Trump WLFI token a dud, Ripple unveils stablecoin, Bitcoin ETFs recover | Weekly Recap

In today’s edition of the weekly recap: Bitcoin ETFs enjoy a resurgence; Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial undersells; and Ripple provides updates on a new stablecoin.

Bitcoin ETFs recovery

• Spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs started the week with $555.9 million in net inflows on Oct. 14. This marked the highest intraday net inflow in more than four months. As the week progressed, these investment products extended the gains to four days as of Oct. 16, with a cumulative flow of $1.6 billion within this period.

• Remarkably, Bitcoin ETFs closed the week with five consecutive days of inflows, recording no losses. At the end of the week, these funds had added $2.13 billion in BTC, surpassing $21 billion in cumulative flows for the first time ever. 

BTC breaches $68k

• Bitcoin began last week with a massive 5.12% intraday gain on Oct. 14. The asset extended this push for two more days, hitting a two-month peak above $67,000 on Oct. 15, and eventually surpassing $68,000 the next day. 

• Despite a slight pullback on Oct. 17, the crypto fear and greed index slipped into the greed region for the first time in six weeks. Bitcoin maintained the upward move, closing the week above $68,000 with an 8.7% gain.

Trump launches WLFI

• GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump launched the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token, a project backed by his family. On Oct. 14, the team behind WLFI whitelisted 100,000 accredited investors in the U.S. 

• The token is strictly for non-U.S. investors and the whitelisted accredited U.S. investors. Following the launch on Oct. 15, scammers impersonating the project introduced a phishing scheme to steal funds from unsuspecting users. 

• The project had planned to sell 20 billion tokens for $300 million. However, as of Oct. 16, it failed to meet this target, having sold below 800 million tokens for $11 million. 

Harris addresses crypto, Trump widens lead on Polymarket 

• Democratic nominee Kamala Harris promised to enact pro-crypto policies for black investors. 

• Still, Trump continues to widen his lead on Polymarket, a platform where crypto holders can gamble on real-world events such as the 2024 election. Moreover, bets on the presidential election spiked beyond $2 billion. At last check Sunday, Trump saw 59.7% odds, while Harris had a 40.4% chance.

• Trump-themed meme coins, MAGA Hat (MAGA), Super Trump (STRUMP) and Doland Tremp (TREMP) also saw rapid price growth. On Sunday, at last check, MAGA was down over 6% while STRUMP showed little movement. TREMP was up .35%.

Ripple advances with RLUSD

• During last week’s Ripple Swell conference, Ripple announced the exchange partners for its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin. They include Uphold, Bitstamp, Bullish, MoonPay and Bitso.

• However, the blockchain payments firm confirmed it needs regulatory approval to officially launch the stablecoin.