U.Today presents the top three news stories over the past weekend.

SEC veteran weighs in on Ripple lawsuit appeal deadline speculation

The events in the Ripple-SEC case continue to unfold, with the regulator filing the Civil Appeal Pre-Argument Statement (Form C) with attachments last week. However, the most attentive members of the XRP community noticed that the filing was dated Oct. 16, but the court's file stamp marks it as received Oct. 17, raising questions about the implications of these dates on the appeal process. As a reminder, the SEC's appeal focuses on Ripple's XRP sales through exchanges, Ripple's distribution of XRP to employees and others and Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen's sales of XRP on exchanges. Former SEC official Marc Fagel has weighed in on this issue, suggesting that the differences in dates should not affect the proceedings, especially since the SEC maintains that their filing was punctual. "They pulled together the materials Wednesday morning (as the evidence shows); why it took so long for it to show up on the docket nobody quite understands, but it's irrelevant," he stated.

DOGE, SHIB dominate crypto market with five-month high in social activity

As recently reported by Santiment on-chain analytics firm, top meme coins, such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, are experiencing a surge in popularity, marking the highest level of crowd discussion in five months. This increase coincides with Bitcoin's recent performance, as it briefly touched the $69,000 level, prompting speculation that it could soon hit $70,000. As traders react to this optimism surrounding Bitcoin, they are increasingly focusing on high-leverage, speculative meme coins, which leads to heightened discussion rates. Notably, last week saw significant social engagement with meme coins, reflected in price increases; Dogecoin has risen about 30%, while Shiba Inu gained 8%. This trend appears to align with the redistribution of Bitcoin profits into altcoins, particularly benefiting meme coins.

$2 billion in Bitcoin in seven days: Here's what's going on

According to a recent X post by Arkham Intelligence, in the past week, Bitcoin ETFs have bought over $2 billion worth of Bitcoin, marking the largest inflow since March. This surge points to renewed interest and confidence in the largest crypto among institutional investors, following the initial approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. back in January. Major contributors to this inflow include BlackRock, Fidelity, ARK Invest and Bitwise, with BlackRock leading the push in Bitcoin acquisitions; it added an impressive $1.14 billion to its holdings. Other ETF players also increased their investments, with Fidelity boosting its holdings by $319 million, ARK Invest adding $306 million and Bitwise increasing its portfolio by $150 million. Bitcoin's price had reached an all-time high of $73,797 in March, before experiencing a decline of over 30% by August, now entering a new bullish phase.