How the XRP Order ‘Split the Baby’ 🧑‍⚖️

In today's edition: 🎙️ New pod on the Ripple lawsuit, 👮‍♀️ Alex Mashinsky arrested and charged, 🚫 Mutichain shuts down, and more!

July 14, 2023

What’s Poppin’?

by Samyuktha Sriram

A U.S. District Judge ruled that XRP sold programmatically, or through trading algorithms, did not constitute investment contracts.

Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of insolvent crypto lender Celsius, faces several charges ranging from wire fraud to market manipulation.

The Base mainnet is now open for builders, ahead of the network’s public launch scheduled for August.

Wallet, a Telegram wallet bot built on the TON blockchain, will let merchants accept crypto payments from users within the application interface.

On the Pod…

The SEC and Ripple have been locked in a legal tug of war for years, stirring up waves of controversy and debate in the crypto community. Finally, Judge Analisa Torres has given an order establishing that XRP buyers trading on exchanges were not, in fact, engaging in a securities transaction, a decision that could have far-reaching implications for the industry. Lewis Cohen, cofounder of DLx Law, unpacks the details of this pivotal case and what it might mean for the future of cryptocurrency regulation.

Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️

  • 🚫 Multichain, a major crypto bridging protocol, is shutting down after Chinese authorities detained CEO Zhaojun and his sister, confiscating their operational assets and leaving the company without alternative information sources or funding.

  • 🏦 Bankrupt crypto lender, Celsius Network, asserted that its $4.7 billion US fraud settlement won't impact its reorganization or customer recoveries, while also shifting $64 million of altcoins following court permission to sell tokens. 

  • 💡 Circle is boosting its advocacy efforts as U.S. Congress deliberates on new laws for the sector, arguing that robust regulation is necessary for a digital dollar or USD stablecoin to become a global reserve currency.

  • ⚖️ Nexo, the embattled crypto trading platform, is embroiled in a legal battle with cofounder Georgi Shulev in a UK court over $12 million in assets allegedly missing from a company hardware wallet.

  • 🔒 Binance faces backlash over its response to a 2021 rug pull scam, PopcornSwap, which led to a $15 million loss in BNB (at today’s valuation), and the exchange's subsequent lack of communication about the frozen stolen funds.

  • 📈 Coinbase shares surged over 24%, crossing the $100 mark for the first time since May 2022, following a US federal court order on the SEC lawsuit against Ripple Labs. Even Ethereum breached the $2,000 mark following the ruling. 

Today in Crypto Adoption...

  • 🚀 Jacobi Asset Management plans to debut Europe's first spot Bitcoin ETF, dubbed BCOIN, on Euronext Amsterdam later this month.

  • 🇦🇷 Argentina's inaugural Bitcoin index-based futures contract, greenlit by the National Securities Commission, has officially begun trading, offering qualified investors a regulated avenue to cryptocurrency exposure.

Bringing institutional-grade financial products on-chain, starting with the tokenization of US Treasuries and money market funds.

What Do You Meme?

Learn 🤓

The unending debate on whether cryptocurrencies are securities revolves around whether they pass the Howey Test.

📈 Your Market Update 📉

  • BTC is up 2.1%, trading at $31,208

  • ETH is up 5.7%, trading at $1,992

  • BTC dominance: 46.82%

  • Crypto market cap: $1.3 trillion

*All data as of today, 7:40 am ET

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