Cryptocurrency
Ripple’s co-founder earned $411 million from selling XRP in 2020
Jed McCaleb was able to gain $411 million in XRP sales throughout 2020 bringing his total gains from selling XRP to $546 million.
Ripple co-founder and one of the largest owners of XRP, Jed McCaleb, gained massively from selling XRP in 2020.
What you should know
In spite of Ripple’s legal troubles with the powerful American financial regulator, Jed McCaleb was able to gain $411 million in XRP sales throughout 2020, bringing his total gains from selling XRP to $546 million.
READ: XRP drops 14% over lawsuit from U.S Securities and Exchange Commission
- Highly revered crypto tracker, Whale Alert reported that McCaleb’s remaining XRP holdings along with the gains he made selling XRP stand at $1.2 billion, making him one of the richest individuals in the crypto-verse.
- It’s key to note that McCaleb left Ripple several years ago and went on to launch his own crypto company known as Stellar.
- As of the start of Q3 2020, he was selling an average of 1.74 million XRP daily which, at that time, was estimated to be worth $547,438.
- According to Whale Alert’s research, the co-founder still owns 3.274 billion XRP.
READ: World’s most valuable Crypto exchange, Coinbase files for IPO
Meanwhile, the crypto asset has been losing value at record levels on reports that the world’s most valuable crypto exchange, Coinbase, recently announced that it wouldn’t allow XRP trading, in response to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission taking legal action against Ripple.
Coinbase further explained that,
- “XRP trading may be stopped earlier as needed to maintain the exchange’s market health metrics.”
READ: A $9 billion hedge fund seeks approval to launch Bitcoin Fund
Ripple in a recent press release, disclosed it was ready to fight the allegations issued by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission against the company.
- “The SEC’s decision to file this action is not just about Ripple, it is an attack on the entire crypto industry here in the United States. We’ve always said that there is a dangerous lack of regulatory clarity for crypto in the U.S. — their lawsuit has already affected countless innocent XRP retail holders with no connection to Ripple.
- “It has also needlessly muddied the waters for exchanges, market makers, and traders. The SEC has introduced more uncertainty into the market, actively harming the community they’re supposed to protect. It’s no surprise that some market participants are reacting conservatively as a result.”
Business News
CBN, SEC working on regulatory guideline for cryptocurrency trading
The SEC has stated that it is in discussion with the CBN to better understand and regulate the crypto-assets market.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revealed that it is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a better understanding and regulation of cryptocurrencies in the country.
This is coming after CBN had in February 2021, barred deposit money banks and other financial institutions from doing business with cryptos and other digital assets.
This disclosure was made by the Director-General of SEC, Lamido Yuguda, at the 2021 post-Capital Market Committee (CMC) virtual news conference.
Yuguda said that the commission was in discussion with the CBN for better understanding and regulation of the crypto-assets market, adding that the capital market regulator had suspended the implementation of crypto assets guidelines due to lack of access to Nigerian bank accounts.
READ: Binance, Quidax, Buycoins Africa, Bundle obey CBN’s crypto ban
What the Director-General of SEC is saying
Yuguda in his statement said, “We are in discussion with CBN for both understanding and better regulating of this market. We will be able to come back to you later to inform you of the outcome of these engagements.
But because of the lack of access to commercial bank accounts, we had to suspend our own guidelines of September 2020. The implementation of that circular is suspended until these operators are able to have access to Nigerian bank accounts.
Remember that nobody operates in the Nigerian capital market if that person does not have access to a Nigerian bank account,” he said.
Yuguda, however, pointed out that SEC had always provided support to Fintechs and had invested so much in developing a framework to support their operations.
READ: Why buying Bitcoin in Nigeria is not cheap
He said, “Let me say that the SEC remains very supportive of fintechs. We have invested so much in developing a framework for supporting fintechs in the various areas and fintechs are acting in areas of crowdfunding, investment advice and cryptocurrencies and the like.”
He acknowledged the fact that the fintech market had been disrupted by the CBN’s ban on access to Nigerian bank accounts by the crypto exchange.
He said, “In all other areas, nothing has changed, but in the area of crypto assets, you know that with the recent prohibition by the CBN on access to Nigerian bank accounts by crypto exchanges, that market has been disrupted.
And the truth of the matter is that while the SEC had issued guidelines in September 2020 aimed at regulating this market, for now for all intents and purposes, because these exchanges do not have access to commercial bank accounts in Nigeria, the market, for now, does not exist.’’
READ: Analysing the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Dollar Remittance Policy
In case you missed it
- The apex bank had about 2 months ago, warned the Deposit Money Banks, Non-Financial Institutions and other Financial Institutions against doing business in crypto and other digital assets.
- The CBN directed financial institutions to immediately close the accounts of persons or entities transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges, warning of severe regulatory sanctions in the event of any breach of the directive.
Cryptocurrency
Ripple’s CTO advises investors to reduce their crypto investments
The crypto leader recently made the warning on Twitter.
David Schwartz, Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer has advised investors and crypto traders to consider offloading some amounts of their crypto holdings to reduce risk. The crypto leader recently made the warning on Twitter.
“This is probably going to be my least popular tweet ever, but: If you have life-changing amounts of cryptocurrency, please take some time to seriously consider selling some to reduce your risk and exposure. This is not any kind of prediction about what the market will do,” his tweet stated.
READ: Billionaire investors in Nigeria you may not know
This is probably going to be my least popular tweet ever, but: If you have life-changing amounts of cryptocurrency, please take some time to seriously consider selling some to reduce your risk and exposure. This is not any kind of prediction about what the market will do.
— 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥 "𝘑𝘰𝘦𝘭𝘒𝘢𝘵𝘻" 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘻 (@JoelKatz) April 13, 2021
To lend credence to his advice, about $1.39 billion dollars were liquidated in the crypto market arbitrarily with about 240,759 traders liquidated.
The largest single liquidation order happened on Huobi-XRP valued at $11.69 million.
Despite the recent pullback in some trending crypto assets, some crypto traders remain upbeat that crypto assets are the best tools for hedging against rising inflation, offer better returns than many traditional assets, and are set to win more attention from the corporate world.
READ: US moves against misuse of cryptocurrencies, to employ new financial technologies
Many weeks ago, the Financial Conduct Authority, a leading United Kingdom financial regulator, issued a piece of stern advice on the risk associated with trading crypto assets.
The statement highlighted the risks associated with investing in Bitcoin and other crypto-assets and warned the public that there were high chances that all their funds could be lost.
READ: List of unpopular Cryptos likely to outperform
“The FCA is aware that some firms are offering investments in crypto assets or lending or investments linked to crypto assets, that promise high returns.
Investing in crypto assets, or investments and lending linked to them generally involves taking very high risks with investors’ money. If consumers invest in these types of products, they should be prepared to lose all their money,” said the FCA.
