Ripple Introduces Crypto Vaults for Banks, Shiba Inu's Shibarium Finally Waking Up in DeFi, Bitcoin Whale Goes Bearish With $424 Million in BTC: Crypto News Digest by U.Today

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Ripple introduces crypto vaults for banks in major expansion move

As reported by CNBC on Thursday, Oct. 10, Ripple fintech giant expanded its crypto custody business with new services aimed at helping banks and financial technology businesses store digital assets for their clients. Among these services are preconfigured operational settings, integration with the XRP Ledger, risk monitoring for anti-money laundering compliance and an enhanced user interface. This initiative enables Ripple to expand its services beyond traditional payment settlement. Additionally, it positions the company to compete effectively with established firms such as Coinbase, Gemini and Fireblocks within the custody solutions market.

Shiba Inu's Shibarium finally waking up in DeFi

The Shiba Inu project is actively working to expand its presence in the DeFi sector, particularly through its Layer-2 scaling solution Shibarium that was launched last year. Although progress has been relatively slow, recent data indicates promising developments within the Shibarium DeFi ecosystem. According to DefiLlama, the total value locked (TVL) in Shibarium has reached $4.37 million, following a recent all-time high of $4.81 million. This increase signifies a notable rise from the previous high of $3.9 million recorded earlier in March, highlighting a shift in retail dominance. The biggest decentralized application (dApp) remains ShibaSwap, which currently holds $2.22 million in TVL, while the newly introduced K9 Finance DAO ranks second, suggesting a renewed optimism for Shibarium’s potential as a key player in the DeFi landscape.

Bitcoin whale goes bearish with $424 million in BTC

Bitcoin has struggled to break through the $61,000 range, remaining below its all-time high of $73,780 from March, which is causing concern among some investors. According to a recent report by Spot On Chain, a large Bitcoin whale has been forced to sell portions of their holdings due to the BTC's lackluster performance; this investor withdrew 8,510 BTC from Bitfinex in June and August this year but has now deposited 1,500 BTC back to the exchange. The estimated value of these coins sold is around $92.95 million, with the whale incurring a loss of approximately $30.54 million as the selling price is lower ($61,965) than their average purchase price ($64,434). With 7,010 BTC still in their wallets, valued at about $424.6 million, it is speculated that the whale may continue to sell ahead of a possible market downturn. This selling behavior may indicate panic selling, which could further impact Bitcoin’s price growth in the near future.