The US SEC has accepted Valkyries BRRR spot Bitcoin ETF for review
The development comes soon after the regulator accepted Blackrock’s spot bitcoin ETF application for review as well
Valkyries BRRR spot Bitcoin ETF is now officially under the US SEC review process after the regulator expressed that it had been satisfied with the filing. This ETF was named ‘BRRR’ after a popular meme in the Bitcoin community that refers to the money printer sound.
Valkyries BRRR spot Bitcoin ETF accepted for review by the SEC.
The US SEC has begun reviewing the popular Valkyries BRRR spot bitcoin ETF. This ETF, named after a popular meme in the crypto industry, was filed as an answer to BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF.
BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink has moved from thinking that Bitcoin is a scam in 2017s to acknowledging that it’s a ‘digital gold’ and wanting to expose his investors to it. Other TradFi institutions have joined the queue to file for similar assets, including Valkyrie.
Per data from the SEC’s Nasdaq rulemaking list, Valkyries BRRR spot Bitcoin ETF proposal has entered an official docket as of July 17. This filing was accepted after BlackRock’s was accepted four days apart on July 13.
This acceptance opens the road for US SEC officials to look into the key details of the filing and determine if it is fit to be offered to US markets. These ‘TradFi crypto take over’ filings are expected to be approved, opening flood doors of institutional investors to the crypto market.
However, only time will tell what happens now that the US SEC is not the biggest fan of how the crypto industry is being run. Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on this and other fintech-related developments.
The crypto community has expressed disdain over poor management and centralization in the Multichain crypto ecosystem.
Multichain experienced a series of ‘hacks,’ which have all been confirmed to be inside jobs, resulting in a series of companies being forced to close down.
Multichain Bridge ‘hack’ has sent a ripple of distrust in the crypto industry after what investors thought was a hack was revealed to be an inside job. Multichain is forced to close down as it does not have operational funds to continue operating since all control was under an arrested CEO, and all validators have been kicked out of the MPC node servers.
Multichain Bridge mismanagement stirs the pot
The crypto community is not buying into the Multichain hacking and CEO disappearance story, as the industry is counting losses from the misfortune. According to the company, Multichain Bridge CEO Zhao Jun was arrested in May 2023.
Since his disappearance, Multichain Bridge has been left with crippled systems. Its MPC node validators were kicked out of the servers, and no one else had access to them or Jun’s cloud server, or so it was thought. This state of operation was the case until it was discovered that Jun’s sister was transferring investor funds from MPC accounts to a personal EOA address.
She was also arrested by the same Chinese authorities that reportedly took Zhaojun. Now, Multichain has to wind down its operations. This misfortune has sent a wave of distrust and disdain across the crypto space. Multichain was one of the largest bridges and had thousands of users.
Talking to Fintech Express, DeFi solutions provider Bracket Labs called on DeFi projects to recheck their decentralization approaches and avoid falling for a similar centralization of power as seen in the Multichain saga.
“It is extremely disappointing to hear that the disappearance of the Multichain founder could lead to a shutdown of the protocol because of centralized back-end infrastructure. Even though the MPC nodes themselves are running properly, the fact that they are node servers running on the founder’s personal cloud server account is concerning.
This is a wakeup call for all DeFi projects to verify that they do not rely on any single individual or infrastructure provider/vendor,” Bracket Labs said.
Aftershock events of the Multichain Bridge meltdown
As a result of poor management in the ranks of Multichain Bridge, multiple investors have been affected. Some projects will even be forced to close down. Such a project is Geist Finance. Geist Finance is a lending protocol that held its assets on Multichain. However, it has no choice but to wind up its operations permanently following the misfortune.
1/4 Geist Finance on Fantom REKT due to Multichain bridge fiasco.
A fork of Aave, Geist is a lending/borrowing protocol that uses Chainlink oracle.
