The cryptocurrency market took a nosedive on Sunday evening. Bitcoin plunged to levels not seen since February burying the expectations for the colossal surge the BTC maximalists have been hoping for so long. Ethereum fell back to December prices. Bears are cheering, and nobody know under what tree are the bears hiding. Bitcoin dropped 12% in 24 hours. It's down 20% week-over-week. Ethereum plummeted 21% in a day. It's lost 30% in a week. Ethereum erased all its 2024 gains. It's now 3% lower than on January 1st. The CoinDesk 20 Index fell 12% in 24 hours. The Bank of Japan might've kicked off this mess. They hiked interest rates last week. The yen shot up. The Nikkei stock index tanked. Japan's woes spread to the U.S. The Nasdaq dropped over 5% in two days. Nasdaq futures are down 2.5% on Sunday evening. The Fed also threw a curveball. They held rates steady but seemed iffy about a September cut. Markets had banked on that cut. Traders aren't waiting for the Fed. They've priced in a 100% chance of lower U.S. rates in September. There's a 71% chance of a 50 basis point cut. The 10-year Treasury yield has nosedived. It's at 3.75% Sunday evening. That's down from 4.25% a week ago. The current yield is way below the fed funds target. The target sits at 5.25%-5.50%. Talk about a gap! Markets are in full panic mode. The Nikkei's down another 6% early Monday. That's a 15% drop in three days. It's off 20% from its mid-July peak.

July saw a fierce crypto showdown. XRP emerged as the dark horse. It outperformed Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. XRP's price skyrocketed from $0.4 to $0.65. CryptoRank data shows a 35.3% monthly gain. Bitcoin crawled up by 6.09%. Dogecoin managed a measly 1.37% increase. Ethereum actually dipped by 3.46%. What's behind XRP's surprise win? It's all about the legal drama. The ongoing battle with the SEC is the key player here. Judge Analisa Torres ruled that some XRP sales weren't securities. But Ripple's not off the hook yet for its $1.3 billion ICO. The SEC initially demanded $2 billion. Ripple shot back with a $10 million offer. This tug-of-war left investors feeling pretty miffed. It's been dragging on for ages, hitting XRP's price hard. But things took a turn this month. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse hinted at a light at the end of the tunnel. He said the lawsuit would wrap up soon. No specific date, though. Talk about keeping us on our toes! Garlinghouse's comments lit a fire under XRP. The price jumped from under $0.58 to $0.65. Investors perked up. Daily trading volume spiked 14% on Wednesday, crossing $2.36 billion. The crypto community is buzzing with anticipation. Many expect XRP to rally once the lawsuit concludes. It's been a long four years in the legal trenches. One analyst, Common Sense Crypto, is particularly bullish. They reckon the end of the legal saga could push XRP to a whopping $100. That's some serious optimism right there. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The crypto world is as unpredictable as ever. XRP's July performance was impressive, no doubt. But in this game, today's underdog can be tomorrow's top dog.

Ethernity has launched its testnet for Ethernity Chain. It's a layer two solution for entertainment brands. The chain is now part of Optimism's Superchain ecosystem. Ethernity Chain aims to be the entertainment layer in the Superchain. It joins big names like Coinbase's Base and Worldcoin. The Superchain uses Optimism's OP stack. It shares fees with the Optimism collective. The new chain tackles entertainment industry issues head-on. It's packed with consumer-friendly features. These harness Web 3.0 benefits. They also simplify complex processes. AI-powered DRM is a key feature. It protects intellectual property on-chain. This is crucial for safeguarding digital assets. Urv Goel from Optimism Unlimited is pumped. He said, "By joining the Superchain, Ethernity becomes part of a community of builders dedicated to scaling Ethereum and giving back to the ecosystem." The testnet is now live. Developers can start building and testing apps. Several entertainment projects are already on board. More launches are coming soon. Marcelo Pham, Ethernity's co-founder, chimed in. "Our goal is to bridge the gap between traditional entertainment and blockchain technology," he stated. Ethernity has some solid backup. Gelato is providing infrastructure support. They're offering Web 3.0 cloud services too. These enable zero gas UX and connect apps to Web 2.0 APIs. A developer grant program is in the works. It'll offer funding and resources. Marketing and technical support are part of the deal. Ethernity's no newbie to the entertainment scene. They've already brought big names like Lionel Messi onto the blockchain. Now, they're gearing up for the next level.

