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Attorney John Deaton Says SEC Investigated Ripple For 30 Months and Could Not Uncover Any Fraudulent Transactions

Mark Brennan
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Attorney John Deaton Says SEC Investigated Ripple For 30 Months and Could Not Uncover Any Fraudulent Transactions

Ripple’s Transparency has continued to be one factor that has lured investors to adopt the cryptocurrency.


The lawsuit filed against Ripple by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been one of the biggest cases in the cryptocurrency industry.

Enthusiasts Still Committed to Ripple Amid Lawsuit

Ripple enthusiasts are still solidly standing behind the blockchain company despite the case lingering for over a year, as they believe the lawsuit will soon disperse the same way it came about.

Many may not understand why Ripple enthusiasts are still bullish and expecting positive developments in favor of the blockchain company.

Attorney John Deaton, the lawyer representing over 65,000 XRP holders, disclosed in an interview today with Linqto, private equity investment firm, why he has chosen to throw his weight behind the crypto project.

According to attorney Deaton, Ripple has proven to be one of the most transparent cryptocurrency projects in existence without any shady dealings.

Per attorney Deaton, despite investigations from the Securities and Exchange Commission into Ripple’s transactions for more than two years, the authorities still could not find any fraudulent activity linked to the project.

“For 30 months, they [the SEC] looked at these guys [Ripple and Individual Defendants, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen]. They investigated them,” attorney Deaton said, adding:

“They even turned over every transaction that Garlinghouse and Larsen made, and every transaction that Ripple made between 2013 and 2020. After two and a half years, they did not come up with one claim of fraud or misrepresentation from Ripple.”

Deaton, who has spoken on a number of issues relating to the SEC lawsuit, noted that he does not think any other cryptocurrency project could come out spotless should the securities agency conduct an intensive investigation like they did with Ripple.

SEC Charges Against Ripple

Meanwhile, despite the investigations that came out negative, the SEC still slammed charges against Ripple and its executives for conducting an unregistered securities offering that saw the company raise $1.3 billion.

While the SEC is adamant that Ripple’s XRP is a security, the blockchain company thinks otherwise and is poised to prove that fact in the law court.

Following recent developments, a Joint Schedule Order was released last week that could see the lawsuit extended until next year.

Interestingly, the development has not deterred XRP investors from throwing their weight behind Ripple. They believe the lawsuit will end in the blockchain company’s favor, and the value of the digital currency will soar tremendously.

Cardano Development Team Launches New Update Improving Network’s Processing Capacity By 10%

Mark Brennan
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Cardano Development Team Launches New Update Improving Network’s Processing Capacity By 10%

 

A hard fork combinator enhances Cardano’s processing power by 10%.



Cardano’s development team introduced a hard fork combinator into the network today. However, the network wasn’t affected in any way. Users continued with their normal activities on the network without noticing any changes.

Consequently, the network’s transaction processing speed has increased by 10%. This would be good news for Cardano users and ADA (the native token)’s holders, as the news is expected to cause an increase in ADA price.

 

IOHK reveals details about this proposal

On Monday, Cardano’s technical team (the input-output network, IOHK) tweeted that the update proposal to upgrade Cardano’s mainnet block size was approved over the weekend and would be implemented by yesterday evening. The IOHK further revealed that the goal of this update is to increase the Cardano’s block size from 80kb to 88kb.

The increment is expected to enhance the network’s throughput and Dapp performances. IOHK further revealed that this enhancement is one of the many optimizations planned for the network as it keeps making moves to scale Cardano throughout this year.

“After deployment, we will closely monitor the network’s performance and behavior over the next five days. Our performance analysis will determine when we should make the next increment,” IOHK further said.

Cardano’s growth has been exceptional since the start of the year, and the performance improvements are one of the factors responsible for this growth. The network will likely grow faster than before as the year winds down, as transaction volumes are expected to keep increasing more than it has happened this year.

