Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex announced on Dec. 29 that it will be removing all XRP markets starting from Jan. 15, 2021. Trading pairs affected are BTC/XRP, ETH/XRP, USDT/XRP and USD/XRP. The announcement comes just days after fellow exchange Coinbase said that it would suspend trading in XRP from Jan. 19. XRP’s fortunes have taken a significant downturn since the United States Securities and Exchange Commission unveiled a lawsuit against XRP issuer Ripple last week. The lawsuit alleges that Ripple, along with CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen, have raised more than $1.3 billion through what it claims is an unregistered, …

With XRP plunging in value following a wave of exchange delistings and trading suspensions, Ripple Labs issued a statement Tuesday vowing to respond to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s allegations against the company. The statement opens with the following message: “The public and press have only heard the story from the SEC’s side, and we’ll be filing our response in a few weeks to address these unproven allegations against Ripple.” The statement claims that the SEC is using Ripple to bring down the entire cryptocurrency industry in the United States and that, for years, the company has sought …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will suspend trading for XRP in response to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission taking legal action against Ripple. According to a blog post published today by Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, the exchange will fully suspend XRP trading starting on Jan. 19 at 10:00 am PST. Coinbase clarified that “trading may be halted earlier as needed” to maintain the exchange’s market health metrics. In addition, the suspension will reportedly not affect Ripple-backed Flare Network's upcoming Spark (FLR) token airdrop. "The trading suspension will not affect customers' access to XRP wallets which will remain …

Just over a month ago on Nov. 24, XRP’s value surged to above the $0.90 mark on U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, albeit momentarily, leading many backers to believe that the digital currency was all set to skyrocket once again, possibly even retesting its January 2018 all-time high of over $3. However, in the wake of the recent lawsuit laid out by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission against Ripple, not only does a future value hike look increasingly improbable for XRP but the project’s future as a whole could be in jeopardy. The SEC’s core argument against the digital …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not been kind to crypto in the past year. In March 2020, in the SEC v. Telegram case, the Commission won a worldwide injunction against the proposed issuance of Grams by Telegram, undoing years of innovative work even in the absence of any allegations of fraud. Then, on the last day of September 2020, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein dashed the hopes of Kik Interactive by ruling in favor of the SEC’s motion for summary judgment in SEC v. Kik Interactive, finding that Kik had sold securities when it issued its Kin crypto tokens. …

The United States is in desperate need of open-minded cryptocurrency regulations from the incoming Biden administration, according to Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz. Appearing in a Thursday segment of CNBC’s Sqwuak Box, Novogratz said the Bitcoin (BTC) bull market has proven resilient to the recent wave of anti-crypto rhetoric coming from Capitol Hill: “It tells you about how powerful this bull market is [...] They are throwing lots at the system, and it’s not actually impacting it.” Nevertheless, for the cryptocurrency industry to truly succeed in the long run, more regulatory clarity is needed. Referring to the incoming Biden administration, …

Elad Roisman will take over as Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission effective immediately, according to Commissioner Hester Peirce. Peirce broke the news on Twitter Thursday morning, where she congratulated Roisman for his appointment. Congratulations, Chairman Roisman! I look forward to your leadership of the SEC. — Hester Peirce (@HesterPeirce) December 24, 2020 Both Republican commissioners, Peirce and Roisman were the leading candidates to replace Jay Clayton as Chair. Clayton resigned from his position on Wednesday in a statement posted on the SEC’s website. The move was widely expected as Clayton had previously indicated his desire to …

XRP price dropped steeply below $0.3 on Dec. 24, hitting as low as $0.2138 on Binance. The selling pressure on XRP has intensified in the aftermath of the high-profile lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission against Ripple. There are three main factors behind XRP’s sharp price drop, namely the SEC lawsuit, likely delisting by exchanges and worsening market sentiment. Ripple lawsuit is worse than EOS and Kik, investor says This isn’t the first high-profile lawsuit or settlement the SEC has had with a blockchain firm or a token. EOS and Kik both settled with the SEC, …

Global money transfer service MoneyGram has clarified the nature of its collaboration with its blockchain partner Ripple following the latter’s recent probe by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In a press statement issued on Dec. 23, MoneyGram revealed that it has never utilized Ripple’s counterparty services, namely On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) and RippleNet, for forex transactions. "As a reminder, MoneyGram does not utilize the ODL platform or RippleNet for direct transfers of consumer funds – digital or otherwise. Furthermore, MoneyGram is not a party to the SEC action." The company added: "MoneyGram has continued to utilize its other traditional FX …

A group of leading U.S. financial regulators has released a new statement on stablecoins. One of the headlining topics of crypto regulation news this year, stablecoins were the main topic of a Dec. 23 statement the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or PWG. The PWG includes representation from the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The group's stated opinions were hardly revolutionary, mostly saying that stablecoin issuers would need to abide by all the typical rules of the road in terms of financial law. The regulators say that stablecoins need …

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 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is listening. At least, per a Dec. 23 announcement, the SEC is responding to long-term industry complaints that nobody knows who can handle security token trading. The SEC is both requesting comment on the issue and extending a hand to the crypto industry. Perhaps most notably, the commission's announcement will keep broker-dealers safe from enforcement for the next five year: "In particular, the Commission’s position, which will expire after a period of five years from the publication date of this statement, is that a broker-dealer operating under the circumstances set forth in Section IV …