Volatility returned towards the end of the calendar year as sentiment cooled and risk appetites shifted. As a result, much of the huge gains seen earlier in the year were reversed by the 31st of December.

Bitcoin declined around 17% throughout 2025, XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) dropped around 30%, and Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) dropped just over 70% in 2025.

As we move closer into the new year, among Bitcoin, XRP, and Dogecoin, which is the better buy for investors?

The case for Bitcoin

In 2025, Bitcoin suffered the biggest price plummet seen since 2021. By November, the coin's value had dropped to around US$85,000 per coin. While Bitcoin regained some of that value in the weeks after, it slumped again in December. For context, Bitcoin peaked at US$124,739 per coin in early October.

So far in 2026, the cryptocurrency has climbed 4.92%, sparking excitement that it could be on a path for recovery.

Bitcoin is widely regarded as the global leader in the cryptocurrency market. It has a fixed supply, is experiencing growing institutional adoption, and is dominant in the cryptocurrency space.

The downside is that Bitcoin is less likely to be as explosive as some of the smaller cryptocurrencies. But as it is generally considered one of the most reliable coins to hold long term, it would be the best option for risk-averse, longer-term investors in 2026.

The case for XRP

XRP was one of the fastest-rising altcoins in 2025. It had explosive growth of over 56% in early July alone, rising to an annual high of US$3.65 per coin. It then tumbled just over 47% by the close of 2025.

In 2026, so far, XRP has recovered 16.29% of its value. At the time of writing, it is trading for US$2.14 per token.

XRP is known for being a fast and low-cost global payment. It acts as a bridge between different currencies, without the need for traditional banks. If the uptake of the technology continues in 2026, it has the potential to outperform major coins like Bitcoin. 

The downside is that XRP comes with a lot more risk, so this is the best option for investors who want higher growth and have a larger appetite for risk.

The case for Dogecoin

Dogecoin was launched as a meme-based parody of Bitcoin in 2013 and has been a wildly volatile token ever since. It is primarily driven by sentiment, community support, and social media attention, rather than any fundamental factors. 

There was a huge spike in interest from investors in late-2025 and early-2025, but over the year, the coin shed around 70% of its value. 

So far in 2026, Dogecoin has jumped 24.44% to 15 cents per coin. 

The benefits of this coin are that it can surge quickly. But it lacks the institutional backing that Bitcoin or XRP have, so it's a high-risk option most suited to short-term investors. 

So which is the best option for investors?

There is no crystal ball to tell us how the crypto market will play out in 2026, so the answer to this question depends on an investors' risk appetite. 

Bitcoin is a more reliable and stable play. Meanwhile, XRP has the potential to yield explosive returns to those willing to take on more risk, and Dogecoin is best suited for short-term traders.

The post Better Buy in 2026: XRP, Dogecoin, or Bitcoin? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Especially not its performance since Donald Trump won the US presidential election on 5 November.

As you're likely aware, Trump is a big proponent of cryptocurrencies. And the implications of his return to the White House weren't lost on savvy investors.

Here's what I mean.

On 5 November, Bitcoin, the world's first and biggest cryptocurrency by market value, was trading for US$67,811.

At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price stands at US$117,931, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

While that's down from the all-time high of US$123,092 reached on 14 July, it sees BTC up an impressive 74% since Trump's 5 November victory.

And it sees the token commanding a market cap of US$2.42 trillion. That's more than Australia's GDP!

But, as alluded to in the headline, a fast-rising altcoin, and the number three token by market cap, is leaving the Bitcoin price gains wanting.

Any guesses?

Racing ahead of the Bitcoin price gains

If you said XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), give yourself a virtual gold star.

XRP is intended to facilitate fast, low-cost international payments, and it has a market cap of US$186 billion.

It was one of five cryptos that Trump said would make up part of the US' strategic crypto reserve.

Aside from Bitcoin, the other three Trump named were Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), and Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA).

So, how has XRP been tracking?

Well, on 5 November, you could have bought the token for 50 US cents. Today, XRP is trading for US$3.13. That's a gain of 526%, far outpacing the 74% increase in the Bitcoin price.

Though unlike Bitcoin, XRP's all-time high of $3.84 was reached back in January 2018.

What are the experts saying?