More improvements are still necessary for Cardano to become a true Ethereum competitor

According to a recent Etherscan data shared by Twitter user, sobizR, Cardano would still need to increase its block size before it can be considered a true Ethereum rival. SobizR tweeted an Etherscan data which showed that Ethereum’s average block size is 95kb which is still way higher than Cardano’s 88kb average block size.

 

The blockchain analyst opined that Cardano’s block size would need to reach 150kb before having a similar kb/min rate as Ethereum. However, he remarked that the block size increment needs to be gradual. He suggested that the increments can be done via Cardano sidechains until the arrival of layer-2 scaling solutions.

Indian Citizen Loses Over $104,000 to Scammers Through Investment In a Fake Crypto Exchange 

Mark Brennan
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Indian Citizen Loses Over $104,000 to Scammers Through Investment In a Fake Crypto Exchange 

A Hyderabad man suffered significant losses after investing in a fake cryptocurrency exchange.


An Indian man based in the city of Hyderabad has been defrauded to the tune of Rs 80 lakh ($104,437) in a failed cryptocurrency investment.

Victim Narrates His Ordeal

According to a complaint filed today by the victim referred to as Mahesh, he had invested $104,437 in a cryptocurrency exchange between December 2021 and April 2022.

Mahesh told authorities that he learned about the exchange last year through a friend and began investing in the platform.

He disclosed that his first investment was Rs 30,000 ($391), which earned him an ROI of Rs 1 lakh in a short while.

Excited by the lucrative return he received within a short time, the victim committed more funds to the investments, which further increased his profit.

However, Mahesh added that he found out he had been the victim of a scam after he had issues withdrawing his funds.

“He was unable to withdraw the money from his wallet and when he contacted the fraudsters, they asked him to pay Rs 35 lakh to unlock the wallet. He refused to pay and subsequently the URL became defunct. Realizing he was duped, Mahesh lodged a complaint with us,” ACP KVM Prasad told Times of India today.

Mahesh did not disclose the specific cryptocurrency he had invested in; however, he noted that he made the investment via a cryptocurrency exchange whose URL ended with an extension ‘.ac.sh’.

The report added that following his reports to authorities, a case has been established against the fraudsters under sections 66-C and 66-D of the Information Technology Act.

Rising Cases of Crypto Theft

With cryptocurrencies becoming more valuable, malefactors are on a rampage looking for ways to increase their holdings in the asset class as they have deployed numerous means to achieve this purpose.

In recent times, there have been many cases of rug pull scams and heists resulting in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Scammers are also developing phishing sites to steal recovery phrases and gain access to victims’ funds.

As usual, investors are urged to always conduct due diligence before investing in any platform, as doing so will save them from a lot of disappointment.

Binance Partners With Contis To Launch Refugee Crypto Card For Displaced Ukrainians

Mark Brennan
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Binance Partners With Contis To Launch Refugee Crypto Card For Displaced Ukrainians

 

Binance Partners With Contis To Launch Crypto Card For Displaced Ukrainians.



Today, top crypto exchange, Binance, announced the launch of a refugee crypto card for its Ukraine-based users. Binance and Contis (a banking-as-a-Service platform) partnered to provide this card for Ukraine displaced persons. These cards are acceptable in any European Economic Area (EEA) where merchants support crypto payment and credit card purchases.

Known as the Binance refugee crypto card, new Binance users are also eligible to receive the card so long they are one of the displaced persons from Ukraine. One of Binance charity’s top-level executives, Helen hai, said, “during this challenging time for Ukrainians, their best option to transfer funds or receive funds when in urgent financial need is through cryptocurrencies.”

The CEO of Binance Ukraine (Kirill Khomyakov) added, “there are more than four million displaced persons from Ukraine as of the last estimate. Hence, we owe it a duty to these people to assist in our way. Through this refugee card, Binance users from Ukraine can receive financial assistance from any NGO such as Binance charity or free-will donations in crypto, including donations from their friends and loved ones.”

