According to U.Today, Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, predicts that the total cryptocurrency market cap will exceed $5 trillion this year. Garlinghouse expressed optimism about the current state of the industry, citing favorable micro-financial conditions, including the introduction of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, as potential influencers. He believes this is the first time 'real institutional money' is being attracted to the industry. Garlinghouse had previously shown enthusiasm for the SEC's approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, stating it would be 'yet another catalyst' for institutional adoption.
April 10 and 11 are significant dates for the crypto and Bitcoin markets. On April 10, the U.S. will announce the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March, which measures inflation and can impact the Fed's interest rate decisions. On April 11, the U.S. will release the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in March. It is expected that interest rates will remain the same in May. Stable interest rates are often seen as a positive sign for Bitcoin and digital assets, as they indicate a stable economy that does not require higher rates to curb inflation. If the news from these dates suggests a strong U.S. economy, Bitcoin may see an increase as more investors seek additional risk exposure.
In other news, there has been a significant surge in SHIB burns, with 91 million coins destroyed by an unidentified cryptocurrency whale. Data from Shibburn shows that 98,045,035 SHIB coins were sent to dead-end wallets, increasing the overall daily burn rate by 304.98%. The majority of these coins were incinerated in a single transaction of 91,102,596 SHIB. Despite the constant burns, the total SHIB supply remains virtually unchanged at 589,534,086,491,242 SHIB meme coins. At the time of writing, SHIB is trading at $0.0000275, down 3.72% over the past 24 hours.