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Kraken Becomes Latest Crypto Venue To Halt XRP

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Troubled times for XRP continued as San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken becomes the latest to announce its plan to halt the trading of the crypto-asset for U.S. residents by the 29th of January 2021 at 5 pm PT. This comes after the US Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] brought its lawsuit against blockchain company Ripple last month, which alleged that the sales of XRP qualified as an unregistered securities offering.

Kraken is not the only prominent exchange to have made plans to suspend trading of the token whose value dropped by nearly 50% since the regulator filed the suit. Notably, well-known crypto platforms such as OKCoin, Coinbase, Bittrex, Genesis, Binance.US, and eToro has also suspended XRP trading in recent weeks.

What Does Kraken’s Move Mean For Customers?

The platform notified that it will be implementing the process any time of the said data and the US-based customers will have just two weeks to continue trading the crypto-asset. It also urged its customers to resolve their positions prior to the 29th of January. Despite this, the clients residing in the country will still be able to deposit, hold, and withdraw XRP with Kraken.

According to the official blog post released by the platform, those residing elsewhere will not be affected in any way.

Kraken further noted that the US residents with spot positions on margin must satisfy any outstanding margin obligations latest by the 28th of January or face liquidation. Its post read:

We intend to cancel open XRP orders and liquidate open XRP positions for U.S. resident We are monitoring the situation regarding the SEC’s filing and will adapt according to any new developments.

Should the position regarding holding, depositing, and withdrawal of XRP happen to change in the future, the exchange would make a public announcement accordingly.

XRP Collapses

XRP did not take the news well as it registered a fall of more than 16% over the past 24-hours driving the price to $0.279 at the time of writing. Soon after which DeFi token Polkadot [DOT] blasted past XRP to become the fourth largest cryptocurrency

Binance US Delists XRP But GateHub Stands By Its Decision

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Ripple’s tussle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] has left the entire market worried about the future cryptocurrency, XRP which saw a severe price dump following the news. Also, the cryptocurrency exchanges that had previously listed the token and gave investors access to the token for the past several years were equally concerned about the whole affair. While a few exchanges took a more conservative approach and delisted the asset others have gone on to either halt or delist XRP till the matter is resolved.

Ray Of Hope For XRP?

In the latest development, the XRP ledger wallet and gateway called GateHub will continue listing the token. According to its official blog post, the platform asserted that it would not remove the crypto-asset until the SEC’s complaint against Ripple is adjudicated and a final decision entered that the token is properly classified as a “security,” or until GateHub receives a cease-and-desist notice from the regulators.

The lack of clarity with regards to the treatment of cryptocurrencies under US securities laws has been a major cause of concern for the market players. On that note, GateHub emphasized that the open-sourced XRP Ledger is a “distributed” blockchain technology. Hence even if Ripple Labs happens to shut its shop tomorrow, the ledger and the recording of XRP transactions on it would continue to exist through the consensus process. The announcement further read,

“If Ripple and/or its senior executives defrauded individual investors, they should be subject to appropriate enforcement actions, and be forced to disgorge any ill-gotten gains.  But that is a far cry from an action by the SEC classifying XRP as a “security,” with potentially catastrophic consequences for individual investors, who did nothing wrong.”

The SEC had sued Ripple earlier this month on allegations it has been selling the token as unregistered security for more than seven years. Unlike GateHub, not many have been kind to the crypto. Binance US, for instance, has been more strict with its approach. The U.S. affiliate of the world’s top crypto exchange by volume announced the delisting of XRP from the platform on the 13th of January.

Previously, Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse had blasted the lawsuit, claiming that it affected “countless innocent XRP retail holders with no connection to the blockchain company. Commenting on the several platforms delisting XRP, Garlinghouse had asserted that the company had “no control” over where the token is listed since “It’s open-source and decentralized”.

