Tag: Ripple

Ripple Acquires Swiss-based Metaco, Sets Sights on $10T Institutional Crypto Custody Market

by Blockchain News

Ripple, the global provider of blockchain-based payment systems, has announced its acquisition of Metaco, a Swiss provider of digital asset custody and tokenization technology, according to a press release from Ripple’s official website.

This strategic move is in response to the predicted growth of the institutional crypto custody market, anticipated to reach an impressive $10T by 2030, and Ripple’s recognition of the growing demand for enterprise crypto services.

Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, referred to the acquisition as a “monumental” move that will significantly augment the company’s growing product suite and extend its global footprint. Ripple and Metaco share a common objective: offering secure enterprise-grade solutions to top-tier institutional clients. The acquisition is set to provide Ripple’s customers with the technology needed to issue, custody, and settle any kind of tokenized asset, advancing its enterprise offerings.

Established for over a decade, Ripple has consistently addressed the multi-trillion-dollar challenges in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. The company’s expansion, from cross-border payments and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) to liquidity management and tokenization, demonstrates its continuous innovation and growth. The integration of Metaco’s solutions, aimed at issuing and settling tokenized assets, is the next evolution in Ripple’s product suite.

Metaco’s offering, Harmonize™, provides a secure, versatile custody infrastructure for institutions looking to expand into the crypto economy. Its solutions have been widely accepted by the world’s largest custodians, top-tier banks, financial institutions, and corporations. The technology is currently available in several jurisdictions, including Switzerland, Germany, Turkey, France, the UK, the US, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, among others.

Adrien Treccani, Founder and CEO at Metaco, expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership with Ripple, emphasizing that the collaboration would enable Metaco to leverage Ripple’s scale and market strength to achieve its goals more quickly.

The institutional interest in crypto custody is apparent, with several established financial institutions expressing their intent to enter this arena. For instance, BNY Mellon is currently offering digital asset custody services to US asset managers, while NASDAQ recently announced its plan to launch crypto custody services for Bitcoin and Ethereum by the end of Q2 2023.

The acquisition signals a bright future for crypto custody as more reputable financial institutions express their interest in the market. Ripple is poised to leverage this opportunity alongside Metaco to offer innovative services to customers, thereby strengthening its position as a leader in the realm of enterprise crypto solutions.

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MoneyTap Expands in Japan with Three New Bank Integrations

by Blockchain News

MoneyTap, the Ripple-based payment system, is continuing to grow in Japan with several local banks opening access to the application for their clients. SBI Remit, the remittance-focused arm of the Japanese financial services conglomerate SBI Holdings, has added support for its mobile MoneyTap application to three local banks, including Yamaguchi Bank, Momiji Bank, and Kitakyushu Bank.

Yamaguchi Bank is a major regional bank in Japan, featuring 156 branches and offices in Japan and four overseas locations. Kitakyushu Bank is a subsidiary of Yamaguchi Financial Group and has operated 24 branches since the start of the business. This integration enables the Japanese regional banks to offer a peer-to-peer remittance service to their customers through a mobile application. In addition to the bank account number, the remittance service enables the online remittance function through a mobile phone number. The app also features online identity verification and biometric authentication, aiming to ensure high security for customers of Yamaguchi, Momiji, and Kitakyushu.

SBI integrated the mobile MoneyTap settlement service in 2019, soon after launching MoneyTap in collaboration with the blockchain firm Ripple in October 2018. Based on Ripple’s blockchain solution RippleNet, the MoneyTap app is designed to enable instant domestic bank-to-bank transfers and P2P transfers for clients, initially supporting three Japanese banks, including SBI Sumishin Net Bank, Suruga Bank, and Resona Bank.

As previously reported, SBI Remit merged with MoneyTap in September 2022, allowing it to provide a next-generation financial infrastructure with high functionality and low cost. SBI has emerged as a major partner of Ripple, supporting the company amid its ongoing legal battle with financial regulators in the United States. Morningstar, an SBI Group’s financial data subsidiary, said in 2021 it will continue its XRP (XRP) shareholder benefits program despite Ripple’s legal issues in the United States.

SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao also said in 2021 that Japan was the most likely country for Ripple to move to if the company is eventually forced to leave the United States due to the tough regulatory environment. This statement showcases the strong partnership and support between SBI and Ripple, which has been ongoing since the launch of MoneyTap in 2018.

The MoneyTap application’s expansion through SBI Remit into Yamaguchi Bank, Momiji Bank, and Kitakyushu Bank further demonstrates the growing adoption and recognition of Ripple’s blockchain solution RippleNet in Japan. With the additional bank integrations, MoneyTap is expanding its reach and providing more customers with access to secure and efficient peer-to-peer remittance services.

Overall, MoneyTap’s expansion in Japan through SBI Remit and the three new bank integrations highlights the continued growth of RippleNet and the increasing adoption of blockchain solutions in the financial industry. With high-security measures in place, customers of Yamaguchi, Momiji, and Kitakyushu can enjoy fast and secure remittance services through the MoneyTap mobile application.

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Ripple Launches Liquidity Hub to Bridge Crypto and Fiat

by Blockchain News

Fintech firm Ripple has announced the launch of its latest product, the Ripple liquidity hub, a solution for businesses to bridge the gap between crypto and fiat currencies. The service operates as a stand-alone solution in addition to Ripple’s popular cross-border payments service, on-demand liquidity (ODL). This makes it a global liquidity network offering its partners access to payout rails worldwide.

Ripple’s liquidity hub has been developed from an enterprise point of view to offer digital assets from various market makers, including crypto exchanges and over-the-counter trading desks. When an enterprise partner requires liquidity, it can source it from these large pools of deep liquidity, including United States dollars, Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC).

Interestingly, the product launch finds no mention of XRP (XRP), the crypto token issued by Ripple. XRP has been central to most liquidity products and services the fintech firm offers, especially cross-border liquidity services. However, XRP was mentioned among digital assets in the company’s pilot phase.

The omission of XRP from its liquidity pairs could be attributed to the company’s ongoing court battle in the U.S. with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Ripple has been accused by the SEC of selling XRP as an unregistered security, and the company is currently fighting this claim in court.

Despite this, Ripple claims that its liquidity solution will considerably reduce the cost of operations on high-volume transactions. This is done by optimizing cryptocurrency pricing and liquidity across asset pairs. The liquidity hub eliminates the need to pre-finance capital positions to source liquidity or conduct transactions. The service reduces complicated multiplatform administration requirements by enabling organizations to access digital assets in a single place. Additionally, the service locks in optimum pricing for digital assets to protect companies from market instability and price swings.

Ripple has made a name for itself in the fintech world for offering various liquidity solutions and cross-border remittance services. Its popular ODL solution has onboarded several banks worldwide to provide cheap remittance services with the help of cryptocurrencies.

The Ripple liquidity hub is the latest offering from the company and marks its continued push to become a leader in the fintech industry. By providing businesses with access to deep liquidity pools across various digital assets, Ripple aims to make it easier for organizations to conduct high-volume transactions without incurring excessive costs. Although XRP is not mentioned in the product launch, it remains a central part of Ripple’s liquidity products and services.

In conclusion, Ripple’s liquidity hub is a step forward in bridging the gap between crypto and fiat currencies. The service offers businesses access to deep liquidity pools across a range of digital assets, reducing the cost of operations on high-volume transactions. With its ongoing court battle with the SEC, Ripple’s decision to omit XRP from its liquidity pairs is a strategic move to protect the company’s interests. Despite this, Ripple remains committed to providing businesses with innovative solutions that simplify cross-border remittance services and provide access to deep liquidity pools.

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XRP Not a Security According to Hogan

by Blockchain News

Jeremy Hogan, a lawyer at the legal firm Hogan & Hogan, has recently declared in a series of tweets that the digital asset known as XRP, which is owned by Ripple, is not a security since it does not meet the criteria for what is known as a “investment contract.” Hogan contends that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not shown that Ripple is in violation of either an implicit or explicit investment contract in its action against the company. This is despite the fact that XRP might be regarded a security according to the definition of an investment contract.