Part of this initiative involves Binance Charity collaborating with other top NGOs such as Rotary and Palianytsia to allow these NGOs to donate cash in crypto to holders of this card.  Furthermore, Binance charity has partnered with local NGOs to verify refugees and give each verified refugee a card containing $75 BUSD (or $75) and will receive this amount for three successive months.

The move is in line with the maximum donation amount stipulated by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Cardholders can make purchases with their BUSD without converting the funds to fiat – the conversion is automated.

Terms to own the refugee crypto card

While it is free for anyone to obtain the card, without a Binance account users won’t be eligible to receive the card. Also, the account holders must have opened their Binance accounts using their Ukraine home address even if they now live in other locations different from their Ukraine address.

The announcement adds that all potential holders will need to be KYC-verified before receiving the card. Helen Hai further said, “our goal is to make blockchain technology solve real-world issues, especially those who need it. We will still roll out more tools and collaborations to assist Ukrainians and others suffering because of various economic issues.”

Before launching this card, Binance charity had donated 10M USD to assist displaced Ukrainians and their families. Most of the funds have provided psychological assistance, food, clean water, and medical supplies for these Ukrainian refugees.

Binance charity is also in partnership with Ukraine-based NGOs to reach those trapped in Ukraine and whose lives are even in more danger. Also, Binance charity owns a crypto crowdfunding page (called Ukraine’s emergency assistance fund) where anyone from any part of the world can support Ukrainians by making donations in crypto.

5 Billion Shiba Inu Burnt in 24 Hours, 15.8B Since Burn Portal Launch: Details

Zabi
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5 Billion Shiba Inu Burnt in 24 Hours, 15.8B Since Burn Portal Launch: Details

 

5B Shiba Inu Burnt in 24 Hours, 15.8B Since Burn Portal launch.



“SHIB Burn Portal” is gathering massive traction since its launch on April 23, 2022. More than 15 billion Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens have been permanently taken out of circulation over the last 72 hours with the help of a new burn portal, according to a tweet posted by one of the official and the most dedicated SHIB Growth Breed member, Archangel.

2022 proves to be the “Year of Burn” for Shiba Inu (SHIB), as the newly launched “SHIB Burn Portal” has just reached another major milestone i.e., 15 billion SHIB burned.

Overall, 5 billion SHIB tokens have been taken out of circulation forever within the last 24 hours. Yesterday TheCryptoBasic reported 10.9B shib burned since the burn portal launch, now the count stands at 15.8B.

15.8 shib burned
image source: https://burn.shibaswap.com/

Mysterious Wallet Burning More Than 1B Shiba Inu:

The community continues to cheer up the development as one random mysterious wallet has sent 1.3 billion SHIB, worth $32,227 to the dead wallet within the last 24 hours.

Looking deep into the data provided by etherscan.io, we found that this mysterious wallet has interacted with a dead wallet twice, within less than 48 hours, and sent a total of 1,325,571,332 (1.32B) SHIB, worth $32,346 to it in two separate transactions.

wallet burning 1B shib

The first transaction from the mysterious wallet (performed on April 24, 2022) seems to be the “testing transaction”, transferring a little amount of SHIB to the dead wallet i.e., 5,000,000 (5.0M) SHIB, worth only $119. Following the “test transaction,” the wallet performed the massive transaction of 1.3 billion SHIB tokens.

In doing so, the current SHIB balance for the mysterious wallet turned “Zero”. This means he has sacrificed 100% of his holdings for the well-being of the SHIB Community.

SHIB Burn Portal came into being on April 23, 2022, in partnership with decentralized finance project Ryoshi’s Vision (RYOSHI). The portal reportedly allows holders to earn passive income by destroying SHIB tokens i.e., the holders of the most popular dog-themed cryptocurrency will receive RYOSHI tokens in exchange for burntSHIB tokens. The development aims to make shib scarcer, which could potentially boost the token’s price.

