Happy Saturday!
Ripple’s lawyers are opposing the SEC’s request to appeal a judge’s ruling on the XRP token. A HashKey fund will invest significantly in altcoins. A Silicon Valley prosecutor is battling “pig butchering” scams, and Robinhood will buy back stock previously owned by Sam Bankman-Fried. Read on!
Ripple opposes SEC’s XRP appeal
Ripple’s lawyers in an ongoing battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission argue that the regulator hasn’t met the requirements to appeal a judge’s ruling on XRP, Cointelegraph reported.
The SEC sued Ripple and CEO Brad Garlinghouse in December 2020, claiming its XRP token violated securities law. A judge ruled in July that XRP was not a security when sold to the public. The SEC moved to appeal that decision in August, which Ripple has now opposed.
HashKey fund to invest in altcoins
HashKey Capital, which is raising $100 million for a new crypto market fund, will invest a significant portion in altcoins, aiming to outperform market leader Bitcoin, its portfolio manager told Reuters.
The Hong Kong fund’s clientele is mostly wealthy individuals and investment companies serving rich Asian families, Jupiter Zheng told the news agency. Less than half the fund’s investments will be in major cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Prosecutor fights ‘pig butchering’ scams
Erin West, a deputy district attorney in California’s Silicon Valley, has raised an alarm among crypto law enforcement about “pig-butchering,” scams in which trusting people are cheated through fake crypto investments, the Wall Street Journal reported in an interview.
West said she receives calls daily from victims, and that her team has been able to help 26 of them and return more than $2 million so far. She and her team are now training law enforcement agencies to trace scammers and claw back cash. “We’ve got to disrupt their infrastructure and make this stop,” West told DL News earlier this year.
Robinhood to buy back SBF stake
Trading platform Robinhood agreed to buy back $606 million of its stock previously owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, CoinDesk reported.
The shares were worth about $450 million when the US Justice Department seized them in January, a month after Bankman-Fried was arrested following the collapse of FTX in November, Decrypt said.
Bitget upgrades crypto tax reporting
Bitget, a derivatives crypto exchange and copy trading platform, introduced an upgrade to its API connecting to Koinly’s tax reporting platform, in response to community feedback.
It said the upgrade offers new features to simplify and accelerate the process of cryptocurrency taxation, computing gains and losses and generating crypto tax reports.
What we’re reading around the web
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Looks Cheap, but Isn’t Without Risk — Barron’s
Why ruling in obscure Uniswap case is latest blow to Gary Gensler’s clampdown on cryptocurrencies — DL News
NFTs, Once Hyped as the Next Big Thing, Now Face ‘Worst Moment’ — Bloomberg