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adminThe Nov. 13 XRP (XRP) price action stemming from a falsified BlackRock XRP trust filing shouldn’t sway the United States securities regulator’s decision to approve or delay spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — but it isn’t a good look, say industry observers.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has previously claimed the Bitcoin market can be manipulated and has knocked back spot Bitcoin ETFs, citing a lack of market manipulation controls.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas told Cointelegraph the fake XRP filing should have little to no impact on the SEC’s final decision.
“We doubt this will impact the situation with spot Bitcoin ETFs,” Balchunas said. However, he added the incident could validate the SEC’s beliefs.
“There’s no doubt it is a bad look that arguably validates the ‘fraud and manipulation’ that the SEC used as grounds for past denial.”
The Nov. 13 filing on the Delaware list of corporations website showed BlackRock creating the “iShares XRP Trust” — a precursor to launching an ETF.
The filing resulted in XRP spiking 12.3% in 30 minutes before it tumbled back down just as quickly once the filing was outed as a hoax by Balchunas and others who received BlackRock’s confirmation that the filing was made by someone posing as its managing director Daniel Schwieger.
Michael Bacina, a partner at the law firm Piper Alderman and chair of the industry group Blockchain Australia, told Cointelegraph he would be “surprised” if the SEC used the incident to postpone ETF applications.
“It’s unlikely an isolated rumor such as this would provide a legal basis for delaying ETF applications already being considered, particularly where they are already subject to deadlines,” he said.
The amount of lying, rumormongering and brazen attempts at market manipulation wrt to #Bitcoin, $XRP, $ETH, $SOL and more as if pertains to ETF news is enough to deny all applications currently pending.
This isn’t a real market.
It is fraud flea market.
The SEC should hammer it.— Parrot Capital (@ParrotCapital) November 14, 2023
Lucas Kiely, the CEO of wealth management platform Yield App, said the faked XRP filing wouldn’t sway the SEC and stressed the crypto community should “calm down.”
“It is highly unlikely that this incident will play any role in that decision,” Kiely sa.
He iterated that many X (formerly Twitter) pundits have posted fear-mongering headlines to capture audience attention and “spoof the markets.”
“Overall, this is a keep-calm and carry-on moment for the industry and likely a mild amusement for BlackRock.”
XRP filing ‘could easily undermine’ ETF efforts
The SEC has rejected several spot Bitcoin ETFs in the past on claims that investors aren’t protected from “fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices,” argues James Edwards, a crypto analyst at Australian fintech firm Finder.
There’s no reason to suggest it will detract from that view, Edwards claimed.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs to push US slice of crypto ETF trading volume to 99.5% — Analyst
“Unfortunately, events like these could easily undermine efforts to launch a Bitcoin ETF in the U.S.,” Edwards said.
“The onus will be on ETF applicants like BlackRock to demonstrate that they are somehow able to protect clients from market manipulation and fraud, which is difficult given the opaque nature of crypto markets.”
The fake XRP trust filing will be referred to the Delaware Department of Justice for further investigation.
LATEST ON FAKE XRP ETF FILING: “Our only comment is that this matter has been referred to the Delaware Department of Justice,” the spokesperson (for Delaware Dept of State) said. Damn. Someone out there is crapping their pants as we speak.. https://t.co/Xea226Q1vT
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) November 14, 2023
BlackRock filed for a spot Ether ETF on Nov. 9. It is now awaiting regulator approval in addition to its spot Bitcoin ETF filed in June.
Magazine: Asia Express: China’s risky Bitcoin court decision, is Huobi in trouble or not?
