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Ripple Bets On the New SEC While the XRP Purge Continues

Ripple Bets On the New SEC While the XRP Purge Continues

It looks like major US-based blockchain company Ripple is putting their hopes in the new US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following a lawsuit filed against the company by the regulator. Meanwhile, more platforms are suspending trading in XRP.(Updated at 16:08 UTC: updates in bold.)

Ripple is now looking towards the incoming new SEC leadership, which may (or may not) be more friendly towards it and XRP. “[W]e also look forward to working with all of the Commissioners and the SEC’s new leadership, once appointed,” they said in their December 29 announcement.

They added that “in all, the SEC Chair, six of his Directors from each SEC Division, the SEC’s Chief Economist and the SEC’s General Counsel have now departed (many left just last week),” and added that their “steadfast commitment to constructive regulatory engagement has not changed.” (Learn more: Cryptoverse Might Face ‘More Aggressive’ SEC Under Biden)

As reported, Ripple is questioning the motivation for bringing this action against them just days before the change in administration because “the SEC has permitted XRP to function as a currency for over eight years.”

Meanwhile, among the latest announcements regarding the staff change on the SEC’s website is the one that Sean Memon will conclude his tenure as the agency’s Chief of Staff in January 2021. Memon served as principal advisor to Chairman Jay Clayton on legal, policy and management matters, it said. It was announced in November that Clayton himself would leave by the end of this year, and just yesterday it was confirmed that Donald Trump designated Elad L. Roisman as Acting Chairman of the agency, who is generally said to be crypto-friendly.

Calling the lawsuit an attack on the entire crypto industry in the US that brought more uncertainty to the market and harm to the community the SEC is supposed to be protecting, Ripple said the lawsuit “affected countless innocent XRP retail holders with no connection to Ripple.”

Following the news, XRP erased almost all its gains over the past 12 months.

The company added that Ripple will continue operating in the US and globally, that the majority of their customers aren’t in the US, and that overall XRP volume is largely traded outside of that country.

An initial pretrial conference in the lawsuit has been set for February 22, according to a court order.

Meanwhile, exchanges continue their ‘evictions’ of XRP, so to say. Following several minor exchanges, as well as major ones like Coinbase and Bitstamp, Bittrex said it would be removing four available XRP markets (around USD 20m in combined trading volume in the past 24 hours, per Coinpaprika.com data) on January 15.

“Until further notice, customers will continue to have access to their XRP wallet on Bittrex after the markets are removed,” they added.

Also, Swipe Wallet will delist XRP for the USA users on January 5. Crypto buying app Ziglu will suspend XRP trading on January 12 and digital payment services provider Wirex decided against including XRP in a US version of the app slated for launch in January, The Block reported.

Meanwhile, in their latest report, Arcane Research predicted that XRP will drop out of the top 10 coins by market capitalization in 2021. “XRP has experienced terrible volatility lately with the SEC charges against Ripple, leaving late investors with big losses. XRP is about the erase all gains of 2020,” it said.

XRP has already dropped from the third position as the largest cryptoasset by market capitalization to the fourth following the crackdown.

At pixel time (10:23 UTC), XRP trades at USD 0.21 and is down by 4.6% in a day and 38% in a week. The price crashed by 66% in a month, erasing its gains over the past 12 months to less than 9%.

XRP price chart:

Ripple Bets On the New SEC While the XRP Purge Continues 102
Source: coinpaprika.com

Original Source: https://cryptonews.com/news/ripple-bets-on-the-new-sec-while-the-xrp-purge-continues-8764.htm

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j

Anndy Lian Interviews Nischal Shetty, Founder of WazirX “We are creating a new crypto revolution!”

Anndy Lian Interviews Nischal Shetty, Founder of WazirX “We are creating a new crypto revolution!”

Blockcast: Good morning folks. I am Melody, Managing Editor of Blockcast.cc. We have been monitoring the crypto market in India for quite some time. On our end at Blockcast, we are also working with a few Indian communities and projects. Today, we have two experts in this interview. The first expert is Nischal Shetty. He is the Founder and CEO of WazirX Exchange and Crowdfire. He is also a Forbes 30 under 30. Then we have Anndy Lian, an intergovernmental blockchain advisor and Chairman of DECENT Foundation. Anndy today will help to facilitate this interview. 

Good morning guys.

Nischal: Good morning Melody and Anndy.

Anndy: Good day Nischal and Melody. 

Blockcast: Hi Nischal, can you tell us more about yourself before we go into the more serious blockchain and crypto topics?

