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Despite broader market optimism and a surge in new XRP addresses, user engagement on the XRP Ledger appears to be slipping.  According to data in the Finbold H1 2025 Cryptocurrency Market Report, between January 1 and June 30, 2025, the number of total XRP addresses rose from 6,282,144 to 7,116,378, an increase of over 834,000.  This growth was split across both quarters: Q1 accounted for 528,997 new addresses, while Q2 added another 305,237. Yet active address counts moved in the opposite direction, dropping from 39,515 to 26,807 by the end of the first half.  That’s a net loss of 12,708 active wallets in Q2, on top of the 16,772 decline already reported in Q1. In other words, while more users are entering the XRP ecosystem on paper, fewer are interacting with the network regularly.  The disconnect between new wallet creation and actual network activity suggests growing passive interest, possibly from investors parking funds or institutions onboarding for fut...

Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm is making desperate pleas for donations to fund his legal defense, as he faces the imminent possibility of years in prison. The founder of the crypto coin-mixing service for anonymous payments is asking for another $2 million after already seemingly expending millions over the past two years. In August 2023, the US government alleged that Storm and his co-founder made millions of dollars through Tornado Cash. According to Storm, seizures and subsequent legal expenses have depleted those resources. In August 2022, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash over its assistance with North Korean payments with suspected links to money laundering. However, as of November 2024, the powerful US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that OFAC exceeded its authority and removed Tornado Cash and over 100 of its crypto wallets from US sanctions. Nevertheless, the criminal trial against Storm continues. S...