Yet, the Chainlink tracks prices of real native tokens, while they were trading at around 0.22 to the dollar on Fantom. pic.twitter.com/Ja1whaHX7n
The Ripple effect has also hurt the Fantom network, as the blockchain harbored Multichain. Multichain was its largest bridge, meanings its shutdown resulted in lower network usage. In a July 17 update, Fantom expressed that it was disappointed to hear about Multichain but had found a solution.
“We are deeply disappointed to hear about the latest Multichain news. It is a difficult situation for everyone impacted, on a brighter note we have found an alternative to swap Multichain Assets using our https://fwallet.network inbuilt Dex Aggregator. USDC holders can now swap their funds to $FTM at $1 price using the Dex Aggregator,” the tweet read.
Since the beginning of July, the total value locked (TVL) in the Fantom network had been on a sharp dive owing to the Multichain saga. The TVL had fallen by 67% on July 16 in July only. This makes it one of the biggest hits in the network’s operational history.
Keep watching FinTech Express for more updates on this and other fintech-related developments.
Celsius has sold another huge batch of crypto assets despite the US lodging an investigation against it.
The sell-off comes days after CEO Alex Mashinsky was arrested and is being charged with fraud in the US.
Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network has sold significant crypto assets despite being investigated by the US. The sell-off comes days after the US arrested the lender’s CEO, Alex Mashinsky.
Celsius Network converting its crypto holdings
According to data from the Onchain platform, LookonChain, Celsius is selling its altcoin holdings. The on-chain data platform indicated that Celsius sold off assets as follows: 1.27M LINK ($8.5M) 2.83M SNX ($7.84M) 12,597 BNB ($3M) 4.45M 1INCH ($2.26M) 8.53M ZRX ($1.9 M) 439K FTT ($713K) into FalconX 186,149 BONE ($235K) into OKX.
The assets transferred to FalconX were then deposited into Binance for sell-off. Lookonchain was alarmed that Celsius began swapping its altcoins for Bitcoin and Ethereum on July 6, taking its total public altcoin holdings to $164.5 million held on the EVM Chain.
Celsius Network has been selling off its crypto holdings for quite some time now since it went ‘bankrut.’ The current sell-off comes after court approvalon June 30 to convert its altcoin holdings into Bitcoin and Ethereum before redistributing the same to its creditors.
The development comes days after the US arrested its CEO Alex Mashinsky last Thursday on allegations of fraud. Alex Mashinsky is expected to fight charges against different regulators and the DoJ, making his situation the latest high-profile crypto lawsuit this year.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on this and other fintech-related developments.
US SEC is under fire after posting a rather unconvincing press release detailing that they won against Ripple in some cases where the crypto company had tried to introduce an unconventional law.
The crypto community is calling out the US SEC for its tendency to want to regulate the crypto industry greedily.
Voices have been raised against US SEC following its recent loss in the case against Ripple regarding XRP being security. The crypto community feels that authority should have been fair, meaning they would have expected SEC to have an outright win.
The crypto community celebrates a win against the US SEC
The crypto community has come together to celebrate another massive win against the US SEC after the judge officiating the case between the regulator and Ripple ruled in favor of Ripple that Primary markets sale of XRP does not constitute properties of a securities asset.
The SEC has fallen prey to an unforgiving crypto community after posting an official press release that ‘celebrates’ its win against Ripple, claiming that the crypto company tried to formulate its own rules.
A statement in their press release reads:
“ The court agreed with the US SEC that the Howey Test governs the securities analysis of crypto transactions and rejected Ripple’s made -up test as to what constitutes an investment contract, onstead emphasizing that the Howey test and subsequent cases have held that a variety of tangible and intangible assets can serve as subject of an investment contract.”
The US SEC continued:
“ Further, the court rejected Ripples fair notice argument noting that Howey test is clear and that claiming ignorance is not a defense to violating the securities laws. We’ll continue to review the decision.”
No surprise that an agency led by Gary Gensler chooses to lose dishonorably.
This development has been received with open arms by crypto exchanges like Coinbase, which is in a similar court battle with the US SEC. Coinbase has relisted XRP and claims that the win from Ripple is a win for the industry, developers, and investors.
W.
