XRP surged 11% to lead growth among majors as of Thursday, led by $1.3 billion worth of trading volumes on Korea-focused exchange Upbit. A CoinDesk analysis from Tuesday flagged unusually high trading volumes for XRP stemming from South Korean exchanges, which has historically acted as a harbinger for price volatility with a bias to the upside. Firms target a $185,000 level for Bitcoin and $5,500 for ether in a widely-anticipated bullish year for the industry.
The broader crypto market also tends to follow a four-year cycle influenced by the halvings — with memecoins, AI and real-world assets expected to be market leaders. Predictions aren’t limited to mere cycles, however. Firms such as Galaxy Research predict large-scale institutional, corporate, and nation-state adoption in bitcoin investments, with at least five Nasdaq-100 companies and five nation-states expected to adopt the asset.