[DigitalToday reporter Hyunwoo Choo] The digital asset market is again facing a major test. Bitcoin is wavering amid weak performance by treasury firms and scepticism about its safe-haven status. Ripple's XRP, by contrast, is being talked up with forecasts of a mega rally and even scenarios in which it overtakes bitcoin in market capitalisation. BlackRock and JPMorgan are also moving into real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation, and Elon Musk's X is evolving as a financial platform. This article looks at key themes that led the digital asset market over the past week.

Optimism around XRP has reached an extreme. From Tom Lee's mega-rally outlook to the possibility of becoming No. 1 by market value, voices predicting an explosive rise in XRP are growing louder. Even as fundamentals strengthen through DeFi ecosystem expansion and strategic mergers and acquisitions, risks persist, including price pullbacks and the release of large sell orders. Investors are engaged in intense positioning.

• XRP selling worth about 5 trillion won in South Korea…who sold? • "The real rally starts now"…Tom Lee's mega upside scenario for XRP

A wave of large XRP sell orders worth about 5 trillion won in South Korea shocked the market. With retail sentiment freezing, intense analysis is continuing over whether whales or a specific institution led the selling. Given the high share of trading volume at domestic exchanges, the episode shows that short-term profit-taking in South Korea directly acted as downward pressure on global prices.

Tom Lee, a well-known Wall Street bull, presented a mega upside scenario, saying the real XRP rally has not even begun. He described the current correction as a process of compressing energy and forecast that an unprecedented surge could occur if regulatory uncertainty eases and institutional money flows in. He called it a strong buy signal, urging investors not to be swayed by near-term swings and to prepare for a big wave from a long-term perspective.

• Tradeship founder says "XRP will beat bitcoin"…No. 1 market cap by 2030? • Bitcoin advocate says "XRP is only a strategy to split bitcoin"

Tradeship's founder made an unconventional forecast that XRP will surpass bitcoin and rise to No. 1 in cryptocurrency market capitalisation by 2030. Pointing to bitcoin's slow processing speed and limited scalability, he focused on Ripple's dominant real-world utility as it becomes a standard payment network in the global financial system. He rated XRP's potential highly, saying it goes beyond being a store of value to perform money's core functions.

Criticism of XRP is growing among hardline bitcoin advocates. They argue that XRP's rise is a 'divide and conquer' strategy by traditional finance to disperse capital in the crypto market and weaken bitcoin's dominance. It underscores a deepening ideological conflict between the bitcoin camp, which prioritises decentralisation, and the Ripple camp, which stresses corporate-led efficiency.

• 2026 XRP price outlook forecast by an AI model…up to $8.5

Analysis using an artificial intelligence (AI) model produced an interesting forecast that XRP's 2026 target price could reach as high as $8.5. The result, based on learning from vast data including past price patterns, market liquidity and technical momentum, suggests that even emotion-free mechanical analysis points to a clear long-term upward trend for XRP.

Bitcoin is undergoing a painful correction and facing fundamental doubts about its safe-haven status as "digital gold". News that MicroStrategy has halted purchases poured cold water on the market, and even prominent analysts are showing scepticism. But long-term optimism centred on $1 million and signals of accumulation by whales are intersecting, fuelling a fierce debate over whether this is the bottom or the start of an endless slide.

• Strategy halts bitcoin purchases…market anxiety spreads • Bitcoin safe-haven myth shaken…in the AI era, crypto evolution begins • CNBC crypto trader says, "I believed in bitcoin for 12 years, but now I'm sceptical"

News spread that MicroStrategy, which had been buying up bitcoin at a frightening pace and driving the bull market, has suddenly stopped buying, casting a dark cloud over the market. A shift by an institutional investor that had been a key ally is a major negative factor that could stoke fears of further declines and trigger panic selling. Market participants are watching closely to see whether the "endless buying" strategy has hit a limit or whether it is simply a pause.

As bitcoin falls in tandem even amid macroeconomic anxiety, the myth of bitcoin as an inflation hedge and a "safe asset" is developing serious cracks. Instead, investors are increasingly shifting their focus beyond simple value storage to utility coins that combine with AI or are directly applied to the real economy. It is a deep analysis that the paradigm of a market once dominated by bitcoin is reaching a major turning point of evolution and diversification.

