Morgan Stanley owned E-TRADE is considering adding cryptocurrency trading to its stock and options offerings, according to a report by The Information. The bank spent $13 billion to acquire the broker and its 5.2 million customer accounts in 2020.

With the incoming Trump administration adopting a more crypto friendly approach, E-TRADE isn’t the only large U.S. retail broker exploring client trading. Schwab is also mulling a crypto service, as previously reported by Bloomberg in November. But other competitors are ahead of the game.

Fidelity launched Fidelity Digital Assets in 2018 and supports retail investors through Fidelity Crypto. It currently provides direct access to Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are considered commodities and the spot market for commodities does not require a registration.

Other competitors such as Robinhood offer a larger range of crypto investments, some of which might be considered securities. Robinhood received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May 2024. The digital broker is leaning into the crypto sector with the acquisition of European crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million last June.

The likes of Schwab and Robinhood earn a very significant proportion of their revenues from as interest on client cash balances. With a move to tokenization, some of those balances might be replaced by stablecoins. Hence, it’s no surprise that Robinhood was one of the firms taking an interest in the Paxos Global Dollar stablecoin initiative, which shares revenues with partners.

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XRP has been making waves in the cryptocurrency market, experiencing a dramatic $13 billion inflow in just 24 hours.

The surge has increased its market capitalization from $124.57 billion to $137.83 billion, propelling the token back into the ranks of the top three cryptocurrencies by market cap, based on data retrieved by Finbold from CoinMarketCap on January 2. 

After hitting lows of $2.01 on December 31, the cryptocurrency climbed to an intraday high of $2.44 during Thursday’s trading session. If XRP closes today in positive territory, it will mark the third consecutive day of gains, signaling a strong recovery and potential for continued bullish movement.

XRP trading activity

The trading activity surrounding XRP has also seen explosive growth, with 24-hour volumes increasing by a staggering 147.36%, reaching $10.78 billion. A significant portion of this activity—$1.3 billion—has been driven by trades on Upbit, a South Korea-focused exchange, where the XRP/KRW trading pair dominates. 

From a technical standpoint, the token’s price climbed from $2.16 to $2.41 within the day, representing a $0.25 increase, or over 11%. 

XRP is trading above its 200-day simple moving average, a key indicator of long-term bullish momentum. Support for the digital asset currently lies at $2.20, with resistance at $2.57—a crucial level that could determine the trajectory of the next major move.

Broader market trends further support XRP’s bullish outlook. The yearly inflation rate for the cryptocurrency stands at 5.78%, a factor that, while modest, adds another layer of complexity to its valuation dynamics. 

For now, the price action indicates a steady ascent, though the proximity to resistance levels suggests traders may exercise caution as the market approaches key decision points.

Crypto trading analyst weigh in

Market analysts have weighed in on XRP’s recent performance with optimism tempered by prudence. CryptoInsightUK, a renowned crypto trading expert on X notes that XRP is currently holding mid-range support, a critical position for determining its next move. 

The cryptocurrency analyst suggests that a breakout to the top of the range is possible, which could trigger further price acceleration. However, they also highlight the potential for market volatility, particularly as traders holding short positions and late long entries may face liquidations.

The possibility of a dramatic “sendy” move, should XRP break above its resistance, adds an element of speculative excitement to the market.

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As the decentralized web continues to evolve, the need for seamless integration between blockchain platforms and popular wallets has become increasingly important. Theta Network, a leading blockchain for AI, media, and entertainment, has made significant strides in bridging this gap by partnering with Metamask, a widely-used Ethereum wallet.

In this guide, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of adding the Theta Blockchain to Metamask, enabling you to seamlessly interact with Theta's decentralized applications (dApps) and take advantage of its unique features.

By following this tutorial, you will be able to:

• Add the Theta Blockchain to your Metamask wallet
• Access Theta's dApps and decentralized services 
• Participate in Theta's decentralized governance and voting processes 
• Take advantage of Theta's unique features, such as its smart contracts and EVM support

Whether you're a seasoned blockchain enthusiast or just starting your journey, this guide will provide you with the necessary tools and knowledge to unlock the full potential of Theta Blockchain with Metamask. 

Theta’s vision for 2021 and beyond includes vastly expanded compatibility with Ethereum, allowing any Ethereum or ETH-compatible application to be ported over and run seamlessly on Theta blockchain with little to no changes. This will include an Ethereum-compatible RPC API suite, smart contract development tools, Truffle Suite and Remix integration, and other components like Web3.js, Ether.js. Today we’ll walk through one of the first aspects of this initiative through the popular Metamask plug-in.

NOTE: At this time some exchanges, such as Binance, do not support receiving Theta blockchain tokens from a smart contract address, which is how they are sent via the Metamask plug-in. If you send tokens to an exchange address via Metamask, they may be lost.

To access a Theta address through Metamask, first open Metamask in your web browser (if you don’t have Metamask, you can download it here). You will need to input Theta blockchain as a custom Metamask network. You can do this by clicking the current network you are using (likely “Ethereum Mainnet”) then clicking “Custom RPC”. Input this data in the fields requested:

Network Name: Theta Mainnet

New RPC URL: https://eth-rpc-api.thetatoken.org/rpc

Chain ID: 361

Currency Symbol: TFUEL

Block Explorer URL: https://explorer.thetatoken.org/

Your Metamask extension should now show that it is connected to Theta Mainnet. Next, in the Metamask settings click Import Account to add the Theta wallet you want to use with Metamask, via your Theta keystore file or private key. You can also use the “Connect Hardware Wallet” option to transact TFUEL or TNT-20 tokens you have stored on a Ledger or Trezor device.

Make sure to turn off your Wi-Fi connection before entering the private key or keystore file. Metamask is designed to allow you to enter this sensitive information while offline. Once the address is loaded into Metamask, it is safe to reconnect to the internet. You will now see your address loaded with your TFUEL balance displayed. You can now send your TFUEL to any other Theta address using the same steps you would normally use to send ETH/tokens through Metamask.

Note, at this time Metamask only works to store and transfer TFUEL and TNT-20 tokens. It cannot be used with the THETA token for technical reasons, though this may be developed in the future. This Metamask integration is intended to facilitate interaction between Theta and Ethereum for dapp development purposes which primarily uses TFUEL and TNT-20 tokens, rather than THETA which is intended to be staked long-term to Theta nodes.

To add any TNT-20 tokens you have to Metamask, the steps are the same as for adding custom tokens on Ethereum/BSC/etc. On the Assets tab, click Add Token, then enter your tokens Theta smart contract address, and if they are not auto-populated the Token Symbol and the Token Decimal (typically 18).

Your TNT-20 token(s) will then display below TFUEL and can be sent to other Theta addresses with the same procedure as TFUEL. (Note: As of Metamasks 12.9.3 update, Tfuel is the only token that will be displayed on Metamask. This is being worked on. Other TNT-20  tokens that you may have in the wallet (Eg. 3 BDOG, Lavita, Tdrop) are still there and can be swapped/traded etc on any swap aggregator such as Thetaswap.org , They just will not be visable in metamask. Again, the devs are aware and this is being worked on.