Hogan notes that the SEC contends that the purchase agreement is all that is necessary to demonstrate that XRP is a security; nevertheless, this argument differentiates the “investment” from the “contract.” Hogan adds that the SEC contends that the purchase agreement is all that is required to demonstrate that XRP is a security. According to Hogan, a simple purchase cannot be considered a “investment contract” since there is no duty for Ripple to do anything other than transfer the asset. This is because there is no further consideration involved in the transaction.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated legal action against Ripple in December 2020, alleging that the company unlawfully marketed unregistered securities in the form of its XRP coin. Ripple has long contested this allegation, stating that the Howey test, which is used to assess whether or not a transaction qualifies as an investment contract, does not apply to XRP. This test is used to establish whether or not a transaction qualifies as an investment contract.

Hogan further contends that each of the “blue sky” instances, which the Howey case relied on for defining an investment contract, featured some type of a contract pertaining to the investment, and that this was the case regardless of whether the case was decided in favor of the plaintiff or the defendant. According to Hogan, the most important question is not whether Ripple utilized the money from the sale of XRP to support its business, but rather whether the SEC has established that there was either an implicit or explicit “contract” between Ripple and XRP buyers pertaining to their “investment.” Hogan is of the view that the SEC has not proven that there was such a contract. As far as Hogan is concerned, there was never any such deal.

How the SEC will react to Hogan’s claims is something that has not yet been determined. On the other hand, his research offers a fresh point of view on the current legal struggle that is taking place between Ripple and the SEC. In the event that XRP is not regarded as a security, this development may have substantial repercussions for the direction that the cryptocurrency market is headed in the future.

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Ripple CEO Warns SEC’s “Enforcement” Approach May Hurt US Crypto Industry

by Blockchain News

The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, has warned that the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approach to regulation is putting the US at risk of missing out on being a global hub for the next evolution of blockchain and crypto innovation. In a recent Bloomberg interview, Garlinghouse suggested that the SEC’s enforcement-focused approach, as opposed to working collaboratively with the industry, is not a healthy way to regulate an industry.

Garlinghouse noted that the SEC’s case against Ripple is an example of the regulator simply playing “offense” and “attacking” the industry as a whole, rather than taking a constructive approach to regulation. He added that if the SEC is “able to prevail,” there will be “a lot of other cases.” 

Garlinghouse argued that the crypto industry has “already started moving outside” of the US given its crypto regulation process is “behind” other countries such as Australia, UK, Japan, Singapore, and Switzerland. He commended these countries for taking “the time and thoughtfulness” to create “clear rules of the road,” and suggested that the US should follow suit in order to remain competitive. 

Garlinghouse believes that the framework process should begin with outlining clear protections for consumers. He added that consumers are suffering from the “lag,” as they don’t have the “same protection” that the regulatory frameworks can provide. 

Meanwhile, John Deaton, founder of legal news outlet Crypto Law Lawyer, recently put a call-to-action to his 245,000 Twitter followers, stating that all companies in “active litigation” with the SEC should collaborate and develop “coordinated strategies,” adding that it is “war.” This comes after Blockchain Association CEO, Kristin Smith, told Bloomberg in a Feb. 22 interview that the crypto regulation process in the US is happening “behind closed doors,” and that more industry involvement is vital in an “open process.” 

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SEC Loses Appeal in LBRY Vs. SEC

by Blockchain News

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has acknowledged publicly in the public record that the secondary market sale of LBRY Credits (LBC) tokens does not constitute the sale of a security. On January 30, an appeal hearing was held in the case LBRY vs. SEC. The settlement was reached at that hearing.

During the appeal hearing, Attorney John Deaton put an end to a key discussion, which many people hailed as a triumph for the whole cryptocurrency sector in its fight against the SEC’s overreach regulation by enforcement.

During the hearing that took place on November 7, 2022, the SEC was granted a summary judgement in its favour. The court’s decision characterised every sale of LBC tokens that took place over a period of six years as an investment contract, but it did not go into more detail about the particulars of each transaction. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had high hopes that it could progress its campaign to obtain credibility in the secondary market and bring it within its supervision at the same time. The Securities and Exchange Commission has requested that the judge of the district court in New Hampshire uphold the broad and vague injunction that prohibits the company’s sale.