Nischal: I’m the Founder, CEO at WazirX. It is India’s largest and most trusted cryptocurrency exchange with more than 400,000 registered users with an average app rating of 4.6. We have recently gone global.

I’ve also founded Crowdfire, a social media management tool with 20 Million users
after an all-night coding session. I’m India’s top Blockchain influencer on Twitter with over 60K followers. I’ve also been featured in Forbes ‘30 under 30’ list. I’m on a mission to involve everyone in the blockchain revolution.

Blockcast: Tell us more about WazirX India. What is your unique selling point and what do you stand for?

Nischal: We started WazirX with the aim to involve Indians into the blockchain revolution. WazirX is India’s largest and most trusted cryptocurrency exchange with more than 400,000 users with an average rating of 4.6. Few key points:
● Our mobile apps are the highest rated
● Within 20 months of building WazirX, we became the first Indian exchange to be
acquired by the world’s biggest one
● Instant INR deposits and withdrawals available 24×7
● Smart Token Fund (STF) – helps non-traders participate in crypto. STF helps you
choose smart traders who will manage your crypto investments for you. This feature
has shown good initial response from users.
● Highly liquid spot exchange with the lowest fee in India
● Prior startup experience of the WazirX founding team, the fact that I’m the top crypto
influencer in India

Anndy: Hi Nischal, can you share with us about your partnership with Binance and our friend CZ? I see that Binance has placed a lot of efforts in different countries and India is one of the main highlights in my own opinion. 

Nischal: WazirX has become the first-ever Indian exchange to be acquired by the world’s biggest one, and it’s a big deal. This is a historic moment and a beacon of hope for the entire Indian cryptocurrency ecosystem. Everyone in India feels more confident about crypto now due to WazirX’s acquisition. WazirX continues to run as an independent brand of Binance. I continue to run and grow WazirX with my team. We’ll continue to innovate and bring in more improvements in WazirX. My plan is to grow WazirX even further and make crypto accessible to everyone in India.

Anndy: Your mission for WazirX in India is indeed future thinking and daring. My involvement with several government bodies have also given me some insights in India too. We know that India has opened up a fair bit for cryptocurrency. Your government is actively building regulations around this. Can you give us a brief update on the situation? How friendly is the banking system actually?

Nischal: Thanks Anndy, this is a good question. Cryptocurrency trading was never illegal in India. However, recently the Supreme Court struck down the Indian central bank’s banking ban on crypto. The verdict is historic and positive for the ecosystem. Crypto exchanges including WazirX have enabled banking channels for INR deposit
and withdrawals. With banking channels now open, it has made it easier for Indians to enter crypto. Due to the banking ban, Indians had to use P2P which was successful for WazirX but banking channels will be even more successful as it’s more convenient for users.

Anndy: Blockchain technology has been mature in India, do you invest in blockchain projects and which project in India do you see has the biggest potential to be the next unicorn?

Nischal: We need more startups that focus on India related problems and solve them through Blockchain and Crypto. Recently, WazirX and Binance announced a $50 Million USD ‘Blockchain in India’ fund to invest in Indian projects and startups focusing on solving problems through blockchain technology. Besides investing, we also look forward to partnering with traditional funds who believe in blockchain, and provide mentorship and support to student organisations and universities who want to set up blockchain technology incubators. We plan to help every entrepreneur trying to solve a problem with blockchain technology.

Anndy: I always see that blockchain and cryptocurrency have an interlinked relationship. But many said that cryptocurrency will grow but not blockchain. I don’t agree on this statement, what about you?

Nischal: I agree with you. Blockchain and Cryptocurrency are two sides of the same coin. It’s like the Internet (Blockchain) and Crypto (website). Usefulness to the public is derived only when both exist. When crypto grows, blockchain grows too, vice versa.

Anndy: Adoption for blockchain technology is slower than most projected. Do you think the adoption rate will increase and in which areas do you see the growth in?

Nischal: I think in the next 2 to 3 years crypto will go mainstream. It has already started disrupting payments, and will soon disrupt the supply chain as well. Most importantly, crypto can help the unbanked with financial inclusion.

We hope to see much more innovation in the Indian crypto ecosystem such that it solves India specific problems.

Anndy: Bitcoin is the leader on Coinmarketcap as we all know. Do you think there will be another coin that will go close to take over their position in the market?

