According to Gert Van Lagen, XRP’s macro structure has finally done one thing that is necessary. Break and hold the base neckline for seven years. “XRP (2W) – Ripple is ready to rip. A 7-year double bottom is broken. His chart is drawn on a logarithmic scale with a two-week candle, framing the movement as a multi-cycle inversion rather than a short-term pop.

Can XRP really hit $34?

Geometry is clear on the chart. The wide W-shaped base extending from the 2018-2024 Bear Market has been carved with twin rows carved into the $0.20-$0.30 region, returning to the horizontal neckline just above the $2 handle. Van Lagen marks his first breakout attempt with the Red Cross beyond that barrier, followed by a decisive surge and pullback tagging support around a $2-double area annotated by blue dots. In the log chart, the textbook breakout-retest sequence is usually the confirmation step that the technician normally looks for before projecting the target.

The price at the time of the snapshot is labeled $3.19 on the right axis. So, the XRP is traded above the neckline, but below the 2018 record high, it’s $3.40. Previous macrocaps now serve as support, so their placement is important. Stay north at about $2.00, the double bottom paper continues. The measured arrows drawn from the neckline replicate the height of the base on a multiplicative (log) basis. So, rather than adding a few dollars, an upward extension jumps into the mid-double digits.

Related readings

Van Lagen’s original purpose is explicitly derived from Fibonacci’s proportions. He sets the double bottom 2.00 expansion as his initial target and lands at “near $34”. On his scale, the projected pass surpasses the $27 and $20 gridlines, with a short tag on the $30 midterm before the average revert. This coincides with how log scale extensions are translated when long integrations are released quickly.

The left side of the graphics provides historical rhymes that readers want to notice. Between 2014 and 2017, XRP built small double bottoms within the shady accumulation zone, breaking the neckline, retesting, and accelerated vertically. Vanlagen marks the sequence at the same Red Cross and blue dots at retest on breakout, plus a vertical measurement arrow indicating how the previous base was resolved. The current pattern, covered over 2018-2025, repeats its choreography on a much larger scale.

His sketches include a roadmap of time and price using 12 forward candles (2-week bars) that mimic arcs of 5-6 months across movements when echoing the previous cycle. The first Projection Bar Vault XRP is over $11. After three candles, the blue pass exceeds $36, about six weeks after running.

Related readings

The fourth candle follows a deep retracement towards the $11 region, followed by a sharp recovery of over $30 in the fifth. The next three candles will stabilize around the $30 area before the pass lowers another slide to ~$11 and begins the start of the cooling phase. Sequences are descriptive rather than normative, but they visually lock augmented mathematics into the possibilities of market behavior.

Whether XRP can follow a steep path sketched in blue is a separate question from whether the double bottom has been technically activated. Van Lagen’s chart answers second yes. The breakout and retest sequence has been completed. First Answer – ~$34 Delivered towards FIB Expansion – Determines by what the next two weeks candles will look like.

At the time of press, the XRP traded for $3.14.

Featured images created with dall.e, charts on tradingview.com

Bitcoin’s on-chain activity lit up again as Blockstream CEO Adam Back alerted the Bitcoin community to the return of the so-called “Bitfinex whale.” According to Back, this unknown but powerful entity has been accumulating Bitcoin at a staggering rate, purchasing roughly 300 BTC per day over the past 48 hours using time-weighted average price (TWAP) buying strategies. He emphasized:

“For context 300btc/day that’s $400/second all day, historically they’ve done this days, weeks continuously and ramped it up too harder too up to 1000btc/day ($1300/second all-day at these prices).”

The Bitfinex whale effect

The sustained appetite of this whale, especially one connected with Bitfinex, is a potentially market-moving signal. Whale accumulation (large buys executed methodically over time) can soak up significant supply, causing upward pressure on price or stabilizing the market during volatility. Such whale behavior has preceded large bullish moves in previous cycles, as well as short-term volatility when whales shift gears or exit positions.

But not everyone sees this as unequivocally bullish. As one of Back’s followers commented:

“That’s not a good thing, as Bitfinex whales buy downtrends and sell uptrends.”

