As bitcoin BTC$74,316.88 continues to trade sluggishly near $75,000, several other crypto projects are showing notable developments.

Among them is XRP (XRP), the payments-focused token used by fintech firm Ripple to facilitate cross-border transactions. U.S.-listed spot XRP ETFs drew more than $17 million in inflows on Wednesday, the most since Feb. 2, according to data source SoSoValue. While that is smaller than the flows seen in bitcoin ETFs, it nonetheless points to a revival in demand for XRP after a prolonged period of muted activity marked by little to no uptake.

News flow has been encouraging, too. Ripple has partnered with Kyobo Life Insurance to pilot South Korea's first real-time tokenized government bond settlement system on blockchain.

In addition, XRP's derivatives market is flashing bullish signals with open interest (OI) rising alongside positive funding rates and cumulative volume delta. The OI has jumped to 1.89 billion XRP, a level last seen in late March, per Coinglass data.

The other noteworthy development is stablecoin-focused layer-1 blockchain Plasma, which has emerged as the world's seventh-largest blockchain by total value locked (TVL), a measure of the dollar value of assets on the network.

At the time of writing, TVL stood at $2 billion, up 27% over the past week and more than 80% over the past 30 days, according to DeFiLlama. The driver behind the growth is not clear, but could be linked to rising optimism around the CLARITY Act nearing approval in the U.S., as noted by JPMorgan.

The act is a proposed U.S. bill that seeks to clarify how digital assets, including stablecoins, are regulated and which agencies oversee them.

In addition, Plasma is among a select group of networks, alongside Ethereum and Arbitrum, chosen to support Tether's new self-custody wallet, Tether Wallet, announced earlier this week.

Lastly, there is DOGE$0.09595, the meme-inspired token. Bollinger Bands, volatility indicators plotted two standard deviations above and below the token's price, are currently at their tightest since February 2024, typically signaling a period of low volatility that is likely to end with significant price swings.

As for the market leader, bitcoin, the combination of onchain profit-taking, uneven spot demand, and cautious options suggests continued rangeplay near $75,000. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today's activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today . For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead."

What’s trending

• The CLARITY Act breakthrough: Why JPMorgan says the U.S. crypto rulebook is ‘close to completion’ (CoinDesk): Lawmakers and regulators in Washington are nearing agreement on the long-debated CLARITY Act, with only a few unresolved issues remaining, according to a JPMorgan report.
• Oil rises with Hormuz still blocked as longer truce under review (Bloomberg): Brent edged above $96 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was near $92. Washington and Tehran are considering a two-week ceasefire extension to allow more time to negotiate a peace deal.
• Russian strikes kill at least 15 in biggest barrage on Ukrainian cities in months (The New York Times): Russia sent 659 drones and 44 missiles into Ukrainian cities in the largest such barrage in months and one of the largest of the war, destroying any truce thought for Orthodox Easter.
• Circle CEO says China could launch yuan stablecoin within 3 to 5 years as currency race heats up (CoinDesk): Jeremy Allaire said there is a "tremendous opportunity" for a yuan-backed stablecoin, predicting China could roll one out within three to five years as digital currencies become more integrated into global trade and finance.

Today’s signal

The chart shows dogecoin's (DOGE) daily price swings in candlestick format. Overlaid on the chart are Bollinger bands, which have compressed to their narrowest in over two years

The squeeze signals an extended period of low volatility, characterized by muted price action, with neither buyers nor sellers able to establish a clear trend. Such situations eventually get resolved in a decisive breakout. This often leads to an outsized move and volatility boom.

Note that this does not provide any signal about direction. A volatility expansion could just as easily result in a strong rally as it could in a steep decline.

The key takeaway is magnitude. Once dogecoin eventually breaks out of this low-volatility regime, the resulting move is likely to be significant and fast. For now, however, the market remains in a holding pattern.