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South Korea’s crypto market is seeing a major shift , with Upbit becoming the biggest holder of XRP reserves among all exchanges monitored by CryptoQuant. Data reveals that Upbit now holds twice as much XRP as Binance, which stands as the second-largest exchange in terms of XRP reserves. Market analyst Kate Young Ju highlighted this rapid accumulation, signaling South Korea’s growing enthusiasm for XRP trading. In terms of volume, Upbit is also ahead of Binance, accounting for 14.37% of total XRP trading, while Binance holds 12% of the market. The numbers reflect the increasing appetite of South Korean investors for the digital asset. However, some speculate that this spike in trading is not purely organic. There are concerns that the Kimchi Premium is playing a role in driving up demand, potentially inflating XRP prices beyond their real market value. Upbit’s XRP dominance—Kimchi Premium fueling demand? Smart play for $XRP bulls! — ValueScope | Topvalue (@topvalue) March 5, 2025 The Kimchi Premium, a well-known market phenomenon, occurs when cryptocurrency prices in South Korea trade significantly higher than in global markets. Due to capital controls and inefficiencies, South Korean investors often pay a premium for digital assets, making XRP appear more valuable. The search interest for XRP in South Korea has skyrocketed. Google Trends data shows that searches for “XRP” in the country have reached their highest level in five years, reflecting a surge in investor attention. Over 30% of South Korea’s population is investing in crypto, further fueling XRP’s stronghold in the region. The rising interest in XRP could be linked to a recent announcement from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who revealed a proposed U.S. crypto reserve featuring XRP alongside other tokens like Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA). This development triggered heavy speculation, with many investors rushing to buy XRP, pushing its price upward. However, the excitement was short-lived. Soon after the news broke, XRP’s price experienced a “ sell-the-news ” correction, leading to a price drop. Market uncertainty grew as some crypto leaders raised doubts about Trump’s reserve plan, injecting FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) into the market. Despite this, analysts maintain a bullish outlook, arguing that XRP remains undervalued. They believe its price could rebound once the market stabilizes and investor confidence returns. While XRP enjoys strong momentum in South Korea, its long-term future remains uncertain due to ongoing legal battles with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The lawsuit between the SEC and Ripple, XRP’s parent company, has cast a shadow over the token’s regulatory standing. Recently, the SEC dropped its case against MetaMask, leading to speculation that Ripple’s lawsuit could be next. Some legal experts believe the SEC is delaying its decision, prolonging XRP’s regulatory uncertainty. However, others are hopeful that the lawsuit may be dropped by April, which could mark a major victory for Ripple and XRP holders. If the SEC lawsuit is resolved, it could open doors for an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF), potentially attracting institutional investors and further boosting adoption. For now, investors remain on edge, watching for any regulatory developments that could impact XRP’s trajectory.

The Bitcoin development firm Blockstream recently launched three investment funds, two of which will enable crypto lending. The launch includes Income Fund, Alpha Fund, and Yield Fund. The income fund is aimed at lending against BTC collateral. Alpha Fund will deliver risk-adjusted outperformance within the BTC ecosystem, focusing on portfolio growth. Yield Fund focuses on low-risk returns, avoiding BTC sell-off. With this, Blockstream has joined a handful of companies like Grayscale and Pantera in offering crypto-focused investment funds. According to Bloomerang, the Blockstream institutional-grade crypto-based investment solutions will go live on April 1, 2025. Let us explore the launches! The Launch Plan The demands of crypto institutional investors are ever-changing as the market is highly volatile. Blockstream has captured this market behavior and is poised to spur BTC-based innovations. It envisions paving the way for financial institutions to access the Bitcoin ecosystem. BTC purchases are expensive and too risky to access. It is far from the reach of a typical investor. Blockstream will address this issue by providing exposure to the Bitcoin markets. It will bridge traditional finance and Bitcoin ecosystems. With these efforts, Blockstream aims to build a world where Bitcoin is naturally part of the investment options. Blockstream Income Fund: Stable Returns with BTC-backed Lending The Blockstream income fund is built to lend against BTC collateral. It focuses on providing