Commenting on the impact of Trump's pro-crypto legislation, Edward Carroll, the head of global markets at MHC Digital, said (quoted by The Australian Financial Review) it provided "an institutional green light to allocate to crypto".

He added:

That's a very fundamental shift in the market because historically, crypto price action has been driven by retail participation… The difference between market dynamic we see today, and previous bull runs in crypto, is that institutional capital is a lot more focused on fundamentals.

And Carroll expects this will offer tailwinds for the Bitcoin price.

"You're going to see significantly less cycling out of Bitcoin into altcoins," he said.

With Bitcoin price volatility falling as more institutional investors buy the token, Pratik Kala, head of research at Apollo Crypto, noted that, "A lot of people are obviously in crypto looking for quick returns, and so they would then start buying tokens down the list."

But he sounded a note of caution for crypto investors looking for those quick returns.

According to Kala:

There's about 25,000 different crypto tokens, of which 99.9% are worthless. They're just tokens for the sake of speculation and gambling… There's probably only about 10 to 15 tokens that have real value.

The post Guess which fast-rising altcoin is leaving the Bitcoin price gains in the dust appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

In sharp contrast to former US President Joe Biden's tighter regulatory approach, Trump is a big advocate of a free market approach to cryptocurrencies. And a look at the price charts shows investors have taken note.

Here's what I mean.

On 5 November, the world's first and biggest cryptocurrency, by market value, was trading for US$67,811.

By 20 January, the day Trump was sworn into office, the token hit an all-time high of US$109,115, up a blistering 61%.

But with risk assets coming under pressure in February, Bitcoin joined the sell-off, dropping to US$79,049 on 28 February.

As for these early days in March, the Bitcoin price surged 11% on Monday to hit US$94,811.

And it wasn't the only crypto to go ballistic.

The Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) price soared 17%; XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) rocketed 33%; Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) surged 26%; and the Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) price roared 75% higher.

And once again, crypto investors have Donald Trump to thank for the big moves higher.

How Trump just goosed the Bitcoin price…again

Over the weekend, Trump threw some greater light on his January executive order that the US would build a strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies.

As you may have guessed from Monday's big move for the Bitcoin price and the other four cryptos named above, Trump posted on Truth Social that the strategic reserve will include Ethereum, Bitcoin, Cardono, Solano, and XRP.

What are the experts saying?

Commenting on the US announcement that sent the Bitcoin price and other cryptos soaring, Josh Gilbert, market analyst at eToro, said, "We always knew that Trump's presidency would be pivotal for crypto throughout his term, and this is a sign of how quickly the market can turn on a dime. "

He noted that the rebound this week "follows the broader crypto market sell-off last week as the largest cryptocurrency heist in history and the implementation of tariffs in the US sent ripple effects across markets".

Gilbert added:

Sentiment in the crypto market has dropped significantly but has recovered from the 'extreme fear' of last week to just 'fear' territory this week, thanks to Trump's announcement over the weekend.

Federico Brokate, head of US business at 21Shares, said (quoted by Reuters):

This move signals a shift toward active participation in the crypto economy by the US government. It has the potential to accelerate institutional adoption, provide greater regulatory clarity, and strengthen the US's leadership in digital asset innovation.

The Bitcoin price is currently at US$87,648.

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What happened

Yet another massive hack in the world of cryptocurrency could be considered par for the course. This year, more than $2 billion has been exploited from various crypto projects, with Tuesday's hack of Solana-based decentralized lending platform Mango Markets creating a tremendous amount of concern among investors. 

As of 2 p.m ET on Thursday, Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), and Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) were down 2.6%, 1.4% and 2.9%, respectively, over the past 24 hours. That said, it should be noted that these cryptocurrencies have regained much of their losses throughout the trading day. Earlier this morning, these 24-hour declines had been as much as 9%, 8.7%, and 10.4%, respectively.

This hack has resulted in Solana losing approximately one-quarter of its total value locked (TVL) on its protocol. Total value locked is a key metric used to determine aggregate use of a network, with declines suggesting investors are pulling their capital out of a given ecosystem.

This recent hack appears to be the result of a sophisticated investor taking out large positions in leveraged perpetual contracts on the Mango Markets platform. This allowed for a mark-to-market surge in the perpetual contracts held by the trader, boosting the value and allowing the hacker to then essentially withdraw all of the liquidity on the protocol. 

