U.Today - Here are the three top new stories presented to you by U.Today.

SEC to pause Ripple appeal soon, top official predicts

In a recent X post, John Reed Stark, a former director of the SEC Internet Enforcement Office, predicted that the regulatory agency would soon pause the Ripple appeal. "Expect all crypto-related appeals, including the appeal of the Ripple matter, to pause or even more likely, to be fully withdrawn," he wrote. The prediction follows the SEC's seeming halt in the Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN ) case, where the agency indicated that its newly formed crypto task force may help resolve its enforcement case against the exchange. Additionally, the SEC requested a two-month pause in the Binance case. The shifts in the agency's approach began after SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda was appointed as the agency's acting chairman on Jan. 20.

Strategy suddenly stops buying Bitcoin

Strategy's Executive Chairman Michael Saylor recently took to X platform to share the latest press release about the company's Bitcoin holdings. Apart from this, Saylor confirmed that Strategy did not buy any BTC last week. On Feb. 10, the company made its first acquisition after a major rebranding, purchasing 7,633 BTC. Currently, Strategy holds a total of 478,740 BTC, which were 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 changing hands at $96,063, up 0.3% over the past 24 hours, according to data provided by CoinMarketCap.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) on verge of death cross: Possible scenarios

Shiba Inu is still facing market pressure amid a broader downtrend on the crypto market. Some suggest that the only positive takeaway from SHIB's current price chart is that the end of the price drop will come sooner than later. Meanwhile, Shiba In's chart is approaching a "death cross" pattern, which occurs when a shorter-term moving average crosses below a longer-term one, often signaling 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.