Bitwise Asset Management, one of the largest crypto fund managers, has fully divested from XRP amid the regulatory backlash against Ripple. In an official press release, Bitwise announced Wednesday that its position in XRP has been liquidated because its fund “does not invest in assets that are reasonably likely to be deemed securities under federal or state securities laws.” It continues: “Bitwise's decision to liquidate its position in XRP was based on consideration of new public information from the SEC's complaint.” Bitwise’s crypto index fund was launched in 2017 to provide institutional investors with digital-asset exposure. Assets under management surpassed …

The current crypto bull run has been spearheaded by Bitcoin (BTC). As the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has previously hinted that Bitcoin is not a security, the regulator’s current lawsuit against Ripple is unlikely to stop the institutional inflow of money into Bitcoin. However, a few altcoins that may be at risk of facing a similar fate as Ripple could face selling pressure. Due to a change in sentiment, retail investors may sell some of their altcoin holdings and shift to Bitcoin. Even retail investors who plan to spend their stimulus checks for buying crypto-assets may prefer Bitcoin …

XRP price fell 41% on Binance over the past three days as news of the lawsuit by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission against Ripple became apparent. As a result, several small exchanges have already halted XRP trading. So far, three small exchanges, namely OSL, Beaxy and CrossTower have either temporarily stopped trading or removed XRP. More exchanges may delist XRP According to prominent lawyers in the cryptocurrency industry, exchanges that listed XRP are at risk if the token is deemed a security. Hailey Lennon, a partner at Anderson Kill, said: “You know who is at risk if XRP …

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has responded to the latest regulatory complaint against XRP, assuring shareholders that the company will prove their case in the court. In a Dec. 22 blog post, Garlinghouse argued that the legal action against the XRP cryptocurrency brought by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is an “assault on crypto at large.” The executive is confident that the regulatory action will have a “snowball effect” on the industry as a whole, potentially affecting major players like Coinbase and all other cryptocurrencies, not just Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH): “Ripple, Chris and I may be the …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has taken legal action against Ripple as well as its CEO, Brad Garlinghouse,and co-founder Christian Larsen. In charges filed today in federal district court in Manhattan, the commission is alleging that the XRP token is classified as a security and is accusing Ripple and the two executives of raising more than $1.3 billion through an “unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering” to investors beginning in 2013. The SEC further alleges that Ripple distributed XRP for “labor and market-making services” and that Garlinghouse and Larsen failed to register their personal XRP sales, estimated at …

In its coming fight against the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ripple won't see support from some of the mainstays of the crypto lobby. Jerry Brito, the executive director of Coin Center, made it clear on Tuesday that his organization won’t put up any resistance to the notion that XRP is a security. In response to a question about Coin Center's work to keep XRP from the SEC's purview, Brito posted two articles where Coin Center argues why Bitcoin and Ethereum aren’t securities before pointing to the absence of such a post for Ripple: Here is a post where we argue …

XRP price declined by 21% in two days on Coinbase from $0.5695 to $0.4491. The drop was accelerated by reports on Dec. 22 that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing a lawsuit against Ripple. Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, said the SEC “voted to attack crypto,” citing a Fortune article. He wrote: “Today, the SEC voted to attack crypto. Chairman Jay Clayton — in his final act — is picking winners and trying to limit US innovation in the crypto industry to BTC and ETH. We know crypto and blockchain technologies aren’t going anywhere. Ripple has …

Ripple will be sued by the United States Security and Exchange Commission for allegedly selling unlicensed securities in the form of XRP tokens, according to Fortune. In a move reminiscent of Coinbase's recent front-running of a New York Times expose of its alleged treatment of employees of color, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has taken the unusual step of posting to Twitter to seemingly legislate the issue in the court of public opinion. Today, the SEC voted to attack crypto. Chairman Jay Clayton - in his final act - is picking winners and trying to limit US innovation in the crypto …

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor recently tweeted that he purchased another 29,646 Bitcoin (BTC) at an average price of $29,646. With this purchase, the company has deployed the $650 million raised through a recent convertible debt offering. The business intelligence firm now holds 70,470 Bitcoin and that makes it the fifth-largest individual holder of Bitcoin. The current Bitcoin bull run has largely been driven by institutional investors. Analysts at JPMorgan Chase believe that in order for the uptrend to continue, fresh institutional money needs to keep trickling in as it has done in the past few weeks, or Bitcoin could witness …

Christopher Wood, the global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, has dumped five percent of their physical gold position in order to buy Bitcoin (BTC). This move shows that a growing number of institutional investors consider Bitcoin to be at par or a better store of value than gold. Wood also said that if Bitcoin were to have a big correction, he would buy more. The fact that institutional investors are content purchasing in the $16,000 to $20,000 range suggests that institutional investors are not worried about a pullback as they view it as an opportunity to accumulate for the …

Crypto traders and investors received an early Christmas gift today as Bitcoin (BTC) price cleared the $20,000 psychological milestone for the first time in history. Today's breakout is equally significant as it serves to heal the scars of the traders who may have bought right at the top in 2017 and held their positions until now. The current uptrend in Bitcoin has been all about institutional adoption. The latest institutional investor to have announced a position in Bitcoin is the United Kingdom-based investment manager Ruffer Investment Company Limited. As has been the case with most institutional purchases this year, Ruffer …

Ethereum address creation hit a 35-month high on December 14 when 177,000 new addresses were added to the network according to analysts from Santiment. The analytics provider reported that its network growth metric showed Ethereum adding 177,500 addresses in a single-day on Saturday, Dec. 12. The amount of new #Ethereum addresses hit a single-day, 35-month high Saturday. Our network growth metric picked up $ETH reaching 177.5k addresses created. Notably more addresses interacting on an asset's network is a very promising indicator for bulls. https://t.co/Y6Uvhzyemq pic.twitter.com/yIv2SOYhDS — Santiment (@santimentfeed) December 14, 2020 The number of active addresses also surged on Dec. …