Key Reason Behind Bitcoin Price Crash, Shibarium Crosses Major Milestone, Pro-XRP Lawyer Slams SEC's New Theory: Crypto News Digest by U.Today

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Key reason behind Bitcoin (BTC) price crash

Yesterday, Jan. 23, the Bitcoin price saw a sharp decline to an intraday low of $39,494.65. As a result of this dip, BTC's market capitalization dropped to $784.8 billion, with a 24-hour trading volume reaching $30 billion. The factor primarily responsible for Bitcoin's downward trend is substantial withdrawals from Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Notably, $640 million left the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) in just one day. The total amount withdrawn so far has reached a concerning $3.45 billion. Leading ETF analyst James Seyffart wrote about this trend in a social media post, noting the accelerating rate of these withdrawals. Another analyst, Holger Zschaepitz, has observed decreasing excitement around Bitcoin ETFs, which is consistent with a drop in the correlation between Bitcoin and technology stocks, currently standing at a low of 0.3 in the past week.

Shiba Inu celebrates Shibarium's growth as major milestone is crossed

The official X account of the Shiba Inu project recently announced a major milestone reached by its layer-2 solution, Shibarium. On a chart attached to the post, one can see that Shibarium's transaction count has hit 300 million. "SHIBARMY is driving Shibarium to new heights. This rollercoaster truly has only one direction: UP," wrote Shiba Inu's team, commenting on the chart. Launched in August 2023, Shibarium has witnessed an impressive increase in total transactions; now, after a mere five months since the launch, the layer-2 solution has surpassed the 300 million level in its total transactions. Per Shibariumscan data, the number of total transactions currently stands at 306,682,477. Wallet addresses are now at 1,344,058, with total blocks standing at 2,811,696.

Pro-XRP lawyer slams SEC’s new theory

In a recent X post, pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton has poured criticism on the SEC for what he calls its "embodiment theory." The theory was first mentioned in the SEC's response to Deaton's request for intervention on behalf of XRP holders in the ongoing lawsuit with Ripple. Deaton pointed out a major flaw in the SEC's position, stressing that the agency had not provided any precedent or established case law to back up this novel theory. Scott Johnsson, another observer of the SEC's legal strategies, explained that during Binance's oral arguments, the SEC stated, "The token itself represents the investment contract...the token represents the embodiment of an investment contract." Per this claim, the SEC sees the crypto token as a direct representation of an investment contract, fusing the idea of the token with the legal framework of an investment. However, this position appears to be in conflict with other SEC statements, which has caused misunderstanding and discussion in the legal and cryptocurrency communities.

This article was originally published on U.Today