Massive Accumulation Behind Bitcoin Price Recovery As Whales Add 40,000 BTC During Dip

Mark Brennan
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Massive Accumulation Behind Bitcoin Price Recovery As Whales Add 40,000 BTC During Dip

 

Massive Bitcoin Accumulation Behind Bitcoin Price Recovery.



Many long-term BTC advocates and whale BTC holders continue to increase their BTC holdings, especially when the BTC price is on the decline. Many of them used the chance of the recent BTC price decline to purchase a combined amount of 40K BTC, valued at $1.65B.

Microstrategy made one of these purchases as it has always done in the past. The CEO of the asset management firm, Michael Saylor, described their buy-and-hold BTC strategy as hugely successful.

Data from the leading on-chain analytics platform, Santiment, and shared on Twitter by the top crypto analyst, Ali Martinez, showed that crypto wallets with 10K to 100K BTC increased their BTC holdings by more than 2.5% during the period when the BTC price declined from $39.9K to $38.3K.

whales buying btc

source: @ali_charts

The above chart shows that Bitcoin whales took advantage of the recent downswing to buy 40,000 $BTC, worth $1.6B. Addresses with 10,000 to 100,000 BTC increased their holdings by nearly 2% when prices dropped from $39,900 to $38,200. This massive dip-buying helped BTC’s price to recover above $40K.

BTC’s recovery continues

BTC gained 4.0% in the last day to trade at $40.61k; its dominance index also surged by 0.1% and is now 41.4%. The price of the leading crypto dipped to about $38.3k during the first trading session yesterday. However, it recovered from the losses and made some gains during the US session the same way as the US stock indexes.

BTC analysts predict that if BTC can flip its current price of $40.61K to support, it would likely remain bullish and surpass the price corresponding to the 0.5 Fib retracement level at $42.95K. However, if the leading digital asset fails to maintain this level, it will find support around the $38.8K to $39K level, its next crucial support. A close below this price point could kick-start the next significant decline and invalidate the bullish hypothesis.

btc price action

BTC has been bouncing around the ascending support line over the past three months and has hit that line seven times. Most of these touches caused an increase in BTC’s price. BTC also hit that line on Monday, but time will tell whether this would also increase its price. However, the bullish divergences on the RSI and MACD in the 24-hour chart indicate that a bullish trend reversal may occur as it has always been in the past.

Two Major Whales Buys 271 Billion Shiba Inu Worth $6.6M, Top Wallets Now Holds $1.4B Worth Of Shib

Zabi
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Two Major Whales Buys 271 Billion Shiba Inu Worth $6.6M, Top Wallets Now Holds $1.4B Worth Of Shib

Two Major ETH Whales bought 271.13 Billion Shiba Inu (SHIB), Worth 6.63 Million USD, Within the Last 24 Hours.



An Ethereum (ETH) whale has gobbled up over 219.33 billion Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens amid an ongoing accumulation of the most popular canine-themed cryptocurrency. The whale purchased Shib for $5.45 million.

As per data provided by WhaleStats, a whale labeled “BlueWhale0073” acquired a total of 219,332,229,787 (219.33B) SHIB through one significant transaction. This is the equivalent of ,454,792 (.45M).

This is the second significant transaction from a major ETH whale within 24 hours. Just few hours back, the 15th biggest ETH whale Bombur invested $1,178,967 ($1.17M) to buy 51,799,991,288 (51.79B) SHIB.

The two ETH whales scoop up a whopping total of 271,132,221,075 (271.13B) SHIB, worth $6,633,759 ($6.63M) through two separate transactions within the last 24 hours.

Shiba Inu has been gaining massive attention from top ETH whales since its listing on the Robinhood exchange on April 12, 2022. The accumulation appears to get more aggressive as the Shiba Inu team has recently launched its official “SHIB Burn Portal” on ShibaSwap.com, intending to diminish its massive supply in circulation while rewarding users with passive income in the form of Ryoshi Token.

