Last week, multiple major exchanges announced that they are delisting the XRP token after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) sued Ripple Labs for allegedly conducting an unregistered securities offering. First Coinbase said it will fully cease trading of XRP on January 19, due to the risk of allowing a potential unregistered security as it prepares to be approved by the S.E.C. to go public this year. Then Binance, the largest exchange by volume, announced Wednesday it will suspend XRP support in the U.S. on January 13. And the U.S. unit of Israeli exchange eToro said Thursday it is suspending XRP trading on January 3, joining a group of over 10 firms that have delisted XRP or suspended trading.
A pretrial conference between Ripple and the S.E.C is slated for February 22.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
VanEck filed a new application with the S.E.C. for a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange traded-fund (ETF), reviving a longtime dream for the sector. The investment manager's proposed VanEck Bitcoin Trust would follow the mechanism of gold-trust ETFs and hold the underlying asset, according to the filing. The ETF would reflect the performance of the MVIS CryptoCompare Bitcoin Benchmark Rate. Wall Street has been attempting to debut a Bitcoin ETF for years, and the S.E.C. rejected VanEck's last proposal in September 2019, as well as every other proposal from asset management firms. But Bitcoin's surge to new highs in 2020, thanks to greater adoption from giant financial institutions, could improve the chance of regulatory approval for an ETF. Also, the resignation of Jay Clayton, who recently left the role of S.E.C. chairman this month, and the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden and his anticipated S.E.C. pick could help turn the tide in favor of a Bitcoin ETF approval.
Ebang (NASDAQ: EBON) announced Thursday it plans to officially launch a cryptocurrency exchange in the first quarter of 2021, causing its shares to surge over 23% on the news. The Bitcoin miner maker said it has started publicly testing the cryptocurrency exchange and will officially launch in this quarter. Though the firm has released few details about the project, it said the exchange will be a regulatory-compliant crypto exchange that would strictly operate outside of China, where the government has cracked down on crypto trading. Ebang Chairman and CEO Dong Hu said the completion of the exchange's internal testing of the cryptocurrency exchange is a step toward growing the firm's blockchain financial services business: "We will also explore other business opportunities in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry such as establishing mining farms and cryptocurrency mining to optimize the structure of our offerings in the blockchain industry value chain." Ebang established a wholly owned subsidiary in Australia to help create a digital asset trading platform.
Crypto prices again soared this week to $870 billion, due to Bitcoin's record shattering 23% surge to $33,000. For the majors, Polkadot (DOT), Ethereum (ETH), and Bitcoin posted outsized gains, while XRP tumbled 21%. In the top 100, the biggest losers were The Graph (GRT), down 26%, XRP, and Dash (DASH), down 18%. The biggest gainers were Dogecoin (DOGE), up a whopping 137%, Reserve Rights (RSR), up 90%, and Polkadot, up 83%. Next week traders will see if Bitcoin's monster rally can continue.
The author owns a small amount of BTC.