Ripple CTO Resigns, XRP Bear Destroyed After Massive Short, Bitcoin (BTC) Price to $150,000 — Crypto News Digest

David Schwartz to step down as Ripple CTO after 13 years

Ripple CTO has announced that he will step down from his role at the end of the year. 

• Big announcement. Ripple CTO David Schwartz revealed he will step down from his role at the end of 2025, ending a 13-year tenure at the company.

David Schwartz has announced that he will step down as Ripple's chief technology officer at the end of the year after more than 13 years at the company.  

"The time has come for me to step back from my day-to-day duties as Ripple CTO at the end of this year. I’m really looking forward to spending more time with the kids and grandkids and going back to the hobbies I set aside," he said.  

Schwartz has confirmed that he is not breaking ties with Ripple. In fact, he will be joining the company's board of directors. He will also remain involved as CTO Emeritus. 

• Legacy. Recognized as architect of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), designed to tackle financial system inefficiencies and blockchain scalability.

Schwartz was appointed as the company's CTO back in July 2018. Before him, this role was held by Coil CEO Stefan Thomas and Ripple/Stellar co-founder Jed McCaleb. He has always been regarded as a pivotal figure within the XRP community given that he is the architect behind the XRP Ledger (XRPL). He is one of the original designers of the network that is meant to solve the inefficiencies of the current financial system and address the scalability issues of other blockchains. 

Trader suffers another brutal XRP liquidation

A trader has suffered massive losses with his XRP short. 

• The setup. Trader qwatio opened a 20x leveraged XRP short with a notional value of $17.6M.

According to data provided by Onchain Lens, trader @qwatio got liquidated on his 20X XRP short position. The position with a notional value of $17.6 million was opened on Monday after taking a $3.4 million loss with his XRP and Bitcoin positions.  

According to CoinGecko, XRP has reached an intraday high of $2.91, which was the trader's liquidation price. After initially depositing $4.2  million to the HyperLiquid trading platform, the trader is left with only $653,000 following three consecutive days of unsuccessful trades. 

• Market-wide data. $7.6M in XRP positions liquidated over the past 24 hours.

CoinGlass data shows that roughly $7.6 million worth of XRP has been liquidated over the past 24 hours, with long positions accounting for the lion's share of this sum (64%).  Hyperliquid makes up more than 50% of all liquidations, according to the most recent data. 

Bybit and Binance come in second and third places, respectively.  Notably, long positions accounted for virtually all of the liquidations on Hyperliquid (95%). For comparison, the opposite is the case for Bybit, where short positions make up 77.4% of all liquidations. 

Bitcoin rebounds after sharp drop, analysts eye $150K potential

Here are 5 key on-chain metrics to watch ahead of potential Bitcoin "Uptober" showdown.

• First bullish signal. $10B in Tether minted over 60 days → fresh liquidity injection.

The Bitcoin (BTC) price plunged from $115,000 to $108,000 last week in a bearish move that stunned investors. CryptoQuant, a crypto analytics platform, has highlighted five key metrics to watch for a bullish rally to $150,000.

According to CryptoQuant, broader market sentiments suggest that Bitcoin, which is currently moving sideways, might be consolidating for a sharp upward move. Notably, 10 billion Tether (USDT) have been minted by the stablecoin entity in the last 60 days. This is a bullish signal as fresh USDT means more liquidity entering the market for the likely purchase of Bitcoin and other crypto assets. 

• Second signal. SSR is currently low, signaling high buying power from stablecoins.

Another bullish indicator is the stablecoin supply ratio (SSR), which showcases purchasing territory. For clarity, SSR compares Bitcoin’s market capitalization to the supply of stablecoins. When the SSR is low, it suggests that there is more stablecoin "buying power." With market conditions indicating oversold conditions, it favors Bitcoin buying pressure.