TLDR:

• Artemis stablecoin factor posted 83.6% annualized returns with minimal dependence on Bitcoin direction.
• The strategy gained 6.8% monthly across BTC down months, showing resilience during crypto market weakness.
• Mid-cap chains including Polygon and Sei generated 84% of total stablecoin factor returns over five years.
• Stablecoin flows remained Artemis’ least-correlated alpha factor with only 6.1% variance overlap.

Stablecoin flows are emerging as one of crypto’s clearest signals for layer-1 market rotation. 

New research from Artemis shows capital moving through stablecoins consistently preceded stronger relative returns across major chains. The firm’s five-year backtest found the strategy remained largely detached from broad crypto market direction. 

Results also showed the factor produced gains during months when Bitcoin posted losses.

Stablecoin Flows Predict L1 Returns Across Market Cycles

Artemis said its weekly rebalanced long-short factor generated a 1.67 Sharpe ratio over five years. The model delivered an annualized return of 83.6% during the test period.

The same backtest recorded a maximum drawdown of 43.9%. A volatility-targeted overlay lowered drawdown to 31.9% while reducing Sharpe to 1.17.

The data pointed to minimal dependence on Bitcoin’s broader trend. Artemis reported a market beta of -0.03 and an R² of 0.1%.

That structure became more visible during weaker crypto conditions. Across 30 BTC-negative months, the factor returned 6.8% monthly while Bitcoin fell 10.9%.

Artemis also measured annualized alpha at 73.8% after controlling for market exposure. The reported t-statistic reached 3.31 with significance at the 1% level.

The firm noted the strategy’s out-of-sample Sharpe estimate still held at 0.96 after applying a degrees-of-freedom haircut. That kept stablecoin flows among its strongest market-neutral crypto signals.

Mid-Cap Chains Drive Stablecoin Factor Alpha

Most of the gains came from the long side of the book. Artemis said 84% of returns originated from long exposure to chains attracting positive stablecoin inflows.

Mid-cap networks dominated the return profile. Polygon, Mantle, Optimism, BSC, and Sei contributed 84% of total factor returns.

The research also showed limited overlap with Artemis’ broader factor suite. Maximum pairwise correlation across the stack measured only 0.16.

Even after spanning regression against all other factors, the stablecoin signal retained a 2.54 t-statistic. Artemis said just 6.1% of variance overlapped with other models.

Performance also stayed resilient through distinct market phases. The factor returned 262% in 2021, 47% in 2022, and 315% in 2025.

Its only negative year came in 2024 with a 13% decline. Artemis linked that period to stagnant aggregate stablecoin supply growth before recovery resumed.

TLDR:

• Microsoft found the EngageLab SDK bug could expose private wallet data across 30M Android installs globally.
• The flaw abused Android intents to grant hostile apps persistent read and write provider permissions.
• EngageLab fixed the issue in v5.2.1 by changing MTCommonActivity to non-exported status.
• Google Play removed affected wallet apps, while Android added safeguards for already installed versions.

Microsoft has disclosed a severe Android SDK vulnerability that placed more than 30 million crypto wallet installs at risk. The flaw affected EngageLab’s widely used EngageSDK, which many wallet apps used for push messaging features. 

According to Microsoft’s security research, the issue enabled malicious apps on the same device to bypass sandbox protections. Google Play has since removed all identified apps using the vulnerable SDK versions.

EngageLab Android SDK Flaw Exposed Crypto Wallet Attack Surface

Microsoft said the issue centered on an exported Android activity called MTCommonActivity. 

The component was automatically added during manifest merging after developers imported the SDK. Because it appeared post-build, many teams likely missed it during review. That left production APKs open to hidden risk.

The vulnerable flow began when the activity received an external intent. Its onCreate() and onNewIntent() callbacks both routed data into processIntent(). 

That method extracted a URI string and forwarded it deeper into the SDK logic. The chain eventually rebuilt and launched a new intent.

Microsoft’s write-up noted the critical failure happened in a helper method. Instead of returning a safe implicit intent, it returned an explicitly targeted one. That changed Android’s normal resolution path and let hostile apps redirect execution. 