36K People Sign Petition Urging White House To Deem XRP As Currency

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The crypto industry stood out for being free from centralized shackles. However, the current situation that XRP and Ripple are drowning in has quaked the entire crypto-verse. The SEC lawsuit is undoubtedly prevailing as several cryptocurrency platforms went on to temporarily delist the altcoin.

However, the XRP community took a sigh of relief after it managed to garner support from one exchange. Additionally, a petition pertaining to the altcoin was seen attaining traction.

XRP Getting Back On Track?

Legalities hit the XRP community causing the coin to depreciate to an extremely feeble level. The lawsuit insinuated an array of actions. Coinbase, Grayscale, OKCoin as well as Bittrex seemed to be trying have removed support for the altcoin.

However, Uphold revealed that waiting for a legal affirmation of the SEC’s claims of Ripple selling unregistered securities was a just order. Amidst this chaos, a petition urging the White House to consider and deem XRP as a virtual currency was seen surfing.

The petition had a total of 36,887 signatures out of 100,000 the creators of the petition are hoping to get. In the petition, the creators pointed out that the holders of XRP were being highly affected by the SEC lawsuit. The petition stressed how the FinCEN had already labeled XRP as a currency and not a security. It read,

“Due to this action, the 40 billion dollar market for the currency is rapidly failing as companies scramble to maintain compliance.

The document also added,

“Billions of dollars of value is being wiped from the market in rapid succession and most critically, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans – the very Americans that the SEC is tasked to protect – are suffering irreparable harm and damages.”

The petition has a period of 30 days to garner 100,000 signatures after which the White House would take a call on the issue at hand.

While XRP was tussling amidst $0.20 over the past few days, the asset finally seems to have gained some momentum as it was seen surging by almost 40% in the last 24-hours. At the time of writing, XRP was seen trading for $0.317 while its market cap was at $13.97 billion. This further allowed the coin to regain its stance as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency.

XRP’s Spot On The Top Is Now In Danger As Litecoin’s Market Cap Briefly Takes Over The Asset

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Bitcoin continues to soar as XRP proceeds to slump. XRP managed to fall by over 44.75% in the last seven days. The SEC lawsuit has caused immense unrest in the market, as the community is speculating that the asset might drop down to zero. The altcoin retained its position as the third-largest coin for the longest time, however, it made way for Tether [USDT] to take over that spot. It seems like the lawsuit not only affected the price of the asset but also its market cap.

XRP Records Huge Loses Following SEC Lawsuit

While cryptocurrency exchanges continue to suspend XRP trading, following the Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit, the price of the asset dropped down to a low of $0.20 during the time of writing. The asset was seen recording a daily decrease of 12.66% as Bittrex is the latest exchange to announce delisting the altcoin. Over the last couple of days, lesser-known exchanges along with prominent exchanges like Coinbase, OKCoin as well Bitstamp gave up on the asset as the SEC lawsuit prevailed. While all these platforms announced that they would stop trading for XRP from next month until there is some clarity with regard to the SEC lawsuit.

Bittrex, a US-based crypto exchange revealed that it would take off support for all XRP pairs from 15 January 2021. Bittrex’s tweeted,

Apart from this, XRP seemed to be losing grip on its market cap. The asset that reigned as the third-largest cryptocurrency, recently gave up as Tether took over its position. Now, it seems like Litecoin will soon overshadow XRP as the asset briefly took over the latter.

XRP

The market cap of XRP as seen in the above chart had fallen to a low of $8.19 billion. However, it managed to bounce back while LTC’s market cap was noted at $8.6 billion. Reports even suggested that the market cap of the altcoin had slumped by over 63% following SEC’s lawsuit. In a recent press release, Ripple shed light on the matter and said,

“The SEC’s decision to file this action is not just about Ripple, it is an attack on the entire crypto industry here in the United States. We’ve always said that there is a dangerous lack of regulatory clarity for crypto in the U.S. — their lawsuit has already affected countless innocent XRP retail holders with no connection to Ripple.”

The platform revealed that it intends to work with the SEC to find a solution to the problem. Additionally, Ripple pointed out that it would continue functioning and serving consumers across the globe as the US barely entails any of its customers.

