Other Companies to Support Ripple

So far, only the non-profit Investor Choice Advocates Network and the crypto mobile app SpendTheBits have been allowed to submit amicus briefs in a federal case. Along with the submission, cryptocurrency lawyer John Deaton asked for permission to write an amicus brief on behalf of the “decentralized community” of XRP. The Crypto Council for Innovation and Valhil Capital also sent papers. On October 28, the Blockchain Association, a crypto advocacy organization, revealed that it had submitted its own amicus brief in favor of Ripple, arguing that SEC chairman Gary Gensler’s views on securities regulations might have had a devastating influence on the industry.

The paper reveals that the cryptocurrency exchange situated in the United States backs Ripple (XRP) in its dispute with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, Coinbase claims in its motion that the SEC has been unable to keep up with the lightning-fast speed of the cryptocurrency business.

The following is an excerpt from the filing:

Rather than engage in rulemaking, the current SEC administration has sought to expand the SEC’s jurisdiction over the cryptocurrency industry through ad hoc enforcement actions alleging on a retrospective basis that already-trading digital assets are actually securities subject to SEC regulation.

The call for an amicus curiae brief came right after Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the exchange, asked everyone in the sector to get more involved. However, the CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, made fun of the CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, by saying that Armstrong supports tribalism despite the fact that he is advocating against it.

Ripple Labs has been fighting with the SEC in court for more than two years over whether or not the sale of its XRP coins is an unregistered sale of securities.

It’s hard to say when the lawsuit will be over, but Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said on a panel at DC Fintech Week on October 11 that he thinks it might be over by the middle of 2023.

Moreover, XRP Ledger (XRPL) may soon accept native non-fungible coins (NFTs).

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According to Hinman’s talk, ETH is not a security. Whether the speech’s phrasing will be as relevant as the firm says remains to be seen, but Ripple Labs believes it is a crucial piece of evidence in the lawsuit the SEC has launched against it, charging that sales of Ripple’s XRP violated U.S. securities laws. Many questions remain unanswered about what led up to Hinman’s speech and the circumstances around it.

Since Judge Sarah Netburn’s ruling found that the speech was not covered by deliberative process privilege, as the SEC had claimed, Judge Torres’ decision overturned SEC objections to disclosing the records. After the SEC argued the materials were protected by attorney-client privilege, Netburn ruled against them in July. Despite the SEC’s protests, Judge Torres sided with the plaintiffs.

After Ripple Labs utilized its cryptocurrency XRP to acquire capital in 2013, the SEC launched a lawsuit against the business, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and its former CEO Chris Larsen in December 2020. The outcome of an SEC lawsuit has the potential to create a new legal standard.

Initially, it seemed that the lawsuit was not going well for Ripple, but the business has now used several defense methods. On September 17th, applications for summary judgment were submitted in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York by Ripple Labs and the SEC.

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In a possibly unprecedented move hidden in the lawsuit’s 69th line, the SEC today claimed it has the power to prosecute Balina not just because his case involves US transactions, but also because the whole Ethereum network comes under US government jurisdiction.

In its complaint, the agency observed that the ETH delivered to Balina was confirmed by an American network of Ethereum blockchain nodes.
The SEC finds that these transactions occurred in the U.S.

The SEC seems to propose that since more Ethereum validating nodes are in the US than in any other area, all Ethereum transactions should be deemed American.
Etherscan says 45.85% of Ethereum nodes are in the US.
Germany’s second-highest node density is 19%.

If the SEC classifies Ethereum behavior as similar to that of an American securities market, it would claim authority over all activity on the purportedly decentralized Ethereum network.
It would increase the SEC’s oversight over Ethereum, where most NFT and DeFi activity occurs, and crypto in general.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler said last week, after Ethereum’s successful migration to proof-of-stake, that the shift may bring the network closer to the definition of security.

Gensler spoke before the Senate Banking Committee on how “staking” (pledging assets to a crypto network in return for passive benefits) may be regarded as a signal that an asset qualifies as a security under the Howey Test. He did not specify any particular cryptocurrency or network.

Under Gensler, the SEC has not taken an official position on Ethereum, despite prior leadership stating it was “sufficiently decentralized” and not a security.

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There is a heated up discussion around the ethical aspects of using fossil fuels in crypto mining. Also, it remains one of the key topics for the industry. However, an unexpected partnership between a Denver-based mining company and the government of a gas-rich Middle Eastern country sets a horizon for a positive role of crypto in cutting fossil fuel waste. 

On Wednesday, June 1 Bloomberg reported that Crusoe Energy, an operator repurposing wasted fuel energy to the computational power of crypto mining. They would start their work in Oman. We all know that Oman is a nation that exports 21% of its gas production.

US Energy Company Prospects and Plans

The American company will open an office in the capital city of Muscat. They have a plan to install its equipment for capturing gas waste at well sites. It already held a workshop with the Omani largest energy producers, OQ SAOC and Petroleum Development Oman. Furthermore, the first pilot project will be launched by the end of this year or in early 2023. This is the statement of Crusoe’s CEO Chase Lochmiller.

Oman’s government interest in the partnership is driven by an aim to cut the country’s gas flaring. Further, they are burning off the excessive flammable gas in the process of extraction.

In an official statement, Lochmiller emphasized his company’s mission to set a presence in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Also, he emphasized that they want to help local governments in their fight against flaring:

“Having the buy-in from nations that are actively trying to solve the flaring issues is what we are looking for.” In March, media reported that Exxon Mobil partnered with Crusoe to run a pilot project of Bitcoin mining at the Bakken shale basin in North Dakota. However, this information is not official by the companies.