In practice, the vulnerable wallet app launched the malicious payload with its own privileges.

The risk worsened because the SDK used Android’s URI_ALLOW_UNSAFE flag. That allowed persistent read and write URI permissions inside the redirected intent. 

A malicious app could then gain access to non-exported content providers. From there, sensitive wallet files, credentials, and user data became reachable.

Microsoft Patch Timeline and Android Wallet Mitigation Guidance

Microsoft Security Vulnerability Research first identified the flaw in EngageSDK version 4.5.4 in April 2025. It then notified EngageLab under coordinated disclosure rules. 

The Android Security Team also received the report because affected apps were live on Google Play. The fix arrived months later in version 5.2.1 on November 3, 2025.

In the patched release, EngageLab changed the vulnerable activity to non-exported. That single change blocks outside apps from invoking the component directly. Microsoft said it currently has no evidence of in-the-wild exploitation. Still, it urged developers to update immediately.

The report stressed that third-party SDKs can silently expand wallet attack surfaces. 

Crypto apps face elevated stakes because they often store keys, credentials, and financial identifiers. Even minor upstream library flaws can ripple across millions of devices. This case pushed total exposure above 50 million installs when non-wallet apps were included.

Microsoft also said Android added automatic protections for previously installed vulnerable apps. Those mitigations reduce risk while developers migrate to the fixed SDK. 

The company urged teams to inspect merged manifests after every dependency update. That review can catch exported components before release.

XRP (XRP) has been in an eight-month downtrend, with momentum and onchain indicators at levels that previously coincided with macro bottoms.

Data from TradingView reveals that the relative strength index (RSI) of the XRP/BTC ratio is at 24, the most oversold level since October 2025. 

Such low levels in the daily RSI have marked market bottoms for the ratio, ultimately leading to 65% to 345% XRP price breakouts against Bitcoin as seen late 2024 and 2025.

The chart above also shows that the XRP/BTC pair is trading within a long consolidation range, which has previously acted as a strong launching pad for the ratio.

The last time XRP bottomed against Bitcoin around this zone was in June 2025. It marked the beginning of a 61% increase in the XRP/BTC ratio, accompanying a 92% XRP price rally to a multi-year high of $3.66.

Other instances shown by the yellow bars in the chart reinforce the reliability of this level in marking macro bottoms for XRP/BTC. 

MVRV Z-Score suggests XRP price is bottoming

XRP’s MVRV Z-score is hovering near zero, a level that historically aligns with accumulation zones and market bottoms.

This indicates that most holders are close to breakeven, reducing sell pressure and signalling potential downside exhaustion. Similar patterns appeared in 2021, 2022 and 2024 before major rallies.

Note that the last time XRP’s MVRV Z-score fell to similar levels in late 2024 coincided with a macro market bottom at $0.30 and preceded a multi-month rally, with the XRP/USD pair rising 500% to a multi-year high above $3. 

Meanwhile, the 0.80 MVRV pricing band, which has historically marked cycle bottoms, is currently at $1.14, coinciding with a 15-month low reached on Feb. 6.

These onchain metrics suggest that XRP is undervalued and may continue the ongoing recovery, potentially rising toward $1.70 or higher. 

XRP price must hold above $1.30 

Meanwhile, XRP/USD remains cautiously bullish as long as it holds the $1.25-$1.30 support zone. 

“$XRP is sustaining the major support zone between $1.30-$1.25 levels since early Feb’26,” trader ChiefraT said in an X post on Friday, adding:

“If this zone continues to hold, then a short-term bounce towards $1.45 can’t be ruled out.”

The importance of this support level is reinforced by cost basis distribution. The heatmap below shows that nearly 1.73 billion XRP were acquired around this price.

Below that, the next line of defence is the $1.15 demand zone, where the 200-week simple moving average is. 

If XRP/USD drops below this level, it would be in a free-fall toward the measured target of the bear flag at $0.80, or 41% below the current price.

As Cointelegraph reported, holding $1.27-$1.30 would be a sign of strength among the bulls who must push the XRP/USD pair toward the $1.61 range high to regain control.