So what

This sort of attack on a given project's collateral is one that clearly took a tremendous amount of time and effort. Now, the hacker in question is reportedly open to returning the exploited funds back to the protocol, so long as "bad debt," which arose from a bailout paid to a highly leveraged whale, is repaid. In any case, the ability of one individual to effectively shut down a large and important decentralized lending protocol is big news.

For Solana specifically, this is the latest in a string of security-related issues that have concerned investors. For investors in other projects such as XRP and Cardano, exploits of top-10 projects have clearly provided concern. XRP is battling its own project-specific headwinds tied to an ongoing battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission over whether its token constitutes a security, and Cardano's ecosystem has lost some of its luster following its highly anticipated Vasil Hard Fork upgrade.

Now what

Exploits (or hacks) will remain a key focal point for investors, particularly those who might be skeptical about the underlying technology to begin with. It's still early innings for the nascent crypto sector, and mistakes are going to be made. That said, until the kinks are worked out, many institutional investors might choose to stay on the sidelines. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post A $100 million hack hit Solana, XRP, and Cardano hard today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

People keep talking about a "crypto winter" being here. But that doesn't mean all cryptos face hostile market conditions these days. Some altcoins are doing surprisingly well right now and have posted double-digit returns over the past 30 days, attracting a lot of buzz across social media. They are being talked up as tokens that could explode in value over the next 12 months.

However, not all of these gainers are worth investing in because they are simply too speculative for the average investor. But there are three altcoins that have steadily appreciated over the past month that are worth a closer look: XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), Chainlink (CRYPTO: LINK), and Algorand (CRYPTO: ALGO). To be fair, all three are down between 55% and 85% over the past 12 months. However, all three have characteristics that set them up for greater utility in the days to come. All three rank among the top 30 cryptos in the world by market capitalization. If you're thinking about juicing up your portfolio returns for 2022, these could be fantastic buys right now.

Algorand

Algorand, up 12% over the past 30 days, is a proof-of-stake Layer 1 blockchain founded by award-winning MIT professor Silvio Micali. Algorand has won kudos for its top performance metrics and has been regularly recognized as one of the greenest blockchains in the world. In addition, the Algorand blockchain got a speed and performance upgrade in September, boosting transaction processing speed from 1,200 to 6,000 transactions per second. Algorand also recently attracted attention in the crypto world for its new quantum cryptography efforts.

But what really has people excited about Algorand is its official partnership with the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In coordination with FIFA, for example, Algorand just launched an NFT marketplace for soccer NFTs. Look for Algorand to attract even more attention as the start of the World Cup nears in November. Right now, Algorand is a relatively little-known Layer 1 blockchain. After a massive worldwide audience tunes in to the World Cup, that could change. Moreover, the new soccer NFTs should boost overall activity on the Algorand blockchain and potentially attract new users and developers. In many ways, Algorand is an undervalued gem just waiting to be discovered.  

Chainlink

Chainlink, up 8% over the past 30 days, is a decentralized blockchain oracle network that feeds off-chain data, such as asset prices, to on-chain smart contracts. In layperson's terms, it means that Chainlink takes data from the real world and shares it safely and securely with other blockchains. While its official launch dates back to 2017, Chainlink has been experiencing a renaissance of late. For example, Chainlink recently partnered with Coinbase to offer pricing feeds for NFT collections. This opens the door for offerings like real-time NFT indexes and new NFT lending protocols that use NFTs as collateral for loans.

Taking a bigger-picture view of where Chainlink is headed in the future, Chainlink founder Sergey Nazarov recently said that his vision is for Chainlink to become "the AWS of Web3."  To make this vision a reality, Chainlink is now working with ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt as a strategic advisor. At a recent conference in New York City, Schmidt and Nazarov discussed how real-time data could be turned into a premium product and monetized. All blockchains need off-chain data to execute smart contracts, and that's exactly the gap that Chainlink is trying to fill. The next time you see those fun, football-themed Amazon Web Services commercials featuring real-time data feeds, just think of a future in which those commercials are coming from Chainlink instead.

