Latest news with #HiddenRoad
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Which Cryptocurrency Is More Likely to Be a Millionaire Maker? XRP vs. Shiba Inu
It's tempting to pile all your money into investments that claim to offer huge returns. The ones that don't make those claims tend to be the better bets. XRP and Shiba Inu embody this clash very precisely. 10 stocks we like better than XRP › Most investors know the lure of a lottery ticket. In crypto, that ticket often takes the form of a meme coin promising overnight riches -- and, in very rare cases, buying the ticket does pay off. Yet wealth is far more commonly built the unglamorous way, not in a single moonshot, and more than one investor has lost it all betting on a speculative asset when a less flashy one held for the long term would have made them much richer. With global liquidity thawing and a fresh crop of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) inching toward approval, chatter about millionaire makers is back. Two fan favorites are quite popular in the conversation: XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), a utility fintech coin aimed at capturing institutional money flows, and Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB), a meme coin powered almost entirely by vibes. Let's dig in and determine which of the two is more likely to make investors a lot wealthier. One of XRP's biggest assets in the matchup against Shiba Inu is that its issuer, Ripple, is actively developing the XRP Ledger (XRPL) to appeal to a specific group of institutional investors. Ripple's ledger is built for banks, currency exchange houses, and those seeking payment rails. In April, Ripple agreed to buy prime broker Hidden Road for $1.2 billion, bringing with it a client base that clears roughly $3 trillion in trades each year into XRP's orbit. Now, Hidden Road's volume will be cleared in the back end using the coin, which supports its price by increasing demand. Furthermore, offering institutional plumbing matters because it turns a token from a speculative chip into working capital. Momentum is building on the market-access side, too. Cash-settled XRP futures trading just launched in May, pulling in $19 million on day one. Analysts now assign roughly 90% odds of an XRP ETF getting the green light within months, which could only happen if futures trading were proceeding smoothly. The current set of macro conditions will also help buoy XRP's price. Central banks from Europe to Canada have recently pivoted to cutting interest rates, reducing the cost of borrowing money, and the Federal Reserve in the U.S. is widely expected to cut rates before the end of 2025, turning liquidity from headwind to tailwind for risk assets like XRP. Could these factors drive up XRP 100-fold and mint millionaires overnight? Probably not. That would require a $12.9 trillion market cap --from $126 billion today -- which is not happening anytime soon. But a realistic scenario of steady regulatory wins, ETF inflows (assuming the ETFs get approved), and continued banking adoption could still deliver a respectable and consistent return over the next decade. Shiba Inu's elevator pitch is simple. What if there were a coin that could repeat Dogecoin's magic, but with trillions more tokens, and a mascot dripping with internet culture? Well, that coin might just go to the moon -- or so buyers are perpetually hoping. To mint a single new millionaire from a very large $10,000 stake, this coin must climb 100-fold, lifting its valuation to roughly $680 billion from about $6.8 billion today, which is to say it would need to be a bit bigger than some of the world's largest companies creating real value every day, like Visa, which has a market cap of $678 billion. Defenders point to Shiba Inu's aggressive token burning program. In mid-June, there were 116 million tokens burned, which sounds like a lot. But 116 million is 0.00002% of the supply, which means it's mathematically irrelevant to the coin's float of 589.2 trillion tokens. Meanwhile, every macro catalyst that might lift Shiba Inu will also lift higher-quality assets. Investors chasing meme coins for the liquidity wave argument ignore that the same flood of easy money can flow into XRP as well, which has dramatically stronger fundamentals and thus more staying power. The bottom line here is that Shiba Inu is unlikely to make you a millionaire unless you already put down near-millionaire money or catch an unpredictable, sentiment-driven spike and exit before gravity returns -- and you almost certainly won't. For most long-term investors, that is neither a strategy nor a plan. In closing, XRP may not deliver a fairy-tale 100-fold gain, but at least it has a road map to justify calculated optimism and long-term holding. Before you buy stock in XRP, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and XRP wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $704,676!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $950,198!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,048% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 175% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Alex Carchidi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Visa and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Which Cryptocurrency Is More Likely to Be a Millionaire Maker? XRP vs. Shiba Inu was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
28-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
XRP's $5+ Explosion Is Loading, Here's 3 Reasons Why It Could Detonate Any Day