SEC Charges Crypto Fund Manager With Fraud; Obtains Emergency Asset Freeze

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] revealed filing an emergency action as well as obtaining an order to impose an asset freeze and other emergency relief against quantitative trading firm Virgil Capital in Manhattan federal court.

Its affiliated companies were also included in connection with an alleged securities fraud relating to Virgil Capital’s flagship cryptocurrency trading fund, Virgil Sigma Fund LP.

According to the official release, Stefan Qin, the 23-year-old Australian hedge fund founder, Virgil Capital, has been accused by the SEC and his entities of defrauding investors in the Sigma Fund since at least 2018 by making material misrepresentations about the fund’s strategy, assets, and financial condition.

Kristina Littman, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit stated,

“This emergency action is an important step to protect investor assets and prevent further harm. Qin allegedly made false promises to lure investors and then continued his deception to conceal his misuse of investor funds.”

The SEC complaint also alleged that Qin and the entities “misled” investors to believe their money was being used only for cryptocurrency trading based on a proprietary algorithm, while the defendants, in fact, utilized the funds for investment proceeds for personal purposes or for other undisclosed high-risk investments.

Furthermore, SEC also stated in its complaint that Qin and Virgil Capital have told investors who requested redemptions from the Sigma Fund that their interests would be transferred instead to another fund under the ultimate control of Qin but with separate management and operations, the VQR Multistrategy Fund LP.

Despite the requests, the complaint claimed that no funds were transferred to the investors and the redemption requests remained outstanding and that Qin attempted to misappropriate assets from the VQR Fund and to secure new investments in the Sigma Fund.

According to reports, Sean Hecker and Shawn Crowley of Kaplan Hecker & Fink were representing Qin. In an official statement, the law firm went on to say that Qin intends to fully cooperate with the regulator to provide a “fulsome set of facts” and was “committed to ensuring that no investors are harmed.”

XRP Temporarily Waves Goodbye To OKCoin And Coinbase As SEC Lawsuit Prevails

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The last couple of days have been tremendously beneficial for the crypto-verse. However, it turns out, XRP was the only asset that encountered a major impediment while all the other coins were tapping new highs. Bitcoin proved to be unfettered as the king coins price soared up to a high of $28,288, just yesterday. Ethereum [ETH], Binance Coin [BNB], and several other assets were also seen following the footsteps of Bitcoin. XRP was still dealing with the repercussions of its tiff with the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] of the United States. As Bitstamp, went ahead and halted trading of XRP, various other prominent crypto exchanges were seen the following suit.

XRP Temporarily Loses Spot In OKCoin and Coinbase

The SEC went on to slap Ripple with a lawsuit for engaging in the sale of unregistered securities which was touted as illegal by the financial regulator. This time the SEC went big and called out Ripple Labs for acquiring over $1.3 billion in the sale of unregistered securities. This lawsuit posed to be immensely detrimental for XRP as several exchanges decided to temporarily pull the plug on the asset. Bitstamp was one of the first exchanges to go about it while Coinbase and other exchanges were still processing the entire situation.

However, it seems like crypto exchanges have been jumping onto the bandwagon as OKCoin as well as Coinbase revealed that they would temporarily suspend trading of XRP. In a recent blog post, OKCoin affirmed that it would put a hold on trading and deposits of XRP starting from 4 January 2021. The platform announced that it intended to steer clear of XRP trading until the situation reached a judgment.

Coinbase took to Twitter and revealed that it would stop XRP trading from 19 January 2021. The tweet read,

The exchange, however, clarified that it would continue aiding XRP on the Coinbase Wallet as well as Coinbase Custody.

The SEC hasn’t been kind to anyone in terms of innovation, especially the crypto-verse. Time and again, the crypto industry had been hit by the SEC with several regulations that weren’t quite friendly to the cryptocurrency market. Alarmed by the lack of regulatory climate and inclination towards cryptocurrencies, several platforms including Ripple were considering closing shops in the country. Just last month, Brad Garlinghouse along with the former CEO of Ripple, Chris Larsen revealed that the limitations that the regulators have been imposing on the crypto-verse have made it rather difficult for platforms to function in the country.

