SEC Pauses Ripple Appeal; Strategy Halts Bitcoin Buying; SHIB Faces Market Pressure

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to pause its appeal in the Ripple case soon, according to a prediction by John Reed Stark, a former director of the SEC's Internet Enforcement Office. In a recent X post, Stark wrote, "Expect all crypto-related appeals, including the appeal of the Ripple matter, to pause or even more likely, to be fully withdrawn." This prediction comes on the heels of the SEC's apparent halt in the Coinbase case and its request for a two-month pause in the Binance case. The shift in the agency's approach began after Mark Uyeda was appointed as the acting chairman on Jan. 20.

Meanwhile, Strategy, a technology company, has stopped buying Bitcoin. Michael Saylor, the executive chairman of Strategy, recently shared on the X platform that the company did not purchase any BTC last week. Prior to this, on Feb. 10, Strategy made its first acquisition after a major rebranding, purchasing 7,633 BTC. Currently, Strategy holds a total of 478,740 BTC, acquired at an average price of $65,033 each. Despite this significant holding, Strategy's shares have remained flat in premarket trading, having lost over 13% in value over the past month. At press time, Bitcoin is trading at $96,063, up 0.3% over the past 24 hours.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is facing market pressure and is approaching a "death cross" pattern on its chart, which could signal further bearish movement. SHIB has already seen a 4.4% decline since the start of the week, and the formation of the death cross could indicate that the market is bracing for additional dips. Moving forward, SHIB may either continue to fall toward the $0.000011 support level or fluctuate between $0.000011 and $0.000017 until decisive movement occurs.