Scammers have hacked the official Twitter account of the Embassy of India in Oman, replacing the profile picture with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and using the reply function to spam users with fake XRP giveaway phishing links. At the time of publication, the Twitter account OmanEmbassy_Ind showed several retweets matching those of Garlinghouse, seemingly in an attempt to make the activity look legitimate. The hacked account has been responding to tweets using the hashtag XRP, encouraging users to sign up for a fake giveaway of 100 million tokens — worth more than $42 million at an XRP price of $0.42. …

Caroline Pham, one of five commissioners at the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, met with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse ahead of a court decision which could affect how regulators handle XRP tokens. In a Monday tweet, Pham said she visited Ripple Labs’ offices as part of a “learning tour” involving crypto and blockchain. Garlinghouse later tweeted that the commissioner’s visit was related to “public-private engagement” — likely referring to a privately funded company like Ripple engaging with U.S. regulators. The next stop on my learning tour was visiting @Ripple Labs. Thanks @bgarlinghouse! #XRP #crypto #blockchain pic.twitter.com/ICr8H2ZE3q — …

The United States equities markets and the crypto markets are likely to remain volatile in the near term because traders remain nervous about the size of the next Federal Reserve rate hike on Sept. 20 and Sept. 21. While the majority favors a 75 basis point rate hike, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, some analysts expect the Fed to hike rates by 100 basis points, the first such instance since the early 1980s. Many expect Bitcoin (BTC) to continue its slide and drop below the June low in the future. Although anything is possible in the markets, many times, …

XRP pricewas wobbling between profits and losses on Sep. 19 despite hopes that Ripple would eventually win its long-running legal battle against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Ripple and the SEC both agreed to expedite the lawsuit on Friday to get an answer on whether $XRP is a security or not. From the updates of the case, it sounds like it’s in the favor of @Ripple pic.twitter.com/SAyl4VLxdM — Jeff Sekinger (@JeffSekinger) September 19, 2022 Fed spoils SEC vs. Ripple euphoria The XRP/USD pair dropped by over 1% to $0.35 while forming extremely sharp bullish and bearish wicks on …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs have both called for a federal judge to make an immediate ruling on whether Ripple’s XRP sales violated U.S. securities laws. In separate motions filed on Sept. 17 by Ripple and the SEC, both have called for summary judgment in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York. Summary judgments are submitted to the courts when a party involved believes there’s enough evidence at hand to make a ruling without the need to proceed to trial. Both parties have called on Judge Analisa Torres to make an immediate ruling …

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite index suffered their worst weekly performance since June as investors remain concerned that the Federal Reserve will have to continue with its aggressive monetary policy to curb inflation and that could lead to a recession in the United States. Bitcoin (BTC) remains closely correlated to the S&P 500 and is on track to fall more than 9% this week. If this correlation continues, it could bring more pain to the cryptocurrency markets because Goldman Sachs strategist Sharon Bell cautioned that aggressive rate hikes could trigger a 26% fall in the S&P 500. The …

The World Bank has warned of a possible global recession in 2023. In a press release on Sept. 15, the bank said that the current pace of rate hikes and policy decisions is unlikely to be enough to bring inflation down to pre-pandemic levels. Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates said in a blog post on Sept. 13 that if rates were to rise to about 4.5% in the United States, it would “produce about a 20 percent negative impact on equity prices.” The negative outlook for the equity markets does not bode well for the cryptocurrency markets …

The United States equities markets and the cryptocurrency markets had been rising leading up to the Sept. 13 release of the August consumer price index data, but the rally fell apart once the data showed inflation rising, rather than falling. The negative data dashed any hope of a Federal Reserve pivot in the near term and it triggered a sharp decline in risky assets. The market capitalization of U.S. stocks plunged by about $1.6 trillion on Sept. 13 and the market cap of the cryptocurrency markets slipped below $1 trillion. Statistician and independent market analyst Willy Woo, believes that Bitcoin …

After trading near the $20,000 level for several days, Bitcoin (BTC) turned down sharply and dropped below $19,000 on Sept. 6. The fall was not limited to the cryptocurrency markets as the United States equities markets also closed lower on Sept. 6. Risky assets have been facing selling pressure in the past few days as investors are worried that the Federal Reserve could continue with its aggressive tightening policy. The CME FedWatch Tool shows that the probability for a 75 basis point rate hike in the September meeting has risen to 80% from 69% a week back. This extended the …

Ripple may soon unveil positive developments in its central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects, following hints from Ripple CBDC advisor Antony Welfare of more announcements to come. Crypto influencer Sentosumosaba had shared on Twitter on Sept.6 that Ripple was in the midst of several CBDC pilot programs including one in Bhutan and the other in Palau. Ripple’s senior advisor Welfare, who handles CBDC Europe and Global Partnerships responded on the same thread, teasing there could be “more CBDC announcements” in the “next few weeks.” Thanks @sentosumosaba for the mention - make sure you follow me for more CBDC announcements in …

The cryptocurrency markets have been quiet over the weekend. The sideways price action continues on Sept. 5 and there is unlikely to be any fresh triggers from the United States equities markets which are closed for Labor Day. However, the bullish picture for cryptocurrencies looks clouded as the energy crisis in Europe sent the euro to a two-decade low versus the U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) which has an inverse correlation with the equities markets and cryptocurrencies soared above 110 for the first time since June 2002. A positive sign among all the mayhem is that Bitcoin …

An attacker gained access to PwC Venezuela’s Twitter account and has been actively posting cryptocurrency phishing links for the last 8 hours at the time of the writing. Considering that all the tweets posted by the hacker remain active, it is evident that PwC officials are yet to realize the compromise. Investors clicking on the links remain at risk of being defrauded by the hacker. If not mitigated promptly, the threat may be catastrophic, considering that PwC Veleneula’s Twitter currently boasts over 37,000 followers. Cointelegraph has reached out to PwC Venezuela to inform them about the hack. PwC Venezuela has …