Published on By A Nigerian court has reportedly delayed the country’s tax evasion case against Binance until April 30 to give time for Nigeria’s tax authority to respond to a request from the crypto exchange. Reuters reported on April 7 that a lawyer for Binance, Chukwuka Ikwuazom, asked a court the same day to invalidate an order allowing for court documents to be served to the company via email. Binance doesn’t have an office in Nigeria and Ikwuazom claimed the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) didn’t get court permission to serve court documents to Binance outside the country. “On the whole the order for the substituted service as granted by the court on February 11, 2025 on Binance who is … registered under the laws of Cayman Islands and resident in Cayman Islands is improper and should be set aside,” he said. FIRS sued Binance in February, claiming the exchange owed $2 billion in back taxes and should be made to pay $79.5 billion for damages to the local economy as its its operations allegedly destabilized the country’s currency, the naira, which Binance denies. It also reportedly alleged that Binance is liable to pay corporate income tax in Nigeria, as it has a “significant economic presence” there, with FIRS requesting a court order for the exchange to pay income taxes for 2022 and 2023, plus a 10% annual penalty on unpaid amounts along with a nearly a 27% interest rate on the unpaid taxes. In February 2024, Nigeria arrested and detained Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla on tax fraud and money laundering charges. The country dropped the tax charges against both in June and the remaining charge against Gambaryan in October. Tigran Gambaryan (right) was seen in a September video struggling to walk into a courtroom in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Source: X Anjarwalla managed to slip his guards and escape Nigerian custody to Kenya in March last year and is apparently still at large. Related: Binance exec shares details about release from Nigerian detention Gambaryan, a US citizen, returned home in October after reports suggested his health had deteriorated during his detainment with reported cases of pneumonia, malaria and a herniated spinal disc that may need surgery. Binance stopped its naira currency deposits and withdrawals in March 2024, effectively leaving the Nigerian market. Magazine: Trash collectors in Africa earn crypto to support families with ReFi
Published on By 👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈 It’s the final episode before recess so Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy wonder, given the turbulent times, who’ll be the first to call for Parliament to be recalled? And talking of the Lib Dems, there’s some new polling which might put a spring into the step of Ed Davey – is his party’s position on Trump and trade doing them some favours? Of course, there’s plenty of time to talk about the onslaught of US tariffs and implications for the UK – watch out for if the PM is asked about fiscal headroom when he appears before the Liaison Committee of senior MPs later. Sam and Anne also ponder the PM’s response to Sam at a Q&A yesterday. Published on By Asset manager Teucrium Investment Advisors is set to launch the first XRP-based exchange-traded fund in the US markets, a leveraged XRP (ETF) on the NYSE Arca. The Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF will seek to offer investors two times the daily return of the XRP (XRP) token with a 1.85% management fee and annual expense ratio, according to the company’s website. The XRP-based ETF will trade under the XXRP ticker beginning April 8. “If you have a short-term high-conviction view on XRP prices, you may consider exploring the Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF,” the alternative asset manager said. XXRP currently has $2 million worth of net assets. Details of Teucrium’s soon-to-be-launched XXRP ETF. Source: Teucrium Teucrium founder and CEO Sal Gilbertie told Bloomberg on April 7 that investors had shown strong interest in an XRP ETF and hinted that it may file to list more crypto ETFs in the future. Gilbertie was also pleased that XXRP would launch during a market downturn driven largely by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. “What better time to launch a product than when prices are low?” Gilbertie told Bloomberg. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said it was “very odd” to see a new asset’s first ETF come in leveraged form — however, he added that the odds of a spot XRP ETF being approved remain “pretty high.” Source: Eric Balchunas Several spot XRP ETF applications from the likes of Grayscale, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, Canary Capital and 21Shares are being reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In February, Balchunas and fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart attributed 65% approval odds to a spot XRP ETF in 2025. Predictions market Polymarket states there is currently a 75% chance that the SEC will approve a spot XRP ETF in 2025. Related: XRP price sell-off set to accelerate in April as inverse cup and handle hints at 25% decline Up until recently, ETF issuers would have seen a different environment for filing for XRP ETFs as Ripple Labs — the creators of the XRP token — and the SEC battled out a four-year court battle over XRP’s security status. That case came to a close last month. Teucrium has amassed over $310 million worth of assets under management since it was founded in 2010. It offers mostly agricultural commodities, such as ETFs tracking the likes of corn, soybeans, sugar and wheat. Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple and industry with no crypto legal precedent set
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