.png)
Team Ripple Is Ready To Speak Spinglish
In an article by Alys Key on June 22, 2023, Decrypt reported that Ripple, the blockchain payments company, received in-principle approval for a Major Payments Institution License by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)1. This approval enables Ripple to offer regulated digital payment token products and services in Singapore, underscoring the firm's commitment to the Asia-Pacific region.
Ripple's CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, expressed pride in acquiring this license, praising Singapore as a global financial center and a key gateway to business in Asia Pacific1. The firm has been operating its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore since 2017 and has seen its payments solution grow exponentially in 2022, leading to a doubling of staff in the Singapore office1.
Ripple is one of less than 20 businesses approved to operate digital payment token services in Singapore. Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stu Alderoty, complimented Singapore's "early leadership" in crypto regulation1.
3AC Is Back
In a recent development, the founders of the now-bankrupt hedge fund, Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, have launched a new venture capital fund called 3AC Ventures. The announcement was made by Open Exchange (OPNX), a platform for trading claims against bankrupt crypto entities that Zhu and Davies also founded. The new partnership will invest in projects building within the OPNX ecosystem, focused on creating a decentralized future. 3AC Ventures aims to offer "superior risk-adjusted returns without leverage."
Three Arrows Capital filed for bankruptcy in June 2022, following a series of failed leveraged trades during a crypto bear market and a $40 billion collapse in the Terra Luna ecosystem. At its height, 3AC managed $10 billion in assets but had creditor claims of $3.4 billion at bankruptcy. Post bankruptcy, both Zhu and Davies remained elusive.
OPNX, launched in April this year, initially experienced minimal trading activity. However, the platform has since surged, reaching $30 million in daily average volume. Its native token, OX, launched on May 31, had surpassed a fully diluted market cap of $300 million at the time of publication1.
BlackRock Moves Markets
Shortly after BlackRock filed for a spot bitcoin ETF, a notable surge of 2,500 BTC was observed in a Coinbase Custody wallet, as evidenced by data from CryptoQuant. This service, provided by the crypto exchange, serves as a secure storage solution for institutional investors dealing in large amounts of tokens like bitcoin. Should regulators approve BlackRock's request, Coinbase Custody will be the custodian for the Bitcoin held in BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF.
The transaction data suggests that the BTC sent to this custodial wallet originated from Coinbase, hinting at the involvement of a significant player who likely purchased the bitcoin on Coinbase before transferring the holdings to the custodian wallet. Previously, this wallet had held more than 5,000 BTC deposited between May 19 and May 20. CryptoQuant analyst Bradley Park attributed the spike in bitcoin movement to the positive market sentiment spurred by BlackRock’s ETF filing. This enthusiasm was reflected in trading volumes on Coinbase, which nearly doubled over the past week alongside a 20% increase in bitcoin prices, reaching over $2 billion in the past 24 hours1.
