulated, out-of-state or offshore providers for services.”

The new law authorizes banks and credit unions to provide virtual-currency custody services in a nonfiduciary capacity from Aug. 1. The law amended Minnesota’s statutes to allow the financial institutions to engage “third-party service providers or subcustodians to facilitate virtual-currency custody services,” provided the funds were “legally and operationally segregated” from the bank’s or credit union’s assets and not treated as its property.

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Source: Minnesota legislature

The crypto custody law could potentially affect operations at all the financial institutions in the state.

The state’s government information portal shows that, as of May 2025, there were 240 commercial insured banks operating in Minnesota, with about $128 billion in assets, and 82 member-owned credit unions under the Minnesota Credit Union Network. The country’s seventh-largest bank by total assets, U.S. Bancorp, is based in Minneapolis.

Related: Bitcoin Depot stock crashes 71% premarket after Chapter 11 filing

In addition to the crypto custody law, Minnesota lawmakers advanced a bill to ban digital asset kiosks and ATMs across the state in response to incidents of residents being scammed.

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Crypto companies look to federal regulators for banking, custody services

Earlier in this month, Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, said it had filed with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust company charter. According to the company, it planned to establish Payward National Trust Company with “fiduciary custody and other services primarily for digital assets” if approved.

Payward’s move was one of many by crypto-related companies attempting to secure federal approval under the Trump administration. The OCC approved or conditionally approved similar charter applications for Ripple Labs, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos in December, and is considering a charter for World Liberty Financial, the company co-founded by US President Donald Trump and his sons.

Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs bleed $1B, Aave’s $71M ETH unfreeze bid delayed: Hodler’s Digest, May 10 – 16

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Bitcoin has fallen below $78,500 and is consolidating near the $76,500 support level, with a bearish trend line forming resistance at $77,700 on the hourly chart.

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An active exploit on the Verus-Ethereum Bridge has resulted in $11.58 million in losses, according to security firm Blockaid.

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The European fintech giant is launching a physical debit card that lets users spend the popular meme coin anywhere Visa and Mastercard are accepted with zero extra exchange fees.

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Iran has unveiled Hormuz Safe, a Bitcoin-backed insurance service enabling shipping companies to obtain coverage for transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

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A U.S. jury handed Elon Musk a decisive loss on May 18, 2026, ruling he waited too long to sue OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman.

The verdict means Musk’s high-stakes claims of mission betrayal are over, clearing OpenAI’s path to commercial dominance.

OpenAI Wins: Musk’s AI Suit Crushed by Time Limit

The advisory jury in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found Musk’s breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment claims time-barred.

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Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit, donated tens of millions, and left the board in 2018.

He sued in 2024, arguing the shift to for-profit with Microsoft funding violated founding promises. Jurors agreed he knew of the changes years earlier.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is expected to accept the jury’s advisory finding, dismissing the liability phase.

Musk had sought over $130–150 billion in remedies, Altman’s removal, and structural reversal, now off the table.

Crypto Markets React Calmly

Crypto traders showed little panic. Bitcoin and major altcoins held steady, highlighting “Musk fatigue” in volatile markets.

The outcome strengthens centralized AI leaders like OpenAI (valued near $850B+), potentially sidelining decentralized AI-crypto projects that champion open-source and non-profit models.

Tesla (TSLA) faces short-term pressure as Musk’s xAI pushes forward without courtroom distractions in the AI race.

Musk has repeatedly called most cryptocurrencies “scams” while Tesla holds significant Bitcoin.

The ruling affirms that donors challenging nonprofit-to-profit pivots years later face steep hurdles.

It reduces legal uncertainty for Big Tech AI investments and boosts OpenAI’s IPO prospects alongside its Microsoft ties.

Musk’s team is expected to appeal, with final judgment from the judge coming soon.

OpenAI advances toward public listing, while crypto-AI initiatives may accelerate decentralized alternatives to challenge corporate control.

Investors should track TSLA volatility, Bitcoin’s correlation with AI news flow, and xAI developments for emerging opportunities in this high-stakes tech-crypto intersection.

Neither Sam Altman nor Elon Musk had commented on this development as of this writing.

The post Elon Musk Loses OpenAI Battle: Jury Rules “Too Late” appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Bitcoin is trading at $76.8k as the third week of May opens. It has surrendered the $80k breakout that defined the prior week’s narrative. The short-term bullish trendline that supported the inner rally structure has been broken, and the price has pulled back into the mid-range of the large ascending channel on the daily timeframe. The support zone at $75k is now the line in the sand.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, it is evident that the ascending channel breakout has been invalidated, and the asset has returned inside the structure and is now testing the middle portion of the range near $76k–$75k. The 100-day MA has declined to approximately $72k and is approaching from below, providing a rising floor that narrows the downside risk. Yet, the 200-day MA, currently located around $81k, is pushing the price lower from above, after rejecting it decisively.

