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U.Today Crypto Digest: XRP Sees Heavy Selling, Bitcoin Is Breaking 12-Year Trend Against Gold, Shiba Inu Approaches Key Support

Tue, 17/02/2026 - 22:26
Crypto news digest: 50 million XRP sold in 24 hours; SHIB attempts to stabilize; BTC is breaking 12-year trend against gold.
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U.Today Crypto Digest: XRP Sees Heavy Selling, Bitcoin Is Breaking 12-Year Trend Against Gold, Shiba Inu Approaches Key Support
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XRP drops 7.5%, Upbit sell-off blamed

50 million XRP sold in less than 24 hours.

  • Sharp correction. XRP recovery stalled near $1.66 over the weekend before triggering a sharp reversal.

XRP's recovery stopped around the $1.66 level this weekend, which triggered a rather violent crash.  According to CoinGecko data, XRP is currently down 7.5%, reaching an intraday low of $1.45.  

According to fresh market analysis by pseudonymous trader Dom (@traderview2), the enormous plunge was driven by a localized sell-off event on South Korea’s largest exchange, Upbit.

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Key driver. The abrupt exit may have been driven by either a single large whale.

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After XRP reached the $1.66 local high, sell pressure on Upbit exploded. Over a window of just 15 hours, Upbit users executed a staggering -50 million XRP in net market sales.  Either a "mega-whale" or a collective panic among South Korean retail traders forced an abrupt exit. 

SHIB attempts to stabilize after extended sell-off

Shiba Inu is trending downward after an unsuccessful recovery attempt that got shut down as soon as weekend trading ended.

  • $0.00000666. Shiba Inu dropped below the $0.000006 mark earlier this week following a sharp breakdown but has since reclaimed that level.

Shiba Inu's recent price action indicates that the asset is returning to the $0.00000666 region following a brief recovery attempt that was unable to create long-term upward momentum. 

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After recovering from recent lows, the token looked to be stabilizing for a short while, but fresh selling pressure soon put SHIB back in a precarious position, making traders wary of what might happen next.

The most recent drop, which quickly erased about 9% of SHIB's value, essentially made it impossible for a longer-term reversal to form. The price had started reclaiming moving averages and testing short-term resistance levels prior to the decline, indicating a possible change in momentum. 

  • Downtrend. SHIB remains below downward-sloping moving averages, keeping the broader trend bearish.

But the sell-off that followed the rejection close to those resistance points shows that bearish pressure is still predominant over longer time periods. 

SHIB is still trading below important trend indicators from a technical perspective, and volume spikes during red sessions indicate that sellers are still in control of the overall direction. 

The idea that the current rebound phase is more corrective than transformative has been strengthened by the repeated failures of attempts to create higher lows. 

BTC is breaking 12-year trend against gold

Willy Woo warns of a "Quantum Discount" as Bitcoin breaks a 12-year trend against gold.

  • BTC vs. gold. Willy Woo says Bitcoin’s long-standing “digital gold” narrative is facing a structural test.

The decade-long narrative of Bitcoin as "digital gold" is facing its most significant structural challenge yet. Renowned on-chain analyst Willy Woo, in a recent X post, warned that Bitcoin has broken a 12-year valuation trend relative to gold, citing a looming "Quantum Discount" that could suppress prices for years.

Historically, Bitcoin has aggressively outpaced gold in value — by 76,231,860% according to ICE chart on TradingView. However, Woo observes that this relationship has decoupled just as the global "long-term debt cycle" reaches its peak. While macro investors typically flee to hard assets during debt deleveraging, gold is "mooning" while Bitcoin remains tethered.

  • Liquidity shock. The concern centers on roughly four million dormant or “lost” BTC.

The primary fear is not just Bitcoin network security but a massive liquidity event, as Woo points out that roughly four million "lost" Bitcoins — untouched for years and often belonging to early adopters and even the creator of the cryptocurrency, Satoshi Nakamoto — could become vulnerable. If quantum technology can unlock these wallets, those coins would effectively return to circulation.

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