Because he believed the injunction to be too wide and imprecise, Deaton, who was acting in the capacity of amicus curiae for tech journalist Naomi Brockwell, pushed for clarification about secondary market transactions for LBC. An amicus curiae is a person or organisation that is not a party to a legal case but is authorised to assist a court by providing information, expertise, or insight that is relevant to the issues that are being litigated in the case. This can be done in order to shed light on the circumstances surrounding the case.

A study written by commercial contract attorney Lewis Cohen that studied all security litigation filed in the United States since the SEC vs. W.J. Howey Co case was mentioned by Deaton. During the course of his investigation into security matters in the United States, Cohen came across not a single instance in which a judge admitted that the underlying asset was security.

Deaton was successful in arguing to the court that LBC’s transactions on the secondary market did not include securities. In an attempt to circumvent the need to provide clarity for LBC, the SEC submitted a request for an order that draws no distinctions between LBRY, the management of the firm, and its users. The court then addressed Amici as follows: “amicus, I’m going to make it plain that my order does not extend to secondary market sales.” The judge then turned to face Deaton.

The decision in the lawsuit provided a sense of comfort for many members of the cryptocurrency community, particularly owners of XRP. Ripple is now being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the selling of XRP tokens. The new judgement that shows the selling of LBC tokens on secondary markets does not constitute as securities may work in favour of Ripple in the protracted case that they are currently engaged in. According to a Twitter account that supports XRP, the judgement also classifies XRP as a non-security.

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Monica Long Named New President of Ripple

by Blockchain News

After serving as general manager for the company, Monica Long has been promoted to the position of president at Ripple. Long began her career with the company in 2013 as the director of communications. In 2018, she was promoted to the position of general manager of RippleNet, the company’s financial network, in addition to her previous role as general manager of RippleX, the blockchain development arm of the business.

Up until this point, the role of president of Ripple has been somewhat of a mystery, with the title having been assigned to both of the company’s co-founders, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, at different points in time.

“The role entails maintaining a high level of scalability. We’ve been through many [crypto] winters, and despite this one, we just had a record-breaking year in terms of both our company and our consumer growth.

She went on to say that despite this atmosphere, “We are continuing to increase our workforce.”

When there were just ten people working for the firm, Long joined Ripple. She was the driving force behind the creation of the On-Demand Liquidity solution for the firm, which was released in 2018 and is referred to be “Ripple’s flagship product.” In the last year, Ripple has launched an additional service that is called LiquidityHub, and according to Long, the business will continue to build on this service. In the previous year, almost sixty percent of RippleNet’s payment volume was routed via ODL.

Regarding the RippleX side of things, Long said that an automated market maker specification will be put up for a vote by the validators this year.

Due to the current legal dispute between Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Ripple is often mentioned in the media. Ripple and its co-founders, Garlinghouse and Larsen, have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of conducting an unregistered securities offering to the tune of $1.38 billion and selling XRP (XRP) to retail investors in the capacity of an unregistered security.

On January 18, Garlinghouse said to CNBC that the corporation anticipates receiving a ruling about the issue this year.

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XRP staking scam

by Blockchain News

The cryptocurrency community has raised flags about a new fraud targeting XRP (XRP) investors via a phoney staking scheme.

Online fraudsters are mimicking big cryptocurrency organisations like Ripple and Binance by constructing phoney websites and email imposters promising to provide staking services for XRP.

One of these websites has a blog post with the headline “XRP staking slated to debut January 2023 for retail customers,” in which users are invited to “stake” their XRP in exchange for returns on investment (ROI) that are implausibly high and range from 12 to 27 percent.

By claiming that a better return on investment (ROI) would be given to just the first 10,000 accounts, the fraudulent scam makes an effort to hasten the decision-making process of XRP investors.

The phoney website offers an accurate clone of Ripple’s website, ripple.com, by reproducing the actual website’s style and typefaces and connecting to some of Ripple’s earlier blog articles.

