S&P Dow Jones Indices announced Block will join the S&P 500, replacing Hess Corp on July 23.
Block shares jumped over 10% in extended trading following the news, reflecting investor confidence in its long-term fundamentals.
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Block Inc. is set to join the S&P 500, replacing Hess Corp, according to an announcement from S&P Dow Jones Indices. The change will take effect before markets open on Wednesday, July 23.
Block shares rose more than 10% in extended trading Friday after the index addition was made public.
Formerly known as Square, Block was co-founded by Jack Dorsey and is best known for its suite of payment products including Cash App, Square point-of-sale systems, and its Bitcoin-related business segments. The company has positioned itself as a multi-faceted financial platform, catering to both retail users and merchants.
Block generated $22.3 billion in revenue in 2024 and remains one of the most crypto-integrated fintech companies. The firm holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet and has invested heavily in blockchain infrastructure via its TBD and Spiral initiatives.
Dave Portnoy sold his XRP at $2.40, missing out on a 60% price surge.
Portnoy expressed regret over his decision to sell and no longer owns XRP.
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Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy revealed he exited his XRP position at $2.4 two weeks ago, missing out on a 50% rally as the token hit a record high of $3.6 on Thursday.
“I sold XRP when it went up to $2.40because the guy who told me to buy it told me that I should sell it because he thought Circle would compete with them, and he was unhappy with it,” Portnoy admitted in a video to his 3.7 million followers on X.
“I would have made millions, and I want to cry, and I don’t own it anymore,” he added. “Even though I was like the leader of the XRP army, I sold it.”
XRP was trading at $3.4 at press time, up around 25% in the last seven days, CoinGecko data shows. Its market capitalization has exceeded $200 billion, solidifying its status as the third-largest crypto asset.
The token’s price rally followed recent US legislative advancements, including the passage of the GENIUS Act, which is expected to benefit Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD.
Concurrently, President Trump’s potential executive order could open the US $9 trillion retirement market to crypto assets, enhancing market conditions for XRP and other crypto assets.
Portnoy previously faced controversies for his handling of the meme coin GREED, which he developed and then liquidated all in one day, causing its value to drop by 99%. Following GREED’s crash, he went on launching GREED2.
XRP reached a new all-time high of $3.5 and its market cap surpassed $200 billion.
The surge in XRP’s price was driven by US legislative progress on crypto and anticipated regulatory developments.
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XRP surged 14% in the past 24 hours to reach a new record high of above $3.5, pushing its market capitalization to $206 billion and reinforcing its position as the third-largest crypto asset, according to CoinGecko data.
The digital asset has outperformed Bitcoin over the past week, climbing more than 35% while Bitcoin gained around 3%.
Why is XRP up today? GENIUS Act passes, Trump eyes crypto 401(k)s
GENIUS Act to become law
The price rally follows the passage of the GENIUS stablecoin bill in the US House and a report that President Trump plans to issue an executive order allowing crypto assets and other alternative investments into the US $9 trillion retirement market.
XRP began its upward movement on Wednesday as the House passed a resolution setting terms for debate on three crypto bills – the GENIUS, Clarity, and Anti-CBDC acts. The token pushed past $3 after the rule was adopted.
Momentum accelerated on Thursday as the House passed the GENIUS Act, which is especially relevant to Ripple’s stablecoin ambitions. The legislation establishes a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, mandating full reserve backing, regular audits, and licensed issuance.
With the GENIUS Act set to become law, the regulatory clarity it provides is expected to accelerate adoption of RLUSD, potentially giving Ripple a first-mover advantage in the regulated stablecoin sector.
Trump eyes opening US retirement market to crypto
Shortly after the House passed the GENIUS Act, along with the CLARITY and Anti-CBDC bills, the Financial Times reported that President Trump is considering signing an executive order this week to open the $9 trillion US retirement market, including 401(k) plans, to crypto assets, gold, private equity, and other alternative investments.
According to the report, the executive order would instruct regulators to identify and remove barriers that currently prevent these asset classes from being included in professionally managed retirement portfolios.
The news sparked a broad rally across crypto markets. Bitcoin edged closer to $121,000, Ethereum reclaimed $3,500, and XRP broke past $3.4.
XRP was trading close to $3.5 at the time of reporting.
What’s next for XRP?
All eyes are on the long-running SEC v. Ripple case, which is nearing full resolution. Both parties are expected to withdraw their appeals for the case to be completely resolved.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently confirmed the company plans to drop its cross-appeal to bring the legal fight to an end and shift focus to execution and growth.
Industry observers are also keeping tabs on the potential approval of US-listed spot altcoin ETFs, including those tied to XRP.
Just as spot Bitcoin ETFs have unlocked billion-dollar institutional inflows, an XRP ETF could attract interest from wealth managers, retirement funds, and registered investment advisors (RIAs), once regulatory barriers fall.
Chris Larsen’s wallet sent $26 million in XRP to Coinbase as the token approached its all-time high.
This transfer stirred speculation due to previous inactivity and a history of major hacks affecting Larsen’s accounts.