BTC-backed loans. This way, investors can earn a steady income and isolate themselves from the fluctuating BTC prices. How does this work? Blockstream uses an LTV approach to operate the fund. LTV stands for Loan-to-Value. It is a ratio between the borrowed value and the BTC value. In simple terms, it allows borrowers to borrow a portion of their Bitcoin value, similar to gold loans. Customers place their gold ornaments in gold loans as security, and in Blockstream Income Fund, it is BTC! The loan ranges from $100K to $5 million. Blockstream Alpha Fund: Smart Strategies for Maximizing Bitcoin Profits The Blockstream Alpha Fund works as a mix of investment strategies. Unlike passive BTC funds that wait for the prices to increase, this fund uses multiple trading strategies: Derivative trading, Basis trading, and event-driven trading, to name a few. Derivative trading involves buying and selling Bitcoin futures. Basis trading takes advantage of the difference between Bitcoin’s spot and the futures market. Event-driven trading is capitalizing on market fluctuations that could have been triggered by news or regulatory changes. Blockstream also plans to build its Alpha fund by operating Bitcoin infrastructure. How can you earn Passive Income with Bitcoin Lending Funds like Blockstream? Bitcoin lending funds generate returns by lending Bitcoin to borrowers in exchange for interest payments. First, investors will deposit BTC into the fund. The capital collected will be used for borrowing from institutional borrowers such as crypto exchanges and businesses. Borrowers repay the loan, and investors receive their returns based on the interest earned. These funds are highly beneficial to crypto investors. Investors can earn consistent interest payments. They can avoid selling their BTC possessions. Also, the risk involved is less as most focus on highly reputable borrowers. Above all, investors can diversify their portfolios, and the risks involved are less! Key Insights: Brdiging Traditional Finance and BTC ecosystems The launch of Bitcoin lending funds by Blockstream marks a significant step in integrating Bitcoin into institutional finances. The investment giant focuses on bridging the gap between the traditional finance and Bitcoin ecosystems. It achieves this by diversifying investment options and increasing access to the BTC ecosystems. The company offers three different funds: An income fund, an Alpha fund, and a Yield fund. The Income Fund and Alpha Fund work directly with the BTC-related ecosystems, while the Yield Fund has diversified variations and works across different domains. Whether investors seek stable yields, strategic growth, or diversified exposure, these funds present a compelling option. Blockstream’s Bitcoin-focused investment funds have the potential to redefine how institutions interact with Bitcoin, paving the way for broader adoption and financial innovation in the crypto space. The post Blockstream’s Bitcoin Lending Funds: Hold Your BTC & Earn More Without Selling a Satoshi! appeared first on Coinfomania.

Ethereum took a major step forward with the Pectra upgrade’s launch on the Sepolia testnet. This update, combining execution and consensus layer enhancements, moves Ethereum closer to a mainnet release. Pectra introduces key Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) focused on scalability, staking flexibility, and user experience. Moreover, its Increased staking limits and account abstraction aim to simplify processes for validators and wallet users. However, concerns remain about Ethereum’s market performance as rival blockchains attract more attention. Recent large-scale sell-offs have also influenced investor confidence, adding uncertainty to Ethereum’s future momentum. Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade Successfully Debuts on Sepolia The Ethereum Pectra upgrade was launched on the Sepolia testnet on March 5 at 7:29 am UTC successfully. This anticipated development has made Pectra one step closer to launching on the mainnet next month. However, the exact rollout time will be discussed in the All Core Developers (ACD) call on March 6. This test followed a previous failed test on the Holesky testnet, which was caused by misconfiguration from the validators. Testnets work as simulations and imitate the main blockchain to give developers a low-stress environment for testing updates and features. Table 1- Provided by Terence – Published on Tradingview- March 5, 2025 Based on the table above, Ethereum contributor Terence confirmed that the Pectra upgrade test on Sepolia delivered a perfect proposal rate. This upgrade’s name has been created by combining Prague, which contains the execution layer changes, and Electra for consensus layer updates. Pectra upgrade will be built on the 2024’s Dencun hard fork, which reduced Layer 2 fees. The Pectra upgrade itself contains 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) and will enhance network scalability and