Category: Ripple

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Cryptocurrencies Ripple

Ripple Has Turned the Tables Against the SEC: it Never Warned Exchanges About XRP’s status

The XRP community is crossing its fingers, as the pretrial conference started this morning against the Securities and Exchange Commission —SEC—.

Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen are all set to defend their company. Both hired three lawyers who were exposing and defending today their evidence and arguments against the SEC.

Did the SEC warn Exchanges about XRP status?

As the pre-trial developed, Ripple’s lawyer, Matthew Solomon, highlighted how the SEC dismissed exchanges and other market actors about selling XRP as a security, instead of a cryptocurrency.

According to Solomon, since 2019 the SEC never stated that exchanges and brokerages could not sell XRP, and never declared the currency’s status —whether it was a security or an investment contract.

We’ve already taken some discovery on the Securities and Exchange Commission, which revealed that the Securities and Exchange Commission was having discussions with ultra-sophisticated market actors, including exchanges, and not, apparently, telling those actors that it believed XRP was security or an investment contract as late as 2019. And, again, as this case moves forward, these facts will come to light, and it will be clear that XRP cannot establish and will not establish that XRP is a security.    

Stated Solomon in the conference

Likewise, Jeremy Hogan laid down how Ripple can turn the tables against the SEC with these statements. The fundamental here is that the SEC never told exchanges and other platforms that XRP could not be sold — so the main question that the crypto-community is asking is: what is different from 2019 to 2020?

Just hours before the pre-trial, XRP surged over 5%, and keeping a steady price level between $0.52 and $0.58, after it suffered extreme swing prices yesterday.

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Ripple

Ripple is Moving Its Offices To Wyoming Due to Friendlier Crypto-laws

It looks like Ripple is now officially a Wyomen-based company. According to Caitlin Long, CEO and Founder of Avanti Bank & Trust, Ripple decided to register its offices in Wyomen due to crypto-friendlier laws.

The move comes following discontent over U.S. crypto-regulations, expressed several times by Ripple’s executives Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse.

Wyoming has become one of the most crypto-friendly states in The U.S., with the local government supporting crypto banking, being Kraken the first exchange to receive a special-purpose depository institution —SPDI— permission.

XRP Wipes out thousands of positions in a Few Minutes

Ripple’s XRP has experienced extreme volatility recently. Yesterday, XRP plunged over -12% in price, without no reason apparently, with a quick recovery over the $0.50 level, maintaining a steady price 24 hours later.

Several positions were liquidated in Binance after the unexpected drop. Something similar happened at the beginning of this month when supporters of XRP —together with Reddit subforums— tried to break resistance levels, but fell massively hours laters.

Despite recently changing its location, several users were displeased with the announcement, and some of them calling XRP a “shady company”

Although the company still appears as listed in San Francisco, Ripple has not made any comments about the topic.

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Australia Cardano Cryptocurrencies Ripple

Should Australians Switch to Cardano? ADA Surpasses XRP and other Altcoins in a Frenzy Bullish Run

Cardano —listed ADA— has outranked Ripple’s XRP as the fourth-highest market cap cryptocurrency, with a surge of more than 80% in just seven days. The token could become an attractive opportunity for Aussies looking to replace XRP.

At the time of writing, ADA is currently traded at $0.63, surpassing XRP with a trading volume of $11.913.631.193 and price gains over 17.00% in the last 24 hours.

Top ten cryptos with highest market cap on Coinmarketcap

While most altcoins slightly corrected after Bitcoin hit $41K and dropped -6% below that level, Cardano remained strong among other tokens, and increasing its market cap to over $20 billion.

XRP Still On The Lose

On the contrary, XRP, the second-most preferred digital asset by Australians still struggles to maintain itself on a solid price level.

In the last seven days, the asset fell into a downtrend following a crowd pump by the XRP community supporters and Reddit groups, who tried to break resistance levels but crashed massively just after Redditors from the r/WallStreetBets started buying as well.

The Goguen Mary Testnet Could “Outshine” ETH 2.0

Charles Hoskinson, Co-Founder of Cardano and Ethereum, believes that Cardano’s “Goguen Mary” testnet could outperform ETH 2.0 in the future. The Cardano company was working since February 3 on a “Mary” fork for Cardano, and it was successfully deployed this week.