XRP

XRP, up 45% over the past 30 days, is the token of the Ripple payment and settlement network. Ripple has won kudos for its ability to send remittances cross-border with near-zero transaction costs. Think of it as a crypto version of Western Union. Until recently, the problem with XRP was that it was facing a massive lawsuit from the SEC over whether XRP was a "crypto" or a "security." The lawsuit has been hanging over XRP since 2020, which essentially put an artificial cap on the future price of this crypto.

But recent developments now suggest that a final settlement of the case is coming by year's end, which has made crypto investors euphoric. XRP has been used for years to facilitate cross-border payments. Sending remittances all over the world is big business in a globalized world, and XRP has already worked with some big-name financial partners in the past to make this as frictionless as possible.  There is now serious talk that XRP could double or triple in value once the lawsuit is behind it, based on its ability to continue business as usual. However, just keep in mind that this is a very speculative investment, similar to investing in a distressed company getting a sudden lifeline. There is a reason why XRP was trading for mere pennies until recently: There is still a chance that XRP could go to zero.

Is it finally altcoin season?

Altcoin season typically starts when a few altcoins start to decouple from Bitcoin, which has historically been the crypto market benchmark. If Bitcoin goes up, altcoins usually follow right behind. If Bitcoin goes down, altcoins also go down with the ship. But in altcoin season, a few coins start to buck the trend. They go up way more than Bitcoin. Or they go up even if Bitcoin goes down.

The three altcoins mentioned here have properties that differentiate them from Bitcoin. Algorand is a Layer 1 blockchain network that can host smart contracts and decentralized applications, similar to Ethereun. Chainlink is a provider of real-time off-chain data feeds, which is not available via Bitcoin. And XRP is a payment and settlement network. There are clear use cases for all of them, and the market is recognizing that.

All of these altcoins are a buy right now. However, just keep in mind that altcoins carry significantly more risk than the largest cryptos in the market. That's why I've focused on three altcoins with market capitalizations among the top 30, and all of which have been around since at least 2017. That should give you a certain margin of safety. So, sit back, sip your pumpkin spice latte, and enjoy the return of altcoin season. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post 3 altcoins to buy right now appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What happened

Several cryptocurrencies rallied Tuesday morning based on buyers' hopes that the Federal Reserve, which has been aggressively raising interest rates this year, could ease back a bit from its hawkish monetary policy.

As of 10 a.m. ET, the price of the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), was up by 4.8% over the previous 24 hours, hovering around $20,000. The world's second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), was 4.2% higher, and the price of XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) was up 6.8%.

So what

Investors have the Reserve Bank of Australia to thank for sending stocks and cryptos higher Tuesday morning after it raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points (0.25 percentage points) when most experts had expected a 50-basis-point hike. Philip Lowe, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, attributed the smaller move to the fact that policymakers have already hiked rates "substantially in a short period of time."

Furthermore, Lowe and his colleagues are starting to get concerned about the economic outlook and how these rate hikes will affect consumers once their full impact is realized.

"One source of uncertainty is the outlook for the global economy, which has deteriorated recently. Another is how household spending in Australia responds to the tighter financial conditions," Lowe said in a statement. "Higher inflation and higher interest rates are putting pressure on household budgets, with the full effects of higher interest rates yet to be felt in mortgage payments."

Fast-rising interest rates have been a massive headwind for crypto and most other risky assets, and have prompted huge declines in their valuations. The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. dollar against other currencies, has also fallen in recent days. That's another positive for crypto because Bitcoin tends to have an inverse relationship with the dollar.

Despite the news out of Australia, the Federal Reserve is still expected to implement two more big rate hikes before the year ends, although it is possible that plan will change as new data on inflation comes in.

In other news, XRP, the cryptocurrency developed by the founders of Ripple Labs, continues to make gains as it barrels toward what looks to be a favorable outcome in a nearly two-year legal battle that could soon be coming to a conclusion.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Ripple Labs in 2020 for not registering XRP as a security when it raised funds in 2013, and for not providing enough transparency to investors. But it seems like the SEC is starting to back off. Last month, both Ripple and the SEC submitted filings asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to make a summary judgment on the case.

Recently, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the SEC needs to release documents from a former director, who may have previously written in a speech that he does not believe Ethereum is a security -- a piece of evidence that Ripple believes is vital to its case.

Furthermore, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said at a recent conference that he thinks Bitcoin and Ethereum should be regulated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which crypto advocates would prefer to them being regulated by the SEC.

