Ripple Frees 1 Billion XRP, Solana Leads Top 10 With 11% Price Jump, Musk Compares Anthropic CEO to SBF — U.Today Crypto Digest

Ripple unlocks 1 billion XRP from escrow

Ripple’s XRP unlock on March 1 meets a struggling market as February ends with a 16% drop for the price of the cryptocurrency.

• Escrow. Ripple Labs unlocked 1 billion XRP from its escrow accounts, worth approximately $1.377 billion.

Ripple unlocked another 1 billion tokens this morning from its XRP escrow account. As reported by Whale Alert, the release of 1 billion XRP, equivalent to more than $1.377 billion, occurred in three tranches: 200, 300 and 500 million XRP were unlocked step by step from the San Francisco-based blockchain company’s escrow accounts.

According to XRPL Services, the company currently continues to hold around 32.91 billion XRP. This accounts for approximately 32% of the token’s total supply and, at current prices, is equivalent to more than $45.3 billion. 

As is known, the unlocking takes place to boost liquidity, manage the market and support the gradual release of XRP from the wallets.

• XRP price down 16%. XRP price reaction was minimal, rising just 0.9% from the day’s open following the release.

For XRP itself, at the time of release the price showed almost no reaction, with only a 0.9% increase from the day’s opening. In this context, the February figures, which have just closed, are more interesting as the month ended with XRP down 16.45%. At the peak of February’s decline, the drop reached 33%.

Solana jumps 11% as crypto market rebounds after $500M liquidation event

Solana led the recovery among major cryptocurrencies, rising 11% to $88.89.

• Price surge. Solana led major cryptocurrencies with an 11% surge, topping gains among top-10 assets by market capitalization.

Solana led major cryptocurrencies, especially those in the top 10 by market valuation, with an 11% bounce as the crypto market rebounded ahead of traditional futures opening on Sunday.

Crypto prices rebounded sharply on Sunday, as traders bought the dip following Saturday’s crash, which saw over $500 million in liquidations. The market added $32 billion in market value by Sunday morning, after shedding about $128 billion the previous day, according to data from CoinGecko.

• Crypto downtrend. Despite the recovery, weekly performance across digital assets remains mixed, with thin liquidity and upcoming equity market moves likely to determine whether momentum can be sustained.

Solana led the recovery among majors, rising 11% to an intraday high of $88.89. At the time of writing, Solana was up 9.22% in the last 24 hours to $85.30 and down 0.41% weekly.

Despite the rebound in the markets, weekly performance across most digital assets remains mixed, with thin liquidity and upcoming moves in the equities market likely to determine whether this bounce continues.

Musk echoes comparisons between Anthropic and FTX

Elon Musk intensified the AI arms race by endorsing a viral critique that compares Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

• SBF vibes. Elon Musk endorsed a theory likening AI firm Anthropic to collapsed crypto exchange FTX.

Elon Musk has endorsed a theory comparing AI giant Anthropic to the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. He has agreed that the AI company and its CEO Dario Amodei, give off distinct “Sam Bankman-Fried vibes.”

Tech commentator Lukas (@hyperonline) posted a detailed thread analyzing why Anthropic’s corporate persona makes him uncomfortable. He has explicitly compared the AI firm to SBF’s fraudulent crypto empire.

• 500 million investment. Bankman-Fried was an early Anthropic backer, investing $500 million in 2022, funds later revealed to be misappropriated FTX customer assets.

Notably, Bankman-Fried was an early backer of Anthropic. He invested $500 million into the AI startup in 2022. Later, it turned out that these were stolen FTX customer funds. “The whole thing feels calculated and insincere,” Lukas explained, describing the vibe as feeling like “some sort of hyperpredator” in disguise.