Ripple vs. SEC Update: XRP Lawyers and Ripple Chairman Address SEC Lawsuit Outcome
The ongoing legal battle surrounding Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency has sparked deep concern over the regulatory landscape within the crypto industry. However, key personas in the crypto space, including Chris Larsen, executive chairman of Ripple, as well as XRP lawyers, remain hopeful that the enforcement-based approach to regulation employed by the SEC might soon come to an end.
Judges’ Seeing SEC’s Stance in Inconsistent Towards Crypto Industry
Recently, the SEC has faced severe criticism from the court due to multiple lawsuits. In a notable case involving Grayscale, the judges deemed the SEC’s actions as “arbitrary and capricious.” This scrutiny has shed light on the SEC’s enforcement of regulations within the crypto industry.
Similarly, Judge Netburn, handling the Ripple XRP lawsuit, went so far as to use the word “hypocrisy” when characterizing the SEC’s inconsistent positions. Eventually, the judges overseeing these legal cases haven’t been too happy with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
SEC’s Regulatory Approach is On The Verge of the Horizon
On September 7, Chris Larsen expressed optimism regarding the potential end of the SEC’s “regulation by enforcement” policy. He highlighted that courts are increasingly rejecting the perceived unfair treatment of the crypto industry by the SEC. Larsen urged Congress to take a leading role in shaping cryptocurrency policy moving forward.
During an interview with Bloomberg, Chris Larsen attributed the hindered progress of San Francisco in becoming the “blockchain capital of the world” to the U.S. government and the SEC, asserting their hostile policies as responsible.
XRP lawyer Bill Morgan shares the same viewpoint as Larsen, believing that the SEC’s strategy is ineffective due to their frequency of losing court cases. Morgan strongly criticizes the SEC’s approach as being highly detrimental. Some judges have criticized the SEC for its allegedly arbitrary and nonsensical actions.
Ripple’s leadership remains unwavering in their confidence regarding the ongoing legal battle with the SEC. The company asserts that the SEC’s lawsuits lack a clear rationale and fail to address whether current regulations adequately govern the cryptocurrency realm.
Vitalik Address Sells 500 MKR Tokens for 350 ETH!
In a rare move, the Vitalik address has sold 500 Maker (MKR) tokens for 350 Ethereum (ETH) through CoWswap, marking the first time the address has sold MKR in two years. Following the sale, the ETH was transferred to another address, which now holds assets worth over 1 million USD, including 415.76 ETH. The sudden transaction has gained the attention of the crypto community, with some speculating on the reasons behind the sale. When Vitalik Buterin controls the Vitalik address for Ethereum, people pay close attention to any actions taken by founder.
Federal Reserve Steps in to Address SEC Lawsuit Against Binance and CEO CZ
A twist in the tale came when, a third-party entity called “Eeon” submitted a motion to intervene in the ongoing lawsuit involving the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), cryptocurrency exchange Binance, and its CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.
This intervention by “Eeon” introduces a new player into the legal battle between the SEC and Binance, signaling their intent to actively participate and protect their interests in the proceedings. The involvement of “Eeon” adds a fresh dynamic to the case, emphasizing the complexity and significance of the ongoing lawsuit.
Eeon Intervenes in SEC Lawsuit, Claims Binance Customers’ Representation Lacks Adequacy
The SEC had previously filed a lawsuit against Binance Global, Binance.US, and CEO Changpeng Chao “CZ” last month, bringing 13 charges including misleading investors and securities law violations. Now, “Eeon” has filed a motion to intervene in the case on behalf of Binance customers, claiming that their interests have not been adequately represented.
“We are the proper parties to this matter as we have been identified by the Court in its Order issued on June 17, 2023 – as “Customers.” We are not just any “Customers” as we are stakeholders, investors, and owners of our cryptocurrency held by Binance and its subsidiaries and we do feel that our interests were not taken into consideration.“
Based in Nevada, “Eeon” argues that cryptocurrencies should be categorized as commodities rather than securities. They contend that these digital assets are predominantly used for personal and household purposes, thus falling outside the realm of commercial regulations.
Moreover, “Eeon” asserts that the SEC lacks jurisdiction over cryptocurrencies and points out the absence of tailored regulations for this emerging asset class. Adding to their claims, “Eeon” accuses Binance of blocking customer’s access to their crypto assets without prior notice and exercising control over the keys, exacerbating the situation.
They criticize the SEC for prioritizing punitive measures over investor protection and dismiss the allegations of customer involvement in money laundering as unsubstantiated. To address these concerns, “Eeon” has requested the court to grant customers access to their frozen assets on Binance’s platforms.
“The Court speaks as to the holding of our funds and wallets, and how Binance US, was commingling funds from the United States with that of its overseas affiliates. Now although there was nothing illegal in and of itself with such activities, the moving of funds offshore is a common practice and the practice is not considered money laundering.”
