Cointime February 3 News Express
1. Ripple payment service "Ripple Payments" plans to return to the US market and launch targeted solutions
Ripple payment service "Ripple Payments" plans to return to the US market and launch targeted solutions
After leaving the US market for three years, Ripple Payments plans to launch a solution specifically for the US market. Ripple's product marketing director, W. Oliver Segovia, posted on LinkedIn that Ripple will launch a series of product updates, which involve money transfer licenses (MTL) for most states in the United States. It is reported that currently about 90% of Ripple's business is overseas, and this update marks its plan to return to the US market.
Binance CEO: The platform has successfully frozen XRP worth $4.2 million in Ripple’s stolen funds
Binance CEO Richard Teng stated on social media that co-founder of Ripple, Chris Larsen's personal account was hacked for 213 million XRP. The Binance team has successfully frozen the attacker's stolen 4.2 million US dollars worth of XRP. Binance will continue to support the investigation and try to help recover the funds, including closely monitoring the remaining funds in the attacker's external wallet to prevent depositing into Binance. Previously, on January 31st, co-founder of Ripple, Chris Larsen, posted on social media that his personal XRP account (unofficial) was hacked yesterday, and the issue was quickly discovered and notified to the trading platform to freeze the relevant address. Law enforcement agencies have been involved.
Former Ripple Engineering Director: Ripple Lianchuang Chris Larsen did not use multiple signatures or hosting services with multiple signatures or custody services
Former Ripple engineering director Nik Bougalis posted on the X platform that Ripple was hacked yesterday. Its co-founder Chris Larsen is not the first or last person to be robbed of XRP in this way. Multi-signature support requires multiple signatures in a transaction, but Chris Larsen did not use multi-signature or custody services, which is surprising. Key management and security are huge challenges, and existing tools are not always up to the task. Earlier, on-chain analyst ZachXBT revealed that Ripple was hacked and 213 million XRP, worth about $112.5 million, was stolen.
Ripple co-founder confirmed that 213 million XRP was stolen from his personal account yesterday and has contacted law enforcement agencies to freeze the funds
Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen posted on social media that his personal XRP account (unofficial) was stolen yesterday. The issue was quickly discovered and the exchange platform was notified to freeze the relevant addresses. Law enforcement has been involved. Earlier reports stated that blockchain detective ZachXBT posted on social media earlier today that he had detected that Ripple had allegedly been hacked and 213 million XRP (approximately 112 million US dollars) had been stolen. The stolen funds have been laundered through MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, HitBTC, and other platforms.
Ripple may be preparing to apply for an XRP-related ETF
On January 27th, Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terret posted on social media that Ripple is looking for a Senior Manager of Business Development in New York, with job requirements related to "promoting ETF plans related to cryptocurrencies," or implying that the company is preparing to apply for an XRP ETF.
The US SEC responded to "Ripple rejected its enforcement motion" and asked Ripple to provide relevant evidence
According to CoinGape's report, the US Securities and Exchange Commission responded to "Ripple's refusal of its motion to compel," stating that its request for Ripple to provide relevant financial statements was procedurally correct. The SEC still requires Ripple to provide two years of audited financial statements, contracts for the sale or transfer of XRP to "non-employee trading counterparties" after the lawsuit was filed, and detailed amounts of "XRP institutional sales proceeds" received after the lawsuit was filed. In addition, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking to penalize Ripple in the XRP lawsuit.
Cointime January 20 News Express
1.The implied volatility of Bitcoin options this week exceeded 97%, which has tripled from the low of about 30% in October last year.
Ripple wants the court to reject the SEC’s motion to force it to disclose further information
Former US federal prosecutor and defense lawyer James K. Filan disclosed on X platform that Ripple has submitted a rebuttal application opposing the US Securities and Exchange Commission's motion to force further information disclosure. Essentially, Ripple is trying to prevent the SEC from reopening evidence disclosure to obtain more information. Ripple believes that this is irrelevant to the outcome of the case and will only delay the litigation process. Ripple hopes that the court will reject the SEC's motion to force further information disclosure.
