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What next for Ripple-linked token after Rakuten begins payments

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What next for Ripple-linked token after Rakuten begins payments

XRP is pushing higher again, with volume confirming the move, but it still has to prove this is more than a short-term breakout. The rally is holding for now, and the addition of real-world usage through Rakuten gives it a stronger narrative than recent moves.

News Background

• Japan’s e-commerce giant Rakuten is integrating XRP into its payments app, allowing 44 million users to spend it across more than 5 million merchants. Users can also buy XRP using loyalty points and hold it within Rakuten Wallet, embedding the token into a major consumer ecosystem.

• The move ties XRP into one of Japan’s largest rewards systems, where over $23 billion worth of points are in circulation. Ripple called it one of the most significant milestones for XRP adoption, reinforcing its push into Asia alongside long-standing partnerships like SBI Ripple Asia.

Price Action Summary

• XRP moved from $1.32 to $1.38, breaking out of the $1.325-$1.33 resistance zone on strong volume.
• The rally built gradually with sustained buying rather than a single spike, indicating accumulation.
• Price is now consolidating just below $1.38, holding gains but not yet extending into a fresh leg higher.

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Technical Analysis

• The breakout stands out because of volume. The move was backed by clear participation, not thin liquidity.
• Whale accumulation and rising open interest show positioning is building behind the move.
• Despite this, XRP is still trading within a broader downtrend channel, so the structure has not fully flipped bullish.
• ETF outflows and continued realized losses suggest longer-term conviction remains mixed even as short-term momentum improves.

What traders should watch

• $1.37 is now the key pivot. Holding above it keeps the breakout intact and supports continuation.
• $1.40 to $1.42 remains the real test. A clean break here would shift momentum more meaningfully.
• A move back below $1.32 to $1.30 would invalidate the breakout and return XRP to its prior range.

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Tim Draper Doubles Down on $250K Bitcoin (BTC) Forecast After Nailing Previous Predictions

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Brian Armstrong's Bold Prediction: AI Agents Will Soon Dominate Global Financial

Key Takeaways

  • Venture capitalist Tim Draper has renewed his $250,000 Bitcoin price forecast, setting an 18-month timeline for the target
  • In 2014, Draper purchased 30,000 BTC for $632 per coin at a U.S. Marshals auction following the Mt. Gox incident
  • Bitcoin reached a peak of $126,080 in October 2025 and currently trades near $74,271
  • Draper points to increased adoption and deteriorating fiat currencies as primary drivers for his optimistic projection
  • His 2014 forecast of $10,000 BTC proved correct, while more recent predictions have not met their timelines

Tim Draper’s journey with Bitcoin stretches back to its earliest days. The prominent venture capitalist first acquired Bitcoin when it traded at just $4, attempting to mine cryptocurrency with a business partner using specialized chips from Butterfly Labs. According to Draper, those chips never materialized as promised — he alleges the company used them for their own mining operations instead.

When the equipment eventually showed up, Bitcoin’s price had already surged past $30. Draper proceeded to build a substantial position, which he ultimately lost completely in the infamous Mt. Gox exchange failure.

Undeterred, Draper made a bold move in 2014, investing $19 million at a U.S. Marshals Service auction to acquire 30,000 BTC confiscated from the Silk Road operation, at a price of $632 each.

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Immediately following that acquisition, he made a public forecast that Bitcoin would climb to $10,000 within three years. The prediction drew widespread skepticism. History proved him correct.

An Evolving Timeline for a Bold Forecast

On April 14, Draper shared an extensive post on X detailing his Bitcoin experience and future price expectations. He acknowledged that his latest targets “have not been so prescient” — his previous forecast called for BTC to touch $250,000 by the close of 2025.

That timeframe has been adjusted. Draper now projects Bitcoin will achieve $250,000 within the next 18 months.

He identifies two primary catalysts behind this projection: expanding acceptance of Bitcoin for everyday transactions and the ongoing devaluation of conventional fiat currencies through inflationary pressures.

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Draper has consistently advocated for Bitcoin’s potential to displace traditional money. He’s stated in the past that failing to hold Bitcoin is “irresponsible” and predicted that merchants will eventually accept only BTC for transactions.

Current Bitcoin Market Position

Bitcoin touched its record high of $126,080 on October 6, 2025. Since that peak, the cryptocurrency has declined approximately 40%, trading around $74,271 as of this writing.

Beyond Bitcoin itself, Draper maintains investments in prominent cryptocurrency platforms such as Coinbase and Robinhood Markets. He was also an early Tesla backer before that company considered accepting Bitcoin payments.

Additionally, Draper has introduced DraperTV on Pump.fun, a platform built on Solana, where he showcases content with fellow entrepreneurs.

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CoW Swap users warned after Blockaid flags COW.FI frontend attack

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Harvard endowment tilts harder into Bitcoin ETFs than Google stock

Blockaid flags CoW Swap’s cow.fi frontend as malicious, urging users to revoke token approvals and avoid the dApp amid a broader wave of DeFi interface attacks.

Summary

  • Blockaid flags CoW Swap’s main cow.fi frontend as malicious.
  • Users are urged to revoke token approvals and avoid the dApp immediately.
  • Incident highlights growing wave of DeFi frontend attacks across major protocols.

Blockchain security firm Blockaid has warned that CoW Swap’s primary website COW.FI has been compromised in a suspected frontend attack, marking the latest high‑profile exploit attempt against a major DeFi trading interface.

In an alert shared on X, Blockaid said its system “has detected a front-end attack targeting Cowswap” and confirmed that the cow.fi domain has been flagged as malicious inside Blockaid‑integrated wallets, advising users “to refrain from signing transactions and avoid interactions with the dApp until the issue is resolved.”