The newly introduced portal has gathered immense traction as over 15 billion SHIB tokens have been taken out of circulation in less than 72 hours.

Moreover, Shiba Inu appears to maintain its top holding position by dollar value among the top 5,000 ETH Whales since last week. As per WhaleStats, these top whales currently hold $1,453,904,437 ($1.45B) worth of SHIB in their wallets.

Elon Musk and Mark Cuban Call for SEC’s Gag Orders Review Against Settling Defendants

Mark Brennan
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Elon Musk and Mark Cuban Call for SEC’s Gag Orders Review Against Settling Defendants

 

The petitioners say the SEC’s gag orders are only a plot to conceal information from market participants.  



Elon Musk and Mark Cuban have joined an amici brief challenging the Securities and Exchange Commission’s gag orders, which prevent settling defendants from publicly condemning the SEC’s unproven allegations. 

The brief, written by petitioner Barry D. Romeril and supported by amicis such as Musk, Cuban, and Nelson Obus, among others, demands that the Supreme Court of the United States review the SEC’s unconstitutional gag rules. 

Notably, the individual amici have at some point litigated against the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Commenting on the development, Cuban said:

Reacting to Cuban’s comment, James K. Filan called on Ripple enthusiasts to go through the brief in order to have good knowledge about how the SEC operates.

The Argument

Per the brief, the SEC’s gag rule is against public policy and a strict violation of First Amendment rights, as it prevents people, especially investors, from learning more about the case. 

The petitioners argue that there should not be gag orders preventing settling defendants from speaking up, as such policy will only conceal relevant information from securities market participants, whose benefit the SEC seeks transparency. 

According to the argument in the brief, the gag orders enable the SEC to conceal information from market participants, the agency’s Hobson’s choice settlements are not an alternative for market transparency, etc. 

“The SEC should welcome scrutiny of its allegations, particularly unproven allegations in settled cases, to ensure that justice is done and any shortcomings in its cases are publicly aired,” excerpts of the brief read. 

SEC Under Heavy Scrutiny

In recent times, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been heavily criticized mainly for its mode of operation in handling cases. 

As alleged, the SEC, instead of seeking justice in every case, is poised to ensure that it wins at all times, even if it means adopting drastic measures. 

Most businesses in the United States are not prepared to get into hot waters with the SEC because of the agency’s use of unconventional methods in ensuring its victory in all cases.  

However, Ripple is poised to change the narrative, as the blockchain company has endured a more than one year legal battle with the SEC, in its quest to prove that its native cryptocurrency is not a security.  

According to reports, the lawsuit may end in settlement, with the agreement being in favor of the blockchain company. 

Are Dogecoin Whales Positioning For A Big Price Move?

Albert Brown
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Are Dogecoin Whales Positioning For A Big Price Move?

 

Dogecoin whales are becoming active since Elon acquired Twitter.


 

After the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, completed and formalized his Twitter takeover, many industry experts (including on-chain analytics platforms such as Santiment) predicted a flurry of activities on the DOGE network. They appear to be right based on the current DOGE price action.

Top crypto trader on Twitter, Ali Martinez, with the username (@ali_charts), has revealed a 4-month peak in the volume of whale-like transactions on the DOGE network. He stated that DOGE whales (DOGE holders whose DOGE holdings are worth more than $100K) had made more than 2,400 DOGE transactions within the past 24 hours.

Martinez further said that these transactions’ volume only depicts the actions of whales. Then, he added the whales are purchasing in anticipation of a huge spike in DOGE price.

doge transactions

Image source: Twitter

The chart shows whales’ activity, suggesting how they may be positioning for a big price move. At the price level of $0.14, doge whales performed 2,400 DOGE transactions worth more than 100K each transaction, seriously suggesting whales’ expectation of a massive spike in DOGE price.