Ripple grants $1 million to National University of Singapore to boost fintech education
According to Newswise, Ripple has provided a $1 million grant to the FinTech Lab of the National University of Singapore (NUS) School of Computing through its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI).The funding will support the lab's operations for the next two years and expand Ripple's collaboration with NUS, including building an EVM side chain validator and maintaining XRPL validator.
Ripple CEO: Explore markets outside the US for IPO
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated in an interview with CNBC that due to hostility from US regulators, Ripple is exploring an initial public offering (IPO) in markets outside the United States and researching listing in other jurisdictions with clear rules. However, going public is not a top priority for Ripple at the moment, and the company will re-evaluate whether to go public in the United States after the US Securities and Exchange Commission gets a new chairman. Previously, in 2022, Garlinghouse told CNBC that Ripple will explore going public after the lawsuit with the US Securities and Exchange Commission is resolved.
Hong Kong Virtual Asset Consortium removes XRP from global crypto index
Solana took over XRP's position in HKVAC's top 5 cryptocurrency global index, and AVAX replaced Tron, amid market fluctuations in the past 30 days.
Cointime January 13 News Express
1.JPMorgan Chase: The probability that the SEC will classify ETH as a commodity before May is less than 50%
Ripple CTO: No special reason for IPO public listing
Ripple Labs, a cryptocurrency company, is said to be buying back $285 million worth of company stock from early investors and employees. In response to this, Ripple's Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, stated on social media that employees are more concerned about their stock options, RSUs, or other liquidity pathways. Ripple does not have a specific reason to conduct an IPO for public trading of its stock, and there is no "real" liquidity market as the equity market of private companies generally lacks liquidity.
Is Ripple’s share buyback positive or negative?
Yesterday Reuters reported that Ripple Labs is buying back $285 million worth of stock from early investors and employees, citing sources. The tender offer allows owners to sell up to 6% of their stake, valuing the company at $11.3 billion.
XRP ETF application could be filed in April and could launch before year-end
The cryptocurrency XRP may launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) this year and the application could be submitted as early as the next few months. Cryptocurrency expert Ben Armstrong hinted at the forthcoming XRP ETF in a video, stating that the application for the ETF could be submitted in April based on insider information and that the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple is also planned to end. Armstrong further stated that BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company and a leading manager of Bitcoin ETFs, will be the first to launch an XRP ETF.
Grayscale makes quarterly update on multi-asset cryptocurrency index fund component weights, GDLC adds AVAX and XRP, and removes MATIC
On January 7th, Grayscale announced quarterly updates to the component weights of the multi-asset cryptocurrency index fund GDLC.<br>In this adjustment, Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) added AVAX and XRP, and removed MATIC. As of January 4, 2024, the components of the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund include BTC, ETH, ADA, SOL, AVAX, and XRP;<br>The CRV was removed from the Grayscale DeFi Fund (DEFG) index. The components of the Grayscale DeFi Fund (DEFG) include UNI, LDO, AAVE, MKR, and SNX;<br>The components of the Grayscale Non-Ethereum-based Smart Contract Platform Fund (GSCPxE) include ADA, SOL, MATIC, DOT, AVAX, and ATOM.
Number of NFTs minted on XRP Ledger platform exceeds 5 million
Bithomp statistics show that over 5 million NFTs have been minted on the XRP Ledger platform, with 5,166,733 NFTs currently using the XLS-20 standard. At the beginning of 2023, the NFT issuance on the XRP Ledger was less than 1 million.
Ripple third quarter market report: Over 41 billion XRP in custodial wallets expected to be fully released by 2027
Ripple recently released its Q3 market report, disclosing its XRP holdings and market operations. As of the end of Q3, Ripple's disposable balance in its corporate account exceeded 5.25 billion XRP. These funds are used at the discretion of the company for operations. Over 41 billion XRP is stored in escrow wallets. Ripple receives 1 billion XRP per month from the escrow wallets (used for sales or operational expenses), some of which are usually sold. The report shows that Ripple sold nearly 892 million XRP between July and September. Nevertheless, Ripple typically re-deposits most of the XRP it receives back into the escrow wallets. For example, since August, approximately 800 million XRP have been returned to the escrow wallets each month.
