Justin Sun Backs $8M as River Absorbs Token Unlock and Surges Despite BTC Dip

Headline: River absorbs token unlock selling and surges as BTC slips — Justin Sun backs $8M strategic investment River (RIVER) powered through a turbulent week, shrugging off token unlock selling and logging a sharp weekend rally even as Bitcoin cooled off. On January 25, RIVER jumped 21.37% while open interest rose about 23.2% — a sign of renewed futures activity behind the move — and the token is up roughly 70% since mid‑week. What happened - The token unlock on January 22 initially raised concerns about fresh selling, but that supply was largely absorbed by buyers, a bullish indicator for the market. - Despite Bitcoin tumbling below $90,000 (down 2.87% in the past 24 hours and briefly dipping to $86,200, which sparked roughly $676 million in liquidations), RIVER’s momentum held strong. - RIVER’s intraday volatility was extreme on January 23: the price hit $67.56, plunged to a low of $30.50 just hours later, then recovered and reclaimed the $67.50 level within days. Catalysts and market signals - Part of RIVER’s recent gains have been linked to a spot listing on South Korea’s Coinone exchange, which AMBCrypto previously reported as a driver of demand. - High-profile endorsements helped the narrative: former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes publicly predicted RIVER could reach $100. - On‑chain data from Etherscan appeared inconsistent, likely because much of the chain‑abstraction protocol’s activity occurs on Layer‑2 networks rather than on mainnet, complicating simple on‑chain reads. - Warning signs came from derivatives analytics: CoinGlass flagged on January 21 that futures volume was roughly 80× the spot volume, calling the move “not organic” and likely engineered. Still, RIVER continued higher after that alert. Capital injection and partnerships - In a notable development, TRON founder Justin Sun committed $8 million in a strategic investment to support River’s DeFi protocol. According to River’s announcement, these funds are earmarked to help integrate TRON and deploy the project’s chain‑abstraction stablecoin infrastructure. Technical outlook - Using last week’s swing high near $69.90 as a reference, Fibonacci extension levels plotted from TradingView suggest near‑term upside targets around $82.59 and $103.15 if the bullish trend continues. - Market positioning (rising open interest, large derivatives flows) implies the move has substantial participation, but elevated leverage also raises the risk of sharp reversals. Source: RIVER/USDT on TradingView. Reporting and analysis based on AMBCrypto coverage and River’s official announcement. Disclaimer: This article is informational and not investment advice. Cryptocurrency trading is high‑risk — do your own research before making trading decisions. © 2026 AMBCrypto Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news