XRP’s Tiff With The SEC Proves To Be Expensive As Bitstamp Puts A Hold On XRP Trading

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Bitcoin has been traversing into greater heights. The king coin has managed to take along several other coins with it. XRP seems to be rather confused. The asset has been juggling between the bears and the bulls. The altcoin’s highly volatile nature and a recent allegation from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States have put the altcoin in a bad light. While Ripple is trying to wiggle out of the lawsuit, several cryptocurrency exchanges have been expressing distress with regard to their association with the asset. More recently, Bitstamp revealed that it wanted to steer clear of trouble by putting a hold on the trading of the fourth-largest cryptocurrency.

XRP Loses A Spot In Bitstamp

While the crypto community was celebrating Bitcoin’s all-time high, XRP holders were given a big shock. The price of the asset depleted down by almost 50% after its parent company, Ripple was slapped with a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] of the US. This lawsuit caused a huge uproar in the entire industry. Several platforms including MoneyGram revealed that it had never utilized the RippleNet or its ODL services. Apart from this, small cryptocurrency exchanges like Beaxy, CrossTower as well as OSL went on to put a hold on the trading of the asset.

While rumors that prominent cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase was going to pull the plug on trading services of XRP surfaced, another popular exchange affirmed that it was going to halt trading for the crypto asset. In a brief blog post, Bitstamp revealed that it would eliminate services for XRP. However, this was limited to its US customers alone. The blog post read,

“In light of the recent SEC filing against Ripple Labs Inc., which alleges that XRP is a security, we are going to halt all trading and deposits of XRP for our US customers on 8 January 2021 at 9 PM UTC.”

The platform affirmed that it would observe the situation and assess its subsequent steps. Additionally, the customers of the US would be able to withdraw XRP.

XRP seems to be still reliving its downhill days as the asset was seen trading at $0.3099 with an 8.65% dip over the last 24-hours. This seems rather wary as all the other assets were seen lounging on the greener side.

SEC Onboards Elad Roisman As Its Acting Chairman

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The SEC and the crypto-verse go way back. While the crypto industry started out to escape the shackles of the centralized institutional systems, the popularity of the crypto sphere had regulators meddling with it. At present, the value of the crypto industry was at $655.53 billion, this has caused several steering towards the market. As regulators across the world have been setting up rules compliant with the financial system as well as the crypto industry, certain regulators have been exhibiting a hostile nature towards crypto assets. However, a recent change in the US SEC could pose beneficial to the crypto world.

SEC Chairman Jay Clayton Bids Adieu To His Post

The crypto community was ecstatic after Jay Clayton, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s Chairman announced his resignation. Clayton, through the course of his service, had constantly declined the proposal for Bitcoin ETFs. In a recent statement, Clayton revealed that he finally spent his last day in the office of the agency on 23 December 2020, as the Chairman. In the statement, Clayton pointed out that he was grateful to everyone in the Securities and Exchange Commission for aiding his growth as the Chairman. His statement further read,

“I know the women and men of the SEC will continue to pursue their mission — protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets and facilitating capital formation — with passion, professionalism and mutual respect. It has been the honor and privilege of my professional life to serve the public alongside them.”

While Clayton suggested that the SEC would continue to serve its people, Hester Peirce aka Crypto Mom announced the appointment of the successor of Clayton. In a recent tweet, Clayton congratulated Elad Roisman for taking over as the Acting Chairman of the agency. Her tweet read,

Prior to his role as the newest chairman of the agency, Roisman was appointed as the SEC Commissioner back in 2018. He was also the Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. While Roisman’s latest role is temporary, the crypto community has been in anticipation of a crypto-friendly chairman.