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A crypto wallet associated with Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen transferred 9.5 million XRP tokens worth over $26 million to Coinbase earlier this week, according to data from XRPSCAN.
The move came just before XRP’s price began to surge. Around the time of the transfer, the token was trading at about $2.8 per CoinGecko. It later jumped over $3 and extended its rally to $3.3, a 10% gain in under 10 hours.
At the time of writing, XRP was trading around $3.2, only 6% below its all-time high.
The sending address belongs to a group of wallets linked to Larsen that moved $109 million in XRP to exchanges in January 2025, as previously identified by on-chain researcher ZachXBT.
These wallets had remained inactive for at least six years. ZachXBT suggested Larsen may have lost access to them. The development follows a January 2024 security breach where Larsen lost $112 million in XRP through a hack connected to a LastPass security incident from 2022.
The stolen funds from the January hack were rapidly distributed across multiple crypto exchanges, including Binance, Kraken, and OKX. While exchanges like Binance froze $4.2 million worth of stolen XRP, attackers had already laundered or converted a substantial portion of the funds.
The latest wallet movement has led to speculation about potential liquidation, as transfers to centralized exchanges often precede sales.
Pump.fun transferred $30 million to a buyback address.
$PUMP soared on the team’s move, briefly outranking $BONK.
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PUMP, the newly launched token from prominent meme coin launchpad Pump.fun, has surged over 20% in the past 10 hours amid reports of a team-led buyback.
The rally briefly pushed PUMP’s market capitalization to $2.4 billion, overtaking BONK. However, as of the time of writing, BONK has regained its lead, according to CoinGecko data.
On-chain data tracked by Lookonchain shows that Pump.fun recently transferred 187,770 Solana (SOL) worth over $30 million to a designated buyback address. Of that, the team sold 118,351 SOL to purchase nearly 3 billion PUMP at an average price of $0.0064.
Pumpfun(@pumpdotfun) prepared 187,770 $SOL($30.6M) in fee revenue to buy back $PUMP.
A wide variety of exchanges now offer spot trading and deposits for PUMP, including Coinbase, Bybit, MEXC, Bitget, Gate, KuCoin, and Hyperliquid, with the latter offering up to 5x leverage on perpetual contracts.
Hyperliquid recorded $165 million in PUMP spot trading volume, exceeding Bitget and MEXC.
The DEX now ranks third globally for PUMP spot trades, trailing only Gate and Bybit.
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Decentralized exchange Hyperliquid has leapfrogged major centralized platforms in PUMP spot trading volume, marking a shift in trader behavior following the token’s highly anticipated launch.
Over the past 24 hours, Hyperliquid processed $165 million in PUMP spot trades, outpacing Bitget and MEXC, which saw $95 million and $149 million in volume respectively, according to CoinGecko data.
This surge places Hyperliquid third overall in global spot volume for the token, trailing only Gate and Bybit, which recorded $243 million and $175 million respectively.
Hyperliquid’s rise in the PUMP market reflects a growing willingness among traders to execute sizable volume on decentralized infrastructure. By comparison, Solana-native DEXs such as Meteora handled just $63 million in spot PUMP trades, while Pump.fun’s own native DEX, PumpSwap, processed only $28 million during the same period.
PUMP was trading at $0.0068 at press time, up 23% over the past 24 hours.
ProShares has launched 2x leveraged ETFs for Solana (SLON) and XRP (UXRP), offering investors access to enhanced exposure for these assets.
The company now offers 12 crypto-linked ETFs, expanding options for US investors without direct crypto ownership.
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ProShares, a leading issuer of leveraged and inverse ETFs, has launched two new leveraged futures-based products tracking Solana and XRP — the Ultra Solana ETF (SLON) and Ultra XRP ETF (UXRP), according to a Tuesday press release. The debut of the ETFs comes after NYSE Arca cleared them for listing and trading.
The Ultra Solana ETF (SLON) seeks to provide twice the daily performance of Solana (SOL), while the Ultra XRP ETF (UXRP) offers 2x the daily return of XRP.
With these new products, ProShares aims to broaden access to leveraged exposure to two of the prominent digital assets, XRP and SOL, which currently rank as the fourth and sixth largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, according to CoinGecko.
“As cryptocurrencies become more widely adopted, investors are turning to platforms like Solana and XRP for exposure to next-generation blockchain technologies,” said ProShares CEO Michael Sapir in a statement. “SLON and UXRP provide the opportunity to target leveraged exposure to Solana and XRP, allowing investors to overcome the challenges of acquiring leveraged exposure to these cryptocurrencies.”
The new funds join ProShares’ existing crypto-linked ETF lineup, which includes the first US Bitcoin-linked ETF (BITO) launched in October 2021, along with the first US short Bitcoin ETF (BITI), the first US ETF tracking Ether performance (EETH), and the first US short Ether ETF (SETH).
ProShares currently manages over $85 billion in assets, with its leveraged crypto-linked ETFs accounting for more than $1.5 billion in assets under management. The company now offers 12 crypto-linked ETFs and three ProFunds mutual funds in the US market.