Nischal: There won’t be another Bitcoin as it’s a decentralised asset class which is owned by the public. If it was a private entity then you could have thought of having alternatives. However, there are thousands of utility tokens and there will be millions of utility tokens eventually. These are crypto with specific use cases such as ETH which is used on Ethereum Blockchain, WRX which is used in WazirX for trading incentives etc

Anndy: Many are bullish on #Bitcoin, just for fun, how much do you think Bitcoin will be at the end of the year? $50,000? 

Nischal: If you look at the history of Bitcoin halving until now, you’ll see how it’s pushed its price up. Bitcoin halving just happened last week, and this event will add greatly to the momentum for 2020. Bitcoin is a global asset class, and it will be exciting to see how far up it goes now.

Moreover, Bitcoin was created in the 2008 financial crisis. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, we’re in the middle of another one. Crypto is showing signs of stability compared to the traditional stock market.

Bitcoin is slowly becoming a popular investment option in global economies with high inflation.

Anndy: The artificial inflation mechanism of the #bitcoin halving of block rewards will no longer have an impact on the price of the cryptocurrency when all 21m are in circulation. Well, we can look at this again in the later part of the year. 

Blockcast: Guess it is my turn to ask a few more questions before we end this interview.

Nischal: Sure Melody, go ahead.

Blockcast: Can you share some of your advice on crypto trading and speculation for the readers?

Nischal: Do research about a project before you invest in it. Read up the project’s whitepaper, the stage of development it is in, about the founders and their prior experience.

Blockcast: Last but not least, can you share an inspiring quote for our Readers?

Nischal: Crypto is getting started, and we are in the early stages of the revolution.

We are creating a new crypto revolution!

We are all early adopters, and it’s upon you to educate your friends and family about the crypto ecosystem. Keep busting misinformation around crypto and win!

Blockast: Well said Nischal. Thanks for sharing with us. We need to work together in these early stages to grow the crypto industry. 

Nischal: Thanks for your kind words Melody and thank you Anndy to facilitate this interview.

Anndy: It is my pleasure. I believe WazirX will be the gateway for crypto South Asia. “Stay local and be international.”

I hope to see you soon when COVID19 crisis is more controlled. There are many collaborations to be forged and a lot to chat about on DECENT can help in the process. 

Nischal: Thanks a lot, see you soon.

Blockcast: For more information about WazirX, you can go to https://wazirx.com/. 

 

 

Original Source: https://blockcast.cc/interviews/blockcast-exclusive-interview-with-nischal-shetty-founder-of-wazirx-we-are-creating-a-new-crypto-revolution/

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j

Commentaries by Anndy Lian “New Global Standards Come with the Marriage of Binance & Coinmarketcap”

Commentaries by Anndy Lian “New Global Standards Come with the Marriage of Binance & Coinmarketcap”

Blockcast: We are doing interview sessions with crypto and blockchain people weekly and it has been quite a while since we speak to Anndy Lian. He is still an intergovernmental blockchain advisor and is very active in South East Asia, Japan, South Korea and most recently in Sri Lanka.

So today, we have Anndy on the call with us. Hi Anndy, it is good catching up with you. We have not met face to face yet, my name is John, the newest member at Blockcast.cc.

We have seen your comments on a Cointelegraph article. Blockcast and a few other Korea based media companies would hope to find out more of your views on Binance’s influence over Coinmarketcap.

(Image Credits: Cointelegraph)

 

In your view, are the data on exchanges and ranking platforms accurate and trustworthy in general?

Anndy Lian: Thanks John for the call.

The data that is tabulated by the exchanges are certainly not the correct value. If they are accurate, bitcoin would have a trillion market cap next week (Just saying). But as of now, these data are what the industry can make do with. Many ranking platforms have their way to tabulate the scoring, mostly are based on volume. This is not good enough, that is why CoinMarketcap came up with a slightly different weightage to test it out.

Blockcast: Having said so, what is then the most effective and trustworthy methodology for ranking exchanges? Do you think web traffic is enough?

Anndy Lian: I think what CZ and CoinMarketcap did with the input of web traffic might be a good starting point but as I commented openly, this is not good enough. CZ also mentioned on Twitter that this is just the beginning.

Having said so, there is no one most effective methodology, there will still be grey area for example when the metric was purely based on volume, the volume can be manipulated. When the web traffic is introduced, with added variables like unique visitors, unique mac address, IP, etc, this can also be manipulated. So there isn’t one metric fit all approach when ranking is concerned.

