Blockchain
GateHub Joins Uphold in Keeping XRP Listed Until the SEC’s Lawsuit Against Ripple Is Resolved


United Kingdom-based cryptocurrency gateway service GateHub has revealed it will keep XRP listed until the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple Labs is resolved, following the footsteps of crypto exchange Uphold.
According to an announcement GateHub published, the company will wait for a decision on whether XRP is a security before delisting it. Its announcement reads:
Please be advised that GateHub Ltd. will continue listing XRP until the SEC’s complaint against Ripple is adjudicated and a final decision entered that XRP is properly classified as a ‘security,’ or until we receive a cease-and-desist notice from the SEC.
GateHub pointed out that its decision comes after it carefully reviewed the SEC’s complaint against Ripple. As reported, the lawsuit was announced on December 22, one day before former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton resigned, and names Ripple’s two of its executives, who are also significant security holders, alleging that they “raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering.”
The crypto firm revealed it doesn’t believe XRP is a security, and pointed out that if the SEC had issued any guidance that XRP would be treated as an unregistered security it would have “refused to do business with Ripple or anyone at Ripple who, in our judgement, engaged in fraudulent market practices.”
The announcement says:
We have never believed that XRP is a “security” under the prevailing “Howey” test in the US, and regard XRP primarily as a “utility” token whose value is based on its use in payments and foreign exchange.
Per GateHub, if Ripple defrauded individual investors it should be “subject to appropriate enforcement actions, and be forced to disgorge any ill-gotten gains.” That, however, is a “far cry” from the SEC’s move to classify the token as a security, which has “potentially catastrophic consequences for individual investors, who did nothing wrong.
The firm’s comments echo those of Uphold, which at the time wrote “that the SEC’s goal is to protect consumers, and believes it’s hard to see “how a judgment rendering XRP essentially worthless and inflicting billions of dollars of losses on retail investors” would square with that goal.
Other cryptocurrency exchanges reacted more defensively, however, and delisted XRP. Platforms like eToro, Coinbase, Binance.US, Bittrex, and Bitstamp announced they would delist the cryptocurrency after the SEC’s lawsuit was announced.
Ripple has also argued that the SEC’s lawsuit has hurt “countless innocent XRP retail holders with no connection to Ripple,” and added it “muddied the waters for exchanges, market makers, and traders.”
Featured image via Pixabay.
Blockchain
Blockchain and crypto will challenge current finance, Nigeria VP says


Nigeria’s vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, delivered a speech at an economic summit on Friday in which he spoke positively of crypto and blockchain.
“There is no question that blockchain technology generally, and cryptocurrencies in particular, will in the coming years, challenge traditional banking, including reserve banking, in ways that we cannot yet imagine,” Osinbajo said on Friday during the Central Bank of Nigeria, or CBN, Bankers’ Committee Economic Summit. “We need to be prepared for that seismic shift, and it may come sooner than later,” he said.
The Nigerian vice president also noted the broadness of the crypto industry, mentioning decentralized finance, or DeFi, in the mix. “Decentralized finance, using smart contracts to create financial instruments, in place of central financial intermediaries, such as banks or brokerages, is set to challenge traditional finance,” he said.
Osinbajo’s speech, which included a number of other points, is posted on his YouTube channel. The Nigerian vice president also tweeted out a video clip highlighting of some of his crypto comments from his talk.
“The point I’m making, is that some of the exciting developments we see call for prudence and care in adopting them and these have been very well-articulated by our regulatory authorities,” he said, adding:
“But we must act with knowledge and not with fear. We must ensure that we are in a position to benefit and in a position to prevent any of the adverse side effects, or any of the possible, even criminal, acts that may arise in consequence of adopting or taking any of these options.”
The comments come in contrast to recent developments in Nigeria. Earlier in February, Nigeria forbade banking interactions with crypto exchanges, as per a ruling from its central bank. The CBN’s governor also called crypto assets illegitimate. Bitcoin recently traded at a significant premium in the region.
Blockchain
‘Bitcoin could reach $1 million or $1, and may do both of those’


