“Ripple can, will, and should act in its own interest,” said David “JoelKatz” Schwartz in response to criticism regarding the firm’s XRP sales.
Ripple Labs is free to sell XRP tokens to raise operational capital, according to comments from the company’s chief technology officer. His remarks have sparked concerns among cryptocurrency investors.
“XRP isn’t a security because Ripple doesn’t actually owe you ‘utility’ or anything else,” Pierre Rochard, vice president of research at Riot Platforms, wrote in a March 5 X post.
“They are free to dump on you and you have no right to do anything about it other than join them in dumping XRP,” Rochard said, cautioning that investors are “not investing in Ripple,” just “getting tokens created out of thin air dumped on you.”
Solayer (LAYER) is under intense pressure after a sudden 45% crash wiped out weeks of bullish momentum. Once up 460% since February, the token trades below $1.70 as traders scramble to understand what triggered the collapse.
The altcoin lost nearly $350 million in market cap in this crash. With volatility rising and the long/short ratio now at 1.45, the market appears divided between those expecting a rebound and those bracing for further downside.
Solayer Loses Nearly $350 Million Market Cap – What’s Behind the Drop?
LAYER has plunged roughly 35% in just 24 hours, falling from nearly $3.10 to $1.90, leaving the community scrambling for answers. This sharp drop comes despite Solayer’s strong fundamentals—it’s the first hardware-accelerated blockchain designed to offload operations onto programmable chips, aiming for over 1 million TPS and 100 Gbps bandwidth.
The project also offers real-world utility through its Solayer Emerald Card, which allows users to spend USDC seamlessly via Visa, with support for Apple Pay and Google Pay.
From February 18 to May 5, LAYER surged 460%, making it one of the best-performing altcoins of the year—until the sudden crash disrupted momentum.
Right now, confusion reigns. Some blame market makers for triggering a cascade of liquidations, others accuse the founders of shady practices, while a few point to the daily 110,600 LAYER token unlocks.
However, those daily unlocks account for just $219,000 in value—hardly enough to justify a $250 million+ loss in market cap. What’s more concerning is the upcoming major unlock on May 11, when 26.5 million LAYER (worth about $51 million) will be released.
If market sentiment doesn’t recover before then, this influx of supply could intensify selling pressure and potentially push the price even lower.
LAYER Crash Deepens: $3.2 Million in Long Liquidations Fuel Panic
LAYER’s long/short ratio sat at 0.78 over the past 24 hours, with 56.14% of traders positioned short—reflecting rising bearish sentiment.
Around $3.2 million in long liquidations were triggered, more than double the $1.5 million in short liquidations. This forced selling likely accelerated the drop from $3.10 to $1.90, as liquidation cascades compounded the pressure.
Aggregated Long/Short Accounts Ratio AVG. Source: Coinalyze.
With the upcoming May 11 token unlock, the unwind of leveraged positions became a key driver of the crash.
While the long/short ratio has since flipped to 1.45—indicating that more traders are now positioning for a rebound—the lack of order book depth remains a concern. In such environments, price volatility can remain elevated regardless of whether sentiment shifts back to bullish.
Longs Pile In as LAYER Struggles Below $1.90
LAYER’s outlook remains highly uncertain as its price struggles to hold above $1.90 following a steep decline.
Traders and investors are still seeking clarity on the cause of the crash, while sentiment remains fragile ahead of the May 11 token unlock.
In this context, the current long/short ratio of 1.45 reveals an important shift—more traders are now betting on a rebound, with 59.2% of positions long versus 40.8% short.
This rising long bias may suggest that some believe the worst is over, especially after an aggressive selloff.
However, it also introduces new risk: if LAYER fails to recover and drops further, these newly opened long positions could be liquidated just like before—potentially setting off another wave of forced selling.
Bitcoin, the pioneering cryptocurrency, has reshaped how people worldwide perceive finance and money. However, as technology advances and external factors evolve, Bitcoin faces structural challenges that could impact its future existence and growth.
A recent discussion among industry leaders highlighted major risks that could pose a black swan event for Bitcoin’s future.
What Is the Biggest Threat to Bitcoin?
Lyn Alden, founder of Lyn Alden Investment, recently asked, “What is the biggest structural risk to Bitcoin in the next 5-10 years?” This question sparked significant attention and responses from investors, experts, and industry leaders, shedding light on pressing concerns.
One of the most frequently mentioned risks is the threat posed by quantum computing. Nic Carter, general partner at Castle Island Ventures, responded concisely: “Quantum.” His answer received widespread agreement.
“I increasingly agree. That was the catalyst for my thread/question, tbh,” Lyn Alden replied to Nic Carter.
Future quantum computers could break the encryption algorithms securing Bitcoin, such as the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA), which safeguards Bitcoin wallets. If a sufficiently powerful quantum computer emerges, it could forge digital signatures, allowing attackers to steal Bitcoin from any wallet with an exposed public key.
According to research by River, a quantum computer with 1 million qubits could crack a Bitcoin address. Microsoft has claimed that its new chip, named Majorana, is paving the way toward this milestone. This raises an urgent question: how much time does Bitcoin have before it must become quantum-resistant?
While the quantum computing threat is apparent, some argue that a more immediate challenge is whether the Bitcoin community can reach a consensus and implement quantum-resistant solutions in time.
“That’d be not coming to a consensus fast enough on the implementation of a quantum-resistant hashing algorithm,” Stillbigjosh, a former cybersecurity expert at Flutterwave, commented.
However, the founder of BlockTower, Ari Paul, pointed out that Bitcoin’s network faces a more immediate risk as attack costs have dropped significantly.
“Someone shorting 10%+ of BTC’s market cap then spending ~1/10th that to gain 51% control of hash power and mining empty blocks indefinitely, effectively turning off the network. Could fork the PoW algo, but just means the attack on the new network now costs <1/1000th the previous one,” Ari Paul noted.
The Risk of Conflict Between Bitcoin’s Decentralized Nature and Regulatory Oversight
Beyond technical challenges, some investors fear that government and institutional involvement will be Bitcoin’s biggest risk in the next 5-10 years.
“Government and institutional involvement changing the incentives of everything,” Investor Shinobi commented.
Bitcoin Holdings by Governments, Corporations, and Financial Institutions. Source: BitcoinTreasuries
Data from BitcoinTreasuries shows that over the past five years, Bitcoin holdings by private companies, public companies, governments, and ETFs have surged more than 12 times, from 210,000 BTC to over 2.6 million BTC. As a result, regulatory intervention could introduce legal pressures or unwanted changes to Bitcoin’s fundamental operations.
“The biggest structural risk is the friction between Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos and the increasing push for centralized regulatory oversight. In essence, as governments and large institutions tighten control and enforce compliance, the network might be forced to compromise on its core principle,” Investor MisterSpread warned.
The discussion sparked by Lyn Alden’s question suggests risks that could trigger black swan events for Bitcoin. It also reflects the growing awareness among industry leaders and investors about Bitcoin’s systemic risks in an era increasingly shaped by political stability and artificial intelligence.
