Hyperliquid (HYPE) has faced a lack of bullish momentum since the start of the year. Despite brief rallies, it has struggled to break through key resistance levels. 

Enthusiasts remain optimistic, especially since the token distancing itself from Bitcoin’s broader trends positions HYPE for potential future gains.

HYPE Has A Shot At Breakout

Despite the recent lack of price action, HYPE’s funding rate remains positive, signaling traders’ continued optimism. Many traders have maintained long contracts, anticipating a price recovery. This positive sentiment is crucial for supporting a potential rally and preventing the token from seeing significant declines in the near term.

This optimism suggests that HYPE’s traders are confident about its potential for upward movement, even though the token has been underperforming. The persistence of long positions also shows that traders are betting on a rebound. If this sentiment is sustained, it could help HYPE maintain a stable price floor and set the stage for future growth.

HYPE’s correlation with Bitcoin has been negative, which adds complexity to its market outlook. While Bitcoin has been struggling to maintain support above $100,000, it still presents a bullish outlook. However, HYPE’s decoupling from Bitcoin means that it may not capitalize on Bitcoin’s potential rally, especially with the recent decline in correlation.

The weakening of this correlation could make HYPE more vulnerable to corrections, as its price may not be as responsive to Bitcoin’s moves. If Bitcoin continues to show strength, HYPE’s lack of correlation could lead to further struggles, hindering its ability to break past crucial resistance levels.

HYPE Price Prediction: New High In Sights

HYPE has been stuck in a consolidation range since the beginning of 2025, oscillating between $19 and $27. This range-bound trading suggests that the altcoin is waiting for a breakout. A push above $27 could signal the start of a rally, but the lack of momentum has kept it from making significant gains.

A potential rise toward $32 is within reach if HYPE manages to breach $27 and hold above that level. Achieving this would mark progress toward breaking the all-time high (ATH) of $42, with a 63% rise needed to reach that level. If $32 becomes a support floor, a new ATH could be in sight.

However, if HYPE fails to breach $27 and instead loses support at $23, the price could fall back to $19, continuing its consolidation. This would invalidate the bullish outlook and signal that HYPE may need more time to recover and gather momentum for a more significant rally.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino recently provided an overview of Tether Data, showcasing three artificial intelligence (AI) applications currently in development. As the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, Tether is expanding its technological portfolio with a focus on AI integration.

Tether’s foray into AI comes at a time when the AI crypto sector is experiencing a downturn.

Tether Reveals AI-Powered Applications

In a recent X post, Ardoino shared three clips showcasing the AI applications being developed: an AI translator, an AI voice assistant, and an AI-powered Bitcoin (BTC) wallet assistant.

“Tether Data’s apps will focus on working locally on any device, ensuring full privacy and self-custodial control over both data and money,” the post read.

The videos offered a glimpse into each app’s functionality. The AI translator enables users to translate text into multiple languages, including English (UK and US), Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, French, Swedish, Turkish, and Polish.

The AI voice assistant featured in the video allows users to send voice messages, which the assistant then responds to by answering questions.

Finally, the wallet AI payment agent enhances self-custodial digital asset management. It helps users with common inquiries such as checking their Bitcoin address, viewing their Bitcoin balance, or finding recipients’ names in address books. 

Importantly, the AI agent can also help users execute Bitcoin transfers seamlessly through the same interface.

Beyond these AI applications, Ardoino shared that Tether is preparing to launch its own open-source AI SDK platform. The CEO explained that this platform will be built on Bare, Holepunch’s JavaScript runtime. 

Furthermore, it will support many types of hardware. This includes embedded devices, budget smartphones, high-performance mobile phones, laptops, and powerful server clusters.

The development follows Ardoino’s previous announcement hinting at Tether’s venture into AI.

“Just got the draft of the site for Tether’s AI platform. Coming soon, targeting end Q1 2025,” Ardoino stated in a December 2024 post.

Despite this new AI initiative, Tether’s primary revenue driver remains its USDT stablecoin. According to its latest Q4 report, the stablecoin issuer recorded $13 billion in net yearly profits. That’s not all. It also holds $113 billion in US treasury assets. 

Moreover, USDT continues to dominate the stablecoin market. It is also the fourth-largest cryptocurrency overall, with a market capitalization of $140.5 billion.

Meanwhile, Tether’s entry into AI comes amid a recent downturn in the AI crypto sector. According to CoinGecko data, the AI crypto market cap dipped 9.1% in the last 24 hours and is now at $29 billion.

AI agent-related tokens have been hit particularly hard, with the sector experiencing a 9.8% drop.

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) temporarily halted block production for approximately an hour on February 4 before spontaneously recovering. 

While the network is now fully operational, Ripple’s technical team is still investigating the root cause of the disruption.

XRP Ledger Halted Block Production

According to XRPL’s explorer page, network activity stalled at block height 93,927,174 for 64 minutes before resuming operations. 

The blockchain’s self-custody Xaman Wallet confirmed that XRPL was back online.

“The XRP ledger is now fully operational after the recent halt, and transactions can resume as normal,” the post read.

Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) David Schwartz addressed the issue in an X (formerly Twitter) post, explaining that while the network had recovered, the exact cause remained unknown.

“Super-preliminary observation: It looked like consensus was running, but validations were not being published, causing the network to drift apart,” Schwartz stated. 

He elaborated that validator operators manually intervened to select a reliable starting point from the last fully validated ledger and resumed publishing validations. While this intervention helped realign the network, Schwartz noted that it was unclear whether this manual action directly resolved the problem or if the network self-healed.

“It looks like, as far as we can tell, only one validator operator manually intervened. It’s still not entirely clear if that solved the problem or the network self-healed,” the CTO updated.

Schwartz reassured users that the incident did not result in any asset losses. He explained that the issue only caused ledgers to be temporarily untrusted for about an hour.

This happened because the servers detected the network’s malfunction and withheld validation during the incident. Ledgers that received the majority of validation were not affected. 

RippleX also reaffirmed that user funds remained secure throughout the event.

“Your funds were always safe!” RippleX posted.

This is not the first time the XRP Ledger has faced technical issues. In November 2024, the network temporarily halted transaction processing for about 10 minutes due to a node crash. 

Earlier, in September 2024, full history nodes on XRPL experienced failures caused by an SQLite database page size limitation, which led to inefficiencies in handling large transaction data.

Despite these setbacks, XRPL has continued to grow. According to Ripple’s recently released Q4 2024 market report, the XRPL saw increased activity across key on-chain metrics.

On-chain decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume reached $1 billion. Furthermore, wallet creation surged to 709,000. New token issuance on the XRPL also increased during this period.

Meanwhile, following the network disruption, XRP’s (XRP) price briefly declined.

However, in the past 24 hours, the price has mostly remained stable, to trade at $2.51 by press time. Yet, in the past seven days, XRP has declined by nearly 20%.