The impersonators also sought to add more credibility to their postings by including information on the significance of self-custody utilising major hardware wallets, such as Ledger or Trezor. This was done in an effort to make the posts seem more legitimate.

The fraudulent website has a large number of mirror domains, many of which finish in “.org.th” or “.com.ve,” and it is designed to defraud users of XRP from all over the globe.

Imposter letters purporting to be from Binance and claiming a return on investment (ROI) of up to 31% can be seen accompanying the fraudulent XRP staking website.

On January 21, a member of the industry who goes by the handle RipplePandaXRP came to Twitter to alert the XRP community of a fraud. ” Do not transmit your XRP to an unknown address, and always verify the address to determine if it is a legitimate site,” RipplePandaXRP said in a post on its website.

Having said that, the genuine Binance exchange does, in fact, include decentralised finance (DeFi) staking for XRP into its Binance Earn programme.

On the other hand, the XRP DeFi staking scheme that Binance offers only enables users to make up to 1.4% annually.

It is essential to keep in mind that XRP does not employ a proof-of-stake (PoS) method like other prominent proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies, such as Ether. As a result, XRP cannot be staked (ETH).

Instead, the processing of XRP transactions is dependent on a network of “unique nodes” that reach a consensus over which transactions may be executed inside the network.

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Ripple considers FTX trades Garlinghouse

by Blockchain News

It has been claimed that the CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, is considering purchasing key aspects of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Garlinghouse told The Sunday Times that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried called him two days before the company filed for bankruptcy as he sought to round up investors to rescue the business. The conference was held on November 16 and 17, and it took place on the sidelines of Ripple’s Swell conference in London, which took place on November 16 and 17.

During the call, according to the CEO of Ripple, the two discussed whether or not there were any FTX-owned firms that Ripple might acquire “would have a desire to possess.

Garlinghouse does concede, however, that in light of FTX’s recent decision to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in the United States, any potential transaction involving an FTX business will be more difficult “a radical departure from how things would have been done one-on-one.

“It’s not that I don’t think we’ll take a look at those things; I’m certain we will.

However, it is a more difficult road to transact, “he continued.

There were around 130 firms connected to FTX that were listed in the bankruptcy petition that was filed in Delaware. One of the companies was FTX.US.

Garlinghouse expressed his interest in purchasing the components that were geared toward catering to corporate clients.

It would seem that the executives at Ripple, like with many others in the sector, are keeping up with the most recent developments in the situation involving FTX.

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Ripple Lawyers Merge the Last Piece with Legal Puzzle

by Blockchain News

Since the duo of blockchain payments firm Ripple Labs Inc and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested an expedited judgment per its long-protracted lawsuit, more updates have surfaced, with Ripple standing in a positive light regarding most of them.

XRP2.jpg

While the SEC has turned in the long-disputed Hinman statement as directed by the court, Ripple’s attorney, John Deaton, has pooled the affidavits of many XRP coin holders. Per the update shared, the testimonies from these XRP investors will show the court two major things.

The first thing is that the XRP holders will testify that they did not purchase the token as an investment asset but rather for payments and non-investment purposes. Secondly, those who acquired the coins testified to the fact that should they be awaiting any form of rewards per the allegation of its security status, they were expecting such gains to come from price appreciation over time.

The affidavits from these XRP holders are considered the final piece of the puzzle from a fellow attorney, Jeremy Hogan.

Ripple has taken its defence against the SEC to new levels, and besides the XRP users it has pooled together in the past few months, the company has also gotten testimonies from its partners that show how they are all making use of the XRP coin and how Ripple is helping to facilitate payments across the board.

The SEC slammed Ripple with a $1.3 billion lawsuit back in December 2020, alleging that the blockchain payment firm was involved in the sales of XRP securities. Right from the start, legal experts have noted that the regulator has a weak case against the firm, and Ripple has done all it can to ensure that the SEC will not win the case in order not to form a precedent that will be hard to reverse in the crypto industry.

Image source: Shutterstock

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