Bitcoin Sets ATH at $26K as Ripple Is In Trouble: The Crypto Weekly Market Update

The past seven days were particularly tumultuous for the cryptocurrency market. The week leading up to Christmas saw massive volatility across the board, and this time, it wasn’t Bitcoin in the spotlight.

Nevertheless, the primary cryptocurrency started the week by gaining about $1,500, but it was on Monday when things took a turn for the worse. BTC dropped by more than $2,000, reaching a dollar value of about $22,000. From there, however, it managed to rebound.

Yesterday, bitcoin’s price seemed a bit indecisive, but things changed quickly as it set a new high above $25,000. And if someone thought the run was over – they were wrong. Today, the cryptocurrency did yet another leg up and broke $26,000 on Binance, setting a brand new all-time high.

The week, however, will go down in history because of a landmark lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The watchdog has its sights on one of the largest companies in the field – Ripple.

A few days ago, the SEC pressed formal charges against Ripple, alleging that it has conducted an unregistered securities offering of $1.3 billion. The price for XRP reacted immediately with a disastrous drop of more than 65%. As CryptoPotato reported, some exchanges took immediate action and unlisted the cryptocurrency.

Since then, XRP has managed to recover a bit, but it still has a long way to go. This also took a lot of altcoins with it as most of them saw substantial double-digit losses over the past couple of days.

The Christmas day, however, brought hope to many as most altcoins managed to regroup and recover, with Ethereum (ETH) price climbing back above the coveted $600 mark. In any case, it’s very interesting to see how the market will develop from here as it’s obvious that the SEC isn’t afraid of going after the largest players in the field.

Elsewhere, Ledger experienced a massive leak of personal information as the users’ database was dumped online. The company issued a few statements trying to somewhat remedy the situation, but the damage is done. This highlights the challenges that the industry is facing.

Market Data

Market Cap: $687B | 24H Vol: 178B | BTC Dominance: 69.3%

BTC: $25,646 (+7.40%) | ETH: $641 (-3.19%) | XRP: $0.304 (-48.54%)

6 Reasons For The Ongoing Bitcoin Bull-Run Beyond $20K. This year has been quite challenging, to say the least. However, despite all the hardship, Bitcoin’s performance is more than stellar. Here are six reasons for which the cryptocurrency continues to rally above the $20,000 mark.

SEC Charges Ripple With $1.3 Billion Unregistered Security Offering. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has pressed formal charges against Ripple. The watchdog alleges that the company has conducted a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering.

Max Keiser: SEC Will Target Other ‘Garbage’ Altcoins After Ripple. Popular Bitcoin proponent Max Keiser thinks that the SEC will not stop with Ripple in its pursuit of companies who failed to abide by the securities regulations. He thinks that other altcoins will eventually follow.

Ledger User Database Dumped Online, Targeted Phishing Attacks Expected? One of the leading cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturers, Ledger, has seen its user database dumped online in a massive privacy breach. Though the company issued a statement and tried to remedy the situation, the damage is done.

Pro-Crypto Commissioner Elad Roisman Named New SEC Chairman. Elad Roisman has been named the new Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. He has previously stated that crypto needs clearer and more transparent regulations.

DeFi Token 1inch Spikes 1000% in Christmas After Binance Listing. In an airdrop much similar to that of Uniswap’s UNI token, the popular DEX aggregator 1inch has distributed its native token to users. The price for it surged by more than 1,000% following a listing on Binance.

Charts

This week we have a chart analysis of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Binance Coin, and Chainlink – click here for the full price analysis.