XRP's prolonged sideways movement might just be the calm before the storm. Here's why bulls should be paying close attention. Confident Investing Starts Here: After four months of frustrating consolidation between $2.00 and $2.60, XRP may finally be gearing up for a decisive breakout. A confluence of bullish fundamentals, surging institutional interest, and key technical patterns is giving traders a strong case to keep their eyes on higher targets—possibly even in the $5 to $14 range. Let's unpack the three major signals pointing to a potential XRP surge. 1. Ripple's Aggressive Expansion Strategy Ripple is not just sitting back during XRP's sideways grind, it's building aggressively. The $1.25 billion acquisition of prime brokerage Hidden Road is a game-changer. The move reinforces Ripple's ambitions to become a major liquidity hub for institutions. What's even more notable is Ripple's plan to integrate its upcoming RLUSD stablecoin directly into Hidden Road's services, effectively tying ecosystem utility directly to XRP infrastructure. Ripple CTO David Schwartz confirmed that the M&A pipeline is active: 'We have multiple potential acquisitions in various stages, from early stages to late stages.' These aren't just vanity acquisitions either. Ripple's ongoing efforts with Metaco, Standard Custody, and now Wormhole integration signal an intent to turn the XRP Ledger into a cross-chain DeFi powerhouse. XRPL's upcoming upgrades, especially around programmability and a new lending protocol, mirror Ethereum's evolution and lay the groundwork for native DeFi use cases. Combined, these moves could significantly expand demand for XRP as a base asset. 2. CME Futures Volume Signals Growing Institutional Appetite XRP is now playing in the big leagues. Since their launch on May 19, CME Group's XRP futures have already clocked over $542.8 million in trading volume. On day one alone, trading reached $19.3 million, spanning 15 firms and four major retail platforms. Importantly, nearly half of these participants are non-U.S. traders, a key signal of global appetite. 'The introduction of XRP futures has rapidly demonstrated significant market interest and widespread participation,' noted CME Group. High derivatives volume often precedes large spot price movements, especially when accompanied by expectations of a spot ETF. And right now, XRP is among the leading candidates. Polymarket betting odds put the chance of an XRP ETF approval before year-end at 76%. An ETF approval would unlock new flows from institutional allocators—many of whom won't touch crypto until it's wrapped in an ETF wrapper. 3. Technicals Align for a Classic Bull Breakout Crypto analyst XForceGlobal has flagged a compelling technical setup. According to his analysis, XRP recently bounced from the 0.618 Fibonacci level near $2.00, a textbook retracement that often precedes a new leg higher. He sees this as part of a larger Elliott Wave structure targeting $5 in the short term, and $20-$30 over the cycle. Meanwhile, analyst Egrag Crypto points to a bullish symmetrical triangle pattern, with Fibonacci extensions pointing to targets between $8 and $27. Even conservative measures from the bull pennant structure project a breakout target of $14—a 564% upside from current levels. But there's a catch: XRP must first break cleanly above $2.65, which has capped every rally since March. If that level falls, we're likely in for an aggressive move toward $3 and beyond. It's evident that Ripple is expanding aggressively, institutional money is flowing in through CME futures, and bullish technicals are all aligning, XRP may be approaching its breakout moment. The question isn't if XRP will break out of its consolidation range, but how far it will run once it does. XRP is sitting at $2.0852.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitcoin and gold gain as stagflation fears drive investors from bonds
On this week's episode of Yahoo Finance Future Focus, our host Brian McGleenon spoke with Gary Murphy, director of liquidity management at Hidden Road, about how surging sovereign bond yields are shifting investor sentiment. As US, Japanese, and European government debt hits multi-decade highs, Murphy noted that confidence in fixed income is faltering, pushing capital toward alternative assets like bitcoin and gold. He pointed to rising inflation fears, Moody's US debt downgrade, and global fiscal deterioration as key drivers behind this flight to perceived safety. In particular, bitcoin is no longer seen as a speculative fringe asset, but increasingly as a mainstream hedge, a shift underscored by major institutional adoption. The conversation also touched on broader market dynamics, including the transformative role of AI and robotics in potentially alleviating inflation pressures through productivity gains. Murphy highlighted how younger investors are embracing higher-risk assets, such as AI-themed ETFs and crypto, while Baby Boomers continue to favour bonds and dividend-paying stocks. He described this as a generational shift, not just a cyclical trend. Murphy also provided a glimpse into Hidden Road's expanding product suite, including digital asset prime brokerage, OTC clearing, and the soon-to-launch Route 28 swaps platform, which integrates digital and traditional markets, signalling where institutional finance is heading. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitcoin and gold gain as stagflation fears drive investors from bonds