I think Vitalik’s [approach] is a little bit riskier from an engineering and research viewpoint, which is why it’s been so difficult for them to get ETH 2.0 out.

The new features included the support of “native” custom tokens through direct transactions in the Cardano Blockchain —instead of using Smart Contracts like Ethereum or others. Now the Cardano network has transformed into a multi-asset ledger that could also improve the DeFi ecosystem through custom token support.

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Crypto News Markets Ripple Trading

XRP Crashes Massively Despite Community Effort to Break Resistance Levels

XRP, Australia’s second favorite digital asset, surged more than 60% in the last few days. The currency even reached trading levels as high as 0.75 on Saturday, although the pump didn’t last long. On Monday 1st, XRP crashed nearly -50% in price.

XRP Supporters and Reddit Joined Forces

In a similar move called Crowd Pump, around 200,000 XRP supporters from Telegram groups and the Reddit forum r/SatoshiStreetBets gathered and placed several buying orders aiming to break resistance levels. The move had outstanding effects as it broke the previous downtrend following the Security and Exchange Commission —SEC—, trading at a maximum of $0.75 before dropping to $0.60.

The drop didn’t stop at 0.60, and recent data from TradingView shows how XRP crashed more than 40% this Monday, just hours before another Reddit group jumped in, the r/WallStreetBets forum, currently hated by hedge funds.

Source: TradingView

There is not an exact reason why the XRP market crash so suddenly, but most XRP users from both Telegram groups and Reddit are blaming downtimes in exchanges and possible interventions since the r/WallStreetBets community came in.

Another reason could be the backlash and the legal woes that Ripple still faces, as the company tries to drag Ethereum in an attempt to call out other high-profile cryptocurrencies.

XRP to Lose $50M in Trading Volume

Likewise, yet another exchange is delisting two Ripple trading pairs: XRP/USD, and XRP/BTC. The latest platform to delist XRP is PrimeXBT, a derivative crypto-exchange. As consequence, Ripple could lose more than $50M in trading volume in the platform.

In a recent announcement, the PrimeXBT stated:

Following significant events surrounding Ripple, as well as delisting of the asset across our multiple liquidity providers, PrimeXBT will remove and cease trading of the following trading pairs on Wednesday, February 10th, 2021 at 15:00 (UTC):

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Cryptocurrencies Ethereum Ripple

Ripple Attempts To Drag Ethereum Into Its Problems Ahead Of Court Date

It’s been no secret for a while now that Ripple have gotten themselves into hot water ahead of their court date with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

With a preliminary court date set in a little over 3 weeks – the 22nd of February to be precise – times have not been good for Ripple Labs, with multiple exchanges delisting XRP, MoneyGram issuing statements that seem to have been issued with the intention of distancing themselves from the fallout, and the price of XRP plummeting as a result.

FOIA Request For Ethereum

In RippleLabs official response to the SEC, they have reiterated the fact that XRP is not a security and thus is not within the SEC’s jurisdiction.

The team also appear to have begun pointing fingers at other high-profile cryptocurrencies, inquiring what sets them apart from Ripple.

“The SEC has clearly picked two winners and ignored a growing and robust industry that is much larger than Bitcoin and Ether. In addition to discovery we will seek directly in the lawsuit, we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for more information about how the SEC determined the status of Ether as a non-security.”

Ripple have since sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the SEC, asking for all information regarding Ethereum’s status. The SEC has stated in the past that Ethereum is sufficiently decentralized – which prevents it from being a security, and classifies it as a commodity instead. This places Ethereum under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The FOIA request also seems to use the constant fear of US institutions regarding Chinese control of digital and other assets, hinting that China-based Bitcoin and Ethereum mining pools could mean that Ethereum is as controlled by one party as XRP is by Ripple.

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Crypto Wallets Cryptocurrencies Ripple

Ripple CTO Can No Longer Remember The Password To His Bitcoin Wallet Worth Hundreds of Millions

Staying on top of a company preparing to go to court with the SEC and dealing with the resulting delisting of your company’s token from multiple leading crypto exchanges can be quite challenging and stressful.

However, it must be at least equally stressful to have a multi-million dollar fortune locked away with a low chance of recovery.

Only 2 Attempts Left

Originally reported on by The New York Times among other long-time HODLers in a similar situation, Ripple CTO Stefan Thomas can no longer remember the combination necessary to unlock his hardware Bitcoin wallet worth  nearly $250.6 million at the time this article was written.