Solana, the upstart blockchain, has pulled off a stunner. It's beaten Ethereum in weekly fees for the first time ever. The numbers are eye-popping. Solana raked in about $25 million in the week of July 22. Ethereum? A mere $21 million. This isn't just a fluke. Solana's been on fire in 2024. Celebrity coin trading has gone bonkers on its memecoin platforms. Pump.fun and Moonshot are the hot spots. Memecoins are no joke anymore. They've hit a whopping $50 billion in total market cap. Solana's total value locked (TVL) has exploded. It's now around $5.5 billion. That's more than triple since the year kicked off. July 28 was a banner day. Solana hit $5.5 million in daily fees. It's the highest in three months. Where's all this cash coming from? Dan Smith, a data whiz at Blockworks, breaks it down. 58% is from MEV tips. 37% comes from priority transaction fees. "Solana validators and stakers are absolutely eating this cycle," Smith said. No kidding. Staking on Solana is paying off big time. 21.co's data shows cumulative rewards topping $32 million. Current yields? A juicy 7%. Ethereum's still the big dog in TVL. It's got nearly $60 billion locked up. And it's home to 1,135 protocols. But there's a dark side to Solana's celeb coin craze. Most tokens have tanked by over 99%. Even the "winners" are down more than 70%. Cryptocurrency analyst Slorg didn't mince words: "Exactly half are down over 99%, with 7 others being down more than 90%. Let me remind you this is only about a month into their lifespan."

Tron, the blockchain network founded by Justin Sun, has pulled off a surprise win against Ethereum. In the past 24 hours, Tron raked in $1.42 million. Ethereum lagged behind with $844,276. This comes hot on the heels of Ethereum's big moment. On July 23, spot Ether ETFs hit the US market. They pulled in a whopping $2.2 billion. But even with this cash injection, Ethereum fell short. Over the week, its fee revenue was about $600,000 less than Tron's. Talk about a plot twist. Tron's been on a roll since July 23. It's been top dog in revenue generation. The past seven days saw Tron pocket $8.67 million. Ethereum trailed with $8.08 million. Solana, another big player, isn't sitting on the sidelines. It generated $940,009 in 24 hours, beating Ethereum. But its seven-day haul of $6.38 million couldn't touch Tron or Ethereum. Looking at the 30-day picture, Ethereum's still king. It pulled in $52.48 million. Tron came second with $40.2 million. Pump.fun surprised everyone, outperforming Solana with $25.83 million. Justin Sun's not resting on his laurels. He's announced a new trick up his sleeve: a gasless stablecoin solution. Users could make free peer-to-peer transfers. The stablecoins themselves would cover the fees. Sun plans to roll this out on Tron by Q4 2024. Later, he wants to expand to Ethereum and other compatible chains. But it's not all smooth sailing for Tron. On June 26, its total value locked hit a six-month low of $7.5 billion. Ouch. There's more. A whopping 75% of Tron's total deposits are in one app, JustLend. And it's seen a 15% drop in assets over the past month. That's putting all your eggs in one basket. Meanwhile, Tron's parent company is in a legal tussle with the SEC. They're trying to get a lawsuit dismissed. Their argument? The SEC's overstepping by focusing on "predominantly foreign conduct". The SEC sued Tron founder Justin Sun and related entities in March last year. They claim Tron and BitTorrent token sales were unregistered securities offerings. They also accuse Sun of wash trading and paying celebs to promote the tokens. It's a wild ride in the blockchain world. Tron's stealing the show, but for how long? Only time will tell.