This week's cryptocurrency landscape was dominated by a massive institutional Bitcoin purchase and significant regulatory progress for a major altcoin. MicroStrategy (referred to as "Strategy" in the reports) executed its largest Bitcoin acquisition in five months, purchasing approximately 13,600 BTC for over $1.2 billion. This brings the company's total holdings to 687,400 Bitcoin, valued at over $62.8 billion, with an average purchase price of $75,353 per BTC.
In a major regulatory development, Ripple secured preliminary approval for an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from Luxembourg's financial regulator, the CSSF. This victory comes just one week after the company obtained a full EMI license and Cryptoasset Registration from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). These approvals strengthen Ripple's position in key European financial gateways, with Luxembourg's license offering potential "passporting" rights across the Eurozone. Ripple now holds over 75 regulatory licenses globally.
The news was accompanied by notable market activity. XRP, Ripple's associated digital asset, defied broader market outflows by attracting $45.8 million in institutional inflows last week—a 428% increase from the prior week. This occurred against a backdrop where the wider digital asset market suffered $454 million in weekly outflows, its worst performance since mid-2023.
Other significant events from the week included a major security breach, where a hacker stole $282 million worth of Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin (BTC) through a social engineering attack on January 10. The stolen funds were reportedly converted to the privacy coin Monero (XMR), contributing to a 70% price increase for XMR in subsequent days. In corporate news, Polygon Labs reduced its workforce by 60 positions following its acquisitions of Coinme and Sequence for over $250 million.
