Rumors continue to swirl suggesting the two-year legal battle between Ripple Labs and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may be coming to an end as early as this week, prompting the community to weigh in on the matter. Speculation about the potential settlement appears to have come from a Dec. 10 ask-me-anything (AMA) with Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, who said he had heard rumors that the case would be settled on Dec. 15. In the days since, there's been plenty of commentary from the community — giving their two cents on what a settlement would mean for …

Welcome to Law Decoded, your weekly digest of all the major developments in the field of regulation. So, Sam Bankman-Fried, public enemy number one, won’t appear in front of Senators on Dec. 14, as he missed the deadline for responding to a Senate Banking Committee request. However, we could witness the entrepreneur appear before Congress even a day earlier, on Dec. 13. Replying to a thread of tweets from Representative Maxine Waters, Chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, the former CEO of FTX expressed his willingness to testify at a committee hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives. John Ray, …

Ripple’s chief technology officer has responded to a conspiracy theory fabricated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT, which alleges the XRP Ledger (XRPL) is somehow being secretly controlled by Ripple. According to a Dec. 3 Twitter thread by user Stefan Huber, when asked a series of questions regarding the decentralization of Ripple’s XRP Ledger, the ChatGPT bot suggested that while people could participate in the governance of the blockchain, Ripple has the “ultimate control” of XRPL. Asked how this is possible without the consensus of participants and its publicly-available code, the AI alleged that Ripple may have “abilities that are …

The most talked about crypto lawsuit involving the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple is approaching its conclusion after a two-year-long battle. On Dec. 2 the SEC and Ripple both filed redacted replies to each other’s opposition to motions for summary judgment. Ripple argued in its motion document that the SEC has failed to prove that its offering of XRP between 2013 and 2020 was an offer or sale of an “investment contract” and therefore a security under federal security laws. Ripple concluded the document by stating that “the court should grant Defendant’s Motion and should deny …

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls were hopeful that the Nov. 21 dip to $15,500 would mark the cycle bottom, but BTC has not been able to produce a daily close above $17,600 for the past eighteen days. Traders are clearly uncomfortable with the current price action and the confirmation of BlockFi's demise on Nov. 28 was not helpful for any potential Bitcoin price recovery. The cryptocurrency lending platform filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States a couple of weeks after the firm halted withdrawals. In a statement sent to Cointelegraph, Ripple's APAC policy lead Rahul Advani said he expects the …

China’s COVID-19 protests cemented as NFTs Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) depicting the ongoing protests in China against the country’s tough zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy have found their way to the NFT marketplace OpenSea. At least two collections have been created in November, the first is a Polygon (MATIC)-based collection called “Silent Speech” featuring 135 NFTs depicting images of protesters, signage, graffiti and even social media screenshots related to the ongoing protests up for auction starting at 0.01 Ether (ETH), or just under $11.50. Another collection titled “Blank Paper Movement” of 36 Ethereum-based NFTs with a floor price of 10 ETH, or nearly …

Ripple’s APAC Policy Director has described the fall of FTX as “incredibly damaging” for the crypto space, but says the industry should stand the test of time if its focus shifts towards building “real utility.” In a statement sent to Cointelegraph, Ripple’s APAC policy lead Rahul Advani said he expects the FTX saga to lead to greater scrutiny on crypto regulations, while governments will re-evaluate “their stance towards crypto and blockchain technology,” adding: “The collapse of FTX is incredibly damaging for the crypto space and once again underscores the need for greater regulatory clarity.” Advani argued that the industry will …

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is reportedly interested in buying certain parts of collapsed crypto exchange FTX. On the sidelines of Ripple’s Swell conference in London — was held on Nov. 16 and 17 — Garlinghouse told The Sunday Times that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried called him two days before the company filed for bankruptcy as he sought to round up investors to rescue the business. Our 6th annual #RippleSwell is underway! I took the stage this morning with @cnbcKaren to discuss all things Ripple, crypto utility, macroeconomic factors affecting crypto, and much more. A thread… pic.twitter.com/EDHW3nyka8 — Brad Garlinghouse …

Recent developments in the Ripple vs Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case appear to have bolstered investor confidence in XRP-tied investment products, according to investment data from CoinShares’ head of research James Butterfill. In its latest Digital Asset Fund Flows published on Nov. 7, Butterfill noted that XRP investment products have seen a third consecutive week of institutional inflows, clocking $1.1 million. Butterfill said the figures imply "improving investor confidence as the SEC case against Ripple looks increasingly fragile." The last few weeks have seen Ripple Labs gaining increasing support from heavy hitters in the crypto industry including Coinbase and …

The United States will go to the voting booths on Nov. 8 to decide the fate of all 435 members of the House of Representatives and 34 out of the 100 Senate seats. The outcome will decide the prevailing power balance in Washington and has the potential to affect the crypto industry. Perhaps that’s why 38% of eligible voters will consider candidates’ positions on crypto, according to a recent survey. Another survey suggests that crypto regulation is a bipartisan issue, with 87% of Democratic and 76% of Republican respondents saying they want clarity from the U.S. government on digital assets. …

Fintech firm Ripple is garnering more support from the crypto and finance industry in its ongoing battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On Nov. 4, Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse proudly tweeted that the number of companies, developers, exchanges, associations, and investors officially supporting the firm has reached 12. The pile of amicus briefs being filed is mounting up according to Ripple Labs general counsel Stuart Alderoty. An amicus brief is a legal document filed in appeals cases to aid the court by providing extra relevant information or arguments. These briefs are filed by amicus curiae, …

NFT marketplace says no to optional royalties While nonfungible token (NFT) marketplaces such as Ethereum (ETH)-based X2Y2, LooksRare, and Solana (SOL)-based Magic Eden have made the switch over to “optional” creator royalties, a newly launched marketplace is taking a hard stand against it. Find Satoshi Lab, the company behind the popular move-to-earn app StepN has launched its new NFT marketplace named MOOAR on Nov. 1, notably featuring “no optional royalties.” Instead, its NFT royalty policy will be set to a default of 2% but allows creators to set royalties between 0.5% to 10%. There is no option for 0% royalties, …