Daily crypto news alerts for 31st December, 2020
🗞Cryptocurrency Bank Unicas Launches First Physical Branch in India
Cryptocurrency bank Unicas, a joint venture between British firm Cashaa and Indian United Multistate Credit Cooperative Society, has launched its first physical branch in Jaipur.
Unicas intends to open 13 more such branches by the end of January. In total, by 2022, it is planned to launch about 100 branches of a cryptocurrency bank in India, in which services for investing in cryptocurrencies will be provided.
At the same time, users will have access to accounts in both local fiat currency and digital assets. Cashaa CEO Kumar Gaurav called the launch of the bank's physical branches "a necessary step" for "building a digital India."
“India is a very social and family country. This is a country in which financial decisions are made by the head of the family, and these are usually people between the ages of 40 and 65. It is very important for this age group to see the physical and real bank branch before investing money. Therefore, we decided to open at least 100 branches in order to create confidence in cryptocurrencies and tell people about them, ”Gaurav said.
According to the local newspaper The Times of India, the country's authorities are considering the issue of taxation of cryptocurrencies. Depending on the decision, residents of the country will have to pay 18% of the profit from Bitcoin trading.
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🗞Bittrex Exchange Joins XRP Trading Restriction
Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex announced the suspension of trading in pairs with XRP from January 15. Like other exchanges, this was a reaction to the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple.
Bittrex has become the eleventh marketplace to restrict trading in pairs with XRP. Some exchanges and companies suspend XRP trading only for US customers, while others completely disable the ability to trade with this cryptocurrency. In addition to Bittrex, XRP trading has been or will be suspended on Coinbase, OKCoin, Beaxy, Bitstamp, Galaxy Digital, B2C, Jump Trading, CrossTower, Bitwise and OSL platforms. At the moment, of the largest exchanges, only Binance and Kraken have not announced the suspension of XRP trading.
"Until further notice, customers will have access to their XRP wallets on the Bittrex platform, even after trading is suspended," the exchange said in a statement.
Recall that the regulator accuses the Ripple management of selling unregistered securities in 2013, which were XRP coins. For his part, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the SEC lawsuit is an attack on all altcoins and the cryptocurrency industry in general. Ripple itself officially adheres to a similar position.
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🗞Coinbase filed a lawsuit over selling XRP to clients
In California, a lawsuit was filed against the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, which is accused of collecting commissions from the illegal sale of XRP.
Plaintiff Thomas Sandoval claims that Coinbase was aware that, under federal law, XRP is not a commodity, but a security, but decided to provide access to the token to its customers and charge them fees.
According to Sandoval, Coinbase also violated competition law by offering securities to customers, which violated the interests of digital asset exchanges, which only list commodities on their sites.
Earlier, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple, accusing it of selling unregistered securities in the form of an XRP token worth $1.3 billion. Coinbase, for its part, is preparing to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) and recently announced the decision to stop XRP trading.
According to lawyers, Sandoval's lawsuit does not have a solid evidence base and does not pose a serious threat to Coinbase. They also expect that the court will not rule on this case until the fate of the SEC's claim is determined.
“There are likely to be other lawsuits claiming classroom status, but in terms of time and cost, it is unclear whether XRP fee claims will pose a huge financial risk in the future. I don't see much risk for Coinbase in this case, unlike the actions of the SEC, ”writes Stephen Pally.
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🗞Genesis Trading stops XRP lending. This is a risk for short traders
Genesis Trading today sent out a notice to customers regarding their XRP plans. Genesis Trading is one of the largest companies in the crypto lending space, serving institutional investors and Grayscale trusts with multi-billion dollar assets under its management.
According to the notice, Genesis stopped buying XRP in the spot market on December 29, and clients with active positions are required to close them by January 15, 2021, subject to sufficient liquidity. After that date, the company plans to completely stop XRP trading.
Of greatest interest is the Genesis statement in relation to the lending service. The issuance of loans in XRP has so far been stopped, and all existing loans, if they expire after February 1, 2021, will be withdrawn. In other words, Genesis customers who have used the service to open XRP short positions can now choose to close them themselves and pay the lender without waiting for a recall from the company. Since closing a short position is carried out by acquiring an asset, this can cause a short-term rally in the rate, which in turn is a risk for other holders of short positions.
Genesis will also stop accepting XRP deposits into its custodian service. It has no plans to restrict derivatives trading yet.
The XRP short position has proven to be one of the best bets in the cryptocurrency market in recent times. Within two weeks, XRP fell more than 50% and hit $0.18 on Tuesday. On December 17, the token was traded at about $0.63.
In general, analysts agree that XRP will continue to decline if further developments in the SEC case against Ripple are unfavorable. XRP has been in the top 3 cryptocurrency market for a long time and has significant downside potential. Against the backdrop of negative fundamental prerequisites, technical factors fade into the background, preventing XRP from lingering on any of the supports.