While many analysts predict that either Bitcoin could increase to a million or fall to a dollar, a popular businessman and investor based in the US thinks that the asset could do both!
In a recent interview with Joe Kernen at CNBC’s Squawk Box, Internet analyst Henry Blodget of the dot com era fame said:
Bitcoin could go to $1 million… it could also go to $1. And in fact it may do both of those
In addition, Blodget, who also served as the head of the global Internet research team at Merrill Lynch, is unconvinced about the asset’s value proposition. He claimed that Bitcoin as an inflationary hedge and the narrative surrounding its value as ‘digital gold’ were “stories”. He further added:
But the stories that we tell about why relative to the value of gold or other currencies, they’re ludicrous.
In his opinion, Bitcoin can trade just about anywhere because it does not have any fundamental backing. He said that unlike traditional stocks, “which usually does have some relationship ultimately to a fundamental,” of a company, “Bitcoin doesn’t, so that means it can trade anywhere.”
The entrepreneur thinks that crypto exchange Gemini’s CEO Tyler Winklevoss could eventually be “exactly right,” in his forecast that the asset could surge to a million. However, Blodget said:
If people were to decide that for the next couple of hundred years Bitcoin is where you park your money when you take it out of the fiat system, OK, it’s possible.
Interestingly, while crypto Twitter and Bitcoin enthusiasts, in particular, called out the analyst’s criticism, they commended the interviewer’s counter-argument. CNBC’s Joe Kernen seemed to even “speak the language” of the crypto space as one twitter user named @HodlBells noted:
@JoeSquawk I didn’t think you understood the value prop of bitcoin. You do! You’re way ahead of the bulk of your generation. Particularly those who have profited the most off the petro-dollar. Look forward to you speaking their language and translating the future for them! Thx!
— Hodl Bells (@HodlBells) February 26, 2021
Source: https://ambcrypto.com/bitcoin-could-reach-1-million-or-1-and-may-do-both-of-those
Blockchain
Crypto platform NetCents to offer users access to DeFi protocols thru Vesto


NetCents, a cryptocurrency payments company, today announced it has signed an agreement with Vesto.io to pave the way for DeFi access in the NetCents platform.
Vesto, is a San Francisco-based company that has created a platform allowing users to choose from multiple DeFi protocols in a virtual supermarket. NetCents (with regulatory approval) intends on enabling a portal to the Vesto infrastructure from the NetCents wallet in order to facilitate user’s adoption of DeFi investing in an efficient and easy-to-understand interface.
“We have seen the DeFi space explode over the past year, but for it to reach the next level – the tools and the process has to be attainable by the novice crypto investor. We will be adding a layer of simplification to the process so that individuals can have their savings actually working for them without the complexity of the current platforms. Individuals have the right to lend their money at market-based rates instead of getting 1% interest on their savings that the commercial banks are offering.”
– Clayton Moore, NetCents Founder & CEO
LOI
The Letter of Intent (LOI) contemplates a Joint Venture between parties and an option for NetCents to invest in Vesto and hold a significant ownership stake in the company at a future date.
Management of NetCents also informed investors that many of the concepts embraced by these DeFi platforms have not been vetted by the many authorities that regulate financial products. NetCents intends to work together with regulators to navigate this landscape and resolve it with a compliant product.
For Example: Fintech businesses seeking to bring a novel product or service to the market can seek regulatory relief through regulatory sandboxes such as the Ontario Securities Commission’s LaunchPad or the British Columbia Securities Commission’s SandBox.
Furthermore, businesses that distribute, trade, or advise in crypto assets that are securities are required to comply with securities laws (in particular, registration and prospectus requirements), which can be onerous. There are many exemptions for specific types of distributions, trades, and other activities and NetCents intends to research these exemptions rigorously. These exemptions, at a high level, may limit the types of investors that can participate or the investment amounts, or may require the preparation of disclosures to investors and filing of a disclosure document.
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