Now what

While I am not convinced that the Reserve Bank of Australia's smaller-than-expected rate hike means the U.S. Federal Reserve will ease up in its war on inflation, I'm hopeful that we'll see a more positive inflation report on Oct. 13, which could help the narrative.

Still, I've been impressed with Bitcoin's ability to hang around the $20,000 level, and I ultimately think Bitcoin and Ethereum will prove to be good long-term buys. I also think XRP is headed toward victory in its nearly two-year-long legal battle, which bodes well for that token. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Why Bitcoin and Ethereum are rising today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What happened

Today turned out to be yet another abysmal day for top cryptocurrencies. Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA), XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) are top-10 tokens that are getting pummeled. As of 12:45 p.m. ET, these three tokens have sunk 11.5%, 9.4%, and 13.4%, respectively, over the past 24 hours.

The violent swing downward the crypto market has made in recent weeks follows high selling pressure across other risk assets, such as equities. With the correlation between equities and crypto increasing, likely due to a reversion of the same macro forces that took risk assets higher in recent years, a stampede is heading toward the exits now. Cryptocurrencies such as Cardano, XRP, and Solana provide higher-risk upside, something investors aren't looking for right now.

Adding to the concern of crypto investors is the recent annihilation of algorithmic stablecoin ecosystem Terra. Over the past week, Luna, the token on the Terra blockchain, has gone from around $80 per token to approximately $0.01 at the time of writing. This is due in large part to the move of Terra's stablecoin, TerraUSD, off its peg. Right now, UST is trading below $0.40 per token (stable coins are supposed to be pegged to the $1 level).

So what

Mass contagion appears to be a tail risk many investors didn't really factor into their valuation models (if they had any) in the crypto world. With stablecoins (algorithmic and otherwise) increasingly seeing instability, this poses a real existential threat to the crypto sector as a whole.

That's because stablecoins power payments in the crypto space, and are often used as the exchange rate for various trading pairs and the all-important crypto derivatives market. Investors face a choice of whether to stick it out and average down on position, or take losses and move on. Right now, it appears the latter is the focus of most investors in this market.

Now what

Cardano, XRP, and Solana are each down well more than 75% from their 52-week highs. This is a bloodbath, and the idea of minting fresh all-time highs seems to be a fairytale in this environment. In other words, investors can't see the bottom. And when this happens, panic is what can drive valuations of any risk asset to levels many didn't think was possible, especially in such short order.

For those bullish on the future of the crypto sector, and who believe Cardano, XRP, and Solana each provide unique utility for a digital future, perhaps these are the sorts of discounts worth considering. After all, previous crashes in the crypto sector were resolved.

However, it's clear risk appetite isn't anywhere near where it used to be. With the markets so cautious, it's hard to be a buyer, even at these depressed valuations. Accordingly, until there's some sort of catalyst for investors to latch on to, I think volatility is likely to remain mostly to the downside, at least in the near term.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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What happened

It's been a rather bumpy ride in the world of large-cap cryptocurrencies of late. Today, this volatility has continued, with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) each seeing declines as of late-morning trading.

At 11:45 a.m. ET, these top tokens had sunk 1.3%, 2.1%, and 5.1% respectively over the past 24 hours. 

A number of macro factors appear to be weighing on these top tokens, including volatility in Asian markets as well as concerns around rising interest rates and a stronger U.S. dollar. 

For Bitcoin, these concerns have overshadowed some near-term catalysts investors are focused on. The Central African Republic has passed a bill to regulate crypto, adopting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with a focus on inclusive growth. While this news isn't necessarily as bullish as El Salvador's move to declare Bitcoin legal tender, investors are taking note. 

Similarly, Ethereum's move toward an eventual "merge" that would take it from proof-of-work validation to proof-of-stake validation continues to provide both bullish anticipation and anxiety for some investors. That's because Ethereum's merge has been delayed, again, signaling any sort of bullish catalyst for investors may be further out. 

XRP has now given up most of its gains from its late-January dip, as investors appear to be cautious with respect to the upcoming verdict on the SEC v. Ripple case that's nearing a close.

So what

Each of these top tokens has its own idiosyncratic catalysts and headwinds investors ought to consider. That said, the price action in today's crypto market has really been mostly to the downside, with the exception of certain meme tokens (thanks to Elon Musk).