More: Price Of Top Crypto Currency Increased With Solana, Cardano, Avalanche & Polkadot Crash Recovering Most

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The report was put forward today, on Oct. 26, by Bloomberg. It cited anonymous sources who are familiar with this. They reported that SEC agreed with other US agencies to propose legislation and govern the US stablecoin industry.

Furthermore, it mentioned that SEC’s newfound authority over stablecoin sector will formally announce in the upcoming stablecoin report by Treasury Department, scheduled for this week. It will also clarify the regulatory jurisdiction Treasury Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding stable tokens.

According to the Bloomberg sources, SEC chair Gensler is pushing for a further expansion in the agency’s regulatory domain for stablecoins.

Gensler reportedly desired to clarify SEC’s power to oversee stable-coin based investment transactions. He also allowed the commission to follow enforcement actions against issuers.

Meanwhile, the stablecoin market has witnessed significant growth this year. Not to forget the market capitalization of leading stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) has topped the charts this year with $69.5 billion. Its market cap is growing by 229% since the start of 2021 and it doesn’t seem to stop anytime soon.

Second-ranked USD coin also witnessed swift growth with its market cap growing 706% year-to-date. It is now at $32.52 billion at the time of writing.

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SEC kept pushing the deadlines of allowing Bitcoin exchange-traded funds for a long time, but now they are poised to allow it. The financial media giant Bloomberg said in a report on Thursday night that:

“The regulator isn’t likely to block the products from starting to trade next week.”

Although they didn’t name the sources, they wrote that it was from people familiar with this matter. This report came several hours after SEC tweeted via its investor education account. The tweet said:

“Before investing in a fund that holds Bitcoin futures contracts, make sure you carefully weigh the potential risks and benefits.”  

Other than that, SEC Chair Gensler expressed his interest in reviewing applications for a bitcoin futures ETF under the Investment Company Act of 1940. However, he didn’t mention any spot products filed under the Securities Act of 199, previously reported by The Block.

In the meantime, the SEC pushed back the deadlines for four Bitcoin spot ETF applications to November and December.

As the news came out, BTC’s price jumped over by more than $2000, and it is trading at $59,511.49 at the time of writing. It won’t be long when it crosses the mark of $60K and coming closer to its ATH price.

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Earlier this week, he expressed his belief that “people will be hurt” if the crypto market operates without regulations. He voiced his concerns that SPACs are leaving public market investors defenseless.

This Wednesday, during the Financial Times Conference, he singled out multiple open-end mutual funds invested in futures-based bitcoin traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He also quoted a 1940 law that offers “significant investor protector” for ETFs and mutual funds.

Gensler struck a similar tone in August by showing support for futures bitcoin ETF, backed by the 1940 law. He said he would support bitcoin funds entering the market under specific conditions.

Meanwhile, Gensler’s agency examines over a dozen ETF filings for both the bitcoin and futures bitcoin products, among others. He mentioned, “I look forward to staff’s review of such filings” in his prepared remarks. However, none of them have been approved yet, and the industry observers are expecting decisions in early October.

After two months of launch, one bitcoin futures mutual fund only amassed $15 million in assets. It shows that investors are not quite eager to plow into futures-based bitcoin products.

The SEC is cautious about approving bitcoin ETFs during the concerns of a wave of applications and the possibility for market manipulation, as previously reported by Insider.

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XRP currently ranks fourth on Coin Market Cap with a market cap of over $61.1 billion. It is trading at around $1.35 at the time of writing.

The lawsuit between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple has been ongoing since December 2020. At the time, the SEC has charged Ripple with an illegal securities offering of XRP worth $1.3 billion.  

Last week, Ripple had another small win when the judge allowed the company to look into the SEC’s internal communications, searching for information on what defines cryptocurrency as a security. Also last week, a petition to Gary Gensler, the SEC’s Chairman-Designate, was started asking to end the lawsuit against Ripple.

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It is possible that the SEC at some point suggested similarities between XRP and Bitcoin and Ether, Coin Desk reports. However, the latter two have not received the status of securities. As a result, in the event Ripple finds evidence that the SEC compared XRP to a currency rather than a security, XRP would no longer fall under the SEC’s jurisdiction. That would bring the case to a close, the source says citing one of the firm’s lawyers.

The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, along with its CEO and chairman, for an unregistered securities offering worth $1.3 billion in December 2020. Claiming that the company violated the federal securities law by not registering XRP, the SEC filed the still ongoing lawsuit. Earlier this week, the SEC agreed on the redaction of two of Ripple’s email exchanges.

Ripple’s cryptocurrency XRP has increased in price by over 60% in the past week, according to the data from CoinMarketCap.com. It is trading at around $0.93 at the time of writing.

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Ripple (XRP) currently ranks #7 on CoinMarketCap.com. It has a market cap of over $26 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of over $4 billion. It is currently trading at around $0.58.

In other news related to Ripple, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 26 sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres to object against XRP holders’ participation in the lawsuit. In December 2020, the SEC sued Ripple and its CEO and chairman for unregistered securities offering worth $1.3 billion. Earlier in March 2021, XRP holders petitioned to take part in the lawsuit but the judge denied the motion. XRP supporters then took to social media platforms to persuade cryptocurrency exchanges in relisting the token.

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