Huge Bitcoin (BTC) Volatility, Ripple (XRP) Milestone, Solana Meme Coins Resurgence: Bits Recap Jan 12

TL;DR

Bitcoin’s price fluctuated sharply, impacted by the US SEC’s mixed signals on BTC ETF approvals, with swings from $45K to $49K.
Ripple’s XRP witnessed a growth in user wallets, reflecting increased network interest and activity.
Solana-based meme coins, including dogwifhat (WIF) and Myro (MYRO), experienced significant price increases, with WIF soaring by 4,800% in a month.

BTC’s Price Swings as of Late

The price of Bitcoin has been on a rollercoaster in the past few days, influenced by the historic approval of a multiple spot BTC ETFs in the United States.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenlighted the applications of BlackRock, Valkyrie, VanEck, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and other finance giants on January 10. Shortly after, the link containing the announcement on the SEC website was removed, which resulted in confusion and BTC’s downfall to as low as $45K. Once the information was brought back up on the SEC website, the asset’s price rallied to around $46K.

Bitcoin experienced even greater volatility yesterday (January 11). As CryptoPotato reported, it climbed to $49,000 (a price last seen at the beginning of 2022), with ETFs comprising billions of dollars of cumulative volume.

The impressive rally was short-lived, and Bitcoin plummeted by $3K to under $46,000. The total value of liquidated positions jumped above $300M on a 24-hour scale, harming over-leveraged traders. The asset’s value currently hovers around $45,600 (per CoinGecko’s data).

Those curious to find out whether BTC could reach a new all-time high this year could take a look at our dedicated video below:

What’s New Around Ripple (XRP)?

Ripple’s XRP recently reached a major milestone, with the number of XRP wallets surpassing the 5 million mark. The achievement comes after a significant uptrend throughout 2023. The figure stood at approximately 4 million at the beginning of last year. 

An increase in XRP wallets could indicate a growing interest and participation in the Ripple network, which could lead to additional investor confidence.

On-chain metrics have also been solid as of late, with the number of executed XRP transactions (daily) staying above the 4 million range since the beginning of 2024.

Solana Meme Coins in the Spotlight

The Solana meme coins dogwifhat (WIF) and Myro (MYRO) made waves after registering substantial gains. The former has skyrocketed by 115% in the past seven days and a staggering 4,800% on a monthly basis. Several hours ago, it surpassed the $0.30 mark following a Bybit listing but later descended to the current level of $0.23.

For its part, MYRO climbed to an all-time high of almost $0.12, whereas its market capitalization exceeded $100 million.