Like equity investors, those in the crypto market appear to be pricing in continued headwinds from lower liquidity in the market stemming from rising interest rates and quantitative tightening. Expectations that growth assets may underperform, whether true or not, are overshadowing any bullish catalysts for these top tokens once again today.

Now what

It's unclear whether the highly discussed crypto winter many were talking about at the beginning of the year is truly over. Right now, it's clear that an unfavorable monetary policy environment is likely to continue to affect the valuations of riskier assets for some time. Being among the riskiest of all asset classes, cryptocurrencies may be ill-positioned for growth in such an environment.

That said, there are many reasons long-term growth investors may remain bullish on cryptocurrencies. The technologies underpinning these tokens do provide tangible catalysts for investors to get excited about. Accordingly, it's now a question of how the market will price this growth potential. Today, it appears most investors are negative on the near-to-medium-term outlook for this sector.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP are struggling today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

One Bitcoin is currently worth US$38,626 (AU$52,760), giving the world's original crypto a market cap of US$740 billion.

Despite the rebound, the Bitcoin price remains down 10% over the past 7 days and down 20% year-to-date.

The Ripple (CRYTPO: XRP) price is gaining today too, up 1% since this time yesterday to 72.8 US cents.

XRP, the world's number 6 crypto with a market cap of US$34.7 billion, remains down 15% for the year. We bring this particular token up for a reason.

If you're unfamiliar with XRP, the token was created by Ripple Lab as a "digital asset built for global payments".

According to CoinMarketCap, this implies that, "Ripple plans to rival money transfers usually conducted by the banking system. XRP would allow users to send money at a very low cost, attracting the potential interest of retail customers and banks alike."

Which brings us back to Visa and Mastercard removing their payment services from Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. This comes atop the earlier ban of many Russian banks from the global SWIFT service.

With more Russian institutions and individuals locked out of traditional payment systems, will this impact the Bitcoin price and other payment focused cryptos like XRP?

Will Visa and Mastercard's Russia ban impact the Bitcoin price?

Josh Gilbert, market analyst at multi asset investment platform eToro, sees the potential for an increased demand for cryptos as Russians are locked out from global credit cards. And greater demand could send the Bitcoin price higher.

According to Gilbert:

The latest Visa and Mastercard restrictions will further tighten how Russians are able to access capital, meaning we may well see an increase in demand for cryptoassets. Bitcoin is borderless, so at times like this, citizens can turn to cryptoassets to store and spend their capital.

The restrictions from Swift, Visa and Mastercard could see demand pivot to cryptoassets that specialise in payments, such as XRP, given its ability to instantly and efficiently move money across all corners of the world through its decentralised blockchain.

Emphasising that crypto is not something you just store in a digital wallet hoping the price will go up, Gilbert added:

The last few weeks have highlighted crypto's real-world use cases, and everyday consumers now understand there is much more to crypto than just an investable asset. This could shepherd in a new era of finance; payments in under a matter of seconds, decentralisation away from corporations or governments, and the provision of finances when traditional methods are not available.

Despite greater clarity surrounding its real-world use cases, the Bitcoin price has yet to lift off in the wake of heavy selling following its November all-time highs.

Can Russia skirt sanctions with crypto?

One of the big concerns with cryptos like Bitcoin and XRP is that the Russian government may use them to do an end run around sanctions imposed by the West.

You've probably heard these debates, also linked to organised criminal activity, amongst various politicians and analysts yourself.

But the top brass at global crypto exchange FTX says it will be nigh impossible for Russia to do so on any kind of appreciable scale.

According to FTX president Brett Harrison and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried:

The world's attention on Russia's aggressive conflict with Ukraine, combined with the new omnipresence of cryptocurrencies, has created the natural question now being asked in all major media: can cryptocurrency be used by sanctioned parties to avoid US sanctions?

The short answer is: no.

Harrison and Bankman-Fried give a long list of security protocols in place to prevent sanctioned institutions from simply reverting to Bitcoin, XRP or other cryptos over fiat currency.

Among those protocols, they said:

Exchanges that can accept wire transfers as sources of fiat deposits know the identity of the source financial institution, and can therefore detect whether the currency is coming from, for example, a sanctions listed Russian bank, a blacklisted source, or some other problematic funds source.