There must also be a component to score based on geographical locations too. Just quoting an example based on my own opinion. The web-based model works well for the USA and European users’ market. This is reflected on the current top 100 exchanges where you see Huobi (Ranked 18th) and Okex (Ranked 6th) who have more Chinese users technically are ranked much lower. Chinese users, in particular, are doing more trading and monitoring through apps and not web. Therefore, incorporating app or API traffic could be another add on. I could be wrong, I am just looking at this from a third-party standpoint.

(Image Credits: Coinmarketcap)

 

To be effective, there must be a revision of the current methodology and weightage model. Firstly, the actual trading volume must be as accurate as possible, the numbers must not be washed and for this to happen, mechanisms such as taxable trade should come into the picture to beef up the indexes and create a level 1 trustworthiness for both the exchanges and retail/ professional investors. We should also adopt some of the practices that are done in the financial exchanges so to make the ranks meaningful.

Blockcast: Is an exchange rating platform being owned by an exchange an inherent conflict of interest?

Anndy Lian: To be honest, it is not ideal for an exchange to own an exchange rating platform especially in the early stages of this industry.

Take Binance for exchange, people will start to gossip that Binance is on top of the charts because they are the owners. But is this true, we are not sure.

But I believe it can be done too with proper compliance and governance and also arm length relationship would be good enough too for Binance and Coinmarketcap. They have to properly address this to all the stakeholders constantly so to assure them of the independence between the 2 companies. They can also look at having all the data stored in a decentralised platform to ensure data integrity. All the little bit helps.
People will continue to speculate and spread more rumours especially when the number 1 exchange bought the number rating platform. If you look at this from a business perspective, if you can buy the best company, of course, you will buy the best in the basket. But the future lies in how Binance and Coinmarketcap manage the governance and compliance aspects of things. This is the key.

Blockcast: What are the possible upsides for the industry with Binance at the helm of Coinmarketcap?

Anndy Lian: For Binance, I have been following CZ on Twitter for a long while. He has followed me too. So I have read many of his posts and chain of thoughts. With this as the background, I think for Binance to take the helm, it has more positives than negatives in my opinion.

They will help to set a new standard on how all the crypto companies and exchanges are ranked. I believe they will also try to have stricter criteria for companies to be listed, they can also set the standard and start to execute them on Binance using their platform for trial and error.

New standards such as companies must submit details of the top 3 personnel of the company, they should be declaring their income, background etc and be digitally proven documents on-chain etc. While these are just my wishful thinking, I believe strongly only the leaders on the very top of this industry can put together new standards. We will all see new global standards with the marriage of Binance & Coinmarketcap

Blockcast: We noted your pinned message on Twitter. My wish list for this year: 1) Help more companies to go into #Blockchain 2) Start a new project that can help the blockchain community 3) Become part of a top 20 token 4) Make a token to become top 50 on CMC. What is this about?

Anndy Lian: This is just my wish list. As you know, I invest in companies, run companies myself, founded a few companies, run Singapore oldest think tank and even done many things for the governments. But I have not gotten myself involved in top crypto companies, as in working for them.

I want to work for the top blockchain companies. I want to use my strengths to help the top maintain their status as the top or for them to move a few levels up. Maybe CZ can hire me after reading this interview (laughs).

Blockcast: I believe companies are already eyeing your talents. Do you have any other things to share with our readers?

Anndy Lian: Recently, I am also being appointed at the Chairman (Asia) for DECENT Foundation based in Switzerland. I have not visited their tech development centre yet due to COVID19 but I am very impressed with their work done on an enterprise level for the blockchain industry. Plus they have been around since 2015, which means they are mature in their business model. I hope to introduce them to some of my blockchain friends and bring them to Asia.

The COVID19 situation has not been very kind to everyone, I hope the virus can be controlled as soon as possible so to let all businesses go back to their usual operations.

This virus has also brought in some positives to the current business situation. Companies who did not believe in technology implementation are now looking at digitalising their records and sales online. And companies, who are already more tech-savvy, are exploring how to incorporate new tech like blockchain to their existing infrastructures.
This is just the beginning of a new tech era and I am very sure that blockchain and cryptocurrency have earned their position in this evolution.

Blockcast: Thank you Anndy for your time. I hope to see you in Seoul soon. If you want to interact with Anndy Lian, you can do so by visiting www.anndy.com or at his Twitter handle https://twitter.com/anndylian.

Original Source: https://blockcast.cc/interviews/commentaries-by-anndy-lian-new-global-standards-come-with-the-marriage-of-binance-coinmarketcap/

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j