hodler

12 May 2026, 13:02

US Inflation Accelerates for Second Straight Month as Gas Costs Drive April CPI

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported April 2026 Consumer Price Index data on May 12, showing headline inflation climbed to 3.8% year-over-year, above the 3.7% analyst consensus and up from 3.3% in March. Gasoline Prices Push U.S. CPI to 3.8% in April, Highest Reading Since Late 2025 The monthly CPI-U rose 0.6% on a

12 May 2026, 13:02

Egrag Crypto: If XRP Remains Above This level, Major Breakout Is Possible

Crypto analyst Egrag Crypto recently argued that XRP’s long-term market structure remains bullish despite recent price uncertainty and growing speculation about a possible cycle top. The analyst emphasized that investors are paying too much attention to short-term market movements while overlooking what he described as the “real signal” on the two-month timeframe chart. Egrag Crypto stated that the most important indicator for XRP at the moment is the 21 exponential moving average on the two-month timeframe. According to the analyst, XRP continues to maintain its macro bullish structure as long as the asset remains above that level. He added that a break below the indicator would place XRP in what he called “official macro bear territory.” The analyst stressed that current market conditions still support a bullish outlook. He highlighted that XRP’s secular trendline remains intact and noted that the asset continues to preserve higher lows on the macro chart. Egrag Crypto also pointed to multi-year price compression as another sign that XRP’s long-term structure has not broken down. #XRP ’s Bull/Bear Line ( 2 Months TF) : Most are focused on noise. The REAL signal is the 2-Month Time Frame + 21 EMA. As long as #XRP remains ABOVE the 2M 21 EMA, the MACRO bull structure is STILL intact. Below it? Official macro bear territory. Right now: Secular… pic.twitter.com/aKHBOkxYSo — EGRAG CRYPTO (@egragcrypto) May 11, 2026 XRP Key Price Levels Remain Critical While many XRP supporters continue to focus on ambitious long-term targets , Egrag Crypto argued that the immediate focus should remain on reclaiming major resistance levels. He identified $2.40 to $3.36 as the most important confirmation zone for XRP’s next major move. According to the analyst, reclaiming those levels would provide stronger confirmation that XRP is preparing for a larger breakout phase. He suggested that discussions around a completed market cycle may be premature because the asset has not yet invalidated its broader technical structure. Egrag Crypto also shared his probability estimates for several possible market outcomes. He estimated a 40% to 50% chance that XRP has already established its market bottom. At the same time, he assigned 50% to 55% chance for one final capitulation event before a sustained upward move begins. Despite that uncertainty, the analyst maintained that a major expansion toward the $7 to $13 range remains highly possible if XRP confirms a breakout above key resistance zones. We are on X, follow us to connect with us :- @TimesTabloid1 — TimesTabloid (@TimesTabloid1) June 15, 2025 Long-Term Compression Seen as Bullish Signal The analyst further argued that XRP’s prolonged consolidation phase may support the case for a future bullish expansion. He noted that the asset has spent years compressing while still maintaining its macro structure, which he views as an important technical development. To reinforce his position, Egrag Crypto compared XRP’s long-term behavior to earlier market cycles seen in TSLA. He suggested that assets rarely sustain extended periods of compression without eventually producing a significant cyclical move. Egrag Crypto concluded his analysis by reiterating that market structure matters more than short-term market “noise.” He maintained that XRP’s broader technical outlook remains intact unless critical support levels fail on the higher timeframe chart. Disclaimer : This content is meant to inform and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author’s personal opinions and do not represent Times Tabloid’s opinion. Readers are advised to conduct thorough research before making any investment decisions. Any action taken by the reader is strictly at their own risk. Times Tabloid is not responsible for any financial losses. Follow us on X , Facebook , Telegram , and Google News The post Egrag Crypto: If XRP Remains Above This level, Major Breakout Is Possible appeared first on Times Tabloid .

12 May 2026, 13:01

Casper Network Publishes the Casper Manifest, a Multi-Year Roadmap to Power Regulated Real-World Assets and the Machine Economy