A DOGE breakout happening

Martinez also shared his analysis of DOGE price action following yesterday’s Twitter acquisition by the self-acclaimed Dogefather, Elon musk. The crypto analyst revealed that the 7-day chart shows that DOGE has broken out from a falling wedge pattern and might surge past its next crucial support (the $0.24 price level).

However, he remarked that DOGE would need to maintain a price level above the $0.13 support level before this bullish movement can hold. He said that if DOGE should decline below this $0.13 support, it might be impossible to hit the $0.24 price as previously predicted.

He said:

“DOGE appears to be heading to $0.24 after breaking out from a falling wedge pattern on the weekly chart. Failing to hold above the $0.13 support level can invalidate the bullish outlook for DOGE.”

dogecoin breakout

Image source: Twitter

DOGE liquidations reach 133M in 24 hours

As expected, there have been short-term DOGE liquidations of the dog-themed crypto. A Coinglass data revealed that there had been nearly 133M DOGE liquidations (worth over $20.14M) within the past 24 hours.

This volume of liquidations means that DOGE ranks third among the top liquidated digital assets, with BTC and ETH occupying the previous two spots. However, the data further revealed that more than 70% of those liquidations were from short traders taking entry positions in anticipation of a drop in DOGE price.

Despite the large volume of liquidations, DOGE price gained 20% and traded at $0.17. While DOGE ranked third (behind BTC and ETH) among the most liquidated digital currencies, it ranked first among the top-performing digital assets, ahead of BTC and ETH, which gained 2.95% and 3.7%, respectively, in the last 24 hours.

Veteran Futures Trader Peter Brandt Calls Congress to Stop Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover 

Mark Brennan
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Veteran Futures Trader Peter Brandt Calls Congress to Stop Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover 

Musk’s Twitter acquisition will affect the rights of the New York Times and NBC.


While news of Twitter’s acceptance to sell itself to Tesla’s Elon Musk has brought enormous joy to the hearts of many cryptocurrency traders, not too many crypto enthusiasts seem to be happy with the development.

Brandt Slams Musk’s Twitter Acquisition

One person who has publicly slammed Twitter for accepting to sell the company to Musk is Peter Brandt, a veteran futures trader.

According to Brandt, the United States Congress needs to step up and halt Musk’s effort to completely acquire Twitter in order to protect media companies like the New York Times, NPR, and NBC.

“How dare Elon Musk thinks he can buy a media company??? Congress must act now to preserve the rights of the @nytimes, @NPR, and @NBCNews to tell people what they should think. The hissy-fit the Left is having over this is absolutely hilarious,” Brandt noted on Twitter.

Can the Deal be Stopped?

It is worth noting that while Twitter has agreed to sell Musk and the deal be finalized this year, the social media company highlighted that the deal’s completion will be subject to shareholders and regulatory approval.

Should the authorities perceive any threat to Musk’s Twitter acquisition, there is a likelihood that the deal may not be completed as expected.

Musk’s Plans for Crypto Space

Meanwhile, most members of the global cryptocurrency community, especially Dogecoin enthusiasts, will be hoping that the deal pulls through.

Musk, a known Dogecoin (DOGE) proponent, disclosed earlier that he will develop a social media platform that uses DOGE, which would further increase the utility of the memecoin.

The billionaire investor also noted that he will wage war on Twitter spambots and those behind this illicit technique, who have continued to make crypto-related scam posts to entice unsuspecting victims into investing their cryptocurrencies in malicious projects.

Peter Schiff Smart Advice To Elon:

Peter Schiff the well know bitcoin opponent suggested Musk should sell Tesla:

“Since elonmusk is actually buying Twitter the smart move is to sell TSLA. At some point, the Tesla bubble will pop, and Musk’s shares will be force-sold after the collapse to cover his margin debt. Given the size of his position the block will likely trade at a large discount.”

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