Ark and 21Shares apply for spot Ether ETF; Ripple Labs president Chris Larsen argued that it is time for Congress in the US to take the lead on crypto policy; Judge rejects Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for release
21 Shares and Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest have applied for a spot Ether ETF.
The companies have moved to offer an ETF that invests directly in the second largest cryptocurrency Ether.
Today, companies applying to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plan to launch the ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF.
This first-of-its-kind application, if accepted, will be the first exchange-traded fund backed by Ether. The product will be traded under the code ARKE.
Spot Bitcoin ETF conundrum continues
Huge companies such as BlackRock and Fidelity await the approval of spot Bitcoin ETF applications.
BlackRock’s resumed application flow caused the regulator to remain under pressure. In particular, Grayscale’s winning the lawsuit filed due to the rejection of the ETF application has narrowed the SEC’s field of action a little more.
The regulator has rejected spot Bitcoin ETF applications, each time citing concerns about market manipulation. Recently, he announced that he postponed his decision on 7 spot Bitcoin ETF applications.
Ripple Labs president Chris Larsen argued that it is time for Congress in the US to take the lead on crypto policy
Ripple Labs president and co-founder Chris Larsen said the United States’ legal system is ready to bring the crypto industry back into the game after the Biden administration botched crypto policy.
Speaking to Bloomberg about Ripple’s partial victory over the Securities and Exchange Commission in July, Larsen argued that the regulator lost everything important in the legal trajectory of the industry.
“The US has failed in crypto and blockchain policy. Unfortunately, the initial step was taken through the courts instead of regulators to provide this clarity and get us back in the game.”
Larsen claimed that SEC chairman Gary Gensler knows that crypto laws are not clear and proved that he enjoys this situation. The head of Ripple Labs argued that to date, Gensler has set and implemented the rules according to his own head.
Gensler had previously claimed that the crypto market was full of scammers and Ponzi schemes. According to Gensler, the SEC is helping to clean up this situation with securities laws.
Biden ‘killed’ San Fran blockchain center
In another part of the interview, Larsen claimed that despite Silicon Valley’s reputation as a tech hub, Biden’s crypto policies have kept San Francisco from becoming the blockchain capital of the world.
“We owned this place and now we don’t because the Biden administration, for whatever reason, decided to push this industry overseas,” Larsen said.
“This was a missed opportunity. It’s really unfortunate. It hurt the city.”
The head of Ripple Labs pointed to London, Singapore and Dubai as global blockchain capitals due to their clear rules that accept innovation by protecting consumers.
“Why isn’t America leading this call?” Larsen asked. Finally, Larsen concluded his speech by saying, “We have always been like this and we have to go back to that.”
Judge rejects Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for release
FTX’s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s request to be released before his criminal trial has been denied.
On 6 September, in an application filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk of the Court, said that the judge denied the request for SBF’s immediate release. Lawyers for the former CEO of FTX had petitioned the court, claiming that the rights granted to SBF to prepare for his defence at trial were insufficient.
“The request for pre-trial release was referred to a panel of three judges,” Mr Wolfe said.
SBF was released on a bail of $250 million following his extradition from the Bahamas. The former CEO of FTX spent the days at his parents’ home in California. The judge cancelled bail on 11 August due to SBF’s release of Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison’s diary to the press.
SBF’s lawyers filed numerous motions after the judge cancelled bail, requesting more time to review evidence in SBF’s Brooklyn jail visitors’ room, as well as in his New York courthouse cellblock lawyer’s room. FTX has approximately four weeks before his trial, which is scheduled to begin on 3 October.