The support zone at $75k is the critical area to defend, as it represents the most recent bullish order block and short-term swing low. A rebound here and a recovery back above $80k would suggest the pullback was corrective and the broader uptrend intact.

However, if the price breaks below $75k, a further decline back toward the 100-day MA and the $72k demand area would be expected. Such a move would raise questions on whether the recent recovery has been a genuine one or simply another trap for early buyers.

BTC/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The bearish RSI divergence that built through the $80k–82k highs earlier this month has resolved exactly as the pattern suggested. The inner bullish trendline from April has been broken, and the RSI has dropped sharply below 35, approaching oversold on this timeframe for the first time in the past couple of months.

The price is now sitting at the upper edge of the $75k–$76k support zone. A bounce from here, accompanied by a bullish RSI divergence and recovery from oversold values, would signal that the correction is exhausted and another rally toward $80k could be expected.

On the other hand, failure to hold $75k opens the lower support area at $70k–72k, which also aligns with the daily ascending channel’s lower boundary and the 100-day moving average. Therefore, if the $75k zone breaks, buyers would face a critical battle at the $72k region to prevent the market from a deeper crash.

On-Chain Analysis

The Adjusted SOPR has recovered from its February low of below 0.98, which is a reading that confirmed widespread capitulation as sellers offloaded coins below their cost basis, all the way back to 1.005. The metric has just crossed the critical 1.0 threshold that separates profitable from loss-realizing behavior. Historically, the recrossing of 1.0 from below has marked the transition from bear-market behavior to recovery.

The fragility of the current reading matters, though. At 1.005, aSOPR has barely cleared the line, and any meaningful price decline back toward $70–72k risks pushing it below 1.0 again, which would signal that the recovery has stalled and sellers are once again realizing losses. Holding the $75k support zone is therefore not just a technical requirement but an on-chain one, as it is the price level that keeps the aSOPR above 1.0 and the recovery narrative intact.

The post Bitcoin Price Analysis: What’s Next for BTC as Key Trendline Breaks? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Last week, digital asset investment products experienced $1.07 billion in outflows, according to CoinShares, making it the first negative week after seven straight weeks of gains. It was also the third-largest weekly outflow seen in 2026.

Bitcoin saw the majority of the selling pressure as investors shifted toward a broader risk-off approach amid renewed geopolitical concerns surrounding Iran. However, investor sentiment appeared to stabilize toward the end of the week after news related to the CLARITY Act.

CoinShares found that 11 digital assets continued to attract inflows despite the broader decline, while Thursday recorded $174 million in inflows.

XRP and Solana Defy Market Panic

Bitcoin recorded $982 million in outflow last week, which reduced its year-to-date total to $3.9 billion. Ethereum also faced heavy selling pressure, as $249 million left the asset in its largest weekly decline since January 30. Blockchain equity ETFs were similarly affected, posting a combined $133 million decline amid broader risk-off sentiment.

On the other hand, several altcoins continued to attract investor interest. XRP led with $67.6 million inflows, followed by Solana with $55.1 million. Next up was Ton, which recorded $7.7 million, Sui $4.7 million, Ondo $4.1 million, Chainlink $3.9 million, and Dogecoin $3.2 million. The asset manager explained that investors are increasingly looking past Bitcoin and Ethereum for selective exposure.

According to CoinShares, the latest wave of crypto investment product withdrawals was driven almost entirely by the US, which saw $1.14 billion pulled from funds last week. European markets held up much better, led by Switzerland with $22.8 million and Germany with $22 million. The Netherlands added $7.5 million, while Sweden was the only exception as it recorded a smaller $4 million decline. During the same period, Canada attracted $12.6 million, and Australia saw $4.4 million in fresh investment.

Pressure May Continue

QCP Capital also warned that Bitcoin could remain under pressure after breaking below the $78,000 support level earlier today. The Singapore-based firm said the expiry of more than $4 billion in IBIT options has weakened the stabilizing effect that previously helped keep Bitcoin trading within a tight range.

The broader macro backdrop has also become less supportive, as seen with rising US Treasury yields and USD/JPY moving closer to the 160 level, where intervention risks could trigger a sharp unwind in yen-carry positions and drain a crucial source of global liquidity that has historically supported risk assets.

QCP added that crypto is likely to remain range-bound unless markets see meaningful progress in US-China trade talks or US-Iran negotiations.

The post Bitcoin Bleeds $1B Weekly but XRP and SOL Defy Market Panic appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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