Keep an eye on XRP, Plasma, DOGE as bitcoin drifts

Crypto Daybook Americas Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Keep an eye on XRP, Plasma, DOGE as bitcoin drifts What you need to know for April 16, 2026 By Omkar Godbole | Edited by Sheldon Reback Apr 16, 2026, 11:22 a.m. Make preferred on XRP (CoinDesk) What to know : While bitcoin drifts around $75,000, XRP is seeing renewed interest, with U.S.-listed spot ETFs taking in more than $17 million in their strongest inflow since early February. Ripple's partnership with Kyobo Life to test South Korea's first real-time tokenized government bond settlement and bullish signals in XRP derivatives point to growing institutional and speculative demand. Stablecoin-focused Plasma has surged to become the seventh-largest blockchain by total value locked and is among a few networks supporting Tether's new self-custody wallet, while dogecoin's tightly compressed Bollinger Bands suggest a sharp price move is likely ahead. As bitcoin BTC $ 74,316.88 continues to trade sluggishly near $75,000, several other crypto projects are showing notable developments. Among them is XRP (XRP), the payments-focused token used by fintech firm Ripple to facilitate cross-border transactions. U.S.-listed spot XRP ETFs drew more than $17 million in inflows on Wednesday, the most since Feb. 2, according to data source SoSoValue. While that is smaller than the flows seen in bitcoin ETFs, it nonetheless points to a revival in demand for XRP after a prolonged period of muted activity marked by little to no uptake. News flow has been encouraging, too. Ripple has partnered with Kyobo Life Insurance to pilot South Korea's first real-time tokenized government bond settlement system on blockchain. In addition, XRP's derivatives market is flashing bullish signals with open interest (OI) rising alongside positive funding rates and cumulative volume delta. The OI has jumped to 1.89 billion XRP, a level last seen in late March, per Coinglass data. The other noteworthy development is stablecoin-focused layer-1 blockchain Plasma, which has emerged as the world's seventh-largest blockchain by total value locked (TVL), a measure of the dollar value of assets on the network. At the time of writing, TVL stood at $2 billion, up 27% over the past week and more than 80% over the past 30 days, according to DeFiLlama. The driver behind the growth is not clear, but could be linked to rising optimism around the CLARITY Act nearing approval in the U.S., as noted by JPMorgan. The act is a proposed U.S. bill that seeks to clarify how digital assets, including stablecoins, are regulated and which agencies oversee them. In addition, Plasma is among a select group of networks, alongside Ethereum and Arbitrum, chosen to support Tether's new self-custody wallet, Tether Wallet, announced earlier this week. Lastly, there is DOGE $ 0.09595 , the meme-inspired token. Bollinger Bands, volatility indicators plotted two standard deviations above and below the token's price, are currently at their tightest since February 2024, typically signaling a period of low volatility that is likely to end with significant price swings. As for the market leader, bitcoin, the combination of onchain profit-taking, uneven spot demand, and cautious options suggests continued rangeplay near $75,000. Stay alert! Read more: For analysis of today's activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today . For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's " Crypto Week Ahead ." What’s trending The CLARITY Act breakthrough: Why JPMorgan says the U.S. crypto rulebook is ‘close to completion’ (CoinDesk): Lawmakers and regulators in Washington are nearing agreement on the long-debated CLARITY Act, with only a few unresolved issues remaining, according to a JPMorgan report. Oil rises with Hormuz still blocked as longer truce under review (Bloomberg): Brent edged above $96 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was near $92. Washington and Tehran are considering a two-week ceasefire extension to allow more time to negotiate a peace deal. Russian strikes kill at least 15 in biggest barrage on Ukrainian cities in months (The New York Times): Russia sent 659 drones and 44 missiles into Ukrainian cities in the largest such barrage in months and one of the largest of the war, destroying any truce thought for Orthodox Easter. Circle CEO says China could launch yuan stablecoin within 3 to 5 years as currency race heats up (CoinDesk): Jeremy Allaire said there is a "tremendous opportunity" for a yuan-backed stablecoin, predicting China could roll one out within three to five years as digital currencies become more integrated into global trade and finance. Today’s signal DOGE's Bollinger bands are now at their tightest in over two years. (TradingView) The chart shows dogecoin's (DOGE) daily price swings in candlestick format. Overlaid on the chart are Bollinger bands, which have compressed to their narrowest in over two years The squeeze signals an extended period of low volatility, characterized by muted price action, with neither buyers nor sellers able to establish a clear trend. Such situations eventually get resolved in a decisive breakout. This often leads to an outsized move and volatility boom. Note that this does not provide any signal about direction. A volatility expansion could just as easily result in a strong rally as it could in a steep decline. The key takeaway is magnitude. Once dogecoin eventually breaks out of this low-volatility regime, the resulting move is likely to be significant and fast. For now, however, the market remains in a holding pattern. Crypto Daybook Americas More For You Income ETFs could be bitcoin’s volatility kill switch By Omkar Godbole | Edited by Sheldon Reback 23 hours ago What you need to know for April 15, 2026 What to know : Major banks, including Goldman Sachs and BlackRock, are seeking to launch bitcoin options-based ETFs that could generate income while damping the cryptocurrency’s price volatility. Large-scale options selling and associated dealer hedging would restrain bitcoin’s swings, extending a multiyear decline in both implied and realized volatility. Bitcoin has pulled back to... Read full story Latest Crypto News Bitcoin funding rates hit most negative since 2023, history suggests bottom is in 8 minutes ago Bitcoin holds near $75,000 as short-term holders look for profit opportunities 33 minutes ago South Korea to test blockchain deposit tokens for government spending in Q4 1 hour ago The cheapest bitcoin ETF yet: Morgan Stanley uses 0.14% fee to draw $100 million in first week 1 hour ago Crypto fund manager probed in the suspicious death of his fiancé’s death in Zanzibar 2 hours ago Circle CEO says China could launch yuan stablecoin within 3 to 5 years as currency race heats up 2 hours ago Top Stories Bitcoin rally is taking a breather near $75,000. Onchain data shows why 5 hours ago Ripple partners with Korea's Kyobo Life to tokenize government bond settlement 6 hours ago Bitcoin steady as S&P 500 hits record, but options market isn't buying the peace trade 6 hours ago Buying coffee with bitcoin is easy, the resulting tax burden is not 2 hours ago Bitcoin devs bet a quantum attacker will play nice with a ‘wait and react’ plan 6 hours ago Dogecoin jumps 4.5% to nearly 10-cents, outperforming bitcoin and ether 5 hours ago In this article BTC BTC $ 74,316.88 ◢ 0.14 % DOGE DOGE $ 0.09595 ◢ 2.55 %