ZUG, SWITZERLAND, May 12th, 2026, Chainwire Nine protocol initiatives that target EVM compatibility, gasless transactions, compliant security tokens, transaction privacy, AI agent micropayments, and quantum-safe cryptography The Casper Association today published the Casper Manifest, a multi-year technical roadmap designed to make Casper Network the infrastructure layer for regulated real-world asset tokenization and the emerging machine-to-machine economy. The Manifest was introduced by Casper Association President & CTO Michael Steuer at the Digital Finance Forum in Bermuda, before an audience of leaders from Web3, traditional finance, and institutional finance. Building on major protocol releases delivered since mid-2025, including Casper 2.0 with deterministic finality and a multi-VM execution layer, the Manifest sets out nine coordinated initiatives around one goal: making blockchain frictionless for users, trusted by institutions, and native for machines. The roadmap brings EVM compatibility to Casper’s WebAssembly foundation, advances gasless transactions and smart accounts for simpler user experiences, and expands the compliance, privacy, micropayment, native token, and quantum-safe infrastructure needed for real-world assets and autonomous systems to operate with greater predictability and less friction. Building the Infrastructure for Regulated Assets and Autonomous Systems The nine core initiatives outlined in the Casper Manifest are organized around the following areas: Access for every developer. The largest blockchain developer ecosystem builds on Ethereum tooling – Solidity, MetaMask, and thousands of audited smart contract libraries. Casper is adding full Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility alongside its existing WebAssembly execution engines, so developers can bring their existing contracts, tools, and wallets to Casper without modification. A native token registry provides equal access to tokens from either side. One chain, two execution environments, zero fragmentation. Blockchain that’s frictionless for the user. Someone else pays your transaction fees. Multiple steps collapse into a single action. You sign in with your fingerprint instead of managing cryptographic keys. The Casper Manifest delivers gasless transactions, batch operations, and smart accounts that enable biometric authentication – so using a blockchain application feels like using any other app. Compliance and privacy as one system. Casper will be the first Layer 1 where regulatory compliance and transaction privacy are designed to work together. Compliant security tokens with on-chain identity verification, transfer restrictions, and jurisdictional controls – built in alignment with the ERC-3643 standard that already governs $28 billion in tokenized assets on chain. As a member of the ERC-3643 Association, Casper Association is helping to expand the standard. Alongside compliance, a multi-phase privacy roadmap delivers confidential transactions with fixed, predictable costs – and built-in tools for auditors and regulators to verify compliance without exposing transaction details to the public. Privacy and compliance as two sides of the same system, designed for the $16 trillion real-world asset tokenization market. Native infrastructure for the machine economy. AI agents need to pay for services programmatically – per API call, per data query, per computation – without subscriptions, invoices, or human intermediaries. As a member of the X402 Foundation, Casper is implementing the X402 open payment standard, enabling machines to pay each other over HTTP in stablecoins and other fungible tokens, expecting to become the first WebAssembly-native Layer 1 with production X402 support. The same smart accounts and gasless infrastructure built for human users give AI agents scoped spending permissions and autonomous operation out of the box, providing best-in-class controls and compliance for AI agents. Tokens as first-class citizens. User-created tokens on most blockchains are smart contracts that cost significantly more to operate than native currencies. Casper’s Native Token Registry elevates every token to protocol-level status with the same fixed, predictable costs as native transfers. One pricing model for all tokens. One infrastructure layer shared across WebAssembly, EVM and any other future execution environment on Casper Network. The backbone for everything from DeFi to compliant security tokens to private, confidential transfers. Quantum-safe from the start. No major smart contract platform has shipped post-quantum transaction signing. Casper will, with hybrid accounts that carry both classical and quantum-resistant keys during a transition period. For institutions evaluating blockchain platforms for decade-long deployments, the answer to “what happens when quantum computers arrive” will be production code, not a research paper. “Much of the industry is focused on either maximizing hype, or iterating on concepts that service the same existing, crypto-native use cases. Few are building the infrastructure that will onboard the next billion users, the next trillion dollars in tokenized assets, or the first billion machines,” said Michael Steuer, President and CTO of the Casper Association. “Executing the Casper Manifest means that developers can bring over their entire EVM stack. For users, blockchain should be invisible. One tap. Done. For institutions, Casper’s roadmap provides on-chain compliance, transaction privacy and quantum safety. And machines need payment rails that don’t require a human, while being bound to spending limits set by their owners on their smart accounts. That’s the future-proof infrastructure Casper is putting in place.” Timeline The nine initiatives do not ship all at once. The first, X402 micropayments, is expected to ship in the next few weeks. Later in 2026, Casper will ship EVM compatibility, networking hardening, and compliant security tokens. This will be followed by the Native Token Registry, Gasless transactions, batch operations, and smart accounts. Transaction privacy and quantum safety build on the earlier initiatives, through 2027. Formal protocol enhancement proposals for each initiative will be published. Explore a deep dive of the Casper Manifest here: https://casper.network/news/manifest About Casper Network Casper Network (CSPR) is a layer 1 Proof-of-Stake blockchain engineered for regulated real-world assets and the machine economy. With deterministic transaction finality, a multi-VM execution layer supporting both WebAssembly and soon EVM smart contracts, and fixed-cost operations enforced at the protocol level, Casper delivers the infrastructure for compliant asset tokenization, frictionless consumer experiences, and autonomous machine-to-machine commerce. The Casper Manifest – the network’s multi-year technical roadmap – advances nine coordinated protocol initiatives spanning developer access, user experience, institutional compliance, privacy, micropayments, and quantum safety. The Casper Association, a non-profit organization based in Zug, Switzerland, oversees protocol development and ecosystem growth. Learn more at https://casper.network . Full Casper Manifest: https://casper.network/news/manifest Media Contact: Casper Association [email protected] Contact Casper Association [email protected]