Ripple Exposé: Potential Coinbase Delisting Haunts XRP

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Christmas 2020 might not be something that the blockchain firm Ripple and the XRP investors would want to remember.

Needless to say, XRP has been on a downward spiral for the last two days. In yet another blow to the now 4th largest crypto-asset, Coinbase was reportedly considering delisting it. This was revealed by Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran who went on to speculate that the SF-based cryptocurrency exchange was in discussion with a Counsel regarding the process.

His tweet read,

“Sources suggesting that Coinbase has already had discussions with counsel about the delisting of $XRP. It seems two potential plans are forming, one which puts the delisting on Friday. Unclear which Coinbase products it will impact but most likely Coinbase and Pro.”

Over the past week, XRP’s price fell by more than 51%. The coin incurred a loss of 30.39% over the last 24-hours alone. The sell-off was bolstered after Ripple and its two executives, received formal charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC].

Things worsened as several small crypto exchanges such as OSL, Beaxy, and CrossTower have paused XRP trading following the lawsuit. Coinbase is one of the most reputed and recognized crypto platform to exist. While there has been no official release regarding any potential delisting talks, if it does go ahead as speculated, it would be a huge blow to the already downtrodden coin market. It is important to note here that every exchange that has listed the token is at risk if XRP is considered security as alleged by the watchdogs.

According to SEC’s official lawsuit, Ripple allegedly entered into agreements with at least ten crypto trading platforms in 2017 and 2018. None of these platforms were registered with the SEC and at least two of them have principal places of business in the US, providing for listing and trading incentives in terms of XRP. SEC further went on to allege that Ripple paid these platforms a fee, typically in XRP, to permit the buying and selling of the crypto-asset and sometimes incentives for achieving volume metrics.

If found to true, these allegations alone would not only cause significant damage to Ripple but will also drag names of 10 cryptocurrency exchanges along with it to face severe consequences.

Ripple CEO Confident To Fight And Win As SEC Poises For A Lawsuit

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Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse claimed that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] intends to sue the blockchain firm over its sale of XRP which happens to be associated with the platform. The lawsuit in question will name Garlinghouse and Ripple Co-founder Chris Larsen as defendants.

The suit has not been filed yet, but will be one of the most high-profile cases of SEC actions against a leading company in the cryptocurrency industry. The latest news follows years of conflict between the company and the agency about whether XRP is a security, making it similar to a share of stock which must be registered with the SEC or a currency and thus beyond the SEC’s scope.

The SEC had previously allowed XRP to function as a currency for more than eight years. The latest decision by the Chairman of the agency, Jay Clayton to sue the company just days before the change in administration, has garnered sugnifcant amount of criticism from the crypto-communuity.

Garlinghouse lashed at the agency and said that SEC was “out of step” with other G20 countries as well as the rest of the US govt and should not be able to cherry-pick what innovation looks like pointing out that decisions such as these directly benefits China. He went on to assert that,

“Make no mistake, we are ready to fight and win – this battle is just beginning.”

It is important to note that no foreign regulator has determined that XRP is a security. In fact, Japan’s Financial Services Agency [FSA] has already made it clear that XRP is not a security. Reacting to the latest news, SBI’s Yoshitaka Kitao had recently stated that he was optimistic that “Ripple will prevail in the final ruling in the US”. Kitao further added that SBI Holdings will continue to remain a steadfast partner to Ripple, and looks forward to expanding together in Asia.

This is what Ripple’s General Counsel stated just as the news of the lawsuit emerged,

“In 2015, the US Government concluded XRP was a virtual currency. Last I checked the SEC is still part of the US Government. Here’s the plus side – the industry will finally get the clarity it deserves. Goodbye “Howey test,” hello “Ripple test.”

From the pages of history:

Back in 2015, both DOJ as well as FinCEN had settled a case with Ripple and determined that XRP was in fact a convertible virtual currency and that the blockchain firm was a money transmitter of the crypto-asset. The settlement required Ripple’s XRP transactions to comply with laws that do not apply to securities transactions.