Mr. Thomas owns an IronKey hardware wallet that only has 2 more password attempts left before the device encrypts for good, out of a total of 10.

According to Mr. Thomas, the idea of being your own bank comes with some drawbacks – but he still retains some hope.

This whole idea of being your own bank—let me put it this way, ‘Do you make your own shoes?’ The reason we have banks is that we don’t want to deal with all those things that banks do. […] I would just lay in bed and think about it. Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn’t work, and I would be desperate again…I got to a point where I said to myself, ‘Let it be in the past, just for your own mental health.’

The 7002 bitcoins were given to him back in 2011 for making an informative video about Bitcoin – one that down the line ended up being the video that got vast swathes of people into the world of cryptocurrency.

According to Chainalysis, 2.4 million BTC are yet to be mined – but 3.7 million BTC have already been lost.

For now, Mr. Thomas has stashed the IronKey away in a secure location, in case new ways of cracking complex passwords are discovered in the future. Here’s to hoping he gets his stash back one way or another.

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Crypto News Ripple

Number of XRP Whales Dropped as it Continued to Lose Support

XRP Whales dropped as it continued losing support

Ripple (XRP), which is presently the fourth-largest digital currency, almost ended the past year in the best way possible. From the Flare Network-planned Spark token airdrop and the coin’s price growth to over US$0.6 level, there were lots of excitement and activities going on with the XRP armies, not until the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) interrupted things. 

Can we say XRP Whales are Giving up Already?

Literally, everything began dying down, with the cryptocurrency dropping from that point to the current level around US$0.2. Meanwhile, XRP is presently up by 26.38 percent on the seven-day chart, per Coinmarketcap.

Notably, the cryptocurrency and its holders have seen more of the downside following the whole XRP-security saga by the US regulator. Consequently, the number of addresses holding XRP (especially the whale addresses) have been decreasing since the announcement was made by the SEC.

The number of XRP addresses holding at least one million coins decreased from 1,721 on December 21 to 1,567 on January 3, according to Coinmetrice’s latest “state of the network” report. 

XRP is Losing More Support

SEC’s announcement of charges against the blockchain company, Ripple, also caused exchanges to delist the cryptocurrency. These include the likes of Beaxy, Bittrex, Bistamp, including the US leading exchange, Coinbase. This could be seen as a strategy for these platforms to avoid legal issues with the regulator, should the court favor SEC’s statements that XRP is a security.  

Today, the popular crypto investment company, Grayscale announced the removal of XRP from their Digital Large Cap (DLC) fund, which tracks the market capitalization of the five largest digital currencies. Currently, the fund only covers Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The decision to delist the Ripple cryptocurrency came after DLC’s quarterly review on December 31.

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Institutions Ripple

It Just Got Worse For Ripple: Tetragon Is Suing The Company To Compensate Series C Funds

Tetragon Financial Group Limited, a closed-ended investment company and a top stakeholder of Ripple, is now suing the company as a response for selling XRP as a security, following the SEC’s legal claim.

Tetragon is a top investor of Ripple with almost $200 million in Series C Funds. Now the company seeks answers, as Ripple sold nearly $2B worth of XRP as a currency.

“This lawsuit has no merit” stated Ripple as a response to Tetragon for yesterday’s lawsuit. According to the company, Tetragon is taking advantage of the situation:

In Ripple’s Series C investment agreement, there is a provision that if XRP is deemed to be a security on a go-forward basis, then Tetragon has the option of having Ripple redeem their Ripple equity. Since there has been no such determination, this lawsuit has no merit. We are disappointed that Tetragon is seeking to unfairly take advantage of the lack of regulatory clarity here in the U.S. The courts will provide this clarity and we are very confident in our position.

Ripple must compensate the Series C stocks owned by Tetragon due to its contractual rights with the investment company. Besides, Tetragon filed a petition to the Delaware Chancery Court to issue a restraining order to block all of Ripple’s liquid assets until they compensate the U.K-based company.

Grayscale Sells XRP Fund, Buys Bitcoin Instead

Recently, Grayscale decided to sell its XRP fund and bought several cryptos instead, after updating its Fund Component in its quarterly review:

The Fund has removed XRP and used cash proceeds to purchase the remaining Fund Components: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash

The scenario is getting darker for the Ripple. The company lost its ranks as the third “currency” with most market cap followed by massive price dumps — more than -50% — and several crypto exchanges dropping XRP.