This highlights a long-debated dynamic. Some whales accumulate during market weakness and then distribute (sell) into liquidity during stronger markets, adding both buying support in downturns and potential resistance during rallies.

Whatever your take on the Bitfinex whale, Adam Back is no ordinary observer. As the inventor of Hashcash, a critical Proof-of-Work algorithm referenced in the original Bitcoin whitepaper, Back is seen as one of the founding figures in the crypto space.

He is the CEO and co-founder of Blockstream, a global leader in Bitcoin protocol development and infrastructure. Renowned as a cypherpunk and one of the first to correspond with Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, Back’s market commentary carries outsized weight within the industry.

Will Bitcoin price shake off broader slump?

Earlier today, former BitMEX CEO, Arthur Hayes warned of a global liquidity crunch and expected BTC to test $100,000 in the near term, adjusting his positions accordingly. Can traders expect this to change with the Bitfinex whale back on scene?

On-chain data suggests that when whales accumulate at this scale, it’s typically a sign of strong hands preparing for the next price move, or smart money stepping in to absorb panic selling. With supply on exchanges already at record lows and institutional interest surging, continuous spot buying from traders like the Bitfinex whale could fuel both a relief rally and long-term supply squeeze, especially if sustained over days or weeks.

However, whale accumulation doesn’t guarantee a straight line upward. Recent years have shown that large holders are just as likely to defend support as they are to take profit if the opportunity arises. Traders will be watching closely for signs of a trend reversal or major move.

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Somnia, a Layer-1 blockchain designed for apps that need high-speed, reliable performance, has announced a set of Devnet test results that may change what people expect from blockchain technology. The team revealed that, under conditions meant to mirror everyday use, the network handled up to 1.05 million ERC-20 token transfers per second (TPS).

High Throughput: 300,000 NFT Mints and 50,000 Trades Per Second

Somnia also showed off the ability to mint 300,000 NFTs each second—digital collectibles tracked on the blockchain—while maintaining an average block time of just 100 milliseconds.

In another highlight of the Devnet, Somnia managed 50,000 Uniswap trades per second across 100,000 accounts, mimicking real-world usage. Uniswap is a decentralized exchange protocol used for swapping tokens, so pushing 50,000 trades every second suggests Somnia can handle huge spikes of activity without slowing down.

Each test was carried out across 100 different nodes in multiple regions, all running on powerful hardware with as many as 32 virtual CPUs and 120GB of RAM. Network delays remained below one second, around 900 milliseconds, while the system processed about 50 “Gigagas” per second—a measure of how much data can be handled for executing blockchain transactions.

Cutting-Edge Technology Under the Hood

Somnia’s architecture, developed by Improbable, relies on a custom EVM compiler and advanced compression methods to keep things running fast and cheap. EVM stands for Ethereum Virtual Machine—basically the part of the blockchain that processes smart contracts. With a custom EVM, Somnia fine-tunes how transactions are processed to hit high speeds.

A highlight here is IceDB, a specialized database with read-and-write speeds measured in nanoseconds (15 to 100 ns). That’s extremely quick, helping keep transaction costs below a penny.

In explaining the remarkable numbers in the Devnet test, Paul Thomas, Somnia’s Founder and CEO, said, “Our technology is designed to support the demanding requirements of high-performance dApps while maintaining exceptional performance and cost-efficiency, and these impressive results validate our approach.”

He added, “These results have exceeded our expectations, showcasing Somnia’s ability to push past the usual limitations of blockchain technology. We’re opening the door to a new era of fully on-chain applications where speed and scalability are no longer barriers for developers.”

Public Testnet and What Comes Next

Somnia’s next big move is launching a public testnet so developers and community members can see firsthand how these speeds hold up in a broader setting. Early adopters will be able to experiment with building gaming platforms, social networks, or finance apps right on the chain—without worrying about slow transaction times or pricey fees.

Looking ahead, the team says it will keep improving Somnia’s core technology. Focusing on both speed and affordability hopes to spark a wave of new on-chain experiences that were previously impossible due to the limits of older blockchains. If the Devnet results are any sign, Somnia could be setting a whole new pace for Web3 innovation.