On this week's episode of Yahoo Finance Future Focus, our host Brian McGleenon spoke with Gary Murphy, director of liquidity management at Hidden Road, about how surging sovereign bond yields are shifting investor sentiment. As US, Japanese, and European government debt hits multi-decade highs, Murphy noted that confidence in fixed income is faltering, pushing capital toward alternative assets like bitcoin and gold. He pointed to rising inflation fears, Moody's US debt downgrade, and global fiscal deterioration as key drivers behind this flight to perceived safety. In particular, bitcoin is no longer seen as a speculative fringe asset, but increasingly as a mainstream hedge, a shift underscored by major institutional adoption. The conversation also touched on broader market dynamics, including the transformative role of AI and robotics in potentially alleviating inflation pressures through productivity gains. Murphy highlighted how younger investors are embracing higher-risk assets, such as AI-themed ETFs and crypto, while Baby Boomers continue to favour bonds and dividend-paying stocks. He described this as a generational shift, not just a cyclical trend. Murphy also provided a glimpse into Hidden Road's expanding product suite, including digital asset prime brokerage, OTC clearing, and the soon-to-launch Route 28 swaps platform, which integrates digital and traditional markets, signalling where institutional finance is heading. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why bitcoin and gold are rallying as bond yields hit 30-year highs
As US, Japanese, and European sovereign bond yields surge to multi-decade highs, investors are increasingly turning to safe havens such as gold (GC=F) and bitcoin (BTC-USD) to preserve capital and hedge against the growing risk of stagflation Read more: Crypto live prices In an exclusive conversation on Yahoo Finance Future Focus, Hidden Road director of liquidity management Gary Murphy unpacked why faith in fixed income is wavering and where the smart money is flowing instead. Bond yields in US Treasuries are soaring to levels not seen in over three decades, reflecting a shift in global financial markets. 'We have seen yields rising in recent months, and the curve has been steepening across the board. I think the recent downgrade by Moody's of the US debt is an acknowledgement that, the fiscal outlook in the US and globally, is deteriorating and this, coupled with, the tariffs that have been imposed, the worries about inflation stoking up again, has central banks bracing for, a potential stagflation scenario," Murphy told Yahoo Finance UK. He pointed to an array of catalysts — newly imposed tariffs, rekindled inflation fears, and central banks bracing for the possibility of stagflation. 'All of this, coupled with the recent volatility across all traditional asset classes has driven investors to look to look elsewhere, because of that, assets like gold and bitcoin in particular have begun to catch on recently," he added. While gold has long been the go-to inflation hedge, bitcoin's (BTC-USD) surge to fresh all-time highs reflects its growing acceptance as 'digital gold.' Historically, the crypto market was dominated by niche funds and unregulated exchanges. However, today, a broad range of institutions, from pension funds to Wall Street market makers, are embracing digital assets. So what's driving this shift in the current macroeconomic environment? Read more: Why UK can leapfrog EU and US on crypto, according to Coinbase exec 'The participants entering the space in the past two to three years are vastly different from those of a decade ago," Murphy said. "You're seeing tier-one market-structure names make meaningful investments.' He highlighted stablecoins as a case in point — in 2024, more than $27tn of stablecoin volume flowed on-chain, surpassing even Visa (V) and Mastercard's (MA) combined volumes. 'I think for a long time, the kind of narrative was that institutions are coming into the digital space, but particularly this year, 2025, the institutions are here," Murphy said. Pivoting to technology's potential to reshape macroeconomics, the discussion turned to whether AI-driven productivity gains could help tame inflation or simply fuel fresh volatility. Murphy said: 'I think it has to be taken seriously. And I think you've already seen some meaningful productivity gains in recent years, with the AI boom, I think you know, anywhere where human labour is a material cost or automation can make a difference, this will lead to greater economics overall, for companies in general.' Read more: 6 crypto developments in 2025 that will keep fuelling bitcoin's rally However, he cautioned: 'I'm wary to say inflation as a whole will be solved, because I think there are sort of more structural issues that need to be addressed. But it's definitely something that policymakers and governments alike are hoping that there will be a productivity boom driven by AI, which can help relieve some of the debt burden and ultimately bring down rates in the long term.' Murphy then described how different people of different ages are recalibrating their portfolios in this era of high yields and market uncertainty. 'There is a fundamental shift for the younger generation, particularly millennials and Gen Z,' Murphy said. 'Investing is much more accessible for them, they're much more accustomed to doing things on their phone. It's much easier to access these types of investments. 'As a younger generation are going to be naturally more comfortable taking risks, so they'll move a bit further up the risk curve when they're allocating as they mature, and continue their investment journey.' Murphy then discussed recent developments at Hidden Road. 'Our first product was FX prime brokerage at Hidden Road, and this was followed by digital asset prime brokerage futures clearing, where futures clear on the CME, OTC swaps clearing, and also fixed income repo,' he said. 'We've seen strong growth across those product lines, and we're excited about our Route28 synthetic swap offering, where you can trade digital swaps with equities and FX.' Read more: Why pension funds are buying bitcoin What we know about Elon Musk's controversial blockchain vision for US How AI could change the internetError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
