Cathie Wood slashes Bitcoin forecast, Ripple rejects IPO plans: Hodler’s Digest, Nov. 2 – 8

Ripple Rejects IPO Plans Despite SEC Case Victory

Ripple, the US blockchain company behind the XRP cryptocurrency, will not pursue an initial public offering following the conclusion of its years-long legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Ripple president Monica Long said the company has no plans or timeline for an IPO, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday.

"We're in a fortunate position where we've been able to be very well capitalized and fund all of our organic growth, inorganic growth, strategic partnerships, anything we want to do," Long said.

Ripple's decision to forgo an IPO ends years of speculation, after multiple executives had hinted at one. The company was hit with a $1.3 billion SEC lawsuit in late 2020.

Bitcoin Bull Run Hasn't Started Yet, According to Jan3's Samson Mow

Samson Mow, the CEO and founder of Bitcoin technology infrastructure company Jan3, argues the Bitcoin bull run is yet to begin, as Bitcoin fell to just under $100,000 earlier this week.

"The Bitcoin bull run hasn't started yet. We're just marginally outperforming inflation at this price range," he said on Wednesday.

Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market continued to slump this week, with analysts attributing the decline to trade tensions between the US and China, as well as other macroeconomic factors. Bitcoin selling intensified on Tuesday, and CoinGecko data shows the price dipped to $99,607 on Wednesday.

However, Mow, in a series of bullish X posts, predicted the market still has plenty of upside on the horizon as Bitcoin continues to outperform the US inflation rate of 3%.

FBI Can't Be Blamed for Wiping Hard Drive with $345M BTC, Say Judges

A man convicted of identity theft, who claims his hard drive with over 3,400 Bitcoin was seized and wiped by the FBI, has lost his lawsuit against the government in a US appeals court.

A three-judge panel at the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals found on Tuesday that Michael Prime cannot sue the government over the loss of a key to access around 3,443 Bitcoin, now worth $345 million, as he previously claimed he didn't own that amount of crypto.

Prime asked a court after he was released from prison in July 2022 for a hard drive containing the Bitcoin to be returned, but the FBI had wiped it as part of its standard procedures, which Prime claimed was illegal; the judges said.

"For years, Prime denied that he had much bitcoin at all. And bitcoin was not on the list when he sought to recover missing assets after his release from prison," the judges wrote. "Only later did Prime claim to be a bitcoin tycoon."

The Truth Behind the Comeback of Privacy-Focused Protocol Zcash in 2025

Privacy is in vogue, and there has been an outsized winner in the market. The Zcash protocol has been the talk of the crypto community on X, and the price of its native token, Zcash, has reflected that narrative.

Zcash’s token has been trading above $500 for the first time since 2018, driven by an intriguing trend of support from some of the industry's most popular commentators.

The likes of Arthur Hayes, Naval Ravikant, Mert Mumtaz, Ansem, Threadguy, and other notable accounts have been advocating for the privacy-first benefits of Zcash for months. Lofty price predictions interlaced with privacy-praising takes have played their part in ZEC's outsized returns in comparison to the wider altcoin landscape.

Polymarket Rife with Artificial Trading, Columbia University Researchers Find

The rapid growth of the prediction market Polymarket may not be entirely organic but instead inflated by artificial trading activity, according to research published by Columbia University.

In an 80-page paper titled "Network-Based Detection of Wash-Trading," which has not yet undergone peer review, Columbia researchers identified extensive wash-trading activity on Polymarket beginning in July 2024. That month, they found that wash trades accounted for nearly 60% of the platform's total trading volume.

This activity persisted through late April 2025 before subsiding substantially, and once again increased to about 20 percent of volume in early October 2025, they wrote.

The researchers determined that 25% of Polymarket's total trading volume over the past three years was attributable to artificial trading.

Bitcoin Crisscrosses $100K as BTC Price Bottoming Phase Begins

Bitcoin threatened $100,000 support again Friday as bulls hoped for a higher low. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price action retreating to near $99,000 around the Wall Street open.

After failing to secure a major relief bounce from multimonth lows, BTC/USD continued to put pressure on bulls and late long positions.

Data from monitoring resource CoinGlass put 24-hour crypto long liquidations at over $700 million at time of writing.

Bitcoin at $100K is a Speed Bump to $56K, but Data Signals No Signs of Panic

Bitcoin's price may decline by almost 50% if its current downward trend over the past month continues, says a traditional finance analyst.

However, onchain analytics firm Glassnode suggested that Bitcoin's current downtrend may not be as severe as some market participants believe.

Bloomberg analyst Mike McGlone said in an X post on Thursday that Bitcoin hitting $100,000 could be a "Speed Bump Toward $56,000."

"My look at the chart shows how normal it's been for the first-born crypto to revert to its 48-month moving average, now around $56,000, after similarly extended rallies as in 2025," McGlone added.

Australia Risks Missed Opportunity by Shirking Tokenisation: Top Regulator

Australia's capital markets risk being outpaced by other countries unless it embraces new technology such as tokenization, says the country's head market regulator.

As other countries adapt and innovate, "there's a real risk Australia could become the land of missed opportunity or be passive recipients of developments overseas," Australian Securities and Investments Commission Chair Joe Longo told the National Press Club on Wednesday.

"The choice is innovate or stagnate to evolve or become extinct."

Cathie Wood Drops BTC Forecast by $300K, Says Stablecoins Eroding Market Share

ARK Investment Management CEO Cathie Wood cut her long-term Bitcoin price projection by $300,000, warning that stablecoins are eroding Bitcoin's role as a store of value in emerging markets.

"Stablecoins are usurping part of the role that we thought Bitcoin would play," Wood, who previously forecast a top BTC price of $1.5 million by 2030, told CNBC on Thursday.

"Given what’s happening to stablecoins, which are serving emerging markets in a way that we thought Bitcoin would, I think we could take maybe $300,000 off that bullish case, just for stablecoins. Stablecoins are scaling here, I think, much faster than anyone would have expected," she said.

Grokipedia: Far Right Talking Points or Much-Needed Antidote to Wikipedia?

Elon Musk's experiment to reshape online truth, Grokipedia, is touted as a more neutral and comprehensive rival to Wikipedia, but is it?

Philippines Blockchain Bill to Battle Corruption, Crypto KOLs Charged: Asia Express

Influencers shilling JPEX charged by Hong Kong police, Philippines anti-corruption blockchain bill set for Senate floor, and more.

Why AI Sucks at Freelance Work and Real-Life Tasks: AI Eye

AI cannot complete 97% of Upwork tasks and gets the news wrong half the time. Your job is safe for now.