Ripple's CEO calls for clarity in regulation / Paypal acquires Curv / Meitu buys $40M ETH + BTC

Brad Garlinghouse has called for regulation clarity while in the midst of a legal battle with the SEC.

Inside.com Part of   Network March 08, 2021

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Ripple (XRP) CEO Brad Garlinghouse called for more explicit crypto regulation in light of Ripple’s ongoing legal battle with the SEC. While some view Garlinghouse’s call for legislative change as self-serving, the sentiment is consistent with pleas from other mainstream cryptocurrency advocates. More:  Garlinghouse appeared on Axios to talk about the SEC’s ongoing lawsuit and why he believes the actions against Ripple are "misguided." On Dec. 22, the SEC sued Ripple and Garlinghouse, among others, for selling securities worth over $1.3B illegally and without applying for an exemption. Garlinghouse stated that the U.S. is the only country that claims Ripple is a security: “Many countries around the world, the U.K., Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, they all have clarity and certainty that XRP is not a security." In an unaired part of the interview, Garlinghouse stated that he would not base a cryptocurrency project in the U.S. if he were to start a new one today. The lawsuit’s immediate fallout brought XRP’s market cap from $27B to $9B (-67%) but it has since recovered to a market cap of around $21B (-22%). A Delaware court ruled that U.K.-based Tetragon Financial Group can't recover its $175M investment in Ripple because of the SEC lawsuit. Garlinghouse remained optimistic in the interview, confidently expressing that Ripple will prevail against the SEC.

PayPal is expanding its crypto services with the acquisition of crypto firm Curv. The deal is part of PayPal's push to provide users with broader access to digital tokens. More:  PayPal's acquisition of the cloud-based digital asset infrastructure provider was first reported last week, but an official announcement from PayPal was made today. The acquisition comes shortly after the company affirmed its commitment to the fast-growing segment. PayPal vice president Jose Fernandez da Pointe stated: "[T]he acquisition of Curv is part of our effort to invest in the talent and technology to realize our vision for a more inclusive financial system." PayPal began supporting crypto trading activities in November 2020.  Curv uses multi-party computation to handle private keys. The product isn’t a cryptocurrency wallet for end-users but a service to exchanges or OTC desks to provide security for crypto transactions. This may suggest that PayPal is looking to incorporate peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions into its platform.   The deal is worth less than $200M, according to individuals familiar with the matter. As PayPal is increasing its presence in the cryptocurrency sphere, the cryptocurrency market dynamics may have a notable impact on the stock. PayPal (PYPL) is currently trading at $227.91 (-5%) since the acquisition announcement was made.

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Chinese photo editing company Meitu purchased $22.1M worth of Ethereum and $17.9M worth of Bitcoin on March 5. Meitu stated it may look into building blockchain-based applications but that holding cryptocurrencies provides diversification from holding just cash.  More:  Several large companies, including Tesla, Square, and MicroStrategy, have added large sums of Bitcoin to their balance sheets.  Meitu seems to be the first major publicly-traded company to add Ethereum in addition to Bitcoin to its balance sheet.  Meitu announced in a statement that “blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt both existing financial and technology industries, similar to the manner in which mobile internet has disrupted the PC internet and many other offline industries.” As of June 2020, Meitu had nearly 300 million in self-reported monthly active users.  Meitu shares rose 3.3% after the official announcement but had risen just over 14% earlier in the day.

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Michael Tant is a Business Researcher at Inside. He's passionate about economics, technology, crypto, and investing. Editor Jonathan Harris is a writer for Inside.com. Previously, he wrote for The Huffington Post, TakePart.com, and the YouTube channel What’s Trending.

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