A well-known U.S. crypto broadcast host who has invested while firmly believing in bitcoin's rise for 12 years has, for the first time, expressed strong scepticism about bitcoin's future. The remarks reflect the faltering psychology of long-term investors weary of relentless volatility and regulatory issues amid stalled technological innovation. The fact that even bitcoin true believers are beginning to turn away shows how severely overall market sentiment has frozen.

• Where is bitcoin's bottom…Bloomberg's view of industry sentiment

Bloomberg reported a range of views from industry experts on where the true bottom lies for bitcoin, which has continued an apparently endless plunge. With downside factors overlapping, including worsening macroeconomic conditions and outflows from ETFs, pessimists say a real bottom has not yet been confirmed. Optimists argue that bad news has already been sufficiently priced in and a rebound is near, adding to investor confusion.

As traditional finance giants BlackRock and JPMorgan join in, real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation is emerging as the next core growth area for the digital asset market. As institutional money diversifies, platform coins such as ethereum and cardano are each seeking ecosystem expansion and a rebound while engaging in a fierce fight for leadership.

• BlackRock and JPMorgan jump in…will RWA become the final boss of crypto? • Harvard cuts bitcoin ETF holdings by one-fifth and invests in ethereum for the first time

The world's largest asset manager BlackRock and traditional finance powerhouse JPMorgan are shaking up the market as they move in earnest into the real-world asset tokenisation market. The analysis is that RWA, which brings massive real-world assets such as government bonds, real estate and artworks onto the blockchain, will become the digital asset market's true mega trend and end point. The entry of Wall Street giants clearly shows the coin market is moving beyond a speculative arena and being elevated into a large institutional financial infrastructure.

Harvard University's endowment, known for top fund management performance, sharply reduced its existing holdings of spot bitcoin ETFs and instead invested in ethereum for the first time in its history. This suggests institutional asset-allocation strategies are expanding beyond a single coin to a leading altcoin representing smart contracts and web3 infrastructure. It amounts to smart money validating ethereum's intrinsic value and long-term growth potential.

• Cardano nears historic low…The Moon Show analysis says "high chance of rebound" • Cardano to launch USDCx stablecoin in February…pushback against ethereum and Solana

Technical analysis has suggested that cardano (ADA), which has slid to a historic bottom zone amid prolonged weakness, may now be a strong buying opportunity ahead of a rebound. A well-known crypto YouTube channel, The Moon Show, said cardano has entered oversold territory while building a psychological support line. It raised expectations that, because development progress has not yet been reflected in the price, cardano could show sharp upside momentum if market mood reverses.

The cardano camp is making a bold move to address liquidity shortages in its ecosystem by officially launching a new stablecoin, USDCx, in February. It is a desperate pushback aimed at restoring competitiveness against ethereum, which dominates the DeFi market, and Solana, which is closing in at a rapid pace. Attention is on whether introducing a stable base currency will invigorate a dormant cardano ecosystem and drive user inflows.

The reshaping of the external environment around the cryptocurrency market is accelerating. Elon Musk's X (Twitter) is evolving into a financial platform by embracing crypto trading, and the arrival of an unmanned economy, including robot payments, is becoming visible. At the same time, signs of regulatory easing by the SEC, Hong Kong's pro-crypto policies and a weaker dollar are expected to serve as a solid backdrop for a major uptrend in 2026.

• Elon Musk adds stock and crypto trading functions to X…financial platform evolution • Vitalik Buterin says "worried about short-term speculative tendencies of prediction markets" • Robots pay with USDC…unmanned economy era draws closer

Elon Musk is introducing a sweeping feature on X, the social media platform he acquired, that allows direct trading of stocks and cryptocurrencies. He declared it will evolve beyond text and video sharing into an "Everything App" where hundreds of millions of users around the world can freely buy and sell financial assets. The combination of social networks and digital assets will dramatically increase public access to coins and supply large new liquidity to the market, a major positive factor.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin (비탈릭 부테린) expressed deep concern that crypto-based prediction markets are increasingly turning into gambling arenas that bet too heavily on short-term events. He delivered a philosophical critique, sharply pointing to side effects in the current ecosystem in which the original innovative purpose of using blockchain technology to gather collective intelligence and raise the value of social information is fading, leaving only sensational issues and speculation.

A remarkable test was successfully carried out in which an AI robot system, without human intervention, paid for services by autonomously sending and receiving USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin. It demonstrated the moment when blockchain and coins become essential payment means for a machine-to-machine hyperconnected economy. It offers a glimpse of a future in which coins are used as core currency infrastructure for an upcoming unmanned economy, beyond being simple speculative assets.