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Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrency Law Ripple

Date For Ripple’s Pretrial Has Been Set

Ripple has been steadily falling, with multiple crypto exchange networks poised to delist XRP due to the SEC announcing that they are taking Ripple Labs to court, claiming that they are trading unlicensed securities in the form of XRP.

Although Bitcoin and Ethereum are not considered securities by regulatory bodies, the same seems to not be true for XRP.

Now a date has been set for the pretrial – which will be held virtually – before the official trial is held.

Ripple’s Future Is On The Rocks

Following massive sell-offs of the cryptocurrency that has prompted anxiety even among the most die-hard HODLers, the value of XRP has fallen by 65%, according to some crypto trading websites – although at the time this article was written, the cryptocurrency seems to be recovering slightly.

A surprising turn of events is that RippleLabs purported partner MoneyGram has also distanced themselves from the debacle.

According to a press statement issued by the company, MoneyGram is prepared to go on solo, despite the fact that RippleLabs is a major shareholder.

“As a reminder, MoneyGram does not utilize the ODL platform or RippleNet for direct transfers of consumer funds – digital or otherwise. Furthermore, MoneyGram is not a party to the SEC action. MoneyGram has continued to utilize its other traditional FX trading counterparties throughout the term of the agreement with Ripple, and is not dependent on the Ripple platform to accomplish its FX trading needs.”

A court document issued on the 29th of December has set the date of the pretrial – which will be held on the 22nd of February 2021. It will take the form of a teleconference, and all parties will submit a joint letter a week earlier – which should lay out the details being judged.

“(1) a brief description of the case, including the factual and legal basis for the claim(s) and defense(s), (2) any contemplated motions, and (3) the prospect for settlement.”

Whether you are a fan or a detractor of XRP, the trial is important – as it will set an important precedent for cryptocurrencies.

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Crypto Exchange Regulation Ripple

XRP to be Delisted from Major Exchange Crypto.com, Down 27% in 24 Hours

Ripple’s XRP token has been announced for delisting from major cryptocurrency exchange, Crypto.com, following prior delistings from several other exchanges this week.

“Effective January 19, 2021, at 10 am UTC, XRP will be delisted and trading suspended from the Crypto.com App in the US. Customers based in the US won’t be able to deposit XRP into the Crypto.com App as of January 19th, 10am UTC,” the announcement states.

Following the recent US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against the blockchain-based international remittance company Ripple, XRP has been crashing in value. It has lost 27% of its value in just the past 24 hours and over 50% in the past seven days. Some crypto market analysis sites like OnChainFX have even moved XRP out of the top five coins, listing it below Litecoin (LTC) and Chainlink (LINK).  

Although the SEC ruling only applies to US-based investors, which make up a small percentage of XRP’s user base, the effects have been devastating. This is most likely due to Ripple being based in the US and foreign investors fearing that regulators in other countries may impose similar rulings. Following the ruling, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse criticized the SEC for stifling crypto innovation in the US and pouring favor on Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). 

Why the SEC views XRP as a security

Since 2013, Ripple has raised over $1.38 billion in sales of XRP tokens that were never registered with the SEC. The SEC alleges that this amounts to the illegal sale of unregistered, non-exempt securities under Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933. Ripple, however, claims XRP is not a security and should therefore be exempt from the rules. 

In a new lawsuit filed by the Southern District of New York on December 22, 2020, the SEC specifically names Ripple CEOs Chris Larsen and Garlinghouse for aiding and abetting the sales of XRP tokens. Due to their highly decentralized nature, other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are not viewed as securities by the SEC.

“The network on which Bitcoin functions is operational and appears to have been decentralized for some time, perhaps from inception. Applying the disclosure regime of the federal securities laws to the offer and resale of Bitcoin would seem to add little value,” said SEC Corporate Finance Director Bill Hinman in 2018.

The ruling doesn’t necessarily mean the end of Ripple, as the company has recently been moving away from XPR as a means of liquidity for their operations. Many of Ripple’s most widely used products, like xCurrent, no longer require the use of XRP to facilitate cross-border payments. Whether or not XRP can survive the blow remains to be seen, as the token may become largely unusable if unlisted from all major exchanges.