The post How might Visa and Mastercard's Russia ban impact the Bitcoin price? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What happened 

A "risk-on" trading day is taking place again on Wall Street and that's helping cryptocurrency values to start the week. It helps that the market was up early in trading today and cryptocurrencies usually magnify those gains. But as the market has fallen back to breakeven the gains for crypto are holding.

As of 12:40 p.m. ET, over the last 24 hours Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) had jumped as much as 5.2%, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) was up 4.2%, and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) had gained 17.4%. Their values were up 5%, 4.1%, and 16.1% in the last day as of this writing.

So what 

XRP continues to trade higher on speculation that a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would favor Ripple, the token's developer. Last week, documents in the case were unsealed and there's hope a verdict will be reached soon. The conclusion of the case is enough to send XRP's value higher lately.

In another sign that cryptocurrencies are gaining mainstream adoption, credit unions Unify and Idaho Central will allow their customers to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin.

Also announced this morning was a $450 million investment by Sequoia Capital India, Andreessen Horowitz, and Tiger Global in Polygon, a Layer 2 blockchain that serves as a support layer to Ethereum. Venture Capital has been flowing into cryptocurrency blockchains and what's known as Web 3.0 development, which involves building apps on top of the blockchain. This is the kind of investment that will build further advances like lower costs and improved functionality into the blockchain and in this case, Ethereum would be one of the beneficiaries because it's the Layer 1 to Polygon's Layer 2 solutions.

Now what 

The market has been extremely volatile the last few months and right now momentum is on the side of cryptocurrency. Values are rising as the market slowly recovers and growth stocks bounce back. But more importantly the investments in cryptocurrency today will lead to further utility in the future.

Developers are introducing new innovations like low-cost payments, non-fungible tokens, and decentralized finance solutions. Polygon, for example, sees itself as a decentralized cloud service, providing an alternative to some of the products that are typically built by big tech companies.

While momentum is on the side of cryptocurrencies today, that momentum could fade eventually just based on market volatility. But investors should keep an eye on what's being built in the Web 3.0/cryptocurrency industry because that's where value will ultimately be derived. And it seems that utility is growing and traditional banking institutions are also taking crypto seriously, which is bullish for the industry long-term. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Why Bitcoin and Ethereum Were Up Big Today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What happened

So... those who haven't checked their crypto portfolios yet, might want to.

Crypto markets are in turmoil right now. Most major cryptocurrencies are bleeding, driven by outsized moves at the top of the value chain. 

This market turmoil started late-Friday evening and continued into early Saturday morning. However, by end of day Saturday, much of the market mayhem has died down, to some degree.

As of 11:45pm ET, Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) and Ripple (CRYPTO: XRP) were two of the bigger losers among large cap cryptocurrencies. Cardano was down 8.4%, while Ripple saw declines of 7.4% over the past 24 hours.

However, Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), a top-5 cryptocurrency by market capitalization, recovered most of its gains from the earlier crypto crash, down only 1.8% since the mayhem began. And Terra (CRYPTO: LUNA) was the big winner-up 20.8% over the past 24 hours.

So what

Starting with the good news-Terra has been a big winner among mega-cap cryptocurrencies of late. This network provides crucial stable coin infrastructure, and appears to increasingly be viewed as a more stable (no kidding) hedge to the volatility that's been reeking havoc in the crypto markets.

Solana's positioning as a smart contract/decentralized finance (DeFi) network able to compete with Ethereum has enticed many investors to consider this top token. Accordingly, it appears the market is taking a buy-the-dip approach with this top token.

Ripple and Cardano are two cryptocurrencies with their own set of token-specific headwinds of late. Various regulatory and delisting concerns have plagued the two cryptocurrencies, leading to headwinds which appear to be hindering these tokens' recovery today.

Now what

Looking at the price action of these four cryptocurrencies, investors can take away two things.

First, the crypto market is a fast-moving space with very unique blockchains, each with individual catalysts and headwinds. Investors looking at picking tokens ought to consider a variety of factors before jumping in. It's a risky business, picking individual tokens.

Second, market-specific forces can, and will, continue to drive momentum across the sector. However, there's always room for divergence from market-specific catalysts. In this case, Terra Luna's upside momentum has overshadowed this weekend's turmoil. And it appears Solana's making a break for it to the upside.

