Crypto holders relied more on loans backed by digital assets as market conditions weakened in 2026, according to research from CryptoQuant.

The report analyzed data from crypto lender CoinRabbit. It found higher borrowing activity among both retail and high-net-worth users.

Borrowing Activity Rises

Crypto-backed loans allow holders to access cash without immediately selling their digital assets. Borrowers usually pledge more collateral than they receive, but falling prices can trigger liquidation or require more collateral.

According to the report, retail users recorded the biggest change in borrowing activity during the period. Their average number of loans rose 74%, from 30.8 per user in 2025 to 53.5 in 2026, while high-net-worth users rose 18%, from 16.5 to 19.4.

Repeat borrowing also became more common across the platform. The share of users taking multiple loans increased from 61.9% to 65.1%. Retail borrowers waited an average of 21 days between loans, compared with 11 days previously.

Beyond borrowing activity, collateral preferences also shifted, particularly among wealthier users.  Bitcoin’s share of pledged assets among high-net-worth users fell from 57.8% to 30.5%, while Zcash reached 24.2% after not appearing among the previous top 10.

CryptoQuant linked part of Zcash’s rise in collateral use to its sharp price rally. Zcash climbed from about $50 in late 2025 toward $800, while Monero, Chainlink and Cardano also gained larger shares among high-net-worth collateral.

Shifting Asset Preferences

Retail users continued to rely heavily on XRP as collateral during the period. However, its share fell from 41.7% to 35.2%, while Bitcoin remained close behind. TRON, Stellar, BNB, Kaspa, and Velo also entered the mix.

Meanwhile, the assets users traded most frequently changed during the period as market conditions shifted. Tether and Bitcoin remained the two largest assets by volume, while USD Coin moved into third place. Flare, Ether, and Ondo also entered the top 10.

Solana, Stellar, and Shiba Inu dropped out of the top 10 by trading volume. Together, these changes show that users adjusted both their borrowing and asset preferences during the weaker market period.

The post Crypto Holders Turn to Loans as Markets Cool in 2026: CQ appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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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.

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Kalshi settled its Western Michigan versus Michigan market before the game ended, paying traders who backed the losing team. The exchange then clawed that money back.

The market had traded $18.6 million by the time the result became final. Traders on both sides watched their balances move twice in the space of minutes.

How Kalshi Settled the Michigan Game Too Early

Michigan trailed 12-7 with the clock reading zero after an incomplete Hail Mary attempt. Western Michigan players had already run onto the field to celebrate.

Officials then reviewed the play and ruled that a Western Michigan defender touched the ball from out of bounds. One second still showed on the clock.

That second was restored and quarterback Bryce Underwood threw a 47-yard touchdown to JJ Buchanan, and Michigan won 13-12.

Kalshi had already treated the zeroed clock as the final state. It paid the Western Michigan side, then reversed those payouts. It reimbursed the wrongly marked losers and paid Michigan holders last.

Kalshi’s own sports account had spotlighted one $2,265 Western Michigan position during the game. It stood to pay $93,201.

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“Kalshi confirms they wrongly and prematurely settled the “Western Michigan vs. Michigan” market, as if Michigan lost. They clawed back payments to initial incorrect “winners,” reimbursed the initial “losers,” and then paid the right people. (This market saw $18.6m volume.)” Marshall Cohen of CNN noted.

Why the Settlement Error Matters for Prediction Markets

The result Kalshi eventually paid out on is itself disputed. NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay questioned how officials arrived at one second.

“The ball isn’t even close to touching a player when it goes to zero,” CBS reported, citing Terry McAulay, NBC rules analyst.

BeInCrypto flagged a similar failure in July. Coinbase pushed an AI-generated World Cup result to users before kickoff. Coinbase routes its prediction product through Kalshi.

The timing is also awkward, coming after a Michigan judge barred Kalshi from offering sports contracts inside the state on September 1. That order carries a $500,000 daily penalty.

Five days later, the exchange misfired on a Michigan football market. Prediction markets are already colliding with sports law, and critics now have a concrete settlement failure to cite.

Kalshi fixed the payouts within hours, but whether it publishes the source and timing rule that failed will matter more than the refund.

The post Kalshi Paid the Wrong Winners $18.6 Million Before Michigan's Miracle Comeback appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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