W for @ripple. W for the industry. W for the builders. W for a clear rulebook. W for updating the system.
Trading on the XRP/USDT pair begins on 7/14 at 9 a.m. ET.@Ripple XRP aims to facilitate fast and low-friction value transfers, providing institutions with a solution for cross-border transactions.
The crypto community has also reacted to the story, with investor Scott Melker calling out the US SEC for their unpopular press release. Scott asks the US SEC to digest the developments rather gracefully.
— The Wolf Of All Streets (@scottmelker) July 13, 2023
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse was also included, as he notes the important part of the ruling. He tweeted saying:
“The most important part of this ruling: “XRP, as a digital token, is not in and of itself a “contract, transaction[,] or scheme” that embodies the Howey requirements of an investment contract.” This is a now a matter of law (not up for trial.).”
Watch Fintech Express for more updates on crypto regulation and other fintech-related developments.
Ripple wins in its case against the US SEC as a US judge rules that it’s not a security.
Per July 13 filing, Judge Torres has given Ripple an early win in his ruling that XRP should not be classified as a security.
Ripple has scored a win in the Southern District of New York after the Judge presiding over SEC vs Ripple ordered that XRP is not a security. This filing has sent the crypto token exploding 60% in minutes.
Ripple XRP explodes by 60%
Judge Torres, who has been presiding over the case between SEC and XRP, has handed the latter a win in a monumental way. He first predated the release of Hinman documents which showed ignorance of the law by the US SEC, tipping the odds of winning the case to XRP.
The Southern District of New York concluded that Ripple’s Programmatic Sales and Other Distributions of XRP did not constitute the offer and sale of investment contracts.
But Ripple’s Institutional Sales of XRP constituted the unregistered offer and sale of investment contracts… pic.twitter.com/VjrEmWVT83
“The defendant’s motion for summary judgements is GRANTED as to the programmatic sales and Other Distributions, Larsen’s and Garlinghouse’s sales, and DENIED as to the Institutional Sales.
Within minutes, the coin exploded by over 60% as the crypto space received the news rather happily. This landmarking ruling was well awaited as the crypto space felt that the SEC was playing foul on the industry and seeking to smother it for greedy reasons.
Some notable names have hit back at the SEC as they await the Coinbase and Binance rulings, where SEC says that over 6o crypto assets, including XRP, are securities. Gemini’s Cameron Winklevoss has called the SEC out, telling them to focus on the TradFi sector and let crypto be regulated more meaningfully.
The sale of XRP on exchanges is NOT a security. Which means the sales of all cryptos on exchanges are NOT securities and @SECGov and @GaryGensler have NO jurisdiction over them. This is a watershed moment that relegates the SEC to TradFi and makes it a dinosaur regulator. Buh-bye pic.twitter.com/PRuumqQBEL
Wallet, a telegram payments bot, has allowed payments in Bitcoin (BTC) USDT and TON.
It states that merchants who minted to use it must bear their regulatory risks and only use it if their jurisdictions allow crypto payments.
Telegram wallet bot has announced the support of USDT, Bitcoin, and Ton crypto payments. It has also asked merchants to take responsibility for investigating if they are allowed to carry out crypto payments before using its innovation.
The Telegram wallet bot has released the Wallet Pay service, allowing users to transact in three crypto assets named above. This innovation will allow the transaction between users and retain businesses via the telegram interface.
The functionality of this new feature by Telegram has rolled out with support in most countries except the United States of America, where the regular environment is far from friendly. However, it has also deny listed other regions like Iran, Myanmar, and North Korea per international monetary sanctions.
Additionally, it has asked businesses to decide if they can use crypto payments in their regions of jurisdiction before accessing the innovation. As such, it does not expect any usage from countries like Russia, Egypt, China, Vietnam, and others that do not allow using crypto products as treatment.
This development comes when the regulatory atmosphere for crypto assets is still in limbo. Most nations are yet to introduce concrete regulatory frameworks, which have prompted the Telegram wallet bot to ask businesses to take their regulatory risks when accessing the innovation.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on this and other fintech-related developments.