Third-Party “Eeon” Seeks Damages in Binance-SEC Lawsuit, Citing Investor Frustration
As part of their counterclaim, “Eeon” seeks damages from Binance and the SEC. They propose a daily payment equivalent to 20% of the withheld funds compounded per day, amounting to $1000 per customer per day. Additionally, they demand equal responsibility for penalties, with the SEC paying $500 and Binance and its subsidiaries paying $500 for their alleged actions.
Customers affected by the lawsuit express frustration with the sudden actions taken by the SEC without concrete evidence or well-defined crypto regulations. They argue that these legal proceedings have disrupted their daily activities and investments in Binance and cryptocurrencies.
Eeon suggests that the court could have considered freezing a portion, potentially 50%, of crypto assets to allow customers access to at least a fraction of their holdings.
Drawing on their claimed 30 years of experience in court cases, “Eeon” references a previous court filing against the US Federal Reserve System in 2018 to support their arguments.
The intervention by “Eeon” injects a fresh dynamic into the ongoing legal battle between Binance, the SEC, and now the US Federal Reserve. This development underscores the complexities surrounding cryptocurrency regulation and the potential ramifications for investors and the broader industry.
Litecoin’s Daily Active Address hits ATH; Why LTC Price is Surging High?
The crypto space is witnessing a roller coaster ride ever since the Bitcoin price marked an interim high close to $31,000. The majority of tokens, including the star crypto, have been trading in a bearish trend, with multiple attempts to rise to fail. Amid mounting bearish market sentiments, the lite version of Bitcoin, Litecoin, is displaying immense bullish momentum as the network’s strength has soared.
What caused such a drastic change ahead of the Litecoin halving?
As per the new update, the network has released new LRC-20 standards using the ordinal theory following the rising attention and adoption of Bitcoin’s BRC-20 standard tokens. Here, the user can mint new tokens and also transfer them. Although the LRC-20 standard is in its early stages, it is believed to represent a significant step in the network’s evolution.
Within no time, the LTC daily active address, which records the number of addresses interacting with the network, surged magnificently, reaching highs close to 900K.
The DAA levels which maintained a steady trend around 300K for quite a long time, surged heavily as the transaction count also leaped heavily. The transaction count also marked new highs to close to 585K which had maintained a closed trend of around 100K for over a year.
Alongside, the social dominance also witnessed a steady growth that indicates that the LTC’s dominance has soared compared to the other top 100 tokens according to the market cap. Therefore, with the rising dominance, the LTC price is expected to maintain a fine upswing in the coming days.
The LTC price has been trading along the rising trend line, which has been acting as a major support since the start of 2023. The price is currently approaching the crucial resistance at $91, which may pave the way for the token to achieve the interim milestone of $100.
Binance Froze $2M From an Address Associated with Insider Trading Amid Heightened Regulatory Scrutiny
Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange that holds over 536,274 Bitcoins in its balance, has experienced significant regulatory upheavals in the recent past. However, the firm has remained determined to push cryptocurrency adoption globally amid rising inflation. Moreover, the company is trusted by over 120 million registered users from all over the world.
Following the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research late last year, United States financial regulators, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), have intensified their crackdown on cryptocurrency-related companies. For instance, the CFTC charged Binance.US and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) for operating “illegally” in the United States and helping residents evade set regulations.
Binance Defense in Action
According to a report by Twitter user @FatManTerra, an anonymous individual front-ran Binance listing pumps and bagged 7-figure profits. A report by Overlords on medium outlined 16 instances of potential Binance insider trading with a net profit of about $1.4 million.
Among the mentioned crypto projects that were affected by insider trading include Frax Share (FXS) and MANTRA DAO, among many others. According to on-chain data, the anonymous Binance insider trader spaced the transactions to avoid detection. For instance, the anonymous Binance insider trader purchased FXS in six days from Uniswap before the listing was announced.
In another instance, the Binance insider trader purchased 131 Ether of TVK two days before the official listing. The trader then sold all the TVK after listing and cashed out 277 ETH. The effects of insider trading on the token listing are mainly suppressing tokens’ upward volatility at the expense of retail traders.
In response to the report, Binance’s CZ noted that the exchange froze $2 million associated with the anonymous insider trader.
DeFi Platform Maker DAO Takes Swift Action to Address $3.1B USDC Risk with Emergency Proposal
The crypto market has again met with another stablecoin collapse after UST as investors are rushing to withdraw their funds. Circle, the issuer of USD Coin (USDC), today announced that it faced challenges in withdrawing $3.3 billion from its $40 billion deposits at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). As a result, it created panic among investors and brought subsequent sell-off, depegging the USDC from $1. The collapse of USDC has forced several firms to take quick action as DeFi platform Maker DAO recently filed an emergency proposal to prevent its DAI stablecoin from dropping further after being negatively impacted by USDC’s depeg.
Maker DAO’s DAI Stablecoin Becomes the Latest Victim After USDC
Maker DAO, the issuer of the DAI stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, has made an urgent executive proposal to address risks to its protocol. As per a forum post on March 11, the company expressed concern about its multiple collaterals being exposed to the “tail risk” of USDC due to the sudden de-pegging of the stablecoin that began today. Maker DAO currently holds over 3.1 billion USDC in collateral supporting its DAI stablecoin.
