Ripple Unveils Its XRP Holdings in New Report, Shiba Inu Key Dev Makes Important Shibarium Clarification, Grayscale Dogecoin Trust Goes Live: Crypto

U.Today presents the top three crypto news stories over the first weekend of February.

4,485,366,320 XRP: Ripple unveils holdings in new report

Last Friday, Jan. 31, Ripple  released its quarterly XRP Markets Report, providing insights into the current state of the crypto markets, updates on the XRP ecosystem and its XRP holdings. As of the end of Q4, 2024, Ripple's XRP holdings  amounted to 4,485,366,320 XRP . According to the report, there is a slight increase in Ripple's holdings from 4,436,713,796 XRP at the beginning of Q4 to the current total at the end of the quarter. Given its commitment to transparency, the company discloses its XRP holdings on the first and last days of each quarter. The holdings fall into two categories: XRP that is currently available in Ripple's wallets and XRP that is subject to on-ledger escrow lockups that will be released each month over the next 42 months. For this latter category, Ripple does not have access to that XRP until the escrow releases it to Ripple on a monthly basis. The remaining XRP released is put back into escrow each month.

Shiba Inu key developer makes important Shibarium clarification

Kaal Dhairya, a key developer of Shiba Inu, has recently taken to X platform to make  an important clarification regarding the project's layer-2 solution, Shibarium. In his  post , Dhairya stated that Shibarium is a sidechain built on Ethereum, unlike many costly layer-2 solutions reliant on centralized operators. The key Shiba Inu developer's comments come as a reply to an X post by @Shibizens account, which stated that while Shibarium is often referred to as a layer-2 solution, its architecture aligns more closely with that of a sidechain. Dhairya emphasized that sidechains operate their own validators and checkpoints while leveraging Ethereum's security via periodic anchoring; in the key developer's opinion, this is a more secure alternative to optimistic rollups, which require a seven-day withdrawal challenge period. However, ShibOS uses both approaches. Looking ahead, Dhairya stated that Shibarium will serve as the settlement layer for all rollups (L3s). "We’re also exploring a hybrid optimistic/ZK-based settlement model to address the limitations of optimistic rollups," wrote Dhairya in the conclusion of his post.

DOGE ETF next? Grayscale excites crypto with meme coin fund

In a recent  X post from Jan. 31, Grayscale, a prominent U.S.-based asset management firm,  announced the launch of the Grayscale Dogecoin Trust, a new crypto product exclusively offered to qualified investors. This development moves the crypto sector closer to the potential approval of a Dogecoin ETF, even though institutional opportunities in meme-based cryptocurrencies remain limited. The trust allows investors to gain exposure to Dogecoin (DOGE), the oldest and largest meme coin by capitalization, without the need to hold the asset in crypto wallets. Grayscale's Head of Product Research Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary emphasized that the introduction of the DOGE Trust underscores the firm’s dedication to creating inclusive investment vehicles for TradFi investors.