Perhaps Ripple and Cardano will catch up to their peers. However, it seems investors are being more selective with the tokens they're choosing to buy the dip with today. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Crypto market crash: The latest on Solana, Cardano, Ripple, and Terra appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

It seems ludicrous now but, back in March 2020, Bitcoin plunged to almost US$5,000 a coin. By April 2021, it was back making new all-time highs of more than US$60,000 a coin, meaning some investors enjoyed gains of 10x or more in just over a year.

But the past few months have told a wildly different story. Since topping out above US$60,000 in April, Bitcoin has spent the subsequent 4 months falling back to Earth. By mid-July, it was back under US$30,000 a coin, quickly halving any gains investors had made by April. Such is life for a cryptocurrency investor.

What's behind Bitcoin's volatility in 2021 so far?

What caused this collapse? Well, with a decentralised asset like Bitcoin, it's hard to know for sure. But most commentators put it down to a combination of the regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies in China as well as Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk's whipsawing.

Musk made headlines earlier this year when he announced Tesla would accept Bitcoin as a payment method from its customers after the company invested some of its balance sheet cash into Bitcoin. Just a few months later, Musk backflipped, stating Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin due to the environmental cost of mining the coins.

But that was then, and this is now. Since mid-July, Bitcoin has again surprised investors with a remarkable rally. The crypto has risen from below US$30,000 to just today crossing the US$50,000 price mark for the first time since May. Yep, in just over a month, Bitcoin has increased by almost 50%.

It's not just Bitcoin either. Other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), Ripple XRP (CRYPTO: XRP ) and Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) have also rallied.

So what's driving it? Again, it's hard to say. A report in today's Australian Financial Review (AFR) points to a self-fulfilling prophecy, stating that "the revival in virtual currencies has excited animal spirits again among the crypto faithful".

However, the report also warns that the rally might be nearing its peak. It quotes Rick Bensignor, CEO of Bensignor Investment Strategies, as stating, "[Bitcoin is] getting nearer the higher end of what I expect as a new trading range in the low-$US40,000s to low-$US50,000s".

We'll have to wait and see what happens from here. If there's one thing we can probably all agree on with Bitcoin, it's to expect the unexpected.

The post Up 50% in a month! Bitcoin is back over US$50,000 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

This might be especially disappointing for those who follow the crypto space. Just last week, Bitcoin climbed back over US$40,000 a coin for the first time since mid-May, perhaps giving the illusion that the crypto crash we have witnessed over the past month or two might finally have turned a corner.

But alas for those optimists, that doesn't seem to be the case as of yet. Since yesterday morning, Bitcoin has slumped from almost US$36,000 a coin to the current price of US$32,254. That's a slide of more than 10% in just over 24 hours.

It's not just Bitcoin either. Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) was as high as US$2,264 a coin yesterday morning but is going for US$1,938 this morning, down more than 14% in just over 24 hours. Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, behind Bitcoin. The third largest crypto is Ripple's XRP (CRYPTO: XRP). It was almost at 78 US cents yesterday morning. But today, Ripple is down to 62.9 US cents – a drop of close to 20%.

The almighty Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) has copped some of the worst selling pressure. It's down more than 34% since yesterday morning and is sitting at 18.8 US cents a Dogecoin.

A one-word summary of the crypto space in the past 24-30 hours? Ouch.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin sell off… But why?

So why is this happening? According to a report in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) today, crypto investors can largely blame China. This report tells us that China has apparently "summoned officials from its biggest banks to a meeting to reiterate a ban on providing cryptocurrency services".

The AFR reckons that this is " is the latest sign that China plans to do whatever it takes to close any loopholes left in crypto trading".

Obviously, increased barriers to entry into the crypto market itself in the world's second-largest economy is not good news for said crypto markets. It may also be a harbinger of things to come: what if other countries follow China's lead? Here's what Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist for Charles Schwab & Co, told the AFR:

The fact that there's a crackdown there perhaps does take away some of its lustre… I'm not sure it's a signal of a longer-term change in direction, but it can certainly create some volatility. No one is sure the extent of the crackdown and China is an important player in the bitcoin market.

Who knows where Bitcoin will go from here. But one thing seems certain: the trademark volatility of the cryptocurrency space doesn't look like it's going anywhere anytime soon.

The post Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin just tanked again! appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.