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Following the warning, CoW Swap community channels and independent security commentators urged traders who had connected wallets to CoW Swap to immediately revoke any outstanding token approvals and to stop interacting with the platform’s frontend until further notice, even though underlying smart contracts have not been reported as compromised.

Blockaid’s latest alert comes amid a surge in so‑called frontend hijacks, where attackers compromise a project’s website or DNS rather than its on‑chain contracts, silently swapping legitimate transaction prompts for malicious ones that drain user wallets.linkedin+1

In February, Blockaid reported a similar frontend attack on tokenization platform OpenEden, warning users to “refrain from signing transactions and avoid interactions with the dApp until the issue is resolved,” while separate incidents have recently hit lending protocol Curvance and asset manager Maple Finance.

As highlighted in CoW Swap’s own DeFi security guides, these attacks target “people, devices, and transaction behavior instead of only attacking code,” making basic hygiene like checking URLs, using browser bookmarks and monitoring token approvals critical for retail and professional users alike.

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Security platforms such as Kerberus and Revoke‑style tools recommend users regularly audit and revoke token approvals after any suspected incident, noting that revocation “only removes future permission for that contract to move your tokens” and cannot recover funds already drained.

For DeFi traders, the CoW Swap incident underscores a lesson that keeps recurring in crypto.news coverage of exchange exploits, bridge hacks and protocol drains: even when audited smart contracts remain intact, a single compromised frontend can still turn a routine swap into a total wallet loss if users sign blind.

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Tether Introduces Multichain Self-Custodial Wallet

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Tether Introduces Multichain Self-Custodial Wallet

Self-custodial wallet tether.wallet supports Bitcoin, USDT, USAT and XAUT across multiple blockchains at launch.

Tether today unveiled its self-custodial crypto wallet using the open-source Wallet Development Kit (WDK) developed by the firm. According to an announcement from the firm, tether.wallet supports USDT, USAT, Bitcoin and XAUT, what the firm says represent “the only assets that truly matter for most of the people.”

Tether says the initiative, which it’s dubbing “the People’s Wallet” aligns with its mission to promote financial inclusion globally, particularly in developing countries and regions with high inflation.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino was quoted in the announcement on the firm’s aim of preserving self-custody, without compromising on user experience:

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“The objective is to remove the complexity that has prevented broader adoption while preserving the properties that make the digital assets technology valuable. Users should be able to send value as easily as sending a message, without relying on intermediaries and without giving up control of their assets.”

As an example, the firm’s announcement notes that the wallet lets users pay fees in the asset being transferred, instead of needing to acquire or hold separate tokens for gas. The wallet also supports easily readable addresses for sending and receiving that look more like an email address, instead of the typical alphanumeric string.

Tether says at launch, the wallet supports USDT and XAUT on Ethereum, Polygon, Plasma, and Arbitrum, and USAT on Ethereum. It also supports Bitcoin both natively and via the Lightning Network. The firm plans to add support for “several other blockchains” in the future.

Last month, Tether announced that it had engaged a Big Four firm to conduct its first ever “full independent financial statement audit.”

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.

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North Korea Used AI to Hack Zerion in Second Crypto Attack

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North Korea Used AI to Hack Zerion in Second Crypto Attack

Crypto wallet Zerion revealed that North Korean-affiliated hackers used AI in a long-term social engineering attack to steal about $100,000 from the company’s hot wallets last week. 

The Zerion team released a post-mortem on Wednesday, where it confirmed that no user funds, Zerion apps or infrastructure were affected and that it had proactively disabled the web app as a precaution. 

While the amount was relatively small in crypto hacking terms, it is another incident of a crypto worker being targeted for an “AI-enabled social engineering attack linked to a DPRK threat actor,” Zerion said.

It is the second attack of this nature this month, following the $280 million exploit of the Drift Protocol, which was the victim of a “structured intelligence operation” by DPRK-affiliated hackers. The human layer, not smart contract bugs, has now become North Korea’s primary point of entry into crypto firms.  

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AI is changing the way cyber threats work

Zerion said the attacker gained access to some team members’ logged-in sessions and credentials, as well as private keys to company hot wallets. 

“This incident showed that AI is changing the way cyber threats work,” the company said. 

It confirmed that the attack was similar to those that had been investigated by the Security Alliance (SEAL) last week.

Related: Researchers discover malicious AI agent routers that can steal crypto

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SEAL reported that it had tracked and blocked 164 domains linked to the DPRK group UNC1069 in a two-month window from February to April.

It stated that the group operates “multiweek, low-pressure social engineering campaigns” across Telegram, LinkedIn and Slack. Malicious actors impersonate known contacts or credible brands or leverage access to previously compromised company and individual accounts.

“UNC1069’s social engineering methodology is defined by patience, precision, and the deliberate weaponization of existing trust relationships.”

Google’s cybersecurity unit Mandiant detailed in February the group’s use of fake Zoom meetings and a “known use of AI tools by the threat actor for editing images or videos during the social engineering stage.”

DPRK’s social engineering is evolving

Earlier this month, MetaMask developer and security researcher Taylor Monahan said North Korean IT workers have been embedding themselves in crypto companies and decentralized finance projects for at least seven years.

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“The evolution of the DPRK’s social engineering techniques, combined with the increasing availability of AI to refine and perfect these methods, means the threat extends well beyond exchanges,” blockchain security firm Elliptic said in a blog post earlier this year. 

“Individual developers, project contributors, and anyone with access to cryptoasset infrastructure is a potential target.”

There are two types of DPRK attack vectors, one more sophisticated than the other. Source: ZachXBT

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