12 May 2026, 13:00

XRP’s Current Predicament Is Only Temporary; These Factors Will Drive It To $18

XRP has spent the past few months in a frustrating position, with its price still trading around the same zone that many holders expected it to leave behind long ago. However, XRP enthusiast Luke believes this phase should not be mistaken for the end of the asset’s long-term story. In a post on X, he described the current $1.40 XRP as being in temporary hibernation and said that a move to $18 or $25 could represent only an intermediate stage if market expansion and adoption continue. XRP’s Current Price Is A Temporary Hibernation Phase The XRP price has spent the better part of 2026 trapped in a range between $1.30 and $1.45, down more than 60% from its January high and about 25% below where it started the year. This has created a disconnect between Ripple’s institutional momentum and XRP’s price performance. Related Reading: Bitcoin Forms The Same Pattern That Previously Led To A 400% Rally Taking to the social media platform X, Luke noted that XRP currently trading around $1.40 does not reflect what it could become if the next stage of crypto adoption is led by regulated financial products. Therefore, the current price action should be viewed as a temporary hibernation phase before the intermediate phase, and then the final price phase. This is why the analyst noted that XRP will trade anywhere between the $18 and $25 range in an intermediate phase, but this is not the final destination. In his view, XRP’s current predicament is only temporary because the market has not fully priced in what Ripple has been building behind the scenes. The final part of the price outlook goes beyond the $18 target, and the prediction is that XRP could eventually move into triple-digits once institutions fully awaken and the infrastructure around Ripple and XRP is switched on. Price At $10,000 Is Not Fantasy Luke’s prediction places XRP trading at five digits on the higher end. That higher-end claim is speculative, especially his reference to $10,000 XRP, which would require an extreme restructuring of global liquidity and market valuation assumptions. According to him, this price target is not fantasy. It is global liquidity at scale. Related Reading: Ethereum Analyst Sets $24,000 Full Parabolic Target, Here’s The Roadmap Speaking of global liquidity at scale, Ripple has long positioned XRP as its North Star. That vision has become harder to ignore in 2026, as Ripple has secured major ties with institutions such as Germany’s $1.6 trillion Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, and Mastercard’s $9 trillion payment network. Yet despite these developments, the price has remained mostly unmoved. Luke’s reasoning goes along with the outlook of many members of the XRP community who are predicting extravagant price targets for the cryptocurrency. They have faced criticisms from other realistic traders, but this hasn’t stopped the bullish expectations. These bullish price expectations see the XRP price rallying far above its current all-time high levels and into price targets ranging from $10 to as high as $10,000. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com

12 May 2026, 12:52

VanEck sets Bitcoin price target for end of 2026

With Bitcoin ( BTC ) price having underperformed Gold (XAU) and the broader United States stock market in 2026, Matthew Sigel, the head of digital assets research at VanEck, has made a bold prediction. Bitcoin price could hit $160,000 if it reclaims its all-time high relative to gold, Sigel said . The prediction, analyzed by Finbold on May 12, is based on the BTC/XAU pair recovering to 35x, its previous peak, from its current level of 17.1x. Bitcoin / Gold Cross. US Stock Market Cap / GDP. Source: X Sigel highlighted that Bitcoin is cheap, as it has not followed the broader U.S. stock market. Furthermore, the ratio of the U.S. stock market cap and the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) recently rebounded to an all-time high (ATH). As such, Sigel suggested that BTC price could easily surge beyond his target, since the prediction is pegged on the flagship coin catching up to where equities are trading. Moreover, the broader U.S. stock market recently entered a price discovery phase, potentially signaling the onset of a macro bull rally. Bitcoin price outlook After attempting to mirror the U.S. stock market’s bull run over the past few weeks, BTC’s price has seen reduced uptrend momentum. Since getting rejected at around $82,290 on May 6, Bitcoin price has failed to break above this resistance level twice, trading at about $80,690 as of press time. BTC/USD 30-day chart. Source: Finbold As such, the near-term outlook for Bitcoin price action is dependent heavily on cash inflows from institutional investors and the regulatory outlook in the United States. Furthermore, the passage of the Clarity Act , a proposed U.S. federal regulation aimed at legalizing crypto assets, could unlock the next wave of institutional validation of Bitcoin, according to Michael Saylor, chairman and cofounder of Strategy Inc. ( MSTR ). ​ The post VanEck sets Bitcoin price target for end of 2026 appeared first on Finbold .

12 May 2026, 12:40

Bitcoin Price Reacts as U.S. Inflation Rises to Highest Level Since May 2023

It appears that rising fuel costs and international geopolitical tensions are catching up with global economies, and the US is no exception. The CPI numbers for April are out, indicating that inflation in the country has surged to 3.8%, the highest level since May 2023. Core CPI inflation also rose above the expected 2.7%, reaching 2.8%. Bitcoin’s price saw somewhat elevated volatility throughout the release, but the movement has so far been relatively negligible. At the time of this writing, BTC trades at slightly below $81K, down 0.5% for the day and mostly flat for the week. Source: TradingView It’s also worth noting that analysts at The Kobeissi Letter pointed out that the economy is currently experiencing inflation rates from the post-COVID era. Meanwhile, the ceasefire between the US and Iran is also hanging by a thread. US President Donald Trump said that it’s on “massive life support,” and called Teheran’s peace proposal “garbage.” The post Bitcoin Price Reacts as U.S. Inflation Rises to Highest Level Since May 2023 appeared first on CryptoPotato .