capacity. Pectra Revolutionizing Ethereum: Staking to Smart Wallets One of the most anticipated changes for the Ethereum network will be the EIP-7251 upgrade. This upgrade will change the maximum amount of Stakebale ETH from 32 to 2,048, benefiting validators greatly. This is because, with the current stacking system, to stake more than 32 ETH, validators must split it on different nodes. Another scalability-focused upgrade is EIP-7691, which increases the maximum blob count and enhances rollup scalability. The EIP-7702 upgrade is also an important change in Ethereum’s blockchain. This upgrade is focused on improving user experience by simplifying ETH’s basic transactions. EIP-7702 brings account abstraction to Ethereum by giving crypto wallets the ability to temporarily work as smart contracts. With this, wallets can offer more user-friendly features to ETH users. These features include easier wallet recovery, simplified transaction payments with stablecoin options, scheduling, automatic subscription renewal, and payment. As such, the Ethereum Pectra upgrade is set to create a highly scalable and accessible network. Major Whale Sell-Off Shakes The Ethereum Community Although these upgrades guarantee a resurgence in interest and value appreciation for ETH, some enthusiasts are still worried about the future. This is because recently, newer chains like Solana have been gaining market share as memecoins become more popular. Ethereum’s market performance has also been underwhelming when compared to other major altcoins. These worries have been worsened as a large investor dumped 40,000 ETH as markets crashed yesterday. This sell-off was worth $89.9 million and was facilitated through over-the-counter (OTC) trades. Will Pectra Be Enough? How Ethereum Can Stay Competitive If Ethereum successfully integrates Pectra and enhances its foundation, it could reinforce its leadership in smart contracts. User-friendly wallets and better validator incentives could also drive mass adoption. However, market volatility and competition still threaten its stability. To stay competitive, ETH can lower fees, enhance network performance, and create more real-world applications. If executed well, these steps could boost investor confidence and ensure long-term growth. The post Ethereum Pectra Upgrade is Here: A Major Leap for ETH, But a Shocking $89.9M Sell-Off Raises Fears appeared first on Coinfomania.

🔄 Leadership changes at the Ethereum Foundation as Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak step in as co-executive directors. How will this impact Ethereum's future? 🔗 Bitcoin 's Layer-2 BOB integrates with Fireblocks, opening DeFi opportunities for over 2,000 entities. Is Bitcoin's DeFi potential finally being realized? 📱 MetaMask unveils a new roadmap, introducing smart contract capabilities to enhance user experience. Are you excited for these updates? Let us know!

Arbitrum’s price jumped 12.9% on Thursday after Robinhood announced its listing, though ARB is still down more than 80% since its all-time high. Ethereum’s layer-2 solution, Arbitrum ( ARB ), is now available for trading on Robinhood , joining Bitcoin ( BTC ), Ethereum ( ETH ), Solana ( SOL ), as well as other altcoins. In an X post on Wednesday, March 5, the U.S.-based online brokerage platform said users can trade ARB via its crypto-focused arm called Robinhood Crypto. Following the announcement, Arbitrum’s price soared 12.98% to $0.4258. However, even with the rally, the token remains 82% below its peak of $2.26, which it reached in January 2024, according to crypto.news price data. In late January, crypto.news suggested that Arbitrum token may be on the verge of a strong bullish breakout as the volume of tokens on the chain suddenly jumped by 118%, cementing its best week in months. Another positive catalyst is that Arbitrum formed a falling wedge pattern, which is made up of two falling and converging trendlines. These two lines are nearing their confluence levels, signaling a potential rebound that can push the Arbitrum price to $1.2470. Meanwhile, on-chain data from Artemis suggests that traders jumped on the recent news, with daily transactions climbing 25% to 2.8 million over the past week. The top three most active addresses appear to be linked to Tether’s and Circle’s smart contracts, hinting at increased stablecoin conversions, which might signal traders’ willingness to take advantage of the price movement. Founded in 2016 by Steven Goldfeder, Harry Kalodner, and Joshua Goldfeder, Arbitrum is a layer-2 blockchain designed to help Ethereum handle more transactions at lower costs. It addresses Ethereum’s high fees and congestion by offloading some processing and data storage from the main Ethereum network. Since Ethereum’s smart contract execution requires nodes to process every step, transaction costs can quickly add up. By handling some of this work off-chain, Arbitrum aims to reduce congestion, offering lower fees, and improving overall efficiency.