The proposed Maker DAO emergency plan involves several actions to mitigate risks to its protocol:
- It suggests reducing the debt ceiling of UNIV2USDCETH-A, UNIV2DAIUSDC-A, GUNIV3DAIUSDC1-A, and GUNIV3DAIUSDC2-A liquidity provider collaterals to zero DAI.
- The plan recommends lowering the daily minting limits of its USDC peg stability module from 950 million DAI to 250 million DAI and introducing a 1% fee to prevent the excessive dumping of USDC.
- The daily minting limit of the GUSD stablecoin module may also be reduced from 50 million DAI to 10 million DAI if the proposal is accepted.
Maker Aims to Eliminate Exposure to Curve and Aave
Maker DAO is considering entirely eliminating its exposure to decentralized finance protocols Curve and Aave. According to the company, Curve’s fixed $1 price for USDC presents a risk of insufficient debt accrual and potential bank runs, leading to market insolvency if the USDC’s market price drops significantly below the current collateral factor. Though Aave does not pose such risks, Maker DAO states that its overall risk-reward for depositing funds into the D3M is not advisable under current conditions.
The proposed emergency plan by Maker DAO also includes increasing the protocol’s debt ceiling for the Paxos-issued stablecoin, USDP. The ceiling would be raised from 450 million DAI to 1 billion DAI. The firm said,
“Paxos has relatively stronger reserve assets versus other available centralized stablecoins, consisting primarily of U.S. treasury bills, reverse repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. treasury bonds. They face relatively lower potential for impairment versus other available stablecoins.”
The proposal has been put forth to the Maker DAO community for voting, and if accepted, it will be implemented immediately. The swift action taken by Maker DAO to address the USDC risk demonstrates its commitment to maintaining the stability of its protocol and ensuring the safety of its users’ funds.
Alameda-Linked Address Withdraws $2 Million in FTT – What’s In Store Crypto Market?
After a whopping $13 million worth of assets was transferred to the consolidation wallet of Alameda Research, a new development suggests that there was a $2 million withdrawal by an Alameda-linked address labeled “brokenfish.eth”.
In one of the most recent updates from the crypto analytics platform, Arkham Intelligence, the money was taken out of BentoBox, a smart contract serving as the hub of the entire Sushi ecosystem, by the brokenfish.eth address. FTT, the FTX exchange’s native token, accounted for the majority of the withdrawal amounts.
Alameda and Sushiswap have a long relationship that began in 2020, when Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) assumed control of the decentralized exchange protocol after its chief developer, Chef Nomi, pulled the community under his sleeve.
Apart from the $12 million, Bitfinex sent cryptocurrency to Alameda Research valued roughly $8.5 million, according to PeckShield. It was also reported that the FTX’s sister company received 1.545 ETH (about $2.5 million), 6 million USDT (or $6 million), and 4.6 million USDC. 6 million USDT and 1,545 ETH were sent from Bitfinex out of these assets.
The transfer is currently unknown, however, it takes place barely one day after the founder of FTX and Alameda Research Sam Bankman-Fried was given a temporary communication ban by both companies.
On November 11, Alameda filed for bankruptcy. Since then, several deposits from numerous addresses have resulted in the accumulation of almost $183 million in other altcoins, including $54 million in BitDAO tokens, as well as more than $26 million in ETH in the consolidation wallet.
Nevertheless, the sum recovered might be higher given that liquidator are said to have lost over $11.5 million since gaining possession of Alameda’s trading accounts, some of which were avoidable, according to a study by crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.
Bitcoin Address in Loss Smash ATH, Has the Bearish September Just Began?
Bitcoin price was on the verge to close the monthly trade on a bearish note, however, the asset surged marginally above $20,000. Woefully, the asset is constantly hovering around $20,000, maintaining a constant descending trend. While the asset is believed to be under bearish captivity for a long, a notable upswing may be fast approaching.
As seen in the above chart, the BTC price is trading within a huge falling wedge and has approached the peak of the consolidation. Hence, the asset appears to be due for a notable breakout which may uplift the price close to $22,000 in the coming days. Moreover, the parallel consolidation in the recent past substantiates the claim.
Presently, the Bitcoin price is holding the lower boundaries at $19,900 firmly and if it further breaks $20,600, the bearish continuation may conclude. Else, a sweep of $19,500 may be imminent.
Bitcoin Address in Loss Smash the ATH
Regardless of the upcoming price action, the number of Bitcoin addresses in loss has reached an ATH of more than 17,500K.
The total address in loss had bottomed and reached levels below 2500K at the beginning of 2022. However, the number of addresses spiked, which further intensified to hit the current levels at 18,965K surpassing the previous ones observed in the first few days of July.
Conversely, the number of addresses in profits has also bottomed hard and reached a month low of 23,760K. On the brighter side, the addresses holding 1+ coins just went above 900,000.
While the Bitcoin(BTC) price is swinging within an uncertain environment, the addresses in loss are adding up every new day. Therefore, if the star crypto fails to rebound, then more addresses may be in loss which may further impact the price rally.